“So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish!” A Goodbye Note From Pastor Randy Smith
A NOTE FROM KELP RADIO: This is a letter from Pastor Randy Smith, as he moves on from ministry here in El Paso. He will be deeply missed both at Vista Hills Church and here at KELP Radio. We want to thank Pastor Randy for his many years of selfless service to our community both through his church and radio ministry. Thank you, Pastor Randy! And now, please take a few moments to read these thoughts from Pastor Randy as he moves on.
I have been a listener to KELP since first moving to El Paso in 1988. I have fond memories of dropping my children off at school as the last few notes of Chuck Smith’s “Word for Today” theme song was playing. The Holy Spirit used programs like In Touch Ministries with Charles Stanley and Grace to You with John MacArthur, all aired on KELP, to lay some foundational work in my Christian education. I had no idea as I listened, that God was preparing me for full-time pastoral ministry in El Paso nor that some day I would be hosting a weekly call-in talk show or daily prayer program on the very radio station He was using to equip me. God’s ways truly are unfathomable at times. To God be the Glory!
The first time I walked through the doors of KELP was to record some prayer requests for a building our church was erecting for pro-life ministries. The former station manager, Jay Gilliland, was so caught up in the project and so enamored with the way God was answering our prayers that he invited me to co-host with him a Saturday call-in talk show that he titled “Prayer & Answers.” He wanted the whole city to know that God still hears and still answers his children’s prayers if they will just bring their request to him. We launched the program on Saturday, March 21, 2010 at 1:30 pm. Although Jay has long since gone to be with the Lord and Dr. Steve Kovach has taken his chair as co-host, the program has continued nearly unchanged week after week, call after call and prayer after prayer for almost 15 years; to God be the glory.
In the Spring of 2024 Steve Kovach and I thought the show might be coming to an end. We had heard that new management was coming to KELP. Prayer & Answers did not generate any revenue for the station and seemed to me to have a very small listening audience. I didn’t think the new management would see any value in the program. Steve and I talked it over and were both very much at peace with whatever God chose to do.
When the new management hosted an Open House for the purpose of getting to know all those who were involved in the station, I of course went. When I met the new managers, Andy and David, they asked to speak to me about Prayer & Answers. I must admit that I thought for sure they were going to gently explain to me why the program was no longer needed. How surprised I was when they expressed the exact opposite sentiment. They not only told me that they wanted Prayer & Answers to continue, but that they wanted to have more programming like it. Andy began describing his vision for a daily program that would facilitate God’s people praying for all the various aspects of life in the Rio Grande Valley. From that vision, (915) PRAY was born and it has been an absolute delight and privilege to be its host.
It has also been a delight and privilege to chat with all the guests and to hear from them what their needs truly are. Over and over I have contemplated these words, “We always know what to pray for until we actually sit down and listen to the prayer requests of those who have their boots on the ground.” I have been astounded by the caliber of God’s people who serve in our prisons, police force, military, schools, businesses and every other arena of life on both sides of the US/Mexico border. To God be the glory.
Now, as I work through my last days at KELP and El Paso, I am excited to catch little glimpses of what God has planned for the radio station and the City I have come to love. I see new studios being built and new opportunities being explored for broadcasting God’s gospel to the lost and his teachings to the saved. I am seeing a new generation with new technologies and fresh visions maximizing his provision and their gifts in the great work of reaching families and changing lives; which is the God-given mantra of KELP Radio. I also am just now beginning to see how important (915) PRAY and Prayer & Answers is to the work to which God is calling his people to do in the border region we call home. After all, it is without a doubt true that all God’s work should always begin and end in prayer.
To God be the Glory,
Pastor Randy Smith
