By JACK PALMER
palmer@crescent-news.com
When former pastor A.R. Gallert came to St. John Lutheran Church in Defiance 50 years ago, he brought something with him.
"His previous church in Findlay had a radio ministry and he wanted to start one here," recalled longtime St. John member Bernie Hohenberger. "It wasn't a request. It was a command."
The church began its radio ministry of broadcasting a Sunday morning worship service over radio station WONW on July 7, 1958. The service was conducted by Rev. Gallert, with Alfred (Shorty) Ruck as announcer and Waldemar Fischer as engineer.
"As we celebrate our 50 years of our broadcast ministry, we thank God for his rich blessings upon this gospel outreach," said Rev. Donald Luhring, the current pastor. "Our congregation is sincerely grateful to everyone who has ever participated or supported the broadcast in any way."
The weekly broadcast is currently carried simultaneously by WONW 1280-AM and WZOM 105.7-FM.
"We tape the 9:30 a.m. service with a one-week delay," said Frank Borkowsky. "It takes an announcer and engineer every Sunday and right now we have three two-man crews."
Borkowsky is paired with Carroll Bergman, while the other radio teams are Fred Schuette and Harold Johnston, and Don VanVlerah and Wayne Buntain.
"The primary purpose of the broadcast is to bring the Christian gospel to the sick and shut-in, as well as to listeners without a church affiliation," said Buntain.
"The quality of the broadcast has improved greatly over the years with new technology and equipment," added Johnston.
VanVlerah said he was a longtime fan of the ministry prior to becoming involved as a volunteer.
"We have always received a lot of positive feedback from listeners," he stated. "It's been a great program and I am happy to help out."
Hohenberger was recruited as a radio volunteer within a month after the program began.
"Shorty Ruck asked me to help out," he said. "Ever since we started, we've needed two guys every week. The announcer reads the opening and closing scripts and introduces each part of the service."
The church holds a Saturday and three Sunday services every weekend, but only the 9:30 a.m. service is recorded for radio use.
"We put them on MP3 players and they are transferred to a CD," said Schuette. "The editing is done by Lonnie Warncke to make sure it all comes out to 60 minutes."
Bergman laughed as he recalled an incident about four years ago when the church's contact person at the radio station did not respond to set-up phone calls.
"That was when we were doing the services live," said Bergman. "There was always just one guy at the station, but when we called before the service no one answered. We thought he had might have had a heart attack, so we called the police and I drove out there pretty fast. The guy was outside and he was waiting for a key. He had locked himself in."
Some of the congregation's other radio ministry volunteers through the years include Bill Rohrs, James and William Ruck, Mike Koenig, Phil Lulfs, Marv Smith, Ray Harbourt and Bob Guilliam.
"I've never had to worry about them showing up," said Luhring. "They are always there."