About 3ABN

Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN) is a 24-hour Christian television and radio network, consisting of nine television channels and five radio channels in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and French.

Known as the “Mending Broken People Network,” we produce programming that reaches people where they hurt, offering real answers from God’s Word, and spiritual nourishment to help them grow. Each hour of every day, our television and radio channels offer sound biblical preaching and teaching, as well as the best guidance on a wide range of health and family topics. In addition, we provide programs that especially target the needs of urban audiences, including Christian money management, parenting, and ex-offender rehabilitation. All this, plus uplifting music, live event coverage, and children’s programming, helps us in proclaiming the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6–12.

We broadcast our programs to every inhabited continent from our headquarters in southern Illinois through a network of eight satellites, hundreds of television and radio stations, over a thousand cable outlets, and increasingly, through Internet streaming and our mobile device apps.

We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit company, and are governed by a Board of Directors who work very hard behind the scenes to ensure we stay true to our mission. We are not owned or operated by any person or outside organization, and neither are we funded by any church or denomination, although many of our employees and volunteers are members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Our “down-home” approach, and the absence of large fundraising efforts or telethons, results in the appreciation and financial support for all of our networks from people of all cultures and backgrounds.

A Brief History

God Calls Danny Shelton

Three Angels Broadcasting Network began in the early morning hours of November 15, 1984 when Danny Shelton, a carpenter from Southern Illinois, was kept awake by troubling thoughts.

As he recalled the Christian television stations where he and his daughter Melody had sung gospel music, he felt concerned about the way God was misrepresented at times. Longing to find a way to express God’s love to the world, he suddenly felt strongly impressed to “build a television station that would reach the world with the undiluted three angels’ messages [of Revelation 14]. One that would counteract the counterfeit.”

Although he had no degree in communications, nor any experience in television, Danny immediately began to explore the ideas that finally developed into Three Angels Broadcasting Network.

He visited a pastor friend, Hal Steenson, who had some television equipment, sharing what he was impressed to do. His friend told him that someone had recently offered to buy his equipment, but he had been strongly impressed to keep it until God directed him otherwise. Then, to his amazement, Hal volunteered to donate the equipment to him a short time later!

Many more things happened in the next few months. As Danny began speaking at area churches, others began to catch his vision. Mrs. Fonda Summers donated two acres of land in Thompsonville, Illinois, on which to build the station. Later, when a microwave signal interference study was conducted on the property, an amazed technician remarked, “Mr. Shelton, you must be the luckiest man I know, because you have a clean sweep of every satellite in the horizon without microwave interference on those two acres. This is probably one of the only sites left in all of southern Illinois!”

A visit to the local Christian television station a few days later brought about another conversation, this time with Clarence Larson, the station engineer. After introducing himself to Danny, he pulled him aside and said, “I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but I believe a satellite uplink station could be built here in southern Illinois out in the Thompsonville area.” Interestingly, Clarence volunteered this information with no knowledge of Danny’s dream.

As progress on the project continued, Clarence began helping Danny. One day he realized that three-phase power would be required to operate the station, but the cost to run lines from the nearest main road was prohibitive. Upon investigation, he discovered three-phase power lines a few hundred feet (about a hundred meters) away from the property—simply following a country road. When Danny contacted the power company, he asked why those lines ran through open fields, away from any factories or heavy machinery. The power company response? “We honestly have no idea.”

As Danny moved forward in faith, the doors continued to open. A satellite uplink dish manufacturer agreed to begin building a nearly $400,000 satellite dish with only $10,000 down payment, and over the next few months, studio and office facilities were built and equipment was purchased and installed—without incurring any debt!

Amazingly, on November 23, 1986, just over two years after Danny had been impressed to build it, Three Angels Broadcasting Network began to broadcast on satellite.

In 2000 3ABN expanded to provide worldwide satellite coverage for its television and radio networks. Additionally, 3ABN Radio, and 3ABN Latino came on board in successive years.

Today, 3ABN’s lineup of television networks consists of 3ABN, 3ABN Latino, 3ABN Proclaim!, 3ABN Russia, 3ABN Dare to Dream Network, 3ABN Kids Network, and 3ABN Français. 3ABN International Channel airs much of the same programming as our flagship 3ABN channel, but at hours more suitable for Europe, Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific.) In addition, 3ABN Radio can also be heard around the world via satellite, and on over 200 affiliate stations, and 3ABN Latino Radio carries Spanish radio programming.

3ABN Worldwide

Three Angels Broadcasting Network began its work in Russia in 1992 when we taped and broadcast a series of evangelistic meetings with Australian evangelist, Pastor John Carter, in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. It was the third largest city in Russia, and the response to the meetings was tremendous.

Noting that 2,500 new Christians needed a place to worship, 3ABN purchased an unfinished 70,000 square-foot building and began remodeling it to meet this urgent need. Today, 3ABN’s Russian Evangelism Center includes the largest Seventh-day Adventist Church of Nizhny Novgorod, as well as local Church Conference offices, a Christian secondary school and high school, a literature distribution center, and, of course, 3ABN Russia’s television and radio studios.

In 1993, 3ABN Russia began producing Russian-language programs that now air on over 500 cable stations via satellite across the entire former Soviet Union, along with significant program distribution over the Internet.