Sharing My Story

Auto Bio Finished

2011-04-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

Over five years ago into March 2006 I started blogging (sharingmystory.blogspot.com/) sharing thoughts on my life. This lead me to writing an autobiography that I've just "completed (as of April 1)." I've developed it in decade size chunks (1950s, 1960s, 1970s and so on). I have interspersed it with many photos, pieces of artwork and so forth. So far its clocking in at 214 pages. I see it as a sort of time capsule that people in the future can have a view into what kind of life what this Christian man had in the mid to late 20th century and early 21st century. Its like leaving genealogical footprints in the sands of time for those in the future too discover. The auto bio is in a binder so that things can be added either to existing past decades or the future. Perhaps the greatest thing about this endeavor is seeing how the Lord has so richly blessed my life over the past years. All praise and glory to Him.

Mother's Eulogy

2011-03-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

My mother Lucille (Holden) Ensign passed away on March 3, 2002 at age 91. Here is the eulogy I gave at her memorial service in Bellingham, Washington.

Mom made the most wonderful shirts and other pieces of clothes for us kids when we were growing up. I thought that all mothers did that for their children. We always thought that the clothes she made for us were better than any store bought merchandise. She was a good—no excellent seamstress. After the children were grown she transferred her sewing skills to making wonderful multi-colored and durable patchwork quilts and crocheted what-nots.

Mom was a good cook. Nothing frilly or fancy culinary speaking. Broiled or mashed potatoes, home grown green beans, fresh carrots and other vegetables were stable fairs. Our small farm, the only home I knew for 23 years raised its own beef. I have the way Mom cooked it. We kids used to complain that we had steak too often—we preferred the juicy hamburgers and Mom’s special bread rolls. We had an apple orchard with three or four kinds of apples—some good for eating and some for baking. Mom knew the right combination. She was a master at making apple pies and delectable apple dumplings with a special syrup that was so good.

Mom and Dad took us to church and Sunday School. They didn’t just drop us off and leave us but they participated in the life of the church. Mom and Dad were Bible people. As a youngster I remember Mom’s Bible was falling apart through much use. One Christmas Dad gave her a brand new Scofield Reference Bible. Wow, that Bible with its reference notes had to be the cadillac of Bibles. For that time I’m sure it was. Mom taught the Beginners class here at Immanuel for many years. I remember her faithfully cutting out flannelo-graphs of Bible stories and faithfully studying her Sunday school teaching lessons. Eventually she turned her duties over to younger hands, but many children undoubtedly profited spiritually from her faithful giving out of God’s Word through those wonderfully compelling Bible stories. Mom and Dad were charter members here at Immanuel. Whaile I was born several years before Immanuel came into being it was the only church I knew before i left Bellingham. Momm and Dad were humble pillars of the early days of Immanuel. Humble, but pillars nonetheless.

When I was in second grade I was very sick—perhaps pneumonia. I stayed home from school for over a month. During that time Mom nursed and bathed me everyday as only a mother could. I was a very sick little camper. As I improved I was able to do second work at home with Mom’s assistance and made it back to finish out the school year. Sometime ago I mentioned that special time to Mom. To my surprise she had forgotten that incident. Well, Mom, I haven’t forgotten it and I pray I never will.

I am sure that without Mom (and Dad’s) tender care and constant prayers i and my brothers would have lead far different and less God honoring lives. Mom had a good long life on this Earth. She is now in the arms of her heavenly Father and His dear son, Jesus. I’m sure my father and her earthly husband has given her a grand welcome to life superb and without end. Mom, we miss you and are eager to join you when the labors that the Lord has entrusted us with on this eart are finished.

Mom, I and my brothers and family love you. We will only be parted for a short season.

Visit to Southern Arizona

2011-02-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

My brother Elvin from Canada and his son (my nephew), David just concluded a visit here
in South east Arizona. Here are photos of their visit. We journeyed to Tombstone, the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum and Madera Canyon (near Green Valley). We were joined by one of my other brothers, Russ from Colorado later. Enjoy

Gabby Giffords at Veterans Day 2009

2011-01-10T19:48:00.000-08:00

Here is a video clip I took of Gabrielle Giffords at a Veterans Day event in November 2009. While I haven't been a political supporter of hers--I differ with her a some
major issues my prayer is for her speedy recovery.

