For David Palusky, The word of God isn't always about religion. It's about helping others create and nurture relationships through the word of Christ. And in a world where the headlines are dominated by war, violence and intolerance, Palusky helps support the armies of men and women who travel around the globe to help spread the Gospel of peace by providing them with a special technology.
Palusky is president and co-founder of Renew World Outreach; a company dedicated to helping missionary organizations present the Gospel to people in remote areas.
A missionary himself with a background in engineering from Georgia Tech, Palusky spent 13 years visiting a primitive tribe in the Amazon region teaching faith-based community development. “I found that in reaching oral cultures, audio/visual media is a very effective tool that breaks through language barriers. Initially, my challenge was to transport the cumbersome video presentation equipment and a generator to these remote areas.”
To solve the problem, Palusky used his engineering skills to develop compact equipment that could run off solar-powered batteries, and in 2005, he and his brother, Gene, founded Renew World Outreach to supply other missionaries with his portable systems. To date, the company has supplied thousands of systems and FCBH audio Bibles in over 500 languages to the most active missionary organizations in the country, including Campus Crusade, Wycliffe, JAARS, YWAM, and The Billy Graham Evangelistic Assoc. whose dedicated workers travel to the most remote and dangerous corners of the world to spread the word of Christ.
Renew World Outreach offers several systems, the most popular being a complete solar-powered portable A/V system that includes a 30-watt solar panel, a marine-grade speaker, a DVD player, an Optoma Pico LED video projector, a microphone, an audio mixer/amplifier with four inputs, four speaker hookups and a video output, and an LED flashlight, all contained in a custom backpack and weighing just 45 lbs.
“That weighs less than just the generator I used to take with me,” says Palusky.
According to Palusky, the biggest development has been the advent of LED projectors. “Energy management is essential, and the Pico projectors we use from Optoma give us tremendous flexibility and performance. We can fill a 90” screen while drawing relatively little power. We can play videos for anywhere from 2-1/2 to 4 hours, plus still have power for talk time for further discussion.” Recharging takes up to a day in the sun, but the batteries can also be charged off A/C power or a car more quickly.
Says Palusky, “Missionaries lovingly lay down their lives to bring heaven's goodness to earth. It's a privilege to do what we can to help them spread the Gospel.”
Related Links:
Billy Graham Evangelistic Assoc. - www.billygraham.org Optoma - www.optomausa.com Renew World Outreach - www.renewoutreach.com
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