“Weakness on one side, fatigue all around.” Charles Morris was 18 months old when he contracted polio. And while the Lord spared him the most debilitating parts of the disease, he’s had to live with the effects ever since. Those effects only become more amplified with age.
On a special episode of the great stories podcast, David Wollen speaks with Charles Morris about what his everyday life is like with post-polio and how it reminds him of the Lord’s strength when he is feeling weak. No matter what troubles and weaknesses you may be facing today, this episode will keep you looking to Jesus.
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Did you know that Haven Ministries is celebrating 90 incredible years of ministry?
If you missed our live 90th anniversary celebration, no worries! You can catch all the highlights and heartwarming moments in the video below. Be encouraged as David Wollen, Charles Morris, Joni Eareckson Tada, and more reflect on Haven’s rich history of sharing the gospel for 90 years … and counting!
All About Jesus Hymns (CD)
A good hymn has the power to catch your ear, warm your heart, and fill your soul with truths about God and His Word. Haven’s 90th anniversary album All About Jesus Hymns seeks to inspire this through foundational anthems of the Christian faith, including “Softly & Tenderly,” “How Great Thou Art,” “I Surrender All,” and more.
Allow the familiar voices of Steve Ragsdale, Paul Sandberg, Truitt Ford, and other vocalists through the years to lead you to Jesus in a deeply personal way. This hand-selected collection brings together 20 of the Haven Quartet’s greatest recordings in a new 90th anniversary album that includes a commemorative booklet on Haven’s rich legacy from 1934 to the present day.
This commemorative album includes an accompanying booklet featuring the rich history of Haven Ministries! Go back in time with photos of First Mate Bob, the Haven Quartet, Charles Morris, and more.
David Wollen and Charles Morris met up recently to look back on how the Lord has led and sustained Haven’s gospel-focused ministry for 90 years. In this video that features early footage of Paul Myers and the Haven Quartet, David and Charles also discuss how the relevance of Jesus’ invitation to anchor our weary souls in His “Haven of Rest” is needed just as much now as it was in 1934.
Every day, Haven Ministries reaches countless souls with the assurance that yes, He can set things right. But we can’t do it alone … Haven depends on generous gifts from friends like you to keep this all about Jesus ministry on the airwaves.
Would you consider supporting the transformation of people’s lives through the faithful preaching of Christ and His Word with your fiscal year end gift today?
My Gift for Haven’s Fiscal Year End
As Haven enters its 10th decade of ministry, we are faced with a sizable task—sharing Christ boldly and faithfully in a deteriorating world. Even as we celebrate God’s goodness in Haven’s rich 90-year legacy, we must fix our eyes on the future.
Today, Jesus’ invitation to anchor our weary souls in His “Haven of Rest” is needed now more than ever. This is the message Haven shares daily throughout North America, Cuba, and much of the Latin-speaking world … But we need your help to raise $952,272 by June 30th to carry out this vital mission and finish the year on budget. Would you stand with Haven in this critical moment?
Just as each listener is important, every single gift given to sustain this gospel-focused ministry matters. Together, let’s sow seeds of hope for the future. With your help, more people will experience the life-transforming grace of Christ—many for the first time.
Charles Morris took over as speaker and president of the historic Haven of Rest radio broadcast at the turn of the millennium. For a quarter century, Charles has often quoted Ray Ortlund in likening the production of a daily program to a freight train — it doesn’t stop until you get off.
On today’s episode of the Great Stories podcast, David Wollen shares the recording of Charles Morris’ final day on the air. In a conversation between friends, we pay tribute to Charles as he crosses the finish line with one final program to say “well done” to our good friend and brother.
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With a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other, Charles Morris has shared the great story that’s all about Jesus for a quarter century. Today he crosses the finish line. Though he will return as a guest on the program in the future, Charles is now stepping away from daily production … but not before sharing a few memories and prayers.
In honor of these 25 years, we asked Charles a few questions about his time as Havens’ fourth president & speaker, the people he met, the moments he saw Christ move, and the prayers he has for the ministry’s future.
You’ve interviewed many people over the years. Sometimes we reshare those interviews on the air. But there are a few that have unfortunately been lost to time. Can you share about an interview you did that you wish we could unearth?
Two interviews stand out in particular that we lost in our archives due to moving our office when we sold the old Maranatha music studios and moved to another part of greater Los Angeles. One was an interview with the famous Chuck Smith, who founded Calvary Chapel and took part in the Jesus Revolution movement. I used to have lunch with him when our office was a few blocks from his church. On the program, he shared his life story. We even had him sing.
