About New Life Broadcasting of Pa., Inc.

We are a small, nonprofit organization incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on August 15, 1977. Our mission as stated in the Articles of Incorporation filed with the Commonwealth is as follows:

To proclaim and share the Lordship of Jesus Christ through a ministry in broadcasting and related activities, and to encourage and edify new believers as well as the local church community.

Our original Board of Directors consisted of Daniel H. Rohrer III, Melvin B Shenk, J. Arthur Ruhl and David E. Ristenbatt.

Board of Directors

David E. Ristenbatt, President and Cofounder - David is a native to Lancaster County, PA. He grew up with a strong interest in electronics and radio with the desire to use them to proclaim the gospel. He has an interest in Christian radio ministries around the world and enjoys listening regularly to local Christian radio stations. With the advent of the personal computer and the internet, David also enjoys writing computer programs and authoring web pages.

He grew up in a Christian home and received Christ's new birth when he was ten year old. He continued to attend Mennonite churches until being married in 1974. His wife, Donna, was born again in a Baptist church in northern New Jersey. He and his family live in Manheim and attend the Evangelical Free Church of Hershey. David also is the president of Ristenbatt Vacuum Cleaner Service, a local retail business which his father founded in 1957. Donna enjoys doing genealogical research and maintaining a genealogical web site to help others involved in that hobby.

John Banker, Vice President - John brings many years of experience in Christian broadcasting to our organization. Before moving to Lititz, PA in 1980 to be the Station Manager of WPTG-FM in Lancaster, he was employed at WFME-FM in northern New Jersey by Family Stations, Inc. He and his wife, Betty Ann, served the Lord at WPTG for about five years before it changed to WJTL and became this area's contemporary Christian music station. In more recent years, John has worked for two additional Christian stations - WBYO-FM (now WBYN) in Boyertown, PA and WGCB-TV (Channel 49) in Red Lion, PA. In 1995 John left WGCB to be semiretired. He now works part time for Chesapeake Breathing Services (3CI) in Ephrata delivering respiratory equipment to hospitals and nursing homes in the Northeast.

John accepted Christ as his personal Savior at the age of nine in a Baptist church in northern New Jersey. He and his wife, Betty Ann, devoted their lives to their Lord and Savior in 1955. Locally, they were members of Lyndon Mennonite Church for their first ten years in the Lancaster area. Today, they still live in near Lititz and are now members of the Evangelical Christian Church of Lititz. They enjoy camping in their motor home. He also enjoys electronic gadgets and audio and video recording. Betty Ann is currently a CRA, CNA and Physician's Assistant at the Mennonite Home in Lancaster.

Earl Metzler, Secretary/Treasurer - Earl and his wife, Rhoda, were born and raised in the Manheim area of Lancaster County, PA. Earl spent his childhood on a farm east of Manheim, then as an adult, continued farming for 25 more years while working part time as a Rural Letter Carrier. He found that farming was very rewarding as he put his trust in the Lord for the harvest. He later stopped farming and worked full time in the US Postal Service.

Earl and Rhoda celebrated their 50th. Anniversary in October of 1998. They were blessed with three children, all of whom are dedicated to the Lord and working in full time Christian service with their spouses. Earl accepted Jesus Christ has his Lord and Savior when he was 16 while attending a local Mennonite church. He and his family continued attending a Mennonite church for a number of years before switching to the Congregational Bible Church in Marietta, PA. where they currently are members. Since retiring and moving to Willow Street, they mainly attend Calvary Church in Lancaster. His favorite scripture passage is the 14th chapter of John.

Today finds Earl enjoying working with people and in a local wood shop, doing service projects like shelf units for his church. He and his wife support missionaries and other Christian outreach programs beyond his involvement with New Life Broadcasting of Pa., Inc. They see the need for Christ around the world as well as in nearby communities. He enjoys traveling both in person and via Amateur Radio as a Ham Radio operator. He now has the privilege to frequently talk to people around the world and occasionally travel to distant places like Africa to help with missionary work projects there. Earl has always appreciated the blessings from listening to Christian radio programs. His desire is that many others will also be blessed by our radio outreach.

Gary Gruver, Technical Director - Gary was raised in a little country community in Bucks County, PA. During his early years two major actions impacted his life both then and long into the future. He found a deep interest in radio broadcasting, spending hours listening to AM and Short Wave radio stations from near and far. Then in 1962, he came to know the Lord in a personal way, having been born again in revival meetings at the Hilltown Baptist Church.

Radio remained a keen interest through Gary's school years. He even had a low power (FCC Regulations Part 15) radio station in the basement of his home during some of those early years. Then in 1969 he sought employment in the radio broadcast industry and started working for WCTX-FM in Palmyra, PA. He began as an announcer and the repair technician for that station. This job lasted for about a year until military duty came calling. He then spent three years in the U.S. Army serving in radio related areas, all the time maintaining his interest in broadcast radio.

In 1973, with military service behind him, he returned to broadcast engineering at WCTX-FM and later as a part time engineer for WPTG-FM (now WJTL). For a time Gary pursued other interests and then returned again to serve with New Life Broadcasting and Family Radio, as well as doing engineering for WWSM, Annville-Cleona, PA. Today Gary continues in all three endeavors. This keeps him quite busy but the Lord's work is always rewarding. He, his wife and three children have their home in Lebanon, PA.