“Text your questions to 35487.”
Those were the last words of our last break on a Friday.
Over the weekend, Brant Hansen would be interviewing the late Sy Rogers – a prolific speaker that had a ministry focused on God and sexual brokenness. Sy agreed to take questions posed by listeners, which was wonderful. What was not so wonderful was the fact we had to solicit those questions.
How in the world were we going to do that? On CHRISTIAN radio?
One of Brant’s many gifts is saying something unbelievably profound, quickly. I’ve never heard anyone do it better. So, he did it. I can’t remember exactly what he said. I remember it took less than 35 seconds and he said it once at the end of our shift. What happened next still shakes me to my core…
I was watching the Text App screen. It was my job to assemble all the questions, sort through them, pick 10 or so and have them ready for the interview the next day. I honestly didn’t expect many. I thought we would be lucky if we even got 10 questions. Then I remember a lump in both my throat and stomach, simultaneously, as I started to see the texts come in. POUR IN. Our last break was at approximately 4:52 P.M. The questions didn’t slow down until about 7 P.M. Hundreds and hundreds of questions. I was struggling to keep up with printing them all.
Finally, when they were all printed out, I left for home. I hadn’t read any of them yet. It was a beautiful California evening so I remember going out to the tiny little balcony of my tiny little apartment to read the plethora of texts from our listeners. I had some snacks and a beverage as I wasn’t expecting anything emotional. I was the producer of a radio show. I was prepping questions for the host’s interview the next day. I thought that was it; just the mundane side of producing a radio show.
When I read the first question, I felt my stomach churn. Not because it was disgusting or graphic but because it was so honest. I felt the excruciating pain the person had to be feeling when they typed each letter on their touch-tone keypad. As I continued reading text after text my stomach churning turned into full-on tears (and I am not one by any means given to frivolous tears). I was holding people’s pain in my hand. They texted the deepest, darkest, scariest, most humiliating, and gut-wrenching details of their lives to 35487.
Can you imagine the desperation? The despair? The agony?
We were on in afternoon drive so that means these texts, presumably, are coming from people on their way home from work…or a mom at a stoplight taking her kid to band practice…or a pastor on his way to church to read a little more before Bible Study.
The things they most assuredly wouldn’t raise their hand and say in Sunday School or small group they text to a 5-digit number. Such was their desperation for hope and healing.
That day forever changed the way I looked at our audience. Until that time, I have to admit I was a little fearful of them. I believed them to be morally superior to me. Some of the calls and emails we would get certainly did imply so. Perhaps, subconsciously, I was always looking for language that proved to them that I was at least trying to be as spiritual as they were. Except for a flash of anger in traffic, a cross word to their spouse, or a missed early morning meditation time, I thought they were fairly sinless. But there on that balcony, staring into the California night sky, I had an epiphany:
“Sheesh, they’re as screwed up as I am!”
So, my approach to this format changed. I moved from fear to encouragement. I didn’t have to talk like I belonged to some pristine Christian Country Club. There is no Country Club and if there were, I certainly couldn’t belong to it and neither could our listeners.
Thus, the beauty of Calvary.
It frees me from guilt and shame and at that moment I knew our audience, no matter the Christian veneer, needed freeing, too. So, then it became about how many wonderful ways I can communicate what Christ did. How many fun, interesting, and entertaining ways can I convey this beautiful refrain of our Savior:
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
That’s not just a message for the ‘unsaved’ or the ‘unchurched.’ It’s for all of us. We need it every single day. There are burdens and weights that our listeners are carrying that no one knows about. It’s brokenness they dare not utter. And with great joy, we get to tell them: “No matter your sickness or brokenness, there is a GREAT PHYSICIAN!!”
Every once in a while, we need reminding…this is a pretty awesome job.
Sherri Lynn
Co-host & Producer, The Brant Hansen Show
Sherri Lynn has been a radio professional for decades and is the producer of The Brant Hansen Show. She has her degree in Communications as well as Biblical Studies and is a writer, comedienne, and former youth pastor. She wrote and produced a comedy DVD entitled “The Very Funny Church Comedy Show: Together We Laugh”, wrote and starred in the stage play musical “The Bold and the Sanctified” which starred American Idol Winner Ruben Studdard, and authored the book “I Want To Punch You In The Face But I Love Jesus.”
The team at 94.9 KLTY has served the Dallas/Fort Worth community for over 35 years. In 2020, the need was never greater. Through their local campaigns, Christmas Wish and Speak Love, they were able to assist many families who were impacted by not only the pandemic, but by hard times in general. The Speak Lovecampaign helped first responders, teachers, servers, food service staff, and many more within the community throughout the year. In 2020 94.9 KLTY’s Christmas Wish campaign brought Christmas joy to hundreds of families in the DFW area. They provided vehicles, food, toys, and other forms of relief to families in their community. They could not have reached any of these needs if not for their listeners and their generous donations to 94.9 KLTY’s nonprofit programs. In total, Speak Love and Christmas Wish raised more than $160,000 for those in need in Dallas/Fort Worth. They also recognized those sacrificial front-line workers and first responders who keep our community safe. Each week, 94.9 KLTY honored them, raised funds throughout the summer, and then presented each first responder with a check as a token of their gratitude. With countless families in need because of the pandemic, 94.9 KLTY also helped the Tarrant Area Food Bank distribute food essentials on multiple occasions in September, October, November. It is 94.9 KLTY’s sincere honor to serve our listeners in Dallas/Fort Worth.