The other one was when I had first come to Haven. I was speaking — the Haven of Rest Quartet was with me — in Pennsylvania. And this man shared his story about how someone broke into his house late one night. I don’t remember the whole story, but it was a robbery. The intruder wielded a hatchet and as the man tried to defend himself and his wife against this home invasion. He was struck in the head with this hatchet and he almost died. And it left him with recurring headaches. He had to take disability. The lingering effects meant he couldn’t work anymore.
But the highlight of this story that we lost in our archives was that he decided to ask himself, “What would Jesus do?” He went to the prison and shared the gospel with the very man who tried to kill him and led him to faith in Christ. When the man was released, they took him in and ministered to him.
What a sweet, sweet story of grace. A sweet story of repentance and forgiveness. The gospel works in the most unlikely of circumstances. The gospel still works today.
Is there a guest you always wanted to have on the program but it never seemed to pan out?
Charles Morris in his twenties, working as a state capitol correspondent in Missouri.
I interviewed Billy Graham as a secular journalist, but I was never able to interview Billy after coming to Haven and that’s something I wish I could have done as a Christian pastor on the radio. I did interview George Beverly Shea for Haven, but Billy was unable to do interviews at that point.
But I did spend half an hour with him doing an interview as a secular journalist. Even though I was a believer, it was a totally different context. But to his credit, he still shared the Lord in a secular interview.
A lot of our listeners express how great it would be to meet so many Christian authors, pastors, and artists. Is there a moment in your 25 years where you met a personal hero?
I think there were heroes of mine that I really warmed up to, that were either theologians or preachers. One that comes to mind was the late John Stott who pastored a famous church in London, close to Buckingham Palace. Queen Elizabeth asked the current king as a young man to go and learn more about the Christian faith from John Stott. And every time Billy Graham would pass through London, he tried to make sure he was there on a Sunday so he could hear John Stott preach.
The last interview John Stott ever gave was with Haven Today when he was speaking in Santa Barbara California. And one topic that did not go on the program was I asked him about hobbies. He was famous as a birdwatcher, a twitcher. And he even wrote a book about God’s creation and being a twitcher.
Another one, since I’m thinking in twos, the other one would be the times that we put on a well known pastor in New York City, Tim Keller, who’s also now with the Lord. We first knew him in Philadelphia.
We had him on a number of times, but probably the most significant time was on 9/11. I was on the road speaking and I gave four questions along with Tim and Kathy’s private, unlisted phone number to team member Robert Jacobson. And I said to Robert, “Just keep dialing over and over again.” Finally, Tim picked up the phone.
This was the only interview that Tim did with anyone that day. He thought at this point he had lost 2,000 from his congregation in the World Trade Towers. Thankfully, he didn’t lose that many, but it still ended up being a few hundred. And that crisis led to a period of depression for Tim and his wife, but he still had to lead — he still had to pastor his flock. He still had to minister Christ to people who were hurting after 9/11 in New York City.
Charles Morris interviews Tyler Van Halteren about Pilgrim’s Progress
Charles Morris interviews Phil Vischer on VeggieTales and What’s in the Bible?
Charles Morris interviews Sally Lloyd-Jones about the Jesus Storybook Bible
Charles Morris interviews Jacob Dienner about grace in Lancaster County
Charles Morris interviews N.T. Wright about the historical resurrection of Christ
Charles Morris & David Wollen interview Joni Eareckson Tada on Christ’s presence
You often get to meet listeners when traveling who get the chance to tell you what Haven has meant to them. Is there a moment like this that sticks out in your mind?
One was a young Mennonite lad about 15 years old in Pennsylvania. His family drove a couple of hours to where we were holding an event. He had recently met the Lord listening to Haven Today, and they wanted to bring their son and the rest of their family to just say thank you. His voice hadn’t quite changed yet at 15 years old. And that was just encouraging to see that the Lord would use us, you know, and use the program to lead people to Christ.
And then back to 9/11, this couple heard the program whose son worked in the World Trade Center. And they tried repeatedly and couldn’t reach him. They had just heard our program, and a couple weeks before they were in New York City and had gone to church with their son who had just graduated a few months before from Wheaton College. And the pastor they heard preach was Tim Keller.
So, roll ahead about five years later, I was staying at a Christian retreat center in Michigan. The head of the ministry said there’s a couple I want you to meet. They run our retreat center. They used to run a bed and breakfast, but now they’re with us.
