''It Is Written'' is an internationally broadcast

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbat ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

television program founded in 1956 by George Vandeman. Its title comes from the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...

: "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The programs are produced by the Adventist Media Center in California. ''It Is Written'' was the first religious television program to air in color, and the first to take advantage of satellite technology. The program broadcasts to millions of viewers in more than 140 countries.

History

The program aired in March 1956 with founder Pastor George Vandeman as speaker. It made history as the first religious telecast to air in color. Over the next half-century, ''It Is Written'' grew exponentially. Under Pastor Vandeman's direction, It Is Written entered many new evangelism arenas. His live “Revelation Seminars” attracted tens of thousands of eager visitors, and the telecast entered millions of homes in numerous countries. In 1991, Vandeman retired, and Pastor Mark Finley accepted the position as the ministry's new speaker/director. He also shared Pastor Vandeman's vision for evangelism, and in 1995 made history with a satellite evangelistic series called ''NET ’95''. NET ’96 followed one year later, and whereas ''NET ’95'' had targeted North America, ''NET ’96'' reached the world with messages in 13 languages. It is estimated that 2,200 churches from 45 countries participated in at least one of the ''NETs'', and more than 30,000 people were baptized at the conclusion of the meetings. ''It Is Written'' was the first major Christian ministry to utilize satellite uplink technology. The next major It Is Written satellite effort took place from 1999 through 2001 with ''ACTS 2000'', when the ministry covered the entire globe with multiple satellite meetings. Pastor Finley conducted a total of 10 series to a combined audience of 3 million people. By this time, the program's reach had expanded by leaps and bounds. Although hundreds of other Christian broadcasts had flooded the airwaves, It Is Written maintained its rank as one of the top 10 religious programs in North America and received more than 30 awards for excellence in programming. It Is Written entered a new era in January 2005 as Pastor Shawn Boonstra became the third speaker/director. Finley passed the mantle to Boonstra with his blessing. Pastor Boonstra came to the It Is Written headquarters from It Is Written Canada, where he had served as speaker/director for four years. As someone who joined the Adventist Church after attending an It Is Written evangelistic series, Pastor Boonstra passionately believes in the mission of the ministry. The next five years were a whirlwind of outreach via technology and public evangelism. Pastor Boonstra's ''Revelation Speaks Peace'' evangelistic series in cities like Phoenix, Portland, Los Angeles, India, and Rome energized attendees and church members alike with the hope in Christ that is revealed through the final book of the Bible. In January 2011, Pastor John Bradshaw was named new speaker/director for It Is Written. In May 2011, Bradshaw conducted a short series live from Las Vegas called ''Babylon Rising''. This effort was broadcast worldwide via satellite and the Internet. Following the success of the ''Babylon Rising'' series, Bradshaw presented a month-long series called ''Revelation Today'' live from the Cashman Center in Las Vegas in January 2012. He followed this series with meetings in Paris, Dayton, Southern Mexico, Costa Rica, Prague, New York, Charlotte and more.

Ministry facts

''It Is Written'' can be viewed each week in approximately 7,000 cities in the United States and 700 cities in Canada. The telecast's reach extends to at least 140 countries. An average of 1.5 million people view the North American telecast each week and the program consistently ranks as one of the top 10 religious programs in the United States according to the

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

. In addition to broadcasting on regular network and cable stations, the telecast regularly airs on six satellite networks:

Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN; legally Trinity Broadcasting of Texas, Inc.) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN solicits donations on its Web site, a ...

, the

Hope Channel Hope Channel International, Inc. is a Christian lifestyle television network and is a subsidiary company of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The network operates globally, with more than 80 Hope Channels worldwide, each prov ...

, and

3ABN The Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN) is a Christian media television and radio network which broadcasts Seventh-day Adventist religious, music and health-oriented programming, based in West Frankfort, Illinois, United States. Altho ...

. ''It Is Written'' has an inventory of over 1,100 recorded programs, with at least 36 new broadcasts produced each year. Over the last 50 years, the ministry has received 30 Angel Awards, 10 Telly Awards, and three Aurora Awards.

Outreach

Several Bible study tools on the It Is Written site include “The Discover Bible Guides," "New Beginnings," "Unsealing Daniel's Mysteries," and "The Search for Certainty." In 2004, ''It Is Written''—in conjunction with the Joni and Friends ministry—shipped wheelchairs to

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

in an effort to assist with a shortage in local hospitals. The ministry partnered with the Pilgrim Relief Society in 2006 to deliver 1,500 “Godpods” to the

San people The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are the members of any of the indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures of southern Africa, and the oldest surviving cultures of the region. They are thought to have diverged from other humans 100,000 to 200 ...

of the

Kalahari Desert The Kalahari Desert is a large semiarid climate, semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering including much of Botswana as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African ...

. Since the San people have no written language, these solar-powered devices—which are the size of a garage door opener—contain the entire Bible in the clicking San language. In addition to this Bible project, ''It Is Written'' is also building solar-powered water wells to help the San people combat the problem of dehydration. In 2007, ''It Is Written'' traveled to the Arctic to deliver hundreds of Bibles in

Inuktitut Inuktitut ( ; , Inuktitut syllabics, syllabics ), also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the North American tree line, including parts of the provinces of ...

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

who live in remote areas.

''It Is Written'' on the internet

''It Is Written'' became one of the first Christian television programs to broadcast free video podcasts via

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

in 2006. On Sept. 3, 2007, the ministry launched a daily (Monday – Friday) internet-based devotional program called ''A Better Way to Live''. The tagline for the online program is "A daily spiritual boost for busy people" and in each program, Boonstra takes one Bible verse and applies it to daily lif

This was followed by Bradshaw's launch of a daily one-minute "Every Word" devotional in 201

It Is Written TV network is available on Internet,

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(current and future models),

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and other means.

''It Is Written'' on mobile

''It Is Written'' offers email sign-ups, gifting opportunities, access to weekly programs and more, via its mobile presence. In 2011, the mobile site won both a Silver W3 Award and a Silver Davey Award in the category of Best Mobile Website. The mobile site was designed and developed by Trinet Internet Solutions.

References

External links