0:05

Are you ready for a voice of wisdom?

0:08

Are you ready to hear about the goodness of God

0:10

experienced through decades of

0:12

walking with him? Today at the Radio

0:14

Backyard Fence, we honor the life and ministry

0:16

of a man who's about to retire from Moody Radio.

0:19

You probably haven't heard his name

0:21

a whole lot, but his fingerprints

0:24

are all over every program

0:26

that you hear. And I want you to hear the voice

0:28

in the heart of Dan Craig today on Chris Fay.

0:30

Relive. I had an idea late

0:33

last year to welcome guests who have been

0:35

a little further down the trail a little longer

0:38

to glean wisdom from their lives,

0:40

their experiences, and is not a whole

0:42

lot of far ahead of me.

0:44

But since he's leaving full time ministry,

0:46

I thought this would be a great opportunity to

0:49

both honor and receive from

0:51

him. So that's what's ahead on this Monday

0:53

of Holy Week here on Chris Ferry Live.

0:55

Let's get go on thanking our team. Ryan McConaughey

0:57

doing all things technical. Tricia is

1:00

away this week. Our producer so to hear is

1:02

in the chair today. Anthony will be answering

1:04

your calls. May I ask a question

1:06

before we get to Dan? Do you struggle to believe

1:08

God loves you? Say

1:11

it again. Do you struggle to believe

1:14

God loves you? Glenna did.

1:16

I was reading her book, Memorizing Scripture

1:18

this morning, and she said this. And

1:21

this is the last week we're going to be

1:23

offering this to friends or partners.

1:26

She said one of the most surprising

1:28

blessings of scripture memorization

1:30

I've enjoyed is a deeper confidence in God's

1:32

love for me. An erroneous

1:34

form of teaching crept into the culture of my

1:36

childhood church. As a result, I struggled

1:38

for decades connecting

1:41

the dots between obedience to God

1:43

and being loved by him.

1:46

If I didn't meet the right standard, would he

1:48

loved me less if I obeyed

1:50

better than somebody else? Did he love

1:52

me more? Deep study

1:54

of God's Word over the last ten years of my life

1:56

has untangled a good deal of my former misunderstandings

1:59

about grace and good behavior,

2:01

but it was scripture memorization

2:03

that dealt the final blow

2:06

to my faulty belief that

2:08

God didn't love me as much as he

2:10

loved his other children, and

2:12

she gives passages that kind

2:14

of flipped the switch for her.

2:17

I'd love to send you a copy of Memorizing

2:19

Scripture The Basics blessings

2:22

and Benefits of Meditating on God's Word.

2:24

Hoping you'll respond today with a gift

2:26

of support so we can send it to you. Call

2:28

or click through. Won't take long and

2:30

it'll mean a lot to us, and

2:32

the encouragement you will get from Glen's book

2:34

will help you believe, no matter your

2:36

age, you can do this. You can memorize scripture.

2:39

It'll renew your mind. It'll draw

2:41

you closer to the heart of God, closer

2:43

to his love. Call 86695438669532279

2:50

or go to the website. Scroll down. You'll see on the

2:52

front page there how to be a friend or partner

2:54

with us there Chris Fabri live. Org.

2:58

Again, it's the last week so

3:00

today would be a great day to hear from you Chris

3:02

Fabry live. Org.

3:05

Dan Craig was born in San Diego

3:08

and has worked in radio since 1977,

3:12

including stations in California,

3:14

Colorado, Ohio and now Chicago.

3:17

His experience includes stations

3:19

formatted as country music,

3:21

jazz, adult contemporary, news talk,

3:24

contemporary Christian, Christian teaching

3:26

talk. He's ministered as a church

3:28

youth director, publicity director.

3:31

He's been a deacon, directed

3:33

a church media ministry. He and his

3:35

wife, Vicki, have been married for 40

3:37

years and a month. They have

3:39

two adult daughters, and

3:41

he's retiring at the end of

3:43

this week. Dan Craig, welcome to the

3:45

program. How are you doing, my friend?

3:47

Thanks, Chris. Longtime listener and first time

3:49

caller.

3:50

I know you were on with me

3:52

once before, weren't you on the didn't

3:54

I have you on the program when you had written an

3:56

email or a blog or something? This

3:59

just came to me. And maybe I'm wrong about this,

4:01

but do you remember that? No. I'm

4:03

old.

4:05

A lot of things I don't remember.

4:06

Yeah, and there are things that I remember. It never happened.

4:09

So we're both in the same boat. Well,

4:11

I've been thinking about you, and you've

4:13

been. We did this thing for you on Moody

4:15

Radio last week where people

4:17

just started saying things. It was so

4:19

encouraging. Um, but I've

4:21

been thinking about your experience

4:24

framing it with what Soren

4:26

Kierkegaard said. He's his famous

4:28

quote was life can only be understood

4:30

backwards, but it must be

4:32

lived forwards. My

4:34

guess is you're kind of living that quote these days.

4:37

Absolutely. 40,

4:40

uh, 46 years, 47

4:42

is a long time in radio and

4:44

the memories for the last.

4:47

Six.

4:47

Months. Um,

4:50

just weird stuff floating to

4:52

the surface from my career and

4:54

family and moves. It's,

4:57

um. It's sort

4:59

of like being alive for your eulogy.

5:02

Yes. It's it's

5:04

very, very, uh, different,

5:08

um, at the same time.

5:10

What an encouragement. Watching,

5:13

looking back and seeing how God

5:17

orchestrated my life.

5:19

Uh, to meeting Vicky. And

5:22

then for were just. It's,

5:24

uh, it it shouldn't have

5:27

happened. Quote unquote. Uh,

5:29

but but for God, it

5:32

did. Yeah. Thankful.

