The UNWavering Podcast

How Northwestern Media Is Amplifying the Gospel | Jason Sharp

• UNW Alumni Office • Season 2 • Episode 8

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This week, we’re joined by Jason Sharp, Senior VP for Media at Northwestern Media, as he shares his personal journey in radio and faith—and how God has shaped his calling in Christian broadcasting. Jason gives us a look inside Northwestern Media’s network of radio stations, which reach millions of listeners across multiple states with Christ-centered content that is broadcasted live and local. 

He also introduces an exciting new project, The Christ Podcast. This is a unique and immersive audio experience created to make the words of Jesus feel personal and present—like He’s speaking directly to you. Listen to a special sneak peek of The Christ Podcast in this episode and hear why this project will resonate so deeply in the world today. 

Learn more about The Christ Podcast: Click here

Learn more about Northwestern Media: Click here

🎧 Subscribe and leave a rating wherever you listen.

💬 Know an alum, faculty member, staff, or student of UNW doing amazing things out in the world? Let us know at alumni@unwsp.edu. 

SPEAKER_00

Hey everybody, it's Monty.

SPEAKER_06

And Cassie.

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to another episode of the Unwavering Podcast.

SPEAKER_06

I can't wait to dive in.

SPEAKER_00

This is gonna be a really fun episode. But first, Cassie, I'm curious. Have you ever dreamt of having your own radio show?

SPEAKER_06

It's all I think about, to be honest. Um I I love when people have to listen to me, but yeah, how about you?

SPEAKER_00

Well, um you and others have told me I've got a great face for the radio.

SPEAKER_06

That's very true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So I I actually, and it's on my Northwestern bucket list. I want to, at least for an hour, if they let me have an hour, I want to have a live show. And it's gonna be 2000s youth group throwback songs, like my culture of youth group songs. Yes. And lots of dad jokes. Like we're gonna reach the dad that's in his 30s or 40s, and it's gonna be awesome.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, I'm not a dad in my 40s, but I would listen to it for the throwbacks.

SPEAKER_00

It'll cater to you too. We don't we don't want to be too niche.

SPEAKER_06

Mine would just be about books. Cassie's booknook.

SPEAKER_00

The booknook. We can we can promote it on our dad podcast. That'd be great. Podcast, our dad show. Yeah. Well, this will be fun. So why are we talking? Why in the world are we talking about uh our own radio shows? It's because today we have the privilege of having Jason Sharp join us on the podcast. This is gonna be great.

SPEAKER_03

Join as we highlight the people, the purpose, and the pulse of Northwestern. This is the Unwavering Podcast.

SPEAKER_07

I think it's an unbelievable time to be a Christian in Minnesota. I do believe that the darker culture becomes our opportunity to share our faith and to shine the light and have people respond to it better than ever. This is the moment for Christians to rise and to say, let's go this way. I love the Gospels, but in Acts, when Peter all of a sudden, after he denied Christ, he all of a sudden became bold. Then he said, Well, you know what? I saw all that, I messed up when the rooster crowed, and now I'm gonna tell people about Jesus, and people got saved by the thousands. If we're bold in this dark culture, people will meet Jesus.

SPEAKER_00

Jason Sharp is a 1993 graduate of Olivet Nazarene University, right? That's right. That's true, and now serves as the senior vice president for media at University of Northwestern in. And that's right. And that's right, two in a row. Um, and he has zero fun on the job at all, always serious. That's wrong. That's wrong. Okay. Well, what's true and right is that under his leadership, the reach and effectiveness of Christ-centered media here at Northwestern has grown. And it what's also true is that Jason is passionate about radio, about developing people and platforms that lead others to Christ and creating strategies that advance the gospel for greater kingdom impact. Is that right? That's very nice of you to say. Thank you. Well, welcome to the podcast. It's great to be here. This is gonna be fun. I know that you enjoy books on leadership, faith, and growth from actually past experience, but what is a book that you've recently read that has made a lasting impact on you?

