Almost 70 years ago the vision of Baptist pioneer Samuel Lowe and the voice of legendary pastor M.E. Dodd launched Southern Baptists into the world of broadcast with “The Baptist Hour” on radio stations across the nation.
And with that move came years of trial and error, both in radio and television endeavors, as Southern Baptists attempted to reach the world for Christ over the airwaves.
Today, Southern Baptist leaders charged with the denomination’s broadcast ministry still believe in taking the gospel over the airwaves, but they “don’t think we need to be in the (broadcast) business,” said Mike Ebert, spokesperson for the North American Mission Board.
“We refer to it as buying a seat on the plane, not owning the airline,” he explained.
But some Southern Baptists contend there has never been a true embracing of the ministry that many envisioned would open up a new world of witnessing opportunities.
“The mission was to communicate the gospel to people in their homes across the nation through various media technology,” said Jimmy Allen, president of the Radio and Television Commission (RTVC) from 1980 to 1989. “But the people did not catch the vision.”
“Our expectations shifted during the Bold Mission Thrust launch because more funding was being promised,” he said. “In fact, we received $1.5 million immediately, but that support faded in the internal conflicts that evolved (in the denomination in the 1980s). … It did not get the support it had to have from the convention.”
Known for his work on the American Christian Television System (ACTS) during the dawning of cable television, Allen determined a 4- to 5-percent budget increase in funding “would have saved the effort.”
“But it failed to materialize and we had to indeed let go of it.”
Deeming the ACTS network “a noble experiment,” Allen said Southern Baptists missed their opportunity to be what they could have been in the broadcast ministry.
“We lost the opportunity for local churches to be connected to their communities through television,” he said. “But that original dream is now being realized with the Internet. … What we were trying to do with cable is now possible with the Internet — pastoral visits into the home (through media technology).”
Starting out with a $5,000 experimental fund from the then-Baptist Sunday School Board, the RTVC saw incremental increases in its budget through the decades, just not enough, Allen said.
Topping out with a budget at more than $9.5 million in the mid-1990s, the then-RTVC (now known as FamilyNet) never recovered, especially after the 1997 Covenant of a New Century merger with the Home Mission Board and Brotherhood Commission to form NAMB.
The budget for broadcast ministries was $9,234,815 the year prior to the merger. NAMB has decreased its radio and television responsibilities since the merger, but attempts to reach Brandon Pickett, NAMB’s communications team leader, for current budget numbers were unsuccessful before press time.
This came after a lifetime of funding problems, lack of visibility in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and continual cuts in programs, according to Allen.
Still, RTVC produced a variety of content, including the children’s animated series, “JOT.” Southern Baptists’ work was highlighted nationally when RTVC won an Emmy award in 1989 for the documentary “China: Walls and Bridges.”
As competition grew stronger in the mid-1980s with the advent of cable television, RTVC developed ACTS to try to increase market exposure. Soaring costs forced RTVC to merge ACTS with another network, then RTVC dropped out altogether in 2003.
In 1991, in another attempt to compete in the cable market, the RTVC purchased FamilyNet from Virginia pastor Jerry Falwell.
Under the NAMB umbrella FamilyNet continued to operate as a subsidiary of NAMB, sometimes informally referred to as “NAMB West,” even though some work, primarily radio programming, was shifted to the Atlanta-area headquarters.
NAMB was again streamlined in 2004 under growing economic pressure, reducing staff and budget by about half. It cut radio production completely the following year.
The final chapter of the SBC’s broadcast media ministry came to a close Aug. 30, 2008, when NAMB sold its broadcast building in Fort Worth, Texas. It was built in the early 1960s to add television to the already existing radio ministry that had been located in Atlanta since its debut in 1941. The building was completed five years after the then-Radio Commission moved to Texas. Space in another building was rented until the 87,966-square-foot building on five acres was ready.
NAMB listed the building at $3 million. Details of the sale to Chesapeake Energy Co. were not available from NAMB due to standard confidentiality agreements between the mission board and the purchaser.
NAMB spokesperson Mike Ebert said proceeds from the sale will go into NAMB’s general budget fund.
While Baptists across the nation likely connected to different aspects of the broadcast ministry, if they connected at all, the one program that reached more people and a variety of ages was “The Baptist Hour.”
The RTVC’s longest-running program, it won the National Religious Broadcasters’ Milestone Award in 2001. This award is given to a program or programmer involved in radio or television ministry for more than 50 years.
In 2001, the program was produced 52 weeks a year, heard 408 times weekly on radio stations and was carried in 20 of the top 50 U.S. radio markets. It had featured such Southern Baptist legends as George W. Truett, R.G. Lee, W.A. Criswell and Frank Pollard.
About a year and a half later in late 2002, “The Baptist Hour’s” name and format were changed.
Then-NAMB president Robert E. “Bob” Reccord was the featured preacher. The format for “Strength for Living,” the new name, was shortened to a half hour featuring practical applications of the gospel.
“Because ‘The Baptist Hour’ is a beloved name, dating back more than 60 years, we probably have held on to it longer than we should have,” said Martin Coleman in a Nov. 4, 2002, Baptist Press story. Coleman was director of NAMB’s production team at that time.
But “Strength for Living” lasted only about a year longer than Reccord did as NAMB’s president, who resigned in April 2006.
Geoff Hammond became the new NAMB president in March 2007 and by July “Strength for Living” was history, the final program airing July 29.
In June 2007, Hammond addressed messengers to the SBC annual meeting and indicated a major emphasis change as he outlined NAMB’s newly structured focus of evangelism, church starting and sending and equipping missionaries. While radio and television fell under NAMB’s umbrella of responsibility, there would no longer be a major emphasis in this area.
Just a few months later, in October 2007, Hammond and prominent Atlanta pastor Charles Stanley announced the sale of FamilyNet to Stanley’s In Touch Ministries.
Under that agreement, NAMB will continue to have 30 minutes of programming on both the television and satellite radio channel each week. Also, a NAMB representative will hold a chair on FamilyNet’s board of directors.
“The best days could still be ahead of us,” said Chip Turner, FamilyNet’s director of ministry partnerships and broadcast affiliates.
“A number of (SBC) leaders recognized the value of media, but they also recognized it is a fairly expensive venture,” said Turner, who has related to, been involved with and/or worked for FamilyNet and the then-RTVC since 1981.
That’s why Turner believes the current setup is exactly what Southern Baptists have been seeking.
“There is a good deal of enthusiasm about our current situation,” he added, noting NAMB’s upcoming new half-hour program on FamilyNet, “On Mission Extra.”
Ebert said “On Mission Extra” will be produced around a weekly theme with an in-studio interview and a video spot from the missions field. The pilot airs in late November, and the show is scheduled for Saturdays at 9:30 p.m. beginning in January.
“This fulfills the half-hour slot we get on FamilyNet and there’s no cost for airing it,” Ebert noted.
However, there is a cost for producing the show, but that amount was not available before press time.
(BP, ABP contributed)
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