Before she finished speaking, Grace made a stirring call for all those who felt called to missions to come to the altar at the front of the auditorium. Then she turned to Clarence and said, “Will you please lead the singing for the altar call.”
Clarence looked sheepishly back at her. “I’m sorry, I can’t,” he replied. “I’m going to the altar myself!”
As one of the other musicians led the singing, Clarence left the platform and walked to the altar. Grace Larson’s words had deeply touched him. The Larsons had persevered in the face of many challenges and great difficulties, and God had been faithful to them. In trying to establish a Christian radio station in Latin America, Clarence had faced many challenges and difficulties. But instead of trusting God, he had allowed those things to pile up and eventually bring him down and sap his faith. With his eyes closed and his head bowed, Clarence rededicated his life to missionary service.
After the service, Clarence and Katherine took Grace out for a milk shake. “Have you ever thought about using radio in Ecuador?” Clarence asked casually as they sipped their milk shakes.
Grace’s eyes lit up. “Yes, it’s Reuben’s dream to reach them all with radio. He talks about hanging ‘singing radios’ from bamboo trees out in the jungle. Can you imagine the impact that coming across a radio booming out Christian songs in their own language would have on the Indians.”
“Yes, I can,” Clarence replied, his heart beating fast. “How do you think the Ecuadorian government would feel about issuing a radio license to a Protestant organization?”
“I’m not sure,” Grace said, taking another sip of her milk shake. “In some ways Ecuador is the most progressive country in South America. It had the first university and the first hospital. I suppose it could have the first radio station on the continent as well. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it were a Christian one?”
“Yes, it would,” Clarence replied, feeling hope rising in his heart but hardly daring to trust his feelings. The last thing he wanted was another faith-sapping adventure.
As the conversation wound down, Clarence invited the Larson family to stay with them when they came to speak in Chicago.
It was another month before the Larsons were due to arrive in Chicago, and during that time Clarence often found himself wondering whether the injunction to go south with radio was finally about to become a reality.
Finally, in January 1930, Reuben and Grace Larson, along with their two children, Dick and Peggy, arrived to stay with the Joneses in their apartment. Soon after the Larsons’ arrival, Katherine invited the Clark family to join them all for dinner one evening, and soon the children were having a riotous time together. While they jumped on beds and slid down the arms of the sofa, the six adults were in deep conversation.
The hours ticked by as Clarence told of his leading to start a radio station in South America and how frustrated he had become when things did not work out. The Larsons and the Clarks explained what they knew of how the government of Ecuador worked, and at 3:00 AM they all prayed together.
By now the children had fallen asleep on the floor, and the room was quiet except for their prayers. “Lord, we pledge ourselves to bring to reality the vision of missionary broadcasting. Go before us, Lord, and open the way,” Clarence prayed.
Now that they had pledged themselves to making Christian radio a reality in South America, each man took on a role. Since Reuben already enjoyed a good relationship with the government of Ecuador, he volunteered to work on gaining a permit from the government for such a venture. He planned to start as soon as his furlough was over. Clarence and John agreed to join ranks at home and raise money and spread the word about the new endeavor.
Over the next several days, the three men hammered out in writing the aims and purposes of the radio station to present to the government. As Clarence thought back over his previous experiences trying to persuade South American governments to give him a radio license, he realized that the time he had spent visiting South America had not been wasted after all. He had gained useful insight into the government officials’ fears, and now as they wrote, he did all he could to allay them.
The men promised that the radio station would always send a positive, hopeful message and that it would not promote any one denomination or comment on political situations. It would also offer the government radio time to broadcast farming advice, weather reports, and cultural programs. In exchange the men asked that the government lift the tariffs on all of the radio equipment they would need to import and allow long-term visas for radio workers.
The document the three men wrote with the president of Ecuador in mind stated in part:
We desire to present this offer to your esteemed President and the people of Ecuador.…
We desire to join forces with Mr. Larson and his associates for a larger and more efficient spreading of the Gospel in Ecuador by means of a radio broadcasting station to be erected, with your permission, by us at Quito or some satisfactory place.
While we desire to install this station primarily for Gospel purposes, there are other advantages that will come through it to Ecuador. Here are a few.… It will pioneer the way for later systems of communication.… It will open vast sections of Ecuador’s interior to world news and happenings.… It will allow for regular instruction classes in the language and history of Ecuador to educate the poorer classes in the villages and inaccessible mountain districts.… It will allow broadcasting of the Presidential messages.… Most important of all, it will at once bring Ecuador further into the march of world progress which other South American governments have already entered.…
We propose to carry out, with your permission, the following plan for Gospel radio broadcasting in Ecuador…to erect a modern, thoroughly equipped radio broadcasting transmitter for Gospel broadcasting; and to place receiving sets (free of cost) at convenient places throughout the country to receive the Gospel messages we broadcast.…
May we remind you that our whole objective in presenting this offer is the unselfish motive of every true Missionary who desires to further the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the blessing of Ecuador, spiritually and economically.