SPEAKER_07

You know, at Cabinet, we read a book and discussed it at length from the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. And it was called or is called From Christendom to Apostolic Mission. And the whole idea of the book is how we can live out our faith, not only as an organization but as individuals, in a society that may not be a bubble of what heaven will be like someday. And uh it was a really fascinating conversation every Monday afternoon for about six to eight weeks. And it really challenged me that we are we are not in a Christendom society right now. So we have a great opportunity. We have a great opportunity to be unwavering, and we have a great opportunity to shine the light because when we do that, people will meet Jesus. We just have to do that. So that's a book I read recently that I really enjoyed.

SPEAKER_00

Does that connect back to where Jesus says the uh the harvest is plenty, but the workers are few?

SPEAKER_07

Seems like it does. Seems like it does. With the Great Commission never being accomplished at this point, and there's still work to be done, then uh uh he promises us that if we do the work, that he will he will bring in the harvest. And so it it's a difficult read, but it's easy to process once you get it. And so it was worth worth our time for sure.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, thanks for sharing that. Jason, how did you how did you find your way to Northwestern and to Northwestern media? Like how did that come about?

SPEAKER_07

Well, when I was thirteen, I felt God called me to the ministry, and I thought I was gonna be a pastor. Try not to laugh.

SPEAKER_06

No, I I would never.

SPEAKER_07

And I went off to college to be a pastor, freshman year, first semester, took a radio broadcasting course, and I fell in love. And God showed me through a mentor and a series of events that the ministry he had called me to was Christian radio. And so every day since then, that was in 1989, I have pursued this craft, and I've loved it. And so when I graduated college, I took a job at a small Christian radio station in Delaware. And then my met my wife there, and we moved throughout the country, and it was 2007 when there was an opening at KTIS to be a program director. And I was a program director at the time down in Tennessee, and so I applied for the job and I did not get the job. That's not where I saw that going. I know. I did not get the job. And somebody else got the job, came and took the job and worked here for one week. And then I got a phone call from the hiring supervisor who said, actually, you can have the job if you wanted. And I thought, wow, I'm the second choice. This is great. And so I thought, no, put that behind you. And uh it would be an honor to work at KTIS Radio in Minneapolis. And so that was at the same time, if you remember, the bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. And so my interview was like a week after that. And so I listened to KTIS from where I was in Tennessee, and I saw how they ministered to the community during that time, and I thought, I have got to be a part of that. And so I came and I did that job for two years, moved into the manager role uh two years later, did that job at KTIS for six years. And uh, in May, I will be celebrating my tenth year as the senior vice president for media at Northwestern. And so what started out as I wasn't the first choice humbled me and put me in a good place. And to see, to look back and see what God has done is truly remarkable.

SPEAKER_00

So you've had clear or just like clarity on this calling into radio from from that moment back when it happened, right? Indeed. And it's just I think for those of you who aren't sitting here in the studio in person, what's really cool about hearing Jason share this, and something I really appreciate about you, Jason, is uh his eyes also have complete clarity when he's sharing this. Like just the the the openness and the genuine passion for what he does is just uh evident. So I think it's really cool that you shared that story, and I think it's cool that you're living into what the Lord has so obviously called you to do, and I think it makes sense that stuff is happening through media because the Lord has taken you and you said yes, and you're like, great, he wants me here, he's gonna do something. I think it's so cool.

SPEAKER_07

Just try to be faithful, to try to be obedient to the call. It wasn't easy moving from the warm sunny days in Tennessee. You know, it's uh where it when it was brutally cold, it was like thirty-two degrees. Oh yeah. Can you imagine? No. And so when I say that my wife and I have been here 18 years, Julie will say actually 18 winters. Oh and so, you know, following God's call is not always easy, and it has nothing really to do with the weather. But at the time, the uh 2007, 2008, there was a crash. And so we had a home that we couldn't sell, and we came up here and we tried to rent, and we ran into some problems because we had a home. We weren't making much back in the day, and uh, we were just trying to scrape by and to to get to where we needed to be with two young children at the time. And uh yeah, God has been faithful. Wow if I look if if it if it ended all today, I would look back and say, God, you have been so faithful, thank you. Come on.

