Friday, September 19, 2008
Campus Crusade Part 14
The rest of 1975 I was involved in several CCC media projects
such as the Mediated Training package. This package was a
combination of films, slide shows, instruction manuals and
other print material that "is an entire complete Lay Institute
for Evangelism in a structured Audio-Visual form." (from my
September-October 1975 prayerletter) Dr Bright was always
thinking about how to multiply the Campus Crusade training
in creative ways. The Lay Institute for Evangelism was a seminar
that trained church laymen on how to share their Christian faith.
Several of the Campus Crusade staff would come to a church over
a weekend or during several evenings and give lectures and conduct
hands on training about Campus Crusade's methods of evangelism
and discipleship. The Mediated Training package combined this
training into media form so that participating churches could put
on their own training at a fraction of the expense of having actual
CCC speakers come to their facility. This was a way of multiplying
the ministry of the Lay Institute far beyond the ability of
human speakers. This method of media training seemed innovative
for the times and was successful.
One night during the summer of 1975 Don Franklin and I were
returning to San Bernardino from watching a bobybuilding event
in the Los Angeles area (probably the Mr Western America
where Sergio Oliva a former Mr Olympia gave a posing exhibition.
Oliva was one of the most incredible bodybuilders ever). On the
Interstate 10 freeway going east we were just passing the Ontario
Motor Speedway when we were rear ended by another vehicle.
The auto hit our car about three times causing enough damage to
our vehicle (a brand new small station wagon) that we ended up
dead on the freeway in the second fastest lane. While we were out
of control I remember Don shouting "they're ruining my new car!!"
I thought "The heck with the car they may be ruining us! " It is by
God's providence that we survived and walked way from the
accident that totaled Don's car. Don sustained a few scratches to
his leg and I was completely unhurt. We got back to San Bernardino
in a tow truck and I returned home about 5 AM. The highway patrolmen
arrested our "attackers" on drunk driving charges. This is sometime
I never shared with my parents as I didn't want them to cause them
worry over sometime that had already happened.
In December 1975 several of my roommates and I moved from 48th Street
house to a new housing development on San Bernardino's east side.
This was our 1141 E. Hampshire Rd address where I lived for over four
years making it my longest housing situation during my Campus Crusade
years. This house was owned by "Mom" Doris Oram who rented rooms
to different young men who worked at Campus Crusade. Doris (who was
in her sixties) worked in Campus Crusade's print shop as a press operator
and actually preferred housing young men because they were easier to
deal with and live with than the opposite genre. Doris was a mother
surrogate who could be confided in and there were those of us inside
and outside the household that did just that. She always had a listening
ear for problems of both young men and young women. Often these were
matters of the heart and several marriages came out of Hampshire house
during those years. Doris' listening ear and motherly advise were helpful
in the development of those future marriages.
Other early housemates were Jim Winchell, Van Wong, Steve Bradshaw
and Steve Rubidoux. Steve Bradshaw worked in the Print shop for a time
but eventually began working as a outside ministry with Prison Mission
Association (PMA) that was located in nearby Riverside. Bradshaw would
eventually leave Campus to work full-time with PMA and still later would
begin his own prison ministry in his native Tulsa, Oklahoma called
Prison Discipleship. Van Wong who worked as an hourly employee at
Campus Crusade was now an art student at nearby
University of California/San Bernardino. Jim Winchell was still
working in the Campus Crusade print shop and Steve Rubidoux was a
from of Steve Bradshaw's for Oklahoma work stayed for some months
and eventually moved back to his home state. As with the other housing
situations were each had our own rooms and shared wonderful Sunday
afternoon dinners together. There was a good sense of family in the
Hampshire house which persisted through the last half of the 1970s as
several roommates came and left.
Through this time I continued my weight training. "God has given me
a small ministry in this area among my fellow Christians. One of my
roommates [probably Steve Bradshaw] and I have been working out
together for several months and he has been able to loss 15 pounds
and is working to trim more off. He has also seen a very good
improvement in his strength. Also another staff man and myself
have gotten some weights together and constructed a weight training
bench for doing barbell bench presses) which we keep at Arrowhead
Springs and work out during lunch hours. Several others have joined
us also in this excellent form of exercise."(for my March-April 1976 prayerletter).