2010 Tucson Comic Con Report

2010-11-12T19:12:00.000-08:00

(I began writing this shortly after getting home from the Tucson Comic Con November 6, 2010)

Today is the day of the third annual Tucson Comic Con. Got last minute preparations done and packed up the books and table stuff for the Con. Then went over to Brent Hofstra's home and picked him up and we then drove to the Hotel Arizona in Tucson. We parked in the garage across from the hotel and packed our stuff into the exhibit hall. We found our table which was on the near the entrance we came in on. We unloaded our stuff and set up the table and were ready to go by the time the convention opened at 10 AM. I encouraged Brent to take his jacket (which he did) and needed it as we in an A.C. draft area (not as bad as Phoenix). The crowds were large and consistent through much of the day---ebbing and flowing as groups of people came and went. It is hard to gauge the crowd size--but it was as large or larger than last year.This is overall kid friendly convention as there were a lot of grade school children in attendance. Our table was next to Howard Salmon (the Siddur book) which I purchase at the Phoenix Comic Con in May. Brent subbed at his table on several occasions when he needed to be away. We did meet a number of Christians and gave away a good number of tracts (especially Jack Chick) and ran out of the Action Bible Sampler.

Our sales weren't as good as last year. My sense was that the convention attendees were not in a big buying mode. We didn't see a lot of people with purchased good. We sold sold some stuff but not a lot. Which was too bad as we had a lot of very good new comics and graphic novels. We did our drawings for the Action Bible (12:30 PM and 3:30 PM) but the people didn't show up. So after 5 PM we still had the two copies to give away. I prayed about it and and felt impressed to give one of the Bibles to Howard Salmon and later the other to a young tween girl who was our last customer of the afternoon. We learned that the drawings need to be more frequent and within a fairly short time of the person who puts their name in the basket. Most people are not going to hang around several hours at a smaller convention like Tucson.

Tucson Comic Con is growing as this was was the first one with programming. I attended briefly several of the panel discussions. They were held in two small conference rooms. One of the rooms held about 30 chairs (with 15-20 attendees) and 4-5 on the panels. One of the panel organizers/moderators also does the same thing for the Phoenix Con so there is overlap and cooperation between the two. One panel featured comics writers and another comic book artists. The writers and artists had pro experiences (several from WildStorm) but I wasn't familiar with their work. These were very basic panels where the panelists shared why they do what they do and how they came to be located in Arizona. There was a need for microphones. Another was a demonstration on how to use Apple I-Pads for reading comics. I-Pads have amazing selective zoom and search capacities. This was lightly attended but it gave the audience the ability do do some hands on and ask questions.

Another thing I ran into this weekend was people who were blown away that there is such a thing as Christian Comics. It is almost as if the two words didn't go together. It seems as if Christian comics is a concept some people find it difficult to wrap their minds around. There are still a lot of people (I assume mostly Christians-though not entirely) who are ignorant of current Christian comics. We also had some folks that shared that they had a complete collection of Jack Chick comic books and remembered the Archie Christian comics from years ago (hey, folks there is a lot happening now in Christian comics!!!) This is different response than "I thought i was the only one" which was less than previous years.

This year was similar to previous years in terms of crowds and interest in being at the Con. I heard rumors that next year the Tucson Con would be moving to the Tucson Convention Center which would open up a lot more venue space.

I is good for CCAS to have a continuing presence at this growing regional Con. While it is still as dealer's convention (with a large artist section) it is expanding in other directions.

