Dear partners in ministry,
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us on the Spirit FM web site. We are encouraged to hear how God has greatly blessed so many lives through the ministry of Spirit FM. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that some reactions have been strong in response to the announcement to sell Spirit FM. We respect your comments and are addressing in this email the principal concerns expressed.
In recent years, Trinity International University received several unsolicited offers to buy the radio station. As a result of these offers and in order to fulfill their fiduciary responsibility, the Board of Regents engaged a brokerage firm in 2006. The broker began a process of assessing the value of the station and determining the level of interest in the market. This process was a quiet one because the outcome was uncertain and we did not want to interrupt the radio ministry of Spirit FM. We saw no wisdom in making this professional inquiry
public and thereby open the door to questions the station staff could not answer about a topic under exploration by the board.
We are extremely grateful to the thousands of listeners who have supported Spirit FM financially and in prayer for so many years. We believe that God places people in leadership in specific situations at specific times. Those leaders are sometimes called upon to make tough decisions. Trinitys board takes seriously its responsibility as stewards of the resources of Trinity International University and approached this decision with much deliberation and prayer. In the end the board believed, before God, that this was the best decision.
Many of the matters involved in the boards inquiry and ultimate decision are sensitive and confidential. However, we do want you to know that our desire was to sell to a Christian organization, and we attempted without success to do so with several different organizations.
A significant portion of the proceeds will be
placed in the TIU endowment. The endowment is like a long-term savings account that cannot be spent without action from the board. The annual interest from endowment will be used to further the mission of the university. Trinity College, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Trinity Graduate School, and Trinity Law School make a huge impact on our culture for Christ. The boards vision is to do more through the educational programs these schools offer, including our programs in South Florida.
We believe that we are blessed with some of the most talented radio staff in the nation. These faithful servants were informed of the process several weeks prior to the signing of the Purchase Agreement on September 24, 2007. In spite of this news, they continued to minister in a professional and effective manner. After September 24 all parties agreed that it would be impossible for the Spirit FM staff to continue their on-air duties as usual. Generous severance and placement assistance for
the staff are being provided.
We ask you to join us in prayer that:
1. The sovereign Lord will pour out His Spirit on South Florida in order to fill any void that may be left by closing Spirit FM
2. A strengthened unity in Christ will be demonstrated among churches and believers with a shared purpose of reaching the lost in South Florida
3. The staff of Spirit FM will be sustained by Gods grace as they seek the Lords will for future ministry.
One of the listeners responded as follows:
"...I am encouraged in my heart to pray for your ministry as a Christian entity of education. I pray that the next Billy Graham will come from your school. I pray that the seed that is now being sowed with tears by our community grows and develops into a life-giving tree that will touch, not just the thousands the radio touched here in South Florida, but the millions that are hungry and in need of the love of God."
We join in these sentiments with this listener and ask you to join us in this
prayer.
Seeking God in all things,
Trinity International Foundation Board