I was still involved with the convalescent hospital ministry and was
working for a while with a lay preacher named Orville Matzke. "Speedy"
Matzke was a former fighter pilot during World War II.
Another very memorable gentlemen that I knew during that time work
worked in the convalescent hospital ministry was Leon Applegate. Leon
was a bright Christian gentleman who was afflicted by Cerebral Palsy which
in his case affected his speech (very muffled) though he was effective
in personal work and teaching. Leon was a bachelor was lived in a
small book-filled and roach infested house in one of the seedier parts
of San Bernardino. We had good fellowship to together and he was
very well educated and very well read especially in Christian apologetics
and Biblical theology. Leon was one who made me aware of the
ministry of the Bible Answer man, Dr Walter Martin and his Christian
Research Institute organization. His one great frustration in life was
not having the opportunity to marry and his disability put him at a
disadvantage in that area. I probably met Leon as early as 1972 and
sustained a friendship with him until he moved to Modesto in the
late 1970s. Leon along with Don Franklin was one of those unforgettable
and much beloved characters God bought into man live during that time.
such as the Mediated Training package. This package was a
combination of films, slide shows, instruction manuals and
other print material that "is an entire complete Lay Institute
for Evangelism in a structured Audio-Visual form." (from my
September-October 1975 prayerletter) Dr Bright was always
thinking about how to multiply the Campus Crusade training
in creative ways. The Lay Institute for Evangelism was a seminar
that trained church laymen on how to share their Christian faith.
Several of the Campus Crusade staff would come to a church over
a weekend or during several evenings and give lectures and conduct
hands on training about Campus Crusade's methods of evangelism
and discipleship. The Mediated Training package combined this
training into media form so that participating churches could put
on their own training at a fraction of the expense of having actual
CCC speakers come to their facility. This was a way of multiplying
the ministry of the Lay Institute far beyond the ability of
human speakers. This method of media training seemed innovative
for the times and was successful.
One night during the summer of 1975 Don Franklin and I were
returning to San Bernardino from watching a bobybuilding event
in the Los Angeles area (probably the Mr Western America
where Sergio Oliva a former Mr Olympia gave a posing exhibition.
Oliva was one of the most incredible bodybuilders ever). On the
Interstate 10 freeway going east we were just passing the Ontario
Motor Speedway when we were rear ended by another vehicle.
The auto hit our car about three times causing enough damage to
our vehicle (a brand new small station wagon) that we ended up
dead on the freeway in the second fastest lane. While we were out
of control I remember Don shouting "they're ruining my new car!!"
I thought "The heck with the car they may be ruining us! " It is by
God's providence that we survived and walked way from the
accident that totaled Don's car. Don sustained a few scratches to
his leg and I was completely unhurt. We got back to San Bernardino
in a tow truck and I returned home about 5 AM. The highway patrolmen
arrested our "attackers" on drunk driving charges. This is sometime
I never shared with my parents as I didn't want them to cause them
worry over sometime that had already happened.
In December 1975 several of my roommates and I moved from 48th Street
house to a new housing development on San Bernardino's east side.
This was our 1141 E. Hampshire Rd address where I lived for over four
years making it my longest housing situation during my Campus Crusade
years. This house was owned by "Mom" Doris Oram who rented rooms
to different young men who worked at Campus Crusade. Doris (who was
in her sixties) worked in Campus Crusade's print shop as a press operator
and actually preferred housing young men because they were easier to
deal with and live with than the opposite genre. Doris was a mother
surrogate who could be confided in and there were those of us inside
and outside the household that did just that. She always had a listening
ear for problems of both young men and young women. Often these were
matters of the heart and several marriages came out of Hampshire house
during those years. Doris' listening ear and motherly advise were helpful
in the development of those future marriages.