5:33

And I want to talk with you about that. And I have independent,

5:36

uh, recollection now from Ryan McConaughey,

5:38

November 3rd, 2017.

5:41

You were on talking about being unplugged

5:43

from media for a couple of weeks. Remember?

5:45

You went out West someplace?

5:47

Yeah. Um, it

5:50

had been decades in

5:52

the ministry, and, um, Dennis

5:54

Rainey is the one who said

5:56

you you can't do that. And,

5:59

uh, he hooked us up at a ranch out

6:01

in in Montana, and Vicky and I went

6:03

there for a week, and, uh,

6:06

what a refreshing thing to actually

6:08

come back and hit delete with

6:10

more than 2400 emails.

6:14

Is that right? Yes, sir. Uh,

6:16

we you get 2400 emails while we were

6:18

gone.

6:18

We were gone for two weeks. The first week was the

6:20

ranch. And then we went down to to Texas to see

6:22

our grandbabies.

6:23

Yeah, only 1200 emails a week then

6:25

about.

6:26

Yes.

6:26

So what is the hardest in being

6:29

because you are in management? What is the hardest

6:31

thing about the management

6:33

thing that you have done through the years?

6:37

Wow, that's a loaded question because there

6:39

are so many difficult things.

6:42

Um, it's it's having to make

6:44

decisions when you don't have all of

6:46

the information. But

6:48

you still have to make a decision. And

6:52

you pray up before you make it.

6:54

And you have to be willing

6:56

to say I was wrong or

6:59

and make adjustments along the way.

7:02

Um, and then knowing that that

7:05

you are

7:07

impacting people's lives,

7:10

it can be for good to help them

7:12

get better at what they do. Sometimes

7:14

you have to say, I love you, but I'm going to have

7:16

to love you from a distance and

7:19

we can't work together anymore.

7:21

For whatever the reason may be.

7:24

Have you had to do that a lot?

7:26

Too many of these? Too many times. Yeah.

7:29

That's hard. Yeah. But

7:31

but at the same time, you know that there

7:33

are people that you've had to say that to

7:35

who have then gone to.

7:37

That was that was God's nudge

7:40

for them to do something different, right?

7:42

Sure. In fact, the the one that comes

7:44

to mind, uh, was a young

7:46

man that was quote

7:48

unquote, working remotely. Uh,

7:51

even back in 90,

7:53

91. Uh, he was

7:55

a salesman for us and allegedly

7:58

would come into our community. He

8:00

lived outside the community, would come into the community and sell during

8:02

the day and then go home. Um,

8:04

but I didn't I didn't see the results.

8:06

And one of the things that I learned early

8:09

on in my career, when

8:11

I would go into a different city to be a

8:13

manager, is to look for

8:15

the people who are avoiding me.

8:18

Mhm. Um, they're hiding

8:20

something usually. And

8:23

this young man just

8:25

rarely ever surfaced. So

8:28

based on sales figures, I just had to say,

8:30

you know what? It's not working. We

8:32

need a part company. And a year later,

8:35

I saw him at a Christian concert down

8:37

in Los Angeles, and he came up to

8:39

me and apologized

8:41

for not being a good salesman. And he said,

8:43

it just really wasn't a right fit. And

8:45

thank you for firing me, because

8:48

now I'm doing. And he explained

8:50

where he was and he was in the

8:53

place in his position, using his strengths

8:55

where God had gifted him. And

8:57

those are the ones that warm your heart. They're

8:59

not all that way. But but some

9:01

of them are. Yeah.

9:02

I got a lot of questions for you. Back

9:05

in December, I had this idea.

9:07

I didn't know what to call it. We've just. Tricia

9:09

helped me, and we've decided to call it Voices

9:11

of Wisdom. We had Jeannette Oaken

9:14

in January. She's been down the

9:16

writing trail a long way. And

9:18

you've been down this radio trail for, you know,

9:20

almost 50 years. So

9:22

I want to tap into that wisdom.

9:24

And if you want to talk with Dan, maybe

9:27

you. This may be the very first

9:29

time that you're hearing his name related to

9:31

Moody Radio. He's been with us for 13 years,

9:34

was, but has been in radio all

9:36

around the country for a long time.

9:38

(877) 548-3675.

9:42

But I want you to listen to some of the wisdom

9:45

and the the gospel

9:47

infused wisdom

9:49

that is going to come from him today

9:51

at the radio backyard fence (877) 548-3675.

9:56

Our number more straight ahead on Moody

9:59

Radio. Our

10:11

audio compadre, Moody Radio. Dan

10:13

Craig is retiring at the end

10:15

of the month, and I wanted to have

10:18

him on the program today. As a matter of fact, I tell him

10:20

in the break when I say that

10:23

he's when I as we go on to write

10:25

more straight ahead on Moody Radio, I

10:27

use that all the time. And that's directly from

10:29

Dan because he said, don't,

10:32

don't just say, you know, stay with us or don't

10:34

go away. Uh, tell,

10:36

tell, tell, give us a reason to come back.

10:39

There's more coming up. So more

10:41

straight ahead. So that's from your

10:43

your ears. Dan, uh,

10:45

caused me to say that. What do you think? Happy

10:47

to.

10:47

Do it. It's radio.

10:50

Uh, people need to. People need to hear what's going

10:52

on, and there's so many distractions.

10:56

Bingo. And when somebody stops

10:59

like that and then there's there's.

11:01

You don't like that. You don't like that air, right?

11:03

No. But at the same time,

11:05

I don't want to have guests

11:08

that talk and never allow the

11:10

host to interject.

11:11

Mhm.

11:12

There's there's got to be that balance. It's got

11:14

to be a friendship. Um,

11:17

a coordinated conversation.

