Happy New Years Eve!

Friend,

Tomorrow marks a very important milestone in our stations history. The calendar changes, and we mark off 15 days until we take possession of our new building. The holidays will be behind us, and we will begin the process of making a radio station. How exciting. I will do my best to be more proactive in letting you know what is happening and when. Thanks for joining us in this journey.

It's offical. We bought our B U I L D I N G!!!

We are now the proud owners of 4101 Fieldstone Road in Champaign, at near the corner of Staley and Springfield in Champaign. Hallbeck Homes is the previous owner, and we can't wait until we can have you over to see the place. We begin the renovation process in January and hope to be fully in by April. God is so very good. Thanks for joining us on this incredible journey!

Plan and more plans

Things are shaping up nicely. We are almost 100% done with the plans to construct the studios, the closing date is next Tuesday, and we occupy on the 15th of January. My hope is to have all things done and in place by April, but it's going to take a lot of work. Pray for wisdom for our team as we proceed. It's getting really exciting!

Jeff

The month of Closing is H E R E!

We've talked about it for soooo long, but now we are days away from our closing!! Great meetings this week with Suzi from S & W Painting, Inc and BCS Custom Flooring. Both are friends of this radio station and are going to be doing incredible work for us. Pray for blessing on Suzi and Bill's business as they bless our ministry.

Every time I take someone on a tour of the new building, they are blown away. God sure does good work!

I'll post a picture of the closing as soon as it happens. Thanks so much for your support!

Jeff

Thankful

As I look at my calendar, and realize we are now just 21 days away from closing on our new building, I am thankful. Thankful for the journey we have been through that often felt like it was heading towards a dead end. Thankful for a wonderful staff to enjoy that journey with. Thankful for a loving wife and a supportive family that sacrifices "daddy time" for the needs of WBGL. Thankful for a leadership team that allows us to dream and then live out those dreams. And so very thankful for you, friend. You have been an important part of this team, and I pray blessings on you this Thanksgiving season.

God's best to you!

Jeff

In Southern California, but missing my WBGL family

I get to travel and help a couple of radio stations raise their on air support, and this week finds me in Southern Cali. The weather is wonderful, the people are nice, but I sure do miss you. There are no better friends than the friends of WBGL. Everyime I travel, I'm reminded of how blessed we are to have such a great team. Thank you for making coming hme such a great time!! AfterThanksgiving, I promise to get better at updating this. All the fun really kicks off on December 15th.

93%

That's the percentage we are currently at when it comes to what has been promised to our new building campaign. Amazing!! 93%. Promised. Wow. As friends fulfill their promises, we continue to inch closer and closer to our goal.

I would love to encourage you, if at all possible, to try your best to get one time gifts to WBGL by years end. That would be great on many levels. You will also get the tax donation for your 2009 taxes.

If you haven't invested in Family Friendly WBGL and our Vision of building the Future, it's not too late. You can give right here, easily and securely.

Counting the days

Here's a couple of dates to put on your calendar. December 15th. The date we make the final payment for the building, with the money you gave! January 15th. The date we get the keys to the building and begin the process of making it our new home. So many friends have offered to help with painting, decorating, etc and as soon as we begin the plan, I will get in contact with you. In my heart, I want to be moved in and on the air from our new home by April of 2010. I think that's doable.

Thanks for your involvement in this fantastic journey. I'll show you a drawing of the new construction we plan on doing very soon to show you how we plan on using the space.

Jeff

How Great is OUR GOD!

Vision is officially over. W O W. God showed up with a historic fund raider. We are now over 85% of our goal, with our largest number of givers ever in one campaign. We now have enough money to buy the building, debt free, and we will spend the remainder of this year looking for friends to help out with getting the work done on the building. We will be needing help with painting, some construction, heating and air conditioning help, and a couple of other items. You can check out our website at wbgl.org if you want to see what else we need, and if you missed out on the giving, you can do so here: http://tinyurl.com/givewbgl. God bless you as we continue on the journey!!

Vision is becoming clear

God is moving at WBGL. He's doing things in ways only He can.

One part of our new building that will need attention is a new roof on the office part of the building. I mentioned that on the air this morning and got a call from Brett Adkisson. He "just happened" to be listening, owns a construction company, and felt his group of guys were suppose to be the ones who put the new roof on, at no charge to us. Wait, it gets better. He said the guy who got him listening to WBGL was the guy he buys shingles from and he called him to get us the best deal possible. This story is still unravelling, so I'll keep you posted.
Now if only we had someone who could donate their painting services and some new floor covering. What does the bible say? "You have not, because you ask not" It's in James. So, I'll be sure to ask!!!

What an incredible journey!!

Jeff
www.wbgl.org

The day befpore the day before.