SPEAKER_06

That's awesome. We all have those seasons, and I'm glad that you got the lesson from it, which we don't always see. So thank you for sharing. Um so a lot of our listeners know about KTIS with some connection to Northwestern, but there's a lot more to it than that. We've got what we call Northwestern Media, but what is that? What is Northwestern Media?

SPEAKER_07

Aaron Ross Powell, so that's what I get to oversee every day, and Northwestern Media is uh home to two different brands. We have our music stations, what we call life, kind of our life brand, if you will, and then we have our faith brand, and that consists of Faith Radio and Faith Podcast. And so our life stations, like KTIS, are in 14 different markets and 13 different states. So if you're traveler throughout the upper Midwest, you'll bump into one of our stations most places. And uh it's not called Life here in Minneapolis because 98.5 KTIS put on the air in 1949. That those call letters have so much equity in this community. It didn't make sense back in the day to move that from KTIS to like Life 98.5, and so KTIS stuck, and I'm so glad that it did. But where we've bought news stations, we've all adopted them under the brand of Life. And so Life 107.1 in Des Moines, we have Life 101.9 in Waterloo, uh Life 97.9 in Fargo, and so on and so forth. And so Northwestern Media oversees or is home to stations in 13 different states. Uh Faith Radio goes to 37 different signals throughout the country. Most recently in Boise, Idaho, we added a station in Boise uh last August. And so we're excited about that growth. And so not only does it uh become home to radio stations across the country, but it also becomes home to podcasts. And so, like this one, you know, we have podcasts that reach the masses, and so we're really excited about different podcast projects we have coming up.

SPEAKER_06

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00

So 13 states, do you have data on the number of listeners across all those networks?

SPEAKER_07

Aaron Powell We know that we have anywhere between 1.5 and 1.7, 1.8 million listeners each week. In some of the markets, it's a little bit more difficult to get data from uh the audience size than others, but Minneapolis specifically is the easiest market to get data from, and we have about 400,000, 450,000 people who listen each week. Radio's changing in that people don't listen as long to the radio as they used to. And so we're trying to get them always to come back. If you drive down the highway, you'll see billboards. The whole purpose is for people to remember that we're here, and hopefully they'll turn on the radio and be encouraged by a song or uh a word that is spoken by the uh DJ or the announcer. And so Minneapolis, we've done really well here for a very long time, and so uh this is our home.

SPEAKER_00

So just a review for those of you listening, um, KTIS, if you live here in the Twin Cities and you're listening to this, is is our local station, but that's a station that is a part of the life network of stations. There's also another network of faith radio, and those two collectively form Northwestern Media. That's right. You got it. Hey.

SPEAKER_06

We did it. So what does it mean to be live and local in today's landscape?

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, so that's something we're very proud of. Northwestern Media is the only organization in America that buys radio stations and puts people in those communities to serve that local community. And as our president, Dr. Hornbeek likes to say, seeks the peace and prosperity of that city. So I was in Madison this week, and we have a station in Madison with seven, maybe eight full-time employees, and their job is to serve Madison, Wisconsin and the surrounding communities. And so Life 102.5 has been on the air there, I believe, since the early 80s, and uh they've been doing a wonderful job. And so we're the only organization that's not buying a station, letting all the people go, and then moving them to a centralized location where they'll broadcast everywhere.

SPEAKER_00

Why does it matter so much to be live and local?

