Broadcasting the Gospel to Remote Alaskan Villages

When Mike Arena realized he and his family were becoming too busy in life, they took a sabbatical and prayed about what God had in store next. That’s when Mike received an email from his dad with a request that would take him and his wife far away from their comfortable life in Georgia. 

Today, Mike and his wife are missionaries in Alaska’s rugged wilderness, where Mike serves as a Christian radio broadcaster helping to spread the Gospel to some of America’s most remote communities.  

Discover how this couple’s leap of faith led them from comfort, to the frontier of ministry on this episode of GPS: God. People Stories. 

Connect with us through email at gps@billygraham.org or on Facebook at Billy Graham Radio. 

If you’d like to know more about beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ, or deepening the faith you already have, visit FindPeacewithGod.net. 

If you’d like to pray with someone, call our Billy Graham 24/7 Prayer Line at 855-255-7729. 

Transcript

Mike Arena: 
[00:00:00] That Sunday morning, we were home. We prayed; we were able to watch a service. And then, I got an email from dad just like dozens of previous emails about the ministry. And that they still needed people. That one just hit differently. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:00:17] That email led Mike Arena and his wife, Valerie, to become full-time missionaries in Alaska. Today, Mike serves as the executive directive of a gospel radio network called Voice for Christ. You’ll hear how God is using Mike’s ministry to reach people in some of the most remote places in the United States. It’s on this episode of GPS: God. People. Stories. An outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I’m Jim Kirkland. Mike Arena’s calling to operate a Christian radio station in Alaska is unique in many ways, but all followers of Jesus Christ have one calling in common. And that is to share Jesus’ gospel message explaining just how important it is for people to hear the gospel. 

Billy Graham:
[00:01:01] The greatest commission that Christ ever gave was to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Jesus Christ knew that the gospel and the gospel alone would solve the problems and ills of the world. The gospel alone has light for a world of darkness.   

Jim Kirkland:
[00:01:17] You’ll hear more on the importance of telling people about Jesus from Billy Graham a little later in this episode. And if you’re curious about how the gospel of Jesus Christ can solve the problems of the world, we have answers. You can find them at our website FindPeacewithGod.net. That’s FindPeacewithGod.net. And as always, we have the link to the website in our show notes. 

Audio tag:
[00:01:42]

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:01:47] In 2014, Mike and Valerie Arena were praying about their next season of life. Their children were nearly grown, and they realized their lives were about to look quite different. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:01:59] The final child, she does not like being called the caboose, but our caboose was 17. We knew she was going to turn 18 in, uh, 2015. And so, that was the last of the homeschooled kids. And there was kind of a natural point there of something could change. 

Jim Kirkland:
[00:02:16] At the time, Mike was working in sales and busy with church commitments. He decided his family needed a reset. 

Mike Arena:  
[00:02:23] There was just no margin. We did a lot of things at church. And it was amazing, right. I love doing it. But I went to the pastor and told him we’re taking a sabbatical. Before my nuclear family goes nuclear, we need to spend some time together. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:02:38] That was the beginning of May 2014. At that point, Mike and his family stepped back from their volunteering to spend time together as a family. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:02:47] And I did the youth group. I think I was the oldest youth group pastor in Georgia. Did bus ministry. So, all of those things were just very time consuming. So, we focused for a little bit.  

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:02:57] In the meantime, the rest of his family continued to meet, worship, and pray together.  

Mike Arena: 
[00:03:03] And that’s when that prayer, very dangerous prayer, became, uh, one of our favorites. Okay, Lord, what’s next? And it was through a lot of prayer and time together. We felt His leading into mission and ministry of some sort. Had no idea what. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:03:21] Their answer came on Labor Day weekend. Mike, Valerie, and the kids were spending the holiday in the North Carolina mountains. 

