Genre Religious broadcasting Country of origin United States | Created by George Vandeman Running time 30 minutes | |
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Presented by George Vandeman (1956–1991)
Mark Finley (1991–2004)
Shawn Boonstra (2004–2011)
John Bradshaw (2011–present) Location(s) Thousand Oaks, California (1956–1995)
Simi Valley, California (1995–2014)
Chattanooga, Tennessee (2014–present) | ||
It Is Written is an internationally broadcast Seventh-day Adventist Christian television program founded in 1956 by George Vandeman. Its title comes from the Gospel of Matthew: "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.
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It Is Written was the first religious 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. Pastor Shawn Boonstra also worked at ministry until elected as the new speaker/director of the Voice of Prophecy. He served for seven years as speaker/director for It Is Written, presenting its telecasts and daily online devotional messages, as well as conducting dozens of major evangelistic campaigns on every continent but Antarctica.
It Is Written was the first major Christian ministry to utilize satellite uplink technology. During the ministry’s 10-country, three-year “ACTS 2000” effort, more than 3 million people attended at least one downlink location.
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.
In addition to broadcasting on regular network and cable stations, the telecast regularly airs on six satellite networks: Trinity Broadcasting Network, Family Net, Safe TV, LLBN, the Hope Channel, and 3ABN.
It Is Written’s international telecast is produced in nine languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian. Coming soon in Tamil and Hindi.
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 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 of the Kalahari Desert. 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 the Inuktitut language to Inuit people 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 in 2006.
On Sept. 3, 2007, the ministry launched a daily (Monday - Friday) 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 life.[1]
This was followed by Bradshaw's launch of a daily one-minute "Every Word" devotional in 2011.[2]
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.