Ministry Co-founders: Harold Kent, Ken Crowell, Rev. Allan McGuirl

Harold Kent, a businessman in Tampa, Florida, USA, along with his wife, Jo Ann, have a missions vision to reach the unreached of the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God impressed upon him that using a fix-tuned radio would be a wonderful way for people to hear the Word.

At the same time in Tiberias, Israel, Ken Crowell had an established tentmaking business called Galtronics. As a thriving business, it gives employment to believers and non-believers and blesses the Nation of Israel. God asked Ken to design a fix-tuned radio.

A mutual friend of both Harold and Ken brought the two men together. Without knowing how God was working in each other’s lives, the conversation came around to a radio that could be tuned to one station and sent around the world. Ken recalled having read an article about someone in Canada who had built a prototype of such a radio. Harold and Ken decided to work on this project together.

Allan T. McGuirl was the Canadian Director of Gospel Recordings in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He sensed that God was impressing on him to build a solar powered fix-tuned radio to reach into remote villages around the world where there were no radios, electricity or money to purchase batteries.

Allan received a call from Ken Crowell and met with him and his wife Margie in Canada in September 1988. At the IFMA conference in February 1989, Harold, Ken and Allan put together a plan. The basic concept was for Ken to make the radios in Israel, Harold would sponsor the funds needed and Allan would determine the needs, liaise with evangelical organizations and arrange distribution.

Very soon after that meeting, Galcom International started production of radios. The little solar powered fix-tuned radios were named the “Go-Ye” radio. Matthew 28:19 says, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations...” The first 40,000 fix-tuned radios were tuned to Voice of Hope, AM 945 broadcasting from Lebanon. The radios were sent into Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

When reports started returning to Israel, the ultra Orthodox area caused disruption in the flow of mail. It became evident that correspondence and contacts would have to be handled outside of the country. Allan, and his wife Florrie, decided to step out on faith and run the administration from their home in Canada. On August 15, 1989, Galcom International officially began in Canada.

Over 20 years later, more than 800,000 radios have been distributed in 126 countries. Thousands of people are able to hear the word of God every day through the Galcom ministry.