11:19

It's got to sound normal. Um,

11:21

the one line I would use frequently

11:24

here is speak to the listener in the

11:26

language of the listener. Yes.

11:28

If we're not doing that, we're not connecting.

11:31

And to be able to think like

11:33

a listener is thinking, because I got all this,

11:35

you know, radio stuff that I want to do, and we got to do

11:37

this, but put yourself in the,

11:39

in the place in the, in the

11:41

driver's seat and you're listening to this

11:44

on the radio. What do you think and how

11:46

are you responding. You've been big about

11:48

that too.

11:49

Absolutely. When when we're writing

11:51

a piece of copy. Um, here's

11:54

some training, folks. When you're writing a piece of copy

11:56

for the radio, remember where the listener

11:58

is. They could be on the freeway.

12:00

There could be a semi on there, right?

12:02

There could be a car in

12:05

the blind spot on the left side. It

12:07

could be raining. The car in front of

12:09

them could be texting and not paying

12:11

attention, and the car behind them could

12:13

be tailgating them. And they're

12:15

hungry and they're wondering if those golden

12:17

archers are ahead. So

12:19

all of that is going on in the mind of

12:22

the listener while they're trying to listen to the radio.

12:25

That's a challenge.

12:26

There could be red and blue lights going on behind

12:28

him. Do you know.

12:29

That? Could be. That could be.

12:31

Um. How has radio changed

12:34

since you started 47 years ago?

12:36

Wow.

12:38

Um, it's it's

12:40

the same in many respects

12:42

in that it's the most intimate, uh,

12:45

medium possible. It's one

12:47

on one that that hasn't

12:49

changed. That won't change. What

12:52

has changed is the delivery

12:54

method, uh, in that

12:57

not only are they listening on the radio,

12:59

they're listening to a delayed podcast. They're

13:01

listening to it on the internet.

13:03

It's no longer local radio.

13:06

Everything is global anymore.

13:09

And so you have to be thinking

13:11

about listeners that are on other

13:13

continents and they're

13:15

in different time zones. Um,

13:19

it is quite a bit more challenging

13:21

today. And then you've got

13:23

all the other side components that you must

13:25

have with radio. You

13:27

have to have a website, you've got to have

13:30

a phone number, you've got to have email,

13:32

you've got to have texting, you've

13:35

got to you name it, you've got to have it.

13:37

And there's just so much now behind

13:39

the scenes that has to come along and

13:41

support radio. We used to be able to say, hey,

13:43

let's put a new program on and turn

13:45

on the microphone and here we go. But

13:48

that doesn't that doesn't happen anymore. No.

13:50

And the even

13:53

though it's changed, delivery has changed. Content

13:55

is king. The content is people

13:58

are looking for. And as you just mentioned,

14:01

the the person or and

14:03

the people. And that's why morning programs

14:05

I think are so popular. It's like everybody's

14:07

trying to do this impossible thing

14:10

of getting up, you know, and other than caffeine,

14:12

we need somebody there who's who's with

14:15

us. And that's why morning programs I think rule.

14:17

They are the sound of the station.

14:20

It's how the station is perceived

14:22

by a lot

14:24

of people who listen because they're the they're

14:26

the most important people.

14:28

Absolutely. And I would also

14:30

say that, um, Christian

14:32

radio listeners want to know what other

14:35

Christians are thinking. And

14:37

that's why they'll come to a program like

14:39

yours or others

14:41

is to find out and

14:43

am. Am I thinking the right

14:46

thoughts about whatever the issue may be?

14:49

Um, many times we'll hear somebody get

14:51

on the radio and say, well, that was the question I was

14:53

going to ask. Yes or man,

14:55

they they already answered it for me. Or I'll

14:57

get an email that just says, man, that

14:59

that hit me right where I needed to hear it today.

15:03

Bingo. Um, you know, what

15:05

I've really appreciated about you

15:07

is that you are. You're part

15:09

of management. You have been since you've been

15:11

here at Moody Radio, but you've

15:14

always understood what it's like to be

15:16

behind the microphone, because that's where

15:18

you started, right? The insecurities,

15:21

the foibles of those,

15:23

you know, who do what we do.

15:26

And I always felt like you had our

15:28

back. You always supported the

15:30

people who were behind the microphone,

15:33

even though sometimes you had to say some hard

15:35

things or, you know, go through some difficult,

15:38

difficult things. You you

15:40

always have that understanding of.

15:42

Here's what it's like you just mentioned about

15:44

thinking like a listener. You've thought

15:46

as a manager, you thought about somebody

15:48

that was behind the microphone. Right.

15:51

Well, and and do

15:53

unto others. I mean, I try to think

15:55

back of how. Program

15:58

directors. Managers interacted with

16:00

me when I was young in the industry.

16:03

Uh. Some were really

16:05

good examples and some were terrible,

16:08

and I wanted to be a good example. And

16:10

so I, uh, the folks

16:13

on the air, uh, are

16:15

the most important people, quite honestly,

16:18

in the radio station. When I say

16:20

that, I mean, in the ears of the listener,

16:22

they're the most important. Um,

16:25

and I can't control what

16:28

comes out of Chris Weber's mouth. I.

16:31

You're not a puppet, and I. And I don't want you to be,

16:33

nor nor do the rest of us on the team.

16:36

And we've got a lot of great folks behind

16:38

the scenes like Ryan and Tara

16:40

are today. Um, but

16:43

but you're out front. You're you're

16:45

putting everything on the line with your

16:47

name. Uh, your personality,

16:50

and you're going to make mistakes,

16:53

and that's okay.

16:56

The freedom to do that is a

16:58

real gift to the freedom

17:01

to to know that you've got somebody

17:03

behind you, that. Yeah, if you don't

17:05

handle a caller exactly the way

17:07

that it, you know, you hoped that it would.

