Sharing My Story

Below is the conclusion of my memorial prayer letter
about my father published in June-July 1977.

"Dad was an example to his children in the realm of
spiritual things. As a young man he committed his life
to Christ. He and mother made sure that we were in
Sunday School and took us to church. Dad was a
Sunday School teacher for several years at Broadway
Presbyterian Church and later served as deacon at
Immanuel. More importantly than the positions he
held was the example he provided. I remember many
times when I was growing up seeing him kneel down
on his knees in front of the bed or a chair praying. I
am sure that often he was praying for his sons and
relatives. Dad was an avid reader and daily Bible
reading was a constant habit that was cultivated
over the years. When I was younger there were
many occasions that we had family devotions in
an effort to make our Christian faith translate itself
into everyday practice. Dad would set a priority for
these times. One result of this spiritual training was
one son becoming an active layman in a local church
and the three others being involved in different phases
of full time Christian service.

"Dad was not perfect. He did have faults. One fault was
his ability to worry and be overly concerned about the
future. This worrying may have been the cause of many
of the headaches and upset stomachs he experienced
during his life. But in his later years he began to trust
the Lord with more and more and his peace of mind
became greater. During his long illness he probably
experienced more spiritual growth than at any other
time in his life. My brother Elvin related at the funeral
that several weeks before that he had prayed with Dad
for the last time (while he was still able to speak) and
said that Dad said, "Thank you, Lord." That's powerful!
I could ask no greater spiritual heritage from my earthly
father. I thank God for him.

"I really do not think of Dad as being dead and certainly
not in a grave in northwest Washington. Dad is absent from
his body, but he is present with the Lord (II Cor. 5:8). I
would like to close with this excerpt from a condolence
letter dated may 10 from Mrs. Phyllis Balzer (LeRoy's
mother-in-law): "When LeRoy called on Wednesday evening
to tell us of his dad's death I could only say, " ' O, I'm so sorry,
but really I'm not.' " He said, "I know what you are meaning
and I feel that way also.' " I trust you do also. When Jon
(LeRoy's five year old son) went to bed one night he remarked,
" ' Gram, God answered my prayer. I asked Him to not let
my Grandpa be sick anymore. I'm going to see him when I
go to be with Jesus too, even if its a long time yet. He'll know
me and I'll know him. Isn't that neat?!' "

Over the next two weeks I will be reprinting the copy
from my June-July 1977 prayer letter. It speaks on my
father and his life. It seems as if a day doesn't go by
that I don't think about my father (and mother also)
even though he has been gone from this Earth for
over 30 years. He had a real struggle with cancer in
his last years and I think except for that he would
have lived another 5 to 10 years (his father was almost
81 and his grandfather almost 85 when they died).
I look forward to the time when I see my father again.

"During the evening of May 4, 1977 my father,
William Russell Ensign went home to be with
his heavenly Father. The following is how I
knew and remember him.

"Dad was born in Hartford, Iowa in 1902. Several
years later the family moved to Missouri and then
to western Colorado. In 1913 the Ensigns moved
to northwest Washington (Lopez Island) but in
less than a year came back to settle in the
Delta-Montrose area of Colorado. Dad worked
as a farmer with his father for many years.

"In September 1936, Dad married my mother,
Lucille W. Holden. They had four sons: Elvin (1937);
Russell (1939); LeRoy (1942); and Donald (1948).
During their early marriage the folks homesteaded
a barren track of "adobe" land in Peach Valley
(near Delta). In 1944 they gave up full time farming
and moved to Bellingham, Washington. Dad then
first worked as a custodian for the Darigold Co.
(a local dairy farm) and later worked as a custodian
for the Bellingham School District. First he worked
at the Bellingham High School, then at Birchwood
Elementary School and finally as head custodian at
the newly built Shushan Junior High in 1958. He
was also custodian at Immanuel Bible Church for
many years and finally retired from that in
September 1975.

"When the folks originally came to Washington they
purchased a small farm (about 8 acres) on the Bakerview
Road. For over 23 years that was only home I knew.
Dad did provide a good place for us kids to grow up.
Dad had several cows in which he developed his own
small dairy business (we were on the Darigold milk
pickup route as well as selling raw milk to regular
customers) as well as chickens (yes we had our our
egg selling business too—that was my job taking
care of those chickens— $.50 a dozen, extra large).
We also had at one time or another rabbits, pigs, goats,
horses, calves and assorted dogs and cats. We had an
apple orchard (three varieties of apples) and several
pear and plum trees as well as blackberry, gooseberry
and raspberry bushes. Each year the folks put in a
large garden with everything you can think of. There
were always an ample supply of weeds to pull too!
Then every summer there was hay to cut, rake, and
bale and put into the barn. Mind you all this was done
before and after work. Dad was very definitely a worker.
Dad was not a rich man but we kids had an abundance
(we used to compalin about eating too much steak!)
and variety of things to eat and many good home
made clothes to wear.

