THE POWER OF RADIO

THE POWER OF RADIO THE POWER OF RADIO
James W. Nichols

I would indeed have a cold and ungrateful heart, if I were not thankful for this opportunity. There are many things about this occasion that makes it both a sad and happy one. Twenty-six years ago this week my father, Elmer Lee Nichols, stood in the auditorium on the old campus, and delivered his first lectureship address on “The Man of Galilee.” He too was twency-four years of age. Although I do not remember him, this occasion brings to my heart memories, that have been established by the words of his friends. As I recently read his introductory remarks on that occasion, I was convinced that I could in no way better express my gratefulness than by his own

“Happy is one who is thus privileged to speak. As a former student here, I am presented by the familiar scenes about this school with a thousand hallowed memories inviolably dear. At this moment fancy takes wings and flies away to the frozen seas of the past that led the poet to sing, “Hail, memory, hail in thy exhaustless mine From age to age unnumbered treasures shine! Thought and her shadowy brood thy call obey, And Place and Time are subjected to thy sway!” As creatures of will and of choice, we are also creatures of responsibility. We are not like the animals of the forest, nor can we afford to live by the law of the jungle; destroy or be destroyed. Whether we want to believe it or not, we are our brothers keeper. But the question we must ask ourselves is, “Are we keeping our brother?” Since this service began, somewhere in the United States, soft earth has been poured on the top of thirty coffins containing thirty bodies that now lie six feet under. Thirty bodies which did contain thirty souls that are lost eternally. Before we finish this particular lesson seventy-five more will join the silent ranks of the dead with no hope for the future. And in the mind of God there may be inscribed on the tombstone erected over each grave, your name or my name as being responsible for the loss of that soul if we have failed to do our utmost in preaching the Gospel. The question rings out, “Have I been busy about my task in keeping the souls of these my brethren?” These statistics may be cold, but they will be hot when we face them at the judg-ment. The word of God teaches in no uncertain terms that we become responsible for the souls of others when we have the truth. We are as the watchman of the Lord in Ezekiel 33. In the first six verses of this chapter, God tells Ezekiel that once the watchman is selected in a city he becomes responsible for the lives of the inhabitants of the city. If he sees the enemy coming and he warns not the people then their blood is laid to his charge, but if he sees the enemy coming and warns the people and they flee not but are destroyed, he has at least redeemed his life. Then in the 7th verse God speaks to Ezekiel and says: “So thou, son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, 0 wicked man, thou shalt surely die, and thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he turn not from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.”

There are only one million out of 2,264,563,771 people on earth that claim to be members of the New Testament Church. What about the other billions? Figures are not available, but it is estimated that less than one per cent of the earth has ever heard a gospel sermon. Therefore, the problem of this hour and every hour of our life resolves itself to this: Souls will be lost without the gospel, then if souls are to be saved we must reach them with the gospel. Some one so fitly has said, “God has willed that he have no other hands but ours with which to help our fellowman, no other feet but ours to guide men in paths of righteousness, and no other toongue but ours with which to preach the gospel as saving power.” If the gospel is to be preached we must preach it, and if souls are to be saved it must be by the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Therefore, we must do everything in our power to preach the gospel to every creature. Now then, this means that we must do the best with what we have, and use every facility available in reaching the hearts of men.

One of the best means that is available to the preaching of the word is radio. There are several reasons that radio is one of the best means, but let me emphasize before we consider these reasons, that I do not for one minute believe that radio is the best means of preaching the gospel. It is just one medium, Tt can never take the place of pulpit work, of class work, of personal work, of the printed page, or any other means, but it is only logical that we use it as well as all other means to the fullest extent. The first reason that radio is one of the best means of preaching the gospel is that it is so effective. By radio we can enter into the homes in situations and under conditions, that we could not as individuals ever go. As the floors are being swept, as the dishes are being washed, as dinner is being cooked, or maybe as the family gathers for a few moments of rest together, we can enter into the hearts and the minds of men and women with the gospel. The commercial world realizes the force of radio. Every year $600,000,000 is spent in radio advertising. The commercial world realizes that there are 45,000,000 radios in working condition that are listened to frequently. Not only does the commercial world realize the force of radio, but the religious world also realizes its force. Every year the Lutherans spend a million and a half dollars in broadcasting the “Lutheran Hour.” The Seventh Day Adventists are spending $906,000 a year in broadcasting the “Voice of Prophecy.” Percy D. Crawford, with “Youth on the March” spends $406,000 a year. The Christian Reform Church spends $278,000 a year in broadcasting “Back to God” hour. Charles Fuller spends in the neighborhood of $1,000,000 in broadcasting the “Old Fashion Revival Hour.” These men realize the force of radio and see fit to spend thousands and even millions of dollars in preaching their own doctrine. Not only do I believe radio is effective by the tes-timony of others, but by personal experience I have been able to review the results of radio preaching. For a little over four years the program now being conducted by the Highland Church of Christ has been broadcast in Iowa over radio station WMT. During those four years by broadcast we were able to establish seven new congregations and to bring four congregations out of error. A total of eleven new congregations in a four year period. In addition to this a large number of people were baptized after hearing the broadcast. Some called while we were still on the air asking to obey the gospel, while others traveled as far as eighty miles to be baptized.

