The Global Partners Training 2014 has closed successfully in Aburi, Ghana and for most participants, the meeting has ended too suddenly. So much learning and so much fun but the four long days away from family and friends have flown by so fast and ended too abruptly.

Though participants are parting ways grudgingly, they are leaving with so much knowledge and revival in their individual ministries that it was a little less painful to say good bye. As they lifted up praise that hit the roofs and poured out august worship to God, one could not but feel the revival they felt deep within. They have become ambassadors of the Global Partners Training and disciples of Moody Radio, charged to take the Gospel to their various countries using radio and media.

Speaking at a colorful ceremony to close the training on Friday, Roy Patterson, main speaker of the super sessions and Station Manager of Moody Radio, Chicago, USA, alerted the new ambassadors to be mindful of the giants they have left back home and at work. He encouraged them to hold on when the brooks dry up in their lives. Using his famous “Os” he charged the participants to “Open up, be obedient, be obstinate and be optimistic” in the face of scarcity.

One after the other, participants took turns to collect their certificate and to shake hands with Rev. Theo Asare and Collin Lambert, leaders of the team from Theovision and Moody Radio respectfully. Participants proudly displayed their certificates and showed not the honors they had received from the training but how proud they are of the Global Partners Training brand that has become a household name in the Christian media circles in Ghana and beyond. The joy of Fifi Folson, host of sunset drive on Sunny FM, Ghana’s premiere Christian radio station and his colleague Jennifer Jessica Danquah Agyei (JJD) could not be curtailed. JJD, in an interview with Theovision Media, said “If I had known last year what I have learnt here, I wouldn’t have made some mistakes I did.”

Other key Christian media organizations in Africa including TWR from Benin and IBRA Media from Togo were heavily represented. It was really encouraging to see a participant travel all the way from Madagascar to attend the training. In all, there were 197 participants from 15 African countries at the meeting. No matter where they came from, or their level of professionalism, all the participants shared the same assessments about the training. They have been revived, they have learnt new things and have rehearsed old ones.

At the closing ceremony, participants were awed by some video and radio short features, created and produced by some of the participants at the training. Jon Gauger, a facilitator from Moody Radio, guided his class to produce a real short church feature for a real church. As the beautifully narrated spot came to a stop, Rev. Theo Asare, founder and CEO of Theovision was spotted all smiles and happily surprised. Apparently, the church being advertised in the spot, Christian Life Mission Church, was his church. Loud cheers went up from the crowd for the beautiful short feature and also for the Visioneer, Rev. Asare, whose vision of bringing quality media training to African is yielding immediate dividends that all could see and hear.

It was a night full of surprises and some participants walked away with gifts from Moody Radio after answering some question about what they had learnt for the past four days. As if that was not enough, there some great news for participants from Ghana. Rev. Theo Asare announced that, out from this Global Partners Training, a new movement has been birthed known as Christian Religious Broadcasters’ Association. The purpose of this group will be to institute a Christian Religious Broadcasters Awards that will recognize and award Christian media professionals who excel in their various fields. The first awards will be in December and participants are already excited about it.

The Global Partners Training was organized by Theovision International with their Partners Moody Radio, from the USA and Reach Beyond (Formerly HCJB). Moody Radio is one of the largest Christian radio networks in the USA with over 36 stations.

‍