Other early housemates were Jim Winchell, Van Wong, Steve Bradshaw
and Steve Rubidoux. Steve Bradshaw worked in the Print shop for a time
but eventually began working as a outside ministry with Prison Mission
Association (PMA) that was located in nearby Riverside. Bradshaw would
eventually leave Campus to work full-time with PMA and still later would
begin his own prison ministry in his native Tulsa, Oklahoma called
Prison Discipleship. Van Wong who worked as an hourly employee at
Campus Crusade was now an art student at nearby
University of California/San Bernardino. Jim Winchell was still
working in the Campus Crusade print shop and Steve Rubidoux was a
from of Steve Bradshaw's for Oklahoma work stayed for some months
and eventually moved back to his home state. As with the other housing
situations were each had our own rooms and shared wonderful Sunday
afternoon dinners together. There was a good sense of family in the
Hampshire house which persisted through the last half of the 1970s as
several roommates came and left.
Through this time I continued my weight training. "God has given me
a small ministry in this area among my fellow Christians. One of my
roommates [probably Steve Bradshaw] and I have been working out
together for several months and he has been able to loss 15 pounds
and is working to trim more off. He has also seen a very good
improvement in his strength. Also another staff man and myself
have gotten some weights together and constructed a weight training
bench for doing barbell bench presses) which we keep at Arrowhead
Springs and work out during lunch hours. Several others have joined
us also in this excellent form of exercise."(for my March-April 1976 prayerletter).
I was still involved with the convalescent hospital ministry and was
working for a while with a lay preacher named Orville Matzke. "Speedy"
Matzke was a former fighter pilot during World War II.
Another very memorable gentlemen that I knew during that time work
worked in the convalescent hospital ministry was Leon Applegate. Leon
was a bright Christian gentleman who was afflicted by Cerebral Palsy which
in his case affected his speech (very muffled) though he was effective
in personal work and teaching. Leon was a bachelor was lived in a
small book-filled and roach infested house in one of the seedier parts
of San Bernardino. We had good fellowship to together and he was
very well educated and very well read especially in Christian apologetics
and Biblical theology. Leon was one who made me aware of the
ministry of the Bible Answer man, Dr Walter Martin and his Christian
Research Institute organization. His one great frustration in life was
not having the opportunity to marry and his disability put him at a
disadvantage in that area. I probably met Leon as early as 1972 and
sustained a friendship with him until he moved to Modesto in the
late 1970s. Leon along with Don Franklin was one of those unforgettable
and much beloved characters God bought into man live during that time.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Campus Crusade Part 13
In June of 1975 I was asked to go to the CCC staff training
as the staff artist to help produce overhead transparencies
and other visual materials on the spot. The previous year
Crystal Nicol had done the same job. On the way to Fort
Collins, Colorado (Colorado State University campus and
the site of the CCC training) I stopped in the Delta and
Montrose area for a visit with relatives. "I left Arrowhead
Springs on June 8 and spent the following week on vacation
with some of my relatives in Western Colorado (Grand Junction
& Delta). The last time I had visited them was in 1968 so you
can imagine that I had a lot of visiting and catching up to do.
I got to see my grandmother and many uncles, aunts and cousins.
During and between visiting we went out rock and fossil (visited
a dinosaur dig where the largest dinosaur yet found is being
excavated) hunting, horse back riding and ate lots of good food.
All in all I had a great time and was the first real vacation
I have had in a long time." (from my June 1975 newsletter).
This was the last time I saw my grandmother Holden (my
mom's mother) as she pass away a year later. It was a bittersweet
time as I don't think she recognized me. Perhaps my experiences
in the convalescent hospital ministry prepared me for that.
The next month I wrote this. "Just shortly after I returned
from CSU I had an opportunity to spend several days at a cartoonist
(Comics) convention in San Diego. This was a purely secular
convention and I desired to have a testimony to the people at
the meeting. Christians need to be salt whether it is in cartooning,
radio, TV, politics or street cleaning for that mater. Some of you
may have seen the July 1975 issue of the Worldwide Challenge
(Crusade's monthly magazine). In it was an article about a man
named Stan Lynde who is the writer-artist of a syndicated comic
strip called RICK O'SHAY. What better way to have an influence,
a witness at a cartoonist convention than by giving out samples
of this magazine to the conferees. I obtained 100 issues of the
magazine and on the second day I was there I placed them on
the "free" table one morning and they were gone in less than
three hours. I believe that if I had them I could have given out
300-500 issues during the 5 day convention. What effects they
will have only the Lord knows, but if the people who took the
issues read them they will definitely have a Christian testimony."
