It isn’t a day yet after the first announcement over the show’s cancellation, and there have been some very fine statements written by Pastors Asburry, Cwirla, Snyder, and others.

Jeff Schwarz’s home church, St. Paul’s in Hamel, IL, has set up a Wilken/Schwarz Fund. Online, the Wittenberg Trail social networking site is taking donations with PayPal.

Contact information has been published for the LCMS Board of Communication Service. They are keeping count of the number of calls to David Strand’s office, 314-996-1200. Your voice matters. There is also an online petition to sign.

Still more can be done. Many people, without the benefit of the Internet, still don’t know what is going on. If you have friends that listen to the show, call them.

Laymen should contact their pastors and elders; pastors, their parishioners. Perhaps the congregation can take up a special offering. Put a request for support in the church newsletter.

We do not know yet why this happened. On the extreme off-chance that there may have been a good reason for the show to be canceled, hold your criticism for the Synod and its politics. Let the magnitude of your support show how big a mistake this has been.

There have been efforts to recover the Issues, Etc., archives. There is also talk of taking the show independent, just over the Internet.

Radio is still an important medium. Every time I visit a new city and rent a car, I hit “Scan” to see what is being broadcast while I drive. We need Wilken and Schwarz back on the radio, so people can scan and serendipitously bump into good Christian radio.

My non-Lutheran friends may wonder, “Why care so much about a show?” For your answer I again refer to the Scan button on your radio. Issues, Etc., was everything generic American Evangelical radio was not. It was not promoting the state of Israel at all costs. It was not saying “God Damn America.” It was not a priest, a minister, and a rabbi getting together and trying provide different truths on one show. It was not please send one million dollars or else I’ll be called home. It was not saying your life is screwed up because you weren’t praying or giving enough.

Issues, Etc., challenged the listener, knowing that we were sinners and saints. It was not afraid to call good things good and evil things evil. It was funny, instructive, and an excellent example of proper application of the Word of God to today’s society. To lose Issues, Etc., is to surrender the radio spectrum to shows that give the Gospel a bad name. That is why we want this show back.