“Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:5-7 NKJV
God puts “the called according to His purpose” together for good (Romans 8:28).
Marconi patented the circuit tuner in 1900.
Lee de Forest, a preacher’s son from Council Bluffs, Iowa, invented the three-element electron tube that would open the door to modern telecommunications. It made radio work!
It was 1906.
On a stormy July night in 1922 in Jackson, Michigan, evangelist John Zoller said, “This is my first radio broadcast. It may be hard for you to listen, but if there’s a person who accepts Christ as his personal Savior tonight, will you write and let me know?” Four days later, Zoller got a letter from a man in Ann Arbor: “It was hard for me to hear you because of the storm, but I accepted the Lord Jesus as my Savior.”
Zoller said, “At once I asked God to open the door so I could broadcast the Gospel.”
John Zoller began broadcasting “America Back to God” on WJR in Detroit in 1934, continuing until God called him home in 1979.
Good Friday 1938, he conducted a service at Detroit’s Olympia Stadium with 13,000 attending and hundreds making decisions for Christ Jesus. He founded the Zoller Gospel Tabernacle June 12, 1938, and continued his ministry there until 1957.
Zoller consistently presented scripture-saturated messages, and wrapped up every broadcast with an invitation to personally “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
June 17, 1922, the mayor of Chicago invited Paul Rader and the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle to bring a brass quartet for music and to preach over WHT from the mayor’s office. Rader then followed with a daily broadcast called “Breakfast Brigade” six mornings each week. But the station was not on the air on Sundays, so Rader purchased 14 hours each Sunday on WJBT: “Where Jesus Blesses Thousands.”
Easter Sunday 1930, Rader began broadcasting over the CBS nationwide network. Meanwhile, Clarence Jones, who had been part of the brass quartet on radio each day, had a vision for establishing a Christian radio station in Quito, Ecuador. He soon met Reuben Larson, an evangelist who had encountered R.R. Brown from Omaha, Nebraska, who had a weekly “Radio Chapel Service” on WOAW. Brown challenged Larson to use radio to share the gospel worldwide.
Larson soon met Clarence Jones in Chicago, and they prayed together about establishing a radio station in Quito, Ecuador. Larson went to South America, and August 15, 1930 received a charter for a radio station from the Ecuadorian government.
Because of financial overload, Rader had to cancel his contract with the CBS network. CBS engineer Eric Williams was led to Christ by Clarence Jones, and was now without a job, but he was vitally interested in the Jones-Larson project to establish a Christian radio station in Quito, Ecuador. Williams volunteered to endeavor to build a transmitter in Chicago for the proposed South American station.
When he accomplished the task, the transmitter was placed on the platform of the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle, dedicated to Christ, and shipped to Quito. Williams soon arrived in Ecuador to install the transmitter, and HCJB went on the air Christmas Day 1931.
In his book “The Gospel Invitation,” O.S. Hawkins explains why publicly inviting people to receive Christ still matters.
Jonathan Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church and chancellor of Liberty University, recently shared why he consistently extends an invitation to respond to the Gospel: “Every week we do this. And we will do this until Christ returns. Here’s why: Because upon the hearing of God’s Word, we always need to be sensitive to the response to God’s Word. And I would never want to be accused of or found guilty of preaching the Word of God and not giving someone who needs it the opportunity to make a decision that will change their eternity.”
The harvest is continuing through Fair Share and other evangelistic efforts of TTT Christian Youth Ministries. The Gospel is being shared personally by TTT team members, with dozens responding to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
As you and I plant and water, God gives the increase! Who will you invite today to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” ?