December 15, 2024 • 28 mins
Dr. Gene Bailey explores the story of Clyde McGee, one man who following the leading of the Holy Spirit to help develop the first Geosynchronous Satellite, which enabled Kenneth Copeland Ministries to host the first ever worldwide communion service. Join Dr. Gene Bailey as he gains insights from both Billye Brim and Kenneth Copeland about this amazing story.
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(00:00):
♪
[Gene Bailey] That's good.
[Kenneth Copeland] It is good.
So all of us are benefiting fromwhat God did through one man
and his wife that wouldn't quitand just stayed before God
(00:25):
and prayed and prayed in theSpirit and prayed in the Spirit
and prayed and interpreted itonly he interpreted into
scientific language andI've seen some of it.
It was all mathematicalcalculations.
(00:47):
- Right.
- Where do you thinkhe got that?
- Divinely inspired.
- Well...
(technicians over radio)
(01:12):
[President Kennedy] We choose togo to the moon in this decade
and do the other things,
not because they are easy, butbecause they are hard.
♪
On the afternoon ofDecember 17, 1903,
Wilbur and Orville Wright walkedfour miles from Kitty Hawk
(01:34):
to send the following telegramto their father in Dayton.
Success four flights Thursdaymorning all against 21 mile wind
started from level withengine power alone.
The sons of Reverend MiltonWright tossed a coin
to determine who wouldpilot the first airplane.
(01:54):
With a combination of ingenuityand what they believe to be
divinely inspired ideas, theirhistoric flights at Kitty Hawk
marked a new era in aviation.
As they took to the skies,another visionary dreamed
of even greaterheights, spaceflight.
His name was Robert Goddard,
(02:17):
a Sunday school teacherwho taught his class
how the Bible andscience mesh together
in divine inspiration.
His pioneering invention ofliquid-fueled rockets
is what allows us to launchsatellites into space.
The telegraph, theairplane, and the rocket,
(02:38):
all God-inspired ideas.
♪
Throughout thehistory of the church,
Christians have acted onGod-inspired ideas
and in doing so,changed history.
(03:01):
The technological inventionshave empowered the church
and helped advance the gospelby using these new tools.
The church has always been theearly adopters of technology,
beginning with the printingpress and in our lifetime,
satellite broadcasting.
With the help ofdivine inspiration,
(03:21):
a small team of engineersfrom Hughes Aircraft,
led by Clyde McGee, whowas inspired by God ideas,
persevered and developedthis satellite, Syncom,
named for geosynchronouscommunication.
A revolutionary satellite thatpaved the way for advanced
communication satellites.
(03:44):
God had to have a man and ClydeMcGee stepped up to be the one.
♪
[Billye Brim]Well, his wife, Eufaula,
who was of theBlackwood family,
(04:04):
she called himClyde Thomas McGee.
He was a grocery boy for hisdad in the grocery store.
He was born and brought upin Ackerman, Mississippi,
and they gave him a testin high school, I suppose,
and he passed thattest with genius.
He was a genius.
- I called him ourgenius brother.
(04:26):
He was on our board andI always introduced him,
our genius brother, Clyde McGee.
But Clyde Thomas McGee wasa southern gentleman
all of his life.
And after he took the test andthey found out how brilliant
he was, they paid for hiseducation at Mississippi State.
And oh, he was afan from then on.
He became a space scientist forHughes Aircraft Space Division.
(04:53):
[Gene Bailey] So I guess that'sbecause he excelled, obviously,
at Mississippi State,you know, in his studies.
But out of school, did he gosomewhere before he worked
for the government?
- He went into the servicesand then went on into
the space program from there.
But they had their eye on him.
They were paying for everything.
And they were going tokeep their eye and keep him
(05:15):
in their services.
- Right. Okay.
So talk about, you know, yousaid something that I know
probably peaked some ofpeople's ears that you said
you follow was part ofthe Blackwood family.
- Yes, his wife was part ofyou know, the Blackwood Quartet,
the early day Blackwood Quartet.
Her mother, Lena, was the onlysister to the original
(05:37):
Blackwood Brothers.
And her mother, Lena,
Lena Cain, she was...
she received theHoly Spirit in 1914.
And she had gone with Jamesto a meeting in a buggy.
James the tenor, you know, theone that sings and so famous.
And they had gone,they were teenagers,
and came home and they had tostop that buggy and get out
(06:00):
and jump around andshout and praise the Lord.
♪
The Blackwood family that Clydemarried into was the most famous
gospel group inAmerica at that time.
They sold out venues acrossAmerica and even Elvis wanted
to be a part of the group.
[Announcer] Blackwood Brothers
♪
(06:38):
One thing to realize aboutClyde's roots is that he was
steeped in that ferventPentecostal culture
of the Bible Belt.
This was a time when peoplewould prefer to go to a night
of praise and worshiprather than to a movie.
It's not something familiarto modern audiences.
- Now, I'm quite sure that Clydedid not move and all of that
(07:01):
until he marriedEufaula, you know.
