Successful Innovative Outreach in Tirana -- Premiere CTE Live Streaming in TED Territory

05 March 2013 Tirana, Albania [Julian Kastrati, tedNEWS] The weekend of 1-3 March was indeed unique and had an immense impact on the Adventist Church in Albania. For three evenings, "Connect to Escape", a LIFEconnect Stream event featuring Dr Miroslav Pujic, Trans-European Division (TED) Internet Ministries Director, was launched very successfully in downtown Tirana.

This type of evangelistic outreach was notably the first of its kind in Albania but also in the TED territory. The format proved very impressive, innovative and engaging, both for the hall audience as well as for online viewers. The three evenings of broadcasts were themed "Connect to Escape" ("Is There Any Hope for Us?"). They focused on Trust ("Is God Doing His Job?"), Forgiveness ("Should I Forgive Someone Who Hurt Me?") and Hope("End of the World. Really?") and have since been uploaded on YouTube.

The church in Tirana as well as the LIFEconnect Albania team had spent months preparing for the high-profile event which took place in the Hotel Tirana International.  Over 100 non-Adventists attended the meetings excluding Tirana-based church members and local staff. Among the audience, there were representatives of Albania's Presidential Office, A Member of Parliament (who is a church member in Central Tirana), the Director of Culture for the City of Tirana, as well as TV personalities.

Throughout Albania, an additional twelve organised groups, met in churches or homes and interacted with the chat moderators. Around 100 people participated in chatting with our moderators regarding the topics and what was going on in the programme. Overall, about 1000 non-Adventists followed the programme online.

The event's live streaming enabled many others to watch the programme from the comfort of their own homes not only in Albania, but also throughout the whole world. With viewers from over 15 countries in Europe, Americas, and Asia. "Just to give an idea about the impact of the online streaming, I received a report that an organised group of 17 watched all three evenings from Offenbach, Germany" reported Gentian Thomollari, one of the chat moderators, who also added that "120 contacts viewed the programme from Elbasan alone (a city in Central Albania).

The Adventist Church in Albania and the Internet Ministries have a strong presence on the Internet, and particularly Facebook. The advert for the event produced by tedMEDIA Productions was shown over 3 million times on the LIFEconnect.al page and it was seen by 286,476 people and 3,210 people shared, liked or, made some other actions on the page.

"LIFEconnect reached the point of enjoying the fruits of the hard work of Julian [Kastrati], the [Albania] Web Pastor and the Mission team," said Dr Pujic. "I want to praise God for the success of this initiative, as well as the team in Tirana andtedMEDIA who did an excellent job."

Reflecting on this unique experience, Pr Leo Espana President of the Albanian Mission noted: “From Tirana city to the entire country and abroad, many persons were reached with a message of hope and salvation in the privacy of their homes. I am deeply grateful to God for this initiative. Certainly, God is preparing His church in Albania for greater things to happen: " Pr Espana continues quoting: “’…so is My word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.’" (Isaiah 55:11)

Needless to say, the feedback from in-hall and online viewers was tremendously positive. Lorena Idrizi, who has started baptismal studies with Pr Kastrati, brought her two cousins and two close friends. She could not hide her excitement online as she said: "I feel the blessing of God, as I reflect on the presentations of Professor Miroslav. I am challenged to be a better person and to trust God much more because He alone provides hope for us!"  Also Qashif Imeri, an Albanian from Macedonia, commented online: "These were three of the most joyous evenings od my life. May God bless the organisers for providing such quality content and bringing us closer to God. It's particularly beautiful to watch and hear everything in the Albanian language".

"The Lord has blessed so abundantly!" said Pr Julian Kastrati, who was responsible for the event and who coordinates Internet Ministries in Albania. "I feel very privileged to be a part of the LIFEconnect family, and I want to wholeheartedly thank Dr Pujic, Mirjana Tesanovic Kicusic, the tedMEDIA team, as well as our local staff and group of digital missionaries. I am overwhelmed by the growing sense of ownership of the church in Tirana. So many brought their relatives and close friends to the programme, showing strong support for this initiative. We have received such positive feedback that we're keen to have Dr Pujic and the team return to Albania to feature similar programmes on a regular basis.

For more information about LIFEconnect Albania and its Facebook presence, visit http://www.lifeconnect.al and https://www.facebook.com/LIFEconnectALBANIA. To see more photos from the event, please click here. [tedNEWS].