Beam Keeps at It with Talk Radio 'Christian Worldview Today'

Tigerville SC (June 21, 2016) “I’m very passionate. If I’m with you, I’m with you to the death. If I’m ‘agin ya,’ as my daddy would say, I’ll fight you to the death,” says Tony Beam.

Nowhere is Beam’s passion more evident than on his early morning talk radio show, “Christian Worldview Today.” In 2016, he celebrates 15 years with the show. But he’s been on-air for much longer than that.

As a music education major at Limestone College, Beam landed his first official radio gig, playing country music and football games. On the side, he traveled with his mobile disco setup of turntables and spinning lights to deejay at teen sock hop parties. 

After graduation, Beam went on to work for The Water’s Edge radio station near Lake Marion in South Carolina. At The Water’s Edge, Beam hosted his first morning show and also sold advertising for the station. 

For Beam, this was the dream. He’d grown up listening to talk radio, tuning in to Paul Harvey and Ronald Reagan over plates of livermush with his father in their Ellenboro, N.C., home. 

Beam continued working in radio for the next several years. But when he and his wife became Christians in the 1980s, his direction in life changed. Beam decided to go to seminary and become a pastor.

Along with ministry, he says that he also became increasingly concerned with politics during his “formative Christian years.” In that way, the two interests always coincided for Beam.

“It was my involvement in [the pro-life movement] that got me interested in paying close attention to politics as a believer,” Beam says. “Jesus said we are salt and light; I believe He meant we’re to live out our faith in the public arena, to live out our faith in every aspect of our lives.” 

So when Beam earned another opportunity for airtime in 2001, he decided to talk about that — especially about integrating faith in the political sphere. Today, he still shares that same central message on his show “Christian Worldview Today,” which airs on the Greenville-based radio station Christian Talk 660 every Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.  

In fact, “This American Life” — one of the most popular podcasts in the nation — recently featured Beam in a segment focused on his experience as a conservative radio talk show host during the current presidential election.

On the podcast, Beam opened up and admitted that it has been difficult to maintain a positive attitude with callers who don’t seem to make the connection between their moral values and their actual voting practices.

“I’m part of an angry genre,” says Beam. “When I listen to talk radio in general, there’s a side of it that, if the host doesn’t manage the anger, what comes across is an unreasonable anger I don’t think is good for debate.”

He says that he’s still learning to balance passion with Christian virtues like patience on his show.

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that I need to make sure . . . Passion is a good thing, but it’s not what you build your platform on,” says Beam. “You have to build your platform on the fruit of the Spirit.”

These days, Beam’s platform takes shape both on air and off. In 2004, he accepted a position at North Greenville University to begin the university's first Christian Worldview Center. Now, he not only teaches Old Testament, Cults and New Age, and Christian Worldview courses, but he also oversees the Life Answers apologetics team and even serves as the university’s vice president of student life.

Outside of NGU, Beam has continued work in pastoral ministry, serving as an interim pastor at more than 10 different churches over the years.

With so many responsibilities, why does he still stay in radio?

“That’s a question I ask myself about every other day,” Beam laughs. “There are plenty of times when I think, ‘This is crazy. I need to give this up.’”

But after the podcast aired, Beam received an outpouring of the sorts of comments that help to energize him:

“Every single email has been along the lines of ‘I didn’t know people like you were out there. I thought all evangelicals were blowhards and holier than thou and don’t have a real thought process. When I heard you, [you gave] me hope that there are true believers out there that can speak about politics without turning me into something I shouldn’t be,’” he recalls. “The radio show, to me, is a way for the salt and the light to be seen.”

For Beam, that’s enough to keep the mic on.

For more information about NGU’s Christian Worldview Center and Life Answers team, visit ngu.edu/worldview-center.php.

 

 

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