What's New

Over the years, the Sandbeks have undertaken several mission projects around the world. In 2004 they built the first Christian radio station in southern Belize, Central America. Miraculously, the station was built from the ground up and was operational within seven months. Since their return to the US, they've sought out ways they can assist in furthering this powerful means of sharing the Gospel. Below is a summary of the projects they've been involved in.

Dominican Republic Mission Trip

January 10 – February 3, 2014

It's hard to believe it's been over 5 years since we've been on a mission's trip. We've been willing, but nothing presented itself until an old friend of Dale's from church, Wayne Lynch, and his wife, Carol, came to visit. They are volunteer missionaries with Crossworld and work and live, most of the time, in the Dominican. Their daughter and her husband have been there for 19 years. He is the pastor of a Spanish church.

Wayne is an incredible facilitator, keeping abreast of the ministry needs there and connecting various people based on their abilities with those needs. Knowing Dale is gifted with fixing and figuring things and Barbara can minister in song and teaching, he asked if we would be willing to spend 3 weeks doing just that. The real draw for us, though, was that a Christian school for impoverished children was in the process of being built and they needed physical labor to help get it ready in 7 months.

So we did all of the above. Dale worked with a team to install a sound system in a church, tweaked the air conditioners at an existing Christian school, met with Wayne and several Christian business men to encourage them with ideas to improve their business, assisted with a Bible study in a prison and prepped/painted walls in the new school.

Barb sang in 5 church services (one of the three songs in Spanish), conducted a Bible study, read to kids in the Christian school, did some admin work and was asked to give tips to 2 praise teams. That was the highlight of her trip. They really wanted to know how to improve their presentation.

Here's what we learned:

• The Believers there are passionate about the Lord and their faith. Church is their life. It was refreshing to see this. Though we didn't understand what they were saying, their love for Jesus came shining through. Long services were not a problem for them.
• Everyone hugs and kisses — even strangers. And they don't care if you just "drop in." Miss that in the US. We could get used to that.
• We felt loved and appreciated even though most of the people were young. Miss that in the US, too.
• We met Maria, who fed one of the pastors while his wife was away. She fed us, too. We didn't know much Spanish, and she didn't know any English, but somehow we connected. She prayed the most beautiful prayer over us.

Our prayer is that our work and words blessed everyone we came into contact with. We feel our ministry is geared to encouragement and we are very comfortable in this capacity, even in difficult living conditions. Praise God for opportunities!

Africa Mission Trip

September 9 – October 7, 2008

We spent almost a month in South Africa working with Trans World Radio. It was truly a blessing to meet and fellowship with many of their missionaries. They are totally dedicated to the task of ensuring that the equipment is up and running and the broadcasts are of good quality. Since the Johannesburg site is the main office for all their operations in Africa, we were privileged to be able to talk with and work alongside more missionaries than ever before. There are 40 people on staff, some are paid nationals — but all have a real heart for the work.

Hearing the broadcasts being transmitted and watching how hard the folks worked to get God's Word out to the millions of people, gave us a renewed sense of the importance of the work we do to produce our radio programs. It's a small window of time, but we pour much Scripture into it. God's Word is what changes lives. We are thrilled to be a part of such a fine organization's schedule, and most of all to be part of God's plan to reach the masses.

We could tell people were praying, and believe us, we were glad. The Lord kept us safe, even though the crime there is very high and most of the time, violent. We developed a heightened awareness of the need to pray for SAFETY for the Missionaries there. They sacrifice just to be a missionary in a foreign field, but the security issues can be overwhelming. One missionary couple had their car hijacked, their house robbed, and a poisonous 9-foot snake in their home — all in a matter of a few months!

We spent some time in Swaziland. During our stay there, a new $150,000, 100,000 watt transmitter was delivered. It had been nine years since they'd had a new one, so the excitement level was high. It was something to realize that God's Word is going to go out from that piece of equipment and that many people's eternal destiny will be affected by it.

Guam Mission Trip

October 28 – November 16, 2007

Our trip to Guam to assist Trans World Radio with several projects has left us with long remembered blessings of sweet fellowship, great teamwork, well received concerts, pleasant people, breath-taking scenes of God's magnificent creation, and a renewed excitement for the work of the Lord. It was indeed more than we expected.

The thrill of actually working at the TWR site where five 100,000 watt FM short-wave transmitters are beaming God's Word to millions of people is beyond description. What an awesome privilege it was for us to work alongside such dedicated and gifted missionaries and feel their heartbeat for the work, not only at the site, but in their respective churches as well. Our Grace Notes radio program is actually aired from this location.

We were able to conduct four concerts there, which was something unique for this land. They had never experienced a full presentation of music coupled with Scripture before. It was humbling to be received so well.

Working at the site was a real blessing, too. We helped them complete several projects they couldn't get to for lack of personnel. One was the moving of a large stretch of fence around the transmitter field. This involved heavy labor in the intense sun. They needed to complete this before their FCC license could be renewed. The transmitter room needed a face-lift — nothing had been done to it since the 70's. We helped them bust up the tile and painted walls and doors. Dale also worked on the transmitters and Barbara responded to some listener letters and shared the Gospel message with them.

Belize Mission Trip — Building the First Christian Radio Station

January 7 – July 22, 2004

In 2004, we undertook the task to build the first Christian radio station in southern Belize, Central America. Miraculously, the station was built from the ground up and was operational within seven months. The following is a journal of that experience.

The Beginning (January 2004)

We arrived in Belize on January 6th. Within three days, our missionary friends introduced us to Bob Farley, who had received a call from the Lord to start a station here some 5 years ago. It took him 4 years to get the license and since that time he had been given some equipment and a tower. He'd been praying for someone to come and put it all together!

We bought a reliable 1989 Chrysler Fifth Avenue (we named her "Bessie"), secured a work permit, and began connecting with ministries willing to send programming. We met Wallace, a Christian School teacher who had a calling from the Lord 4 years ago to be a station manager — even when there was no station!

Construction (April 2004)

In the first 4 months, the Lord accomplished what would normally take a year. It reminded us of when Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in only 52 days. Two mission teams — one from Texas and one from Canada — came to help with construction. No one was hurt.

The building went up and under roof. The base for the tower was hand dug, 9 ft. deep and almost 7 ft. square — taking 75 bags of cement to fill. When it was done we etched Proverbs 18:10 in it: "The Name of the Lord is a strong tower!" On March 31st, with the help of 15 men, the tower was raised — about 90 ft. high.

The following day, Dale performed a test transmission for about 2 hours, telling people about Harvest Radio — 99.9 FM — where they can find "Food for Life." The signal reached loud and clear into Punta Gorda town, which we weren't sure it would reach because of the mountains!

On the Air (June 2004)

On June 8th we began preliminary broadcasting, running from 7 AM to 7 PM most days. Wallace joined us on June 22nd and really knew what he was doing. He loaded programs and music in the computer and we began running it automated. We then realized we had worked ourselves out of a job!

The station began receiving listener mail almost immediately:

Mission Complete

We returned home to the USA, having completed what we set out to do in Belize in record time. God orchestrated everything so we'd know it was time to leave. In retrospect, we now see why it was important to be there in January — had it started later in the year, the rainy season would have delayed it for a very long time.

We know the teaching of God's Word will make a difference in the lives of radio listeners anywhere it is broadcast, as was evidenced by the letters we received from listeners to our Grace Notes program in Nigeria and India, saying how much they were blessed by the message — especially the Scripture. God's Word is powerful!