Sharing My Story

Here is the conclusion of my August-September 1977 newsletter
concerning my evangelistic comics project.

Then in 1972 several months after I had gone on staff with
Campus Crusade I came upon an idea that captivated my mind.
Why not do an evangelistic comic book? My original thought was
if the gospel could be presented in a form that these fan friends
could understand (and were familiar with) there would be a
greater likelihood of reaching them for Jesus Christ.

I have worked on and off on this comic for five years.
Sometimes I would work on it a lot for several weeks or
months and then set it down for six or eight months before
getting back into it. However in June of last year I decided
that if I was ever going to get it completed I would work on
it in the evenings and the weekends. Over the last year it
has definitely been my largest spare time project. Over the
past several years one of my roommates was a printer and
darkroom technician and I was able to enlist his aid in the
actual printing of the comic. There were 1000 copies printed
and was about to pay for it from my income tax refund this
year. The comic was printed and bound five days before my
father died in May. Six weeks later my roommate left Crusade
staff to move to Chicago to work for Moody Bible Institute's
print shop. God's timing was prefect.

The main idea behind the story was that it took place in the
era before the flood of Noah (henus Tales of Antediluvia).
The strongest themes are the righteousness of God and His
coming judgment on mankind for its sinfulness. In the story
there are there main characters, two adult men and one
small boy. One of the men, Jared is the typical natural man
who has an unregenerate nature. He acts as the spiritual
antagonist throughout the story. He is cruel and bitter,
but surprisingly not completely hardened to spiritual things.
The other man is Kenan who is the protagonist (or godly,
spiritual man) and engages Jared in verbal duels on moral
and theological questions during the course of the story.
The small child is the catalyst that brings the two men
together in the first place. They join forces to search for
him after he has been kidnapped.

The story itself is impregnated with scriptural ideas and
concepts. Also on the back cover I was able to obtain
permission to use an abbreviated version of the Four
Spiritual Laws to present a completed evangelistic
package to the reader.

The summer I attended a comic art convention in
San Diego where I was able to distribute around 600
of the completed comic books to convention goers.
Later I was able to give out another 100 copies at a
similar smaller convention in Los Angeles. I have had
very limited response from these groups but God had
promised to bless His word so I am sure that it will
effect many lives that I will never know about.

I have plans for promoting it further in the near
future and will keep you informed as they develop.
As I have already mentioned this project was very
fulfilling to do and to see completed. It was a dream
come true.

Don