Mike Arena:  
[00:03:28] That Sunday morning, we were home. We prayed. We were able to watch a service. And then, I got an email from dad just like dozens of previous emails about the ministry. And that they still needed people. That one just hit differently. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:03:45] Mike tapped Valerie on the shoulder to come read the email saying you’re not going to believe this. The email was about a need for missionaries for Voice for Christ Ministries, an Alaskan radio ministry that Mike’s dad was involved with.  

Mike Arena:  
[00:04:00] He was aware of the ministry. He came up and volunteered in the summers of 2010, 2011. And by 2014, they had put him on the board. And he would every once in a while send out an email to just a goo-gobble of people just telling about the needs of the ministry and kind of what’s going on. And I was on that list. But I grew up in Florida. Alaska’s for crazy people. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:04:23] Little did Mike know he was about to become one of those crazy people. He and Valerie prayed about joining Voice for Christ. And they filled out an application. Then, a few months later, they received a phone call from someone there telling them more about how they provide Christian radio to native and rural Alaskans.  

Mike Arena: 
[00:04:42] From there, he said you need to come up. You need to try to plan to spend several months here. And it needs to be in the winter. Everybody likes the summer here. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:04:51] So, Mike and Valerie braced themselves for an Alaskan winter. They arranged a five week stay since Mike couldn’t leave his job for three months. A shorter time in Alaska would just have to do. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:05:02] Our prayer while here was please, God, no hinting. Not good at hints. And, uh, this was a very, very big deal. But He was very gracious. And He answered that while we were here in Alaska in that winter of 2015.  

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:05:17] This time, Mike’s answer to prayer came through a phone call from his work back in Georgia. They were letting Mike go from his job due to financial issues. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:05:27] I did not have a job to go back to when we went back home. And so, we set about fundraising immediately.  

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:05:34] Mike and Valerie needed to raise support. A completely new experience for them. Despite Mike having never been on a missions trip before, in January of 2015, he and Valerie packed up their bags and left their home in Georgia. And their reaction as Alaska’s newest residents was different than you might imagine. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:05:54] We absolutely loved it. And if I had known that my wife loved the cold and snow as much, we would have done that 30 years earlier. But we landed in Fairbanks in the middle of the night because that’s the only flight you could afford. Got in about 2:00 a.m. That next morning, we were standing on this little balcony of the hotel where the ministry had put us up until somebody could come get us. And across the highway there was the airport. And there was a little time, date, temperature sign on the airport. And it said 42 below zero.  

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:06:27] That frigid temperature, 42° below zero caused an unexpected delay.  

Mike Arena: 
[00:06:34] The former director of the ministry had a nice Jeep. But here’s what he told us, he says you’re going to need to stay another night in the hotel. My Jeep doesn’t run well at 35 below or colder. Tomorrow, it’ll be warmer. It’s only 25 below. And so, we did. We stayed an extra day at that hotel and just walked around. We walked out on the Chena River because it’s frozen solid. And it was just very, very different. Plastic, uh, even in a car door, if you open a car door and you’ve got little plastic trays at the bottom of the door and that kind of thing, at those kind of temperatures if you bump them with a piece of luggage or kick it, it wants to shatter. That had never been part of my experience before. So very, very different. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:07:23] Another adjustment for Mike and Valerie was the daylight or better stated the lack thereof. They had daylight for just five hours a day when they first got there. That means for 19 hours a day they experienced what is known as daylight dark.  

Mike Arena: 
[00:07:40] I’ve got a sunrise picture from January of 2015 that was like 10:45, or 10:52, or something like that in the morning. And then, you could get sunset pictures in the 3:00 range in the afternoon. And, uh, just very, very unusual. The sun doesn’t rise in the east and set in the west. It kind of rises in the southeast and it arcs very low over the horizon. It does not come up into the sky very high. And then, it will set in the southwest. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:08:10] In the meantime, Mike and Valerie settled in a region called Nenana to start working at Voice for Christ. With a population of less than 400 people, the small city sits on flatland that’s bound on three sides by a river, which makes it very prone to flooding. But unlike many remote places in Alaska, the town of Nenana has access to a lot.  

