Martha Root: Reflecting on 40+ Years in Radio Ministry
In this episode of the Mission Control Podcast, Martha Root reflects on her nearly 50 years of service at First Baptist Melbourne. For the last 45 years Martha has served on our radio ministry team with Hope 106.3 WCIF, from the very first broadcast over the airwaves to now… Martha has been here through it all!
Episode Highlights:
- Martha shares her journey from serving as the pastor’s secretary to serving on the radio ministry team
- Martha shares her heart for the country of Brazil, and the mission trips she’s taken to Brazil and Romania.
- Discussing the power of radio ministry in building meaningful connections and providing spiritual support.
- Martha’s retirement and her excitement for future mission trips, volunteer work, and continued involvement in radio ministry.
Resources:
– “Is God Calling Me?” by Jeff Iorg- A recommended read on embracing God’s calling.
Connect with Us:
– Visit our website at launchme.church
– Follow us on Facebook & Instagram at @FBCMel.
– Send us your thoughts and questions at info@fbcmel.org.
Support the Show:
– Share this episode with your friends and family who might be interested in international missions and faith journeys.
Episode Transcript:
Amanda Levy:
So in our last episode, I introduced the whole space themed icebreaker question, and as I was thinking through what space themed icebreaker question I could ask you, it occurred to me you’ve been on the Space Coast for so much, if not all of the space history. History.
Martha Root:
I had seen all of the manned launches until I went to college.
Amanda Levy:
Wow. Okay. So I thought we would do a fun game. I went onto the internet and I pulled out a list of just different historic launches and
Martha Root:
Stuff,
Amanda Levy:
And I’m going to just call out a few. Some of them are kind of like general speaking. So for instance, the Columbia shuttle was used a lot of times. So we’re going to go through this list and I want you to tell me how many of them you remember witnessing.
Martha Root:
Oh, I have no idea. You know how
Amanda Levy:
They’re big ones? They’re big ones.
Martha Root:
Okay.
Amanda Levy:
Well, we’ll just see. So do you remember the Freedom seven mission? I’ll give you some.
Martha Root:
Oh yes.
Amanda Levy:
So you do see? You remember it. It was the first American to launch into space May
Martha Root:
Alan Shepherd?
Amanda Levy:
Yes. 1961. So you remember that Apollo eight was the first human mission to the moon. They didn’t land on the moon, but they
Martha Root:
Circled.
Amanda Levy:
They circled. And on Christmas Eve they read from the book of Genesis,
Martha Root:
James Irwin.
Amanda Levy:
Did you witness this?
Martha Root:
Yes. No, I mean on TV that Yes. You weren’t that
Amanda Levy:
Crazy. I
Martha Root:
Did do the launch though. So
Amanda Levy:
Then so you saw that one. You said you saw Apol 11, so that was the next one. Okay. Do you remember the first space shuttle Columbia launch?
Martha Root:
I don’t know. I was probably,
Amanda Levy:
That was 1981.
Martha Root:
I was here. I was here. So I probably did see it.
Amanda Levy:
A reason to believe that you
Martha Root:
Witnessed it?
Amanda Levy:
Yeah, because
Martha Root:
Anytime there was a missile going off, we saw,
Amanda Levy:
Do you remember the last space shuttle launch? That would’ve been July 8th, 2011?
Martha Root:
Yes.
Amanda Levy:
Okay. Then we have the first Falcon nine launch. Do you remember that? You don’t remember that. It gets fuzzy the more recent, do you remember the first Falcon Heavy Launch?
Martha Root:
I don’t know that I remember which one was. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of heavy launches, but
Amanda Levy:
That would’ve been February, 2018. And then do you remember the first crude SpaceX flight, which would’ve been May, 2020?
Martha Root:
I don’t really remember much about it. But
Amanda Levy:
You witnessed all those?
Martha Root:
Yeah, I had seen so many launches.
Amanda Levy:
You’re just positioned so well to witness all that.
Martha Root:
Meanwhile,
Amanda Levy:
You’re positioned so well to witness so much of First Baptist Melbourne throwing and blossoming, and then Hope 1 0 6 23 W C I F F. So kind of like when did you start working at the church and what was some of those seasons?
