About a year after Coletta (my wife) and I and our youngest son, Aaron moved from Kansas to start our ministry here in Van Wert, Ohio, I had a vision to go on our local AM and FM Radio Station. I had been on the radio in Hutchinson, Kansas for 9 years, and I enjoy communicating with people through this medium. Having said that, our church's program in Kansas was 30 minutes long on Sunday mornings and one hour long on Sunday nights (once a week). I personally felt that the "unchurched" folks I wanted to reach out to would not sit by a radio for a half hour or an hour and listen to a radio preacher. We were able to be a blessing to a lot of shut ins, but, we could have taken them a cassette tape once a week and saved our church about $500.00 a month.
So, I presented to our church's budget committee here at Liberty Baptist the idea of a once a day 60 second spot devotional challenge for our local radio station. A friendly presentation with a short illustration, maybe one or two Bible verses with an application for a person's every day life. My thinking was, "Let's give the listeners something to think about in a short enough time frame so they won't turn us off before we are finished talking." was my thinking. Well, we've been on W.E.R.T. Radio here now for about ten years with these one minute broadcasts, once a day, seven days a week. Many people have heard these challenges, and thanked us for them. I have met several listeners through this ministry, and we have also had people visit our church from as far as 30 miles away who heard us on W.E.R.T. Radio. I end each broadcast saying, "This is Pastor Jim Burns of the Liberty Baptist Church in Van Wert, Ohio, and that's something to think about!" Thus the title and theme for our new blog. Email: jimmycburns@aol.com
