How did the Know Your Bible TV program begin?
In 1981, Wayne Williams, an elder at Northside Church of Christ, returned from a trip to San Diego, California, all wound-up about a TV program he had seen there. It was called Know Your Bible, and was produced by El Cajon Boulevard Church.
Wayne described the great success the brethren in San Diego were experiencing, and immediately began talking to all the Wichita TV stations. No time slot was available, so we put our name on the list and waited. We included some funds in the budget to prepare for the opportunity we knew would come soon. We did the same in 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985 — still no time slot opened up. In 1986, we decided it wasn’t going to happen and left no room in the budget for a TV ministry.
In May of 1986, KSN called and said we could have the 10:00am slot beginning in a few weeks. They required a one year contract, and we estimated the annual budget to be around $60,000. The elders stepped out in faith by signing the contract and beginning preparation for Northside to produce, broadcast, and pay for a Kansas version of the Know Your Bible program. Louis Tandy and David Lawrence were selected to answer questions on the program. Steve Tandy became the moderator. W.L. Fletcher had moderated the program in San Diego for almost 15 years, and agreed to come to Wichita to coach us in what needed to be done.
In a matter or weeks, we had everything ready to go — except the money. On June 15th, the congregation was asked to give or pledge enough money to get us going. No one (on earth) knew what the response would be. When the giving was counted, it was almost $54,000. The program was first broadcast on July 13, 1986.