On the Air Again

A totally unexpected word from Peggy's brother last Wednesday caught me by surprise. He reported that a disc jockey on his local radio station WRUS 610 AM Russellville, KY, had read on the air a portion of my sermon, The Blind Side. The fellow credited me as the author. Of course, I was very curious about how this had come to be.

Thursday afternoon I called the station. Big Daddy Bobalu himself answered the phone. I introduced myself and told him I was appreciative of him using my sermon, but I wondered how he got it. He first explained that at a given time in the afternoon he does an inspiration program. He found my sermon on the internet, he explained. He would read the remainder of it on the two following days. How it got on the internet I do not know. I do send sermons every week to some people over the internet. By whatever means he got ahold of it I felt honored.

As I pondered this I thought about my radio ministries through the years. My first broadcast was over this very station. This jockey's father had started this station back in the early 1950's. When I was a college freshmen a close friend, a fellow preacher boy and I shared aweekly 15 minutes preaching time on this station. We alternated weeks. It cost us the huge sum of $6 per week.

Several years later I was pastor of First Baptist Church of Jamestown, KY. A Baptist preacher opened a new station between Jamestown and Russell Springs. He invited me to teach the International Sunday School lesson every Sunday morning from 8:30-9:00 at no cost. He said it was a public service program. I did this for four years. It required hours of study every week, but it was very profitable. Sometime before I left Jamestown the station manager said that it was the most listened program on the station. I was astonished at that news, but very humbled and thankful that I could teach the Word of God to the radio audience. Almost every week I met people who told me that they listened regularly. I was flattered when a teacher of a men's class said that he recorded it and played to his class. I did not think that was a great idea, but what could I say? After serving the church for five years I answered the call to First Baptist Church of Griffith, Indiana. To this day I think the Sunday School lesson on radio was perhaps my greatest accomplishment there. I hasten to add that it was not me, but the Holy Spirit speaking through me. Since I wrote out the lessons, I still have copies of most of them, though I haven't read one of them in a long time.

During my 18 1/2 year pastorate in Griffith I off the air. In 1990 we moved to Providence where I served six years as pastor of Victory Baptist Church. I returned to the air-waves since the church broadcasted it worship services on WHRZ 99.7 FM. Since it was Sunday evenings from 7 to 8 o'clock we taped the morning worship service. Only God knows how large the listening audience was or the effect these services had on the listeners. Again a large number of people said that they listened. The same station gave the pastors in town a fifteen minute daily devotion time. I spoke on that program a great deal.

When I left Providence my radio ministry came to a halt. If my speaking from behind radio microphones touched people's lives and brought some to the Lord and helped God's children grow stronger in their faith, I just praise the Lord. God is good! I am amazed that he could use me. I thank Him and all who made it possible for me to be on the air.

Even if one of my sermons was read over the air by a disc jockey in Russellville, KY, I am humbled that he chose one of mine. Not knowing that it was going to happen I am glad to have been on ther air again.