It is because of these reasons the Highland Church here in Abilene undertook the responsibility of enlarging that broadcast to nation-wide scale. Last October we began writing congregations throughout the United States, and arranging speaking engagements in several states trying to acquaint the brotherhood with the opportunity of a network radio program. Previous to this time radio and advertising men had heard the program and commended it very very highly. Since last October some 25,000 miles have been traveled, about 70,000 letters written, hundreds of telegrams sent, and telephone calls made. As a result of these efforts and due to the fact that the brotherhood had long dreamed of such an oppor-tunity some $265,000 has been raised to make possi ble preaching the gospel in word and song each week through the facilities of the American Broadcasting Co. It will be interesting to note that some 637 churches and individuals from 40 states have been willing to have fellowship in the sponsoring of this work.

Now there are three things that I know you will want to know about this work:
(1) How it will be handled.
(2) What is the present status?
(3) What results can be expected from its efforts?

First of all, this work is under the direction of the elders of the Highland Church and the work done by the Highland Church. Every person that works in any phase of the v'ork is under the oversight of the elders of the Highland Church. May I pause here to say don’t let anyone think for one minute that these elders are mere figure heads? Night after night into the late hours they have met, discussing plans and solving problems. They accept this undertaking with humility and the realization that it is a tremendous responsibility. Every program, while it is still in manuscript form, is reviewed by them for their approval, and there is a complete understanding that no personal feelings can stand in the way of truth and effectiveness when we go over the programs and sermons. According to present arrangements, Brother James D. Willeford and I are to be the principal speakers, and tentative plans have been made to select various guest speakers from among the brotherhood. Phil Kendrick, Jr., is the announcer for the program with Brother Burford and Brother Bill Davis directing the singing. The elders asked Brother P. S. Kendrick, Sr., a suc-cessful business man and one who has sacrificed much and had a great part in making possible the work, to serve as treasurer. Brother Darrell Ramsey has direction of the office work, and is assisted by quite a number of young Christian men and women. The program is thirty minutes in length with some 15 to 16 minutes devoted to preaching of the word, about 4 minutes to the reading of scripture and invitation to attend the services of the Churches of Christ, and the remainder devoted to good gospel singing.

Time of day for these broadcasts varies in accordance with the local stations. You possibly have received this week a list of stations with their call numbers, position, and time. All of these are on Sunday with most of them on Sunday afternoon. This is not a complete list, because we have heard of others carrying the program since this was printed. You know, buying time on a network is not like pushing a button, but it takes long hard work in ironing out all the details. We have accepted time over some stations that is not the best for our brethren to hear the program. I would not call it bad time, because as far as the outsider is concerned, I do not believe there is a bad time. Possibly the worst time to carry it as far as our brethren are concerned is during Sunday worship services, but there are 75,000,000 people who do not attend services of any kind. However, we will clear up the time difficulty as soon as possible.

Now then we have some definite plans made for following up the responses to the broadcast. It may be necessary for these plans to be changed, but at the present time these are our plans. First, we plan to answer every card or letter in some way. Second, we propose to send the names and addresses of listeners who are interested to the nearest congregation that will be willing to follow up the contacts in a personal way. Third, in addition to offering copies of the sermons we plan to send from time to time selected tracts devised to teach the first principles of the gospel and to found new born babes in the truth. Next we want, as often as possible, to go into sections where there are a number of contacts, but no congregation, and stay several weeks or months until the congregation is established. Then we want to persuade other congregations to send their preacher or some other preacher in answering these mission calls as a result of the broadcast. Next we eventually want to offer graded correspondence courses in connection with the broadcast, in order to better teach those who have become interested in the study of the word of God. Last, we are right now in the process of arranging for congregations who are sponsoring the work to have the use of a minute spot announcement at the end of the program in their own locality. This is just one of our headaches at the present time. We have found that the network requires that these spot announcements be cleared by the continuity department in New York, therefore, we are waiting for congregations to send us four to six spot announcements that can be used from Sunday to Sunday.

