7/9/2008 2:05:00 PM Freedom Fest welcomed former news team members as Christian speakers
Spring Valley Freedom Fest husband-wife speaking team, Ken Quattrin and Betsy Singer, are expected to be interviewing people with inspirational life-changing stories in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.
By Mary Whalen
"Freedom Fest - I Love America" sponsored by Valley Christian Center in Spring Valley celebrated basic American values Thursday, July 3.
Those who attended were offered water by Artesian Fresh, Inc. of LeRoy, freshly cut watermelon, various food choices from the Popcorn Wagon, American Dairy Association, Fillmore County Pork Producers and HomeStyle Pizza and activities that started in the early evening featuring local as well as regional talent, climaxing with a marvelous fireworks display by Lou's Fireworks of Watertown, S.D.
To the delight of many, the featured speakers of the evening, Ken Quattrin and his wife, Betsy Singer, mingled with area residents before and after they took center stage.
Singer and Quattrin once worked together on the news team at KTTC in Rochester so they were well known by local citizens.
Singer's rich background in the journalistic world sometimes made her question if as a Christian, she should continue. Once during her times of struggling with being a Christian in the world of media, her father, Max Singer, told her, "Betsy, God wants Christians in every walk of life."
She hung on to his words as she anchored news, yet something kept nudging her to keep her heart open to the possibility of something beyond capturing news events and telling them in compelling ways.
Quattrin and Singer are news people who have now taken their journalism backgrounds in a new direction.
"We have both grown and evolved, morphed, if you will, into something so much more than what you saw on the nightly news. I have been a 'Christian' since I was a young girl but only started to really live a Christ-centered life in the last five, or so years. Ken went to church with me and believed in God but did not have a deep understanding of his faith, until very recently," comments Singer.
They put their faith into action by stepping away from what made sense to their minds and following their hearts' commitment centering on family and faith.
Singer got a call last May from the Christian radio station (KFSI) asking if she would be interested in doing a story on a friend of the caller, who was a 24-year-old Oronoco firefighter who was dying of cancer.
"I was more than willing to do the story and thus began my dialogue with the folks at the radio station," she remarks.
After doing the story Singer was asked if she'd be willing to sit down and talk about an Internet ministry. Since she was nearing the end of her second, four-year contract at KTTC, she was quite intrigued by this proposal.
"Turns out," says Singer, "they wanted to start an Internet Web site with the goal of telling 'human interest' stories all to glorify God; how he has worked in people's lives, testimonies, etc... I prayed diligently about this and sought God's will in what would ultimately be a life changing decision."
When the opportunity to share stories of insight and inspiration opened for her at KFSI, Singer faced the questioning voices of her husband and mother rationally asking, "Why would you leave a job you are so good at to go do something that you don't know is going to fly?"
After several months of struggling to convince her husband this would be a good move for her, Singer decided to let the desires of her heart rest with God.
She told God, "If you do want this for me, then you change Ken's heart - I let go of trying to make it happen."
At the end of three weeks, when the time for Betsy to sign a four-year contract approached, Quattrin asked her if she really wanted to step in this new direction. Much to her surprise and delight, he encouraged her and eventually as he put it, spent his "days off helping her do the job he didn't want her to have."
The Internet business they began, "Faith-Stories," combines the video world with the written word in an unusual way.
Since that time Quattrin has also joined the staff at the radio station. About the "work" at hand, Quattrin says, "There's one thing that we're learning about doing Godly work, there's a lot to be done but thankfully, we're not alone in all that we've done and continue to do."
He goes on to say, "The fruit that is blossoming out of all of this, we pray will be an incredible blessing to our children."
Freedom Fest was the first time Quattrin and Singer had ever been asked to share their story together.
"I do most of the public speaking but this was our first one that we actually did together. The people in Spring Valley have come to be family to us. We have found some of the most amazing 'brothers and sisters' there and have been given the privilege to share one family's incredible and extremely personal faith story on our Web site....Look for Emma's story part one and two," concludes Singer.
The story Singer and Quattrin share is inspiring and hopefully will motivate area residents to share their stories too. Contact them at Faith-Stories.com or by e-mailing Singer at bsinger@faithrochester.org or calling them at (507) 289-8585. Faith-Stories can also be contacted by sending a fax to (507) 529-4017 or a letter to: 4016 28th St. SE, Rochester, MN 55904.
