Jerry Grimes “Christian Radio’s Moment To Shine”

I love the Church of Jesus. I agree with Bill Hybels, who continually calls it “the greatest hope for all mankind.”

That’s why it rips my heart out to say this, but if you watch the news…read the blogs…it makes me wonder if Jesus isn’t face palming himself and whispering:

“They’re arguing over the wrong things!”

Flags.

Statues.

Heritage.

A wall.

All these issues distract us from the main thing…people need Jesus.

And right now, people need still need rescuing…literally.

If you accept that premise and you work in Christian radio, you now have a dilemma on your hands.  What will you do about it? What will you do with the microphone right in front of you?

There is no question that the music we play isn’t just something for “Debbie” to listen to on her car rides with the kids.  It is powerful and life changing. The stories pouring into every station I know of are proof that the church may seem dead, but the Gospel is still wholly alive.   And yet, I have always sensed that radio could do a lot more than just play the music that changes lives. We can inspire believers to take action.

On a call with stations responding to Hurricane Harvey, Brian Sanders, Executive Vice President of PAR said some words that stirred my soul.

“We have an army of listeners that can mobilize to change the world.”

Truer words have never been spoken.  More people are listening to the radio than are attending weekly church services in this country, right now.  That’s a sad fact, but it also points to the fact that we have a responsibility to engage our listeners like never before.

The world is sick, dying and hurting. We have the message of hope in the Gospel. We have this army of people who can bring it.  It seems to me our job is to connect the two. We should be about inspiring and mobilizing listeners to act.

Dear Christian Radio, this is our moment to shine! I believe through the #ENCW Project, we can come together to inspire our listeners to engage the culture by being Jesus, not just preaching Jesus in their communities.

We can make much of Jesus, giving our all, helping out and lifting up. We can be known for our love and our passionate actions that back it up, not our opinions on things that are temporary. We can unify and build bridges between people to show God’s love for everyone.

I appreciate the start we’ve made together with Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. People in Texas and Florida are already benefitting. Praise God! But, there is so much more we can do together.

In your town, find the hurting, the lost, the broken, the needy.  And I guarantee you, you will find God.  Somewhere, there are believers working with the people Jesus called “the least of these.”  Join them and support them because they are probably very tired.

If you talk to the people running rescue missions, soup kitchens and halfway houses long enough, you’ll find out how they have been hurt and abandoned time and time again by believers.  Change that. Inject them with new volunteers, finances and life.  Watch miracles happen and use the stories to inspire your audience to show up and get involved.

We can do this.

It won’t be easy.

But Easy Never Changed the World.

Jerry Grimes is VP Creative Services at Positive Alternative Radio. Prevuiously he was with Advocace as a consultant, WAY-FM, and General Manager of Marconi and Dove Award-winning 89.7 WMHK in Columbia, S. Reach him at jerry@parfm.com.