114 and still going strong...

This is what the radio microphone looks like that I have sat behind for 114 consecutive weekly episodes of the Down To The River broadcast on Classics Hits 103.9 WLPO.  

I kind of blew right by the 100th episode without making a big deal about it.  Therefore, with the 114th being recorded later today I thought it would be good to share some insights from this venture which started on September 11th, 2016.  

Where does all the content come from?  That is a good question.  It works out to be about 4 minutes of speaking and about 750 words printed.  What I have learned is to look for inspiration everywhere.  It could be from a blog post I have read.  Some of my sermons have been very pared down to fit into the slot.  Many times a life experience gives me a story to tell.  Last week I talked about my bad tire going thump, thump, thump.  My eyes and ears are open and my mind is ever thinking about that next episode.  I know that if something even makes me hesitate to ponder a little more than I need to write that down on whatever is available.  Sometimes that is a restaurant napkin until I can get back to my computer.  

I am thankful that some content is able to serve many platforms.  Sometimes the path is that a point from a recent sermon makes it to the radio broadcast.  Maybe my bi-annual piece for the local paper is due and it makes another appearance.  This blog is another avenue for it to be refined and presented.  Lastly, it might become an illustration used in some training session or a pastoral group.  I like it when I can get some mileage out of a thought.  

The radio broadcast has been training me to be more concise with a thought and thinking about how it might be heard.  I have no idea how many listen in on a Sunday morning at 8:25 but every once in awhile someone will tell me that they listen in on a regular basis and share the latest so I can tell that they really did tune in.  That known audience does help me to think of someone on the other end of that radio wave.  

I would like to end this post with a thank you to a new good friend through this venture, John Spencer, who is the station manager.  Each week he pushes the buttons and edits out the breathes to make me sound better than I am.  He gives me good coaching on what I can do to make my delivery improve.  He also puts me at ease as we have some of our pre-program conversation before hitting that record button.  

I don't know if I will be able to continue this venture in some way after we move but I would wish it could.  I know that I could venture into the podcast world but the accountability of meeting at the radio station at 3 p.m. every Thursday afternoon has been a good push that could be easily set aside if it was just on my schedule in front of my computer and Snowball microphone in my office.  It has been good for me so I am praying for many more episodes no matter where we are.

Adam