Purpose

Faith Minute is the broadcast ministry of Leith Anderson and Wooddale Church. The purpose of Faith Minute is to communicate the truth and hope of Jesus Christ through multiple media.

The program strives to provide hope, encouragement and challenge showing why ‘living by faith’ can be the most stretching, fulfilling and rewarding experience you will ever have. Each program stands alone and is intentional about encouraging believers in their walk with the Lord, introducing Christ and Christian values to those who don’t yet have a relationship with Christ, and equipping everyone in deepening their faith in Christ.

We encourage you to get engaged in a local Bible-teaching church and discover the practical wisdom and unshakable hope of living a life of faith in Jesus Christ. If you are in the Minneapolis area, we invite you to join us in growing in faith together at Wooddale Church.

History

Faith Matters is the product of a vibrant and evolving broadcast ministry that began in 1997. At that time the Faith Matters ministry was launched as a 30-minute weekday radio program featuring Leith Anderson’s weekly teaching at Wooddale Church; however, the radio industry’s trend was toward “sound-bite” spots for content programming, more along the lines of two minutes as opposed to 30 minutes.

After conducting a survey of area radio station managers (both secular and Christian) and considering the results of that survey, Faith Matters was re-launched in a shorter, two-minute format, and in August 1999 Faith Matters hit the airwaves. In its first year as a two-minute broadcast, Faith Matters aired on over 50 radio stations nationwide, via Northwestern Productions’ SkyLight Network and other local stations as well as on the internet at www.ICRN.com (Involved Christian Radio Network). In addition, Faith Matters added a 24-hour answering service, 1-800-MATTERS, for people to call and order transcripts and inquire about content related to the Faith Matters message.

Radio broadcasting continued to move toward even shorter breaks in programming in order to mitigate listener loss. Faith Matters adapted to this challenge by producing a daily one-minute program called Faith Minute. Each program stands alone and is intentional about encouraging believers in their walk with the Lord, introducing Christ and Christian values to those who do not yet have a relationship with Him, and equipping all who listen with a deeper faith.

In 2008, with the new one-minute format in hand, the Faith Matters Advisory Board adopted a strategy of reaching a secular audience by purchasing broadcasting time on regional sports stations. The Board’s intent was to reach male heads-of-household across a broad socio-economic range. They felt that the sports listening audience targeted that demographic precisely and had the added advantage of listener loyalty, i.e., listeners of sports stations do not often change the station.

To execute the Board’s newly re-focused strategy, in 2009 Faith Matters forged a relationship with the Minnesota Twins and was featured as Faith Minute in the 5th inning of each of the 162 Minnesota Twins radio broadcasts across the 80-station Twins Radio Network. The Minnesota Twins management team shared with the Board that the volume of listener comments they received regarding the Faith Minute broadcasts were overwhelmingly positive and far exceeded any other campaign they had aired, past or present.

Today

We are especially excited about Faith Minute and the potential this ministry model holds for proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to a secular audience, and so Faith Matters has executed a new contract with the Twins for the 2010 season which maintains our one-minute presence as Faith Minute in the 5th inning of each of the Twins Radio Network broadcasts across the 80-station network.

In addition, Faith Matters is broadcast in the Twin Cities on KNOF/Praise FM, 95.3 FM and Faith Minute on KTIS 98.5 FM and periodically on KFAN AM 1130. Both Faith Matters and Faith Minute are nationally syndicated on the Moody Broadcasting Network and can be heard on various independent Christian stations across the country.

As we continue to strive to distribute the Faith Matters and Faith Minute content in a way that is accessible and relevant online, Faith Matters has adopted a multi-pronged approach.

• We launched three newly redesigned websites: faithmatters.fm, faithminute.fm, and faithminute.org. From these websites you can subscribe to the daily content via email, iTunes podcast, or even on your Kindle. You can also download a full transcript of any message for further reading.
• We established a presence on Facebook where you can “become a fan” to receive our daily content or join our community conversation there and “share” it with your Facebook friends: join us at faithmatters.fm/facebook or faithminute.fm/facebook.
• We are also on Twitter: follow us @faithmatters or @faithminute.

Looking Forward

Faith Matters asks for your prayer, encouragement, and financial support as we endeavor to reach out with the truth and hope of Jesus in the Twin Cities and around the world.