20100111

Big Privilege for Tiny Part in Tabernacle Time Broadcast

I listen to each day's broadcast of Tabernacle Time. Begun in 1932, it is the nation's oldest daily religious radio broadcast. I listen because Brother Bob (R.J. Barber), even after all these years, communicates his walk with God better than anyone I know. Also, he is my birth father in the ministry. He turned 82 on December 21, and is amazingly strong.

During my time on staff at the Baptist Tabernacle, I substituted on the broadcast maybe 10 times. I remember hearing: "This morning sitting in for Brother Bob is Brother Don!" It was usually on short notice. Once on a very early morning, I heard a knock at my door. Brother Bob was standing there not dressed yet for the day, asking me to fill in for him that morning. It was like a coach sending me into the game. I was always excited, always ready, and felt privileged.

Actually, he was on two stations every day in the morning. One, I think, was a five minute broadcast at 6:30, and the other was for 15 minutes at 7:00, both live, of course, when I filled in. I would go to one, then hurry to the other. The longer second program was rebroadcast over a big watt North Carolina station at night. I remember standing in line at a Roy Rogers restaurant one night listening to Tabernacle Time. In those days, it was a big deal (still is) because Brother Bob was pastor of the beloved Tabernacle. He said in church once that someone called to ask who that old man was substituting for him. I was 21.

Don Loy Whisnant/Journey Notes 10A11