What I learned in the 10th and 11th grade that prepared me for broadcast ministry

In January I began a broadcast ministry on the word network. This new ministry is very exciting to me,. I think I have a great product in the way the production is formulated. I’m receiving support from persons who have seen the worship service spanning from Los Angeles CA to mobile AL Alabama. I record new segments for the broadcast ministry every four to six weeks. I’m excited with what I see and in an interesting way this new broadcast ministry reminds me of what I experienced in the 10th and 11th grade of high school.

1967 – 7 Sounds at Yhe Whittier Hotel? Detroit. Mi

In the 10th grade of high school, I auditioned and was accepted into the top performing bands  symphonic bands at my high school. The musical director, Harald arnaldi, strictly forbade all of the musicians not to play rhythm and blues music. So what did I do, at night when the band director was not around, I got together with a friend of mine, Dwight Andrews who is now a PhD minister and pastor of a church in Atlanta GA, to form a R&B band. We practiced in the basements and sometimes living rooms of other musicians and friends. In the 10th grade we spent a lot of time mixing and matching musicians, trying to find the right composition and instrumentation. Our only test in the 10th grade was to attempt to play music that sounded as close as possible to the recordings we heard on the radio. We went through that process throughout the entire 10th grade, but when we reach the 11th grade, in the fall of 19 6 7, we hit the ground running and started playing large parties and events that took place in the major hotels throughout Detroit, Michigan. In the beginning, we only made 10 or $15 per night. The next fall, which was the 12th grade for me, the amount of money we made per musician per night jump to around 30 dollars each. Gradually throughout the 12th grade we continued to increase in the amount of money we received for playing parties period the next year I went off to college. The band continued to get better, with bigger amplifiers and speakers and sound systems and eventually we started receiving $100 each per night. In my opinion, my band had a great sound, and we were compensated accordingly.

You may ask, how does this relate to a broadcast ministry? Let me share with you the connection. What I learned in the 10th grade was the importance of practice, rehearsing hour after hour in basements and living rooms, and working hard to perfect the best possible sound. The 11th grade taught me that there are rewards for hard work. From the 12th grade through the end of college we continued to perfect that sound. At the end of college, I made a decision to go into the ministry, which is another discussion that I will save for another time, but the point that I’m making right now is that I learned patience and the pursuit of perfection in the 10th and 11th grade.

How that relates to the broadcast ministry is that I spent all last year trying to perfect the production for a television broadcast. I had an idea of what I was looking for, and after a few stops and starts, I ended up with a great team that helps me with the video and audio production for the broadcast. When I first embarked upon this new broadcast, I wondered if I would be the problem? What I did not realize was that I was not the problem, but I needed to find the right people to make the vision a reality. I had a vision of the type of television program I wanted. I had an idea of the kind of technical skill sets that would be required to make the vision a reality. After a year of trying too perfect the production, we, and I do mean we, because there are there are other people involved in the video production, we finally got it right. The broadcast ministry is a 30 minute production which starts with me preaching during the first 15 minutes, and the 2nd 15 minutes, features me interviewing a psychiatrist and sometimes psychologists to get there perspective on the message I have just delivered. I am having a ball with the process, and quite encouraged because I have wondered for some time if a person like myself with a ministry and perspective theologically like the perspective I have which is more on the liberal end, would be well received by national audience.

I’m writing this and sharing this with you because I know you are supportive of this new ministry. Thank you for your support and most of all thank you for your prayers.

Nick