Christmas 2009 Newsletter

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Prayer Requests Pray for God’s grace and hope to reach people during this Christmas season. Pray for me to be a witness to those I contact around me every day. Pray for the Wednesday night prison ministry I am a part of. Pray that God would provide me with another vehicle at the right time. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” z Changes z SIGNAL Newsletter 2 0 0 9 C H R I S T M A S I S S U E the Life has many changes throughout a year, some good and some not as pleasant. Like life, radio ministry has its changes as well. Working in radio is notorious for its inflexibility, and it can throw plenty of surprises now and then. We had one big such surprise last August. First let me give you a little background. Here at WMTC, we operate two stations, 730 AM and 99.9 FM. Right after Christmas last year the AM went off the air, due to some technical trouble. Because of the difficulty of diagnosing the problem, the AM was off the air for several months. Then around August the 20th, the FM started to cause some trouble and shut down. Both of these transmitters are 25 years old or so. When our consulting engineer, Russ, came to look at the FM transmitter, he indicated that the problem would be several thousand dollars to fix, and given its old age that it might be wisest to buy a new transmitter. While we knew that the transmitter would eventually need replacing, no plan was in place to upgrade. After consultation, the board of directors decided to go ahead and purchase a new transmitter unit. Well, that was good news, but how do you come up with $30,000 to do that! This year had been tough to raise money at all because of the economic situation. However, people started praying and an appeal letter went out. Honestly, I didn’t have much faith that it could be raised very quickly. But when a radio station has nothing on the air, it is imperative to get back on air as quickly as possible. It was amazing how people locally and in other states pulled together to get behind this fundraising project. The arrangement with the transmitter company was that we could make three $9,000 payments. One payment would need to be paid to start construction, one before delivery, and one thirty days later. God began to send in funds and money was in hand before each payment that was needed. When the transmitter was delivered $4,000 was needed to finish the last payment. A local church wanted to have a benefit sing to help raise funds. When the offering was taken $3,000 was taken up. The pastor asked the people how many Ministering by radio in southeastern Kentucky

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My Christmas Newsletter

Transcript of Christmas 2009 Newsletter

Page 1: Christmas 2009 Newsletter

Prayer Requests

• Pray for God’s grace

and hope to reach people during this

Christmas season.

• Pray for me to be a witness to those I

contact around me every day.

• Pray for the Wednesday night prison ministry I am a

part of.

• Pray that God would

provide me with another vehicle at the right time.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

z Changes z

SIGNAL Newsletter2 0 0 9 C H R I S T M A S I S S U E

the

Life has many changes throughout a year, some good and some not as pleasant. Like life, radio ministry has its changes as well. Working in radio is notorious for its inflexibility, and it can throw plenty of surprises now and then. We had one big such surprise last August. First let me give you a little background. Here at WMTC, we operate two stations, 730 AM and 99.9 FM. Right after Christmas last year the AM went off the air, due to some technical trouble. Because of the difficulty of diagnosing the problem, the AM was off the air for several months. Then around August the 20th, the FM started to cause some trouble and shut down. Both of these transmitters are 25 years old or so. When our consulting engineer, Russ, came to look at the FM transmitter, he indicated that the problem would be several thousand dollars to fix, and given its old age that it might be wisest to buy a new transmitter. While we knew that the transmitter would eventually need replacing, no plan was in place to upgrade. After consultation, the board of directors decided to go ahead and

purchase a new transmitter unit. Well, that was good news, but how do you come up with $30,000 to do that! This year had been tough to raise money at all because of the economic situation. However, people started praying and an appeal letter went out. Honestly, I didn’t have much faith that it could be raised very quickly. But when a radio station has nothing on the air, it is imperative to get back on air as quickly as possible. It was amazing how people locally and in other states pulled together to get behind this fundraising project. The arrangement with the transmitter company was that we could make three $9,000 payments. One payment would need to be paid to start construction, one before delivery, and one thirty days later. God began to send in funds and money was in hand before each payment that was needed. When the transmitter was delivered $4,000 was needed to finish the last payment. A local church wanted to have a benefit sing to help raise funds. When the offering was taken $3,000 was taken up. The pastor asked the people how many

Ministering by radio in southeastern Kentucky

Page 2: Christmas 2009 Newsletter

people believed the full four thousand could be raised. Many people thought it could, so the pastor passed the plates again! This time $1,600 was taken up! As an addition to this story, enough extra money was given to purchase a new sound board and two microphones, which were also badly needed. Also shortly after the FM failed, a thousand dollars was generously donated to pay for

the repair on the AM. This was a real blessing, as it enabled us to have one station on the air. The new transmitter is being donated in memory of Kenneth Amspaugh, the long-time engineer at WMTC, who passed away in August. We thank the Lord for his provision for the continuation of the work of WMTC, and for all those who faithfully prayed and sacrificially gave to this need.

The Signal / 1050 Hwy. 541 Jackson, Ky 41339 / [email protected] / www.crossangle.com

Sportsmen’s Banquet

Lord willing, Mountain Gospel will be hosting a sportsmen’s banquet January 29th, 2010. This is a dinner for hunters, fishers, and outdoorsmen. Gerry Caillouett of the God’s Great Outdoors radio program will be our featured speaker. I met Gerry this summer and he is a wonderful Christian, committed to reaching hunters and fishermen for Christ. His talk always concludes with a invitation for men to come to Christ. Our prayer is that many men (and possibly women) who live in our area, but would never come to a church event will attend this banquet and have a chance to hear the gospel. Gerry is a real rugged outdoorsmen, but loves to share the gospel with others. You can find out more about his ministry at www.ggoutdoors.org.

In August, God answered a prayer for a part-time job to help support my work here. The door opened for me to work a few hours at the local Post Office here in Vancleve. This does provide some of my personal expense, however it does not provide all of my needs. If you would like to support me you can send it to my address below or through Arms Around the World

932 E. 4th Ave.Mitchell, S.D. 57301

Our new sound board and microphones.

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The Signal / 1050 Hwy. 541 Jackson, Ky 41339 / [email protected] / www.crossangle.com

The old transmitter

Its out!

The new transmitter

Big Blue!

Installed and ready to go