Alfa Omega Media Center - the story of our building & studios - Tudor & Mirela Petan

This building, Alfa Omega Media Center, was birthed not by our abilities, even though we sacrificed on our part, not through our strength, though we used our intellectual capacity, relational capacities, but it was done by the Spirit of the Lord. We believe this. Little by little, we saw how the hand of God intervened in raising up this building.

The work of Alfa Omega began in 1994. In the beginning, our activities were much more simple, translating and subtitling programs. We used spaces in locations where the companies I worked for run their activities: commercial activities, activities in the area of electronics, cable TV, and each time during the first years for the activity of Alfa Omega TV we found places and areas we could use to keep up our acitivity of new films of Alfa Omega TV Production.

In time, as the other commercial activities lessened, and God allowed us to give them up one by one, to focalize expressly on Alfa Omega,  the access to these other spaces no longer existed, we had to begin thinking about having our own space. Many years we rented several different locations where we began to reproduce, during that time, DVD's.

We began to do smaller editing projects.  In '99-2000 we began to produce a few things, to do interviews using the technology that was available at that time. We moved from place to place, from one location to another, looking for modest options, places that would meet the needs of our Christian media activities, which we saw blooming and right before our eyes, as the other normal challenges.

During the years of 2000, the Lord began to put it on our hearts to begin to pray for a place of our own, for our own studio, for a place, a home for all of our projects that we saw growing right before our eyes. We felt in our hearts also to have a TV channel which began to birth as a media project, and not only this, but things related to content as well, for the TV channel and for other projects.

We began in '94 distributing programs through video cassettes on commercial TV  stations throughout the whole country. We continue to do this now and it's an activity that many appreciate and have considered it a main activity. Many of our partners, even abroad, don't understand how a small TV studio, with just a nucleous, a small collective, distributes Christian content, programs, documentaries, special programs, films, to so many commercial stations, local and regional, thoughout the whole country. We began to do this in '94 and we continue to do it now.

In 2000, we were renting in a building in the center of Timisoara, in a semi-basement. Basically, it was there the Alfa Omega TV channel was born, in its beginning stage. There, the Alfa Omega production studio was born. Up until that time, we carried out our activities in just an office, only simple activities.

There we began to have our first live program, realized and broadcast through a local TV station in Timisoara. We would connect to them there by a feed though cable, and we had a program each week, Thursday evenings as we do now, one hour a week. That's how the beginning phase was born, as a pilot program, and this activity-studio style, channel style, program style, live show style. God does things as a 'pilot program' many times as we see looking back, but there in that basement, in improper conditions, and...  

Once we had a flood and suffered difficult situations, because it wasn't a proper space for a television suite, so God put it on our hearts to begin to pray for a building of our own. It was interesting that in 2003, at the beginning of the year, we were contacted by some brothers who are now our neighbors, the brothers from the Metanoia Church, and they told us that they had found a place where they wanted to build a church, but the property was too large for them and they knew that we had the same mind to find such a place. So, on a part of that land Alfa Omega House was born.

It was also interesting the way in which God led us through this whole step, because the owner of the property was a knowledgeable woman, a wise woman, who understood our need to have the deeds made separately. Metanoia Church detached their part of the land, she took care of the legal detachment of the land, and we were able to buy the property directly from her. In the moment we began negotiations with her, in fact it was with an intermediary firm, as she preferred to work,  and that moment when she told us the price, we didn't even have one cent for the land. But, by faith, we signed an intent to purchase contract, which had a limited time. In one month, we had to pay a certain part of money out of the total value of the land.

We signed, by faith, that pre-contract, with my husband, and within a month we were able to pay that part of the money. God helped us from different places, unexpected on our part. Effectively, we just 'trumpeted' our need. We made it known to those who could help us, our friends, people we had collaborated with, partners who knew of our need as we had shared it with them many times, and we received help from many places.

So, midway through 2004, we already had the land in our possession, which we looked at with great expectation, but something special was raised up there. After this, the period of the architectural aspect followed. Once again it was a step of faith because the moment in which we had the land, and God sent us to a certain architect, even though, theorectically, we didn't have money at that time for the project, God told us find a good company to design it, and He gave us the nameof a company to which we should go.

We went to that company with big smiles on our faces, without having any  money. We told the director that we wanted to build a media center in Timisoara, with three levels, multiple facilities. He was enthusiastic and said: 'Yes, up to now our firm doesn't have such a project or a similar construction in our portfolio, but we're interested.' He called in the structural engineer, electrical engineer, and several more. We stayed there in the office,  taking up more than 2 hours of his time, and of course I asked him: 'What will it all cost, including all the permits? Because we don't have the time, nor the proper understanding of things, and we want to have everything resolved beginning at zero up to the last permit.' I told him we thought it will all be possible, without explaining too much about our faith, that God will assure everything for us. He told me an amount, pretty high. Sure, we smiled at each other, myself and my wife, as he added that they do not begin to work with a client until they recieve an advance of 30% of the cost.

