Meet the Team

Each week we will feature on of the team here at WAY Radio, to help you get to know us better. This week we will feature Jim Collins! I am probably one of just a handful of people living in Jacksonville that was actually born here.  Yes, I am a native!  My mother always said I took after my grandfather because he was a “home boy”, that is he never had any desire to travel all that much.  I’m pretty much the same way.  I love where I live and can pretty much take or leave everywhere else.  I went to school here, I met Jesus here, I met my wife, Corinne here and my 2 kids Christina and Joshua were born here, what else could I want?  And to top it all off God has blessed me with my job at WAY Radio, where I believe my calling in life is to do my part as one of the team to broadcast the very best Bible teaching in all of the Universe, no brag just fact! I think I was born for radio. I started my first radio station, in my neighborhood, when I was just 13 years old. And I recently started a small neighborhood station called Need Him Radio. I like working in my yard, and my favorite date night, with my wife Corinne, is dinner and a movie. ~Jim~

Each week we will feature on of the team here at WAY Radio, to help you get to know us better. This week we will feature Susanna Stephens! Born in New Orleans and raised in Alabama, so however you sing the song “Oh, Susanna”, they both apply to me!  People often ask, “If you had to go back to your childhood what would you change?”  I absolutely loved my childhood and had a wonderful Christian family and extended family surrounding me.  Being raised in a fishbowl (preacher’s kid) wasn’t always ideal, but I wouldn’t change a thing.  For that I am eternally grateful! I often say that I had to have my “throat slit” to meet my handsome prince because without thyroid removal/possible cancer surgery at 19, I would have NEVER moved to Kansas City to have surgery, and then stay.  And that’s where I met Luke.  Next to salvation, he was the best decision God allowed me to make.  God gave us a daughter and a son and they continue to be blessings, especially now as adults, pursuing what the Lord has equipped them to do to glorify Him. If I had a day to do whatever I wanted, I’d cook, sing/play the piano, meander antique shops and sit somewhere where I could see and hear the ocean waves OR a babbling brook in the mountains…preferably with my family.  I guess I’m a sucker for water noises? I knew as a 6 year old who constantly played “store” and marketed my older siblings doughnut sales (or anything they had to sell for school for that matter), that business administration was in my blood.  When Luke and I got to WAY Radio & our youngest started school, working in the business/marketing side of the station was a natural fit.  That was 16 years ago!  I love hearing from our listeners and seeing God use this ministry to reach, teach and encourage so many.

Each week we will feature on of the team here at WAY Radio, to help you get to know us better. Let’s kick off this week with our fearless leader! Meet Luke Stephens I’m an odd guy really.  Growing up, I was half nerd and half athlete.  I’ve always loved Christian music, and while in high school decided that maybe Christian radio could be something that would allow me to be around the music, since I couldn’t sing or play instruments well.  As I’ve aged, I’ve probably leaned a bit more to the nerd side.  My first radio job was at the station I grew up listening to (how cool is that)?  Now, nearly 35 years later, I still love coming to work everyday (not the same station) knowing that what the station does makes a difference in the lives of so many of our listeners.  Florida has become home to me, and it’s sort of a full circle type of thing.  My dad was originally from Tampa, but the military took him away and when I came along in the 60’s, my parents were living in Kansas City.  I’ve been a life-long Chiefs fan, not a band wagon guy now that they’re good. ?  My lovely wife, originally from Alabama, had moved to Kansas City, and we met in church.  Marriage, children, homes, moves … what an amazing life God has allowed me to enjoy.  In 2002, after stops in Atlanta and in Little Rock, God opened the door at WAY Radio in the Jacksonville area.  My parents moved back to Florida in 2007, completing that circle.  We attend a fabulous church in Middleburg, Florida and really enjoy hanging out at home, but we’ll also go anywhere, we love to travel.  The children are now 22 and 18, and we’re enjoying watching them use their God-given talents: photography and music.  I love stupid-humor movies like Napoleon Dynamite and even Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (don’t judge me), I also love action movies like the Bourne series.  I enjoy reading … I just don’t do it enough.  As odd as this sounds, I’m currently enjoying reading through all of the articles/helps in my ESV study Bible.  Whatever God has in store for us in the future, we’re ready for the ride … I think.  ?