December 15, 2005

PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. – The Christian Reformed Church announced today that it will no longer produce its award-winning weekly television program Primary Focus in order to direct resources into other areas of media ministry.

The decision was made by the Board of the Back to God Hour (BTGH), the electronic media ministry of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, at its meeting on Dec. 12.

The BTGH Board announced that production of new Primary Focus programming will cease effective immediately. Programs already produced will continue to air as long as markets are available.

Rev. Robert Heerspink, the interim director of the Back to God Hour, said that although Primary Focus won many awards for quality and has been aired on a growing number of stations across the United States and Canada, it has been increasingly difficult to fund the program at the levels required for high-quality television production.

Heerspink noted that in recent years the Back to God Hour has shifted additional resources into international broadcasting initiatives because of great international response. In addition to English, the Back to God Hour has radio broadcasts around the globe in Arabic, Chinese, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Heerspink said the Board's decision does not signal a retreat from media ministry in North America. The Back to God Hour is currently working on employing new web-based ministry outlets, including pod-casting and web-casting, as well as video programming.

He said the Back to God Hour also is continuing to explore partnerships and ministry opportunities that would open the way for new initiatives in North American and international English language broadcasting.

The Christian Reformed Church