"Temperament wise Dad had a strong natural
tendency toward being phlegmatic. He was basically
calm, easy-going, stable and dependable. When he
gave his word to do something he was very conscientious
in carrying it out. In a time of credit cards and general
indebtedness, Dad kept short accounts and paid cash
for every car (and almost all other purchases) he ever
owned. Dad was a quite man and not given to an
excessive amount of talking. When he did talk it was
well worth listening to and often very edifying. He
had a good, clean sense of humor.

1976 was a pivotal year in many ways. It was the year of the U.S.
Bi-centennial as well as a major Presidential election with
Gerald Ford against Jimmy Carter. This was the first time I
got involved in a political campaign. Ronald Reagan who
had been California governor since my coming to the
Golden State was running a strong primary challenge
to the two year incumbent President Ford. My friend and
house mate Steve Bradshaw volunteered an a local San
Bernardino Reagan for President phone center to get out
the vote for the Gipper. Reagan defeated Ford in the Calif.
Primary but lost to the President at the Convention. This
was a disappointment but I knew it was an uphill fight to
dislodge a sitting president for the nomination. Reagan
actually came fairly close but when the smoke cleared
Ford went against Carter and lost to the Georgia governor
in the general election. It was not quite time for Reagan.
1976 was also Campus Crusade's ultimate U.S. evangelistic
campaign. Here are excerpts from my January
1977 prayer letter.

"For the past nearly two years we at the headquarters
of Campus Crusade have been hearing, working on and
preparing for implementation a strategy, a movement
to saturate this country with the claims of Christ. This
movement has become known as Here's Life America.
In November a mass media campaign (with exposure on
Television, radio, billboards, newspapers, bumper stickers,
buttons, etc.) was launched emphasizing the phrase
"I found it!" I found new life in Christ! During this media
campaign trained workers from local churches manned
neighborhood phone centers in a systematic effort to contact
every household in the city to find out the response to the
campaign and to have an opportunity to share the love of
Christ with them.

"RESULTS NATIONALLY: The results are truly mind
boggling. 11,826 churches were involved and 258,085
laymen from these churches were trained in personal
evangelism and discipleship. Of these 212,651 worked
in the campaign. The media campaign exposed
64,743,000 people to the "I found it! message and
51,760,000 learned that "I found it!" referred to a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Over 500,000
people prayed to receive Christ personally and 60,474
enrolled in follow-up Bible Studies. All praise to God.
(from Worldwide Challenge February 1977)

"PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT: My own involvement
(other that a small contribution to the making of the
Mediated Training as I discussed in a previous letter)
was with a telephone center that we had set up at
Arrowhead Springs. I telephoned on Monday nights
and my biggest problem that night was we were
competing with Monday Night Football on television!
Seriously though it was a very good experience and I
had the opportunity to speak with many people and
explain God's love as shown through Jesus Christ to
a number of them. I did have the privilege of "seeing"
one older lady pray to receive Christ. On the firs night
one of my friends had two individuals pray to receive
Christ over the phone. These were the first ever to
have responded to his witness. This is certainly one
of the most exciting things about Here's Life. Many
Christians for the first time in their lives are seeing
people respond positively to their witness to Christ.

"Over the past two years I have felt the need to be
here working in the areas I have been assigned to
because of the importance of the work (Here's Life
America, etc.). This is the primary reason I have
not been back to the Northwest (especially Bellingham)
to visit and talk to all of you who have been involved
in my life and work." I mentioned I was planning on
being back during the month of June (1977).

During New Years 1977 I flew back to Bellingham
to be with my father. This proved to be the last time
we as a family got together during my father's life.
Elvin, Russ, LeRoy and there families were all there.
Dad's cancer had progress to the point where we
knew that his time was short. As I boarded the plane
to fly back to California I realized that this was the
last time I'd see my father alive on this earth.

This Blog entry continues excerpts from my April-May 1977
prayer letter about my Worldwide Challenge co-workers.

