Art and Dinah Brooks: The Rescuers

Until just recently, my friends, Art and Dinah Brooks, operated the “Rescuers Radio Show” that aired each week in Phoenix, Arizona on AM 1360, Faithtalk.  Their 300 inspiring shows have been compiled into a podcast that is still available on Apple and Spotify. The show’s aim was to tell “the untold stories of our society’s unsung heroes,” which it did, faithfully and effectively, providing an antidote to the toxic content that otherwise fills the media ecosphere. Through the internet, the show developed a world-wide audience, reaching Africa and Australia.

Like many distinguished broadcasters, Art Brooks began his career as an on-air talent covering news and sports, while also performing the dual role of a sales manager. After serving as the general manager of several stations, he became the President of the Arizona Broadcasters’ Association (ABA), a position he held for nearly 30 years. Under his leadership, the ABA took strong action to fight the drug crisis in Arizona, airing groundbreaking (and Emmy winning) anti-drug documentaries on every radio and television station in Arizona.

When he retired, at age 70, Art felt that God was not done with him, yet he felt he was “walking in the wilderness” having lost his long-held vocation. He prayed for direction, and he received it. At every stage, “the Lord came along and said, ‘Go this way.’” Through his contacts with Salem Broadcasting, a pure Christian radio group, Art was given the opportunity to do a weekly radio show. But what should the show be about? On the radio in Art’s car, Zach Williams’ song “Rescue Story,” kept coming up. Reflecting on his own life, Art remembered how he had given over his life to Jesus twenty-six years before, and how a “miraculous pathway” had been shown to him ever since. Jesus had reached out to him and rescued him in the same way that the song portrayed. Art realized that he had the hook he needed, the basis for his show: he would portray all the unsung rescuers through whom God reaches out to save us. The “Rescuers Radio Show” was born. Each show opened with the chorus from Zach Williams’ song.

As fate would have it, the show started in early 2020, just as the COVID pandemic restrictions were closing society.  The first show aired on May 7, 2020, and featured Henry Rojas, one of the original NBA mascots (the Phoenix Suns’ Gorilla), who retired from his career as a mascot and started a ministry known as “Community of the Wild Goose,” a weekly gathering of hope “without boundaries.” The “wild geese” are a community of grateful addicts and alcoholics who meet near a wildlife refuge where stray geese sometimes gather. The wild gees welcome all who seek the goal of the twelfth step of recovery, the conscious contact with God. For a society that was beginning to hide behind masks, Henry Rojas had a courageous story of how he had walked away from the mask of a gorilla to seek his true persona as a spiritual director.

At first, Art thought that starting a radio show during pandemic restrictions would be even more daunting than starting one under ordinary circumstances. Yet despite all the bad behavior prevalent during those restrictions, those days had many rescuers, people stepping up with extraordinary courage. In the early shows, Art interviewed guests such as Lisa Kingry, an ICU nurse who worked for six months on the front lines of the crisis, and Vince Ing, a man who used his 3D printer to make devices that would make masks more comfortable for medical personnel.  Art also interviewed Ken Brissa, who had to reimagine the Phoenix Rescue Mission during the early days of the virus’ spread.

For help, Art turned, as always, turned to his wife Dinah, an experienced newspaper editor and commercial writer. Dinah acted as the show’s producer, coordinating with guests, writing the copy for the newsletter and website, doing the research necessary for an outstanding interview, and laying the groundwork before Art steped into the studio and began each show.   

In designing the show, Art and Dinah decided to reverse the normal priorities of a commercial talk show. Normally, guests come and go, but the host is the star, the familiar voice that the listener seeks out. Art has the familiar voice and easy, attractive manner of a radio personality, but his goal with each show was to fade into the background and make the “rescuer” the star, giving them a chance to highlight their work in the community. Although they initially experimented with commercial sponsors for the show, Art and Dinah decided that they would go without commercials, which interrupted the flow of the show. Instead, they operated the show as a non-profit and took no compensation at all. It was a labor of love.

