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It is unclear what exactly changed his plans, but in April 1939, [Theodore H. Epp] and his wife, Matilda, came to Nebraska with $65 in cash, their entire savings. After renting near 19th and R streets, Epp paid $35 for three weeks of radio time on KFOR, then with studios in the Lincoln Hotel at Ninth and P streets.
At 1110 KHZ, KFAB advertised itself as Nebraska's most powerful radio station, broadcasting at 10,000 watts. The appeal of being able to cast an extremely wide broadcast net from one station lured Epp back to Lincoln.
Today, the Rev. Theodore Epp's son Herbert is a ministry assistant at Back to the Bible's offices and studios in the former Nebraska Book Co. warehouse at 6400 Cornhusker Highway. Back to the Bible and the Good News Broadcasting Association have about 250 employees in Lincoln plus 175 in 10 international offices, and support more than 250 missionaries.
In the early 1930s, Theodore H. Epp graduated from the Southwest Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Shortly afterward, he became a pastor in Goltry, Okla., and helped an associate with a radio ministry.
In 1938, Epp accepted a job as a prison chaplain in Kansas, bought a house and planned to settle. Later that year, while visiting his parents in Nebraska, he was urged to establish a radio ministry here.
It is unclear what exactly changed his plans, but in April 1939, Epp and his wife, Matilda, came to Nebraska with $65 in cash, their entire savings. After renting near 19th and R streets, Epp paid $35 for three weeks of radio time on KFOR, then with studios in the Lincoln Hotel at Ninth and P streets.
The first broadcast aired May 1, 1939, and the Back to the Bible radio ministry was born.
The following year, the Epps moved to Grand Island, where they wrote scripts at their home and broadcast them over KMMJ.
In 1942, Epp's attention was directed to Lincoln's KFAB, then on the fourth floor of the Sharp Building at 13th and N streets.
At 1110 KHZ, KFAB advertised itself as Nebraska's most powerful radio station, broadcasting at 10,000 watts. The appeal of being able to cast an extremely wide broadcast net from one station lured Epp back to Lincoln.
Evidently his successes, though relatively small and local, enabled him to grow. He bought a home in Lincoln at 1824 S. 24th St. and set up an office and studio on the eighth floor of the Terminal Building at 10th and O streets with broadcasts on KFAB.
The year 1943 also saw the birth of an overseas ministry with shortwave broadcasts aired over HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, followed shortly with stations in Great Britain and Monte Carlo.
The production studios moved from the Terminal Building to the second floor of the Lincoln Airplane and Flying School at 24th and O streets. The lower floor was then occupied by the 7-Up bottling works; the upper floor had housed the school where Charles Lindbergh learned to fly.
In 1950, the Epps began looking for a new, larger home where printing, broadcast studios and offices could be operated in one building. Fortuitously,The Lincoln Star had just moved to 926 P St., where it shared facilities with the Lincoln Journal and co-owned the Journal-Star Printing Co. That enabledBack to the Bible to buy the Star Building on the southwest corner of 12th and M streets. When the conversion was completed, the name was changed to the Good News Building.
By the move in 1952, Back to the Bible had more than 200 employees and advertised that it was broadcasting "in dozens of countries over the world."
Just two years later, the claim was increased, saying it was broadcasting on more than 700 radio stations in eight languages in a truly worldwide ministry.
A decade later, the organization had branches in Canada, England, Ceylon, The Philippines, Italy, Jamaica, China and Australia.
In 1984, Epp retired, turning over the general director's reigns to Warren Wiersbe who announced Back to the Bible was producing 5,951 broadcasts per week in Lincoln, which then were broadcast over 1,000 radio stations.
Epp died in 1985, and in 1990 Woodrow Kroll became the corporation's director. Under his guidance, the ministry expanded into videos, online sites, CDs, expanded book publishing and Internet ministries.
Today, the Rev. Theodore Epp's son Herbert is a ministry assistant at Back to the Bible's offices and studios in the former Nebraska Book Co. warehouse at 6400 Cornhusker Highway. Back to the Bible and the Good News Broadcasting Association have about 250 employees in Lincoln plus 175 in 10 international offices, and support more than 250 missionaries.
Historian Jim McKee, who still writes with a fountain pen, invites comments or questions. Write in care of the Journal Star or e-mail [email protected].
Caption: When Back to the Bible bought the old Star newspaper building at 12th and M streets, it changed the name to the Good News Building. COURTESY PHOTO
Credit: For the Lincoln Journal Star
Copyright Lee Enterprises, Inc. Aug 29, 2004