It was the same couple who had lost their son and they had just received some of the fragments of their son’s body. We sat there in this large kitchen and wept together. Their son knew the Lord, but he lost his life in the World Trade Center on 9/11. And somehow they just happened to listen to our radio program five years before and hear their son’s pastor on the air. I’ve visited them since. I saw them a couple years ago when I was in Michigan. I stopped and had a memorable lunch with them.
You’ve gotten to see Christ move in many places. Would you mind sharing a story from your far flung travels that showed you how God was at work in surprising ways?
Some of the trips into Iraq come to mind. ISIS was bearing down and I was in this city of 100,000 that was empty — an historic, ancient Christian city. And I’m very thankful for an Iraqi soldier.
I was doing a live interview over the phone and ISIS had used this church courtyard for target practice. And I was doing this interview there on my cell phone on a talk show back in the United States. I started to step into a room and all of a sudden this soldier grabs me by the back of my collar and yanks me out. There was an unexploded IED in that room that had not been disabled and I was one step away from hitting the trip wire. It would have been on live radio in Los Angeles had that happened.
But the interesting thing was every time I go into a part of the world where Christianity was birthed, but now is such a minority. I always meet new believers. It’s in the last 20 years that more Muslims have come to faith in Christ than the last 1400 years combined. And that kept increasing even faster as ISIS tried to grow its caliphate.
But the people I would meet, through Spirit-inspired moments, often had an encounter with Jesus in a vision or a dream. And then somehow, in a part of the world where there aren’t Bibles, they found a Bible and started reading God’s Word.
I’d say, “I’m a Christian pastor from North America. I’m here doing radio programs to send back home, and they would all say, “I’m a lover of Jesus.” I found that very intriguing. They hadn’t been to Sunday school. They didn’t have church to attend, but they had somehow met the risen Lord. A smile would appear on their faces as they would say, “I’m a lover of Jesus.”
Wow! Doesn’t get better than that. I’m a lover of Jesus, too. And there may have been a language barrier but there wasn’t a faith barrier.
Ukraine was a significant trip too. The Christians we encountered there at the border who were escaping and leaving their husbands behind, not knowing if they would ever see grandparents, husbands, dads again. And then we’d start hearing the stories of how the Lord was using a war and an invasion of a country to bring people to faith. I’ll go to my grave thinking about that.
You’ve been making 26-minute radio programs every weekday for the past 25 years. Now that you’ve gone emeritus, what will a day in the life of Charles Morris start to look like?
Well, I still have projects I’m working on for Haven, primarily the Amazing Grace movie which we’re working on to get out the door. The book is published, but the movie still has to be finished and released.
But, you know, I don’t like the word retirement. It’s hard to get to the point where you’ve worked so many years, so many hours, and just stop. I mean, for many years I’d start at six in the morning, work even more after dinner, and still put in a full day on Saturdays. Three or four more hours Sunday after church, too. Because, as my predecessor the late Ray Ortlund warned me, it’s a freight train that’s always moving. And it’s always moving until you jump off. And I’m jumping off. But I’m not finished yet.
The wonderful thing is we get to serve Christ until the day they die. The Lord will always keep bringing tasks into our lives. Our work on earth is never done until he calls us home. And that’s the joy of following Jesus. That alone is our full time job, whether you’re working and paid to do that or not.
What is your prayer for Haven Ministries now and in the future?
That as technology changes, we will be able to reach more people than ever before.
As I leave, Haven is on more radio stations than we’ve ever been on in the history of the ministry. But there are still people who need to be reached with grace. I pray that we would be able to continue the broadcast with the gospel and reach more people through new technologies that I can’t even envision – to share the risen Christ. The only answer to all problems, to all issues, and to all darkness is Jesus.
What is your prayer for Haven’s many listeners and readers?
I pray to see Christ reign in the lives of more people everywhere. That every day they would hear the words of Jesus, and respond to Jesus speaking to them. For those who don’t know Christ and those who do know Christ, every day may they hear the Savior say, “Come to me … and I’ll give you rest.” Just unpack that from the gospels. That would be my prayer.
Scripture has been interpreted many different ways over the years, but how can you tell the difference between false gospels and the one Jesus lived and taught? On today’s episode of the Great Stories Podcast, Charles Morris and David Wollen are joined by Brandon Kimber, the director and editor of American Gospel: Christ Crucified. Together, they offer a biblical response to the growing deconstruction and progressive Christianity movement in America.
