are human and we do need encour agement. Won’t You let just one person write in they were blest by our program?’ “ A moment later, Steve Hart, our general secretary, came in with the mail. Never was so heavy a load so cheerfully carried! You should have seen Ralph’s face when he heard our shouts of jubilation. You should have seen it as I read letter after letter from people in New York, (and later that week) New Eng land, Canada, even Bermuda, who had been blest by our program. They were sure God wanted us to stay on the air and proved it by their gifts. “When we went down for our next broadcast, we were met by a beaming station manager. He had heard about the letters. Said he, ‘It’s sensational.’ ” But radio is only one of the media God has given Ralph for reaching the blind. Until recently, hardly anyone— any evangelical that is—has done much to reach blind children for Christ. As he surveyed the field, Ralph found plenty of Braille chil dren’s magazines but not one single evange lica l Christian magazine could he find. Here was one of the neediest of all missionary fields. In January of 1955, Ralph launched the Braille Pilot which, to the best of his knowledge, is the world’s only evangelical Christian magazine for blind children. His 13- year-old son, Ralph Jr., is assistant editor. Not all blind children read Braille so, coupled with the Pilot, Ralph has a talking book circulat ing library of children’s records— Bible and gospel stories in recorded dramatized form. The roles are skillfully portrayed, frequently by children. Like everything else it offers, the Association provides these records free of charge. Right now, Ralph and Bea are working on a new kind of camping program for blind boys and girls. Original plans which contemplated a special Bible camp just for blind children have yielded to what they consider a better idea, placing blind boys and girls in a sighted chil dren’s camp. Each blind child is teamed with a Christian sighted child who helps him or her become a part of the life of the camp.
The Gospel Association for the Blind, Inc. has been described as a movement that moves faster and further than any other evangelical agency for the blind. It is the only such agency in the National.Asso ciation of Evangelicals. “ Thousands have been reached;” says Ralph, “millions, 20 millions, need to be. “ Our best hope for the future lies in multiplying workers, blind workers. God could best reach men as man. The blind can best reach the blind, and we are out to help them. “How are we doing it? Through special training classes, through our Braille Bible correspondence course and now the talking book mission ary kit. “Here’s how it works. In Kan pur, India, Eraum Chakravarti re ceives his first copy of the Gospel Messenger. A year later, he writes, ‘This magazine led me, a Hindu, to study Christianity from another an gle. Previously I regarded Christ as one of the greatest teachers of religion. But now, I feel that He lived for me, shed His blood for me and will return for me.’ “Eraum wants to serve Christ. But what can he, physically blind and spiritually immature, do for Him? He can’t preach. He isn’t ready for that, but he can testify; and he can go into the market place with a talking book machine that can preach for him all day long in the language of his people. That message, backed by his own testi mony, can be the means of reaching hundreds for Christ. Meanwhile he can be preparing himself through our Braille correspondence course to be a missionary preacher. “Where do we get the records? From our sister faith organization, Gospel Recordings, Inc. which is geared to supply free gospel record ings in more than 1,000 languages. In each record kit, we include a handwound record player. We sup ply these kits to any native blind Christian who will use them for the above purpose under the terms out lined. “ Thus in one more way God keeps His word to ‘bring the blind by a way they knew not . . . lead them in paths they have not known . . . and not forsake them’ (Isa. 42: 1 6 ).” END.
the air, not just a good station but one of the biggest and best—Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer’s New York outlet, WMGM. One evidence, as he saw it, of God’s leading was the fact that Fred Dienert, our Christian ad vertising representative, had been able to secure time on the ‘Station of the Stars’ for rank amateurs like ourselves. “ So there we were, trembling with excitement as we awaited the red light which would tell us we were on the air. Ralph and I sat facing each other with the micro phone between us. “When the light flashed on, I was to relay the signal to him by a squeeze just above the knee. I would squeeze him again at agreed upon intervals to let him know how much time he had left. My eye was on the light. My hand was on Ralph’s thigh. My heart was in my throat. My thoughts flashed back to the moment of our marriage. Then it was I who had trembled so. This time it was Ralph. His knees were actually knocking. “ The light flashed on. In that moment listeners from New York to Canada heard a strange thump, thump, thump. Ralph’s knees were hanging his guitar and the micro phone was picking it up. By de grees our nervous excitement sub sided; God seemed so very close. I read Ralph’s text and he preached. That was Sunday night, Dec. 18, 1949, Ralph’s 30th birthday. “M onday m orn ing we could hardly wait for the 10 o’clock mail. Humanly speaking, our future on the air would be in that mail bag. By nine o’clock, we could thiiik of nothing else. We spent the time praying. The telephone rang. It was Fred Dienert calling from Phil adelphia. Usually his voice had a cheery ring. This morning it was flat and reproachful. “ Say, what happened last night? The station managers are very much upset. They said you didn’t have an orchestra, a choir or even a quartet. You just had yourselves, and if you’re not better by next week, you’re off the air. After all WMGM is the ‘Station of the Stars!’ ” “ Ralph went from the phone to his knees. ‘Lord, we’ll do anything You show us to do, but Lord we
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NOVEMBER 1956
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