Area minister to the deaf nets program on KNLJ

A member of the Dignan family has found a new platform for his voice in mid-Missouri.

Randy Dignan of Jefferson City - son of New Bloomfield's Art Dignan whose weekly column on deaf culture ran on the Fulton Sun website - has netted a deal with local Christian Television Network affiliate KNLJ to bring his spoken English and American Sign Language (ASL) sermons to the airwaves.

The program, "The Listening Heart," premiered Sept. 10, and will air 7:30 p.m. Mondays, 8 a.m. Wednesdays and 9 p.m. Saturdays on KNLJ and simultaneously online at KNJL.com. It expands on the brief spoken and ASL devotional vignettes Dignan had recorded that were aired between programs over the past few years.

A pastor at Bible Baptist Church in Jefferson City, the vast majority of Dignan's deaf congregation commutes from Fulton every week to witness Dignan communicate the word of God through his hands as well as through his mouth.

A hearing son of two deaf parents, Dignan was born in Florida, and moved around often with his father, who taught at various deaf schools around the nation. He eventually settled in Jefferson City, where at the age of 22 he became Bible Baptist's pastor. Now 37, Dignan said that for some time, he had wanted to do more with his service.

"I knew I've always wanted to have time as a pastor to have outreach to the deaf and hearing," said Dignan. "You always want to dream bigger and better, you just sometimes don't know how or how big."

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.