Negotiations had volleyed back and forth for a couple of years. Finally, in June 1973, CFQC-TV agreed to sell 30 minutes of program time each week to University Drive Alliance Church. Walter Boldt walked away thinking, "What have I done? The station just committed themselves to a thirty-minute program. That means fifty-two weeks a year. They want to start this fall, and I have only the summer months to put a program together. I have no personnel, no musical group, no experience and no time. There must be something wrong with my head. I can never do itl" And yet a deep urge that he must begin a television program had caused the visit to the local station.
J. Allan Petersen from Omaha, Nebraska arrived for a family crusade later that month and agreed to be the first T. V. guest. They began taping the interviews with nothing but a vision.
After receiving $15,000 cash and $60,000 worth of books from Dr. Ken Taylor, Walter had confirmation that God wanted the program to start. Further discussions that fall resulted in 15- minute broadcasts for the first few years.
Walter Boldt recalls: "The next detail to cause me anxiety was the guests. 'How am I ever going to get all these specialists coming?' I need not have worried. I can say to the glory of God that never have we been short of guests. We have always had them ahead of time. They have come when I least expected them but always come in God's timing. We have interviewed a variety of interesting, well-qualified people including J. Allan Petersen, Dr. Mark Lee and Dr. Henry Brandt.
As God met all our needs, He expected us to move ahead. Our next step of faith involved the decision to air Turning Point on other stations. We began with Calgary, Alberta. Listeners responded. Gradually we reached out to include Swift Current and Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Then Edmonton, Alberta and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Responses, indicating that God was touching lives, flooded in. Some were written on business stationery, others on floral or Scripture text stationery. Some letters were tear-offs from memo or prescription pads, others were written on newsprint, looseleaf or graph paper, work-order or book-order forms, even recipe file cards and parts of calendars. Fragments of paper carrying evident of fragmented lives. Many were counselled. I was tremendously encouraged.
With the passage of time came the increasing conviction that the 15-minutes program had run its course. A cab driver verbalized our predictability to me. As he drove, I asked if he had ever seen Turning Point. 'Sure,' he replied, 'that's the show where you always talk about family problems.' The challenge to provide greater variety persisted. Turning Point moved to a 5:30 p.m. Sunday time slot and a 30-minute program.
Besides adding more music we included a direct Biblical message. As I give the message, I have more visibility with the audience allowing more time to for a relationship with them. Responses suggest a great need for people to hear from the church in their community. As they come to identify with the local church, they begin to feel free to seek help there. I believe we need more local church programs."
During the first ten years of the Turning Point ministry, Pastor Boldt received more than 16,000 letters. Countless people have become aware of the Alliance's desire to see broken families restored through Christ. The television ministry continued to provide hope to the viewers for the 16 years that it was broadcast.
This program reached a trans-denominational audience of around 42,000 people each Sunday. Often done with the tag-ends of people's energies, God used it to help change people's attitudes toward the Gospel, warming them to church and salvation.
Watch the final airing of Turning Point in Saskatoon.
Interview Set
TV Studio
Turning Point Singers 1978
Turning Point Singers 1976
Quartet 1978
Photos by Al Willems
Historical Flashbacks were researched and written by Lorraine Willems. Copyright 2003 and 2013 by copyright holders.