EDITOR’S NOTE: BP Ledger carries items for reader information each week from various Southern Baptist-related entities, and news releases of interest from other sources. The items are published as received.
Today’s BP Ledger contains items from:
Bott Radio Network
Campbellsville University
Oklahoma Baptist University
Bott Radio Network Celebrates 50th Anniversary
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (Christian Newswrire/Bott Radio Network) – Bott Radio Network — a pioneer in the development of Christian talk radio — marks its 50th anniversary this month in Bible teaching and Christian news and information.
BRN started with one radio station in Kansas City in 1962, KCCV AM 1510. Today, BRN serves Kansas City at AM 760, 92.3 FM, 88.9 FM and in December a new Kansas City signal will be added at 101.5 FM. Nationwide, BRN has 91 stations reaching into 15 states with a combined coverage of over 50 million people. BRN can also be heard worldwide on various new media including satellite, Internet and mobile digital technology. BRN is headquartered in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kan.
It all began in 1962, when founder Dick Bott and his wife Sherley purchased a radio station in Kansas City with the dream of establishing a full-time Christian radio voice to serve families with “quality Christian programming, all day … every day.”
Dick Bott’s broadcasting career has its origins in his ninth-grade class in Minneapolis, when his teacher assigned the class to give a report on a profession. Dick Bott picked radio broadcasting. His broadcast career began in 1952 in San Francisco, where he became the youngest general manager of any major market radio station. From there Dick and Sherley Bott went on to buy a radio station in Monterey, California in 1957. They began to think about starting a new station with a Christian format while working in Monterey. Both had grown up in Christian homes and wanted to establish an all-Christian radio station in a major metropolitan area. With their new purpose in mind, the Botts sold the Monterey station and began a search for a new station in a city with a population of one million or more people where they could realize their dream.
The Botts found what they wanted in Kansas City, and in 1962 they packed their belongings and moved to Kansas City with four children and a dog. Utilizing many key radio format concepts honed on the West Coast, Bott Radio Network was born as “Kansas City’s Christian Voice” on November 12, 1962.
Bott Radio Network grew with the acquisition of a radio station in Oklahoma City in 1975. Stations serving Fort Wayne, Indiana; St. Louis, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee; and Fresno/Modesto, California followed.
Today, BRN broadcasts its format of Christian talk radio on 91 radio stations reaching into 15 states with a combined coverage of 50 million people. BRN also is heard nationwide on SkyAngel Channel 403, worldwide online at bottradionetwork.com and on mobile devices with free apps for iPhone, iPad and Android users. Bott Radio Network also connects with listeners on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
Bott Radio Network features award-winning Christian talk radio. Time magazine listed several of BRN’s talk show hosts among the nation’s 25 most influential evangelicals. The listing included Dr. James Dobson, a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame and host of Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk; Dr. Richard Land of For Faith & Family — President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; and attorney and judicial advocate Jay Sekulow, who hosts Jay Sekulow Live from Washington D.C. BRN also features Back to the Bible with Dr. Woodrow Kroll from Lincoln, Nebraska, as well as broadcasts by Billy Graham, Phyllis Schalfly, Chuck Swindoll, Tony Evans, June Hunt, Charles Stanley and many other national Christian leaders. National program topics range from family and faith issues to live call-in shows about current events.
In 2008, Bott Radio Network’s founder, Dick Bott, was inducted into the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Hall of Fame. The NRB is the world’s largest association of Christian communicators, with over 1,400 member organizations, and the Hall of Fame award is the highest honor the organization confers.
Dick Bott continues to serve as BRN’s chairman of the board. He is also one of the longest serving members of the Board of Directors of the National Religious Broadcasters association with headquarters near Washington, D.C.
His son Rich, president/CEO of Bott Radio Network since 2010, grew up in Christian radio. While working at BRN as a teenager, he learned to appreciate the programming concepts and the importance of ‘Quality’ Christian Talk Radio that has made BRN unique in its service to a growing audience.
After graduating college and earning his MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1981, Rich joined Bott Radio Network full-time. As executive vice president, he guided the development of BRN’s format and oversaw much of the network’s growth from 3 stations in 1981 to its present size of 91 stations, plus satellite, internet and new media.
In addition to his service as president/CEO of BRN, Rich Bott also serves as chairman of National Religious Broadcasters. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of Life Issues Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Back to the Bible, Lincoln, Nebraska. And he serves on the Board of Governors and Executive Committee for the Council for National Policy, Washington, D.C.
Looking to the future, Rich Bott expressed his vision, “God has blessed the proclamation of His Word to the hearts of millions of people through Bott Radio Network over the past 50 years and we are excited about the future. It is thrilling to harness the power of radio together with new digital technologies to touch even more hearts and lives with the power of the Gospel message and the timeless Truth of God’s Word which is the same yesterday, today and forever!”
The Botts are members of Lenexa Baptist Church in Lenexa, Kan., with satellite campuses in Missouri. The church is dually aligned with the Missouri and Kansas-Nebraska state conventions.
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Campbellsville University students serve community in Repair Affair
By Lucas Pennington, student news writer
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. (Campbellsville University) — A nail, a hammer and a heart.
To help students learn about the Christian servant leadership at Campbellsville University, first-year students at Campbellsville University participate in Repair Affair, a service project organized by Kentucky Heartland Outreach building decks and wheelchair ramps, and repairing roofs for families in need.