Of course, as a matter of protocol, we ended the discussions, I thanked them for their time, we arrived home and began to pray almost immediately. We declared a prolonged fast. On the third day of prayer and fasting, we received a telephone call from an organization in Finland whom we didn't know, and they didn't know us. They heard about us by reading some information on our webpage concerning the building we wanted to construct and our development. They told us that the Lord had spoken to them to give a certain amount of money as a gift. It was exactly 30% of the sum we had to pay in order to begin the work. We paid the money and we began the project. It was a good project, modern, new, provocative, and so the blueprints were ready.  Almost immediately after that, we began building. Of course, in that moment, my wife began to be more involved.

In the month of January, the 10th of January, we began the construction. Pure and simple, from the constructor's point of view, it was an enormous risk that we took on, because it was wintertime and normally you don't dig a foundation in winter. But we had this freedom, this trust, that the Lord will take care of us.

And, practically speaking, from January 10th to January 29th, the time when they were digging the foundation of the building, and then poured the foundation, effectively the part... I learned a lot of new terms during that time. There is a part which is in the ground, then there is the part that is an elevation which supports the floor that follows to be poured. This whole procedure of pouring the foundation was done during the winter period.  And we prayed a lot for good weather.

I know that the construction crew during that time had a superintendent, whom I recall even now, very hardworking, very kind. And he said: 'Okay, you all are praying there for good weather, but don't you think that for the crops we need snow ?' But I told him that the Lord will take care of the crops, but He'll take care of us so that we are not hindered by the snow so that we can put in the foundation and will be okay. And that's how it was. From January 10th to the 29th it was good weather. There were clouds circling around, but over us the sky was clear. Many times, even the crew boss commented: 'It is incredible what is happening here !'

There's another thing I want to mention here. During this time of preparing the foundation, we continued to pray right on the land that the Lord had given us. And in the moment that the footers were dug to pour the foundation, we prayed, and we even anointed the foundation at that time. I know the ones working there were looking curiously at us, but we explained what we were doing, that we were asking for the Lord's blessing over the building, because from the foundation on up to the top, which is not very high, the building being 3 levels, it is the Lord's and is dedicated to Him.

There are many events, supernaturally speaking, due to the way this building was birthed, even from the moment we obtained the land up to today, that have to do with the supernatural, which we have experimented, and consider as something that happens daily. This building perhaps best illustrates the verse that we have as the logo of our ministry: ''Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit', says the Lord,' from Zecharia.

This building, Alfa Omega, was birthed not by our abilities, even though we sacrificed on our part, not through our strength, though we used our intellectual capacity, relational capacities, but it was done by the Spirit of the Lord. We believe this. Little by little, we saw how  the hand of God intervened in raising up this building, because after furnishing the ground floor phase, furnishing the second floor followed. This took place in 2011.

Some brothers, more exact two brothers, heard about our need, and they were tradesmen, they worked in construction, and practically, buying new materials, we contributed also, two people effectively raised up the whole floor in the sense that they finished it, they compartmentalized it according to the blueprints. So we had rooms and offices on the second floor. The same happened with the third floor a year later. Practically speaking, we lived in a construction site at Alfa Omega House continually until 2 years ago, when things stablized concerning the finishing of the interiors.

The building is now finished. God has put on our hearts to equip ourselves. We still have a few areas that are not used. But we also have some areas that are overcrowded. Sure, even now as we are filming this little story of the Alfa Omega TV building, we are thinking of the further development. Some of the developments we can do in this building by optimizing space, using spaces that are not fully used.

What I can say after nearly 20 years, beyond a realization, beyond what we see, what is over and above the amount of equipment, or the furnishings of this building, is an appreciation of the presence of the Holy Spirit. We especially feel it in the area of the studio. The studio is like a box, a separate portion fixed to the building. It is a building 12 meters by 12 meters, a concrete box 7 meters high. That's how the Lord told us to do it, so that it is independent of the rest of the building. In there, beyond the phonic conditions, the thermal insulation, and the good, perfect electromagnetics that are up to standard, we feel that it is growing each day, with every live broadcast which we produce in that studio, it's the presence of the Holy Spirit.

God spoke to us prophetically, because many prophetic words have been spoken over the Alfa Omega building, over the construction, over the project. God spoke to me prophetically that this building will host the Glory of the Lord, and I believe that it is beginning to happen. We feel it in a nearly palpable way in the Alfa Omega TV studio.

First of all, I want to thank the Lord  for this miracle, then I want to thank all those who have contributed in one way or another to this work. Because this house is the accumulation of many seeds planted by many people, organizations, our partners, but all of these seeds, pure and simple, have together established this building which we are in and which you can see. So, we thank the Lord for Alfa Omega House.

Learn more about Alfa Omega TV: https://alfaomega.tv/en/