UPDATE: THE FUNDING FOR THE SWITCH TO FM HAS BEEN RECIEVED-THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT :)
One of the doors that opened for our church to reach new and
hold regular attenders is radio. This began when we closed our doors in March. A
small group of visionary people sponsored the first month. Then a bold couple
applied for a grant from our endowment to fund 6 months of programming. We put
on a 30 minute program at 7:am on 960AM. We generally included the sermon from
the previous week and occasionally music.
The cost was $65/week. Over this time, I heard from a handful
of people who heard and were blessed by this outreach. As our funding was
winding down I began to make appeals at the end of the broadcast that this was
listener funded and the funding would be ending in September. Unless someone
stepped up.
Someone stepped up. A listener from Dalton said he enjoyed
the messages and wanted to see them continue. He sponsored the next 3 months.
As this funding was winding down, I again let the word out that the program would
end. Again, another sponsor stepped up. Both sponsors encouraged me to explore
FM. So I did.
The station manager made it clear to me back in March the
104.5 FM was a country station and all religious broadcasts were on AM only.
When I pressed for an opportunity they opened Easter Sunday-given the pandemic
they were willing to make an exception. Several churches had a program that
morning-and we were one of them. But that was it-or so I thought.
I reached out to the station manager again last week to see
if we could explore FM. She said they would consider it. They did. We now have
the chance to be on the FM station during our same time slot on Sunday at 7:am
but this time on 104.5 FM. This is a strong signal that will undoubtedly will
give a much clearer sound. We have this opening for 3 months then the station
will evaluate.
The cost is significantly more: $250/week. For 13 weeks from
Jan. to Mar. 2021-the total cost would be $3250. This would be a seed
scattering venture.* WQKT is our local station and it projects to a 114,000
weekly listeners. How many of those listeners know the Lord? How many need to
hear a message from His Word? How many will respond? I don’t know? But God
does.
It seems God keeps this door open for us and has now opened it wider. Is this something you feel led to support? If you do, feel free to write a check to SMC with “radio” on the memo line. All funding should come in by Dec. 27, 2020 to determine our ability to maintain this outreach. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. To God be the glory!
*When we began on radio I also explored and began a podcast
that is available here:
https://anchor.fm/todd-d-martin
All our radio messages will continue to be posted there and
are available on Spotify as well.
Comments
Post a Comment