Pure 247

The birth of a global Christian radio station.

 

		“You think we should do what?” It started like all good stories – like a wet kipper to the side of the face on a cold morning, as those words were spoken to me. Three times. In less than one week. By 3 different people! “Andy, I think you should start your own radio station.” After months of research we decided to go for it and planned to launch on 1st September 2023. What could possibly go wrong? Well bankruptcy for one, as we would run out of money within 20 days of starting. That is, of course, unless God did something pretty amazing.
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What people have been saying about the book:

'Pure Radio is certainly worthy of five stars' Andy Godfrey - Sorted Magazine ‘Buckle up and get ready for a story that’s as uplifting as it is entertaining.’ Steve Legg: Founder and CEO – Sorted magazine ‘Andy Berry, and family, are truly the real deal, because they create ministry that matters. ‘ David Duncan: David’s Daily Dose ‘This is a tale of one man’s insistence that God’s vision and resourcing trump all handicaps.’ Dr. Richard Scott, GP-evangelist, Margate ‘It’s as if you were sitting beside him in a café drinking a frothy latte.’ Alan Kearns, Devotional Treasures

An Introduction, probably...

The 2-day, 1,000-mile, round trip started as it usually did, by checking my diary to see where I was supposed to be going. I grabbed a drink, loaded the car, popped a banana on the passenger seat and headed off.

Day One

• Rachael; Saltmine Theatre Company - Dudley, UK
• Grant; Barnabas Aid - Swindon, UK
• Overnight stop at Bed & Breakfast - Chichester, UK

Day Two

• Pick up Steve Legg; breakfast - Littlehampton, UK
  (or LA as local chap Steve calls it)
• Revelation TV interview; Tim Vince; anonymous location

The mileage and the long hours weren’t new to me - driving big trucks all over the UK for 20 years gets you used to such lengthy days, stuck at 56MPH, for 10 hours at a time. Although those days always began with tea. Preferably Earl Grey, not coffee! And a banana.

Those many years spent driving professionally also created an interesting confidence that others have in my ability behind a steering wheel. Like the assumption that I always know where I’m going. For breakfast. In Littlehampton. For the first time. Thanks Steve, but was that a left or a right turn to the café that I’ve never visited before?!?

This time, however, the reason for my journey was different, because I was in a car, not a truck, and this journey didn’t need multiple police escorts (which is much cooler than it sounds).

This time I was heading for an interview, and, this time, I would be on the other side of the desk.

Message to Trustees - 24th February 2024

Sitting here relaxing and wanted to briefly share this thought that encouraged me. And it's all to do with the relationships that God has put our way.
When I wobble about whether this was really what God wanted me to do and/or what God wanted us to do, a gift comes in perfectly on time, or an opportunity, or more resourcing that keeps me and us going a few steps more along the path.

And then there's the relationships God has opened to us...and how many people has God connected us with as we approach 6 months old?!?

I may have started the station, but I certainly did not start it alone - within a few short weeks, we were nudging towards 1,000 listeners a month, from countries I couldn’t point to on a map!

It started like all good stories - with a wet kipper to the side of the face on a cold morning, as those words were spoken to me. Three times. In less than a week. By 3 different people:

“Andy, I think you should start your own radio station.”

It confirmed something we’d been talking about as a family - how to easily use music in a podcast on Faith & Fitness. Spoiler alert: you can’t! But you can broadcast a show about Faith & Fitness on a music radio station. Just sayin’…

So, when does repetition become more than coincidence? And when does chance become God’s voice?

Why does someone - a stranger to me just a year before - write these words:

Email - 10th July 2024

Andy [B] is a great guy and certainly seems to be blessed by God - as his Christian connections are mushrooming. I certainly see him as the real deal and would love you to be linked in - which should be mutually beneficial to the Kingdom

On 1st August 2023, I knew we were just one month away from broadcasting for the first time as Pure247Radio.

While I had hoped our launch might be something similar to those manned missions to the moon - with a room full of people sporting calculator watches and pens in their white shirt pockets, poised to jump in and fix anything that could go wrong - it wasn’t.

In the end, our launch involved just me, my family, our trustees, a vision, an idea and some hope. And quite a few cups of tea and doughnuts - but not the jam-less ones with holes in the middle. Seriously, why?!?

Oh, and also on 1st August 2023, I knew we’d be very much bankrupt before the end of that first month, easily before the 1st October 2023.

So, exactly how did this former cloth-nappy-selling stay-at-home-dad, and former trucker, get an invite to Revelation TV to talk about the radio station I had begun just a few months earlier?

Well, that, as they say, is my story. And that is why we’re here!