Dear Friend,

Thank you for coming here to listen to the "Lunch Sack Solution" a very important and timely sermon to help Columbia Union College and WGTS 91.9 FM. The radio station’s signal covers the Washington DC area and has nearly 300,000 listeners per week and that number is growing! The federal license to operate WGTS 91.9 FM is owned by Columbia Union College.

The sermons can be listened to by clicking THIS LINK.

Having this radio station has been great P.R. for Adventism in the Christian community and has given us a positive name with many that didn’t feel that way about us before.

Not only that, the Sligo Adventist Church which I pastor has had a 40+ year relationship with the station and our church services are played weekly. There is another Adventist pastor nearby that gives worship thoughts on the air as well. These programs have been well received and we’re beginning to see baptisms as a result.

We’re making plans to plant churches in the greater Washington DC area through the ministry of WGTS.

For the past few months, we on the Columbia Union College Board have been wrestling with whether or not to sell the college radio station - the second largest non-commercial Christian radio station in the United States.

While we have been struggling with the need to realize the $25 million cash so desperately needed for the continued operation of the college, we are also committed to doing everything we can to save WGTS Radio. So in September we voted not to sell the radio station - for now.

That’s why I’m writing to you.

I know that many of you do not live anywhere near the Washington DC area, but I hope you will do something for this cutting-edge ministry here. I believe we need a voice in the capital of the United States - a city with leaders and representatives from all over the world. For every American, Washington DC is our city as well.

Our own conference president recently learned during a tour of The White House that in the halls of government (and even the Pentagon) the station you hear playing in offices and on computers the most is WGTS.

Praise the Lord!

This track record is a result of focusing on our mission of serving families in the Washington DC area and by promoting auxiliary ministries such as the Potomac Adventist Book and Health Food Store.

The station has a successful, tested outreach to families - helping shape their lives and their children’s lives from grade school through college-age. This station has a generational impact, and keeping it alive creates a “legacy ministry” unmatched elsewhere.

And, the station serves as a “last link” that allows many lapsed Adventists to keep in touch with the church.

WGTS has strong operational sustainability through the support of its listeners. More than 15,000 donors contributed to the station last year, providing for its annual operating expenses.

Because there is a cash offer on the table from a non-Christian organization that would change the format forever, we need a one-time financial intervention by many philanthropic-minded individuals in order to save WGTS.

Frankly, we need contributions now, both large and small, in order to raise the down payment that will allow the station to purchase itself from its Columbia Union College, the broadcast license owner. The station would then be set up as a separate non-profit corporation operating within the Columbia Union Conference – and thus be preserved as a Seventh-day Adventist ministry.

Can we work together to assure that WGTS is separated from Columbia Union College and put in a position where it will never be put up for sale due to the needs of other entities?

First, I’m asking that you pray for the radio station, for the college, and for this effort to raise funds to save the station.

Second, I’m asking that you contribute as much as you possibly can to this urgent need.

There are many of us that don’t have a lot of money, but together we can make a huge difference. More than that, I believe God will smile down on His children and bless these offerings.

Please give. All you have to do is send a check marked “Save WGTS” to Sligo Church at 7700 Carroll Ave. Takoma Park, MD. 20912 or you can give online by clicking here. You will need to register, once you have registered and logged in. Click on "Click Here to add another offering" and choose "WGTS Special Project".

In my time of prayer over this, two questions came to mind:

1.) Does God want us to lose His station in the nation’s capital? And,

2.) Have we done all we can to save WGTS?

The answer I keep coming up with is “No” to both questions!

Please join me in giving to save WGTS. Thank you for your consideration.

Moving forward on our knees,

Pastor Ron

Pastor Ron Halvorsen Jr.

Senior Pastor

Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church