Excited by the prospects of what lay ahead, Clarence could hardly wait to tell everyone at the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle about their intentions. When he did, to his surprise, the plan received a mixed reception. By now most Christians at the tabernacle had adjusted to the idea that radio could be used for godly means, but the idea of using it on the foreign mission field was still laughed at. Some in the congregation called the idea “Jones’s folly” and pointed out that Reuben Larson had said that there were only six radio receivers in the whole of Ecuador. Even Paul Rader’s sister was skeptical. “What’s the point of sending out a radio message if no one can receive it. It’s like putting gasoline stations in a country where there are no cars,” she said.
Clarence had thought about that too, but it was a case of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Until there was a radio station in the country, there was no reason for anyone to own a radio. Yet if a radio station were set up, there was no equipment to hear it on.
Other people, including Clarence’s brother-in-law Chet, were concerned about the timing of the whole venture. After the Wall Street crash in October 1929, the United States was in financial turmoil. Unemployment rose every day, and interest rates were making it impossible for those with jobs to stay in their own homes. It was not a good time to start a new mission, especially one that needed expensive equipment.
Clarence had one answer for those who doubted whether he was doing the right thing or not. “What you are saying might be exactly right, but when you start a work of this kind, everything is an obstacle. And the more obstacles you have, the more opportunities there are for God to do something.”
Clarence knew it seemed foolhardy from a human standpoint, but he also knew that people had laughed at Paul Rader when he began his radio ministry just eight years before. “Although it seems like poor timing,” he told people, “we believe it’s God’s timing, and we will press ahead.”
The next obstacle for the men to overcome was to gain permission from the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA), under whose auspices Reuben Larson and John Clark served, to move ahead with their plans. The leader of the Christian and Missionary Alliance was Dr. Walter Turnbull. Clarence had met Dr. Turnbull several times, since Paul was very active in the CMA movement. Clarence, Reuben, and John set out for Pittsburgh, where the CMA was holding its annual conference. The three men were tense as they met with Dr. Turnbull. If he did not see the potential of radio in South America and did not give his blessing to the project, they could not go on with it together.
Dr. Turnbull put the three young men at ease right away. “Yes, yes,” he beamed, “radio is full of possibilities. We must think in broad strokes here. To reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need strong transmitters in three locations. I have given it some thought myself, and I believe we need one in the Philippines for Asia, one somewhere in South America for the millions of Spanish and Portuguese speakers, and one in Palestine for Africa and the Moslem world.”
The three men nodded. Dr. Turnbull continued, warming even more to his subject. “If you can get into South America and launch gospel radio from there, go for it!”
Clarence, Reuben, and John were elated by Dr. Turnbull’s response. Now they could move ahead with the project at full speed. In fact, the Larsons were heading back to Ecuador at the end of the conference, and Reuben promised to present the proposal to the Ecuadorian government as soon as he arrived in Quito.
At the conference Clarence was introduced to Paul Young. Paul was one of the earliest CMA missionaries, having gone to serve in Ecuador in 1919. He had arrived from Ecuador to attend the conference, and when he learned what Clarence, Reuben, and John were planning, he became very excited. Paul was passionate about sharing the gospel with as many people as possible in his lifetime, and he immediately saw how radio could help to exponentially increase the number of people who could hear the gospel at one time. Paul lent his support to the project and offered to help the three young men in any way he could once he got back to Ecuador.
Clarence said good-bye to Reuben and Grace and left the conference brimming with faith and enthusiasm. Sure, there would be challenges ahead, but with God’s blessing, they would overcome them all.
Before returning to Chicago, Clarence decided to take the train to Washington, D.C. He had heard that the U.S. State Department had done some research on good places to locate radio transmitters in Central and South America, and he was eager to hear where they thought the best place in Ecuador would be.
It was a hot, humid day in Washington as Clarence made his way along Pennsylvania Avenue. Clarence thought about how well everything was falling into place as he padded his way up the steps and entered the imposing Department of State building. Inside the building the temperature was almost chilly as he made his way down a corridor to the reception area.
“I would like to see a secretary in the South American division,” Clarence told the middle-aged man with graying hair who sat behind the information desk.
“And whom shall I say is calling, sir?” the man asked.
“Jones. Clarence Jones,” Clarence replied.
Several minutes later Clarence was led down another corridor and into a large, airy office. A well-dressed official shook Clarence’s hand and invited him to sit down in one of the chairs beside the desk. “I understand you want to know about radio in South America,” the official began. “How can I help you?”