Mike Arena: 
[00:08:32] We have modern conveniences. We’ve got electricity. Nenana is on the road system. And that’s a phrase that you hear a lot in Alaska is on the road system or not. And it’s exactly as you might imagine that if there’s a road, you can get a truck. If there’s a truck, you can get supplies. We’re considered by many as a bush village but not remote.  

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:08:55] In Alaska, not every village or even town has a road.  

Mike Arena: 
[00:09:00] Bettles is an interesting one. You can drive to Bettles some few weeks a year. That’s when the Ice road is in place crossing the river because there’s no bridge. And so whenever it finally gets cold enough, often it’s February, that’s when people will haul stuff to the dump and whatnot because they can cross the river in a vehicle. So, access is a-is a really big deal here.  

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:09:26] Mike quickly recognized another challenge that comes with the remoteness of Alaska. It’s expensive.  

Mike Arena: 
[00:09:33] Two or three days ago in Nenana, a regular gallon of gas was $4.38 for a gallon of gas. And I say that not for anyone to say poor me, but we’re on the road system. Places that are not on the road system, they have to barge or fly fuel in. And-and it can be $9.00, $10.00, $11.00, or $12.00. That’s the bad news. The flip side of that, it’s a village. There’s not that far to drive a lot of times. But economically, it is difficult. And, um, many people are subsistence level. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:10:08] The people aren’t just experiencing economic hardship in Alaska. There are spiritual challenges as well.  

Mike Arena: 
[00:10:15] There’s a lot of spiritists, animist types of beliefs from very, pretty ancient cultures that have little to do with God. And so, spiritually, it can be very dark. It’s no darker than the heart of Atlanta and the heart of Chicago in many respects. Sometimes there’s less light in these areas. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:10:36] Even so, Mike doesn’t consider Alaska as an unreached people group. Instead, he says it could be considered an over reached people group. That missionaries have come to the region for a long time. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:10:49] They came in. And it was not an attempt just to convert spiritually, but there were many respects where there was an attempt at a cultural conversion as well. Not only are you dirty spiritually, but we need to get you to do all of these things that the missionaries’ culture also do. There had been some people that jerked back from the gospel because of some of  those efforts. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:11:18] But that’s made Mike’s work all the more purposeful at Voice for Christ. The ministry has been broadcasting out of Nenana for 40 years and offers radio coverage across Alaska. It was founded by a man named Bob Eldridge, a local pastor and pilot, who would fly to remote places to preach. Oftentimes, his journey was thwarted by the weather. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:11:40] Bob had places that he would try to fly to preach. But one particular instance, he left Nenana and was flying to his destination. Radioed ahead as he got close to the destination. They said you can’t land here. The weather is too bad. And so he aborted, circled back, and headed for Nenana. Contacted  his wife on the radio when he got close to Nenana. She said you can’t land here either. And so, he ended up diverting to Fairbanks or somewhere he could actually land the airplane. But that happened so many times. It became very frustrating. And he said that’s when God gave him the idea of using radio. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:12:18] That idea turned into the development of a Christian radio station called the I Am Radio Network. The non-profit ministry behind the station is Voice for Christ. Today, the I Am Radio Network has several Christian radio stations with many translators and radio repeaters to reach the different Alaskan tribes and peoples all in their heart language. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:12:41] So now, there are three full power FCC stations. KIAN was first in Nenana. KYKD was second over in, uh, the western part of Alaska, Bethel. It’s the largest village over there, 6500 people. Something like that. But remote. You can take a boat there, only in the summer, and you can fly there. There’s no roads to any of the remote villages. But Bethel supplies content for many of those U-pique(?) and Q-pique(?), some of those speakers in that part of the state. And about 10 years after that in either ’04 or ’05, Voice for Christ built a radio station in Houston, Alaska. And that’s KADV. And so, there are three main stations and then all of the satellite transmitter stations. There’s about 26 of them now total. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:13:34] The radio stations partner with local Bible believing churches to reach Alaskans who otherwise might not hear the gospel. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:13:42] If there is a local congregation that is, we’ll call it Scriptural, then we come alongside them. So, we have the 24/7/365,  when everything is working like it’s supposed, to content. That our job is to come alongside that pastor. We don’t take the place of any preacher anywhere. There are many places where we don’t have that solid gospel presence. And then, we become the source of that through the preaching/teaching and music ministry that we broadcast. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:14:15] Even in the dead of night when everyone is sleeping, people can flick on the radio and hear the light of Jesus Christ. 