But then she would connect withhis Holy Ghost prophecies
and everything else withhis brilliance of mind.
He was a believer.
And, but all the timethey were doing the satellite
business, they were marriedand they were praying
and God guided.
(07:23):
[Gene Bailey] After WorldWar II, America was busy
getting on with theirlives and confident
they were leadingtechnologically in the Cold War
with the Soviets.
But in 1957, the needed boostfor American space endeavors
came not from dreams ordesigns, but from a crew tiny
Soviet satellite named Sputnik.
(07:44):
♪
Sputnik's artificial orbitaround earth served
as a wake-up call,jolting the United States
into the reality ofthe space race.
Initially lagging behind,America found itself
in a frenziedpursuit to catch up.
The political shockwavescaused by Sputnik, however,
(08:07):
provided an unexpectedsilver lining,
a singular focus for thenation's aerospace industry
in its brightest minds indeveloping satellite technology.
America was both inspired anddetermined to be the leader
in the business ofcommunication satellites.
(08:28):
Amidst the secrecy of the times,a small team of engineers
from Hughes Aircraft foundthemselves at a crossroads.
This led the team to askabout the next big project.
The answer came unexpectedlyfrom their boss.
What about that satellite ideayou've been talking about?
(08:48):
This suggestion sparked thejourney that would redefine
space communication.
A battle against scientific oddsand prevailing norms lay ahead.
But these engineerswere armed with an idea
whose time had come.
(09:09):
[Billye Brim] And hedid all of that.
He was always telling us this.
I did all of thatwith a slide rule.
He didn't have a computer.
He had a slide rule.
And he said, we never wentoutside the laws of physics
that are already establishedthat everybody knows.
And God just showedus how to use them
and brought it into being.
(09:30):
Clyde McGee, oftenhailed as Mr. Satellite,
led the charge at HughesAircraft Launch Facility.
Inspired and determinedafter the Soviet Union's
Sputnik launch,
Clyde's team focusedon communication satellites.
Their breakthrough came withthis satellite, Syncom,
a small satellite, twofeet by three feet,
(09:51):
weighing a mere 100 pounds.
But its secret layin its flight path.
It was the first satellitedesigned to sync up
with the Earth, makingit usable 24-7.
To get it into a stationaryorbit was the key,
but it had neverbeen done before.
And Clyde had to figureout how to do it.
(10:11):
The first two attemptsfailed to reach proper orbit.
But Syncom number three onthe nodes of a new type
of Delta rocket
soared 22,236miles above Earth.
To enter a geostationary orbitwould require several engine
burns at just the right time
and at just the rightlength of time.
(10:33):
Geostationary orbit, aconcept as revolutionary
as the satellite itself,
meant that the satellitemoved in perfect sync
with the Earth's rotation.
It took 23 hours, 56 minutes,and four seconds to complete
one orbit, making itappear stationary
(10:54):
over a fixed position.
Clyde was the right man at theright place at the right time.
Unwavering in hisbelief, he remarked,
- I never doubted that we couldplace one in geostationary orbit
because of the work of Dr. Rosenand Tom Hudspeth, Don Williams,
that their dedicatedeffort had,
(11:16):
we knew that it wasvery possible.
- He credited his team anda spiritual connection,
invoking the Holy Spirit forcreative ideas, witty invention,
and precise solutions.
Launching Syncom 3 was agroundbreaking achievement.
This allowed the TokyoOlympics to be broadcast live
to the first liveworldwide audience.
(11:41):
Thus, in the vastness of space,a convergence of dreams,
ingenuity, and divineinspiration propelled America
into the forefront ofsatellite technology.
♪
(12:07):
[Billye Brim] It wasn't justthat Pentecost was something
at church or you mighthave a move of the Spirit.
It was your life.
They lived it allday long, every day.
So he's a space scientist, sopraying in the Holy Ghost and
hearing from God is a part ofhis job as a space scientist.
(12:29):
- In the years we've beenstudying the history of revival,
one truth is obvious.
Both prayer andaction is required.
In telling the story of ClydeMcGee, we find this also true.
Inspired by a God idea, heacted and was supported
by personal prayer and aprayer team around him.
(12:56):
And here's what's so important.
He and his wife wouldpray in tongues
until they got the answer.
That's the way it came to pass.
When you search God's heart,
(13:23):
"Likewise the Spirit who takeshold together with us
against our infirmities.
For we know not what weshould pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit Himself makesintercession for us
with groanings whichcannot be uttered.
And he that searches the heartknows what is the mind
(13:44):
of the Spirit because he makethintercession for the saints
according to the will of God.
Oh.
And the Scripture says wehave the mind of Christ.
- That's right.
- And he created it all.
[Billye Brim] So, oh,Brother Halverson,
he was alwayspraying with him.
Brother Halverson was a manwho prayed in tongues and then
(14:05):
English words would come out.
So, he would pray aboutthe birds, the birds.
- So, Brother Halverson gotdown right in front of him
and he said, "Birds,birds, come out, birds.