Martha Root:
So my first season, well, my first real season was when I was a student in college
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
I was a music major and I played, I would fill in every once in a while in Oregon when I would come to visit or if they needed somebody, I was home. And so my first time, I think I played for a revival one night when the regular organist couldn’t come. So that was my first time I’d ever played for a service because I took organ from our summer music intern was an organist. And so that was how that started. Then my first real adult job was I was the pastor’s secretary
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
We were called secretaries in, and that was in August of 1974.
Amanda Levy:
Wow. Where did you go to school?
Martha Root:
Stetson.
Amanda Levy:
Stetson. Did you say that? And I already forgot.
Martha Root:
No.
Amanda Levy:
Oh, that’s cool. That’s cool. So you were born and raised at First Baptist Home.
Martha Root:
This is my home church.
Amanda Levy:
So the only time you’ve been gone was at college
Martha Root:
And I got married right after in 72
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
Right after college I moved to Jacksonville
Amanda Levy:
For
Martha Root:
Two years.
Amanda Levy:
And then God brought you back. And
Martha Root:
Then we decided to leave the big city and come back to Melbourne, which has become the big city.
Amanda Levy:
It’s grown a lot in those years.
Martha Root:
It’s a lot different than Dairy Road was the boondocks when I was a little kid.
Amanda Levy:
Isn’t that wild to think about?
Martha Root:
Yeah, it is. When I think about all the different changes and we would walk home from school, I went to Melbourne Elementary, which was across from the was Ruth Ger became
Amanda Levy:
Ruth Ger. Okay, okay, okay. Which would’ve been across the street from the downtown campus. So everything was just right
Martha Root:
There. Yeah. I mean that’s where I was and after school I’d go help collate and do things in training for later life.
Amanda Levy:
Yeah,
Martha Root:
The secretaries were all friends and if they needed somebody to help do
Amanda Levy:
You were just across the street at school? I was
Martha Root:
Just across the street at school and we’d go by after school and do whatever.
Amanda Levy:
Nice. So how long did you serve as the pastor secretary?
Martha Root:
Five and a half years.
Amanda Levy:
So that would’ve been 1974 to 19 seven math.
Martha Root:
March 10th, 1980.
Amanda Levy:
Okay.
Martha Root:
When I became the W C I F secretary.
Amanda Levy:
Nice. Was that, I’m assuming then you were the very first secretary?
Martha Root:
I was here when we went on air.
Amanda Levy:
What was that like for you?
Martha Root:
Well, so I had worked on the application some for the pastor, and so one of my stories is that I really wanted that job and I would see them interviewing all these folks and they just weren’t finding anybody. But I didn’t have peace about it and I was like, Lord, I really want to do that. I think that would be something different because when I came here in 74, I thought, yeah, I can be the pastor secretary a couple years, I’ll do this.
Amanda Levy:
We’ll see
Martha Root:
What happens. I don’t think this is what I’m called to do in life, but it’s a job for now.
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
It got us back to Melbourne because they needed somebody and they needed an organist. And so there was a job and there was an organ to play, and so that was a no-brainer to me. There
Amanda Levy:
Was a space for Martha.
Martha Root:
So in 1980 when they were interviewing, so I finally said, okay, I understand I don’t have peace about applying for this job. Well, guess what? You surrender things. It’s amazing what happens. Then I became the secretary at the station. I had never thought about radio as anything I would do. I had friends that worked in radio in college, but it was not on my radar as a youth. I had a song that we sang, follow What You’re Meant to Do and Answer to God’s Call
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
Your Life will Soon become the greatest miracle of all. Well, I feel like that he’s worked in many different ways to get me in lots of different places that I never thought I would be. So being the secretary and getting excited about what was going on radio wise and seeing all the technology and things like that,
Amanda Levy:
Things have evolved tremendously.
Martha Root:
Yeah, it’s changed a great deal. We started out with Reel to Reels and we had 33 and a third records that we played.
Amanda Levy:
What did your job entail originally in 1980?
Martha Root:
Well, I did logs. We had to type logs. We didn’t have some of the modern conveniences.
Amanda Levy:
Gotcha.
Martha Root:
But I did do learn to do production pretty quickly and recording things, people that came in, and then I ended up doing announcements, church announcements and things like that. Although I think I did community and Dr. Hall’s wife, who was the pastor when we went on the air, his wife did church announcements and that was one of her things. And it just sort of evolved and Martha’s willing to try pretty much anything. Let me try it once or twice, see what’s what. So it was a learning thing and our manager then Ken Klingler, when we went on the air, stayed a year and a half and then we didn’t have a manager. We know about those situations. And so I, at that point, I became the operations administrator.