17:09

A lot of times I'm my own worst critic,

17:12

you know. But to know that you've got

17:14

somebody there that's going to give you the freedom

17:16

to be who you are rather

17:19

than to put me in the mold like

17:21

you used to do the play dough and push, you know,

17:23

push it out. That's not you want

17:26

the personality of the person to come through.

17:28

Yeah, well, no one likes to be micromanaged

17:30

and and I'm, I'm

17:33

a king at not wanting to be micromanaged.

17:35

That's happened. And I didn't stay very

17:37

long.

17:39

You know what I was afraid of, though, when

17:41

you first 13 years ago you came. I've

17:43

been doing this program for three years.

17:46

You came from another radio group. It was a different,

17:48

you know, different feel, a different.

17:51

You you just talked about sales.

17:53

You know, it's like, well, we didn't have that at Moody

17:55

is he's an and uh, and so

17:57

my fear, uh,

17:59

if you could call it that, it wasn't an active

18:02

thing. I wasn't I wasn't thinking about it all the time,

18:04

but I just had this question in the back of my mind.

18:06

Is he going to make us become

18:08

something, something else? Is

18:10

he going to is he going to support us where we

18:12

are and make us all we can be? Or is he going to try

18:14

to fit us into some kind of mold?

18:16

And what has happened in every

18:18

interaction that I've ever had with you, Dan,

18:20

and with the programs that other programs that

18:23

you've dealt with is you've

18:25

you've not tried to take some

18:27

template, some formula

18:29

and make us sound. So

18:31

you let us be ourselves. And I

18:34

think that's a great testament to, to

18:36

you and to and, and the

18:39

we're going to get to the gospel infused

18:41

wisdom in your

18:43

life. Respond to that.

18:45

Well, I mean, uh, boy, um,

18:49

coming in with a heavy hand and,

18:51

and trying to put something brand

18:53

new in place that's not needed

18:56

is terrible, number one. And

18:58

number two is if folks can't be

19:00

themselves, if they

19:03

haven't, if you don't let

19:05

your folks buy into what it is that

19:07

they're trying to accomplish, you

19:09

failed. And you've

19:12

got to rethink it. Um,

19:14

so I would never want to go into

19:17

an organization and start making

19:19

changes without pulling

19:21

people alongside me, getting to know their heart,

19:23

who they are, what they're doing, why they do it,

19:25

how they do it. Um,

19:28

and come alongside and say, okay,

19:30

these are the good things that I'm seeing.

19:33

Here are some things that I think we might

19:35

want to implement to do

19:37

better, or some changes we

19:39

may want to make because our listeners need

19:41

some help in these areas, and

19:44

we don't have any programming in these places.

19:46

So let's start something new

19:49

and grow in that area. Yes.

19:52

Uh, to hear us. Said she knows firsthand

19:54

you give the freedom to move

19:57

the way God has made you to move. I

19:59

don't think anybody could say anything better than

20:02

that. Um, so.

20:04

This is, by the way, here is a keeper. I hired her.

20:06

She's a keeper.

20:07

Yes, absolutely. This

20:09

is Holy Week, and I wanted to ask

20:11

you about your Gethsemane. Was

20:13

there a low point in your life

20:15

when it was really difficult to see what God

20:17

was doing, and you knew

20:20

you had to trust him fully,

20:22

but you couldn't see what it was

20:24

that was going on? Yeah. Uh,

20:26

what comes to mind? Well, which one.

20:28

Do you want? I'm

20:30

sorry. There's been several, um, I

20:32

guess the the maybe the first

20:34

and the biggest one. Um,

20:37

Vicki and I had been married about a year.

20:41

And when she got pregnant, uh,

20:43

she got just deathly ill.

20:45

Uh, I think it was not only three

20:48

months. It might have been six months of illness. It was.

20:50

I. I don't know how to explain

20:52

that one, but, um, she

20:54

was working full time, and I was working part time.

20:58

And so we had

21:00

to make some quick adjustments because

21:02

she had to quit working. She was so ill.

21:06

Uh, fortunately, I was working at a radio station,

21:08

Christian radio station, and they saw the need and

21:11

amazingly, found money and,

21:14

uh, and hired me full time. It still wasn't very

21:16

much money. Uh, but some.

21:19

So we we kept going. Uh,

21:21

after our daughter was born. There were

21:23

things at the radio station that just didn't seem

21:25

right to me. And I just felt

21:27

I couldn't keep my name on it.

21:30

My name is really all I had.

21:32

And so I left and went and sold Waterbeds.

21:36

Um. And

21:38

wasn't making a ton of money. I made lots

21:40

of sales, but the pay

21:42

was just really, really bad. Um,

21:45

and I started thinking through, okay, Lord, what's going

21:47

on? How is this going to work? We sold

21:49

the car. Um,

21:53

sold a life insurance policy

21:55

to take back what we could on

21:57

that. A

21:59

bird. A little bit of money from my folks

22:02

to get us by. Uh,

22:04

and just praying the whole time. Lord, what's up?

22:06

What's going on? Um,

22:09

we had created a Bible game

22:12

a year earlier, and

22:14

a royalty check came which

22:16

helped cover mortgage. Uh,

22:19

for several months, which was extremely helpful.

22:23

And we still were trying to figure out,

22:25

where are we going? Lord? What's up? What?

22:27

This isn't what I signed up for. I

22:29

my heart's in radio, but

22:32

I just couldn't be there. And I can't find anything

22:34

else right now. So,

22:37

um, I ended up going to the warehouse,

22:40

um, at the waterbed store,

22:43

and I called the a

22:45

guy. I had heard that a radio station was a Christian

22:47

radio station was starting up in San Diego, where I was

22:49

from. So

22:51

I called him and I said, hey, listen, I heard you starting up

22:53

a station. What? What you got available?

