Square One World Media is a ministry with deep roots in Southern Manitoba, and has strong ties to our radio station family. The Winnipeg based Christian media group is celebrating 75 years of sharing the Gospel with a new documentary film, “Back to Square One”.  

Ingrid Koss was the Project Director and writer for the film, which debuts October 19th at Landmark Cinemas Grant Park. She connected with Morning Show Co-Host Chris Sumner (listen to the conversation below) this week to tell us more about the documentary, starting with the beginnings of Square One World Media in 1947, and its first radio program, to making a global impact on people’s lives with the message of Jesus Christ.

"It started with a few Bible college students in Winnipeg, and they were roommates, and they were talking about how how can they share the gospel effectively," explained Koss. "They were training to be missionaries overseas, and they thought, how can we share the gospel effectively? They thought radio might work, and then they thought if it would work in other countries, why wouldn't it work here? It was pretty revolutionary, at the time, for a group of of Bible school students to to tackle a radio program."

Koss noted, at that point, the gospel had always been shared from the pulpit, and almost always in a church, so to take something that felt like a relatively new technology like radio and use it to share the gospel was quote an innovative and bold step.

"Not everybody was on board immediately, but as is usually the case, younger people are more excited about trying something new and pushing for something that that, maybe, is a little uncomfortable for for older generations, and so that's how it started," she added. "That's how it started, just with a lot of prayer, a lot of confidence God was leading them and no idea 75 years later it would still be an active and flourishing ministry."

Additional free screenings will follow in Boissevain October 29th, Steinbach November 12th and Winkler November 19th. You can location and ticket info by clicking here.

"I think the biggest question we wanted to come out is, is why? Why do this? And so that's sort of a theme that goes throughout," Koss said. "Why use your time and energy ,your passion, your life, to share the gospel when you could make more money in the secular world, right? As we interviewed people, over and over again, we heard the stories of their passion to tell people about Jesus, which has nothing to do with, necessarily, personal advancement, right? So, that was a question we asked everybody. Why? Why did you do this??

Reflecting on hearing those stories, Koss stated it was "beautiful" to hear those answers. 

"We tried to include some funny stories, some very moving stories, stories of impact, but also stories of how being in ministry impacted the people serving."