SPOTLIGHT
Telling the Gospel Truth
The gospel of grace drives Andrew Wommack’s TV ministry.
Andrew Wommack tells it like it is. For more than three decades the amiable Texan with a singing accent has been teaching thousands of Christians over radio and TV about God’s unconditional love and grace.
“I believe that the message God has placed in my heart will set people free from the bondage of religion,” he told Charisma. “And once they are free from that, they can begin to operate in the balance of grace and faith that will cause their lives to flourish here on earth.”
Wommack launched his media-based teaching ministry in 1976 on daily radio in Texas. His TV show, Gospel Truth, began airing from Colorado Springs, Colo., in January 2000.
“I told my partners what the Lord was leading me to do, and they gave me the first $75,000 to buy [broadcast] equipment,” he says of the shoestring budget.
Though the TV program initially reached only 1 percent of U.S. households, by 2006 he says it was broadcasting in 40 percent of the market. By last month, Gospel Truth was in more than 60 percent of the nation’s homes on networks such as INSP, Daystar, GOD TV, The Church Channel and Cornerstone Network. It also airs in tens of millions of homes worldwide.
Wommack says his TV program is part of his overall teaching ministry, which today includes a Bible college, training seminars and audio recordings. “The format of our program has never changed,” he says. “I am a teacher, and within 30 seconds of the beginning of our broadcast, we are teaching.”
Holding Bible studies in his Texas home with his wife, Jamie, more than three decades ago is where he learned to develop his teaching gift, Wommack says. Within a few years he was pastoring at a small church. After launching and growing his radio ministry, he moved his family to Colorado Springs in 1980, where Andrew Wommack Ministries is now headquartered.
Gospel Truth generates feedback from viewers around the globe. “The [Bible] works for them like it does for anyone, and they are seeing great results in their lives,” he says. “People are being saved, healed and delivered. Families are being restored.”
The TV ministry airs throughout Europe, Russia, Africa and Asia. Wommack says that he will soon be opening offices in Canada and Uganda. One of his goals in the U.S. is to have the message of God’s grace and unconditional love available in every market by 2012, he says.
LEILANI HAYWOOD
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