Ed M. Vitagliano

AFA vice president

June 2016 – The signs of America’s cultural decay are everywhere – in our political system and courts, in our corporations, in the media, and even in our schools and churches.

One thing is clear: America cannot survive if she continues to distance herself from her founding principles.

We desperately need a revival-driven change that will restore the spiritual and political wisdom of our founding principles as expressed in the U.S. Constitution. Our fundamental liberties hang in the balance, including the freedom to express publicly our deeply held religious beliefs.

Now is the time for Christians to speak with one voice to promote the values that once made this country a light among nations.

America cannot wait.
The majority of people in our country sense this as they witness acts of terrorism within our borders, bitter political discourse, the legalization of same sex “marriage,” and the absurdity of cultural debates over whether or not men should be allowed in women’s public bathrooms.

It’s no wonder that a RealClearPolitics survey found that 66% of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track.

While there is great reason for concern, America’s struggles present a great opportunity for the church to stand firm as “the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15) and to proclaim the hope found in the mercy and grace of God.

America needs a voice that will come alongside the church to proclaim that message.

Voice of Christian America
Enter American Family Radio. In 1990, AFA founder and president Rev. Don Wildmon set out to build a radio ministry that would outflank the mainstream media in order to get out the truth of God’s word. He wanted the voice of Christian America to have an outlet. The following year, AFA purchased what would become the flagship station of AFR’s 186-station network in 38 states.

That was 25 years ago, and until recently it appeared that AFR’s earlier, phenomenal expansion was finished. After all, radio stations were incredibly expensive to buy and the red tape for doing so was thick enough to strangle an elephant.

However, AFA president Tim Wildmon said, “Over the last several years, AFR has had tremendous opportunities for expansion essentially ‘dropped into our laps.’ We believe those opportunities came from God.”

Now, in this 25th anniversary year for the AFR network, more stations have become available, and Tim Wildmon and the board of directors have walked through the door they believe God has opened.

AFR stations have launched or are launching in Baton Rouge, Houma, and New Orleans, Louisiana; Corpus Christi, Texas; Jacksonville, Florida; Lexington, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; and Montgomery, Alabama.

The additional stations will add more than 2.5 million people to AFR’s potential listening audience. All the stations except for Memphis will broadcast the programming of AFR Talk, the network’s Christian conservative format. The Memphis station will broadcast Urban Family Talk, part of AFA’s outreach to the black community.

 This opportunity comes at a critical time for America. In the remaining months of 2016, the political decisions that will be made will resonate for decades to come. The country is not only electing federal, state, and local leaders, but the next occupant of the White House will undoubtedly shape the federal court system – including the Supreme Court – for generations to come.

Defense of the Scripture
A second unprecedented project will be the feature-length documentary The God Who Speaks. Currently in pre-production, work on the documentary is being handled by American Family Studios, the filmmaking division of AFA.

The documentary will examine why the Bible is authoritative for the church, and it comes at a time when the Scripture is under assault from nearly every direction. Part of AFA’s mission is to give aid to the church here and abroad in its task of fulfilling the Great Commission, and the film is expected to help Christians and church leaders remain firm in their defense of the truths of the Bible.

The God Who Speaks is scheduled for release on October 31, 2017, the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The project is estimated to cost more than a half million dollars.

What we are asking you to do
AFA has already spent over $500,000 toward adding these new radio stations in order to broadcast AFR into these communities. When the expansion project is complete, startup costs will exceed $1 million.

Your gift toward offsetting those costs means that the reach of your voice – the voice of Christian America – will be expanded to include countless listeners who now rely primarily on news and information provided by the secular media establishment.

To meet our $1 million goal during the remainder of 2016, we are asking for your financial contribution by the end of July.

It seems clear that our nation is speeding toward a point when our freedoms – especially religious liberty – may very well disappear forever. The kind of country in which our children and grandchildren will live might very well look vastly different from the one in which we grew up.

America cannot wait.  

AMERICA CANNOT WAIT is a capital fundraising campaign of American Family Association. The goal is to underwrite the establishment of several new radio stations that will broadcast the programming of AFRTalk, the Christian conservative format of American Family Radio network; and to help pay for start-up production costs for The God Who Speaks, a new AFA documentary film about the authority of the Bible .

AFA operates on a no-debt policy.

Make your gift by:
phone – 800-326-4543, option 2
mail – P.O. Drawer 2440, Tupelo, MS 38803
online – www.afa.net