22:56

What? Here's who I am, what I can do. And he said, well, you

22:58

call me when you get to San Diego, so.

23:01

Okay. Lord, what's what's happening here?

23:04

Um, so we

23:06

actually, uh, well, I

23:08

guess a week later at the the waterbed store,

23:11

they said, you're doing such a good job,

23:13

which I didn't think I was, but apparently it was,

23:15

uh, we're going to promote you to be an assistant manager,

23:18

and we're going to move you to upstate New

23:20

York. And we were in Denver,

23:23

and I'm thinking, what in the world?

23:25

No. Thank you. Uh, I was

23:27

working long hours, super long

23:29

hours, hardly able to see my daughter, uh,

23:32

most days. So

23:34

we loaded up a truck, and, uh, we didn't go

23:36

to Beverly, but we went to San Diego.

23:38

I was just about to sing there, and.

23:40

We, uh, we stayed with my folks the first couple

23:42

of months, and I

23:44

got five part time jobs.

23:47

In order to take

23:49

care of my little family, uh,

23:51

managing an apartment complex. I worked

23:53

weekends at an adult contemporary radio station.

23:56

I was producing a daily radio

23:58

feature with Elisa Morgan for Mops.

24:01

And, um, the janitorial

24:03

cleaning of banks and medical buildings at

24:05

night, and then recording a

24:08

Bible quiz feature for a former station.

24:11

Um, that I began with.

24:15

Um, just waiting for the Lord. Where

24:17

are you going to put us? What's going to happen? And

24:20

that that was a two year period

24:22

until he moved us into

24:24

a full time position. And

24:26

then just watching him. Open

24:29

the doors to floodgates. Um,

24:32

from 1988

24:35

on, it was just phenomenal.

24:38

So it was the Gethsemane

24:40

was a was one of identity.

24:44

Um, it financial, you know,

24:46

was the main thing. But

24:48

it was, who am I? Am I,

24:50

you know, is this and asking

24:52

those really, really hard questions, right. Yeah.

24:55

If you gave me gifts, you

24:58

gave me a burning desire in my heart.

25:00

You gave me a joy in my work.

25:02

I loved being on the radio,

25:04

doing what I did. And then all

25:07

of a sudden, it's gone. Um,

25:10

and I got a little family, and

25:12

I need that. They're my first priority.

25:14

But my my. I'll

25:17

call it an addiction. Radio is an addiction.

25:20

It gets in your blood and you just can't

25:22

get it out.

25:24

Yeah. And I think it's still going

25:26

to be in your blood even if you retire. There's,

25:28

you know, we can talk about that when we come

25:30

back here. Dan Craig is with us today.

25:32

And there's there's one other story

25:35

about how he made it from where

25:37

he was to Moody

25:39

Radio. You got to hear that story.

25:41

And my guess is there's something

25:43

going on in your life and you

25:45

need to hear this wisdom.

25:48

You'll hear more from Dan straight ahead

25:50

on Moody Radio. Before

25:57

we get back to the program, a quick note for you.

26:00

This segment includes a

26:02

song that we can't play

26:04

for copyright restrictions.

26:07

Sorry about that and thank you for

26:09

understanding. Need

26:17

a little encouragement regarding the issue of

26:19

life? Here's a story from Kearney's

26:21

40 day devotional, A lifeline

26:24

of Hope. Imagine how Liz

26:26

felt when she emptied her daughter's trash can

26:29

and found a pregnancy test.

26:31

Her heart stopped when she saw

26:33

the two lines. When

26:35

her daughter Rebecca got home from school,

26:38

her face said it all shock. Embarrassment.

26:40

Fear. After a

26:42

long and difficult talk, Rebecca admitted

26:45

she was planning to get an abortion to spare

26:47

her mom and dad the embarrassment

26:49

of their church friends finding

26:52

out. But Liz

26:54

had heard about cabinet, just

26:56

like you're hearing now, and

26:58

she called the pregnancy decision

27:00

line. You can find out

27:02

what happened to Liz and Rebecca

27:05

by getting the free devotional A lifeline

27:07

of Hope. Just go to Chris Fabri Live

27:10

or click the green button

27:12

today. Read some good news

27:14

about this pro Abundant Life ministry.

27:16

At some point, you or someone

27:18

you know is going to need the Ministry of

27:21

Cabinet. Click the green

27:23

cabinet button today at

27:25

Chris Fabry Live for.

27:29

I told Dan Craig I was going to play this song,

27:31

or at least a little bit of CC, because

27:33

I think this really encapsulates

27:36

his heart, his life.

27:38

CC Winans.

27:41

Okay, I will jump in here.

27:43

To me, that really is

27:45

is the heart of Dan Craig. Do

27:47

you react to that song?

27:50

Every time we sing it in church, I get teary

27:52

eyed, I get goosebumps, and

27:55

I just think of where Vicki

27:57

and I have been, the path that we've

27:59

been on and

28:01

how faithful God has been.

28:04

Uh, we've gone through some unknowing

28:07

situations, uh, which

28:09

you alluded to getting to Moody number one and,

28:12

and, um, we

28:14

did not fear. Because

28:17

we knew we had a great God

28:19

who was going to take care of us. And

28:22

the words of this song are just,

28:25

just phenomenal. The

28:27

fact that that his goodness

28:29

is there all the time

28:32

and looking back even now,

28:34

a career 46, 47

28:37

years in broadcasting, connecting

28:39

the God dots, as I call them,

28:42

uh, the things that are

28:44

just amazing that took place.

28:47

You could just see God's fingerprints on the whole

28:50

thing. And so as we

28:52

start looking at the future, um,

28:54

again, no fear,

28:57

no concern, because he's got

28:59

it. He's going to take care of us all the way.

