he journey from the temporary office in Oregon teenager LaVerne Tucker’s bedroom to the newly renovated 16,000-square-foot headquarters in Redlands, California, has taken 64 years.

The Quiet Hour ministry has grown from a half-hour weekly radio program to a full-time outreach. The Quiet Hour, one of the first ministries to experiment in Adventist television, inaugurated the first donor-sponsored broadcast ministry to focus on overseas missions, introduced Del Delker to Adventist media evangelism, and became the first ASI-supporting ministry to send its speaker as an overseas evangelist.

J. L. Tucker, a pastor from Portland, Oregon, set up an office in his son’s room and began preparing for his first broadcast on July 7, 1939.

Tucker invited his listeners to name the radio program and reminded them that everyone needed “a quiet hour.” Listeners responded, stating that he himself had given the program a name: The Quiet Hour.

As a means of strengthening the ministry, Tucker began distributing the Quiet Hour magazine, Echoes, which included sermons, poems, and other inspiration reflecting the broadcast’s spiritual tone. He also began writing Bible study lessons that were later incorporated into the Way of Life Bible correspondence course.

In 1949, 12 years later, while pastoring the Oakland, California, Adventist Church, Tucker added a live television ministry to the broadcast mix. There he led Del Delker to the study of God’s Word and invited her to sing for The Quiet Hour.

Tucker learned that one way to involve supporters was to invite them to do something significant not only for the broadcast but also for others. The Quiet Hour challenged listeners to begin raising money to provide airplanes for carrying the gospel message to hard-to-reach posts of labor. Funding for the first airplane, which was earmarked for Papua New Guinea, was completed in April 1966.

During the next decade LaVerne Tucker launched the Search telecast to supplement the ministry. By 1985 he had assumed the presidency of the Quiet Hour ministry, by then a full-time outreach based in Redlands, California. Keeping pace with the times, the 15-minute daily broadcast New Way of Life began in 1989.

A third-generation pastor, Bill Tucker, assumed the presidency in 1993, as the multimedia ministry continued to expand. A half-hour Windows of Hope telecast appeared on 3ABN and across Canada on the Vision Network, followed by the Whole Life daily radio broadcast of two-minute health tips. Last year the contemporary weekly 15-minute inspirational program DoorWays was inaugurated.

Overseas Missions
Since 1966, 56 mission planes have been funded, primarily for ministry to Africa, South and Central America, and the South Pacific. Hundreds of national workers on several continents received bicycles or motorcycles to help them travel in their territories; dozens of boats and minibuses are making medical missions more accessible; jeeps and tractors are making agricultural programs more productive.

More than 2 million Bibles in scores of languages have been distributed; thousands of youth have received a Christian education; more than 3,200 churches, jungle chapels, and lamb shelters have been erected in many parts of the world (200 village chapels in India alone); and hundreds of gospel workers have been sponsored by gifts from the Quiet Hour’s supporters.

Worldwide Evangelism
In an effort to fulfill the goal outlined in its mission statement, “to introduce people everywhere to Jesus Christ,” the Quiet Hour appointed a full-time director of evangelism, James Zachary, a “retired” associate from the General Conference Ministerial Association and a former missionary.

Cooperating with requesting church divisions, this department arranged for 212 teams of clergy and laypersons to present the gospel to thousands in 39 countries during the year 2000. Plans call for even greater outreach in the future.

Costa Rica, Ghana, Paraguay, and Venezuela alone have identified nearly 3,000 sites where they are requesting help from the visiting evangelistic teams this year. Requests for 2002 exceed 12,000. Half the 35 staffers at the Quiet Hour have participated in at least one of these overseas outreaches, and all have donated toward the building of two chapels in India.

North American Emphasis
In North America the Quiet Hour has teamed with Morning Song Ministries to program sequence evangelism in four locations, beginning in Pennsylvania. Based on the highly successful pilot program in Hays, Kansas, sequence evangelism will precede an evangelistic series with four free gospel concerts. The 80-member La Crosse, Kansas, congregation added 44 to their roster following the pilot program in nearby Hays three years ago. Just as significant was the new Christian enthusiasm of the existing congregation, says Pastor Ed Jumper.

The Quiet Hour Board inaugurated another pilot project with Joedy and Judy Melashenko to increase mission awareness in Adventist schools across the country through programming and mission trips with Maranatha Volunteers International.

All television production for Windows of Hope (featuring Bill and Jackie Tucker) is completed in Canada (meeting the criteria for Canadian content) as well as being used in the U.S. Roy West coordinates Canadian ministries.

Marilyn Senier, vice president for ministry operations, has ensured immediate service for the monthly average of 500 new students in the Bible school’s beginning course and another 140 in the advanced course. Phil Robertson, vice president for finance operations, has managed the remodeling and expansion program at the Redlands headquarters entirely debt-free.

The Quiet Hour is still on-air across the country and overseas on Adventist World Radio, and around the globe online. No part of the ministry, however, would be possible without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the blessing of God, the selfless service of more than 100 volunteers, and the thousands of generous donors.

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Shirley Burton, editor of publications, Adventist-Laymen’s Services and Industries and Quiet Hour board member.