Working Opportunity

When I heard from President Matthew Kirk the names of Brad and Kandus Thorp, a light sparked in my mind. It was a vivid memory of a TV crew arriving at Mountain View College in the Philippines to set up the NET satellite series as part of a worldwide evangelistic outreach program.

President Kirk mentioned that the Thorps were coming to visit their family who are serving as medical missionaries on Guam. At the same time, they were offering to conduct a leadership training for the pastors and elders of the Guam-Micronesia Mission. I took it as a working opportunity.

With less than a month to prepare for the training program, a committee prepared to put the plan on the table for the project. What developed was a bigger opportunity for evangelism!

Our Speaker

But first, who is Brad Thorp? He is known as a man full of vision and courage. He has spent 45 years in ministry fulfilling various capacities. Along wife his wife Kandus, he was the co-founding president of Hope Channel, the Adventist Church’s leading television network that has a global reach. He began religious television programming in 1993 with the coordination of the Net 95 satellite uplinks for Mark Finley’s evangelistic series. That was the beginning of public evangelism in the digital era. A few short years later, Net 98, featuring Andrews University Pastor Dwight Nelson from Berrien Springs, Michigan, would prove how effective the digital media platform was for worldwide evangelism campaigns. 

The General Conference selected the name “Hope Channel” in 2003 and it has grown to more than 70 full-time channels that broadcast in 41 languages to areas including Europe and South America. Thorp last served as an Assistant for Evangelism to GC President Ted Wilson where he “seized every opportunity” to bring his passion for public evangelism to the fore. Through one of his initiatives in 2011, the Hope Channel Philippines began in Mindanao where it continues to provide a strong presence across the nation. General Conference President Ted Wilson’s visit to the Philippines last year highlighted the impact of digital evangelism with 28,784 baptisms.

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Three online programs

Brad Thorp’s training for pastors and elders is a trademark of his ministry. Using the theme "Growing God's Spiritual Garden", the first GMM ministerial training of its kind was held over Zoom. Pastors, elders, and church leaders attended virtually on Sunday, January 23th, with a total of 37 screens representing the different islands of the GMM territory. Elder Thorp dwelt on the topics “Seven Secrets of Growing a Church” and “The Use of Media in Evangelism”.

Kandus Thorp labored alongside her husband to establish the Hope Channel network. She and her teams received seven Telly Awards in recognition of their creative excellence. She is well known on Hope Channel’s popular music series “My Story, My Song” and live TV program “Let’s Pray”. On January 21st and 22nd, she conducted lectures on the theme “Forgive and Thrive” which was livestreamed from the Ordot Seventh-day Adventist Church on Guam. The weekend program was sponsored by the GMM Women’s Ministry Department and was well received among viewers throughout our territory.

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After the above programs, the Thorp family launched the “Discover Hope” evangelistic sermons over two weekends from the Agana Heights Seventh-day Adventist Church on Guam. Beginning with short health presentations by his son, Dr. Jonathon Thorp, Brad launched into a mini-revival series featuring Bible prophecy. The audience was invited to submit their questions either in-person and online for Elder Thorp and Dr. Thorp to address. Many members in the islands watched the presentations together from their churches. The different islands of GMM included Saipan, Tinian, Palau, and Yap who joined the meetings through Facebook Live. The comments testified of the online reach, with viewers from the United States, the Philippines, Scotland, and Saudi Arabia. Now, only a few weeks later, the online recordings have already been viewed thousands of times!
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On behalf of the pastoral team of Guam-Micronesia Mission, we would like to express our sincerest thanks and deep gratitude to Pastor Brad and Kandus Thorp for their wholehearted support of the mission work in the GMM region.