Lynelle Ellis
Executive Director
Out with the old, In with the new. You hear that phrase every year. But what if you enjoyed the olden days and precious memories of the past? What does “out with the old, in with the new mean” when tradition and nostalgia feel so warm, and you’re wary of new ways and new things?
Recently, I ran across this quote from nineteenth-century composer Gustav Mahler. “Tradition is not the worship of the ashes, but the transmission of fire.”
It got me thinking about traditions and memories, how they sustain us, and how we apply what we have experienced to the future.
We often explore the gulf between new ideas and traditional culture in media and communications. We know that when someone has not experienced an event or has fond memories around a particular tradition, the language and style of that can become a wall rather than a bridge to understanding.
But the beauty of Mahler’s observation is that it is the fire of the message that must be transmitted, not the nostalgia of what once was.
As Blue Mountain Broadcasting embarks on its thirty-fifth year, I can’t help but be nostalgic for this organization’s very first, very humble start. I was the station’s first (and only) employee, armed with a sparkling new Communications Degree, a few switches, and a teeny office upstairs in the College Place Village Church.
Every person who founded this organization was absolutely on fire for sharing Jesus and His unfailing love for our community. And we were so excited to use the latest technology to accomplish that mission.
I also couldn’t imagine a time when television wouldn’t be an ever-present part of our communication world. Yet here I am, many adventures later, working with an incredible team of talented people (some of whom have been here from the beginning), all with the same fire for sharing Jesus using the latest technology.
So I remind myself that it is not the stacks of videotapes, cumbersome cameras, fax machines, manual switches, and tiny monitors that make me feel deeply nostalgic.
It was that fire, that excitement about the mission of Blue Mountain Broadcasting. Today, we are honoring that tradition by passing that fire for Jesus forward to a new generation of communicators.
I am thrilled to be part of this transition as we enter the digital age. I am profoundly grateful that we have found incredible new (and young) people to join this mission and guide us into new frontiers.
I am grateful that you are with us on the edge of that new frontier. It’s possible that you, too, have some nostalgia for linear television, a world where you didn’t have to choose what to watch but what time to watch. I know you, too, want to transmit the fire rather than worship the ashes.
So thank you. Thank you for sustaining Blue Mountain Broadcasting for these first thirty-five years.
Thank you for what you have built for our community, and your commitment to sharing your own stories, and your passion for Jesus’ love in your life.
Most of all, thank you for your commitment to preserving local, Christ-focused television—or whatever we call it now— for the next generation and beyond. We don’t always know how it works, but we know that God will use it according to its purpose.
As you consider your year-end gifts, I hope you will think of Blue Mountain Broadcasting and contribute to being part of its fire-filled future because that is the tradition that makes an impact for eternity.