Come out, birds.
Clyde, yeah, Clyde, I knowwhat you're talking about.
Birds, that was the classifiedname of satellites, "birds".
(14:31):
- And there's no way anybodywould have known that.
- No way, nobody knew that.
But Brother Halversongot it in the Spirit.
And he'd just get out there andpray over him and pray over him
in the Spirit.
- And so, the Halversonslived up there
and they said to Clyde,
he was praying and Clyde said,
"You're praying aboutthe satellites.
That's what we callthe satellites."
(14:52):
So, he was praying it.
He prayed it, workedwith him, prayed it in.
Now, interesting thing,and I have it right here.
One of the times theylost the satellite.
- Really?
- And they didn't know if theycould get the satellite back,
but they charged Clydewith getting it back.
So, here is just the kindof what was written up
in this publication.
(15:13):
Rounding up a satellite in thevast empty hunting ground
of space would seem to be atask akin to finding a needle
in a haystack.
And that's kind oflike what it was.
So, anyway, Brother Halversonwent out to El Segundo,
where Clyde livedand worked,
and where they're going tofind this satellite.
(15:33):
And Clyde had a recliner,leather recliner,
and he stretched out in thatrecliner, laying out like this.
And Brother Halverson prayedover his tummy like this
in the Holy Ghost.
And I don't know howlong they prayed,
how many sessions they had, butGod showed Clyde how to get it.
And they got it.
(15:54):
Almost immediately, thepeople around Clyde,
who were steepedin Bible prophecy,
saw the implicationsof his work.
Because for years, Bible criticsand scoffers had used the verse
in Revelations about howthe whole world would see
the two witnessesrise from the dead.
How could that even happen?
But now, it wasbecoming obvious.
(16:17):
Of course, Martha, well,Martha at that time,
you follow later she was called,she knew Bible prophecy.
Her dad specializedin Bible prophecy.
So she said to Clyde, inher Southern accent, "Clyde,
you let me know when youlaunch the next satellite that
when it can be so that wecan watch that happen,
(16:40):
the two witnesses,you let me know."
So he said to her,"The next one is it."
(technicians over radio)
This was the problem thatall of the scholars
and the scoffers had withthe book of Revelation.
(17:03):
In the 11th chapter, this istalking about the two witnesses,
have power to shut upheaven and rain and so on.
They have finishedtheir testimony.
The beast that is ascendedout of the bottomless pit
shall make war against themand overcome and kill them.
Their dead bodies shall lie inthe street of the great city,
(17:26):
which spiritually iscalled Sodom and Egypt,
where also ourLord was crucified.
So Jerusalem.
And they of the people andkindreds and tongues and nations
shall see their dead bodiesthree days and a half and shall
not suffer their deadbodies to be put in graves.
(17:49):
Well, how couldyou ever do that?
Gene, we're watching awar in Gaza every day.
A reporter from Jerusalem,Clyde Thomas McGee.
So it wasn't justClyde and his wife.
There were others thatwere involved in it.
(18:13):
So here's what's thrilling.
Born again, Holy Ghost baptized,tongue-talking believer,
and his wife.
Now she was out ofthe Blackwood family,
the Blackwood Quartetand all of that.
And they're just, you know,they're just Pentecostal people
(18:35):
that love God.
And that first satellitewas synced with the earth.
And that put Revelationchapter 11 to bed right there.
- That's right. Suredid. - Yes, it did.
Kenneth Copeland Ministrieshas always been pioneers
(18:57):
in using technology,
as Brother Copeland says,
to get the Word out onevery available voice.
I sat down with DaleHill, who is a pioneer
in Christian television.
Kenneth Copeland's daughter,Terri Copeland Pearsons,
had brought him in to help
with the WorldCommunion service
because his TV truck wasstate of the art at the time.
(19:19):
[Dale Hill] So along comes 1982and this crazy idea to do
a World Communion service.
- That was amazing.
Tell me about that.
Well, you know, to be apart of that, you know,
I felt like that was thelargest thing at that time
that had ever been done.
And, you know, as faras a Christian program,
(19:39):
the great thing for us is wehad worked with some of
the sports groups, and we hadseen what could be done.
So we tried to bring someof that technology
back to ministry.
And, you know, there were somany things the whole television
industry was experimentingwith back then.
(20:00):
And so, you know, I remember wereceived a call from ABC Sports
to do a college game.
All their trucks were busy.
Well, the intriguing thingabout this college game,
it was the first time that theyhad ever brought in a large semi
with a satellite dish on it.
And they sent that collegegame back to the network
(20:24):
via satellite.
And it was so unique becauseit made news that night,
which I loved it becausethere was a shot of our truck
in the background onthis news story.
And of course, ABC covered upeverything on our truck
with their ABC banner,which was okay.
But my point is that'show new technology was.
So to see what couldbe done, you know,
(20:48):
and then to bring some of thatsame ideas back and see them
happening here for a worldwidecommunion service was just
phenomenal, I thought,because here we're using
the same technology ABC is using
to send a sportaround the world.
