SPEC IAL FEATURE : PHOTO INTERVIEW "Ahoy
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EDITORIAL NOTE: Mr. Paul Myers, better known as “First Mate Bob,” has been in radio work for three decades. For the past 24 years, God has blessed his min istry from “The Haven of Rest.” In this special interview feature, he discusses in teresting facets of his work, the future of gospel broadcasting, and other questions. Similar interviews with Christian leaders are planned for the coming months in the K ing ’ s B usiness .
QUESTION: Where did you conceive the idea for the “Haven of Rest?” ANSWER: I felt that a sacred or Christian program could be dramatized. The primary aim, of course, was to get the ear of the unsaved or the unchurched person and to dress the program up with the dramatization of the ships and men who go out to sea in ships; to make it a nautical program with ship’s bells and whistles. We used what I call the sneak approach because we’d ring the bells and toot the whistles. QUESTION: It’s certainly been very effective and eternity will reveal, of course, the tremendous impact that it has had. Has the program concept of the “Haven of Rest” changed since the first?
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"The primary aim is to get the ear of the unsaved or the un churched . . . to use the 'sneak' approach."
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QUESTION: Let’s begin by asking you what your real name is. I suppose often times people just call you “First Mate?” ANSWER: Well, when I call somebody on the tele phone, a stranger, and say that my name is “Paul Myers,” they always respond: “Who?” I have to add “First Mate Bob.” My real name is very seldom used, although I am not ashamed-of it. QUESTION: How long have you been in radio? ANSWER: Well, we have had this program on the air a little over twenty-four years. For about eight years prior to that I was in commercial radio as a professional musician. Then I went into the commercial announcing and finally I became commercial manager of two radio stations in Los Angeles. Immediately after that I went down to Mexico to manage a station at Tijuana. But I found the Lord in San Diego. QUESTION: You mentioned it was twenty-four years ago that you found Christ as Saviour in San Diego; how did that come about? ANSWER: My wife and I had been separated; our home was broken; she didn’t know where I was. I was very much under conviction, for she had been a Christian praying for me eleven years. She raised our four children to know the Lord and she kept on praying for me even though she didn’t know where I was. In February of 1934 I was wandering the streets of San Diego and very much under conviction, that was on a Saturday night. The following morning, Sunday, I went into a big church in San Diego. No one spoke about salvation and no one spoke to me. There were very few people there. It was a rather cold service so I went back to the hotel where I had been staying. Without the benefit of clergy, I remember opening the Gideon Bible in the hotel room and kneeling on the floor, giving my heart to Christ.
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"My wife is the sweetest Christian in the world. She is my prayer partner, my helper, and a wonderful Bible teacher."
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