2010-10-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

Mt. Blanco Fossil News

2010-10-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

Mt Blanco Fossil News
and Journal of Omniology #1 Sept.-Oct. 2010

Several years ago I have the privilege of working for Joe Taylor a West Texas Creationary field paleontologist and fossil restorer. During that time and before Joe spoke of producing a magazine devoted to his discoveries and views on paleontology and other issues that interest him. After many years of intellectual gestation the first issue of the magazine is now available. The issue begins with a lengthy article about the "Big Yellow Phytosaur" a huge narrow jawed fossil crocodile from the Triassic strata of West Texas. Taylor details his discovery, excavation and restoration (including techniques) of these amazing complex ancient creations. Taylor gives personal details on how he became interested in these animals as well some historical background of scientists who have worked on these creatures. The article is crammed with numerous helpful photos.

The next major article is one that deals with the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's (SVP) war on creationists and creation science. Taylor and several others attended the 2007 SVP Annual meeting where notable fossil hunters like Paul Serrano and Kevin Padian launched into rants— "a full frontal attack on Creationists". Taylor's conclusion, "There are those in secular paleontology who are trying to redefine what science is. What we saw were radical evolutionists who will not tolerate being challenged in their belief in evolutionism."

Next up is a well written article called "A Bear in the Constellations?!" Andrew V. Ste Marie, 16 year old home school scholar makes a comparison between the long-tailed bear constellation Ursa Major and the extinct bear dog Amphicyon. While the similarities are intriguing Ste. Marie admits his "premise is definitely speculative." However this hypothesis is definitely worth placing in the public forum. The feature articles are rounded out by Taylor's evaluation and reminiscences about "The Jesus Movement" of the 1960s and 1970s.

The magazine has short columns like Hugh Miller's C-14 dating of Triceratops and hadrosaur bones that gave dates in the thousands and not the tens of millions of years old as conventional secular Paleontology ascribes them to. Also T.P. Beh's humorous look at many fossil stories which emanate from the evolutionary establishment, a review of Michael Oard's "Frozen in Time" book (Mammoths and the Ice Age should be explored in greater depth in future issues), "Important Politics" by Cathie Adams that centers on the misdeeds of the NEA and David Bump's "A Creationist Comments" dealing with Kenneth Miller's silly objections to Intelligent Design, Bigger Galaxies and flying lemurs.

Perhaps the most important feature is opening editorial "Letter from the Editor" which details Taylor's future direction for the magazine. Taylor lists numerous fascinating fossil and geology questions that he and the magazines contributors will address in upcoming issues. Questions like, "Why are the Oligocene mammals of the White River Badlands of South Dakota more petrified than the Cretaceous dinosaurs below them?" and "Why do the white bones buried in red sand of the mammal beds of rhino and saber-toothed cats in the Gobi desert of China look just like the velociraptors and T-rexes of the Gobi desert if they were separated by millions of years?" If Taylor is successful in bringing these issues out and providing reasonable solutions he will be providing a great service to the creation science cause.

(for subscription information call 800-763-7454 or e-mail mtblancofossilnews@aol.com)

Phoenix Comic Con 2010- Christian Comics

2010-06-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the Christian Comics folk at the Phoenix Convention

Phoenix Comic Con 2010--Costumes

2010-06-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the great costumes that appeared at the Phoenix Comic Con.

Phoenix Comic Con 2010

2010-06-04T09:48:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Phoenix Comic Con was simply amazing.

The crowds were like San Diego. Wall-to-wall people. An early estimate was
10,000 to 12,000. I believe it easily exceeded those numbers. The Phoenix Con has graduated from a dealers convention to a full fledged Con with many panels and other events. It reminded me of San Diego maybe 20 years ago when it was a the old S.D. Convention Center. The Convention administration was very gracious, coming around every day to find out how we were doing and offering us cold water and so on.

We were able to pay (and then some) for the cost of the small press table
through sales of comics and graphic novels.

We met many, many Christian Convention goers who were very pleased to
see us there. This was a very unexpected, but pleasant and blessed surprise. We met a number of young Christian creatives who expressed interest in networking. There was one couple that are leaders in their church who volunteered to host a local Phoenix CCAS meeting. We did get their contact information. This opens up the possibility of having a local CCAS group do the convention. Lots of opportunities for ministry.

