PURPOSE

WMPC'S PURPOSE

THOUGHTS ON REACHING THE LOST WITH RADIO:

It seems to me that, if our primary purpose is to reach people who are lost, we must have a radio station that lost people will listen to and a message that will get through to the person who is lost. Both of these needs present a very real problem to the Christian who wants to use radio to reach the lost.

FIRST, Christians are not very good at running radio stations that reach the lost. We have different tastes, different convictions and different principles. It is hard for us to program material a lost person wants to listen to, and often our Christian convictions make it absolutely impossible for us to program that kind of material. The best people to run a radio station to reach lost people are other LOST PEOPLE. I don't think we can do as good a job of reaching the lost as the local secular station might do.

SECOND, Lost people will not tolerate very much religion. They will usually turn the radio off rather than listen to a religious program that is 15 or 30 minutes long if they are hostile to the Christian faith…and they may even turn it off if they are not hostile. It seems to me that a religious program designed to reach the lost should be short for the most part, perhaps one minute long, occasionally five minutes long, rarely fifteen minutes long.

Therefore, if our primary purpose is to reach the lost by radio, I think we are better off using stations run by LOST PEOPLE and buying an occasional short spot to put on a very carefully done program. The secular station will get the lost audience…in fact, they already have it, and the only worry is that a religious program might cause them to lose listeners.

WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE WMPC?

Do we need a station like WMPC? If so, WHAT IS OUR PURPOSE?

I believe we need a station like WMPC because Christians need something to listen to that will encourage them spiritually, something DIFFERENT than the often suggestive and obviously worldly material presented by other stations.

The purpose of WMPC should be:

FIRST to glorify God…and this means that what we air should be glorifying to the Lord.

SECOND to equip the Saints to do the work of the ministry. Our people need good programming. While worldly Christian programming might have some appeal to the worldly Christian, it is not what he needs. It only serves to encourage him to be more worldly. It does not encourage him to draw closer to the Lord. For instance, the Christian who smokes may encourage other Christians to smoke, but he probably will be not be so successful in encouraging other smokers to be Christian. Let me repeat, our people need good programming in their homes, material that will glorify the Lord and build them up in the faith.

THIRD, to provide a witness to the gospel. Yes, some lost people will listen to WMPC, and IF they listen, it will not be for worldly programming and worldly music (with the possible exception of those who listen for the local news).

It will be because they are hungry for God…and the advantage of a Christian station is when people want God, we are on the air. And when people come to us in this frame of mind, I think we might actually drive them away if they come and find we are only a carbon copy of the world. At times like this, they expect and they want us to be different. The world can only be disappointed by worldly Christians. We all know people who say, "Christians smoke, Christians drink, and if they are going to get to heaven, I am going to get to heaven!" Worldliness disappoints them!

The primary purpose of WMPC is then to glorify God, second to provide good programming for the Christian, and third to provide the gospel message to the lost at the time they are looking for spiritual reality. Our purpose must be stated IN THAT ORDER.

If we try to develop a station lost people want to listen to, and if we try to develop a station lost people are attracted to because we are worldly, we will run in to problems. First, we will find we cannot out "rock and roll" the local secular station. In other words, we cannot really compete with them. Second, we will fail the people who need something BETTER for their homes, the Christian people who otherwise must listen to the worldly fare on other stations. Third, we will fail the interested lost person, the unsaved seeker for truth, because we will seem to him only a poor imitation of the world with a blurred and gray gospel. As a station, let us do the job we can do best, the job of glorifying the Lord with good programming that will honor the Lord, draw His people together, and present material for sincere persons looking for the truth.
I BELIEVE GOD'S PEOPLE DESERVE A STATION LIKE WMPC!

"Longtime former manager Arnold Bracy penned these thoughts. I believe they still apply today." Bob Baldwin GM

Bob Baldwin (Robert L. Baldwin) - Manager, WMPC

WMPC - P.O. Box 104 - Lapeer, MI 48446
Email wmpc@chartermi.net