"A Voice in the Darkness"

Don Graham
International Mission Board

In Suriname's capital city, a Cessna 206 shudders to life. Southern Baptist missionary Brittany Shirey arranges her two young sons in the aircraft's backseat; neither seems to mind the deafening roar filling the cramped cabin. But the boys' father isn't as relaxed. Riding shotgun, Charles Shirey is all too familiar with the bumpy flight ahead.

Moments later the single-engine plane claws its way into Paramaribo's humid afternoon sky. Crowded city streets soon surrender to a vast expanse of green. The plane heads deep into Suriname's remote rainforest, bound for a grass airstrip in Drietabbetje - the heart of the Aukan nation and home to the Shireys' ministry, Radio Paakati.

"These people live steeped in darkness," Shirey says, "in fear their ancestors will come back and haunt them; fear spirits will possess them." Like their West African ancestors, they are animists - spirit worshippers.

No doubt need for the Gospel is great here. Among the 15,000 Aukaners who live along the Tapanahoni River, Shirey estimates fewer than 50 are believers. Before Radio Paakati was built, this people knew nothing of Jesus or the Bible. After four years of broadcasting, Shirey says that is changing.

Three days after landing in Drietabbetje, heavy rain swells the Tapanahoni. Aukaners see it often, but this is different. As they sleep, the river creeps silently into their homes. They awake to a deluge - more than 10,000 square miles swamped by floodwaters.

Aukaners know where to turn for help. Battery-powered radios in hand, they tune in 88.3 FM, the frequency for Radio Paakati. Suddenly, radios crackle as Paakati's daily broadcast begins. The news is first and it's a mixed bag. Food, gasoline and medical supplies are on the way, but forecasters call for more rain.

Draped in a red poncho, Shirey slogs his way through several inches of water to the station's studio. It's now nearly 7 p.m. - time for the Bible hour, which he hosts. A computer monitor casts a glow across the dimly lit room as he sits behind a plywood desk outfitted with a small soundmixer and modest recording equipment. Shirey pulls a microphone close, and with the touch of a button, his familiar baritone voice begins to resonate in thousands of homes along the Tapanahoni River.

Speaking perfect Aukan, Shirey tells listeners the story of Noah. He explains that only Jesus, the one true God, can stop the flooding. He closes by asking every Aukaner to pray for God's miraculous intervention.

To some, the idea of building a radio station in the middle of the jungle sounded impossible, to others just plain crazy: broadcasting the Gospel to people who don't even have electricity, much less radios. But the strategy makes perfect sense to Shirey.

Most Aukaners can't read, he explains, which means word of mouth is the only way to teach them about the Bible. Mobility is another problem. Although they have no roads, Aukaners are constantly on the move, traveling up and down the Tapanahoni River. "It takes a month to do a (chronological Bible) storying tract," Shirey explains. "How do you keep people in one place for a month? We thought, 'That's easy. Let's do it by radio.' It doesn't matter where they go, if they bring their radio with them, then we're with them, too."

Lots of 'leg work'

Shirey's witness doesn't end behind a DJ's desk - there's also legwork. "We go out physically and talk to these people," he says. "The radio station is just one tool in the whole shed."

Shirey says he believes Radio Paakati's real value is building common ground for the Gospel.

"When we go and witness to people, they've already heard the Bible stories, and we can just comment about them and relate to them," he says. "The majority of Aukaners, right now ... couldn't stand before God and say, 'We didn't know who Jesus was; we never heard His name before.'"

Shirey says he's amazed how God is using Radio Paakati to impact Aukaners. He recalls witnessing to an Aukan village captain. While Shirey explained how God created Adam and Eve, the captain interrupted, finishing the story himself. The man told Shirey he had heard it on the radio.

"I thought, 'Wow, this radio is really working for us,'" Shirey says. "They not only know the stories, but repeat them almost perfectly. They're part of their life now. They love talking about these stories."

Some Aukaners have even become believers simply by listening to the radio broadcasts. An Aukan pastor told Shirey an elderly man who had staunchly opposed the Gospel came to church one Sunday. As the pastor witnessed to him, the man agreed, telling the pastor he already believed in Jesus. When the pastor asked where he had heard the Savior's story, the man answered "Radio Paakati.""We would never be able to reach older people like this man (in person)," Shirey says. "To bypass all of the culture and logistical problems to bring them the Gospel would be almost impossible, but the radio goes right into their homes."

Because Aukan villages are so remote, Radio Paakati doesn't have any competition. That's just the way Shirey wants it.

"We are the radio station for the interior," he stresses. "We probably have 99 percent of all Aukaners listening to us. And the other 1 percent is because their batteries just ran out."

Shirey adds that Aukaners' willingness to buy their own portable radios shows how much they value the station. In fact, Paakati's fans are so devoted, many make 11 p.m. their bedtime - when the station signs off for the night.

Though he hasn't yet seen a reproducible church-planting movement begin among the Aukaners, Shirey knows it's only a matter of time before the culture's group mentality reaches a tipping point."We're going to see huge numbers of people come to Christ," he says. "It's going to take time for entire villages to come to that decision. It's going to take a movement of the Holy Spirit. We have the Gospel being transmitted to every person in their heart language. We have evangelism that's going on in the field. We're working on discipleship. ... When God's ready, and He knows the people are ready, He's going to move among them."

Want to help reach the Aukan people for Christ? Volunteer! "Volunteers have been a huge part of our ministry here," Charles Shirey says. "There are so many opportunities to come and be a part of what God is doing in Suriname."

The missionaries need prayerwalkers, evangelism teams, even soccer players, to be Jesus' witnesses to the Aukaners. Learn more at imb.org or call (800) 999-3113.