So, what is a Rescuer? “A rescuer is a person doing miraculous things, saving or changing lives every day in ways small or grand,” Art told me. “We all have ways in which we can save and change lives.” Many of the rescuers had dealt with tragedy in their own lives, but instead of wallowing in self-pity, they found a way to help others. Although many of the rescuers are inspired by faith, and have a faith-based message, that was not a requirement. On this basis, they even interviewed me, and we talked about how God inspired me to be grateful in a difficult moment of my life when I thought I had nothing for which to be grateful, resulting in a book that has helped me, and many others.

A good example of a “rescue story” is that of Joni Eareckson Tada, who was rendered a quadriplegic during a tragic diving accident that severed her spine. She would have drowned except that her sister was bitten by a crab at that moment, which caused her to turn and see that Joni was underwater with no way to reach the surface. Joni has spent more than fifty years in a wheelchair, without the use of her hands and legs. She leads a ministry called “Joni and Friends,” and has authored fifty books impacting thousands with disabilities and their families.

The show has elevated and amplified the work of the rescuers who appeared. Art and Dinah gave the example of Darryl Brandt, “The Dreaded Barber,” who operates a van giving haircuts to the homeless throughout Phoenix. At about the time he came on the show, his van had been stolen, but he soon received donations allowing him to buy a new van and continue his ministry.

Even after 300 shows, Art and Dinah feel they only “scratched the surface” in their search for rescuers. Contrary to the vision of society portrayed by the predominant media, their show highlights how the world is filled with good people. It operates as counterprogramming to the prevailing media narrative, which gives us the sense we are surrounded by crime, disaster and the basest of human behaviors. Art and Dinah believe their show can be a template for others seeking to start similar shows that highlight the rescuers in their community. In Arizona alone, there are more than 10,000 non-profit organizations. Art and Dinah believe we vastly underestimate the number of good people among us. We need many more shows like the Rescuers to remind us who they are, and to encourage them to continue.

On March 26, 2026, Art and Dinah did their 303^rd show. From the beginning, it was fundamentally different than what had gone before. Dinah made her first appearance on the show. She would be interviewer, and Art would be the guest. She took Art through the birth of the show, and its most remarkable guests. At the end, however, the discussion became personal as they talked about the decision to bring the show to its end. Art talked about how, over the last year, he had found himself stumbling a bit during the show. As a broadcast professional, Art knows all the tricks of recovering quickly and gracefully from any such stumbles, but he could not deny that his body and mind were changing. After visiting the neurology department of the Mayo Clinic, however, he learned that there was something more serious going on: me had moderate dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, a scourge that takes many of us. He would have to give up driving. And, after some soul searching, Art and Dinah made the difficult decision that it was also time for him to end the show that had come to mean so much to them and so many others.

With characteristic courage, Art directly addressed what was happening:

“It was just too many mistakes by yours truly, even though we want to laugh and have fun and all that. But I didn’t want to spoil the message of the rescuers.”

Dinah noted how he had been forthright and open about his diagnosis with family and friend (and now the radio audience). Rather than be hushed about what many would keep to themselves, he was open, and the result was that he experienced a joy—and freedom:

            “And I just call it freedom because I don’t need to keep this hidden anymore. I can talk about it. I can talk to people about it. I call it freedom because the Lord is the one that’s in control of this. We are not. And we gather Freedom from our Lord. . . I’m not hiding from it. I’m not going anywhere other than talking about it. And I love that.”

Dinah noted how those with whom Art had been open and just given him a hug and celebrated his freedom with him.

            “I want everyone to—who is suffering from anything that is your health, whatever it is, you don’t have to have that battle. Turn it over to the Lord. That’s what he wants you to do.”

Art had ended every show by saying to the guest: “You are a rescuer.” Art and Dinah Brooks: “You are rescuers.”