Brandon Kimber created the American Gospel series to take a critical look at some of the distorted, corrupted versions of the gospel circulating in western culture today. In this important and timely conversation, he discusses some of the problematic takes on Christ’s crucifixion and how Christians can respond with grace and truth.
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How can Christian parents and grandparents hope to disciple their children amid the struggles of everyday life? Even more, how can we use these often chaotic moments as golden opportunities to lead them to Jesus?
On today’s episode of the Great Stories podcast, Charles Morris and David Wollen are joined by Christian parents, including David’s wife, Marci, who share their own unique approaches to raising children to know and love Jesus. Later in the episode, Charles Morris goes on to discuss the tender subject of what to do when your child walks away from the faith.
On this episode, you’ll also hear from two members of the Haven Team. Tamara Chamberlain is an author, podcaster, and mother of three children with her husband, Dale. She also serves as Haven’s director of project management. Troy Lamberth is a filmmaker, podcaster, pastor, co-founder of Five Solas Media, and father of three children with his wife, Melissa. He also serves as Haven’s executive producer.
More Resources for Christian Parents
There are many ways to disciple a child to faith in Christ, but some are more helpful than others. These 6 simple ways to lead your child to Jesus is hardly exhaustive, but it’s a great place to start.
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Where is Jesus when you need Him most? Whether it’s a chronic condition or a tragic accident, even believers find themselves ill-equipped to handle the myriad of afflictions that often catch us by surprise. That’s why it’s so important to learn now from those who have come before us, people like Joni Eareckson Tada who discovered just how essential it is to practice daily closeness with Christ.
“Suffering has a way of heaving you beyond the shallows of life where your faith tends to feel ankle-deep. It casts you out into the fathomless depths of God, a place where Jesus is the only One who can touch bottom.” —Joni Eareckson Tada, The Practice of the Presence of Jesus
In this conversation with Charles Morris and David Wollen, Joni discusses the many ways she experiences the presence of Jesus in her own daily life—even when overwhelmed with pain and fatigue. Whatever you may be going through right now, we pray this conversation will help you discover new ways to experience Christ daily, even when He seems far away.
This isn’t the first time we’ve had Joni Eareckson Tada on the podcast. Click here to listen in to our conversation with her in 2022 about how she sings hymns to help her get through hard times.
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What does it mean to practice the presence of God? Rather than relying on “cafeteria-style spirituality,” Joni Eareckson Tada reminds us that God shares His joy on His terms—and His terms call for us to, in some measure, suffer like Jesus.
In fact, Joni goes on to describe how Christians too often want to numb or run away from pain and discomfort. But if we want to get to know this “man of sorrows,” God wants us to feel our own afflictions deeply.
The Practice of the Presence of Jesus by Joni Eareckson Tada
Daily Meditations on the Nearness of Our Savior
Discover the joy of intentionally dwelling in the presence of God as Joni Eareckson Tada weaves contemporary insights with the timeless wisdom of seventeenth-century monk Brother Lawrence.
“Suffering has a way of heaving you beyond the shallows of life where your faith feels ankle-deep. It casts you out into the fathomless depths of God.” — Joni, from the Introduction
The Practice of the Presence of Jesus ushers in wisdom from two everyday saints—Joni and Brother Lawrence—to teach and inspire you to experience the nearness of God in your life. Through rich devotional content from Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God, accompanied by original art and never-before-published insights from Joni, you’ll experience a unique blend of past and present wisdom on such themes as humility, thankfulness, fear, worship, obedience, and more. Each devotion ushers you into the peace of the Good Shepherd.
This month, Haven Ministries announced its biggest leadership transition in 25 years with Charles Morris “going emeritus” and David Wollen taking up the torch as the fifth president and host in this ministry’s 90 year history. On today’s episode of the Great Stories Podcast, you’ll get to hear a recent conversation they had while taking listener questions over ZOOM.
Recorded live on January 17, 2024, this captivating event provided a unique opportunity for Haven’s community to delve into David Wollen’s passion for ministry, his deep connection with Haven, and his fervent desire to keep sharing the great story that is all about Jesus.
MORE ABOUT DAVID WOLLEN
Listen to the full radio series where David was first announced as the new president of Haven Ministries, called Keeping it All About Jesus.
Read an article by Charles Morris to discover more about his longtime friendship with David and how the Lord led him to take the torch.
Learn more about what the transition between Charles Morris and David Wollen will look like here.
