“I’ve had something burning in my heart for a few years,” Lee Kittell says

By Guy Page

Starting this Sunday, Pastor Jeff Fuller from Waterbury’s Living Hope Wesleyan Church and WDEV Program Director Lee Kittell will present the Living Hope Wesleyan Sunday Radio Worship show on WDEV AM and FM Sunday mornings from 6 AM to 8 AM.

“He [Rev. Fuller] and I are going to be delivering the Word here on the stations of radio Vermont,” Kittell said told a WDEV audience this week. 

And therein lies a story. And Kittell – radio vet, on-air Andy Rooney-style folksy manner, career Jack of All Trades at the community radio station known for quirky programming (“Music to Go To The Dump By”) – is just the one to tell it.

The whole story came out Wednesday, April 3.

And I’ll tell you how this came about,” Kittell said  on Vermont Viewpoint, the station’s morning public affairs program. “Because a lot of folks are wondering, well, is this the new owner? And the direct answer to that, as far as I’m concerned is – Well, partly.”

The new owner is Myers Mermel, who with Scott Milne purchased the station from the Squier family.

“I’ve had something burning in my heart for a few years,” Kittell said. “And when I go home, a lot of times what I’m doing is studying Scripture, getting into the Word of God, trying to understand it better. And I feel like God’s been preparing me for an opportunity.”

The ball started rolling during his first meeting with Mermel. 

“I told Myers, ‘there’s a church up in the Northeast Kingdom that’s already looking for a pastor and I’m ready to go there today. But I will continue to do everything that I have done at WDEV all of these years, and more, if on Sunday morning, I can share the Word of God with an audience.

“And he said, ‘okay.’”

Turns out Kittell wasn’t the only person at WDEV with this idea. It had been formulating between Mermel – a former seminarian – and the owner of the station at that time, Ashley Squier, who is also a pastor. 

“Now, you might not think that God’s hand was in the work of that, but it is a very fascinating set of circumstances. And I’ll tell you something, you’re listening to a guy who’s had an experience or several regarding perceived contact with the divine,” Kittell said.

“I’m not anything special. And the only reason I have received that, I feel, is because I asked God directly for it: ‘Please help me to understand what’s going on in this world.’

“People are confused. They’re lost. They’re discouraged. And they’re struggling. And if the Word of God is true, as Christians believe that it is, then having the cornerstone of truth as your foundation of knowledge will help you understand and deal with all of these confusing things that are going on in the world today. 

“I asked Jeff Fuller if he would take the lead and I would join along on the Living Hope Wesleyan Sunday radio worship. And Jeff’s as excited about it as I am.”

It doesn’t sound like the show will be a traditional religious church service, per se. More like two guys who love Jesus and God’s word and talking about it to anyone who will listen. 

“It’s going to be an opportunity to give testimony, bear witness, talk about the Scripture, debate points about it. It’s going to be for believers and unbelievers, if you have doubts and ask questions, we’re going to do the best we can to help you understand these things. In this world right now, everything we see is a very secular perspective.”

This show will be different.

“We’re going to dig into Scripture and use that to help us understand the world,” Kittell said.

Vermont has a Christian radio station – The Light Radio, 89.9 FM – but most Vermont radio stations do little if any religious programming. In other parts of the country, it’s typical to find Sunday morning, at least, given over to a church service or other faith-based programming.