We handed out a lot of the comic tracts as well a good sales for the comics. We had dinner Friday night with Brent a professional level Christian artist who was very eager for fellowship. There were at least three of other Christian comics vendors there. One was Bryan Kilgore who had done Logo doing some comic adaptations of parts of the life of Christ and educational comics. Also was Pepe Melon who is the artist on Tales of Watchman. We also met Joey Lee Cabral the writer/artist of Kause of Death. Tom Hall and Daniel Bradford of Blacklist Studios also had a booth selling their R13 and The King comics. Tom Hall really wants us to do a Spiritual Themes panel at the New York Comic Con.

The Spiritual Themes panel when well. We had Joe King, Tom Hall and Daniel Bradford on the panel that was moderated by Ralph and myself. We had an audience of around 20-25 who were very interested in what we were talking about. After intros and general discussion we had audience questions which went up to the end of the hour and we had to cut the discussion off. I spoke with an LDS man who attended. I offered to have an Mormon rep be on the panel next year. He said he would contact some of his artists friends. Also the next day I started chatting with a Star Wars devotee who was very knowledgeable about the Buddhist roots of Star Wars. She is a book reviewer. I gave her my e-mail address for having her on the panel next year.

Overall the Phoenix Comic Con was a very positive experience. Lots of prayers answered. Also lots of sharing opportunities with the people who came to the table.

Gold Panning

2010-04-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

In early March my brother Russ from Monument, CO came and
we did some gold panning together. Also along on the trip was
our oldest brother Elvin from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Here is a video clip of Russ doing some gold detecting.

This was filmed on the east side of the Santa Rita mountains in SE
Arizona.

Arizona Sojourn

2010-01-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

I arrived at my brother's winter home in Green Valley,
Arizona early in the morning on August 4th, 2004 from
a late night plane flight from Kansas City, Missouri.
Green Valley is a retirement community about 25 miles
south of Tucson and is composed of a number of home
owner associations. I decided to stay in Arizona rather
that going somewhere for a job I thought I would look
for work in the area I was in. I went about looking for
employment and did some work as a job traffic person at
the local newspaper (the Green Valley News). This lasted
around three months. In early 2005 I got a part-time job
as a custodian at a nearby post office which lasted for
just over three years. During that time I also got another
part time job with Green Valley Recreation. This job
started in November 2006 an and I am currently still
working with GVR as a Facilities Service Coornidinator
(basically custodial work).

I have gotten involved with a local church, the
Evangelical Free Church of Green Valley, which is
a good Bible believing church. It is a healthy and
very missions minded church. I was involved for
several years doing PR and design work for them.
Most recently I was involved in a Christmas related
drama (see report in my December posts). I've gotten
to know the Pastor for Outreach, Bruce Van Sickle
and we have been involved in regular prayer walking
in the local community.

I have gotten involved to a certain extent with
the local comics scene. I attended for a while a
group of local cartoonists that met at a comics
shop in Tucson. I was able to see aa Golden
Protector story published in the third issue
of Sequentially Tucson, a locally produced
small press comic book. Through these meeting
I met James Babcock a local cartoonist who
I've maintained contact (lunch appointments, etc)
with over the past two and a half years.

My interest in comic book research has continued
and in November 2009 I had an extensive article
on an old comic book character (Bulletman by
Fawcett Comics from the 1940s) published by a
speciality publisher located in Florida.
This was a gratifiying experience.

Also I have been a regular attender of the
Arizona Origins Science Association Southern
Division and have encouraged several speakers
for the Tucson meetings to also speak at our
church in Green Valley and have recommended
speakers to the Origins leadership.

During this time I have continued publishing
in the Apa, Alpha-Omega and have been on the
Board of the Christian Comic Arts Society which
several months ago became an official non-profit.
I have represented CCAS at the 2008 and 2009
Tucson Comic Con.

In September 2007 I joined the Elephant Head
Art Guild, a group of local artists who met weekly
at Tom Arndt's studio in nearby Amado, Arizona
(actually a rural area near Amado). We have had
several shows over the years and it been a good
and valuable experience getting back into painting.
More recently I have jointed the Santa Rita Art League
and in December I had one of my paintings in their
first Juried Show.

