"Turn Your Radio On"

Soon after I came to Bethlehem Church I learned about what was then called the Ashland City Ministerial Alliance, or the ACMA. It has sense changed its name to the Cheatham County Ministerial Alliance in the vain hope that if we made the name more expansive it would grow the organization. In any case, one of the things that this association did for me was to give me the opportunity to host the Monday morning edition of the "The Shepherd's Hour." I have done it almost from the beginning of my ministry in 1995. Corky Albright, the owner of WQSV, does this as a public service to the community. Each week day a different host or hosts launches out into the ether. I was actually tempted to say "hello world!" the first time I went on, but I fought back the urge.

The Shepherd's Hour really is an hour long, so I have plenty of time to play the sermon from the preceding Sunday and some good Christian music. I have also read all the way through a couple of books, one, the autobiography of Warren Wiersbe more than once!

One recent change to all this is that the radio station has gone on the internet. I actually have a member of the church I pastored in Illinois who listens in on Mondays. I sometimes joke about my "vast media empire" because while the station may saturate Cheatham County and parts of the surrounding counties, I have no way of estimating how many listen. Just about the time that I think nobody but my Mother-in-law is, I will meet someone who mentions that they enjoy the program.

I have written all of this to make an analogy. Ministry is not an easily quantifiable thing. It is possible to get to thinking no one is listening, that no one is being helped. It is just about then that the Lord moves upon someone to send a note or go out of their way to express appreciation. In other words there is a tangible proof that God is using me.

I have every intention of going down to the radio station next Monday from 9 to 10 a.m. I hope it will be a blessing to someone, but I may never know if it is. Just so, I will do my best to remain faithful to God's calling on my life. I am confident that it is doing more than I will ever know.