29:01

Yeah.

29:03

And that, you know, his

29:05

his love has been running after me.

29:07

You know, even in the times. And you've

29:09

had some physical stuff that has gone on in the

29:11

last couple of years, too. Yeah.

29:13

Thanks for reminding me.

29:14

Yeah, yeah, forget

29:16

about that. It's all right. I'm here

29:18

to help you. I'm here to thank you. Here to lift

29:20

up your. Just like, uh, just like an

29:22

is high and go right ahead.

29:24

Your Ramadan.

29:26

Hi, Dan. How are you?

29:28

I'm doing great. Thank you. Is this.

29:30

Your. This is your sister.

29:32

Oh, she's

29:34

calling from Virginia.

29:36

Yes I.

29:37

Am. Aaron, let me know you were going

29:39

to be on so I wouldn't miss it. Oh,

29:42

I just want to tell you how proud I am of

29:44

you and that, um, they

29:46

haven't even said half of the great stuff about

29:48

you. You were a man of integrity, and I'm so

29:50

proud of you. Oh.

29:51

Thank you. I love you very much. And we're going to get out

29:54

to see you here shortly.

29:56

Well, I can't believe it.

29:57

And retirement. And I,

29:59

uh.

30:00

I am so glad to get to talk with you, because

30:02

now you can tell me all the things that Dan

30:04

did when you were kids that he won't tell

30:06

me.

30:08

Oh, you'll have to ask him about the summer

30:10

band camp with his trumpet marching

30:12

band. Oh, and about

30:15

mom's driving. And when the police

30:17

stopped her one time. There's just several

30:19

stories I could tell. Okay,

30:22

but I do have a question for him.

30:24

Okay, go right ahead.

30:26

I want to know if if

30:29

you really missed being behind the mic,

30:31

the daily on air when you went

30:33

into management, was that a hard

30:35

decision to make?

30:36

Uh.

30:39

Well, I, I hum,

30:42

yes and no. I was behind the

30:44

mic enough, uh, when

30:46

I first got into management, I

30:48

actually was working weekends on another radio

30:50

station, and so I was able

30:53

to keep active in that.

30:56

Uh, when I became a general manager,

30:58

I was told basically sever all ties.

31:01

Uh, I needed to quit producing Alyssa

31:03

morgan's program. They just said your your

31:05

attention needs to be focused. Now, as

31:08

a manager of a radio station, you're

31:10

going to naturally gravitate back to the programming

31:12

side because that's what you've been doing for years.

31:15

Um, so, yeah, there were some withdrawals.

31:19

Um, it wasn't as severe as I thought it might

31:21

be. Um, but

31:24

I'll tell you, after ten, 12,

31:26

15 years of not being on the air,

31:28

I became hesitant of getting back

31:30

on the air.

31:33

So, Ann, I have a question for you. We

31:36

had this tribute to Dan that was

31:38

kind of an impromptu thing. It was, you know, on

31:40

online, most of us were online.

31:42

And one person said,

31:44

I can't I can imagine

31:46

that your parents are really, really

31:49

proud of you. And so I want

31:51

to ask you, what do you as his sister,

31:53

you've already said, I'm so proud of you. Integrity.

31:55

What do you think Dan's parents would think

31:57

about all the things that he's done

32:00

in his life and that God has done?

32:03

Well, first of all, he's the baby. So

32:05

they loved him the most. But

32:08

but I would say that, um,

32:10

they were very proud of him.

32:12

There was never a question,

32:15

but we had the greatest parents. There are. Yeah.

32:17

So he followed in my father's

32:19

footprints. As far as

32:21

a man of integrity, a man after God's

32:24

own heart, a man who looked after his family.

32:26

And my parents could see

32:28

that and identify that in Dan. So,

32:31

yeah, he didn't fall far from the apple

32:33

tree in that regard. My father was a

32:35

pastor, um, and

32:38

so was always sharing

32:41

the gospel, always putting God

32:43

first. And so, yeah, Dan, Dan

32:45

followed in those footprints and I know they're

32:47

smiling from heaven. Uh, if God

32:49

lets us see once we're there,

32:52

and knowing that Dan has lived

32:54

a life of integrity and I know God's

32:56

not done with him yet, so I can't wait to see

32:58

the next chapter in his life.

33:00

Thank you.

33:00

Amen, Amen. And it's a real

33:02

pleasure to get to talk with you. Thanks for calling in

33:04

today.

33:05

Well thank you. This was my first ever

33:08

radio voice.

33:09

So you

33:11

got her. Dan, you got your sister

33:13

to call in here. That's a that's a big achievement,

33:15

my friend. Yeah.

33:16

Thank you, I love you.

33:17

Yeah, yeah. Uh, your

33:19

dad was not only a pastor, he was an aeronautical

33:21

engineer. Yeah.

33:22

He was. Yeah. He helped. Um,

33:25

he was known as the top

33:27

drag man in the Navy. He didn't cross dress.

33:30

This has to do with aeronautical terms.

33:33

Um, and so he he actually

33:36

helped design the wings of the Tomahawk cruise

33:38

missile.

33:39

Really?

33:40

And it was amazing

33:42

developing that in secret.

33:45

Um, for years. And then

33:47

watching him watch the Gulf

33:50

War in the early 90s,

33:53

um, was hard.

33:55

He. This is the first time they put

33:57

a video cameras in the nose cones of

33:59

missiles, and

34:02

they fired hundreds.

34:05

Of missiles. Um,

34:08

and I would watch him

34:10

sit on the edge of his recliner. As

34:13

the missile headed toward the target.