We're bringing it back and usingit to do worldwide camp meeting.
(21:09):
That was amazing.
And I will never forget thefirst time that there was
a shot of the congregationat Dr. Cho's church,
and they panned the crowd.
And when they took thatshot, they panned the crowd,
the people in the conventioncenter in Fort Worth.
Man, they just stoodup and cheered.
(21:31):
And it was a legitimateconnection there
of Christians on the otherside of the world.
And we take itfor granted today,
but then that wasjust very impactful.
- Yeah.
And that was, now wedon't think twice about
connecting somewhere.
(21:51):
Of course, we can do that,watch live from the internet.
- Exactly.
- But then to havesatellite dishes,
that was crazy technology.
- Absolutely.
- It was way out there.
- Way out there.
And still to this day, I getexcited thinking about
Brother Copeland andTerri having the vision
and the idea thatthey could do this.
(22:13):
If it had beenacross this country,
it wouldn't havebeen such a big deal.
But the fact that theyconnected Seoul, Korea,
that's what made it justso over the top, I felt.
- By the early 1980s, aconstellation of satellites
had been launched into space.
And the Lord had been talkingto Brother Copeland about
having a live worldwidecommunion service.
(22:37):
His vision for the church wasto see the largest number of
Word-oriented, faith-believingChristians to come together
in unity through communion.
Without unity, the churchcouldn't walk in love.
And without love,there is no power.
The Lord dropped in ourheart to have a worldwide
communion service.
(22:57):
- That's right.
- And so I called himand I said, "Clyde,
can you hook satellitestogether and make them
talk to one another?"
I said, "The Lord's put on myheart to have a worldwide
(23:18):
communion service."
He said, "Yeah."
I said, "How do you do it?"
He said, "I don't know."
But he said, "You need it.
You know whatPhilippians 4 says?
If you need it, Godknows how to do it.
He hooked eight satellitestogether and we had churches
all over the world takingcommunion together.
(23:38):
We were downtown in theConvention Center and in my mind
now, Dr. Yonggi Cho was up inthis corner and I was standing
there serving communion toan unknown number of people.
It's the first timeit had gone worldwide.
(23:59):
Clyde knew that the Lord neededit and trusted him to show him
how to do it.
Kenneth Copeland Ministries heldthe worldwide communion service
Saturday evening,August 28th, 1982
during the Fort WorthBelievers' Convention.
Over 11,000 technicians workedin collaboration to broadcast
(24:19):
the communion service viasatellite to auditoriums
in 137 cities across the UnitedStates and 22 foreign cities
around the world.
Until then, technology did notexist to support such a service.
[Kenneth Copeland] You know,there's a scripture
in the second chapterof the book of Acts
(24:41):
that says, "In the last days,
I will pour out ofmy Spirit upon all flesh.
Your sons and yourdaughters shall prophesy and I will do
signs and wonders inthe heavens above."
(25:02):
And then the earth beneathfire and vapor of smoke.
And he was talking about thefire of the Holy Spirit
in the earth and the smokeof the glory of God.
Well, there are several of thosewonders in the sky tonight,
those satellites sailingaround the earth.
I understood from the lastreport I had counting
(25:25):
the phone lines and all,
there was somethinglike eight satellites
carrying this messageto the whole world.
The entire world has thismessage coming to it tonight.
So when I look into the skiesand the signs and the wonders
that God is doing in our age,to think that we could all
just lay aside all of ourdifferences of denomination,
(25:49):
our differences of doctrines,our differences of politics,
our differences of our nationsand the colors of our skin
and our ideas and our thinking,just lay it all aside
and reach out to one anotherand love one another.
And Jesus has got to be oneof the signs of the last days
because that is awonder of all wonders.
(26:11):
Hallelujah.
God is doing it.(applauds)
Praise God.
[Gene Bailey] Incommunications history,
it was the largestclosed circuit
television broadcast ever.
A consultant from NASAstated, "This is the beginning
of a new phase of Christiansutilizing technology
provided by God throughthe space program."
(26:32):
The International Indian Ocean,Atlantic and Pacific satellites,
as well as the Western Unionand RCA satellite systems,
allow the World CommunionService to literally
surround the globe.
God does watch overHis Word to perform it.
Such innovations enable thelaunch of the first ever
worldwide communionservice broadcast live
(26:55):
through Kenneth CopelandMinistries.
But God had to have a man.
And this is one pointI want to make here.
He was the one, justlike Revival Radio.
(27:19):
Clyde McGee was the one.
He's the one thatyielded to God.
He was the one.
Well, look what hedid for the gospel.
My goodness, man.
- And still doing.
- They're still doing it.
- Yeah.
♪
(27:40):
If ever there was a "be theone" story, it's our Brother,
Clyde McGee.
Remember, it was prayer andaction behind every revival
and also behind Godinspired ideas.
And that's what we're doinghere on the Victory Channel.