Mike Arena:  
[00:14:23] I think Dr. MacArthur’s preaching at 2:30. At 4:00, it’s Adrian Rogers. So in the middle of the night, you can get that comfort in that Scripture. It will never take the place of a local body whether it is organized or not. The goal is for people to be able to get saved and discipled without ever changing the channel. And I think there’s four villages left where there is no other radio channel, not even NPR. But our goal is to be able to put Jesus’ words on the airways. And so, radio has been the way to do that.  

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:14:58] Voice for Christ is actively expanding in Alaska thanks to the help of funding from other ministries. Recently, they’ve added a new radio station that proclaims the gospel 24/7. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:15:10] We hope to continue growing with that. God has blessed us to be in a state. Out of the 49 other states, there are zero of them where you can easily get a Class D, as in Delta, license from the FCC. The airwaves in Alaska are so relatively uncluttered, especially in those areas that we’re targeting. I call it the least of these kind of a ministry where they will still grant you a Class D station license. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:15:41] Mike’s homebase for ministry is Nenana. However, he sometimes travels by small plane to work on radio equipment in the surrounding areas. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:15:50] We have a pilot here in Nenana who has his own flying ministry. And as long as we’re able to coordinate with him, then a lot of times we have to go put hands on the equipment to see what’s going on. If we’ve got somebody that’s not afraid to turn a wrench, we’ll do our best to talk them through it in order to not be flying out. Right now, in Nenana, I’m the only full-time guy doing radio. And so, it’s-it can be restrictive in when can I leave. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:16:17] Short staffing is a common issue in remote parts of Alaska. And because of that Mike isn’t able to travel much. It’s a highlight for him when he does get the chance. 

Mike Arena:  
[00:16:26] When we do make those trips, that’s when we get to meet listeners. And this ministry is not about equipment. It’s about people. And, um, we’ve been praying for years now to be able to do more of the people rather than products that exist in those village areas. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:16:42] Mike has seen God answer prayers and provide for their needs even when support has been hard to come by. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:16:49] The ministry gave us a dollar amount that they wanted us to raise on a monthly basis to be able to live here. We hit that amount for only the sixth time in our 84 months in Alaska. But to see what God has done and allowed us, it’s been plenty. It’s been enough. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:17:06] Sometimes God’s provision for the couple hasn’t been financial. It’s been a physical gift.  

Mike Arena: 
[00:17:12] One of our former board members, he’s gone to heaven now, he called me one time in 2018 and says I’ve got this old Suburban that a church gave me. The engine blew up. I put a new engine in it. Do you want it? God gave us an old ’99 Suburban that we still drive today. Had a volunteer that was using it while we were back in Georgia at a wedding. And he hit a moose with it. It looks like it’s been through the war, but it was a free vehicle that God just gave us. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:17:40] And God has continually worked other miracles in the ministry.  

Mike Arena: 
[00:17:44] Seeing God provide the technology that we need, failing edge as it might be, if it gets audio where it needs to go, we’re good. And I have told people a lot that the miracle is that there’s one watt of gospel coming out of any antenna anywhere. Because I know the devil hates it. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:18:03] Mike says there are even technical issues that somehow suddenly are fixed.  

