Thursday, October 02, 2008
Campus Crusade Part 15
Campus Crusade's policy toward the local church was one
of assisting and integration. It was expected that Campus
Crusade staff members were to join a local church within
a three month (90 day) period of arriving at their ministry
assignment. After some visiting of local churches I settled
in (and shortly joined) the Faith Bible Church of
San Bernardino, CA. I stayed with the church the entire
tenure with Campus Crusade.
The major thing that attracted me to the church was the clear
and expository preaching of the pastor, Leman Wendt. I
certainly learned a lesson in choosing a church that there
should be a number of factors that go into that decision.
Within a year Pastor Wendt announced that he was leaving
the church. He had a twenty year ministry in Faith Bible
Church and he apparently felt a need to move on. I believe
he later retired within a few years from full time ministry.
The next minister who was called by the church was
Rev. Thomas Kimbrough. Pastor Kimbrough was a very
forceful speaker who was more topical in his sermon delivery.
Pastor Kimbourgh served at FBC for around four years
(if my memory is serving). The next pastor was Dr. Jack
Teachout who was still serving the church when I left the
area in 1982. Dr. Teachout was a former missionary and
a very friendly, approachable man who had a vision for
building the church.
Several other Campus Staff attended FBC during the time
I was there. Ralph and Jackie Rittenhouse served as
part time minister of music. Bill Knop (my first supervisor
in the Campus Crusade's Tape dept.) and his family also
served in the church. Henry and Beverly Schneider who
worked in Campus Crusade's Lay ministry attended the
church. John and Donna Stark were members and regular
attenders. As I mentioned earlier John unsuccessfully ran
for Congress several times against the entrenched
incumbent, George Brown.
My involvement in the church was mostly as an
member/attender. I substitute taught Sunday School
several times and otherwise took part in various activities
of the church. I was involved in the churches AWANA
program as a listener for a couple of years. A listener is
one who listens to the Awana children's Bible verses
that they have memorize. I enjoyed this involvement as
it was at the other end of the age spectrum of my convalescent
hospital ministry.
The church was a member of the IFCA and was (and still is)
conservative in their theology. They had initiated a regional
annual Prophecy conference in which they bought in notable
speakers from around the nation. This was during the time
of Hal Lindsay's The Late Great Planet Earth, the 1973
Kom Kippur War, the Arab oil embargo, the height of the
hippie counterculture, the Vietnam War and the Cold War.
Many in evangelical circles were concerned about seeing
sights of the end times. Even though we all knew about the
Biblical taboo about date setting for the second coming of
Christ we thirsted for information on—might these be the
end times? Well known passages such as Ezekial 38 and 39
and Matthew 25 were examined repeatedly as current events
seemed to be falling into place for the arrival of Armageddon
and the Anti-Christ. In 1989-91 the Soviet Union collapsed
which seemed to push back the prophetic timetable. Just
recently a revived Russian military has flexed it muscles in
the squashing of the Georgian armed forces in the Caucasus
region of Eurasia. Russia again is emerging as a military force
to be reckoned with. The early and mid 1970s was just before
the emergence of Radical Islam with the take over of Iran.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of my involvement at
Faith Bible Church was being on the Board of the San Bernardino
Christian School (K-6) which met on the church facilities.
During my time on the Board (around 2 years) Mr. Don Garrison
was the Chairman and the other Board members were Bill Dodson,
Roger Hargrave, and Mitchell Burgress. Ida Gallagher was the
school superintendent. Being a single man I felt somewhat
unqualified and flattered about being asked to be on the Board
of a School. My actual input was fairly minimal which required
attending meetings and voting on specific school related issues,
approving budget proposals and so forth. It was a good learning
experience and was curtailed by my moving to the San Gabriel
Valley to work with the Narramore Christian Foundation in 1982.
