Downriver Circuit Congregations Help Expand Radio Broadcast2 min read

On August 1, 2021, Martin Luther’s Evening Prayer became international.

Thanks to the efforts and support of the Detroit Downriver Circuit of Michigan District, LCMS congregations, the radio/podcast of the Martin Luther’s Evening Prayer program will reach the Caribbean, South America, and parts of Africa via short wave on WWRB (“World Wide Religious Broadcasting”). The signal will be 5.050 megahertz Sundays at 7 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Savings Time).

WWRB has been broadcasting internationally from Morrison, Tenn. since 1993, and is currently a subsidiary of Airline Transport Communications Incorporated. Because Martin Luther’s Evening Prayer will be broadcast Sundays at 7 p.m., Eastern Daylight Savings Time, it may be heard at 6 p.m. in Mexico and Central America, at 7 p.m. in Venezuela and Peru, and at 8 p.m. in most of Brazil and Argentina. In winter, the times heard will vary depending on the particular region’s observance of Daylight Savings Time.

Dr. Richard Zeile, the speaker on Martin Luther’s Evening Prayer and pastor of St. John’s, Taylor, states that the initiative of the Downriver congregations, particularly the Circuit Visitor, Rev. Greyson Grenz, is responsible for this latest outreach of the program, along with Rev. Robert Marshall of the Lutheran Heritage Foundation, who proposed the international outreach to the circuit meeting. That proposal called on circuit congregations to financially commit to the annual cost of the international broadcast, and the following congregations stepped up: Calvary, Lincoln Park, pastored by Rev. Michael Grannis; Trinity, Wyandotte, pastored by Rev. Greyson Grenz; Christ the King, Southgate, pastored by Rev. Jason Cashmer; St. Paul, Trenton, pastored by Rev. Dr. Richard Blythe; Our Redeemer, Taylor, pastored by Rev. Kenneth Spence; and St. John’s, Taylor, which originated the broadcast locally in 2009.

Martin Luther’s Evening Prayer is currently broadcast over nine stations, both AM and FM: Detroit, Mich.; Scranton, Pa.; Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Richmond, Va.; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Omaha, Neb.; and Bakersfield, Calif. The short wave broadcast out of Morrison, Tenn., will be the tenth station, and the podcast of the program is available at Buzzsprout.com/34718 at any time, including many messages from the past ten years of the broadcast’s history. Proclaiming “an unchanging faith for changing lives,” the focus of Martin Luther’s Evening Prayer is analyzing human experience and its meaning in light of God’s Word.

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