With this post I am concluding my multi-year
on-line auto-biography. I will probably have more
posts occasionally as time permits. Now I plan and
organizing this material in a printed form for my
own files. God bless you for reading any part of
this presentation.

Missouri Interlude (2003-2004)

2010-01-01T15:51:00.000-08:00

During the summer of 2002 (living in Crosbyton, Texas)
I was sending out resume letters to prospective employers.
I decided to give Intercristo another try for prospective
employers with the Christian community. One possible
employer that I discovered from Intercristo was a
women's ministry group called Stonecroft Ministries.
While Stonecroft wasn't a familiar name to me I had
heard of the Christian Women's Clubs while I was
living in Washington as a young person.

I got in contact with Stonecroft who was advertising
to fill a publications manager's position. They saw
enough in my resume to cause them to issue an invitation
to visit their Kansas City, Missouri headquarters for
a job interview (late August 2002). While the position
I interviewed for was filled by someone from inside
the organization I did eventually take another position
with them.

I moved from Texas to Missouri in late February 2003.
For most of my time at Stonecroft I worked in the Book
Department and later for several months with their
internet/website department.

While in Kansas City I attended the Westbrook Church
and became involved with the Creation Science Association
of Mid-America attending their meetings and going on
several of their field trips. I was also active in
the Comic Creator's Network in Kansas City going to
their meetings and even became involved with one of
their 24 hour comics sessions. I had a comic strip
published in one of their published anthologies
(Show & Tell #2). During this time I also went to
Pennsylvania for the International Conference on
Creationism (2003) and made a trip to Chicago for
a summit of Christian comic artists (2004).

However, my time with Stonecroft proved to be
short-lived as I left Kansas City in early August
of 2004 for southeast Arizona.

Fossil Hunter Part 5

2009-12-31T08:04:00.000-08:00

From Alpha-Omega #96 January/February 2001 This continues some of my adventures at the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum.

Giants in Texas

Several months ago were had an interview with a rancher
south of Crosbyton who claimed in about 1958 as a young man
that he was a team member of a human burial site in the
nearby foothills. He said that a giant human skeleton was
excavated from the site and the dig was supervised by a
then Texas Tech University professor. The rancher did not
recall the professor's name, but that the giant human remains
were taken to Texas Tech.

After the interview the rancher led us to the burial site.
We succeeded in getting one of our vehicles stuck in the
Brazos River before (we were able to extract it with the
help of a tractor) we arrived at the dig site. We didn't
find anything as this happened over forty years ago. At
this point we are going to be following up on it and see
if the Texas Tech archives have anything that they would
release on this possible interesting find.

My Own Triceratops

In late August a private fossil hunter named Scott Taylor
(no relation to Joe) brought a number of hadrosaur
(duck-billed dinosaur) and Triceratops bones from Montana
into the museum. In October we began opening the field
jackets containing the bones. There were the better part
of a Triceratops skull which took priority in our preparation
efforts. The first thing we did was to remove the field
jackets which was a fairly arduous task as the field jackets
were not properly done. The field jackets usual cover the
clay or rock matrix that surround the bones. In this case
the bones were in a very hard clay which yielded to the
efforts of a wood cutting x-acto knife and the handle of
a normal sized screwdriver. We kept the clay scrappings
and placed them in a water bath to sift out any small bone
fragments. Also we kept the clay for a local pottery maker.

This is interesting in itself. If these bones were really
65 million years old you would think they would have fossilized
into hardened stone such as we found in Colorado. After
the clay was removed we took the bones to the water bath
and let them soak over night. Then we came back the next
day and scrubbed any excess clay/mud off of them. After
the bones dried over night we immersed the bones in a
bath of PVA, a chemical hardener. This toughened up the
bones so they could be handled safely. After that came
the part of trying to fit the bones together. It is a
giant 3-D jigsaw puzzle. At this point Joe is the expert
and fellow worker Andy Hedges and myself are rank neophytes.
However, just to work on this material is a dream come true.
The triceratops was my favorite childhood dinosaur and being
able to work on the fossil remains of one was a great privilege.