That's why Revival Radio TV,FlashPoint, church services,
all of our conventionsand Victory Campaigns,
(28:02):
everything you're seeing todayis because of the inventions
and the ideas of oneman, Clyde McGee.
♪
♪
[Gene Bailey] That's good.
[Kenneth Copeland] It is good.
So all of us are benefiting fromwhat God did through one man
and his wife that wouldn't quitand just stayed before God
(00:25):
and prayed and prayed in theSpirit and prayed in the Spirit
and prayed and interpreted itonly he interpreted into
scientific language andI've seen some of it.
It was all mathematicalcalculations.
(00:47):
- Right.
- Where do you thinkhe got that?
- Divinely inspired.
- Well...
(technicians over radio)
(01:12):
[President Kennedy] We choose togo to the moon in this decade
and do the other things,
not because they are easy, butbecause they are hard.
♪
On the afternoon ofDecember 17, 1903,
Wilbur and Orville Wright walkedfour miles from Kitty Hawk
(01:34):
to send the following telegramto their father in Dayton.
Success four flights Thursdaymorning all against 21 mile wind
started from level withengine power alone.
The sons of Reverend MiltonWright tossed a coin
to determine who wouldpilot the first airplane.
(01:54):
With a combination of ingenuityand what they believe to be
divinely inspired ideas, theirhistoric flights at Kitty Hawk
marked a new era in aviation.
As they took to the skies,another visionary dreamed
of even greaterheights, spaceflight.
His name was Robert Goddard,
(02:17):
a Sunday school teacherwho taught his class
how the Bible andscience mesh together
in divine inspiration.
His pioneering invention ofliquid-fueled rockets
is what allows us to launchsatellites into space.
The telegraph, theairplane, and the rocket,
(02:38):
all God-inspired ideas.
♪
Throughout thehistory of the church,
Christians have acted onGod-inspired ideas
and in doing so,changed history.
(03:01):
The technological inventionshave empowered the church
and helped advance the gospelby using these new tools.
The church has always been theearly adopters of technology,
beginning with the printingpress and in our lifetime,
satellite broadcasting.
With the help ofdivine inspiration,
(03:21):
a small team of engineersfrom Hughes Aircraft,
led by Clyde McGee, whowas inspired by God ideas,
persevered and developedthis satellite, Syncom,
named for geosynchronouscommunication.
A revolutionary satellite thatpaved the way for advanced
communication satellites.
(03:44):
God had to have a man and ClydeMcGee stepped up to be the one.
♪
[Billye Brim]Well, his wife, Eufaula,
who was of theBlackwood family,
(04:04):
she called himClyde Thomas McGee.
He was a grocery boy for hisdad in the grocery store.
He was born and brought upin Ackerman, Mississippi,
and they gave him a testin high school, I suppose,
and he passed thattest with genius.
He was a genius.
- I called him ourgenius brother.
(04:26):
He was on our board andI always introduced him,
our genius brother, Clyde McGee.
But Clyde Thomas McGee wasa southern gentleman
all of his life.
And after he took the test andthey found out how brilliant
he was, they paid for hiseducation at Mississippi State.
And oh, he was afan from then on.
He became a space scientist forHughes Aircraft Space Division.
(04:53):
[Gene Bailey] So I guess that'sbecause he excelled, obviously,
at Mississippi State,you know, in his studies.
But out of school, did he gosomewhere before he worked
for the government?
- He went into the servicesand then went on into
the space program from there.
But they had their eye on him.
They were paying for everything.
And they were going tokeep their eye and keep him
(05:15):
in their services.
- Right. Okay.
So talk about, you know, yousaid something that I know
probably peaked some ofpeople's ears that you said
you follow was part ofthe Blackwood family.
- Yes, his wife was part ofyou know, the Blackwood Quartet,
the early day Blackwood Quartet.
Her mother, Lena, was the onlysister to the original
(05:37):
Blackwood Brothers.
And her mother, Lena,
Lena Cain, she was...
she received theHoly Spirit in 1914.
And she had gone with Jamesto a meeting in a buggy.
James the tenor, you know, theone that sings and so famous.
And they had gone,they were teenagers,
and came home and they had tostop that buggy and get out
(06:00):
and jump around andshout and praise the Lord.
♪
The Blackwood family that Clydemarried into was the most famous
gospel group inAmerica at that time.
They sold out venues acrossAmerica and even Elvis wanted
to be a part of the group.
[Announcer] Blackwood Brothers
♪
(06:38):
One thing to realize aboutClyde's roots is that he was
steeped in that ferventPentecostal culture
of the Bible Belt.
This was a time when peoplewould prefer to go to a night
of praise and worshiprather than to a movie.
It's not something familiarto modern audiences.
- Now, I'm quite sure that Clydedid not move and all of that
(07:01):
until he marriedEufaula, you know.
But then she would connect withhis Holy Ghost prophecies
and everything else withhis brilliance of mind.
He was a believer.
And, but all the timethey were doing the satellite
business, they were marriedand they were praying
and God guided.
