Birmingham’s Bill Bolen serves God through work

Not every Christian should be teaching a Bible class or preaching in a pulpit, Birmingham broadcaster Bill Bolen said. He is serving God while delivering the news on television.
   
Bolen, a deacon at Brookwood Baptist Church, Birmingham, and a news anchor for FOX 6 News, is a member of the board of advisers for Judson College in Marion. He said the story of his own life illustrates that Christians must look for the will of God in their lives and serve God in different ways.
   
Bolen grew up in Selma and professed faith in Christ in 1940 on Easter at the age of 12. He credits his home church for giving him good training in Christian living and helping him grow in his faith.
   
Bolen’s best friend, Clyde Beasley, made a commitment to full-time Christian ministry as a high school student. Bolen didn’t feel his calling was to preach in the pulpit but nevertheless felt he wanted to serve God with his life.
   
While working as a shipping clerk at Sears, Bolen grew fascinated with the in-store radio repair shop. A co-worker heard him using one of the early “wire recorders” in the shop and asked if he’d ever considered working in radio. Bolen  then applied for work at Selma’s radio station, WHBB, where he worked for more than a year before enrolling in the School of Radio Arts at the University of Alabama.
   
After graduation he served in the U.S. Air Force in Yuma, Ariz., for two years. There he worked in Information Services and was responsible for media relations and press releases. As his enlistment time drew to a close, Bolen thought once again about his vocation.
   
He contacted Paul Stevens of the Southern Baptist Radio and TV Commission, then in Atlanta, and inquired about work.
   
Stevens replied that the commission was only offering part-time work but suggested Bolen talk with Luther Adkins of television station WBAP in Fort Worth, Texas.
   
Adkins was  the religious news director for the station. He suggested that Bolen consider a similar position in broadcasting. After several jobs in Alabama, Bolen became news director and chief anchor for television station WBMG in Birmingham in 1965.
   
His church at that time, First Baptist Church, Birmingham, purchased airtime and asked Bolen to host “Religion in the News” each week. Bolen moved to WBRC two years later where he hosted a 30-minute religious newscast each week and later hosted a monthly religious discussion program.
   
Bolen said that his broadcast work gave him a number of speaking engagements and also brought invitations from the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) and the Florida Baptist Convention to help with missions teleconferences.
   
“It began to dawn on me,” he said, “that some 20 years after I came back to Birmingham I was really beginning to do what I had felt the Lord leading me into years before.”
Bolen believes that the oft-used term “full-time Christian ministry” is a misnomer.
   
“I think the term ‘church vocational ministry’ is a better term for the pastors and others who serve churches. All Christians are in full-time ministry. We’re to serve God in our lives in every way we can. The Bible says ‘each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms’ (1 Pet. 4:11).”
   
To those who are undecided about their vocation, Bolen offered three suggestions.
   
“First, turn your life over to Christ. Accept Him as your Savior,” he said.
   
“Second, pray for His will to be revealed to you. It might take awhile, as it did for me to finally realize His leading in my life,” Bolen continued.
   
“And third, move out using the talents God has given you, pursuing the field of work where you feel they can be used. Somewhere along the way you may find a new direction. This can be the Lord’s way of leading you where you need to be. Just stay in touch with Him.”