SPEAKER_07

Because Jesus moved into the into the neighborhood. And we want to move into the neighborhood too. Uh we believe that partnering with the local church, with local nonprofits to serve the community well, here's the example from Addison. Every year at this time we collect Legos for the American Family Insurance Children's Hospital. And uh we take thousands of Legos to the kids. We drop them off, we get into our little vehicle from the station in Madison, and we drive to the hospital in Madison and we bless the families in Madison. Now they don't have to listen to receive a Lego set for their child. They just have to be there. And so we can meet them with something to give them a little respite from the stress they are under. And uh a Christian radio station is giving us what? That's pretty cool. Our station in Waterloo, Iowa, does the same for the children's hospital, but they raise gift cards so that they can hand them to the nurses, and the nurses, as mom and dad, need to figure out where's dinner coming from. Oh, well, here's a hundred dollars to Outback Steakhouse courtesy of Life 101.9. Whoa. That's Jesus right there. And it's not always about sharing our faith in those moments, but it's about blessing them so that they're open to receive the gospel. And so that's why it's important to be in the community. Now, Faith Radio is not in the community. Faith radio farms out the signal from Minneapolis to the 37 different signals across the country. That's different. But where we have our music stations and where we hire people and invest in the local communities, that's what the Life Network is all about.

SPEAKER_00

Aaron Powell Is that where the name Life came from? Was it do life with people?

SPEAKER_07

You know, I'm not sure. That happened prior to my arrival at Northwestern Media. Uh there was a I don't know if this is of interest to anyone, but there was a season in Christian radio where they moved away from call letters, the KTIS type call letters, and moved to life or um spirit or joy, and then they throw the frequency in after that. And so that decision to become life was amongst that season, but I'm not sure why they chose life.

SPEAKER_06

Aaron Ross Powell But what I'm picking up on is that you're not just in the business of expanding KTIS or Faith Radio, but you're you're expanding the kingdom by being local.

SPEAKER_07

Aaron Powell I hope so. That's the prayer art. Our mission that we take very seriously is to lead people to Christ and nurture believers in their spiritual growth through Christ-centered media. Sounds like someone who uh maybe thought they were gonna be a pastor? Someone who gets to lead an organization with that mission? That's cool.

SPEAKER_06

Billy Graham and Jason Sharp.

SPEAKER_07

Oh, yes. Those two names have never been put in the same sentence. But thank you, Cassie.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, I'm thinking it.

SPEAKER_00

Actually, is that how Northwestern media started? Was is Bill is Billy Graham the was he the guy who started Northwestern media, or how did Northwestern media come to be?

SPEAKER_07

Well, William Riley had the vision. And so he started the conversation. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1946, 47, 48, somewhere in there. And uh the money had not all been raised to put KTIS on the air, and that's where Dr. Billy Graham came in. And he raised forty-four thousand dollars from students at Northwestern to finish the project and to complete the tower, and it was completed, and uh he went on the air on AM nine hundred back in the day, KTIS AM nine hundred, and uh turned us on the air. And then the FM frequency came about three months later. Now, what's cool is that forty-four thousand dollars in today's dollars would be about six hundred thousand dollars. So could you imagine raising that in a chapel service?

SPEAKER_00

That's insane.

SPEAKER_07

That's crazy, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07

So they did it, and without the students of Northwestern, Northwestern media would not exist. Well, it was the students who gave that stick that money. The students. Holy cow.

SPEAKER_06

Many of them gave everything they had.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, many pledged a dollar a week for a year or whatever it was, and they raised forty-four thousand.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

That's an inspiring story of just what happens when you're willing to do your part as a group of people. That's really cool. Jason, I want to ask a few questions about how so now you explained what Northwestern Media is, where it comes from, what it does, how it's organized. But Northwestern Media and University of Northwestern are one organization and they have a shared mission together. So how does that relationship work between those two separate sides of the house?