(07:23):
[Gene Bailey] After WorldWar II, America was busy
getting on with theirlives and confident
they were leadingtechnologically in the Cold War
with the Soviets.
But in 1957, the needed boostfor American space endeavors
came not from dreams ordesigns, but from a crew tiny
Soviet satellite named Sputnik.
(07:44):
♪
Sputnik's artificial orbitaround earth served
as a wake-up call,jolting the United States
into the reality ofthe space race.
Initially lagging behind,America found itself
in a frenziedpursuit to catch up.
The political shockwavescaused by Sputnik, however,
(08:07):
provided an unexpectedsilver lining,
a singular focus for thenation's aerospace industry
in its brightest minds indeveloping satellite technology.
America was both inspired anddetermined to be the leader
in the business ofcommunication satellites.
(08:28):
Amidst the secrecy of the times,a small team of engineers
from Hughes Aircraft foundthemselves at a crossroads.
This led the team to askabout the next big project.
The answer came unexpectedlyfrom their boss.
What about that satellite ideayou've been talking about?
(08:48):
This suggestion sparked thejourney that would redefine
space communication.
A battle against scientific oddsand prevailing norms lay ahead.
But these engineerswere armed with an idea
whose time had come.
(09:09):
[Billye Brim] And hedid all of that.
He was always telling us this.
I did all of thatwith a slide rule.
He didn't have a computer.
He had a slide rule.
And he said, we never wentoutside the laws of physics
that are already establishedthat everybody knows.
And God just showedus how to use them
and brought it into being.
(09:30):
Clyde McGee, oftenhailed as Mr. Satellite,
led the charge at HughesAircraft Launch Facility.
Inspired and determinedafter the Soviet Union's
Sputnik launch,
Clyde's team focusedon communication satellites.
Their breakthrough came withthis satellite, Syncom,
a small satellite, twofeet by three feet,
(09:51):
weighing a mere 100 pounds.
But its secret layin its flight path.
It was the first satellitedesigned to sync up
with the Earth, makingit usable 24-7.
To get it into a stationaryorbit was the key,
but it had neverbeen done before.
And Clyde had to figureout how to do it.
(10:11):
The first two attemptsfailed to reach proper orbit.
But Syncom number three onthe nodes of a new type
of Delta rocket
soared 22,236miles above Earth.
To enter a geostationary orbitwould require several engine
burns at just the right time
and at just the rightlength of time.
(10:33):
Geostationary orbit, aconcept as revolutionary
as the satellite itself,
meant that the satellitemoved in perfect sync
with the Earth's rotation.
It took 23 hours, 56 minutes,and four seconds to complete
one orbit, making itappear stationary
(10:54):
over a fixed position.
Clyde was the right man at theright place at the right time.
Unwavering in hisbelief, he remarked,
- I never doubted that we couldplace one in geostationary orbit
because of the work of Dr. Rosenand Tom Hudspeth, Don Williams,
that their dedicatedeffort had,
(11:16):
we knew that it wasvery possible.
- He credited his team anda spiritual connection,
invoking the Holy Spirit forcreative ideas, witty invention,
and precise solutions.
Launching Syncom 3 was agroundbreaking achievement.
This allowed the TokyoOlympics to be broadcast live
to the first liveworldwide audience.
(11:41):
Thus, in the vastness of space,a convergence of dreams,
ingenuity, and divineinspiration propelled America
into the forefront ofsatellite technology.
♪
(12:07):
[Billye Brim] It wasn't justthat Pentecost was something
at church or you mighthave a move of the Spirit.
It was your life.
They lived it allday long, every day.
So he's a space scientist, sopraying in the Holy Ghost and
hearing from God is a part ofhis job as a space scientist.
(12:29):
- In the years we've beenstudying the history of revival,
one truth is obvious.
Both prayer andaction is required.
In telling the story of ClydeMcGee, we find this also true.
Inspired by a God idea, heacted and was supported
by personal prayer and aprayer team around him.
(12:56):
And here's what's so important.
He and his wife wouldpray in tongues
until they got the answer.
That's the way it came to pass.
When you search God's heart,
(13:23):
"Likewise the Spirit who takeshold together with us
against our infirmities.
For we know not what weshould pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit Himself makesintercession for us
with groanings whichcannot be uttered.
And he that searches the heartknows what is the mind
(13:44):
of the Spirit because he makethintercession for the saints
according to the will of God.
Oh.
And the Scripture says wehave the mind of Christ.
- That's right.
- And he created it all.
[Billye Brim] So, oh,Brother Halverson,
he was alwayspraying with him.
Brother Halverson was a manwho prayed in tongues and then
(14:05):
English words would come out.
So, he would pray aboutthe birds, the birds.
- So, Brother Halverson gotdown right in front of him
and he said, "Birds,birds, come out, birds.
Come out, birds.
Clyde, yeah, Clyde, I knowwhat you're talking about.
Birds, that was the classifiedname of satellites, "birds".