Amanda Levy:
What year? That would’ve been 1981.
Martha Root:
81 and a half towards the end of 81.
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
So I was pretty much in charge. I didn’t know at the time.
Amanda Levy:
So this is a consistent thing for you. I don’t think I realized that very early on. That lapse in the management as well. Yeah. Okay.
Martha Root:
So he left. He had been a pastor and just decided this. He had worked in radio before and thought this was what he was going to do, but
Amanda Levy:
Did
Martha Root:
Not work out. And so he left and we had a radio council who is the administrator, but I was the day-to-day keeping things going. We had a morning guy that came in, and then I think I worked afternoons, although at times I worked whatever first Thanksgiving, working was hard. There are things in radio, things have evolved now that you don’t really have to do that. But at that point in time we were manned and we started out, I think we were on from 6:00 AM to maybe 9:00 PM I can’t remember exactly when, if we went from six to nine and then we went to 10 or then we went to midnight, and then we eventually went 24 hours. Equipment wise. We had reels, reels that were 10 inch reels and we had three reels that would play music and they’d have a tone between each song, so you could stop it between one and the other or whatever you wanted the rotation. We had a volunteer engineer that had come to Melbourne.
Amanda Levy:
God
Martha Root:
Sent him our way. He had worked in Mission Radio. He had worked with lots of different places, gates Radio, and just had lots of experience and creativity. He was an older man, but he just was really great at lots of things. And so in 83 in the meantime, they were looking for a manager.
Amanda Levy:
A manager
Martha Root:
Took a year and a half. And so Lee Martinez came to be manager in May of 83.
Amanda Levy:
Okay.
Martha Root:
Lee and his family, three girls and his wife Joanna, moved from Atlanta to Melbourne. And you’d think that would’ve been glad. I was glad I was really in my heart. I was glad because I was glad not to have all that responsibility to work a year and a half in radio and then I radio stationed you
Amanda Levy:
And then to work there a year and a half. That’s your experience. And now it’s like it’s on you to keep it going. That would be stressful. I can imagine.
Martha Root:
Well, and turning loose of things you may know is hard for me, but I was glad. But I would get frustrated. He had moved my stapler. I wanted my stapler here and just a surrender of my will once again to the Lord’s will. It is something we all do every day,
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
Sometimes we hold on tighter than we need to.
Amanda Levy:
But
Martha Root:
In seeing that surrender, just the greatest relationship I can have with the Lord is what we need in our life because we do need to be surrendered to his will and leave it to him. And so I think when that happened, it just was a great relief in my life. And Lee and I became good friends
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
Worked together for 33 years. So over those years, lots of different people have come and gone as announcers. Our first announcer was a Brevard Sheriff’s deputy also. He worked for us in the morning and got off at one 30 and then he was a deputy.
Amanda Levy:
That’s fun.
Martha Root:
And so we always knew we were safe, but we’ve had lots of different people that have worked at the station blind announcer.
Amanda Levy:
Don
Martha Root:
Legg was our blind announcer and everything was Brailed. We had albums and his wife Brailed every single album and that he had a list of what was on the album and he would know his brain. He had a really good brain and he
Amanda Levy:
Had it all straight up there,
Martha Root:
But you had to be sure not to leave anything out of place that he could run over. And we were on the second floor. So he had stairs.
Amanda Levy:
Oh yeah. At this point we were still downtown. We
Martha Root:
Were downtown. So anyway, it’s been a travel throughout lots of different things. And so I don’t know how fast I fast forwarding and I’m thinking 20 17, 20 16, Lee Martinez retired
Amanda Levy:
Somewhere around there.
Martha Root:
And so I became the interim manager.
Amanda Levy:
A role that you were already familiar with 34 years prior.
Martha Root:
And then I became the manager for until recently, May 31st.
Amanda Levy:
So what has it, as you look back, are I think there’s a privilege that comes along with having such a long tenure in one place of ministry. What are some of the lessons that could be learned in that?
Martha Root:
There’s always something more to learn. I think I learned learning to have a boss after I had been the boss is something that took some doing. But I think the Lord taught me many things in that. And as I’ve seen through the years, because yeah, I worked in radio, but I was an adult department director. I’ve taught hand bells to kids. I do hand handbells with adults. I have other things. When I was a pastor secretary, I worked for the Minister of Music a lot. There were just two secretaries. There’s a financial secretary and me. So
Amanda Levy:
Whoever
Martha Root:
Needed something doing,
Amanda Levy:
Yeah, there’s a lot of overlap of tasks.
