Meet the Staff
Roger Lonnquist, Network General Manager
I grew up in Wisconsin, where I got started in secular radio when I was in junior high, working at a station my Dad managed. The more I got involved in radio work, the more I loved it, and I was always impressed with the power of radio to convey a message to thousands of people all at the same time.
As a young guy, I poured myself into my radio career in an effort to reach the goals I had set for my personal "success"...success as I understood it back then, anyway!
It was while working at a radio station in Texas that I began to realize that something wasn't right, and God began to show me that those who hunger and thirst for Him and His way of life are the ones who are filled...not those who seek what this world has to offer. Not long after that I was transferred to south Florida, where the company I worked for owned one of the raunchiest rock stations in America! Though I was actively involved in the trashy things done on that station, the Lord kept working on me, and every day after I got off the air I would go out to my car and listen to WMCU - a Christian radio station in Miami. It was listening to a woman give her testimony on WMCU that finally woke me up to the fact that I needed to change directions, and make Jesus Christ the Lord over my life.
A few months later I quit my job, and came to Montana, planning to spend one year here working in secular radio and doing some thinking about life! God so faithfully orchestrated circumstances, and got me acquainted with a number of Christian people who He used to direct me to His path.
A couple of those people were involved with a little radio ministry up in Havre called "KXEI - Your Channel of Praise", and in February, 1989, I began volunteering time to that wonderful little ministry! By the end of 1989 I had joined the Board of Directors of KXEI and was growing increasingly excited about what God was doing there! There was clearly something special about KXEI radio!
Finally, in 1999, I sold my radio station in Helena, and Ed Matter (YNOP's General Manager back then) invited me to join the staff of Your Network of Praise.
It has now been more than 25 years since I first got involved with KXEI, and during this past quarter-century I've had the privilege of watching "Your Channel of Praise" grow from one radio station and a couple translators on the hi-line of Montana, to the present regional ministry operating about 50 FM facilities in 4 states! Then there's the international work that began in 2009, which is now growing into YNOP International Ministries. I've been incredibly blessed to be part of it!
There have been many highlights along the way...far too many to write about...but, the one I will never forget took place at 6:00am, June 3, 1991, when KVCM in Helena signed-on for the very first time! My wife, Janice, and I had been up most of the night, trying to get equipment at the KVCM tower site working...we got it fired up with just hours to spare before the scheduled sign-on. We both got a bit choked up at 6:00am when the National Anthem played, and our dear friend Paul Rangen (KXEI's Assistant Manager) prayed a beautiful prayer of dedication to kick off the new station! We could scarcely believe it...Your Channel of Praise was now on the air on TWO stations!
Since "station #2", KVCM, signed on in 1991, there have been a lot more of them added to this network...each having its own stories of how God made it happen! Each one on the air to bring the hope of Jesus to its community.
My personal hope for every man, woman, and young person who gets to listen to one of these stations is that each will come to understand the depth and magnitude of God's love for them; that each will come to know Him so well that they cannot allow anything but Him to motivate their choices and plans in life; and that each will come to that place where they truly can say "All to Jesus I surrender", and let Him have their lives completely! I pray that everything we do at YNOP will help in that process.
In addition to managing Your Network of Praise I have the privilege of being involved in Christian TV ministry as well. In 2004, Janice and I started Family TV, Inc., which has built Christian TV stations in a couple Montana cities, and one in Maine. The focus is reaching young people as the TV stations air Christian music videos, movies, comedy, and contemporary Christian teaching programs.
I also have the privilege of being a member of the President's Council of the National Religious Broadcasters Association, serve as a member of the NRB's TV Committee, and am on the board of a Christian school. Life does stay busy, but it is a joy to be part of these great organizations that are dedicated to bringing people to Christ!
For fun, I enjoy motorcycle riding...I truly cherish every hour that I can be out on the road on my 1985 Honda Shadow! This was a gift from my wife a few years ago, and I have really enjoyed riding from my office in Helena to YNOP's offices in Havre and Kalispell, and many other locations around the state!
We live in a world which desperately needs Jesus...and we have so little time to proclaim Him during these short lives we have on the earth! I hope that the things you hear on YNOP will motivate you to a closer relationship with Him, so that you will be able to wholeheartedly live for Him and give everything you have to Him and His work while you have the opportunity!
As YNOP celebrates more than 30 years of broadcasting God's message, I think back to those days in Florida, so long ago, when I was a young man in need of God's truth, sitting alone in my car listening to WMCU radio. I have to wonder how often that scene has been repeated here in Montana, and the neighboring states and provinces, as some dear person found the truth they were needing through something they heard on YNOP.
I am deeply grateful for all of God's people who have been part of this ministry, and who share with us in all that He has done here! And, I pray that during the years ahead we will continually see an outpouring of Him on this ministry and those who listen to it so that we can see, more than ever, the fulfillment of the word that "our God can do immeasurably more than all we ask or even imagine, through His power that is work within us"!
May God richly bless you!