Fifteen years later I had the privilege of meeting Stan Lynde in
person, a wonderful Christian man who lives in Montana.
This is from the same July 1975 newsletter. "I also took 75 copies
of the Greatest Treasure comic (an evangelistic tool for children
put out by Crusade several years ago) and also placed them on the
"free" table the third day I was there. During that day I was listening
to one of the nation's top science fiction writers give a talk and
he mentioned that his five year old son was really into the "Jesus
thing." He said that the boy would listen hour after hour to the
stereo recording of Jesus Christ, Superstar. Also several months
ago they were watching on television the movie "The Greatest Story
Ever Told" and right before the second part the son asked his dad,
"Is this where we are going to find out if Jesus is truth or fiction?"
The father commented to the audience that day, "Think about it,
that's heavy, heavy". At this point I was praying that the son would
go to the free table and get a Greatest Treasure comic. Before the
author was finished his small son came in the room and hiss father
asked him to come to the platform so that he could introduce the
audience to his child. As the father hoisted the son up to the
microphone guess what the boy had clutched in his hand? That's right,
a Greatest Treasure comic.
You bet I was thrilled."
as the staff artist to help produce overhead transparencies
and other visual materials on the spot. The previous year
Crystal Nicol had done the same job. On the way to Fort
Collins, Colorado (Colorado State University campus and
the site of the CCC training) I stopped in the Delta and
Montrose area for a visit with relatives. "I left Arrowhead
Springs on June 8 and spent the following week on vacation
with some of my relatives in Western Colorado (Grand Junction
& Delta). The last time I had visited them was in 1968 so you
can imagine that I had a lot of visiting and catching up to do.
I got to see my grandmother and many uncles, aunts and cousins.
During and between visiting we went out rock and fossil (visited
a dinosaur dig where the largest dinosaur yet found is being
excavated) hunting, horse back riding and ate lots of good food.
All in all I had a great time and was the first real vacation
I have had in a long time." (from my June 1975 newsletter).
This was the last time I saw my grandmother Holden (my
mom's mother) as she pass away a year later. It was a bittersweet
time as I don't think she recognized me. Perhaps my experiences
in the convalescent hospital ministry prepared me for that.
The next month I wrote this. "Just shortly after I returned
from CSU I had an opportunity to spend several days at a cartoonist
(Comics) convention in San Diego. This was a purely secular
convention and I desired to have a testimony to the people at
the meeting. Christians need to be salt whether it is in cartooning,
radio, TV, politics or street cleaning for that mater. Some of you
may have seen the July 1975 issue of the Worldwide Challenge
(Crusade's monthly magazine). In it was an article about a man
named Stan Lynde who is the writer-artist of a syndicated comic
strip called RICK O'SHAY. What better way to have an influence,
a witness at a cartoonist convention than by giving out samples
of this magazine to the conferees. I obtained 100 issues of the
magazine and on the second day I was there I placed them on
the "free" table one morning and they were gone in less than
three hours. I believe that if I had them I could have given out
300-500 issues during the 5 day convention. What effects they
will have only the Lord knows, but if the people who took the
issues read them they will definitely have a Christian testimony."
Fifteen years later I had the privilege of meeting Stan Lynde in
person, a wonderful Christian man who lives in Montana.
This is from the same July 1975 newsletter. "I also took 75 copies
of the Greatest Treasure comic (an evangelistic tool for children
put out by Crusade several years ago) and also placed them on the
"free" table the third day I was there. During that day I was listening
to one of the nation's top science fiction writers give a talk and
he mentioned that his five year old son was really into the "Jesus
thing." He said that the boy would listen hour after hour to the
stereo recording of Jesus Christ, Superstar. Also several months
ago they were watching on television the movie "The Greatest Story
Ever Told" and right before the second part the son asked his dad,
"Is this where we are going to find out if Jesus is truth or fiction?"
