Building the Legacy
What a tremendous legacy we have been given through the vision of our forefathers to share the Gospel in every nation and in every language. Long before I arrived at White’s Ferry Road Church, I had heard of their outreach efforts. When my husband Danny and I moved to West Monroe, the work we were able to be part of was a blessing beyond measure.
As a member of WFR Church, I was amazed by the international reach of this small church in a simple little town. I quickly came to love the leaders of WFR and the vision they shared. I sat in awe of the speakers who would come through to report on the impact of World Radio and WFR Relief efforts. I gave to all of these efforts with my heart, love, prayers, helping hands, and financial support. I felt such pride in the work that was being done for the Lord.
Recently, I had the pleasure of leafing through the World Radio newsletters of the past 60 years. I was filled with wonder and awe at what God had done through so many servants who sacrificed for His Kingdom. I felt so blessed.
Looking through the newsletters and photos from our past, it was quite interesting to see how much work was involved with recording reel to reel lessons initially done by V.E. Howard. These were then packaged and shipped to our radio broadcast locations. Some deliveries were sent by ship or by planes to get to specific remote locations. The beginning years took far more than a leadership team to accomplish because of the volume of information that had to be handled weekly. Our entire WFR church family rallied to help with mail, phone calls, Bible correspondence courses, and so much more.
While looking through the journals of newsletters and pictures, it was fascinating to see how production, radio transmissions, communication, and vision adapted with the changing times. These leaders went from typewriters to computers, from land line telephones to cell phones, from printing presses to copiers and modern printers. In these past 60 years, technology has changed at an astounding pace. Along with those changes came the vision to combine the work of World Radio and WFR Relief into one ministry, and One Kingdom was born.
During my time working at One Kingdom, I have increasingly seen the outreach of sharing the Gospel take on new forms and methods. Our world has been shrinking in many ways through the accessibility of instant communication with our partners around the globe. However, in regions of the developing world, radio is still the most effective means of reaching into the homes of large numbers of people groups.
During Covid, we found that it gave our partners a voice of hope to their regions. Because Covid restricted our ability to travel out of the country, we also became familiar with Zoom meetings, which allowed us to speak with our speakers face to face. It was so good to communicate with our partners, to hear the vision they had for their works, and to hear of the struggles and needs they faced. All of them were especially thankful to see us, to hear our encouragement through God’s word, and to hear us pray over their ministries.
As One Kingdom honors the past legacy of World Radio, we are thrilled to hear that many of our partners are embracing these new methods. So many of them are using social media, livestream, and YouTube to share their radio sermons with their church families. Joseph Shulam of Israel was excited to share that his outreach capabilities were far greater and less expensive through podcasts and YouTube than they had been with radio. During our recent visit to Nicaragua, Leonel Garcia shared how he was using these methods to further teach new brothers and sisters as well as teaching his congregation with deeper study and women’s classes. Adapting to these current times to reach the most people with the Gospel is still our goal, and our partners around the world are doing a great job with this.
Meeting the current immediate needs of our partners is a tremendous opportunity to share the Gospel and the hope we find in Jesus. We are hearing report after report of the rescue efforts being done in Turkey following the massive earthquake. In a culture where the name of Jesus is not allowed to be spoken publicly, we see that the Christian response to their loss and needs is raising the questions “Why do you continue to serve us?” and “Why are you so different from our people?”
We always aim to be there to provide for physical needs during times of disaster, but we are called to care for people not only in the short-term, but the long-term as well. We are called to share love and hope, and God has provided countless opportunities for this. In fact, there are large numbers of evacuees in Turkey right now who are excited to learn about Jesus, and we are praising God for this outreach for Christ. Recently, we heard that 13 had been baptized as a direct response to this disaster as those living in tent and container cities have also received the hope that comes from Jesus! Praise God for these opportunities to serve.
When our speakers have opportunities to provide food to the hungry during a famine, we see lives changed by the saving power of Jesus. We have witnessed the same impact here at home when storms devastate communities. Consistently, God has shown up to draw His
people together and closer to Him. Looking throughout our history, God has shown us that compassion often brings down walls and opens doors for the Gospel. We first learned this when Poland changed their policy to allow the Church of Christ to be a recognized religious group in their country for the first time. All because we fed their people.
Each of you—our supporters—are part of the legacy throughout these past 60 years. We have all been given this legacy, and together we will continue to work tirelessly to leave a legacy for generations to come. However, we cannot sit back and merely live in the glory days of World Radio and WFR Relief. We’ve been given a tremendous foundational legacy that was passed on to us, and it is our job to carry this torch into the future.
Accordingly, we must always be dreaming of the future of One Kingdom. Vision for establishing God’s Kingdom and being responsible stewards are things we take very seriously. Continuing this legacy is an obligation we all share. Our heart’s desire is to continue to expand World Radio into new regions (whether by radio or the internet) to reach more people with the Gospel, develop new projects to sustain life, and to unite the church in our efforts to speak the truth of Jesus to a lost and hurting world.
Pray for us, and pray for doors to be opened for the Gospel in new locations. Pray for strength, courage, and opportunities for all of our One Kingdom partners. Pray that God’s word would be heard, that hearts would be softened, and that minds will be changed. And please tell others about the work you support to fulfill The Great Commission.
To all of you who have been instrumental in the building of the One Kingdom legacy, we thank you for the outpouring of your gifts and your trust in this ministry. To those of you who have partnered with One Kingdom in recent years, your support will be vital to the continuation of this legacy through the years ahead of us. We thank you in advance knowing that God will provide.
As I was looking up the word legacy, one line stuck with me: where life’s stories live on. It is humbling to see how World Radio forged through uncharted territories to share the Gospel and how God’s hand was always guiding our efforts to fulfill the great commission. The current One Kingdom staff does not take this legacy lightly. We are striving to humbly serve this ministry—God’s ministry—and to continue to create new life stories that will be reached throughout all the world. In the words of one of our great warriors for Christ, Carl Allison, “The best is yet to come” (Philippians 1:3-6)!