SMALL-CHURCH RADIO MINISTRY

People are getting laid off and moving out of the area. Why should we take what little resources we have and use them for a radio show? This wasn't the end of a speech by a disgruntled board member, but rather my own misgivings as pastor even as I planned the very deed.

I had recently been appointed pastor of the Ashley-Gilead United Methodist Charge in rural southern Illinois. The Ashley church (average Sunday attendance of 56) had suffered, like the rest of Ashley, when first the railroad died, then the bus terminal closed, and finally the large candy factory left.

The Gilead church (average attendance 12) was afflicted with "Rural-Church Syndrome": first the people moved from the country into town taking their membership with them. Then people, oh so slowly, began to move out to the church's location again but left their membership in town.

Our finances were, and are, strained to the limit and often beyond. Why put our Sunday morning worship services on the local ...