TWR360 Celebrates Decade of Fruitful Ministry
by Sarah Mummert

Innovative Web Platform Now Has Content in 140+ Languages

CARY, N.C. (July 20, 2023) – With today’s fast-changing digital landscape, it takes adaptability to keep up with the times. Fortunately, TWR (also known as Trans World Radio) is an organization eager to do just that.

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of TWR360, the flagship digital media platform and mobile ministry app of TWR. TWR360 is a premier online tool for accessing Christian media resources in over 140 languages – a number that continues to grow. The site delivers audio, video and text-based resources with a wide variety of content, including worship music, Bible teaching and other practical materials for men, women and children.

TWR360 continues to innovate. Constant enhancements help meet ongoing user needs, ensuring their experience is increasingly positive. This has resulted in new key features, including a faster, more visually friendly interface that’s easier to navigate, along with options for personalization. By creating a new My360 account, users can now select their favorite ministry programs and sign up for email notifications of the latest episodes, keeping their favorite content organized and at their fingertips.

In the past decade, TWR360 has collaborated with nearly 400 ministry program partners and expanded its capacity to more than 123,000 programs, which draw over half a million visits to the site every month. As of July 2023, more than 42 million people have accessed content on TWR360.org.

“It took 10 years to get to that point, to build that level of respect and legitimacy on the internet,” said David Creech, the TWR360 operations manager and digital media marketing specialist.

Launched in 2013, TWR360 showcased programs in five languages: English, Spanish, French, Russian and Mandarin. Now, the number of languages in which content is available has grown by a factor of 28, including Arabic, Japanese, Hindi, Korean and dozens more.

But beyond the content, the entire site has also been translated into each of the 140-plus languages, so that the site itself matches the language of an individual’s web browser. Those two components together – content and website – make translating each language a significant undertaking.

“When you add a new language, each one has its own life,” Creech said. “It needs a dedicated translator, and it needs a TWR regional representative to facilitate that translation process. Our TWR360 language coordinator, Angela Woosley, then works with each region to get the entire site translated. It's a major process and a remarkable achievement by Angela, as she has overseen the site translations for all of our languages since our site launched in 2013."

The most popular program varies by language. One of the most sought-after English-language programs is David Jeremiah’s Turning Point, and one of the most-used Spanish language programs is Alimento Para el Alma (Food for the Soul). In addition, video-centric content like the JESUS film provides seekers the opportunity to learn more about lasting hope and salvation in him.

The portal’s reach engages people across the globe, from France to India, Argentina to North Korea.

“Our goal is to push all these wonderful Bible-based programs out to people in their heart languages,” Creech said.

Started through the investment of a generous donor, TWR360 has been led from the start by Ralf Stores, TWR director of Global Media Services.

“In developing TWR360, we were looking to create a single location where someone could engage with content in their heart language anytime, anywhere, on any connected device without encountering the barrier of an English-based website,” Stores said. “It’s exciting to see how many people continue to use it and the life-changing experience they’ve had. I really feel our best years are still ahead of us.”

Creech explained that the “deep multilingual component” sets TWR360 apart from other Christian programming platforms.

“TWR360’s strength is media in the world’s languages, native heart languages,” he added. “That’s what connects to people, and that’s what we specialize in.”

For spiritual encouragement at the click of a button, visit twr360.org.

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