November 5, 2009

CHICAGO (ELCA) – Selected programs of "Grace Matters," the radio ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), are being made available in downloadable and podcast forms at the Web site for Odyssey Networks.

Earlier this year ELCA Communication Services stopped production of Grace Matters because of budget reductions. The ministry, formerly known as "Lutheran Vespers," had been on the air since 1947.

Each week Grace Matters' 30-minute programs, hosted by the Rev. Peter W. Marty, Davenport, Iowa, aired on nearly 180 radio stations in the United States, several European countries, plus Australia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico. Programs could also be heard online and continue to be available at http://www.gracematters.org on the Web.

"When broadcasting Grace Matters through traditional radio outlets became financially prohibitive, we searched for cost effective ways to reach a broad audience," said Kristi S. Bangert, executive director, ELCA Communication Services. "We wanted to find an outlet that would allow us to share this ministry with a worldwide interfaith audience."

"In that search we turned to our longtime partner, Odyssey Networks. We are delighted that Odyssey was as excited as we were to develop this new aspect of our partnership. Podcasts and downloads of Grace Matters on Odyssey Networks combined with Odyssey's global promotion of these resources will allow us to expand our reach and continue to share the good news of God's amazing grace," she said.

Odyssey Networks, New York, is a coalition of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith groups that uses television, the Internet and theatrical releases to distribute faith-based media content. It is a service of the National Interfaith Cable Coalition, Inc. Initially, Odyssey plans to post selected Grace Matters programs with the hope of carrying more programs in the future, said Ava Odom Martin, ELCA Communication Services.

Currently, the network's Web site contains two Grace Matters programs featuring Immaculee Ilibagiza, who describes how she survived the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The program is available at http://tinyurl.com/yjm7ujz, on the Web. Both programs originally aired in January 2008.

Odyssey Networks plans to post a different Grace Matters program every two weeks, Martin said.

ELCA News Service