Martha Root:
And so I think one of the things, not radio related, but just as an adult department director, our adult, one department director and Charles Scrivener was our minister of education and just he was such an encourager and made an impact in my life in dealing with people, in dealing with things. You have all these different teachers and how they’re teaching and what they’re teaching and
Amanda Levy:
Knowing
Martha Root:
What was going on involved with Master Life, which was a discipleship type course that was offered things that I never thought would do. And then in 88, our pastor was challenged to go to Brazil on a mission trip, and my husband decided he wanted to,
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
I was like, oh, I think that’s great for you to go, but I think I want to go too. So that’s when I started going on mission trips. Now in college, I had been on the revival team for the Baptist Student Union.
Amanda Levy:
Yeah.
Martha Root:
B
Amanda Levy:
S U.
Martha Root:
Now
Amanda Levy:
It’s B c M.
Martha Root:
It’s b c m now. But it was an opportunity one summer I spent traveling around the state of Florida in different churches and we would have youth type revivals. It would be church, but it’d be sort of youth led. And so I spent one summer doing that, met my husband.
Amanda Levy:
Oh, so that’s how you met your husband? He
Martha Root:
Was in one of the churches that we were in, and we went back to Jackson. It was in Jacksonville. So we went back to Jacksonville several times and he would come to wherever I was just
Amanda Levy:
A coincidence,
Martha Root:
Just a well, and their church was really great. Our pastor that was on the team had an eye problem and his eye didn’t focus to the right position, and so they paid for his surgery. And so we went back to Jacksonville and spent more time at that church because they were paying care of his medical needs. And so we would stay in homes. So anyway, so as we develop through life, there’s lots of things that come up, but giving God the chance to say, no, you don’t need to do this. Or waiting for his affirmation that this is something that you might be involved in. So I’ve gone around and about, and admissions is important to me
Amanda Levy:
Because
Martha Root:
I started going to Brazil in 88 and we went every year till about 2003. And I made lots of friends, had lots of opportunities, and I still maintain some of those friendships today when I go to Rio, there’s two girls that I always see
Amanda Levy:
Because you still fairly regularly go to Bris, Brazil. Right.
Martha Root:
I didn’t go this past year because I had a hip replacement.
Amanda Levy:
That’s unexpected.
Martha Root:
I had planned to go and God’s the years I couldn’t go. About 2004 when I stopped going, God sent some Brazilians to First Baptist Church Melbourne, and we had a Brazilian Sunday school class for a while. And that was, I just felt like that was the Lord’s blessing on giving me my Brazilian friends here as well as my Brazilian friends.
Amanda Levy:
And so all of that just started with that one mission trip that your husband wanted to go on and you went to
Martha Root:
And Larry Baer and Greg Bruton and Charles, the Minister of Education and the Minister of Music. And we had a lady in the church that felt like very strongly in missions. And so she helped the pastors go on this mission trip and it was just incredibly fulfilling.
Amanda Levy:
You speak Spanish too? Did you speak Spanish before then?
Martha Root:
So in Brazil they speak Portuguese.
Amanda Levy:
Ah, that’s right. That’s right.
Martha Root:
But I had five years of Spanish in
Amanda Levy:
High
Martha Root:
School, but after the first trip we said, okay, we need to learn this language a little bit better. And so we took three months of Portuguese with somebody that went to F I t. He was from Portugal, but it was still Portuguese and it’s a little different, but then it was
Amanda Levy:
Close enough than English.
Martha Root:
And I studied, I worked on memorizing scripture
Amanda Levy:
In
Martha Root:
That language. And when I’d have kids around and I was a music person, we would sing. I would sing in the language. And so I learned to sing in the language and I’d worked on scripture and I’ve worked on the language, and I don’t mind making a fool of myself and saying the word wrong, because that’s the way you’re going to learn, get some correction. And so I worked hard on trying to learn the language, especially when I was there, whoever was with me, I’d ask them to help me.
Amanda Levy:
Yeah, that’s cool. I don’t think I realized, I knew you went to Brazil a lot. I didn’t realize where all of that came from. So that’s cool to hear.
Martha Root:
Yeah. First Baptist, Melbourne.
Amanda Levy:
Awesome. Mission trips.