SPEAKER_07

You know, it hasn't always been perfect, but under Corbin's leadership, we are moving in a direction that is so exciting. Where those who are employed on the media side can see how God is working through our uh senior vice president for academics, Staline Fisher, who's been a recent guest on the podcast. How God is working through her to lead the faculty, how God is working through the staff under the supervision of Wade Holmberg and Eric Klein and Brad Haider and Dale Enskov. Just the team is unified and ready to roll. And so it's fun for media folk to watch how God is changing lives and changing the students' lives because a lot of them run around our building or this building every day that we're in. And then I think it's equally as exciting for university staff and faculty to see what God's doing through media. It is one organization. We do have two separate mission statements at this time, but as one organization called to either investing in students' lives or investing in listeners' lives. Um, if we do that together, not trying to compete against one another, but going and do a cheering for each other, then great days are ahead for Northwestern.

SPEAKER_00

Aaron Powell I love that. I love that. And yes, we feel that as Cassie and I working over at the University of Northwestern, uh, we feel the excitement of what's going on in Northwestern media and how we're playing together to accomplish this shared mission. It's exciting.

SPEAKER_07

I talk at Cabinet often about and in or or maybe just a few times, but did you ever watch the The Office?

SPEAKER_06

Yes. Oh yes.

SPEAKER_07

So when Andy said at the end of the office, at the maybe the last episode, he said something along the lines of I wish I would have known that it was the good old days when it was the good old days. These are the good old days at Northwestern, at least for me.

SPEAKER_06

Aaron Powell That's good to hear.

SPEAKER_00

Let's go. We're in the good old days. I love how these missions are are uniting. And I know we've had a chance to hear about that in brief because we've talked about the Amplify the Gospel campaign. And one of those initiatives is the national media enterprise. My first question for you is why is it national and not global? It's a good question.

SPEAKER_07

It's becoming global with projects we have going on that is really expanding the expanding the influence and uh blowing our minds. So I think you're right, national probably could be replaced. And it seems a little bit I I I struggle with that a little bit in that I don't know, it's it seems a little bit egotistical to say we want to take over the world because we don't. We just want to be faithful. And so we threw the Nashville in because that's probably as big as we can think. And then God did something or is doing something that could make it bigger than what we could have imagined. And so props to him. He's doing the work. Uh and it's fun to be a part of.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I'm pretty sure I know the thing you're referencing about what is expanding this to a global perspective, and I want to come and follow up and ask you a couple questions about that. But first, tell me when you think about the network expanding and the fact that it is one of our initiatives, like what is the vision for expanding the network and why is that important today?

SPEAKER_07

Aaron Powell The vision for expanding the network is to be faithful, first and foremost, to go where God is calling us to go. And we know that there are there's two reasons why Northwestern media has opportunities right now. One of them came from the Jesus movement in the late 60s, early 70s, when cool things were happening and Dr. Billy Graham was a part of that back in the day. At that time, there was a lot of people who decided that they wanted to build Christian radio stations. That's when Christian music really started to surface and become legit. And so these founders of these Christian radio stations back in the day have either retired and maybe they've given the ministry that they had the vision for originally the as founders, uh, they've given that ministry to have somebody else run. And maybe that that person didn't have that vision of the founder and it's maybe just kind of going over here. Maybe it's wavering if if if we could use that word. Maybe it's maybe it's wavering a little bit. And so some of those folks are contacting Northwestern saying, we don't have the vision for this. We understand what you do and your approach to local ministries seeking the peace and prosperity of the city. Can we be a part of that? So that's one set of opportunities, and that's important because those founders had a vision for their community, and we want we want that to continue. The other is just st stations who maybe have been around for 10, 20, 30 years who aren't a part of a network. And it's difficult to run a Christian radio station in this culture with the pressures of the day when you're all on your own and when you're out there doing it by yourself, because then you've got to hire an HR department, payroll, accounting, uh all the different things where where we're blessed at Northwestern is we have we have those as centralized services, so our stations don't all have to hire those departments out. So we had a situation in New York just two years ago where the lady was on her own. Her name is Connie, and she's a great friend, where Connie was on her own and she it was a struggle. And so she didn't have any resources, anyone to help her. And so she came to us and said, Can we be a part of Northwestern Media? And so now Sound of Life is on the air in Hudson Valley, New York, home to two, 2.5 million people. And so it's important for us to grow because there are areas of the country that are not being served like they could be served if they had the infrastructure of Northwestern behind them. And now we're not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But the people who work at Northwestern Media are the best in the business. I love them. We call ourselves the Northeast. And uh the Northeast are the best in the business. And so when you've got Connie, who's a manager in New York, and you can now surround her with 14, 15 other Connies, she rises to the occasion. And we have life in Hudson Valley, New York. And so that's fun to see and fun to be a part of, and that's same for every position in her building. Now they have a resource of people that can help them accomplish their mission. And so we want to be there when it's uh when it becomes available, when a station becomes available, if it's a market size that it'll work for us, if we have the resources to do it. And that's why the National Media Enterprise is a part of the Amplify the Gospel campaign.