Jon Hansford, director of First Year Experience, said, “The Repair Affair is an amazing service-learning experience here at CU and a great start for our first-year students to transition into our diverse service community.”
Bethany Thomaston, a freshman from Auburn, Ky., said, “The Repair Affair showed me how great of a need there is for students to serve others in Taylor County and throughout Kentucky.”
Thomaston’s group nailed down shingles for a roof. This was her first time doing such a project, and she learned how to physically nail down the shingle as she got on top of the house. She learned how important it is to have a good roof on a house.
Her group worked on a house for an elderly woman whose house needed many repairs. The woman told the group how appreciative she was of the help.
“It made me think about doing things for others,” Thomaston said, and she is planning to go to Africa on a CU mission trip.
She is going to Africa May 7-18, 2013 to spread the gospel and do service projects.
Kelsey Best, a senior from Harrodsburg, Ky., and FIRST CLASS mentor, said, “The Repair Affair showed me how important servant leadership is to the people out in the community. It really opened my heart up for the people that we were able to help.”
Heather Hensley, client advocate for Kentucky Heartland Outreach and a 2007 graduate of Campbellsville University, said, “I have been told by several homeowners how wonderful it is to have the students come out and volunteer their time to help them. The students were really able to accomplish a lot during this year’s Repair Affair. It makes a big difference in the lives of the people helped when they can see such selfless acts.”
Campbellsville University partners with Kentucky Heartland Outreach, an organization that seeks to provide safe, warm and dry homes to homeowners who could otherwise not afford such needed home repairs, to provide service projects for FIRST CLASS small groups to complete together as a class.
Samantha Stevenson, a freshman from Elizabethtown, Ky., said, “The Repair Affair gave my class the opportunity to get to know each other outside of the classroom. We were able to come together for a greater purpose and grow together as servant leaders.”
Rachel DeCoursey, a freshman from Hopkinsville, Ky., said, “The Repair Affair was my first experience working with fellow freshmen and it showed me how giving my fellow classmates are.”
Tanner Royalty, a junior from Danville, Ky., and FIRST CLASS mentor, said, “I was able to see my FIRST CLASS students grow together while helping others. Repair Affair helps set the foundation for developing servant leaders.”
All freshmen at Campbellsville University participate in the Repair Affair, a FIRST CLASS small group project sponsored by Kentucky Heartland Outreach. Students take four hours out of a school day to repair a home for a family in need.
Projects range from building a wheelchair ramp for homes that are not wheelchair friendly to putting on a new roof.
Kentucky Heartland Outreach is a ministry affiliated with and founded by Campbellsville University. When Kentucky Heartland Outreach launched in 2000, Todd Parrish, a 2000 graduate of Campbellsville University, was appointed executive director and has served as the organization’s only executive director since it began.
For more information about Campbellsville University’s FIRST CLASS or Repair Affair, contact Hansford at [email protected] or call (270) 789-5371. For more information about Kentucky Heartland Outreach, visit khohome.org.
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OBU Presents Hobbs Award to Robert Kellogg
MOORE, Okla. (Oklahoma Baptist University) — Oklahoma Baptist University presented the Herschel H. Hobbs Award for Distinguished Denominational Service, named in honor of a legendary Southern Baptist pastor and denominational statesman, to Robert Kellogg on Tuesday, Nov. 13, during the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma annual meeting in Moore, Okla.
Kellogg, a 1984 OBU graduate who serves as president and CEO of the Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma, received the award from Dr. David Whitlock, president of OBU. Kellogg has served in foundation leadership since 1993.
The award is named to honor the noteworthy Southern Baptist denominational service of Dr. Herschel H. Hobbs, a prolific author, preacher and radio program host. Hobbs was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City from 1949-72. He died in 1995.
“We are honored to present the Herschel H. Hobbs Award for Distinguished Denominational Service to Robert Kellogg for outstanding servant leadership to the churches of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and the Southern Baptist Convention,” Whitlock said.
Whitlock noted Kellogg has exemplified servant leadership not only to the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, but also to the affiliates of the BGCO.
“He has served in industry, on the staff of OBU, and in denominational service for the last 19 years,” Whitlock said. “You may recognize him as the one who can recite by memory the Sermon on the Mount. Most of you will recognize him as the president and CEO of the Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma. He manages more than $300 million in Foundation assets and faithfully manages with our utmost confidence the OBU endowment.”
Kellogg joined the Foundation as vice president of investments and computer information systems. He was promoted to senior vice president and then executive vice president and chief operating officer. On January 25, 2002, he was elected as the Foundation’s fifth president.
He received his bachelor of administration degree in computer and information sciences from OBU and a master of business administration from Amber University (formerly Abilene Christian College) in Garland, Texas. He was director of information systems and services at OBU from 1989-93 before joining the Foundation. He came to OBU from Texas Instruments of Dallas, where he worked in its marketing systems department.
Kellogg has been responsible for leading the Foundation to a unique spending policy that provides beneficiary causes with a dependable, predictable flow of income. During his tenure he also has focused on improving the Foundation’s budgeting process, computer technology, accounting and communications.
He and his wife, Tonia, OBU’s director of executive offices, attend Immanuel Baptist Church in Shawnee, where he serves as a deacon. They have two daughters, Samantha and Andrea.
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