The TV Ministry was formed subconsciously due to a rather tragic chain of events that began around 1974. I was an eager kindergartner and my sister was a joyous fifth grader. Both are ages big for television viewing, but such was not going to be the case for us.

One fall evening as we stared transfixed on whatever show happened to be on, our mother raced over in a plant watering frenzy with a jug of water to water a plant that sat atop the television. The planter overflowed into the back of our beloved TV, forever turning off its welcoming glow.

Times were tight, so a new TV was out of the question. Instead, we spent our evenings playing with toys, reading, and being read to by our mother. This of course, left us out in the cold with our friends at school, they would talk of TV shows and cartoons we had no knowledge of, and when invited to a friend’s home their televisions became a hypnotic eye.

Then in 1976, a tragic event occurred that forever changed our lives– Our grandparents died within weeks of each other, leaving their inherited television at the head of our living room, in the spot that had been for so long vacant. Though it was hardly a pleasing substitute for our loving and wonderful grandparents, we did use that television everyday until the late Eighties, when it’s replacement was forced.

Since that time, the television in our homes was never off, it ran from morning to night, no matter what was going on around it. Perhaps it was our way of keeping our Grandparent’s memory alive, or some strange homage to them. All I know for sure is that the TV is the single biggest thing in the lives of most every American today, and we are finally no exception.

--General Amy