I received a call to the ministry while at youth camp at Lake Geneva Bible Camp, Alexandria, Minnesota. I thought it was to go into the ministry as a pastor. But as time went by it became apparent that my gifts were not centered in that direction.  

I have had an interest in electronics which goes back to my junior high school days tinkering with old TV'S and radios my mother would buy me at auctions and rummage sales. I had an old garage on the farm where I could work on this hobby.  

When I was 15 years old, the owner of the local TV shop in my actual home town of Alden, Minnesota saw my interest in TV repair and asked my mother if she would allow me to work for him at the TV shop. I learned more about electronic repair, with hands-on experience. The owner, Ernie Dohmeier, taught me much of what he knew about electronic  
repair. He also served to some degree as a father figure while I was growing up.  

After graduating from Alden High School in 1976, I went on to vocational school in Austin, Minnesota, where I studied more about electronics. I was also able to work in a television station. KAVT-TV (now KSMO) was a PBS station which also served as a training aid for students in the electronics and broadcasting classes at the vocational school. I donated my time to work in the station during evening hours to learn more about broadcasting. I found I enjoyed working in this field and could  
see that the TV repair field was beginning to deteriorate. Home electronics was getting to be more throw-away. It clearly was getting to be less lucrative a vocation to be in. Since I enjoyed TV broadcasting so much, I decided to concentrate on becoming a broadcast engineer when I would graduate from the electronics program. Not that that field was extremely  
lucrative. It was a field I enjoyed and it would provide a decent wage.  

Just before graduation, one of the engineers at KAVT quit to go to a much larger station in California as a chief engineer. By that time the chief engineer at KAVT got to know me and asked me to apply for one of two engineering positions that were being created in place of the vacated position. Thus I stayed with KAVT until 1982 when I married Janie.  

JanieTurtle had been working for a major evangelist from offices in Crystal, Minnesota so she knew the Minneapolis area well. There was a new Christian TV station which was just beginning the construction process. I became one of the very first employees of WFBT-TV (Family Bible Television) in Minneapolis. (presently Fox affiliate WFTC). I helped to plan out, and later wire the studio facility for the station while working on the Chief Engineer's tennis table. It sat on literal earth inside the shell of the building which would become the studio. I also helped with the installation of equipment at the transmitter facility.  

In the summer of 1992, We went on the air as a commercial TV station broadcasting religious and family programming, similar in nature to the old CBN network. Our non-profit religious branch called FBN (Faith Broadcasting Network) produced "Rejoice", a one hour Christian TV program featuring local as well as nationally known Christian music artists and noted guests. (Very similar to Praise the Lord on TBN)  

Unfortunately the owners saw the opportunity to make a huge profit by selling the station to secular concerns in 1984, and the station was sold. It continued to run some national Christian ministries for a while, however the Christian programming dwindled quickly and was almost non-existent by the time the station sold for a second time. Disheartened with Christian TV, I left the station late in 1986 for what would be a more lucrative Job in the Broadcasting Services department at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.  

Janie was originally from a small town near Iowa City. Janie's father was beginning to have some serious health problems. This gave us an opportunity to enjoy being closer to her family and enjoy the final years that my father-in-law had. Soon after we moved, my wife and I helped plant a new home missions AG church in Coralville, a suburb of Iowa City. I was a member of the advisory board. We were very active with the ministries of the church, I designed and ran the sound system. Unfortunately that church did not survive.  

Although we knew that the church was not doing well, the Pastor's decision to close it came as a complete surprise. My work with that church was over, however an event which came earlier that very week showed me that God was not through with me. God gave me a dream which culminated with him telling me that he wanted to have me work doing Christian TV again. But he didn't tell me how.  

Not long after that I got connected with Doug Sheldahl, owner of TBN affiliate K64DG channel 64 in Iowa City. A friend of mine was trying to watch the station, however it was off the air more than on, and when it was on it had a terrible ghost image. What started as a viewer complaint ended with me contracting to aid him with the station maintenance. He  
mentioned that I was the answer to his prayers, to have someone local who would take care of channel 64 for a very reasonable salary.  

With persistence, I took on the task. I live one mile from the transmitter site. My first successful project was working out the intermittent problems with the transmitter. I learned that there was a woman watching Jack Van Impe one night, not long after I started maintaining the channel. She prayed the Sinner's Prayer with Van Impe at the end of the broadcast one night. This may not have happened if I wasn't taking care of the transmitter. A confirmation that my efforts were worth it all for this ONE salvation.  