Mike Arena: 
[00:18:09] So, a lot of those kinds things have just been indications to us that God is still working here. And He wants us to stay. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:18:18] And even though the Alaskan wilderness maybe sound daunting to many people, Mike is so thankful he was obedient to God’s calling. It has not always been easy being a missionary, but it has been worth it. 

Mike Arena: 
[00:18:32] We love the climate. We love the people that are here. I don’t like the earthquakes, or the fire season, or the mosquitos, or the floods. But if you live in Africa, there’s things you don’t like there either. So, it’s part of what you do to be able to get God’s words to where we believe He wants us to take it. And that’s places where it’s very difficult to send and keep a pastor in some of these remote villages that are 150 miles from getting a tooth pulled or going to the doctor. They fly to do all that. And so, in spite of all of those things, He has never failed. Not even once. 

Music tag:
[00:19:07] 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:19:21] If you’ve been listening to the episode and don’t think there’s a moment in time when you’ve place your trust and faith in Jesus Christ, now would be an excellent time to do so. Go to FindPeacewithGod.net. Once again, FindPeacewithGod.net. You can also find that link in our show notes. In just a minute, you’ll hear how you can join Mike’s ministry through prayer. 

Audio tag:
[00:19:43]

Billy Graham: 
[00:19:53] The greatest commission that Christ ever gave was to go into all the world and preach the gospel

Announcer:
[00:19:58] Billy Graham … 

Billy Graham: 
[00:20:00] The commission that Christ gave is couched in very simple language. Notice the little word “go”. A little word but worldwide in its sweep. This little word should be the watch word of every true follower of Christ. Jesus Christ knew that the gospel and the gospel alone would solve the problems and ills of the world. The gospel alone has light for a world of darkness. The gospel provides the only satisfaction in the universe for man’s spiritual nature. The gospel recognizes the tremendous fact of sin and poses and adequate remedy. It shows them their wounds and brings them the healing remedy of the gospel. It shows them bondage, and it brings the hammer to break away their chains. It shows them their sins, and it brings them to the Savior. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:20:44] The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for everyone. If you’d like to know more about what the gospel means for your life, we have answers at our website FindPeacewithGod.net. When you’re there, click on Begin a Relationship with Jesus. That’s FindPeacewithGod.net. And we have a link to that site you can click on in our show notes. Our guest on this episode of GPS is Mike Arena. He and his wife, Valerie, moves to Alaska in 2015 to operate a Christian radio station broadcasting the gospel of Jesus Christ to some of the most remote areas in the USA. As you can imagine, that is a tough job, and Mike has a quick prayer request for you. 

Mike Arena:  
[00:21:24] The prayer request is for the finances to continue keeping all the lights on. And then, not just financial resources but the human resources as well. And that-that can be tricky. For our particular ministry, you don’t have to be a preacher. You don’t have to have Bible training. Our job is to keep the guys on the air. They tend to be more well-known ministries that have been around for a long, long time. Our job is to keep them doing their job. And some of those guys, Adrian Rogers and Jay Vernon McGee and R. C. Sproul, long after they’ve gone on they’re still reaching here. We have Dr. Graham. We’ve got the Billy Graham Minute. So even after they’re gone, they’re saying so many things that will catch hearts, and minds, and especially spirits. And so, our job is to kind of behind the scenes keep it going. 

Jim Kirkland: 
[00:22:19] We’re grateful for Mike Arena  joining us on this episode of GPS. Mike’s firm conviction to bring Christian music and teaching to hard to reach areas and his reliance on God for vision overcome the challenges of remote Alaskan life. If you’d like to join in on the mission of sharing the gospel, think of someone you could share an episode of GPS with. You never know how someone’s faith journey can be affected by hearing of the powerful work of Jesus Christ in another person’s life. We’ve got another new episode coming in just two weeks. So make sure you’re following GPS so you do not miss out.  I’m Jim Kirkland. Thanks for listening. This is GPS: God. People. Stories. It’s an outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Always good news. 

Music tag:
[00:23:06] 

End of transcript