Fossil Hunter Part 4

2009-12-30T09:54:00.000-08:00

From Alpha-Omega #96 January February 2001 This continues
some of my adventures at the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum.

Utopia— Texas That is

Several months ago we received a call from Becky Gring
from Utopia, Texas who reported that she had discovered
some very strange rock impressions (looked like human
footprints) in a river bed near where she lives. Utopia
is in south Texas a hundred or so miles west of San Antonio.
Becky wanted to know how to make a mold of the tracks.
I relayed some advice to her from Joe Taylor on how to
do it. Several days later she called back and said she
had used a different method. She used modeling clay
rather than the suggested plaster. The clay worked very
well and she was able to get a very good mold of the
submerged track. She made some casts of it and sent
us one of them. I was the one who opened the package
when it arrived and my first impression was that it
could very well be a small human track. There was a
definite heel and ball impression though the
toes were not readily apparent. It is possible
that the individual (if indeed it was human) was
running with the ball of the foot making the initial
impressions.

This was interesting enough to have two members of
our Mt. Blanco Fossil Excavation team, Aaron Judkins
(from Glen Rose) and Phillip Hall (from near Fort Worth)
travel to Utopia to check it out. They were able to
make very similar molds of the first rack and several
others. Their molds were essentially the same as the
one made by Becky Gring. They also observed some other
track impressions but they weren't as good as the one
Becky had sent to us. These "tracks" if they were that
were found in Cretaceous limestone to that found in the
Paluxy River. Becky has been directed to us by Dr. Carl Baugh.
Perhaps just as interesting was a trilobite found in the
same strata. This was definitely a misplaced fossil as
Trilobites were supposed to have died out by the Permian
period perhaps 100 million years earlier.

There is a certain amount of networking among Creationist
organizations. For example, Dr. Baugh of the Creation
Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, Texas has used Joe Taylor
to supervise his Colorado Dinosaur dig and Joe is often
a technical consultant/expert with the dinosaur and human
tracks at the Paluxy River. We have had a number of
field jacked dinosaur bones from the Colorado dig here in
the museum that are waiting for the finances to prepare
and restore them.

Triassic Tracks

Another story is of a Mr. Walton Koemel who lives near
Lemesa, Texas. He bought several molds (one very large
and two very small) in of animal tracks made from
Triassic strata near a river bed in Knox County, Texas.
Joe gave them a possible ID as dinosaur tracks. The small
track Joe thought might be a baby sauropod dinosaur track.
Mr. Koemel was very appreciative of Joe's opinion and
later took the tracks to nearby Texas Tech University
(in Lubbock) where he showed them to Dr. Sankar Chatterjee.

Dr. Chatterjee is a well known evolutionary paleontologist
famous for finding fossil birds in the Triassic strata.
The large impressions he dismissed as natural occurring
erosional features. The small impressions however he was
very excited about and said they were made by an
unidentified mammal. In terms of evolution it would be
very early for mammals in the fossil record. From a
creationist perspective this would simply show that
these animals were living then and appear fully formed
with no intermediate forms. Most of the supposed early
mammals were similar to shrews. Mr. Koemel did not reveal
the location of the tracks to Dr. Chatterjee, but returned
to our museum on several occasions and once took Joe to
the Discovery site so Joe could get a first hand look.

Joe's evaluation of the large impressions was similar to
Chatterjee's that they were natural occurring rock features
that were not made by animals or man.

Fossil Hunter Part 3

2009-12-29T15:34:00.000-08:00

From Alpha-Omega #96 (January-February 2001)

Work at the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum continues to
be varied and exciting. One of the fascinating things
about the museum is the calls we receive from outside
people who want to tell us about some interesting
fossil find that they have happened upon.

