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2024

YEAR IN REVIEW

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WHAT I'M THINKING

MESSAGE FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

With a vision of growing our impact and attaining sustainable support, 2024 was a year of triumphs and challenges.

We were thrilled to begin two new projects in the English language: The Weekly Well, a short devotional video series with a brief message from God’s Word; and A Courageous Heart, which shares the healing journeys of brave men and women who want to tell their stories in order to help others – with a special focus on Indigenous women. We also started short devotional videos in Spanish called Semilla (Seed). Praise God for the ways these programs are already helping people deepen their relationship with Him!

Challenges came when we saw that giving was down in the first half of the year. We were grateful for the outpouring of support from our community in response and were thankful for the ways in which God prepared us and showed us new ways to meet these challenges as a team.

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Through all things, we were reminded of how we can trust Him through tough times and praise Him for His goodness.

With a new contract signed for an English program for women, a pilot complete for a Low German program on Christian marriage and parenting, and a potential Punjabi program in the works, we will continue to thank God for His faithfulness in 2025!

May God bless you in this new year,

 

Shoaib Ebadi

President and Executive Director

WATCH OUR 2023 VIDEO

(2024 VIDEO COMING SOON!)

WHAT WE'VE DONE

200+

SUBSCRIBERS

for our Indigenous online video show, Come Sit with Me.

300+

NEW EPISODES

produced in-house for

various projects.

1,000+

TOTAL VIEWS

reached for

A Courageous Heart.

230,000+

LISTENS

for the English children's audio program, Tales From Cottonwood Trails.

6 MILLION

VIEWS

achieved for

Ella's Backyard Vlog.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

"Our whole family loves Cottonwood Trails and now we are so excited to take it with us and listen wherever we are."

— Scotty, commenting on Tales from Cottonwood Trails (English)

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HEAR THE STORIES OF

A COURAGEOUS HEART

Virginia Spence contacted us in December 2022 looking to film a video that would tell the testimony of her husband Allan. When our team met with Virginia, bigger ideas began to take shape. Over the course of a year and a half, the idea developed into a new video podcast series that centred around the stories of Indigenous women, titled A Courageous Heart, which launched in August 2024.

The experience impacted Virginia so much that she became a part-time intern with Square One for the summer of 2024, in order to find out more about how our projects are produced and distributed.

“The idea of a ‘courageous heart’ is of an overcomer,” Virginia says. “Many times, these stories feature someone who faces and overcomes a challenge in their personal life; whether it’s trauma or addiction related or something else; and then once they’ve come through that, they choose to go back and help people battle that same challenge later on. That is the core of our ministry.”

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COME DRINK FROM
THE WEEKLY WELL

In February of last year, Square One started a new weekly online video devotional series on YouTube and Instagram, entitled The Weekly Well. The two to three-minute videos are hosted by our Associate Director, Scott Koop, who brings 26 years of experience as a pastor and sports chaplain.

The idea for the name of the series comes from the story found in
John 4:1-26, in which Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman he finds at Jacob’s well in Sychar. Jesus tells this woman that drinking that water will make her thirsty again; but if she would drink of the water that He can give her, it will become in her a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

“As we look into God’s Word, we want that to be a time of refreshment for our viewers, a time of filling for them, and a time of equipping them to become a source of refreshment and encouragement to the people around them,” Scott explains.

A LOOK AT 2024

YEAR IN REVIEW TIMELINE

JAN

Secret of Life (Dari) celebrates 15 years of broadcasting the Word of God throughout Afghanistan and Iran.

FEB

Our English audio drama for kids, Tales from Cottonwood Trails, is promoted at Missionfest Manitoba.

Square One hosts an open house.

The Weekly Well, an English devotional video series hosted by Scott Koop releases its first episode.

MAR

A prayer vigil is held at McIvor

Church, marking 2 years of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

A donor event is held in the puppet studio, where attendees heard from producer Albina about our Russian puppet show for kids,

Ella's Backyard Vlog.

Square One celebrates the retirement of Ernesto Pinto after 30 years of preaching the Gospel to the Spanish-speaking world through Encuentro & 180 Grados.

A close look at new projects is provided through the new social media video series, "What's Happening Today?"

APR

MAY

Our Saskatchewan regional liaison, Terry Liske, leads a presentation for over 100 seniors at a large M.B. church in Saskatoon.

Heriberto Ayala takes over production of Spanish radio/podcast program Encuentro after Ernesto Pinto's retirement.

JUN

JUL

Square One is represented at the Waldheim Missions Conference in Waldheim, SK.

Tales from Cottonwood Trails reaches 100,000 lifetime plays across streaming platforms.

The new social media video series "WHAT'S THAT?! with Grant" starts, providing followers with a "behind the scenes" look at our film studios.

AUG

A Courageous Heart, a video series by Virginia Spence highlighting the healing journeys of Indigenous women, releases its first episode.

The Ella's Backyard Vlog team finds new ways to connect to viewers after the Russian government blocks YouTube.

SEP

Sydney Hiebert is hired as regional liaison for the great Calgary, AB area.

Heriberto Ayala starts a Spanish devotional video series titled Semilla (Seed).

Scott shares with Alberta pastors and church goers through events arranged by Edmonton liaison, Karen Cline.

OCT

The Coffee at the Park fundraiser at the Pavilion helps raise awareness of new projects and funds for Square One.

Ibrahim Zabaneh finishes filming the new season of episodes for our discipleship satellite TV show for Christian leaders, School of Leadership (Arabic).

NOV

Square One hosts the Coffee at Clearbrook fundraiser at Clearbrook MB Church in Abbotsford, BC and online.

Episodes of A Good Life (Low German) that discuss Christian marriage & parenting draw in new viewers, each video gaining thousands of views.

The Bible Today's (Ukrainian) "Audio Psalms" YouTube video eclipses 125,000 views.

DEC

Even as we celebrate what was done in the past, we are still committed to building the Kingdom of God in 2025. Your support helps us keep sharing the Gospel through media so that the hearts of people all around the world can be transformed.

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