SPEAKER_00

That's very cool. When you what you shared about with Connie and rising, it this reminds me of like how it works with embers in a in a campfire, where if you add a cold ember to a group of embers that are already hot, the cold one gets relit and rises and becomes a part of that group. That's really cool how they what chain what changes when they're a part of a network. Do you I'm assuming you don't just say yes to any station that comes along that is interested in being a part of the network? Do you have a a process of discerning maybe the ones that you would pursue or not?

SPEAKER_07

We do. We have something called the scorecard and we run it through the scorecard, you know, in terms of where is it in the country? Is it in a spiritually depressed area? Okay, now it gets a lower score than if it's in uh maybe an area where we know that we could be successful because they're open to the gospel, if you will. And that those are long conversations and difficult decisions. But we run it through a score c scorecard and it's got nine, nine or ten different things that we look at in terms of how many people live there. Are there other Christian radio stations in that market? Because we don't believe in going somewhere where there's already a local station doing the job well and or or doing the job because we don't even think that we're uh better than them to decide if they're doing it well or not. And so if they're committed to that local community, it's their community, we're not gonna go in. But we've said no recently two or three times. It just hasn't been right. Has it been has it been a right fit for us? God isn't calling us to that area, and it wasn't a strategic fit. So there's a lot that goes into deciding. There's a lot of opportunity, there's a lot of uh lot of stations in one of those two scenarios we talked about earlier. There's a lot of stations in every section of the United States. And so we're just trying to be faithful and to go where God is calling us to go. And the reason why we're raising money is so that we can be ready because radio stations are not inexpensive. They are when someone donates them to you and that's happened, but that's rare. That's rare.

SPEAKER_00

So many questions I want to ask about it, but we'll we'll save that for another time. But we'll we'll continue to pray and uh for those of you listening, continue to pray for wisdom as you have these opportunities and and discern if the Lord's calling us into those markets. But I I want to get back to what you're talking about when you're talking about global and what is changing your mind about maybe we were thinking too small. So there's something happening around Easter time. Can you tell us about this? What's coming?