So, we are now 2 days away from Vision, our Fall fundraiser. It's the fundraiser designed to finish off the building campaign. It's so humbling to say that even before we start, 15% of the money needed to finish the building has already been pledged. Only 85% to go. WOW!
A couple of prayer requests.
HEALTH. We all need it, but in our current confining quarters, if one person gets sick, it often gets "shared" with others around them.
TECHNICAL PROTECTION. We depend on our computers so much during Vision, so pray they are ready for the task at hand.
IN KIND GIVING. As you can imagine, there are lots of items for the new building that can be donated by friends in the industry. A New Roof, Carpeting, Building Materials just to name a few. If you would like some more information on giving these items, give me a call at 217-840-1853. If you want to give towards our new building, you can do so right here. https://donate.familyfriendly.org/ALLEG/wbglwebdefault.asp?P=WBGLEMAIL&C=3VLThanks for supporting Family Friendly, WBGL.

Yesterday is history

So, I was traveling back from our sister station, WIBI, yesterday when I officially got "The News". The contract has been signed. The Ernest money has been deposited. We are nearly there, ready to open the door to our new building. I pulled into my favorite barbeque joint, Smokey Bones, and celebrated. I pulled out my Iphone to blog on this momentous event, and all I could do was write these 2 words. "Contract Signed". What a journey, what a blessing, what a pain, what a God trip this has been. Next week, we are going to raise the rest of the money needed to move into the building, debt free. To God, be the glory!! Here's a video.

2 words... Signed Contract!!!!

Pray. That pretty much sums it up...

Such a busy, busy, week

Wow. Lots of work done. Lots of meetings with friends and conversations with attorneys. Lots of looking at drawings and forms to fill out. The week is over, the contract is days away from being signed, and we have shown the video at www.wbgl.org . Pray that our computer program that runs our donor program doesn't crash...again. It did twice on Friday. Thank God that we have so many friends that are coming forward and saying, "My company would like to take care of..." So great to have so many friends that do so many important things. Also, pray for no hiccups on this final round of contract finessing.

Jeff

Getting close!

I Love having great friends

We here at Family Friendly WBGL are so blessed to have some of the greatest friends ever. I want to thank John and Jeff and Elizabeth and Michelle and Star and Bobbie and Ruth and Bill and all who made our recent videos so heartfelt and wonderful. God is using WBGL to touch lives every single moment of every single day. Here's another video. If you have 3 minutes, check it out. You can support our Building the Future campaign at
http://tinyurl.com/ybccvtw

Jeff

A day without blogging is like...a day.

No new news on Thursday. No new news yesterday, either. I think God is teaching me patience, and I'm like the kid in the corner with the dunce cap on, though I would suggest that teachers NEVER do that. How completely humiliating!

I do have this little video, from some friends talking about why they support
Family Friendly WBGL. Give it a peak, and let me know what you think. Pray that the lawyers will talk, get things hammered out, and get back to us regular folks by Friday...or Monday...or soon.

This could be THE DAY...or not

I talked with the building owners real estate agent today, and he said, this "could" be the day that the contracts come back from their side. Lots of "could"s in this process of buying a building. This is also the day we could get the pictures back from the photographer for a nifty little video we are putting together to be able to show you the actual building.

I think God has a sense of humor when it comes to our urgency, and His timing. As followers of Christ, our character is shaped, sometimes painfully, by processes that make us more apt to hear Him when He whispers.
Whatever you are going through or looking forward to, trust God and learn His timing. His plan is so much better than ours.

Almost ready for our close up!

This weekend, a photographer friend of ours, http://www.staceyrainerphotography.com
took some pictures of our new future home. I can't wait to show them to you. Really, I can't wait to see them myself! I'm told tomorrow's the day, so as soon as we can, we will get them up for you to see.
That reminds me of a funny story. When Shari, my beautiful wife, and I accepted my job at WBGL, I moved first. I lived with then station manager, Chuck Pryor, and every moment I wasn't working, I was looking at houses, so I could get my family here. I would shoot videos, and send them to Shari in overnight mail. She kept complaining about getting sick every time she watched one of thew videos. Turns out, I was not a very good Videographer, and my movement style of shooting, (here's the kitchen - spin - and the basement -double spin- and the bedrooms) was ahead of it's time. Here's my poor wife trying to get every single detail of every single house, and she was getting sick in the process.
I promise not to do that with any video of the new build. If I do, I'll try to give you a Dramamine warning.

Thank God it's Friday

For a moment, I thought, "wow! Nothing to really post today about the journey towards our new building", then I remembered the following. I had lunch today with a dear friend who I had the privilege of giving a tour of our new building. His excitement was contagious. Every time I walk through the building, I see new things. New opportunities to make a Kingdom impact. When you get to share vision with close friends, you can't help but get those "Spiritual Goose Bumps" all over yourself. I also had the opportunity to talk to the real estate agent representing the owners. He told me they would try to have the contract back to us by Monday or Tuesday. Everything is moving on schedule. God, you are awesome. This journey is so exciting. I love watching you move and shape things into being.

Pray for our photographer. She is planning on taking some pictures so I can finally share with you what this new building looks like. Also, pray for our video guy. He's putting together some fun videos we plan on sharing with you very soon.


To the Journey!

Jeff

Rainy Days and Thursdays

The rain reminds me of something we found out about the new building from the inspection. The roof is in need of repair. The portion over the offices has a beautiful shake wood roof that is 20 plus years old, or as the inspection states, about at the end of it's life. I thought about that as I was changing a light bulb in our current building. Once we are owners instead of renters, there's lots of things that we will no longer call a landlord about. It will be up to us to fix, when things break down. I would appreciate your prayers that nothing breaks down... for at least the first year.

