![](https://www.baptistpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Imagine_Faith_First_800x100.gif)
FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has expanded its ministry in Texas through the power of radio and wants to do the same in other states.
“LifeSource” with Ken Hemphill, a weekly radio program, went on the air March 1 and has reached its initial goal of airing in Texas cities where Southwestern has off-campus centers.
Hemphill, Southwestern’s president, said the long-term goal is for the program to be in 100 markets, and Southwestern alumni will be the key to reaching this goal.
“We have the ability to provide the program at no cost. They can connect us with stations that will air the program,” Hemphill said.
“The program is primarily directed at Christians in an effort to encourage them in their spiritual walk,” Hemphill said.
The program has been a half-hour of preaching edited from sermons by Hemphill, who also is interim pastor at First Baptist Church, Dallas. In the fall, the program will include interviews with students, faculty and alumni and their testimonies followed by a Bible study by Hemphill.
“The reasons for the change in format are that there are so many dynamic stories of what God is doing in the lives of those connected with Southwestern and they need to be heard,” said Kay Leitch, LifeSource producer.
In Texas, one-year contracts to air the broadcast on Sundays are in place with KVTT, 91.7 FM Dallas at 7 a.m.; KSLR, 630 AM San Antonio at 7:30 a.m.; KJAK, 92.7 FM Lubbock at 2 p.m.; and KTEK, 1110 AM Houston at 7 a.m.
The recording studio at Southwestern is used to produce the program, which Hemphill said “provides the means and the passion to have the radio program at this time.”
The recording studio was a gift of B.J. Glascock, a member of the Southwestern Advisory Council who has been involved in Christian broadcasting for numerous years and taught a course on the subject at Southwestern.
Southwestern’s communication degree is another reason the school saw the need for the radio program.
“The seminary is one of the few left with a communication degree program, and we need to model the power of radio,” Hemphill said.
McConnell is a newswriter at Southwestern Seminary.