Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 415
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 415

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

CHURCH LITERATURE AND PUBLICATIONS; PUBLIC RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS 415

adapted from a very popular Lutheran children’s book
series, and with spot announcements which challenge
thoughts and have a deep and lasting impact. (Who
can’t finish the statement “You can take Salem out of
the country, but —”!)

In addition, the TV board, aware of new local oppor-
tunities, is developing ideas, counsel, and program help
for local pastors and congregations which are offered or
seek TV time. Examples include Easter spots in Omaha,
Nebr., and a weekly local television show for a congre-
gation in Jacksonville, Ill.

The board is also keenly aware of present and rapidly
developing opportunities overseas and is working dili-
gently with mass-media representatives in the field and
with the mission board and staff to take advantage of
present programs and availabilities and to initiate and
develop indigenous work. The experimental mass-media
team in Korea offers very bright possibilities for us here.

Present TV Activity

Our Lord continues to place an unusually rich hand
of blessing upon the ongoing TV ministry. From the
bold and insightful commitment to television in 1951
sprang “This Is the Life,” first telecast as “The Fisher
Family” on Sept. 9, 1952, on three Dumont stations in
New York, Philadelphia, and Washington.

Now in 1969, 18 years later, “This Is the Life” and
its sister rerun drama series “Pattern for Living” and
“The Fisher Family” are seen by millions each week
over a network of just over 400 stations around the
world.

All carry the programs free of charge as a public
service, with the time value estimated at $3,500,000 per
year.

AND EACH OF THE 300 FILMS IN CURRENT
CIRCULATION TESTIFIES TO JESUS CHRIST AS
SAVIOR AND OFFERS THE WORD OF LIFE FOR
THE HOLY SPIRIT TO NOURISH!

TV Mission Focus

Since the convention 2 years ago in New York, about
80,000 pieces of mail will have come to the “This Is the
Life” office. Each TV program offers the viewer a
Christ-centered piece of literature, and a booklet was
sent to each person who wrote.

In order to place the mission opportunities in the
television mail before pastors and _ congregations
throughout the United States and Canada, correspon-
dence is promptly forwarded to the pastor nearest the
post office of the sender for local follow-up.

The board is grateful for the many favorable re-
sponses from pastors who continue to find TV mail a
rich source for prospects.

The content of the TV mail testifies eloquently to
the power of God’s Holy Spirit, active in His Word, as
it is proclaimed on television.

The mail also demonstrates that “This Is the Life”
is viewed faithfully by a very broad spectrum of Amer-
ican society.

Overseas English TV Programs

The board also seeks continuing and further oppor-
tunities to extend the Gospel by television overseas in
a rapidly developing image-oriented world society.

The opportunities unfolding overseas parallel those
seized by the Synod here in the United States during
television’s developing years.

To develop and to take every advantage of those op-
portunities, the television staff meets regularly with
Mission Area Coordinators for Europe, the Far East,
Africa, and Latin America.

Cooperative planning provides maximum use of En-
glish and foreign-language “Life” films overseas in con-
junction with TV programs produced on the mission
field itself. Personal meetings with furloughing mission-
aries take place as often as possible.

The television board is also considering a television
seminar in the United States for overseas missionaries
who have opportunity to utilize television, and hopes to
take advantage, in conjunction with the LLL, of field
seminars for Lutheran Hour representatives, many of
whom are missionaries also involved with television
work.

“This Is the Life’ and reruns in English are presently
telecast in Antigua, Australia, Bermuda, Costa Rica,
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French
Polynesia, Ghana, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, Neth-
erlands Antilles, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sierra Leone,
Surinam, Thailand, and Trinidad, as well as in the
United States and Canada. In addition, the Armed
Forces Television Network telecasts the English show
weekly on 41 stations from Greenland to Vietnam.

Foreign-Language TV

A series of 13 Spanish-language episodes of “This Is
the Life’ has been developed for countries in Latin
America. There is a need for many more programs, but
financial limitations do not enable us to go forward here.

The Spanish version is also proving very successful
in United States cities with large Spanish populations.
There are 15 television stations now that program only
Spanish, and this number is expected to grow rapidly.

Thirteen French-language episodes have been pre-
pared for Radiodiffusion-Télévision frangaise, as well as
over French stations in Belgium, Switzerland, North
Africa, and Canada.

With the counsel and aid of the television board, pro-
grams locally produced in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan are
on the air. The board is eager to be of additional ser-
vice in expanding overseas programs.

Remarkable Growth of TV

The abundant blessing of the Lord is also seen clearly
in the remarkable growth of “This Is the Life” in light
of the development of commercial television.

The Synod committed $750,000 to television in 1951,
a figure slightly over 106 of the synodical budget at
that time. Since then, with only a small increase in its
annual budget, “This Is the Life” has been competing