Now just this one other thing about the way the work is being handled. Originally the elders of the Highland Church planned to have no mention of Highland Church on the broadcast, but at the last minute we found that the network required that credit be given to the congregation directing the work and signing the contracts. After much deliberation and on the recommendation of radio men, on our first broadcast we deviated from our desired pattern. We felt like that since mention was to be made of Highland Church it would be best to go into detail in ex-plaining how the work was being handled, so that no one either in or out of the Church would think that we are setting ourselves up as headquarters of the church or as representatives of the church. But now someone asks: “What is the present status of the program?” We are broadcasting on over a hundred of the strongest stations in the network. The annual cost of these broadcasts will come to $310,000. That just means, that at the present time, we lack $45,000 having enough for this first year of broadcasting. This deficit came about due to the fact that the network cleared more stations of those selected than they thought they could clear at first. We accepted all stations cleared, even if the time was undesirable, for it would place us in a position to receive a better time sooner than if we had refused a station and later tried to get time.

Aftex the stations had been cleared the elders made their plans to sit down and eliminate some of them so that we could stay within the funds appropriated, but last Thursday night as they went through the list of stations they just couldn’t bring themselves to the cutting off of a large station or stations in the north where the work is so needed , I mean by this that the stations in the south in general are so much cheaper than the stations in the north that we have to drop from ten to twenty stations in the south to equal the cost of two or three stations in the north. Therefore, the brethren said, “We will just raise this moftey some way, somehow, because we want this network to expand rather than diminish. Our status now is that we need $45,000 to maintain all the stations wTe are now broadcasting. And we need $142,000 to be able to include the entire network. Well, this is a lot of money and someone asks, “What kind of response can we expect from this work?” I do not want to paint a pretty picture of possible future response and then not only disappoint myself but disappoint you. Therefore, I can only give you the results we have had with the first broadcast. With the first broadcast we have had responses from 42 out of 43 states and Canada. Do not think for one minute that all these hundreds of cards and letters have been from people who are members of the church. They have been from people who have never heard a gospel sermon before. Let me read from just a few of our letters. From Coffeyville, Kansas, comes this letter,
Dear Brother in Christ:
I listened to your broadcast last Sunday, and I wish to learn more about your church and what it teaches. Please send me a copy of your paper, “Herald of Truth/’ and other information you may have to offer. And do you have a church in this section of the country? I am a member of the Baptist Church and have been for many years, but I am not satisfied with the way it is going, and I want to get away from so much denominationalism, and want more of the teaching of the word of God. I will be pleased to hear from you. May God bless you and your work. From Palmyra, New York, a man writes,
Dear Brethren in Christ,
As I heard your first broadcast today (Sunday, Feb. 10) something within me offered a prayer to God that this might be what I am seeking. I have prayed for and hungered for a church that followed the word. I have gone to many churches and many go along with one or two things and reject the balance of the Word. I believe that the Church of Christ (The Body of Christ) has failed today in its biggest task, soulwinning, because it has gone away backwards from God’s way in the local church.

Today, if a believer has accepted a false doctrine or any doctrine that conflicts with the benefits of the denomination they are presently associated with, they are forced to leave. The New Testament Church disputed, reasoned over, and prayed over any doctrine 
that came up and the Holy Spirit did lead into all truth.

Brethren, there are so many things in my heart in regard to this matter that I probably could never write them all, but this I do say, prayerfully, if you are a group of believers who believe that every Gospel and every Epistle was written for us today, who follow 1 Corinthians 11:24-29 and say that 1 Corinthians 14:34 was not just for those people back there in those days, who believe with all your hearts 2 Timothy 3:16-17 then will you please tell me where I might find a gx'oup of like believers near here or help me by prayer and instruction to start such a group. I have felt led to build a Church (I even have purchased the land) I feel I am to build this Church but the way has not opened up yet. Perhaps God has other things for me to do or learn before this happens, but as Christ has never failed me yet, I know that in his own time he will lead me in the path I am to follow.

