From Bananas to the Gospel

   Sometimes I wonder how the apostles would have used the airwaves had this technology been available to them. My interest in radio began while I was still in high school and working part time in a grocery store. Every Saturday a local radio station would call the store and ask for the specials of the day. One Saturday the manager was going to be away and asked me if I would take the call. I readily agreed but I was also very nervous. This was a “live add” and there were no opportunities to do “a second take.” The radio station would call the store and lock the line about three minutes before doing the live add. I knew the announcer and when he called to book the line I said; “Bill, stick solely with the add and don’t ask me any other questions”; to which he agreed. Some how with a racing heart I did manage to advertise that bananas were on special for .25 cent a pound! That was my first experience with radio but it would not be my last.

   Following High School I served in a student ministry within a three point pastoral charge outside of my home town of New Glasgow Nova Scotia. The local radio station offered to the county ministerial the opportunity (free of charge) of doing a three minute devotional which started each days programming. If I could advertise bananas why couldn’t I tell people what the Lord was willing to offer them? I agreed to do a week’s programming of five devotions which were all pre-taped but again there was no real chance to do second takes. I felt like Frazier in the TV sitcom when the director on the other side of the glass would give me the cue that I was “on air.” Unlike my TV’s namesake I proceeded to share the gospel rather than talk about someone’s dating problems. Surprisingly enough no one wrote and threatened to revoke their advertising and so I continued to do a series of early morning devotions.

   My next debut on the airwaves came while I was ministering in Calgary Alberta. I approached our session about the possibility of airing our Sunday morning worship services. My reasons I felt were positive. People who were in hospital or nursing home facilities could still hear a gospel message. Those who had to work on Sundays might still be able to catch portions of a worship service. Lastly, it couldn’t hurt advertising our church as a place of worship. Once Session gave me the “green light” I began phoning the multitude of stations within the city of Calgary. One after another I heard the same story; “If we did it for you we would have to do it for all the churches and we just don’t have the time for that.” There were no radio stations in Calgary willing to carry our service. It was then that I recalled that a lady in our congregation had a son who was a program director in a small community to the south of Calgary. I made several calls to see if a radio signal from High River reached the city limits. Not only did I find an affirmative answer but I also found out that this station had a large following in the rural community that surrounded the town. It was time to pay the station a visit. I talked with the manager told him who I was and that his mother; “attended our church.” God is very good at using connections and the station agreed to carry our Sunday morning worship service one Sunday a month. I wished it had been every Sunday but one was better than none. Broadcasting back in the early 80”s was interesting. Like my first taste at radio the station would call the church to “lock in the line.” I put little notices on the host of telephones throughout our church. The notice read; “If you don’t want your conversation to be heard all over Southern Alberta then don’t pick up this phone.”  People liked the idea of a radio ministry especially our congregation as it meant that services had to be kept within the hour or the plug would be pulled?  Services over High River continued and we even managed to pick up extra Sundays. We advanced from a live telephone broadcast to a cassette recording which I sent out faithfully by bus every week. Remember this was before computers came into existence? Grace Church was still broadcasting services when we left there in 1993.

   Westminster Church Barrie Ontario was our new home and it wasn’t long before I heard that Government regulations were being relaxed and Christian radio came into being. A new station was starting in Barrie where the emphasis was on Christian rock. I paid a visit to the manager and told him that I felt he was missing out on a significant portion of the community if he concentrated only on Christian Rock. I was willing to offer him two Sunday programs consisting of an edited version of our Sunday worship service plus a new program I had just started working on called; “Great Hymns of the Faith:.” The program was hosted by my wife Jillian and me. Great Hymns was a series of traditional hymns along with a story about the hymn, the author or perhaps a story behind the hymn itself. He was interested and we had our sponsors in place. These programs were not free and so I was very grateful to a local funeral home who proved to be one of our great supporters. Again contacts never hurt and the local funeral director happened to be an elder in our church! I would edit the worship service on a two track cassette player (again no computers) while Great Hymns was edited by a professional company who at the time also did the “Delta Music air tracks.” We were on our way! It took awhile but we started to get letters and phone calls stating appreciation for our radio ministry. Strange but many calls came from Baptists who listened to us on their way to church! One of the most supportive calls came from a lady who gave me permission when she called to tell her story. She had just finished doing her night shift at a local casino. She was tired and she was deeply troubled. She had recently been called to pick up her son up off the streets in Toronto. Her son had a drug problem. With a weary heart she told me that her faith supported her but her husband did not support her faith. “I got in the car with tears in my eyes,” she said “and I pushed a cassette into the player.” “I didn’t like the music so I turned the tape deck off and the radio on.”  “When I turned the radio on you were just announcing your next selection called “My Forever Friend.” She thanked me and said that she was greatly encouraged. Someone else called a member of a local Roman Catholic Church saying that they had just lost their church building by fire and that our ministry of Christian music was also a great encouragement to them. That was two of several stories that I received telling me how supportive our radio ministry was. I thanked God that in some small way He allowed me to reach out with the Good News of the Gospel.