The father commented to the audience that day, "Think about it,
that's heavy, heavy". At this point I was praying that the son would
go to the free table and get a Greatest Treasure comic. Before the
author was finished his small son came in the room and hiss father
asked him to come to the platform so that he could introduce the
audience to his child. As the father hoisted the son up to the
microphone guess what the boy had clutched in his hand? That's right,
a Greatest Treasure comic.
You bet I was thrilled."
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Campus Crusade Part 12
My next living situation at 314 W. 48th St., lasted for about a year
and a half. I moved in with several other staff men not far from the
Acacia house. These included Gary Hellman, from Oklahoma,
who served with the traveling singing group, Crossroads, which
at that time was touring Asia. Also was Jim Dugan, from Baton
Rouge, Louisiana and worked in the Financial Systems Dept.
The other two staff men living there were Bob Hunta, from
Astoria, Oregon who worked in several CCC depts. including
Mail Systems, Personnel and Technical Services and Jim Winchell,
from Chagrin Falls, Ohio who worked in various capacites in the
headquarters print shop. Also Van Wong later joined the group.
This house was older and smaller with a noisy swamp cooler to
dissipate some of the intense summer heat. While there we developed
a close camaderie (some house Bible studies) and had some
opportunities for witness and ministry to neighbors. This housing
situation proved to be comparatively short-lived as Gary Hellman
eventually moved and Jim Dugan married a young woman
(Wanda Sorensen) he met at the headquarters. One interesting
thing about these men they all found Christ as Savior in college
when someone shared the 4 Spiritual Laws with them and received
their initial Christian training through their local campus ministries.
As this housing situation concluded Jim Winchell, Van Wong and
I moved to another longer lasting and more "homey" living situation.
In the summer of 1974 I made another trip to San Diego. I had
read in the fan press about a comics convention for several years
that was happening in in San Diego. I had previously given little
thought about going as my life was fulled with my work with Campus
Crusade at Arrowhead Springs and in San Bernardino. However that
year I decided it was time to check out this gathering of comics people
and I made a Saturday trip to the convention. I was very plesantly
surprised to put it mildly. The convention then was being held in a
downtown San Diego hotel called the El Cortez. There were a number
of back issue comic book dealers peddling comics and various comic
book artists and other creative people. You could see people like
Jack Kirby, Russ Manning and others closeup and accessible.
I came away very excited about the program and decided that
next year I would return for the entire convention.
During that time my next major project was a transparencies series
on the book of Jonah. This series was commissioned by one of the
military staff members. I basically took the book of Jonah and
translated it into a series of 20 illustrations using a goofy big foot
style of cartooning that I was using at the time. I very much enjoyed
doing this project as the story of Jonah contains a lot of satirical
humor that the cartoonist can tip into. Jonah is the reluctant prophet
who originally rans away from God and at the end is angry because
God forgives and relents the destruction He was going to visit on the
people of Nineveh because of their sincere repentance. As I've looked at it years
later it is roughly drawn and doesn't have a polished inking line that
many big foot cartoonist develop but it still has a lot of energy and the
humorous timing is right on. This series was used by a number of other
speakers at the time and was later included in a hefty catalog of
transparency illustrations that was made available to the CCC staff.