34:16

They designed it to fly under 100ft

34:18

to stay out of radar detection. You

34:20

could see the crosshairs on a building,

34:22

and I could tell he was proud

34:25

that these machines

34:27

were doing what they were designed to do. But

34:30

as soon as the building blew up, he

34:32

would sit back in his chair and start chewing on

34:34

his finger. And I could tell the pastoral

34:37

side of him was praying

34:39

that there was nobody in the building

34:41

when it got hit.

34:44

He bought a shortwave radio

34:47

so he could hear you. Is that right?

34:49

Yeah. My dad. He was probably

34:51

my biggest fan. Um,

34:54

I don't know how in the world he stomached

34:56

country music for a while and adult contemporary

34:59

jazz. But yeah, when when

35:01

I when I moved to Oakland and worked

35:03

for a short wave radio station out of Florida, we

35:05

used to make make tapes

35:07

and mail them to Florida. They'd play them and then send

35:09

them back and we'd erase them and rerecord.

35:12

He went out and bought a shortwave radio

35:14

so he could listen to my

35:16

one hour a day broadcast,

35:19

uh, off of Wire and Okeechobee.

35:21

That went to about half the world. And,

35:24

um, yeah, it was just it's

35:26

he would comment from time to time about

35:28

what he'd heard. So I knew

35:30

he listened almost every day.

35:32

Your mom wanted you

35:34

to have a lot of different experiences.

35:36

Maybe that's the where the marching band comes

35:38

in. Or the police officer pulling,

35:41

pulling her over.

35:42

Yeah, I was. Come on. And when

35:45

I was, uh, I was only

35:47

maybe 4 or 5 when

35:49

the police officer pulled her

35:51

over. Um, it

35:53

she she earned it.

35:56

Um, she decided to get off

35:59

the off ramp and and went over in front

36:01

of a cement mixer to to

36:03

get over. Um,

36:05

and, you know, I was standing on that little

36:07

hump, the transmission hump in the

36:09

back of the car back then when you go

36:11

around town, you didn't have to wear seat belts. And yeah.

36:13

Nothing calls required.

36:15

Right. So the police officer came to the window

36:17

and, and, and was

36:19

talking to her, and my mom was crying because

36:22

my dad was a pastor. We didn't have a lot of money.

36:24

And she knew that was going to cost money. And

36:27

she's talking to him. And and he

36:29

made some comment about your mom as a good

36:31

driver. And I said, oh, no, she's

36:34

not.

36:37

So sit down

36:39

and be quiet, dad. Yeah. That was your first

36:41

time as a DJ, basically, right?

36:43

I guess so.

36:45

But she she really believed

36:47

you could do anything. You whatever you

36:50

want in life, you can, you know, go for it. Maybe

36:52

take a chance.

36:52

Absolutely, absolutely. And she's

36:55

why I'm in radio.

36:58

What do you mean?

36:59

I was working for a tire company, and

37:02

you know, I. The company

37:04

was cheap. They didn't have radios in their trucks.

37:06

So I took a coat hanger and made a

37:08

little cradle that I could clip

37:10

over the window by

37:13

my ear, and I put a transistor

37:15

radio there. I was listening to the radio all

37:17

the time. I loved the radio.

37:19

And, um, when the tire

37:21

company was closing and I was being laid off,

37:24

she she asked me, what

37:26

are you going to do? I said, I have no

37:28

clue. And she said, you

37:31

love listening to the radio. Why don't you become

37:33

a disc jockey? And

37:35

my typical response was,

37:37

yeah, right. How am I going to do that?

37:40

Yeah. And she said, call

37:42

some and ask. So

37:44

the next day I got on the phone and

37:47

called the hotlines of all the radio stations

37:49

to find out. I've heard about this

37:51

Columbia Broadcasting School. Is it worth the money?

37:53

And no, no no no no. And

37:56

about the ninth station, they

37:58

said, hey, we're about ready to start another

38:00

workshop. It's 13 weeks. Uh,

38:02

Carl Lee Marshall, the, uh, the news director

38:04

tomorrow morning and get the details. And

38:07

so I called and, um, paid

38:09

the bucks and spent

38:12

13 weeks learning how

38:14

to become a disc jockey. Got my FCC

38:16

license, and then started volunteering for

38:18

a Christian radio station.

38:19

The old radio license that you

38:21

had to study for it. You had to do a

38:24

geometry and all that stuff.

38:25

Yeah, I'm terrible at math. Fortunately, about

38:28

the year before I started, they allowed you to start using

38:30

calculators, so that was wonderful.

38:33

So as you tell your story here, it just

38:36

seems like in your mom the vision

38:38

that your mom had, the support that your dad gave

38:40

you and stories, it's just

38:42

as if God has orchestrated this.

38:45

So let me take our final break. I want you to tell

38:47

one more story today. Dan Craig is

38:49

with us. This is the unrelenting

38:51

mercy of God in his life that you're

38:53

hearing today on Chris favorite

38:55

line. Thanks

39:03

for your support of Chris Fabry Live! I'd love to send

39:05

you the book by Glenna marshall memorizing

39:07

Scripture. Just go to Chris

39:10

Mayberry live, dawg. You'll see how you can

39:12

be a friend or a partner. And it

39:14

reminds me of the last two people who have

39:16

given Laura and Retha

39:18

have left prayer requests about.

39:21

Salvation for family members and

39:23

things that are going on. Dan Craig is with

39:26

us retiring at the end of this week,

39:28

and prayer has been a really important

39:30

part of the

39:33

the whole ethos of Dan Craig. We

39:35

don't do anything in

39:37

our own power. I mean, we can do things in our own power.

39:40

Now go last for long. It's in the

39:42

power of God that we do them right.

