History Highlights
1970 A Soviet medical student named Laura finds a living faith in God at a Soviet State university. She is the only student at her university who claims to believe in a God who created man. Consequently, she is expelled for her faith. Her sacrifice does not pass unnoticed by God who has a plan for her life. Media would play a key role.
1976 Laura, married to Canadian citizen Hannu Haukka, obtains an exit permit and enters the Christian radio ministry to the Soviet Union under the direction of Earl Poysti in Austria.
1980 Hannu and Laura are called to Finland to pioneer a Christian radio ministry from Finnish soil. A studio is built in Parola Finland. The ministry grows to include the transmission of a network of 11 international superpower radio stations.
1986 IRR/TV USA and IRR/TV Canada are founded by Great Commission-minded businessman Gordon Donaldson, Hannu Haukka, and Laura Haukka. In 2010 IRR/TV was phased out and in its place, Great Commission Media Ministries (GCM Ministries) was registered as a new charity organization. Our new name more accurately reflects our vast scope of ministry outside of Russia proper.
1989 IRR/TV ministry moves from a little rural town to the Helsinki area. A new 1,000 m2 studio facility is built. CBN and TBN donate funds and equipment for equipping the first-ever TV ministry to Russia.
1990 IRR/TV receives 1 million letters in response to Superbook a children's Bible cartoon series aired on Soviet State TV Channel One. The Moscow post office is swamped.
1991 IRR/TV opens follow-up offices in Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, and Novosibirsk. Russia State TV signs contract for weekly nationwide telecasts produced by IRR/TV
1998 IRR/TV launches program production for 20 forgotten people groups in the former Soviet Union. Campus Crusade Canada and the Lethbridge Group fund the initial outreach.
1998 IRR/TV founds the ACB of Russia. The Association of Christian Broadcasters holds its first national media missions conference in Moscow.
1999 IRR/TV established the first Schools of Broadcast in Russia with Canadian-based Crossroads Family of Ministries. Students from all parts of Russia and the CIS states are trained for TV and radio ministry.
2001 IRR/TV starts airing programs to Israel, China, India, and 20 other countries in Asia over STAR WORLD TELEVISION.
2002 IRR/TV starts production of a Farsi version of the popular television series "Thirsty Hearts" for countries in the Middle East.
2003 Powerful evangelistic mega-city campaigns begin in Russia, Central Asia, and Ukraine. The purpose is to saturate each city with the Gospel for one month, one city at a time.
2005 Ministering by television expanded into Southeast Asia. Humanitarian aid to earthquake-ravaged Indonesia and India.
2007 Megacity campaigns accelerate in Russia due to political instability.
2008 Unprecedented mega-city campaigns in Israel.
2009 14 simultaneous evangelistic city campaigns in Russia and Central Asia, also several in Israel. Training thousands of pastors and lay workers attending four Global Leadership Summits in Russia and Central Asia.
2010 Our previous name International Russian Radio/TV (IRR/TV in Canada) was phased out and in its place, Great Commission Media Ministries (GCM Ministries) was registered as a new charity organization in Canada.
GCM Ministries continues to partner with IRR-TV in Finland to carry out mission projects around the world. City campaigns have been conducted in the following regions and countries to this date: Russia, Central Asia, Israel, Guyana, Egypt, India, Nepal, Europe.
2011 Training of thousands of pastors and leaders in six leadership training events held in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan. Attendance: 4,000 Christian leaders.
2013-2015 Over 5 million copies of evangelistic books, St. John's Gospel, and over 100 thousand Bibles have been printed in Russia to help volunteers from local churches reach their nation with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Mega-City Media Saturation Campaigns have expanded to countries such as Finland, Iraq, and Lebanon.
2016 500,000 New Testaments were supplied to Russian churches to distribute to the public during the 140-year celebration of the modern translation of the Bible. Our first Spanish-language mega-city media saturation campaign was conducted in Paraguay, South America.
2018 Overwhelming response to the media campaign in South Sudan. The distribution of 20,000 digital audio playback units during a campaign for the illiterate.
2019 A new ministry center was built near Helsinki, Finland to accommodate our expanding ministries. A media saturation campaign was conducted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where tens of thousands called to find the power to change.
2020 Although the Coronavirus pandemic spread around the globe disrupting people's lives, the preaching of the Gospel continued at GCM Ministries through our many mission projects.
2022 Our primary vision and purpose at Great Commission Media Ministries is the proclamation of the Gospel to our generation. However, in circumstances as dire as those caused by the Invasion of Ukraine by Russia, we cannot overlook their physical suffering. We cannot close our ears to their pleas for help. Jesus would expect no less of us. That is why we have become deeply involved in distributing life-saving humanitarian aid.
2023 A Megacity campaign was conducted in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Our Islamic TV ministry continues over 18 satellites with increased numbers of responses from viewers in the restricted countries in the 10/40 window.
2024 City Campaign held in Dakar, Senegal, and more planned for the Middle East.
The ministry of GCM Ministries is supported by individual donors, foundations, and churches.
GCM Ministries works in cooperation with numerous recognized international ministries.