By Jason Collum | Journal Staff Writer

Countless people around the United States — and even the world — enjoy listening to American Family Radio (AFR) each day. Without a certain group of people, though, those listeners might hear nothing but static.

That group isn’t the on-air staff, but the engineers. Between constructing tower-site buildings and maintaining supporting computer equipment, AFR’s engineering team stays busy and often on the go.

Heading the engineering department is Joey Moody. He enjoys the job and its demands, but is humble in talking about it.

“I am not sure how comfortable I am being called the chief engineer when there are a lot of people more qualified than me to hold that title,” Moody said.

Moody, who has been with AFR eight years, heads a team of 16 engineers directly employed with AFR, and works with many more volunteers out in the field. He also oversees new site construction, schedules travel in the department and helps handle emergency and routine maintenance.

“The engineering department builds and maintains all the stations in the American Family Radio Network,” Moody said. “We build a good deal of the supporting equipment in an effort to save money. We also build our own buildings for the sites and are always looking for other ways to save money.”

American Family Radio has 201 stations in 23 states across the nation. That can make for a lot of travel and work, but Moody knows serving God in this position is what he is supposed to do.

“I left once in 1998 for four months to work in cellular, but always felt a burden to come back to AFR,” Moody said. “I feel that this is where I am supposed to be at this point in my life.”

Before coming to AFR, Moody worked in the furniture industry after leaving college. He says the story of how he wound up at AFR is one that “almost seems unbelievable but is true. It lets us know that God answers prayer often in miraculous ways.

“I was married a few months before I came to AFR and had to have some kind of job,” Moody said. “I had taken electronics in college as well as at a vocational center in high school. And, my dad also worked in electrical maintenance, so it was all I knew.

“About 18 months earlier – on the night I gave my life to Christ – I had met a man who worked at AFR,” Moody said. “He was a member at the church I joined and we were acquainted through his sister-in-law.”

In time, Moody began dating the woman who would be his wife and attending the church where she was a member. This removed him from contact with AFR. In time, Moody had his fill of the furniture industry, and his desire to do something else grew. He prayed to God, asking for a chance to work at a place like AFR.

“The next night when I got home, there was a message on my answering machine,” Moody said.

“It was the man from my old church. He had remembered I was taking electronics in college and wondered if I would be interested in coming to AFR for an interview with his boss.

“I was excited that God had answered the prayer so exactly without me even having put in an application [with AFR],” Moody said. “I came for the interview thinking the whole time that I probably would not be qualified for the job. When I interviewed, I realized I was not qualified, but having someone who knew me allowed them to give me a chance. I was hired on the day of my interview and know that God was in my coming to AFR.”

Moody said he has found a lot to enjoy about the job.

“The best part of this job to me is knowing there is someone counting on AFR to be their source of encouragement, and God has given me the honor of making sure that the station is on to encourage,” he said. “I know that everything we accomplish here is no doing of mine, but rather by God’s power and might.

“There have been times when I think about what I have accomplished or done. Then I just think of what God has used people to do and realize that I have done nothing; He simply used a tool to do His work. If I were not here He would use someone else to do the job. He is in control of all things and I count it a privilege to be used by Him.

“I hope that what He uses us to build will impact lives and reach those who are lost,” Moody said. “We get to inform the public of other events, but the greatest event we inform them of is Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.”