SPEAKER_07

This is the most exciting project of my career. I really believe that. This is gonna be wonderful. So eighteen months ago, we made the decision to produce a podcast called The Christ. And this podcast is about the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. And uh we hired an organization and uh they hired staff or hired ca hired a cast, and uh we have Hollywood, Los Angeles actors and actresses who have performed this story in a way that you've never heard it performed before. Now we've all seen the movies, we've all seen the videos or the T V series, and those are awesome. Hearing it in audio form is unique because it's like the director said, and I'll steal his quote. He said, When Jesus talks in this podcast, it sounds like he's talking to you. And that's the beauty of radio, that's the beauty of podcast, it's one-on-one. And so my soul just stirs so mightily when I think about people being exposed to the Christ. It'll come out the week of Easter. There are four episodes, about thirty minutes each, and uh, it's unlike anything I've ever heard in my career. And I'm just so excited because uh Corbin often says, Dr. Hornbeek, Corbin often says this could be the most evangelical thing we've ever done in Northwestern Media. 76 years of existence? It could be. That's amazing that during this time we get to be a part of that. So what we decided to do, we decided to give this podcast to any radio or media ministry that wanted it. We paid for it. We generated some donor support, and we're so grateful for those who contributed to the project. So it's it's been paid for by the generosity of others. And we decided, well, let's call our friends in the in the industry and say, Hey, Joe down in Houston, would you like the Christ podcast? Because you can have it. And uh it doesn't have Northwestern on it, it doesn't have KTIS on it. It will be Joe's and his radio station's identity. They can put their branding on it. It's just there. We're trying to make it available to every Christian outlet in America or non-Christian or mainstream. Doesn't matter to us. We just want people to listen to the Christ. And to this point, we've got twenty-five stations or so in the United States who said yes, we'll take this. They're gonna promote it, they're gonna air it, they're gonna put it on the air, and it's amazing what God might do through this. And we have Christian radio and TV stations throughout Australia, through Germany. Uh I've got an email yesterday from a friend who said that he's talking to some folks in the Philippines, uh, South Africa. And so we have commitments from others who are going to promote the Christ podcast. And and that's all for them. And we're so excited about that. We're just excited to see downloads coming from all over the world. From all over the world. That that was our goal and our prayer for a million downloads per episode. And we'll see. We'll see what God wants to do. We surely don't want to limit him with our little number. We are really excited. Tom Pelfrey plays Jesus. Tom was in Ozark and uh Task on HBO. Uh, of course, Patricia Heaton that we know from the middle, and everybody loves Raymond. Uh Paul Walter Hauser is in a bunch of movies right now. Just Google him, you'll see him and say, Oh my gosh, he's in the Christ. Yes, he's in the Christ.

SPEAKER_06

So cool. Well, you've got some great source material with the gospels. So, um, but where did the idea come from? How did it start?

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, it came from our director friend who uh pitched us three ideas, and this wasn't written at the time, but it was the only idea that I really heard him say because it fits so uniquely and and wonderfully into our mission. And so uh that's where it came from. His name is Mark Ramsey, he's a friend, and he's done work with us over the years at Northwestern Media, and so uh we worked with him and that's where it came from.

SPEAKER_06

When Mark pitched this and you're hearing it, what do you hope the the guests or the listeners are gonna get from this experience?

SPEAKER_07

I go back to our mission. If someone doesn't know Jesus, then my prayer is that they would meet him after being moved by this podcast. For those who know Jesus that they would be reminded, because it'll bring you to tears, that they'll be reminded all that Jesus did for them, for them, individually, for them. And so I hope that those who know Jesus will share the word about the Christ, because it's a great way to witness and and to share your faith without saying a lot. You can just point him to the podcast. Um that's our prayer, is that the mission would be accomplished.

SPEAKER_06

So I'm excited to listen to the Christ podcast. I can't wait. Easter is when it hits. Can we share a sneak peek, a sneak listen with our unwavering listeners?

SPEAKER_07

I would love to provide you with a scene that will tease the excellence of the project and hopefully make your listeners want to hear more.

SPEAKER_00

Awesome. So, Jason, we heard it here. He's given us permission to listen to a sneak peek of the Christ, and then when that uh when that teaser is done, we'll come back here and we'll wrap up this episode for you.

SPEAKER_01

As word spread of his wondrous deeds, multitudes came to him, bringing their afflicted. And he healed all of them. He healed lepers in Samaria. He made the lame walk inside them. Take up your bed and walk. He even raised from the dead the daughter of giants in Capel.

SPEAKER_02

Alethia Kum.

