While I was studying for my Ph.D. and traveling back and forth to home near Rochester, NY, I often listened to a series of 5 FM radio stations across Upstate New York. They broadcasted classical music. Then in the late 1960s the network was purchased by the Christian Broadcasting Network. The format changed abruptly to modern Christian tunes and frequent charismatic teaching programs. That was a bit foreign to my Lutheran heritage and it took me awhile to want to listen to the stations.

After marriage (21 December 1969) and our 95-day round-the-world honeymoon the Lord communicated to me that I was spiritually backslidden, no longer having the eagerness for the faith that had peaked several years earlier. I was very active in my congregation (teaching junior high Sunday school, singing in the choir, working with the youth group, serving on the church council, being the institutional representative to the Boy Scout troup) but something was lacking. It was by listening to the Christian radio station all year that my faith was healed. I grew to enjoy the modern music. I liked some of the faith-building teaching programs. For those programs of different theology, I was challenged to study Scripture to strengthen my own viewpoints. So I therefore developed a love for Christian radio.

For the three years in Australia there was no Christian radio that I could listen to. Listening to Christian music records and taping Christian concerts partly satisfied my music needs. Reading Christian literature from a local bookstore greatly helped my theology change and grow.