Faith Bible Church during that time was a loyal Bible believing,
Bible teaching church that held a consistent morally sound
testimony in the San Bernardino community. I was glad to have
been a part of the Faith Bible Church family during those years.
of assisting and integration. It was expected that Campus
Crusade staff members were to join a local church within
a three month (90 day) period of arriving at their ministry
assignment. After some visiting of local churches I settled
in (and shortly joined) the Faith Bible Church of
San Bernardino, CA. I stayed with the church the entire
tenure with Campus Crusade.
The major thing that attracted me to the church was the clear
and expository preaching of the pastor, Leman Wendt. I
certainly learned a lesson in choosing a church that there
should be a number of factors that go into that decision.
Within a year Pastor Wendt announced that he was leaving
the church. He had a twenty year ministry in Faith Bible
Church and he apparently felt a need to move on. I believe
he later retired within a few years from full time ministry.
The next minister who was called by the church was
Rev. Thomas Kimbrough. Pastor Kimbrough was a very
forceful speaker who was more topical in his sermon delivery.
Pastor Kimbourgh served at FBC for around four years
(if my memory is serving). The next pastor was Dr. Jack
Teachout who was still serving the church when I left the
area in 1982. Dr. Teachout was a former missionary and
a very friendly, approachable man who had a vision for
building the church.
Several other Campus Staff attended FBC during the time
I was there. Ralph and Jackie Rittenhouse served as
part time minister of music. Bill Knop (my first supervisor
in the Campus Crusade's Tape dept.) and his family also
served in the church. Henry and Beverly Schneider who
worked in Campus Crusade's Lay ministry attended the
church. John and Donna Stark were members and regular
attenders. As I mentioned earlier John unsuccessfully ran
for Congress several times against the entrenched
incumbent, George Brown.
My involvement in the church was mostly as an
member/attender. I substitute taught Sunday School
several times and otherwise took part in various activities
of the church. I was involved in the churches AWANA
program as a listener for a couple of years. A listener is
one who listens to the Awana children's Bible verses
that they have memorize. I enjoyed this involvement as
it was at the other end of the age spectrum of my convalescent
hospital ministry.
The church was a member of the IFCA and was (and still is)
conservative in their theology. They had initiated a regional
annual Prophecy conference in which they bought in notable
speakers from around the nation. This was during the time
of Hal Lindsay's The Late Great Planet Earth, the 1973
Kom Kippur War, the Arab oil embargo, the height of the
hippie counterculture, the Vietnam War and the Cold War.
Many in evangelical circles were concerned about seeing
sights of the end times. Even though we all knew about the
Biblical taboo about date setting for the second coming of
Christ we thirsted for information on—might these be the
end times? Well known passages such as Ezekial 38 and 39
and Matthew 25 were examined repeatedly as current events
seemed to be falling into place for the arrival of Armageddon
and the Anti-Christ. In 1989-91 the Soviet Union collapsed
which seemed to push back the prophetic timetable. Just
recently a revived Russian military has flexed it muscles in
the squashing of the Georgian armed forces in the Caucasus
region of Eurasia. Russia again is emerging as a military force
to be reckoned with. The early and mid 1970s was just before
the emergence of Radical Islam with the take over of Iran.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of my involvement at
Faith Bible Church was being on the Board of the San Bernardino
Christian School (K-6) which met on the church facilities.
During my time on the Board (around 2 years) Mr. Don Garrison
was the Chairman and the other Board members were Bill Dodson,
Roger Hargrave, and Mitchell Burgress. Ida Gallagher was the
school superintendent. Being a single man I felt somewhat
unqualified and flattered about being asked to be on the Board
of a School. My actual input was fairly minimal which required
attending meetings and voting on specific school related issues,
approving budget proposals and so forth. It was a good learning
experience and was curtailed by my moving to the San Gabriel
Valley to work with the Narramore Christian Foundation in 1982.
Faith Bible Church during that time was a loyal Bible believing,
Bible teaching church that held a consistent morally sound
testimony in the San Bernardino community. I was glad to have
been a part of the Faith Bible Church family during those years.
Labels: Don Garrison, Faith Bible Church, Jack Teachout, Leman Wendt, Roger Hargrave, Thomas Kimbrough
# posted by Dino Don @ 4:01 PM 