   Time passes quickly even nine years .Jill and I along with our three daughters found ourselves on a plane bound for the Bahamas! I use to joke with Jill after shoveling snow in Canada that someday God would call me to a place of Palm Trees! God answers prayer I was seconded by the PCC to the Church of Scotland and they sent me to the Lucaya Presbyterian Kirk in Freeport Grand Bahama.  It was to be a three year appointment and I enjoyed everyone of those years. In Freeport, I soon found out that there were two radio stations and I quickly found my way to the closest. Would they be interested in carrying a program called “Great Hymns of the Faith?” They replied yes although a price was set. Once the news was shared with the Session and I told them that I had sponsors who would carry all the costs, what Scottish Presbyterians could ever say no! Great Hymns was supported by a soft drink manufacturer, a landscape developer, an ice cream vendor and you guessed it “a local funeral home.” One of my favorite stories from the Bahamas was of a beach vendor called “Tony Macaroni” who refused to open up his bar on a popular beach until the last hymn was played. He told me, “I haven’t heard some of those hymns since my Sunday School days.” Today I proudly wear a baseball cap with the station’s logo on it. The cap was a gift when we left the Island at the end of my three year term.

   We were now back in some of the great snow belts of Canada. I contacted an acquaintance in Oakville Ontario and asked if Joy 1250 would be interested in carrying Great Hymns of the Faith. They “just happened” to have a 22 minute spot on Sunday afternoon at 2:40 and yes they could use it. The news was great and especially the fact that I didn’t need sponsors. They would carry the program free if I would provide it at no cost to them. I quickly agreed to the offer and Great Hymns of the Faith started in 2006 and continues to the present day even though I have returned to the Land of the Palm trees only this time to the Island of Bermuda.

   There have been a number of changes in our broadcast ministry. Computers have come into being and I do my programs all from home. If my phone rings in the midst of a program I can backup and edit the ring out. I have even been known to edit out a screaming siren as whizzes by the manse. One thing hasn’t changed though and that is the need for sponsors. Today Great Hymns of the Faith is sponsored by a grocery store, a law firm and you guessed it – a funeral home. We have slowly expanded in that our program is carried not only by Joy 1250 out of Oakville but also by Magic 102.7 FM right here in Hamilton Bermuda. I also share the program with a close friend in Scotland who duplicates it on Cd and passes copies out to friends who live in Falkland, Freuchie and Cupar. Gone are the days of cassette tapes and bus deliveries. Great Hymns of the Faith are instantly received using a computer audio transfer service. For those who are interested, the program can also be heard on our website http://st-andrews-presbyterian.org/     This ministry is offered freely to any radio station who might be interested.

   I have gone from selling bananas over the radio to offering the gospel freely and I consider it is a joy, a privilege and an assume responsibility.

                                                                     Light

   Light, comes in all shapes and sizes. We enjoy the light that falls from a sparkling chandelier. When the power goes out we reach for our flashlight and light a candle. We put little lights in our hallways and call them night lights so we won’t stub our toes in the dark. We decorate our lawns and gardens with little solar lights. The sun sheds its beautiful light during the day and the moon reflects the light of the sun at night.

   Without light we would be in the dark! Without light plants could not grow. Without light we would freeze. Without light, life as we know it would cease to be. Without light we would all die.

   The Bible tells us that the first thing that God created was light! Genesis 1:3 reads, “Let there be light and there was light.” Listen to what the Psalmist says; “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path” (119:105). 

   Many of us are on a path in life where we are busy dragging problems and worries:

-from one day into the next

-from one week into the next

-from one month into the next

-and yes even from one year into the next

   We worry about the past and we worry about the future. We worry about our health. We worry about the health of others. We worry about our jobs. We worry about not having a job. We worry about worrying.

   No matter how good a computer is it can still come crashing to a standstill if overloaded with too much data. We sometimes treat ourselves like a computer by overloading ourselves with worry. Some times people will “crash” just like their computer only we call it burnout, stress attack, breakdown or heart attack.

   I want you to give some serious thought to what our text is telling us about light. A lamp, the type of which is being referred to in this text lights only the immediate area around its base. Think about that!

   Notice that the Bible did not say, “Your Word is like the blazing sun to my feet,” but “your word is a lamp to my feet.” God’s Word shows us where to walk a step at a time. God’s Word is not a spotlight that illuminates what the road is like a mile ahead but what the path is like immediately below our feet.

   Can you see one small blessing to be thankful for? Then thank Him for that one small blessing.

   Can you see one persistent sin that you insist on carrying with you? Ask God to forgive you for that one sin.

   Is there one small temptation that still keeps company with you? Ask God to help you shake that one temptation.

   Walk with God one step at a time. We cannot change the past and we know not what the future may hold but we do know that with the light of his Word as our guide that He will instruct us where it is safe to place our next step. So, don’t lag in the past, don’t run blindly into the future for the lamp of God’s Word only sheds light a step at a time.

   May God richly bless you as you walk in his light.

John Fraser