I enjoyed your broadcast and pray that you really are what I have been led to believe, by this I mean a New Testament Church in our own time. From another place in New York a Baptist preacher writes and he has come so close to the truth that I believe with a little teaching we can convert him to Christ. From Nevada a letter from another preacher who has left all organized religion to try to establish congregations free from denominationalism. I wish it were possible to read the hundreds of cards and letters telling of the tears of joy and the prayers that are offered on behalf of this work. Brethren, I did not expect before six months to receive the response, the like of which we have had with the first broadcast. I can envision the opportunity in the next ten years of laying the ground work for a thousand new congregations. But now in closing there are three things that you can do, and we do not want you to forget them.

First of all we want you, every one of you, to be salesmen for this program. We want you to sell your congregation and other congregations on the need of helping in this work. We want you to sell every person in your town on listening to the program. In some cities churches are buying full page ads such as Ft. Worth and Wichita Falls and others. Other congregations are buying spot announcements throughout the week urging people to listen to the program. One congregation in Dallas has ordered 10,000 leaflets printed. They are going to distribute from door to door. It is not unreasonable for us to distribute in the next ten months one million leaflets and add one million families to our radio

There is not a thing we cannot do, if we will just make up our minds to do it. Too long have we listened to the denominations tell us we cannot do anything because we do not have organizations between congregations or societies to do our missionary work. I want to personally urge each one of you today to be a personal salesman for this work.

Second, we are pleading for you to use every bit of influence that you have to persuade congregations to have fellowship in this work. I believe that the men in this audience represent enough congregations to raise this otfter $142,000 and I believe that it is not only in the realm of possibility but I am optimistic enough to believe it is in the realm of probability. We can have this amount raised so that we can be using the facilities of every ABC station available. I envision the time when we cannot only have hold over the ABC network but also over the Canadian Broadcasting Co. We have found that we can add the Canadian Broadcasting Co. for $700 a week. Then in, addition to this network broadcast hundreds of congregations can buy the time of independent stations and use the broadcast in their own locality as many are doing now. Tape transcriptions can be supplied each week for $5, Brethren, let's get behind this thing and let’s finish the job. Help us raise the money necessary to hold on to the stations we have within this next week. Within a month, let’s buy every ABC station m the United States available.

Third, we want, no let me put it a little bit stronger, we plead for your prayers on behalf of this work. If there ever was a group of men that needed the prayers of their brethren we do. We say we believe in prayer, well, brethren, let’s practice it. I am convinced that if we will work with all of our might and then go down on our knees in prayer to God, there is not an obstacle that stands in the way that cannot be overcome. If this be God’s will, God will be for us, and “if God be for us, who can stand against us?”

Brethren, we have a tremendous responsibility on our hands and that is reaching souls with the gospel. If we do not do our utmost, then we shall be eternally condemned. We cannot afford to wait any longer to do our best to carry out the great Commission. Let every one of us work, give, and pray that men might come to know the truth and be saved.

I have tried to find an example that could so vividly portray what we need in this and every hour of human crisis, but I have found nothing quite as realistic as this story. Several years ago a little girl wandered away from her home in the state of Washington. When her parents discovered that she was lost they called in neighboring rangers. All day the men trudged throught the snow looking for the child, but to no avail. Finally, as night came, they all stopped to gather around the camp fire to eat, to rest, and to warm themselves. Several said, “Let’s go home, we can’t find this child. It’s dark, we have families of our own, we are cold and tired, let’s go home.” But one man said, “No, let’s try one thing more, we have got to find this child. Let’s form a line and join hands then go in a circle about this camp fire covering every inch of the ground. Then when we have completed this circle let’s make a larger one and then another until we find the child.” So the line was formed, the hands were joined, and they made one circle, two circles, the three circles. Finally, one man stumbled over the lifeless form curled up behind a bush. The line was broken, the hands were dropped, and one man undertook the responsibility of carrying the child’s body back to the camp fire where it was placed in the arms of the grieving mother. And with a broken heart she cried these words, “Why, why didn’t you join hands before?”

Brethren, may it be our prayer that not one soul at the day of judgment will be able to point an accusing finger at us and say, “Why, why didn’t you join hands before?” I am lost, I never heard a gospel sermon, I never attended services of a New Testament Church, I never was acquainted with a real Christian.” Bethren, let’s join hands, not by organization, but by zeal and fellowship until we have encompassed the world with the gospel. Let this be our battle cry: “work, give, and pray,” that Christ might be raised up to the saving of the souls of millions and the redeeming of our own lives.