"The Sound of Worship"

It is a thrill to have someone you have never met before step up to you at the close of a church service and say, "Your voice and your message are well known to us. We have listened to your radio program for the past year and couldn't stay away any longer."

Radio ministry at the White Memorial church, serving the great metropolitan cen­ter of Los Angeles, has been carried on since 1959. For the past two years it has been my privilege to serve as minister of this church, which includes the presenta­tion of God's message through this me­dium of communication.

The Worship Hour

"The Sound of Worship" is a live broad­cast of the Sabbath worship service. With the concentration of Adventists in our area we feel the Sabbath broadcast is a real ben­efit to the many who are shut in or for some other reason are unable to attend church. For wider coverage the worship hour is taped and prepared for rebroadcast at a time on Sunday when a greater listen­ing audience is available.

The time of the offering would normally be a lull in the service for the radio listener, so these minutes are utilized for the "com­mercial," which presents special features of the church's activities or gift offers to lis­teners. This prepared script is read by our own announcer, carefully timed, taped and dubbed in to the program.

As an innovation the pastor may do this in a subdued, confidential tone from the platform by use of a hand mike. He may in­clude in his announcement special services to come or the radio offer currently fea­tured.

The Five-Minute Program

During the week the White Memorial church presents a daily five-minute pro­gram entitled "Focus on Life." This gen­erally starts on a secular vein with a prac­tical thought for everyday living, climaxed with a spiritual application.

This program is produced with the ob­jective to build the image of the church, interest the listener in its practical value to meet his daily needs, and to offer him its services. The "commercial" is prepared in script form to be read by the station an­nouncer. It invites people to listen to the broadcast regularly and also to attend serv­ices at the White Memorial church. The closing paragraph may announce the ser­mon topic for the coming week or invite the listener to call the Dial-a-Prayer num­ber. Occasionally a gift offer is made.

The five-minute daily features are often easier to place on a busy station and are often more desirable from the station operator's viewpoint than longer programs. With the tendency of broadcast companies to reduce time given to religious program­ing, this is an item to consider as reduced time may very well be an increasing prob­lem.

It is necessary to keep alert to possible openings of radio time. Two important considerations are the area covered by the station and the type of listening audience it attracts. The type of programs the station tends to schedule may be predominantly western, classical, or rock 'n roll music, news or conversation, et cetera. From an analysis of the daily program schedule it is possible to judge the listener following. Of course, the station's sales department will have material on their coverage and audience, but it must be remembered that this is promotion material.

Special Features

Twice a year special musical programs originate from the White Memorial church. These have been favorably re­ceived by radio as public-service features. Such programs must be of excellent musical production and top-quality recording to produce tapes suitable for broadcast pur­poses.

The "Festival Choir" presents one con­cert in the spring, around the Easter sea­son, and another at Christmas time. Our experience with this type of program has been very gratifying, for network stations across the nation have been pleased to air the concert tapes. They are also carried around the world over Armed Forces Ra­dio Services. Such music festival presenta­tions help build the name of Seventh-day Adventists in places afar as well as the im­age of the church locally.

Maintenance of a radio ministry de­mands much in equipment, time, money, and prayer; but it is a medium of mass communication by which many will be reached who would otherwise never hear God's message. This does not mean our broadcasts must all be preaching. If we can beam something on the air that is uplifting and stimulating, building up the image we seek to project, the listener may gain a desire through this contact to know more of a better way of life through Christ.

We could quote from countless letter or telephone responses that reflect the influ­ence of our radio efforts at the White Me­morial church but these only reveal in part the effect of our radio visits into the thou­sands of homes within our broadcast range. We have faith to believe there will be many who one day will be able to say to the faithful members who support radio evangelism with their prayers and their means, "It was through your gifts in radio ministry that I found salvation."