(Digital Editor's Note: This article was published first in the March 2024 print edition of The Stand.)
Sixty-nine years old and going strong, the Rev. Don Wildmon makes his way to the office about an hour before everyone else each morning. It’s another day in the life of American Family Association, and Brother Don is ready to face it head-on.
For 30 years, Don has been on the front line of America’s culture war. The battle is raging now more than ever, which is all the more reason for Don to remain faithful to the call God placed on his life to form AFA in 1977. To celebrate the organization’s 30th anniversary, Don Wildmon goes behind the scenes of AFA and inside the rooms of his heart to reveal the man and the mission behind the ministry.
AFA Journal: Was AFA always a full-time effort?
Don Wildmon: This was a full-time effort from day one – 16, 17 hours a day, nearly 7 days a week. I had to do everything myself, but work has never bothered me. I traveled a good bit and ran the ministry out of our dining room with a desk and a phone and a small offset press I bought with my own funds. I went two-and-a-half years before I had any help at all.
But my wife Lynda was very supportive. She, in fact, went back to work teaching soon after I began the ministry. I was paid a salary of $1,800 the first year that AFA began.
AFAJ: Did you get support from your church?
DW: I was still a pastor when we first began, and they were supportive of “Turn the TV Off Week.” Soon after that, I made the decision to leave the parish ministry, and as far as my denomination, I can’t remember anything they did. I can remember a few times when they opposed what I was trying to do. In the early years, the most critical letters I received came from fellow pastors who were telling me “God is love” in letters that had hate oozing off the page.
AFAJ: What is the church’s problem?
DW: It’s probably a combination of many factors. We’ve had at least one generation – maybe two now – grow up on television. And they’ve seen millions of commercials, and they’ve heard the liberal/secular message since they were kids, and there’s a weakness in the church. The church has not really dealt with the basic fundamentals much. The church has isolated itself, and I’m not so sure it hasn’t forgotten its mission to be salt and light.
AFAJ: So what is AFA doing in response to this?
DW: We’re trying to inform people who want information. We’re trying to involve people who care and want to get involved. We’re trying to affect the culture around us. The church ought to be doing all of those things. Unfortunately, too often, the church’s success is measured by buildings, budgets, and baptisms.
AFAJ: How has God blessed AFA?
DW: The older I get, the more evident it is that God has been behind this ministry. He’s brought good people who are willing to work hard. I remember one time when I was struggling financially. I had sat down that morning and figured up that I owed $5,000. I didn’t have $5,000. I didn’t know where $5,000 was coming from. That afternoon I got a call from a businessman. We talked, and he said, “Well, you’re doing good work, and I’m going to put you a check in the mail for $5,000.” A year later, I was again in debt $5,000. Didn’t know where the money was coming from – and I don’t waste money; I squeeze the penny. I got a call from another businessman. I didn’t even mention it [my debt]. He said, “Oh, by the way, my wife and I just put a check in the mail to you for $5,000.” There have been a few things like that. Has God directed this ministry? I think He has, despite all my faults.
AFAJ: What is your view of the pro-family movement?
DW: I think the Lord pulled us together. Most of the leaders in the late ’70s came up about the same time, but we didn’t know each other. We are a lot more unified now. For example, three years ago, I organized the Arlington Group, and there are about 50 national ministries represented in that group, and we come together about every two or three months. I think that’s been one good thing that’s come about.
AFAJ: How did American Family Radio become part of AFA?
DW: I came up with the idea of using radio after reading Religious Broadcasting magazine for another reason. I came across this little item about how the FCC was going to allow you to send your signal by satellite, and that opened up a whole new world. So we began a strategy of building translators – small repeater stations. That was a God thing.
AFAJ: Where do you see AFA going in the immediate future?
DW: We’ll go on with radio. We’ll go on with the printed AFA Journal. But a major push will be in the area of internet because it goes straight to somebody’s home. We saw that the internet was going to become the communication tool of the future. We now have a new communication center that hosts all of our internet and news divisions.
AFAJ: Where do you see AFA at its 60th anniversary?
DW: Where we’re going to be 30 years from now, I don’t know, but I would expect the ministry – unless it loses its orientation – to be much larger and more effective. You’re called to be faithful, not successful. You go on with the hope that you haven’t lost the culture war, with the hope that you can still win it. Your responsibility is to fight the battle. The outcome is not in your hands.
AFAJ: What has been the most difficult challenge over the years?
DW: The failure to convey to the church the situation that we’re in. In fact, I spent 15 years or longer trying to do that. Finally, I said it’s not going to happen, so I quit worrying with it. There’s nothing you can do. The church is there. It’s asleep. People in the church have jobs and families and school and everything else, and this doesn’t touch them directly right now. It will later. But I’m afraid that by the time they realize what’s happening, it may be too late.
AFAJ: Do you ever feel like giving up?
DW: No. I’ve felt like quitting. In the early years, I argued with the Lord many times. It nearly about took what religion I had out of me. It did shape some of my views over the years, but that was the most difficult period I had to go through. People that I felt should simply be 100% behind Christian morality were the ones who wrote the most hateful, mean-spirited letters to me about love.
AFAJ: So why do you press on?
DW: This is what the Lord called me to do. Look, when it’s all said and done, nobody here is going to say this or that about Don Wildmon. One of these days, I’ll see the Lord, and I can honestly say I did the best that I knew how. I think that’s the answer that He wants.