Martha Root:
Yeah, mission trips are great. If you have an opportunity to go on a mission trip,
Amanda Levy:
Go
Martha Root:
Ask. Yes, go. I have a passport, I’m ready to go. Whenever. I’ve went to Romania one year with the Bell Choir,
Amanda Levy:
I’ve seen pictures in the hallway of this.
Martha Root:
And so Camp Hope
Amanda Levy:
It’s
Martha Root:
A great opportunity. I’ve never been to Europe. So
Amanda Levy:
Do you have any plans to go back to Brazil anytime soon?
Martha Root:
I’m working on that. So one of the things I’ve done in radio is collect wheelchairs and walkers and crutches and canes for Johnny and Friends. And Johnny and Friends is an organization that helps worldwide, international, and they collect these items and they’re repaired in a prison system and they take them and you make a mission trip and you give out. You have people that will fit the wheelchairs to the kids in need because I know one of our guys broke, didn’t break, he hurt his knee. Finding crutches for him was really hard. Finding things for disability needs is difficult. And so seeing that as a capability of possibility. So hopefully there is a trip next year that I’m going on with Johnny and Friends.
Amanda Levy:
Okay. Yeah, that’d be cool.
Martha Root:
And there’s one to Brazil, so I’m really hoping that one’s going to pan
Amanda Levy:
Out. Have you been on a trip with Johnny?
Martha Root:
Oh,
Amanda Levy:
This will be your first.
Martha Root:
It’d be my first time to do that.
Amanda Levy:
And how long have you all been partnering with Johnny and Friends?
Martha Root:
No, I don’t know. 30
Amanda Levy:
Years. Long time.
Martha Root:
30 years. Scott Terry was our announcer when we did our first wheelchair collection. So it’s been a few years and over the years we’ve had different ways that we’ve done it. And now I just serve people bring stuff all the time.
Amanda Levy:
The
Martha Root:
Minute I get things cleared out here, somebody shows up with something else,
Amanda Levy:
It’s
Martha Root:
Going to be,
Amanda Levy:
Yeah. So as you look back on 40 plus years of ministry, where have you seen obvious places of God’s direction in all of that?
Martha Root:
I think that the word that I would use surrender because when I was willing to surrender to not be the secretary,
Amanda Levy:
When
Martha Root:
I was willing to surrender my will to the new manager, those are things that I see as life points of life change and growth and seeing what he wants me to do. There’s many things that you can do, and I’m pretty determined, good or bad. I think there’s some good things about that, but sometimes we can be too determined in our own ways. And so seeking God, one of my verses that is my verse is from Lamentations talks about God’s faithfulness. And I know that he is faithful no matter what. There’ve been times through my life as life changes happen in life, the death of a loved one that I’ve seen God work through and walk with me and know that he’s got this and I don’t have to worry about it. So I think being ever seeking his will and his way and knowing that sometimes we don’t always know best
Amanda Levy:
And we don’t always have all of the pieces or the information to know what would be best.
Martha Root:
I would not have known when I became here to work that I was going to end up working in radio that was farish from my brain.
Amanda Levy:
As you look back, I’m trying to think of how I want to say what I’m wanting to say. Does it click now or are you still kind of like, I don’t know, 40 years I gave it to him, it’s great. Or is there any amount of clarity that comes from it?
Martha Root:
There are some clarities. There are some, oh, okay. Things have changed so much in radio, and I think that I had my most fun the last several years. I got to tell dumb jokes on the air,
Amanda Levy:
Even though you forgot your joke book today.
Martha Root:
I didn’t bring my joke book today doing history tests, talking about whether talking to interaction with people because that’s difference. And so that was probably in many ways the easiest part of some of the stuff. There’s stuff with the F C C and there’s paperwork and there’s all these other things and figuring out what music you’re going to play. And there’s so many things in radio that can be done as well as website and Facebook and all of those,
Amanda Levy:
All the channels,
Martha Root:
All the different channels that we reach out and connect. But connecting with people, and I guess the one thing that I would say about all these years, the thing that I see most prevalent in my life in some ways is the number of friends that I have that I would never have if it wasn’t for Hope 1 0 6 3. I’ve met so many different people through the years and they’ve become friends, some of ’em just casual listeners, but people I would meet when we’d go out in the community, it says, oh, I’ve been listening to you for 20 years. It’s like, how else but God? So those were really sweet things to see. The friendships and the communications that I’ve had with people over the years, people that come and volunteer, we couldn’t do what we do without the community. We say we couldn’t do without what we do without you and our day sponsors or people that give, it takes an army of people to support a radio station. You can go to Hope 1 0 6 three.org and give
Amanda Levy:
Shameless plug,
Martha Root:
But it is friendships that have developed over the years through radio and somebody will come up and say, oh, in fact, I talked to somebody this week. She called and she was, I’ve forgotten what we were talking about. Oh, she was changing something on her credit card and because credit cards have to be updated sometimes, and she had a gift to the station, but she just was so over the moon about the radio station and how much it had meant in her life. And it’s an encouraging thing to see how God is working and using the station.
