Area welcomes Kinship Christian Radio

Oct. 28—Jesus is Lord.

Those three words were at the top of a radio tower in Maury Schwen's dream. He thought nothing of it.

Until he dreamt it again.

Unable to shake it off for a second time, Schwen went to his pastor.

"Maury, I think the Lord wants you to build a radio station," his pastor said.

The Blue Earth man went around his community, asking others what they thought of the idea. To his surprise, many resonated with it.

"We want a Christian radio station in our area," they told him.

With that, in 1983, Kinship Christian Radio was born.

At the time, it was just a small station known as KJLY. It has since grown into a network of eight full-power stations and 14 translators spanning across the Twin Cities, southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.

For decades, Kinship has been operating out of their original home in Blue Earth, where the words "Jesus is Lord" sits at the top of the tower, just like in Schwen's dream.

But a week ago, the Mankato community officially welcomed them into town with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its new studio location on Madison Avenue.

JO Guck Bailey, director of JG Media Communications and Greater Mankato Growth board member, was at the ceremony.

"Kinship is going to be 40 years old next year and this gives them a more centralized location and opportunity to grow their company and gain more visibility," she said. "'I've been in the media business a long time in the community, so I think this will bring a balance and create opportunity for others to have more choices (of media)."

Kinship's move to Mankato has been in the works since 2020 upon purchase of the building that Lighthouse Christian Bookstore used to call home.

When the bookstore shut down in 2017 after 38 years in business, owner Catherine Bristol had no intention of selling it to just anyone.

"I wanted it to continue to be a ministry. We are people of faith, and we really believe that the building wasn't really ours anyway," she said. "There were a few years where I continued to pay taxes, utilities on the building, everything, and it never really bothered me because I knew that it was going to sell to the right people eventually."

When Kinship came knocking on her doors, asking to purchase the place, her prayers were answered.

"It was just almost like a God thing. They were looking for a space and everything just fell into place," she said. "I couldn't be more happy for them, and I have no regrets at all."

Bristol even attended Kinship's open house a couple of months ago and was in awe of it all. "Phenomenal" was the word she used to describe all of the equipment and microphones hanging around where her books used to be.

"They have done a beautiful job renovating the building," she said.

Kinship's administrative staff moved into the new location in December. The rest of their team followed shortly after.

Jennifer Hayden, executive director of Kinship Christian Radio, said she felt great about the move and is eager to bring in some locals to have live on air.

"I really enjoy being in the city but also the beautiful, natural setting that is Mankato and the warmth of the people here," she said. "There's a lot of warmth, even when it's cold."

Schwen himself was able to witness his beloved business move to Mankato before he died earlier this month.