SPEAKER_01

He fed four thousand in the capitalus. He fed five thousand in the sale, and the wonders kept coming, and many came to believe that he was the anointed one. But it wasn't just the miracles, it was what these acts of wonder revealed about the kingdom of heaven he preached. He opened the eyes of the blind so that others might see. He opened the ears of the deaf so that others might hear. And he opened his own sacred heart, pouring it out so that ours too would be open to his gospel message.

SPEAKER_02

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice. Yes. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. For great is your reward in heaven, for so too did they persecute the prophets who came before you. You have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you that whoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who spite you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your father who is in heaven. I say to you, be perfect, as your father in heaven is perfect. Amen.

SPEAKER_00

That was fantastic, and I can't wait for this thing to come out in its full form. So if you're listening to it before Easter, there's still time if you want to go on to the Christ website and share that with your pastor or share that with people and get them excited for when these episodes drop. Because Jason, if am I getting this right that the Monday after Palm Sunday is when the first episode comes, and then is there a new episode each day or something like that? There is. So if you want to follow along with this in real time, um spread this around to your friends or share it with your pastors or whatever, and you can actually follow along and and listen to them the day that they come out. If you're listening to this episode and it's already past Eastern, whatever, the it's still there out there on Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast, so go find the Christ, and that message is going to be relevant whether you listen to it when it comes out or you listen to it ten years from now. So go find it. Jason, of all the encouraging things going on, and you've shared a bunch of them today, from things happening with the different networks, the live and local, the expansion, the Christ. What excites you the most, or what who has you the most giddy just to come to work every day?

SPEAKER_07

I think it's an unbelievable time to be a Christian in Minnesota. I do believe that the darker culture becomes our opportunity to share our faith and to shine the light and have people respond to it better than ever. And so I remember this moment as a young man where my grandma, Gladys Clifton, she said to my mom, we were in the kitchen, and I don't know why I remember this like I do. I love my grandma. She said to my mom, Judy, I don't know how you're gonna raise kids in this in this world. You know, grandma didn't think it could get any worse. It was in the 70s. So if we're saying that, then our someone's gonna talk about us one day on a podcast and say, I remember my grandpa used to say that 2026 was pretty tough. This is the moment for Christians to rise and to say, let's go this way. You know, when I love the gospels, but in Acts, when Peter all of a sudden, after he denied Christ, he all of a sudden became bold and he started sharing his faith. And Jesus saved people by the thousands through Peter's words. He just got bold and he said, Well, you know what, I saw all that, I messed up when the rooster crowed, and now I'm gonna tell people about Jesus, and people got saved by the thousands. If we're bold in this dark culture, people will meet Jesus, and that's why I come to work every day. Come on.

SPEAKER_06

Amen.

SPEAKER_00

I love what you just shared, and it reminds me of a quote that hit home for me from The Lord of the Rings. And what a way to end this episode than with a quote from the Lord of the Rings.

SPEAKER_06

My my husband will be delighted.

SPEAKER_00

With Jason the Grey. I mean Gandalf the Grey. No. Um the quote is I wish it need not happen in my time, said Frodo. So do I, said Gandalf, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. So that's a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien. But it's true. The darker the world gets, the more bright the light is, and the more the world needs a light to find where it's going. It can't even see its way more and more the darker that it gets. So may we be bold to flip the light switch on and to let them see the good news and the hope that we find in Jesus. So let's do that. Not just at Easter, but let's just spread that message around. And Jason, thank you for your heart in that. Thank you for saying yes to what the Lord called you to those years back and faithfully doing that day in, day out. So, man, what a privilege it's been to just to hear your heart in this episode.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, well, thanks for having me on the podcast.

SPEAKER_04

Thanks, Jason. Holding on to your promises, holding on to your favorites.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you for listening. To hear more, subscribe and leave a rating wherever you listen. And if you know an alum, faculty member, staff, or student of Northwestern doing amazing things out in the world, let us know at alumni at unwsp.edu. The unwavering podcast, highlighting the people, the purpose, and the pulse of Northwestern.

SPEAKER_04

Your love is on.