| Radio show, church partnership strengthens community ministry BY DAVID BOHNERT UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT An unusual partnership between a radio station and a United Methodist Church has benefited the Martinsburg, W. Va., community far beyond the traditional weekly religious broadcast. The Rev. G. Edward Grove, pastor of Trinity UMC in Martinsburg, prepares a weekly half-hour program, which is broadcast on Sunday mornings. However, Grove said, the greatest value of the relationship of the church with the radio station has been the impact of the partnership on the community. The weekly radio program was started at Trinity 20 years ago by the Rev. Chester Kirk, who is now retired. Every pastor since then, Grove said, has continued the weekly broadcasts. Evidence of Trinitys commitment to the broadcast of the program lies in the continued support in the church budget even in the face of financial difficulties. The program was originally broadcast on WEPM, an AM radio station which had primarily a Berkeley County, W.Va., audience, Grove said. Two years ago he moved the program to WLTF, a 50,000 watt FM station which covers parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, owned by the Prettyman Broadcasting Company. Trinity UMCs program is one of only two religious programs broadcast on that station on Sunday mornings, he said. Grove recently moved the production of the program to a studio set up in his office. He believes this move allows him to be more creative as he creates a program of music, commentary on a theme and interviews for each weeks program. He then burns a CD of the program and takes it to the radio station for broadcast. An example of the partnership between the radio station and Trinity occurred when the staff of the radio station called him to ask what they could do to help with relief following the recent flooding in McDowell, Wyoming, and Mingo counties in West Virginia. The resulting project raised $40,000, about $12,000 of which went directly to the United Methodist McDowell Mission Advance Special, Grove said. Twelve truckloads of supplies and four work teams totaling 15 to 20 individuals were also sent to the area. After the Sept. 11 tragedy, Grove said, the radio station contacted him and asked what they could do to help the community. As a result, the radio station and Trinity jointly sponsored two town meetings held at Trinity and aired as long as people called in to talk, Grove said. The first program lasted an hour and a half, and the second an hour. Grove said that he has co-hosted radio programs at the invitation of the station from time to time, adding a religious perspective to the topic. He also once helped fill three hours on Christmas Eve when the station found itself with no programming because of networking difficulties. At that time, he worked with Senator John Unger, a West Virginia state senator and a broadcaster at WLTF. They talked about the many positive things going on in the community during the Christmas season, he said. According to Grove, the partnership of radio station and church has given significant visibility to the church and its programs. He said that his wish is that many more pastors would work to develop such relationships with the radio stations in their communities. | 
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