Also in September 1974 I made another trip back to Washington for
support maintenance time with my financial support team as well as
a good visit with my parents. From my November 1974 newsletter,
"I was able to spend time with my folks and had a great time seeing
my oldest brother [Elvin] who I hadn't seen in six years (He and his
wife had a child I hadn't seen)." These were bitter-sweet times as
Dad's cancer had returned and he was in a long several year battle
against this disease. We thought that the operation he had in
1971 on the eve of my departure for California may have played
a part. He had one tumorous kidney removed but it was speculated
that the cancer had spread to other organs before the infected
kidney was removed. He kept active during those years doing part
time custodial work (with Mom helping) at the church as well as
many farm related activities. Though they had gotten rid of the cows
and chickens by that time. The folks also made trips to Alaska,
Colorado and Manitoba during those years. Whenever the topic
presented itself if I should move back home to assist them both
parents were against it. They wanted me to pursue what
God had called me to. Those discussions were very short lived.
and a half. I moved in with several other staff men not far from the
Acacia house. These included Gary Hellman, from Oklahoma,
who served with the traveling singing group, Crossroads, which
at that time was touring Asia. Also was Jim Dugan, from Baton
Rouge, Louisiana and worked in the Financial Systems Dept.
The other two staff men living there were Bob Hunta, from
Astoria, Oregon who worked in several CCC depts. including
Mail Systems, Personnel and Technical Services and Jim Winchell,
from Chagrin Falls, Ohio who worked in various capacites in the
headquarters print shop. Also Van Wong later joined the group.
This house was older and smaller with a noisy swamp cooler to
dissipate some of the intense summer heat. While there we developed
a close camaderie (some house Bible studies) and had some
opportunities for witness and ministry to neighbors. This housing
situation proved to be comparatively short-lived as Gary Hellman
eventually moved and Jim Dugan married a young woman
(Wanda Sorensen) he met at the headquarters. One interesting
thing about these men they all found Christ as Savior in college
when someone shared the 4 Spiritual Laws with them and received
their initial Christian training through their local campus ministries.
As this housing situation concluded Jim Winchell, Van Wong and
I moved to another longer lasting and more "homey" living situation.
In the summer of 1974 I made another trip to San Diego. I had
read in the fan press about a comics convention for several years
that was happening in in San Diego. I had previously given little
thought about going as my life was fulled with my work with Campus
Crusade at Arrowhead Springs and in San Bernardino. However that
year I decided it was time to check out this gathering of comics people
and I made a Saturday trip to the convention. I was very plesantly
surprised to put it mildly. The convention then was being held in a
downtown San Diego hotel called the El Cortez. There were a number
of back issue comic book dealers peddling comics and various comic
book artists and other creative people. You could see people like
Jack Kirby, Russ Manning and others closeup and accessible.
I came away very excited about the program and decided that
next year I would return for the entire convention.
During that time my next major project was a transparencies series
on the book of Jonah. This series was commissioned by one of the
military staff members. I basically took the book of Jonah and
translated it into a series of 20 illustrations using a goofy big foot
style of cartooning that I was using at the time. I very much enjoyed
doing this project as the story of Jonah contains a lot of satirical
humor that the cartoonist can tip into. Jonah is the reluctant prophet
who originally rans away from God and at the end is angry because
God forgives and relents the destruction He was going to visit on the
people of Nineveh because of their sincere repentance. As I've looked at it years
later it is roughly drawn and doesn't have a polished inking line that
many big foot cartoonist develop but it still has a lot of energy and the
humorous timing is right on. This series was used by a number of other
speakers at the time and was later included in a hefty catalog of
transparency illustrations that was made available to the CCC staff.
Also in September 1974 I made another trip back to Washington for
support maintenance time with my financial support team as well as
a good visit with my parents. From my November 1974 newsletter,
"I was able to spend time with my folks and had a great time seeing
my oldest brother [Elvin] who I hadn't seen in six years (He and his
wife had a child I hadn't seen)." These were bitter-sweet times as
Dad's cancer had returned and he was in a long several year battle
against this disease. We thought that the operation he had in
1971 on the eve of my departure for California may have played
a part. He had one tumorous kidney removed but it was speculated
that the cancer had spread to other organs before the infected
kidney was removed. He kept active during those years doing part
time custodial work (with Mom helping) at the church as well as
many farm related activities. Though they had gotten rid of the cows
and chickens by that time. The folks also made trips to Alaska,
Colorado and Manitoba during those years. Whenever the topic
presented itself if I should move back home to assist them both
parents were against it. They wanted me to pursue what
God had called me to. Those discussions were very short lived.