(14:31):
- And there's no way anybodywould have known that.
- No way, nobody knew that.
But Brother Halversongot it in the Spirit.
And he'd just get out there andpray over him and pray over him
in the Spirit.
- And so, the Halversonslived up there
and they said to Clyde,
he was praying and Clyde said,
"You're praying aboutthe satellites.
That's what we callthe satellites."
(14:52):
So, he was praying it.
He prayed it, workedwith him, prayed it in.
Now, interesting thing,and I have it right here.
One of the times theylost the satellite.
- Really?
- And they didn't know if theycould get the satellite back,
but they charged Clydewith getting it back.
So, here is just the kindof what was written up
in this publication.
(15:13):
Rounding up a satellite in thevast empty hunting ground
of space would seem to be atask akin to finding a needle
in a haystack.
And that's kind oflike what it was.
So, anyway, Brother Halversonwent out to El Segundo,
where Clyde livedand worked,
and where they're going tofind this satellite.
(15:33):
And Clyde had a recliner,leather recliner,
and he stretched out in thatrecliner, laying out like this.
And Brother Halverson prayedover his tummy like this
in the Holy Ghost.
And I don't know howlong they prayed,
how many sessions they had, butGod showed Clyde how to get it.
And they got it.
(15:54):
Almost immediately, thepeople around Clyde,
who were steepedin Bible prophecy,
saw the implicationsof his work.
Because for years, Bible criticsand scoffers had used the verse
in Revelations about howthe whole world would see
the two witnessesrise from the dead.
How could that even happen?
But now, it wasbecoming obvious.
(16:17):
Of course, Martha, well,Martha at that time,
you follow later she was called,she knew Bible prophecy.
Her dad specializedin Bible prophecy.
So she said to Clyde, inher Southern accent, "Clyde,
you let me know when youlaunch the next satellite that
when it can be so that wecan watch that happen,
(16:40):
the two witnesses,you let me know."
So he said to her,"The next one is it."
(technicians over radio)
This was the problem thatall of the scholars
and the scoffers had withthe book of Revelation.
(17:03):
In the 11th chapter, this istalking about the two witnesses,
have power to shut upheaven and rain and so on.
They have finishedtheir testimony.
The beast that is ascendedout of the bottomless pit
shall make war against themand overcome and kill them.
Their dead bodies shall lie inthe street of the great city,
(17:26):
which spiritually iscalled Sodom and Egypt,
where also ourLord was crucified.
So Jerusalem.
And they of the people andkindreds and tongues and nations
shall see their dead bodiesthree days and a half and shall
not suffer their deadbodies to be put in graves.
(17:49):
Well, how couldyou ever do that?
Gene, we're watching awar in Gaza every day.
A reporter from Jerusalem,Clyde Thomas McGee.
So it wasn't justClyde and his wife.
There were others thatwere involved in it.
(18:13):
So here's what's thrilling.
Born again, Holy Ghost baptized,tongue-talking believer,
and his wife.
Now she was out ofthe Blackwood family,
the Blackwood Quartetand all of that.
And they're just, you know,they're just Pentecostal people
(18:35):
that love God.
And that first satellitewas synced with the earth.
And that put Revelationchapter 11 to bed right there.
- That's right. Suredid. - Yes, it did.
Kenneth Copeland Ministrieshas always been pioneers
(18:57):
in using technology,
as Brother Copeland says,
to get the Word out onevery available voice.
I sat down with DaleHill, who is a pioneer
in Christian television.
Kenneth Copeland's daughter,Terri Copeland Pearsons,
had brought him in to help
with the WorldCommunion service
because his TV truck wasstate of the art at the time.
(19:19):
[Dale Hill] So along comes 1982and this crazy idea to do
a World Communion service.
- That was amazing.
Tell me about that.
Well, you know, to be apart of that, you know,
I felt like that was thelargest thing at that time
that had ever been done.
And, you know, as faras a Christian program,
(19:39):
the great thing for us is wehad worked with some of
the sports groups, and we hadseen what could be done.
So we tried to bring someof that technology
back to ministry.
And, you know, there were somany things the whole television
industry was experimentingwith back then.
(20:00):
And so, you know, I remember wereceived a call from ABC Sports
to do a college game.
All their trucks were busy.
Well, the intriguing thingabout this college game,
it was the first time that theyhad ever brought in a large semi
with a satellite dish on it.
And they sent that collegegame back to the network
(20:24):
via satellite.
And it was so unique becauseit made news that night,
which I loved it becausethere was a shot of our truck
in the background onthis news story.
And of course, ABC covered upeverything on our truck
with their ABC banner,which was okay.
But my point is that'show new technology was.
So to see what couldbe done, you know,
(20:48):
and then to bring some of thatsame ideas back and see them
happening here for a worldwidecommunion service was just
phenomenal, I thought,because here we're using
the same technology ABC is using
to send a sportaround the world.
We're bringing it back and usingit to do worldwide camp meeting.
(21:09):
That was amazing.