LIFE 96.5 seeks to empower and serve the Sioux Falls area by reaching out in faith to help make it a better place to live and work. They want to lead their listeners to Jesus and help them grow in their faith through opportunities to love and serve others. In January 2020, LIFE 96.5 listeners donated over 950 brand new baby items during the Sioux Empire’s Largest Baby Shower. The Baby Shower grows every year, demonstrating their community’s love and support of the couples who are choosing life for their unborn children. LIFE 96.5 listeners, in partnership with Dacotah Bank, provided gift cards and cash donations to the Sioux Falls School District social workers to meet the needs of 1,000 homeless students. LIFE 96.5 also invited listeners to participate in a city-wide prayer parade, where they prayed for health care and government officials while driving past hospitals, schools, and city government offices. During the months of September and October 2020, LIFE 96.5 listeners provided over 250 twin sheet sets and 100 mattresses to the Sioux Falls Sleep in Heavenly Peace organization for children who are sleeping on floors. Through LIFE 96.5, listeners also made a difference in the lives of patients spending Christmas at Avera Behavioral Health Hospital. Each patient received a Christmas stocking filled with gifts and a note of encouragement. In addition, each Saturday morning LIFE 96.5 staff host Life Connection, a program featuring community leaders and discussing the needs and concerns of the Sioux Falls Community.
89.5 KVNE exists to glorify God by encouraging people, connecting their community, and pointing people to Jesus Christ. When their community was turned upside down by COVID, they knew they had to jump into action and mobilize their listeners to make a difference for Christ. To best serve their local community, KVNE held multiple drives to support local ministry partners and those most impacted by the pandemic. They collected 1,500 gift cards (totaling more than $15,000) to benefit those in need because of shutdowns, gathered over 12,000 diapers for foster families, and collected 150 care packages for senior citizens. They also collected 1,032 fans for the Salvation Army and over 1,000 pairs of shoes for kids heading back to school. Additionally, listeners donated 1,512 care packages for the homeless in East Texas, and KVNE hosted two blood drives to help those fighting the coronavirus. People across East Texas needed connection during the pandemic, so they organized a social media outreach, called Praise Defeats, a coordinated time where listeners shot videos of themselves singing “Raise A Hallelujah.” The videos were shared thousands of times, as they deepened their community’s connection. In addition, KVNE launched a Hispanic Christian music station (Fuzión), started a worship station (Lift Worship), and began a Bible Teaching Station (The Well) – all to help people grow in their faith. God allowed them to impact His Kingdom in profound ways and serve their local community powerfully during an unprecedented time when people needed hope like never before.
Since 1986, The JOY FM has made community service a hallmark of its ministry to listeners – first in Sarasota, and then expanding to Tampa, other Florida markets, and most recently to Atlanta and Middle Georgia. Even with this growth, community outreach remains hands-on, with legacy events like T-Shirts for Turkeys, which helped feed more than 28,700 families in all markets served last year. 2020 created new challenges for serving, so The JOY FM innovated several service projects to accommodate contactless delivery and social distancing. JOY Drop and Restock, a brand-new outreach, collected 30 tons of food to restock local food banks hit hard by the pandemic. Partnering with Natalie Grant and Hope for Justice, Team Freedom approached a grand total of $1,000,000 in 2020 to fight human trafficking. As listeners faced political rhetoric and serious questions about race and justice, as well as practical challenges like hybrid classrooms, The JOY FM programming (on terrestrial signals, as well as its LF Radio and JOY Worship platforms) responded with a recommitment to our mission of “Helping You Find JOY.” Resources for listeners, such as the Off Air with Carmen podcast, was provided to help listeners wrestle with big questions like Christian citizenship. Possibly The JOY FM’s most relevant community service effort for 2020 was prayer. The JOY FM’s Prayer and Crisis Referral service interacted with 620,936 listeners in need of prayer or help. Of those calls and texts, 4,949 listeners reported praying to place their faith in Jesus Christ.
“Hope Starts Here” is more than The Light FM’s tagline. It’s their mission. In 2020, they were intentional in regularly offering community-needed resources and hope-filled encouragement. They hosted their 5th annual Make a Difference training to encourage listeners to share God’s hope and saw 14 people begin a personal relationship with Jesus. The Light FM also visited eight local Law Enforcement agencies to share words of encouragement and care baskets. They partnered with East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and artists of Winter Jam for a private concert and time of prayer with families battling pediatric cancer. The Light FM listeners from five different cities donated 258 wheelchairs, 262 crutches, 259 walkers, 71 transport chairs, and 66 canes to Wheels for the World, which brings mobility and the hope of Christ around the world. During stay-at-home orders, The Light FM began offering free monthly virtual events, including: a graduation ceremony, featuring artists and Bible teachers; a conference with Crown Financial on how to manage finances during the pandemic; Girl Talk LIVE, a women’s event with worship and Bible study; God’s Hope in Crisis training with chaplains of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team; a pastor appreciation event for local churches, featuring Chip Ingram and Matthew West; and a Family Christmas Night with live music, games, and a devotion from The Light FM staff. Even throughout the pandemic, The Light FM also found ways to be out in the public, safely, with six drive-in events featuring movies and live music.
