|
Every morning on the Swansea Sound Breakfast Show I play our daily 'Just A Thought', a one minute thought for the day presented by a local minister or church leader. I personally find these thoughts a real blessing, (even though I heard them during recording and over and over again during editing ) and they have become part of my morning devotional. We have some great Christian broadcasters in this part of Wales and I am sure that when the Radio Authority) grant more licences for Christian radio stations, these individuals will be ready to broadcast the Good News of Jesus on air. Rob James of Pembroke, Anthony Gwyther Jones of Newton in Swansea and Cyril Jenkins are examples of people that God has called to this unique form of ministry. However whilst we all long for local and national Christian radio stations on which we can hear Christian music and ministry at home or in the car, we do already have an opportunity to spread the Gospel via radio. Swansea Sound for example broadcasts a total of two hours of religious programmes every week. Heart and Soul, our Contemporary Christian music and ministry programme can be heard every Sunday morning at 7 . It is a real joy for me to be able to present this programme which includes two thoughts from Rob James minister of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Pembroke. During these talks Rob reflects on the week's news and presents a Christian perspective on national and international events. Every Sunday Evening at 8.00 our Sunday Service gives a local minister a chance to present a 30 minute studio service with worship songs, prayer, readings and a message ( even with an appeal).
To give you an idea of what is broadcast, here's an example of a Just A Thought transcript. This was presented by Cyril Jenkins and broadcast on Swansea Sound on Tuesday January 23rd 2001.
This thought really did bless me.. 'The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Military Cemetery in Washington DC has a guard 24 hours a day. Every hour, on the hour, 365 days a year a new soldier reports for duty. When a new guard arrives, he receives his orders from the one that is leaving, the words are always the same, 'Orders remain unchanged'. The same could be said about the orders that Jesus gave his disciples just before he ascended into Heaven. He told his followers, "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) Jesus also said, "Go and make disciples of all nations". We are commissioned to tell others that he is the Son of God, that he died to pay the price for our sins and that salvation is granted to all who put their faith in him. Then as we fulfil our duties, we pass on the orders to the next generation - THE ORDERS REMAIN THE SAME. Like many others I am praying for the Radio Authority to allow Christians licences to run radio stations. In fact, we have gone one step further and have a full music library, a programme schedule, station name and logo ready to go. However, what we have now is an audience that is listening to the ' Christian output of a mainstream station.' We must also realise that Christian radio is not meant to be entertainment for believers but a powerful tool for witness and evangelism. Whether your outreach ministry involves preaching from a pulpit, the musical instrument, the coffee cup, the helping hand or the studio microphone, 'The orders remain the same.' Go and make disciples!
|