Grapevine, TX, June 24, 2021 – For the seventh straight year, 90.9 KCBI, Dallas, honored ministry partners at its annual Ministry Impact Reception, held on June 23rd at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Dallas-Fort Worth. Because of the unique roles these two ministries played in the aftermath of the events of 2020, the 2021 recipients of the KCBI Ministry Impact Award are the only two ministries in its history to ever receive the award for a second time: Dr. Tony Evans, Host of the broadcast, The Urban Alternative, and Jim Daly and John Fuller, Hosts of the Focus on the Family Radio Broadcast.
When the Coronavirus pandemic struck last spring, Focus on the Family sprung into action. The ministry secured top experts, including Dr. Francis Collins, the Director of the National Institutes of Health and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to help guide listeners in those early, confusing days. From health to loss to relationships to finances, Focus on the Family became a solid resource that our listeners could turn to, confident that would receive helpful, practical information from a biblical perspective. It also made resources available to listeners on an ongoing basis through the #Thrive at Home Help for Families during the Coronavirus Crisis at www.focusonthefamily.org.
“We are honored to be associated with KCBI,” said John Fuller, Co-Host of the Focus on the Family Daily Broadcast and Vice President of Audio. “Their on-going commitment to proclaiming biblical Truth and encouraging listeners really resonates with us. We certainly appreciate the recognition of the Focus COVID programming last year. Each person on our Broadcast team deserves to be recognized, but especially our Executive Director, Rob Kirkpatrick, who was on hand to receive the award. Rob and our long-time Scheduling Producer, Christine Beebe, really came up with the concept. Our audience told us they appreciated the help during COVID, and this award from KCBI underscores how important it really was.”
To a nation already on edge came a summer of social unrest. Dr. Tony Evans, Host of The Alternative, heard Monday through Friday on KCBI, became an accessible and biblically clear voice to our listeners, DFW and the nation. It was his well-known, trusted voice that our listeners and millions of others nationwide and turned to as they grappled with a pandemic, how to respond to social tensions and fear about the future, when people had more questions than answers. When posted on our web pages, audio he recorded became by far among the highest-consumed content of the year.
Dr. Evans has spent a lifetime building that trust. The ministry he founded and is President of, The Urban Alternative, is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness this year.
“I can’t tell you how honored and privileged I feel to be broadcasting on KCBI in Dallas,” said Dr. Evans. “It is one of the premiere stations throughout our whole country, impacting people with God’s truth on a daily basis.”
Matt Austin, the General Manager and Vice President of KCBI, said the ministry partnerships with Dr. Evans and The Urban Alternative and with Focus on the Family help illustrate that at KCBI, the Bible is the center of all that we do, no matter what the circumstances.
“We are thrilled to honor these two longstanding ministry partners for going above and beyond and adapting quickly when the need was so great,” said Matt Austin, KCBI General Manager and Vice President of Operations.
90.9 KCBI, Encouraging Music … Words of Hope, is the nation’s most-listened to Christian radio station that carries Bible teaching programs, serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
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.