39:44

Absolutely. We gotta have

39:46

God's blessing and

39:48

involvement in every aspect

39:50

of what we do, especially in Christian

39:53

radio. If he's not a part of

39:55

it, we're wasting our time.

39:57

You started this email making

40:00

a difference. And people mentioned

40:02

this last week about you.

40:04

Uh, for those who are listening, who've never

40:07

seen those, these are the things

40:09

on the inside. But it's what

40:11

folks say every day that

40:13

we're all tied together. We're rooting for each other.

40:15

Right?

40:16

Yeah, when I came. I

40:19

started seeing emails come

40:22

in from a couple of radio programs, and so

40:24

I, I asked the

40:26

the IT department, can you please put

40:28

me on the list of every program

40:31

that Moodie produces? And

40:33

so my inbox started filling up

40:35

and I, you know, I used the rules so I

40:37

could drop them into different buckets. Um,

40:40

I was amazed, just, um,

40:43

the stories of how

40:45

listeners were impacted by something

40:47

that you would say, um,

40:50

something that took

40:52

place in their life that that they weren't

40:54

anticipating. And it came up in a radio

40:56

program and how it ministered to them. And

40:59

I'm thinking, this

41:01

is our report card. This

41:03

is this is gold.

41:06

Uh, this is encouragement. My

41:08

my encouragement meter was off the chart.

41:10

And I just thought, well, I can't

41:13

be the only one to see these. Everybody's

41:15

got to see them. And so I began

41:18

almost every week, week and a half, putting

41:20

out what I call the mad making

41:22

a difference because I want people to go mad. I want them to make

41:24

a difference. Um, but I want

41:27

them to also hear from listeners

41:29

of the difference that is being made.

41:31

And it's just wonderful when listeners

41:34

will send an email to a to your

41:36

program or any program and just share.

41:38

Here's what God did. Um,

41:40

I wish we had more of them, but

41:43

but we're we're bad unfortunately

41:46

as humans about doing that. Well, we'll

41:48

complain, but when something good

41:50

goes, we're we're sitting on it.

41:51

Well, it's a communication thing. You know, we're in

41:53

communication. We don't communicate well. Absolutely.

41:56

I live that every day. Absolutely. Uh, we

41:58

talk about the gospel changing everything. How's

42:00

the gospel changed, Dan? Craig.

42:03

I would not be here without the gospel. Um,

42:06

a couple of the guys that carpooled with me could tell

42:08

you, um, I'd make

42:10

the best criminal out

42:12

there. We'll hear a new story of

42:15

how somebody was robbing somebody

42:17

or murder or whatever, and I would say, oh,

42:20

that that guy was dumb. He should have da da da da

42:22

da da da. Uh. My heart.

42:24

I could be the worst person ever.

42:27

But. God. And

42:30

he sought me. He

42:32

bought me and I'm his.

42:34

And this is a phenomenal week

42:36

for me, for the church, for Christians.

42:40

Um, just remembering what Jesus

42:42

did for us. Because we could

42:44

be the worst evil people

42:46

on the planet. But God.

42:49

Well. And that whole idea

42:51

of him, we

42:53

couldn't do it in and of ourselves.

42:55

No. And how many people try to work

42:57

their way, you know, to do

42:59

enough. Good. And and it's not about

43:02

that. Jesus paid it. All right. Amen.

43:04

Amen. And and we get to share

43:06

the greatest message on the face

43:08

of the earth. And happy

43:10

to do it.

43:11

Yeah.

43:12

Dan, you, uh, I don't know. We're going

43:14

to have time to tell the story about how you

43:16

got here. It's a circuitous route, but

43:18

the point of the story of how you made

43:20

it all the way to Moody 13 years ago

43:23

is God was running after you.

43:25

He was. He was taking care of you. Was he was

43:27

directing your steps. What would you say

43:29

to anybody who's listening right now?

43:31

Who? It's like, I can't see

43:33

the next step to take. I don't know what I'm

43:35

going to do professionally or could be

43:37

relationally, uh, decision

43:40

making. What do you say to that person?

43:42

Step out in faith, take those

43:44

steps and understand

43:46

you're you're not going to see it. I didn't

43:48

see it. I couldn't see every step

43:50

of the way. But when you go

43:53

as far as you can see, once

43:55

you get there, you can see further.

43:57

And God has been so faithful

44:00

in honoring that obedience.

44:03

And it's, um, sometimes

44:06

it can be pretty scary, but

44:08

God's going to honor it. And I would encourage you

44:10

if if you're facing something, the unknown

44:12

today is ask

44:14

God to give you strength and wisdom

44:17

to take that first step and

44:19

then follow him. Watch

44:22

him wait for him.

44:26

Do the next thing he shows you,

44:28

right?

44:28

Amen.

44:29

And and believe that he's good. I

44:31

think that's half the battle right there. To

44:33

believe that he's good. And he has my best

44:35

interests at heart. Even though what I see

44:38

in front of me right here I

44:40

don't like. And it makes it brings this

44:42

struggle inside. Uh,

44:44

Dan, your treasure, you

44:46

leave big shoes to fill.

44:48

I don't know where are you going to leave him, but, um,

44:50

you you have been a real support

44:53

and an encouragement. As I said, at beginning,

44:55

every program that you hear on Moody

44:57

Radio has some fingerprinted Dan

44:59

Craig on it. And we are better for

45:02

you, friend. And, uh, God bless

45:04

you. Thanks for sharing your heart with us today.

45:06

Happy to do it. In all glory goes to God.

45:08

Amen. And then tomorrow, guess

45:11

who's coming back. Michael Card's

45:13

going to be here. A great conversation we're going

45:15

to have about Jesus at the radio

45:17

backyard fence. Thanks for

45:19

your support for listening. Chris Fabry Live

45:21

is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry

45:24

of Moody Bible Institute.