Does God care about prayers like that? I believe He does. Anything that opens up the lines of communication between Father and son, (or daughter) is welcome dialogue. Think about it with your own family. My son Micah was recently sick with a fever of 102.9. In his delirium, he said, repeatedly, "I Love You, dad". I will never get tired of hearing that. Talk to God today. He loves what you have to say.

Jeff

Plans, plans, plans

Today, I got a glimpse of where some of the walls for our studios may go. The building we are buying has a wide open space that we are shaping into 3 audio offices, a computer room, and a great big main studio. This is getting very exciting. With the mere flip of a pen, we are shaping the future home of Family Friendly WBGL. How cool is that?

I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that God made us to be a creative people. His plan takes shape often through our creativity. How exciting the He includes us and that we are shaping His kingdom. His tools, His talents, His everything. Go God!

Father, thanks for including us in this process. We are amazed by what You are doing, and we are humbled that You have chosen to include us.

E-mail takes on a whole new meaning

You know what it's like when your waiting for good news? You're just slightly more attune to your surroundings. You sense things are happening, moving, increasing when, more than likely, they are not. I forget sometimes the rest of the world sleeps like I do.
I can now check my e-mail from my phone, so right after my morning shower, I check for any updates. Several blogs I'm following have been updated. I'll read them later. A couple of very clever junk mail pieces have made it through my filters. Delete. No building news. No news is good news? Not when you need news to move forward. I guess my prayer for today needs to be, "Lord, let me enjoy the journey. Do in me what You do best, Lord. My attention is on you. Not the building, not the Fall fund raiser, but on You. Thank you Lord, for this amazing journey!

Jeff

Phone call with the attorney

I'm so glad I never went to law school, but I'm also so glad that Rick did. I would rather color outside of the lines, but I need someone willing to dot every "i" and cross every "t".

Added 2 thing to the contract, asked for definition on 3, and sometime this afternoon or tomorrow, it goes to the owners. Pray for smoooth delivery. Gee, I do sound like an expectant father, don't I?

Monday feels different

You know how Monday's usually feel? Sort of like a ramp up? Practice, if you will, for the rest of the week. The meat of the week. The Tuesday through Thursday crunch of the week. Since we launched full on into building mode, Monday's are taking on a whole new meaning. First off, they are more tiring, because I'm finding they follow Sunday night. Sunday nights have become a time when I spend much too much time moving walls in my head and trying to make sure every one on our team has the right amount of space for their mission within our organization, and how do I make sure my office is the biggest! Kidding.
This afternoon a possible phone call with our attorney to go over the contract before we present it to the building owners. Pray for clarity of schedules, as well as sound mind, because the coffee ain't cutting it. Do something adventurous today. You better believe I am!

Jeff

Sunday Afternoon but I've got building on the brain

So, tomorrow is Monday, week two of our building news season. There are 2 things I'm going to request be in the contract, and then we will submit it to the owners. Pray that by Friday, we will all be on the same page concerning all aspects of the contract. I hope to be able to share some images and possibly a video of the building sometime this week. Thanks for joining us on this very exciting journey.

Jeff

Inspection is done. Contract 1.0

The inspection came back on the building. A couple of minor things, (21 year old building) 2 semi major things, but all in all, very promising. Our attorney has drafted a contract, and the owners should be looking at that today or the beginning of next week. Pray that it is received well, and that God is honored by it. This is a big step in the process. Thanks to all who called in to give to this project yesterday. It was not our intention to make the announcement a fund raising opportunity, but we were very thankful. Here's a link, if you want to give towards our building project:
https://donate.familyfriendly.org/ALLEG/wbglwebdefault.asp?P=WBGLFACEBO&C=3VL

I will posting a video later today of the announcement, if you missed it, and I will post a link here later today.

I pray you have an awesome weekend. I am so looking forward to taking my lovely daughter Hannah to the Purity Ball.

Jeff

Day One

The announcement has been made. WBGL has made an offer on a new building, and that offer has been accepted. Lots of work to do, but we are on the road. This building has much more room to grow, dream, and "do things that matte"r in. Yesterday, the inspection was done. As I'm writing this, I still haven't seen the report. Pray it's good. Thanks for praying with us, and supporting this project. If you want to give towards it now, here's a link: https://donate.familyfriendly.org/ALLEG/wbglwebdefault.asp?P=WBGLEMAIL&C=3VL

The day before the big reveal

My first blog post. I should have started this long ago! We at WBGL have made an official offer on a building, that offer has been accepted, and we are now in the "dot the I and cross the T" season. Lots of inspections, lawyers doing what lawyers do, and the rest of the stuff involved in a major purchase. It will be a season or so before we snap the picture of the keys being handed off, but this is a major step in our 3 year adventure of finding or building a building. I will do my best to post at the very least weekly, and at the very most, daily to let you enjoy the journey along with all of us here at Family Friendly WBGL. If there's no joy in the journey, you might as well stay put, right?

Jeff
WBGL Station Manager