Amanda Levy:
As you look forward, what are things that really excite you in this next season of ministry?
Martha Root:
So I’ve been saying no to everything that anybody asks me. You want to do this? And I don’t know what excites me most, figuring out what the next path is. I have some things that I’ve talked about. I’ve said finding myself is because I have been W C I F for so long, long,
Amanda Levy:
Yeah. Is it kind of scary facing this next step?
Martha Root:
No,
Amanda Levy:
No, that’s good.
Martha Root:
I don’t know what it will be, but I don’t think it’s scary. It’s just figuring out what God has in store, being able to go on mission trip, figuring out though, which are the ones that I need to do and which are not what I need to do, what takes the things that I’ve learned over these 50 years. Because even though I am older than some, but I’m not at the end of the ability to do things
Amanda Levy:
Correct,
Martha Root:
I still have a desire to serve and to be a part. I want to keep my brain going. I know that I’ve got to exercise my brain because I’ve used it for lots of things now and in order to do that. So I don’t know what, I’m not fearful of it. I just am not sure what will be. I know that missions is something that I’m really interested in and being involved. We’ve got several things right now. I’m going to E S L English is a second language and helping with people signing in. I am not trained in ESL or anything, but I can go and help those people that are trying to fill out their paperwork that don’t know what
Amanda Levy:
The
Martha Root:
Paperwork says and help them do that. So I go spend a little time, sometimes a half hour sometimes. Last week it was about an hour. They had a whole bunch of new people.
Amanda Levy:
I’ve heard that that ministry has been growing and it’s incredible booming at the seams.
Martha Root:
Yes. And it’s incredible to see all those folks coming to our church. And I know that we have a Brazilian group that meets here on Sunday nights at six 30,
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
I want to spend some time working on my language by going to their services just because I was listening to their podcast, the replay of their thing, and I was like, yeah, I can pretty much understand most everything that’s going on.
Amanda Levy:
That’s good.
Martha Root:
So I need to go and refresh my brain on Portuguese. And so that’s one thing I’m hoping that God’s going to work into my schedule after I’m really retired.
Amanda Levy:
Were there ever moments when you doubted your calling?
Martha Root:
Yeah.
Amanda Levy:
And how did God help with that?
Martha Root:
I think when I was in college, I was a music major and that’s not easy. And I was the first semester away from home. I had not been away from home. I hadn’t been away from family very much. And that was really hard. Do I really want to go back to college? And so I think that was one place that it was just God helped me because I had this determination to, he’s given me this determination to go on. There’s things there, things I had to do in radio that I was like, this is not really in my comfort zone. I don’t know how to do this. But once again, my determination and not minding, asking people questions
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
Saying, how do I do this? What do I do about this? I’m grateful. He’s given me good friends. As I look at Lee Martinez was manager for many years and we go to conventions every once in a while his wife and sometimes his daughter would go or whatever. And I met other people that were in radio. So I had friends across the country that I could call and say, what do you think?
Amanda Levy:
Nice. What advice would you have for someone who’s trying to discern what that calling is on their life?
Martha Root:
Seek God’s peace, pursue it and pursue your relationship with the Lord because that surrender is the thing that will make all the difference in your life. If you’re not surrendered to his will, then your will is not going to be the happy place to be. And so seeking him, seeking his guidance and seeking his word. And we had a slogan when we first started putting Christ first in our programming, that you might learn to put him first in your life. So where Christ is first, W C I F is a way putting Christ first in what you do and then all these other things will be what you’ll see is the miracle in your life.
Amanda Levy:
When did God kind of start stirring in your heart that it was time to take it the next step away from the radio after such a long tenure?
Martha Root:
So in 2020 I was going to be 70 and I thought this is probably a good time. When I became the manager, I had said I would stay at least two years, and that was 2016.
