In May, Immanuel Lutheran Church of Bay City's Radio Broadcast will celebrate 100 Years of sharing the Gospel through their Radio Broadcast Ministry.
What began in May of 1926 as broadcasting once a month over Bay City’s year-old radio station, WSKC, later renamed WBCM, became so popular that, since October 1928, they have broadcast every Sunday with the exception of one, at the beginning of World War II, when news preempted all other broadcasting.
Now available on both 1400 AM and 92.3 FM THE BAY radio stations, Immanuel’s Radio Broadcast, one century strong, continues to be a blessing as it brings Christ to those unable to attend worship in person. Although the Lutheran Hour boasts they are the world’s oldest continually broadcast Christ-centered radio program, this weekly radio broadcast of Immanuel’s worship service began 4 years, 4 months, and 10 days before The Lutheran Hour began airing!
In today’s technological world, there is still no way to know how many people tune in to a radio station or radio program. As this radio broadcast approaches 100 years on the air, one can only imagine the number of people who have listened to Immanuel’s church services this century. Feedback throughout the years has helped the church to know shut-ins, home-bound, farmers, and vacationers, just to name a few, have all appreciated the opportunity to tune in and listen to the weekly broadcast.
While they do not know the number of people reached by the broadcast, they do know that members and many people who are not members of the congregation appreciate the program so much that they routinely send correspondence and checks to thank Immanuel, to support the radio broadcast, and to help them continue this important ministry.
The church has over four decades of saved audio from the broadcasts, so as part of this year’s celebration they started taking short clips of the voices from the past and including them on their weekly radio broadcast. On the weekend of May 3, they shared a portion of the June 15, 1986 worship service with Pastor Leslie Tyvela and Rev. Dr. Richard Schlecht, former Michigan District president, who was the guest preacher for the service celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the radio broadcast ministry. You can hear the service here.
For more information about the ministry, contact the church office at 989.893.4088 or email ILC@ImmanuelBayCity.com.