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New Lebanese Christian radio station reaching hundreds of thousands of listeners

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – An Protestant-led radio station that was launched in Lebanon at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic is now bringing worship music and Biblical content to hundreds of thousands of Lebanese struggling with the ongoing devastating effects of sectarian division and political and economic chaos, Christianity Today (CT) reports.

BeLight FM radio took to the airwaves on Thanksgiving Day 2020 as an Arab Christian ecumenical effort that would bring the Good News of salvation and highlight unity among the diverse denominations of the Body of Christ.

“We seek to be an encouragement to believers, and a voice for anyone seeking to understand Christ,” Emad Dabbour, founder and CEO of Lighthouse Arab World, which owns and fundraises for BeLight, told CT. Indeed, 40 percent of BeLight podcasts are now downloaded by listeners in Saudi Arabia.

At first, BeLight played 90 percent worship music, including well-known English language pieces and Egyptian compositions that are popular in Arab evangelical churches, CT reports. Now, the station has progressed to airing almost 50 percent spoken content, including not only recordings of sermons by Lebanese pastors but also original content such as weekly talk shows. “If we only play worship songs, listeners will be believers,” Noor Botrus, station manager, told CT. “But we want to broadcast to everyone, and talk shows can draw them in,” Botrus said.

Officially registered as a cultural radio station, BeLight has a policy not to criticize other religions or to air political views. “We are trying our best,” Mireille Eid, host of BeLight’s first talk show, Thought for Tomorrow, told CT. “People are happy listening to a message of hope, not just all bad news.”