Amanda Levy:
You stayed at least two years. You were
Martha Root:
Grateful I did what I said. But in 2020, I had decided I was going to turn in my resignation
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
My retirement letter in 2020. But in March of 2020, things went a different way. And in my responsibility, I could not just say, okay folks, y’all got to find somebody to do this job
Amanda Levy:
In
Martha Root:
- And so I stayed and then I think I turned in a letter of resignation. Am I allowed to say how many I turned in?
Amanda Levy:
Sure.
Martha Root:
It’s
Amanda Levy:
Your story. You’re allowed to say whatever you want.
Martha Root:
I think I turned one in and they said, we’ve got this and this going on. Can you wait till next spring? And so then it ended up being the next spring before. So in 2022, I turned in my final letter of resignation and we had a party. We had a great party. I saw so many people and everything. And then we’ve continued on. So it took me a few years to really get to the point of being ready to retire, to be physically having things taken care of so that I could retire. And I still am concerned for W C I F, hope 1 0 6 3. I have a heart for radio. I have a heart for the ministry and a heart for my listeners.
Amanda Levy:
I
Martha Root:
Love my listeners. I shouldn’t call ’em my listeners, they’re God’s listeners, but they’re friends that I’ve made all these years and I want them to feel at home with the new Hope 1 0 6 3. And I want them to feel like that can be part of their life.
Amanda Levy:
What excites you for the future of Hope 1 0 6 3.
Martha Root:
You think about the goal of a hundred thousand people listening every week you think about the people. I always see faces and I think about this person that may be home bound that’s not able to get out, think about this mom that’s lonely because she’s home with a baby that’s crying. Or I think about the dad that’s by himself and doesn’t know how to lead his family. I just see different people in different roles and I see that radio can make a difference for anyone and everyone. And so it’s a way to share Jesus. You can share it with somebody that is new to the area and hasn’t found it. So I just think it can be a friend when you don’t have a friend,
Amanda Levy:
Or
Martha Root:
Even if you’ve got lots of friends, you may need somebody to. I leave my radio on all the time at home and when I come in, so there’s somebody there
Amanda Levy:
Waiting
Martha Root:
For me, greeting me. And I won’t say I like all the music, but that’s okay. There’s lots of songs I do, and God’s used it to minister in my life. And Charles Stanley said, if you’re not putting things of God into your heart, they’re not going to be there when you need them. And so you need to be putting God’s word and having that influence in your life. It’s a way to have so your family and friends are there, but this is a way to set your heart on God.
Amanda Levy:
For sure, for sure. And
Martha Root:
Having that influence in your home or in your car or whatever, it
Amanda Levy:
Sets the tone and the setting and the soundscape for, for
Martha Root:
Whatever. So it’s on all the time. And partly I was manager. I wanted it on at night so I would know that we were on the air.
Amanda Levy:
It’s still working.
Martha Root:
It’s still working. And so there’ve been times that I was like, oh wait, we’re not on the
Amanda Levy:
Air. Oops.
Martha Root:
It will call me. It would’ve called me. But I hear it. If I hear it first, then I
Amanda Levy:
Am
Martha Root:
Like, oh, that’s the way it is.
Amanda Levy:
Yeah. Okay. Finally, what advice do you have for someone who’s feeling the call to make disciples here and everywhere for the glory of God? How does someone get started?
Martha Root:
I was trying to think. Can I come up with three steps or I think
Amanda Levy:
Alliteration?
Martha Root:
Yes. Yes. I like alliteration, but seeking God and his will, seeking and serving and surrendering. I don’t know what your lot in life is, and I don’t know what the thank God’s calling you to do, being willing, having passport can’t go anywhere without a passport. That’s
Amanda Levy:
Right.
Martha Root:
But also we’ve got people next door. English is a second language, the seafarers ministry. Those are two ministries that reach the world.
Amanda Levy:
God is actively bringing the nations to us, to
Martha Root:
Us. F I t, we have a ministry there. And I think about the many students that come from abroad that this is an opportunity for them to hear about Jesus where they may not be able to hear in their country, but they’ve come to us. So lots of ways that we can minister without going to Brazil or to Romania or wherever. Just being aware of what’s going on in your neighborhood. I went to sing conference and David Platt was talking and he said, you’re on your street in your neighborhood for a reason. There may not be other Christians there, but you can be a witness
Amanda Levy:
Where
Martha Root:
You are. And so taking where you’re living and as you’re living as we go, we go with the Lord, whether it’s on our street or if it’s at the grocery store or whatever we’re doing, knowing that each thing and each way that we minister can be a real ability and a real opportunity to witness for Christ. So being willing and looking for the ways that he’s working and joining that.
