When I was a young teen, our Sunday School did a program in our little country church one Sunday. I was in the little group of Sunday School kids up front singing the Gospel hymn, “I Love to Tell the Story”. When we got to the words, “I love to tell the story for some have never heard the message of salvation”, I unexplainably broke into tears. I don’t know why I was particularly touched by the song at that moment, but there in front of the church, in front of my friends, that song got to me in ways I still don’t understand.
That experience came back to me Saturday night as I listened to the 130 voices of the National Christian Choir sing “I Love to Tell the Story”. There sitting in the front row of Moody Church, I once again felt the tears come as I realized the words of that song sung many years earlier were strangely prophetic of my life work.
I DO love using radio to tell the story of Jesus and His love. It’s not about dogma or being perfect. I love to tell the story because I know it’s a TRUE story about what Jesus did for us and for what He does for us when we follow Him.
And I love to tell the story because it satisfies my longings like nothing else can. My life verse which I selected in my late teen years is Psalm 16:11. “In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
The saddest portion of the song that gets me every time is: “For some have never heard the message of salvation from God’s own holy Word.” That’s the part that’s the driving force for me in ministry. Sure there are people living in parts of the world that have never heard the name of Jesus. And my passion is to help reach people everywhere with that message. That’s why I support partnerships with world-wide radio evangelism.
However, there are religious people in this country who have never REALLY heard. I run into people all the time who say, “I went to church all my life, but the message never really clicked with me until…” A few years after tearfully singing that song in my country church, God called me to ministry, specifically to help good religious people find a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
There’s one other part of that song that connects with me. The part that says, “I love to tell the story for those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.” Christian radio helps those who desire a relationship with Christ to grow in their walk with God. Wherever we are in our walk with God, we can develop and grow and experience more of Christ in our daily lives. A part of our ministry is to help Christ-followers have a greater hunger and thirst for the things of God.
One of the joys of getting older is seeing the beginning from the end. By that I mean, things that happened years ago connect with where we are now. We begin to see the patterns. We see God’s leading from beginning to end. We see how God uses little things in our lives to generate life-long results to help us better tell the story of Jesus and His love.
Wayne Pederson
