Over the Airwaves

Whit is out of town, and only Connie and Lucy have shown up for Bible study at Whit's End - so Connie switches on the radio instead. Out of the speaker comes Whit himself, hosting KYDS Kids Radio and asking a big question: who gets into the Kingdom of Heaven? Callers guess everything from being really good to going to church to something about crystals, but Whit answers with Jesus' own parables from Matthew 21 and 22. First, two kids are told to mow the lawn - one says no but does it anyway, while the other says yes and watches a movie instead. Then a wild western serial tells of ranch tenants who beat the rent collectors and finally gun down the owner's own son at high noon... just as the leaders of Jesus' day rejected him. The kingdom isn't won by being good or religious, Whit says, but by repenting and believing. By the time he signs off, the room at Whit's End has quietly filled with kids - and they answer his experiment with a cheer.

Found on Just In Time Album 09 · 14 episodes

The run See every episode

1 of 3 0135 Back to Bethlehem While posing for a nativity display at Whit's End, Connie and Eugene are sent by the Imagination Station to first-century Bethlehem, where their debate over what Christmas was really like collides with a crowded inn, a mysterious star, and restless Roman soldiers.

2 of 3 0136 Back to Bethlehem While the census crowds Bethlehem to bursting, two time-displaced visitors find themselves swept into the very night they only ever knew from nativity scenes.

3 of 3 0137 Back to Bethlehem Trapped in first-century Bethlehem on the night of the nativity, Connie and Eugene must untangle two unwanted marriage proposals, a hot-headed young zealot, and the suspicions of a Roman general before they can witness the moment they came to see.

0138 The Adventure of the Adventure At Whit's End, an inventor's dream of making stories come to life sends kids into the greatest adventures imaginable - with plenty of mishaps, surprises, and laughter along the way.

0139 Melanie's Diary When Robyn laughs off her little sister's diary as harmless fun, she learns the hard way that private things have a way of becoming very public.

0140 The Vow When a schoolyard checklist for predicting divorce starts matching her own family, a worried Donna hatches a plan to hold her parents together - contract and all.

0141 Over the Airwaves When Bible study night takes an unexpected form, a broadcast from the little radio station at Whit's End brings Jesus' parables of the kingdom to life as a family drama and a Wild West showdown.

0142 Train Ride A weary Whit and Eugene board a train home to Odyssey, only to find the ride crowded with old grudges, curious strangers, and trouble that refuses to stay quiet.

0143 Muckraker A young school-paper reporter goes hunting for her first big consumer exposé and learns that chasing an important story can be far trickier than it looks.

0144 Someone to Watch over Me When a boy is thrust from his bedroom into a series of increasingly strange adventures - always aboard a ship called the Wonder, always pursued by the same relentless enemy - he must figure out why he can't wake up.

0145 The Second Coming A young girl becomes convinced a TV preacher's formula has revealed the exact day of Jesus' return - and she intends to be ready.

0146 Emotional Baggage When an unwelcome relative's visit forces Connie out of her room and into old memories, Whit devises an unusual game to show her the true weight of what she's been carrying.

0147 Where There's a Will... When a big job offer threatens to uproot the Barclay family from Odyssey, each family member tries their own method of figuring out what God wants them to do.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 16 more roles

3 featured characters

George Barclay Chuck Bolte Donna Barclay Azure Janosky Jesus Christ John Eldredge

13 supporting roles

Commercial Narrator Phil Lollar John (c) Phil Lollar Jeremy Cartwood Hal Smith Matt Cartwood Hal Smith Headlock Harry Bob Luttrell John McBear Dave Arnold Silver-Saddle Slapper Stephanie Katie Leigh Trigger-Finger Troy Phil Lollar Wes Chester Walker Edmiston Narrator (d) Bob Luttrell Religious Leader #1 Will Ryan Religious Leader #2 Phil Lollar Radio caller Phil Lollar

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Paul McCusker Writer Phil Lollar Director · Producer Dave Arnold Sound Designer · Producer Chuck Bolte Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 3 min

John Whittaker is out of town for a few days, and the Bible study at Whit's End looks like a very small one. Connie Kendall and Lucy Cunningham-Schultz are the only two who have shown up, and Connie is not teaching. Whit has planned something new for the evening, something he and Connie put together the week before and something he was nervous about. All they have to do is switch on the radio.

Out of the speaker comes KYDS Kids Radio presenting Adventures in the Bible, with Whit himself as host. Tonight he is exploring Matthew 21 and 22, where Jesus told a series of parables about the Kingdom of Heaven. Eugene Meltsner supplies a definition of a parable so tidy that Connie has to translate it into plain English: a short, simple story that teaches a lesson.

Whit begins with the day Jesus had performed miracles among the people and then entered the temple courts. While he was teaching, the chief priests and elders demanded to know by what authority he was doing these things. Jesus offered to answer if they would answer him first: did John the Baptist's baptism come from heaven, or from men? The leaders argued it out among themselves, realized that either answer would trap them, and finally said they did not know. So Jesus refused to tell them where his own authority came from.

A call-in segment follows, in which listeners phone the station with their guesses about who gets into the Kingdom of Heaven. One thinks the kingdom is inside everybody, one offers something about crystals and dental hygiene, and two more suggest that being really, really good, or maybe going to church, ought to do it. Connie hands the question back to Whit, and Whit answers it with the parables themselves.

The first is acted out in an Odyssey kitchen. George Barclay asks Donna to mow the lawn, and Donna flatly refuses because it is Jimmy's turn. Jimmy cheerfully says yes and then watches a movie instead. When George comes home the lawn is already cut, and it was Donna who changed her mind and did it. Jesus asked the crowd which child did what the father wanted, and then explained that even the worst sinners will get into heaven ahead of people who assume they belong there because they are good or religious. It is not about being good or going to church, Whit says, important as those are. It is about repenting and believing.

The second parable arrives disguised as a western serial, Young Guns Bonanza in the Big Valley. Kind-hearted Matt Cartwood, his son Jeremy Cartwood, and his sidekick Wes Chester are leaving the South Spoon Ranch for California, so Matt leases the place to three answers to his newspaper ad: Headlock Harry, Trigger-Finger Troy, and Silver-Saddle Slapper Stephanie, who are hiding milder real names and much worse intentions. The rent never comes. The first messenger is beaten, Big John McBear is called names and hit in the head, the next man sent is killed outright, and Wes leads a whole gang of cowboys only to end up in a hospital bed watching soap operas. At last Matt sends the one person the tenants must surely respect - his son. Instead, the gang realizes that with the heir gone the ranch could be theirs, and they call Jeremy out to the North Fork at high noon. Jeremy comes as a man of peace, refuses to draw, and is shot down.

Jesus asked the crowd what the owner would do, and answered that he would destroy those tenants and give the property to others. The listeners protested that this must never happen. Then Jesus quoted Psalm 118 about the stone the builders rejected becoming the cornerstone, and warned that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to a people who would produce its fruit. Whit points out that the chief priests and Pharisees knew perfectly well he was talking about them, and that instead of repenting they began looking for a way to have him put to death - which means the parable came true. The apostle John later wrote that Jesus came to his own and his own did not receive him, yet to everyone who did receive him he gave the right to become children of God.

Whit thanks his listeners and signs off. Back at Whit's End the room has filled up after all, and when Connie asks how everyone liked Whit's experiment, Lucy and the rest answer with a cheer. Connie promises to tell him so.