And I will never forget thefirst time that there was
a shot of the congregationat Dr. Cho's church,
and they panned the crowd.
And when they took thatshot, they panned the crowd,
the people in the conventioncenter in Fort Worth.
Man, they just stoodup and cheered.
(21:31):
And it was a legitimateconnection there
of Christians on the otherside of the world.
And we take itfor granted today,
but then that wasjust very impactful.
- Yeah.
And that was, now wedon't think twice about
connecting somewhere.
(21:51):
Of course, we can do that,watch live from the internet.
- Exactly.
- But then to havesatellite dishes,
that was crazy technology.
- Absolutely.
- It was way out there.
- Way out there.
And still to this day, I getexcited thinking about
Brother Copeland andTerri having the vision
and the idea thatthey could do this.
(22:13):
If it had beenacross this country,
it wouldn't havebeen such a big deal.
But the fact that theyconnected Seoul, Korea,
that's what made it justso over the top, I felt.
- By the early 1980s, aconstellation of satellites
had been launched into space.
And the Lord had been talkingto Brother Copeland about
having a live worldwidecommunion service.
(22:37):
His vision for the church wasto see the largest number of
Word-oriented, faith-believingChristians to come together
in unity through communion.
Without unity, the churchcouldn't walk in love.
And without love,there is no power.
The Lord dropped in ourheart to have a worldwide
communion service.
(22:57):
- That's right.
- And so I called himand I said, "Clyde,
can you hook satellitestogether and make them
talk to one another?"
I said, "The Lord's put on myheart to have a worldwide
(23:18):
communion service."
He said, "Yeah."
I said, "How do you do it?"
He said, "I don't know."
But he said, "You need it.
You know whatPhilippians 4 says?
If you need it, Godknows how to do it.
He hooked eight satellitestogether and we had churches
all over the world takingcommunion together.
(23:38):
We were downtown in theConvention Center and in my mind
now, Dr. Yonggi Cho was up inthis corner and I was standing
there serving communion toan unknown number of people.
It's the first timeit had gone worldwide.
(23:59):
Clyde knew that the Lord neededit and trusted him to show him
how to do it.
Kenneth Copeland Ministries heldthe worldwide communion service
Saturday evening,August 28th, 1982
during the Fort WorthBelievers' Convention.
Over 11,000 technicians workedin collaboration to broadcast
(24:19):
the communion service viasatellite to auditoriums
in 137 cities across the UnitedStates and 22 foreign cities
around the world.
Until then, technology did notexist to support such a service.
[Kenneth Copeland] You know,there's a scripture
in the second chapterof the book of Acts
(24:41):
that says, "In the last days,
I will pour out ofmy Spirit upon all flesh.
Your sons and yourdaughters shall prophesy and I will do
signs and wonders inthe heavens above."
(25:02):
And then the earth beneathfire and vapor of smoke.
And he was talking about thefire of the Holy Spirit
in the earth and the smokeof the glory of God.
Well, there are several of thosewonders in the sky tonight,
those satellites sailingaround the earth.
I understood from the lastreport I had counting
(25:25):
the phone lines and all,
there was somethinglike eight satellites
carrying this messageto the whole world.
The entire world has thismessage coming to it tonight.
So when I look into the skiesand the signs and the wonders
that God is doing in our age,to think that we could all
just lay aside all of ourdifferences of denomination,
(25:49):
our differences of doctrines,our differences of politics,
our differences of our nationsand the colors of our skin
and our ideas and our thinking,just lay it all aside
and reach out to one anotherand love one another.
And Jesus has got to be oneof the signs of the last days
because that is awonder of all wonders.
(26:11):
Hallelujah.
God is doing it.(applauds)
Praise God.
[Gene Bailey] Incommunications history,
it was the largestclosed circuit
television broadcast ever.
A consultant from NASAstated, "This is the beginning
of a new phase of Christiansutilizing technology
provided by God throughthe space program."
(26:32):
The International Indian Ocean,Atlantic and Pacific satellites,
as well as the Western Unionand RCA satellite systems,
allow the World CommunionService to literally
surround the globe.
God does watch overHis Word to perform it.
Such innovations enable thelaunch of the first ever
worldwide communionservice broadcast live
(26:55):
through Kenneth CopelandMinistries.
But God had to have a man.
And this is one pointI want to make here.
He was the one, justlike Revival Radio.
(27:19):
Clyde McGee was the one.
He's the one thatyielded to God.
He was the one.
Well, look what hedid for the gospel.
My goodness, man.
- And still doing.
- They're still doing it.
- Yeah.
♪
(27:40):
If ever there was a "be theone" story, it's our Brother,
Clyde McGee.
Remember, it was prayer andaction behind every revival
and also behind Godinspired ideas.
And that's what we're doinghere on the Victory Channel.
That's why Revival Radio TV,FlashPoint, church services,
all of our conventionsand Victory Campaigns,
(28:02):
everything you're seeing todayis because of the inventions
and the ideas of oneman, Clyde McGee.
♪
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