Amanda Levy:
You’re good. David was just peeking in the window. It distracted me.
Martha Root:
That’s okay. We know how to cut things out.
Amanda Levy:
Yes.
Martha Root:
So I think anything it could be. It could be be on your street, on the street where you live, or it could be wherever God leaves you. But seeking and serving and surrendering to him is a way to live life on mission for King Jesus.
Amanda Levy:
Look at you working it all back in there. Didn’t even need alliteration. Thanks so much for joining us today. Martha. I know you’re really busy. You’re transitioning things, packing things up, so it means a lot that you carved out the time.
Martha Root:
I always like to talk to folks. So do I get to ask you questions?
Amanda Levy:
Sure. Who will do those off? Was there anything you wanted to say that I didn’t lead? Well,
Martha Root:
I don’t know. I can always come up with more things to say. It’s just when you work in radio, you learn. You have to keep talking. No matter whether you know what you’re going to say or
Amanda Levy:
Not. You start the sentence and you don’t know where it’s going to end
Martha Root:
And you get there. And it’s been a great time of serving the Lord. And I look forward to chapter whatever it is that’s coming next. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be at First Baptist Melbourne. We have grown so much and I see the active working of God in our church, and I’m so grateful. I look at Scott Wilson, I look at some of these others that I’ve known since they were little, little kids, and to see them grow. And as through the years I’ve had the opportunity to work with different ministers of music and different pastors and staff members that have been friends, and are many of them still friends even though they’ve moved to other locations. We still talk every once in a while. And it’s just incredible.
Amanda Levy:
It feels hard to think about the radio station without you there because you’ve been such an integral role in it.
Martha Root:
God’s got this.
Amanda Levy:
And so it’ll be interesting to see how God continues it in the future.
Martha Root:
He’s got a plan. And I haven’t ruled out that volunteering if they needed something, I didn’t rule that out because I’ve learned some things over the years and I want to be available to God, but I also want to be available for somebody else to do it too.
Amanda Levy:
Sure.
Martha Root:
So I was trying to think what my grandfather’s favorite verse was, Jeremiah 33, 3, which says, calling to me and I will answer you and show you great and marvelous things that you don’t know. And I think that’s happened in my life. I had no idea. So seeking God and surrendering to him makes a difference in every life
Amanda Levy:
For sure. And he’s not done yet
Martha Root:
And he’s not done yet. And I am a recruiter of volunteers, so you never know what I’m maybe
Amanda Levy:
Get recruited into or recruit others into. Yes. So when you see Martha on your caller, ID caution you should answer. Well, thank you, Martha. Thank
Martha Root:
You for this opportunity to share Hope 1 0 6 3 and to share about all the different things. We could spend many, many hours talking about all the things that have gone on at First Baptist Church, Melbourne, and just it’s long history. I came to Christ at this church and I think one of the things that the pastor, we had revival two weeks revival services. They weren’t one week or five days or three days or whatever. They were two weeks long. And so that’s when I came to Christ was I was sitting back there about a third of the way back and I kept saying, yeah, Lord, I know you’re calling, but
Amanda Levy:
How old were you?
Martha Root:
I was 10 or maybe nine. It was 10. Yeah. No, I was nine because I got baptized in 1960 or 61.
Amanda Levy:
I won’t hold it against you. I know.
Martha Root:
But I was around that age, around 10. And so knowing all the things about God, I had been in church all my life, but knowing that need to surrender and say, yes Lord, I know that you’re calling me. I know that I’m a sinner and that I cannot do anything about this myself, and that you are the answer. You have provided a way, a solution for my sin through Jesus Christ who loved me and died on the cross of my sin.
Amanda Levy:
And
Martha Root:
That that was a pivotal point in my life because salvation, none of this stuff makes any difference without that gift of that God has given
Amanda Levy:
Through
Martha Root:
Jesus. So knowing his grace and his mercy and the salvation that he’s promised and life in heaven with him, and it’s only through Jesus.
Amanda Levy:
Yeah. Well, awesome. I think we have a lot there. I think I’m going to hit stop. We’re good on the.