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LeSEA Broadcasting (Lester Sumrall Evangelistic Association), also known as World Harvest Television, is an American Christian television network with over 40 affiliate stations in a number of U.S. markets, on the Fixed Service Satellite Galaxy 16 C band transponder 15, and on satellite overseas.

LeSEA is based in South Bend, Indiana and broadcasts Christian programming. Two primary shows broadcast from the studios are their flagship program The Harvest Show and Live from Studio B. Pete Sumrall, son of the network's founder the late Dr. Lester Sumrall, serves as its president and chief executive officer.

The Harvest Show, a one-hour talk show which has a format that is somewhat similar to the Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club and is hosted by Valerie Lowe, Stefan Radelich, Drew Sumrall and Chuck Freeby. Guests have included Millard Fuller, Dominic Mance, Michael Landon, Jr. and Susie Scott Krabacher. Some of the program hosts serve other functions within the organization; Radelich is executive director of one of the LeSEA ministries, Feed The Hungry.

Live from Studio B is a 30-minute in-studio concert show from studio B, which features performances from various contemporary and alternative Christian artists and bands. They have hosted such artists as Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, the late Rich Mullins, Newsboys and others.

In addition to its religious programming, LeSEA stations broadcast local high school athletics through their own production trucks, and also broadcast college football and basketball under deals with syndicators such as ESPN Plus and the SEC Network, while South Bend station WHME-TV also airs a good amount of programming revolving around the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, not including live football games.

Also, like Trinity Broadcasting Network, FamilyNet and participating local stations, LeSEA airs The 700 Club every weekday. And overnights each weekend, they air The Best of Harvest, a rebroadcast of a previously-aired program. In addition to its many LeSEA-owned stations, network television affiliates in different parts of the country began airing The Best of Harvest and Live from Studio B among different programs from LeSEA. At other times the output consists of shows such as ('Green Acres', 'Hawaii Five-0' etc.), paid advertising (such as for animated Christian children's cartoon series available on various video formats, health supplements and products, etc.).

On February 3, 2010, LeSea announced the sale of KWHD to Liberman Broadcasting in 2010; the station switched to Liberman's Estrella TV network after the sale was completed, under the callsign KETD, though the World Harvest scheduled remained on KETD-DT2 under an addition agreement.^[1]

History[link]

LeSEA also operates one US shortwave location, at South Carolina, they closed their operations on the big island of Hawaii, near Na'alehu (KHWR) and also their Greenbush, ME (WHRA) shortwave facilities in the past few years. Programming is heard currently from Palau, serving the Far East.

See also[link]

• List of World Harvest Television stations
• List of Sky Angel Channels

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Harvest Show official website
• LeSEA Global Feed The Hungry

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Jonathan Butler
Jonathan Butler in 2007
Background information
Born	(1961-10-10) 10 October 1961 (age 50) Athlone, Cape TownSouth Africa
Genres	Rhythm and blues, jazz fusion, contemporary worship music
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Labels	Mountain Records, Jive Records
Associated acts	Pacific Express, Kirk Whalum, Ruby Turner, Boney James, Dave Koz
Website	Jonathan Butler.com
Notable instruments
Gretsch Semi-hollow, Carvin Corporation SH575, and various acoustic-electric classical guitars

Jonathan Butler (born 10 October 1961, Athlone, Cape Town, South Africa) is a singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music is often classified as R&B, jazz fusion or worship music.

Biography[link]

Born and raised in Cape Town during Apartheid, Butler started singing and playing acoustic guitar as a child. Racial segregation and poverty during Apartheid has been the subject of many of his records.^[1] His first single was the first by a black artist played by white radio stations in the racially segregated South Africa and earned a Sarie Award, South Africa's equivalent to the Grammy Awards.

He began touring at the age of seven when he joined a travelling stage show, and was later signed up to perform on a string of hit recordings, turning him into a local teen idol. In 1978 he found the inspiration and encouragement to begin expressing himself as a composer and songwriter when he joined Cape Town's best known jazz/rock outfit, Pacific Express. Two albums were recorded with the Express personnel, and some Pacific Express songs were later released on the 1988 7th Avenue album. All three releases were issued by Mountain Records.

Butler was signed to Jive Records in 1977, and in the early 1980s he moved to the United Kingdom where he remained for seventeen years. His international breakthrough came in 1987 with his Grammy nominated hit single, "Lies" and his cover version of the Staple Singers song "If You're Ready (Come Go with Me)", which he performed with Ruby Turner.

Butler maintained a loyal following in the 1980s and 1990s, in South Africa, the United States and Europe.

In 2006, Butler was a featured vocalist on the album Gospel Goes Classical, produced by University of Alabama at Birmingham music professor Henry Panion. This recording, featuring arrangements by Panion, Tommy Stewart, Michael Loveless, and Ray Reach, rose to #2 on the Billboard Gospel chart, and #3 on the Classical Crossover chart.^[2] He was also nominated for a Grammy Award for his single "Going Home".

Also in 2008, he guest starred on George Duke's Album Dukey Treats, alongside the late Teena Marie on the track Sudan, talking about the disasters of Darfur.

Discography[link]

Jonathan Butler at the Dave Koz & Friends Smooth Jazz Cruise 2006.

Wayman Tisdale & Jonathan Butler CD release party at the AllStar Rendezvous Concert in 2006.

• Introducing Jonathan Butler (1985)
• Jonathan Butler (1987)
• Inspirations (1987)
• 7th Avenue (1988)
• More Than Friends (1988)
• Deliverance (1990)
• Heal Our Land (1990)
• Best Of Jonathan Butler (1993)
• Head To Head (1994)
• Do You Love Me? (1997)
• Story Of Life (1999)
• The Source (2000)
• Surrender (2002)
• Ultimate Butler (2002)
• Worship Project (2004)
• Jonathan (2005)
• Gospel Goes Classical (2006) (with Juanita Bynum)
• Brand New Day (2007)
• So Strong (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jonathan Butler

• Jonathan Butler's Official Website
• Radio interview with Jonathan Butler Part I Part II (Broadcast by NPR)