I sometimes thought that it would be nice to own a U-Matic recorder for viewing tapes at home. I never found one low enough in cost that I wanted to purchase. Almost right after the vision God started to supply U-Matic VCRs, TBC, (Time Base Corrector), Character Generator, and plenty of used but reasonably good video tape. Many of the tapes were free. The equipment cost me roughly 10% of the cost for similar equipment in the classifieds of trade journals. The equipment is far from state-of-the-art but generally had very little wrong with it. Part inventories for many of these items were also given to me! For example, one of the last things that became available was the TBC. I didn't realize just how much I was later going to rely on it.  

I told a Christian buddy at work about what was happening and I casually mentioned how it would be nice to have a TBC as well. That very night he was dropping off some items he had to sell at the local auction house. This gave him advance opportunity for him to look and see if there was anything he wanted which was going to be sold at auction the next night.  

The next morning at work Tim came up to me saying: "Guess what I saw at the auction house! There was a TBC there!" I went out that night and also found a character generator. $20 was the price tag for each item. This auction house generally deals only with normal flea market/garage sale items, not those used for broadcasting. Both items have since been  
invaluable in my ministry. Each of these items usually cost approximately $400.00 used on today's market.  

I felt directed to use the equipment to make use of the community public access channel to cablecast "Power Connection" using the equipment God gave me to talk about channel 64 and explain how to receive "TBN 64" at the end of the program. I have received a fair amount of feedback with Power Connection. There were two other TBN programs I have ran at times as well since 1995. All three were cleared to air on the PAW channel by the programming department at TBN although I had trouble at times trying to explain to them what I was trying to do. These broadcasts have acted to some degree like infomercials, informing the local population about channel 64. This led to the addition of TISM to the Iowa City/Coralville  
cable system.  

I also felt directed to put together a TV program called "Revival in Oxford!" consisting of services of "Anchor Bay Full Gospel Church". My pastor, Rev. John Honn, is a TBN fan as well as one of my best friends.  

Pastor John was assistant pastor for another full gospel church 30 miles away. He moved on to start the church in his canvas/tent-making workshop. A small building was built in his back yard, where services continued. In January, 1998 we moved into a new addition to that building which seats 175 comfortably. Currently, attendance runs at 60.  

Anchor Bay Full Gospel Church is a combination country church and street mission, heavily Pentecostal. We reach out to anyone. Professional people, homemakers, street people. Homeless, hungry and in need of basic provisions--society calls them the outcasts or the down and out. We have seen some miraculous changes in the lives of people we minister too. Cancer healings now number 1 dozen within the past year as well as healings for other ailments. One of the cancer healings was  
documented through the Mayo clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. We pray for those who don't seriously consider the impact of their decision to trust Christ.  

I put highlights of our services together into a program which airs on PATV in Iowa City and Coralville as well as at least 16 other cable Systems in the area including the Cedar Rapids area. We are now available to approximately 76,000 cable homes. We have found that there are many people who watch the church program each week and many more which  
have at least tuned in. The p>  

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The services are very informal, with a country gospel flavor. The church has a strong biblical base, but is so unusual that many tune in just to see what those "Crazy Christians" are doing this week. We have been able to preach the gospel to many people whether or not they decide to act on it.  

We provide a phone number for prayer. We have had a heckler call several times. We call him the "Bird Painter". He asked things like "Can God forgive me for painting birds and letting them die?". The last time he called, pastor called one of the other church members over to the phone and had him intercede for the caller. The caller was bawling by the time he hung up. While that caller has never tried to call again, we know seeds have been planted in his life. We pray that eventually he accepts Christ. We know he felt the power and conviction of the Holy Spirit.  

We have had quite a few that have prayed the sinner's prayer and accepted Christ as Savior. One would probably have committed suicide if we weren't there. That caller was watching during one of the very first programs. She accepted Jesus Christ as personal savior and is doing very well today.  

God continues to have his way with the TV station K64DG as well. We recently began running "Revival in Oxford!" and two other church services. Those of Tabernacle Baptist Church and Grace Community Church, two other terrific churches in our area. A fourth church service, Liberty Vineyard Christian Church will be added soon. These programs and "Revival in Oxford!" are locally produced. This not only allows K64DG to serve the local community better by providing local, diversified  
church services, it also qualifies the station to be prepared to qualify for a "Class A" license when it becomes available. This new license will eventually allow the station to cover as much as 50 to 60 miles and require cable systems in the area to carry it. In the interim, K64DG recently received a construction permit to change to channel 39 and increase the signal strength greatly. Everybody within the present channel 64 coverage area will be able to get a very strong signal on channel 39 whereas  
channel 64 reception can be very difficult in many locations in the area. Channel 39's coverage area will approximate 6 miles from the transmitter site, and those within the range should receive good reception.  

I will be providing further updates as well as information for those interested in the TV Ministry and how to get it started on a shoestring in YOUR church. Please sign our guestbook, and e-mail us for more information.  

God bless you!  

John Schmidt