Bill Rhodes
Bill Rhodes, who is the art and photo director for the Worldwide
Challenge feature article section declares this about his coming
to Christ. "While at Louisiana Tech I became a Christian. My
grandmother whom I stayed with part of my college years was
a committed Christian and she had a real witness in my life.
The one thing that witnessed to me most was this commitment
she exhibited and her belief in eternal life. So, as a result of her
commitment and belief, and lack of those things in my life I
prayed and asked Jesus Christ into my heart as Savior and
Lord." Bill was born in Texas, but spent his growing up years
in Mississippi and Arkansas. He went to college in Louisiana
at Louisiana Tech. University and claims the Bayou State as
his home. While at LTU Bill earned a degree in fine art and
came on CCC staff in 1974. Since being at Arrowhead Springs
he has worked in the Art Department, as an interoffice mail
carrier and on the headquarters ground crew. Bill feels strongly
that "I am now where God wants me for this time" in his life.

[Bill later married Miss Ginny Heyl, a CCC headquarters staff
member from Pennsylvania. They went on to have
several children.]

Ann Clayton
"I wanted my talent in art to be used in the name of Jesus
so I joined the art department of Campus Crusade." says
news art director Ann Clayton. Ann grew up near Carroll,
Ohio and graduated from Ohio State university in 1973
with a Batchelor of Fine Arts degree. Due to the influence
of a Christian home she became a Christian at a young age.
During Ann's freshman year of college she learned about
turning all the areas of her life over to Christ and putting
her relationship with Him as first priority. That's when
Ann's faith began to grow and when it was put into action.
In 1973 Ann joined CCC staff. After a year in the art
department she began to work full time as a design artist
on Worldwide Challenge magazine. Presently Ann's work
consists of being in on brainstorms, artwork, layout. design,
paste-up, and directing the three news sections of the magazine.

[Ann later married and left Campus Crusade staff as did
Noreen and Bill].

Other people that I worked with during my time with
Worldwide Challenge were Eddie Maggard, Cyndi Arenz,
and Jane Wrede. During the time I worked with WWC Bill
took over as Art Director and he was later succeeded by
Eddie Maggard. WWC is still being published by Campus
Crusade and it is an excellent award winning magazine
for design and content.

During the four years I worked on the Worldwide Challenge
art team I worked closely with Judy Douglass, the editor
during that period. Also I worked with the senior art director
Noreen Ketchum, Bill Rhodes and Ann Clayton. This week
and next I'll be printing short bios of each of these co-workers
and friends that are taken from my April -May 1977 prayerletter.

July (Downs) Douglass
"Worldwide Challenge is the most exciting thing I have ever
worked on," editor Judy Downs Douglass declared at a recent
meeting of the Publications Dept. Mrs Douglass, wife of
Steve Douglass, vice president of administration for Campus
Crusade, has been on staff at Arrowhead Springs for almost
11 years. Judy, originally from Dallas, Texas received Christ
as her Savior early and became active in Young Life during
her high school years. After graduation she went to the of
Texas (in Austin) and majored in journalism. While there
she became involved in Campus Crusade and in 1963
attended the first student training conducted at the newly
acquired Arrowhead Springs. When Judy graduated from
the university she joined the staff of Campus Crusade in
1966 and was assigned to headquarters as a writer. Three
years later Judy helped start a publications department
and served as manager until 1976. She also helped start
Worldwide Challenge magazine as editor, a position
she continues to hold.

[Judy continued as editor for several years after
this was written. She and Steve had several children.
Steve Douglass eventually became President of Campus
Crusade after Bill Bright retired in 2001].

Noreen Ketchum
"It's a big job but I have a big God," states Noreen Ketchum
about her job as senior art director for Worldwide Challenge
magazine. Noreen is from Stoughton, Wisconsin. It was
there that her art doodles began. In 1969 Noreen's doodles
had a 2 year commercial art degree but she decided that
wasn't enough. So she attended the University at Madison
2 1/2 more years where she majored in art. During her
first year (1969) there Noreen discovered that God wanted
to be personally involved in leading her life. Noreen knew
all about Him but until then she didn't know He was
personally interested in helping her. After discovering
this she decided to commit her life to Him. It was after
this commitment that she became involved with Campus
Crusade. In 1972 she joined their staff. Noreen's first year
on staff she was assigned to the art dept. to work as a
graphic artist. In 1974 she was asked to be the senior
art director of Worldwide Challenge. She has had this
job ever since. As senior art director Noreen is responsible
for the quality control, schedule and art production
of the magazine.

[Noreen later married (and left Campus Crusade staff)
and she and her husband had several children.]