Colorado Dino Dig
In mid September out team of six diggers went for a
week to a excavation site in north western Colorado.
This is a site located on a private ranch just south
of Dinosaur National Monument Park. This is the famous
Morrison formation that has yields tons of Jurassic group
dinosaur bones. Dr. Carl Baugh is the primary excavator
(though he was not present this time) who made the initial
contact with the ranch owners. The bones we took from the
site are his and we brought them back to our museum in
"plaster field jackets" eventually to be prepared for display.
The field jackets allow us to safely transport the bones
from the excavation site. Often the bones are very fragile
and break and fragment easily. The outcropping where we
were working on is part of a dinosaur graveyard with the
remains of sauropods (the really big dinosaurs like
Camarasourus), stegosaurs and allosaurs being present.
Fossilized bones were literally laying on top of each
other in a jumbled mass. Most of them were "disarticulated"
meaning they were dis connected from other bones—no
complete or near complete skeletons. This was three days
of hot, sweaty and hard work. Here are some thoughts as
I came home from the dig:

Bang, bang, bang!! Hammer like pasche hitting the handle
end of a screwdriver against hard stone. Sometimes the
screwdriver would find soft yielding clay, or easily
fragmenting rock. After a time of pounding one look for
an easier way to accomplish the task. You look for cracks
in the rocks knowing that these are fracture points where
the adjoining rock can be more easily removed. However
often the rock presents rather unyielding face that
resists numerous hammer/screw driver assaults. One is
tempted to think of Pope Julian II's immortal query to
the famous artist, Michelangelo, How long, Michelangelo, how long?"
After the three day of such pounding one's upper hand
and wrist develops minor but definite aches and pains.
The sun is hot with gusts of wind blowing about swirls of dust."

We also had a air-powered jack hammer that helped remove
large pieces of rock. We were able to extricate many bones
from the ground, but not as many as we'd hoped. There was just
so much more there. We arrived this time with the idea that
this might be the last time to use this site. The Clinton
administration has been showing signs that they might nationalize
the ranch land and incorporate it into the already large
Dinosaur National Monument, This would prevent further
future excavation.

On our way back from the dig we received news that a freak
lawn mower accident had killed the owner of the ranch. Joe
and several of the dig team went to the man's funeral held
several days later in Louisiana. The man's family said that
this will not present future excavations by out team. Now
with George W. Bush's election hopefully this will not be
the case. For those of you who get the TBN channel I'd
recommend trying to catch Creation in the 21st Century.
Dr Carl Baugh is the host of this program and he provides
a good introduction to the creationist approach to origins.
While there is a variety of opinions about the models of
earth history among creationists—Dr Baugh's program is on
6:30 AM on Fridays. You may find it on at other times
in your area.

Fossil Hunter Part 2

2009-12-28T09:30:00.000-08:00

This was published in Alpha-Omega #92 (May-June 2000)
as a part of my Ensign Report #90.

In December [1999] Terry Beh visited the Mt Blanco Fossil
Museum and interviewed Joe Taylor for an article that will
probably be published in New Man magazine [The article
was published in New Man]. Terry was quite impressed with
Joe and the museum. This peaked my curiosity even more
than before. I arrived in Crosbyton late February 12 and
I saw Joe Taylor on February 14 (Monday). Joe is a soft
spoken Christian gentleman who with a full beard appears
to be part fossil hunter, mountain man and cowboy. Joe and
I had a good visit. Joe needed to leave after lunch to take
care of some personal matters. He allowed me to stay and
look through the museum at a leisurely pace. Joe basically
runs the museum by himself (Recently he has had some
part-time workers).

The museum has a number of surprisingly professional displays
including a full sized Triceratops and mastodon skeletons, a
simulated excavation pit, a gift shop and many other fine exhibits.
I was very impressed with the potential of the museum and the
vision Joe has for it.

During this time I sat down in the lecture area and thought
and prayed how I might help Joe realize his dream.Not only of
making the museum a successful business, but also a ministry
that would strengthen the Christian's confidence in God's Word
by showing how fossils give strong evidence of God's creative
and righteous actions.

On my way back to Arizona and then to California my head was
spinning and bursting with ideas partly stimulated by our
conversation. On returning to Temple City I sat down for several
days and organized my thoughts in written form. I came up with
about four pages of ideas on how to promote the ministry and
business of the museum. This was e-mailed to Joe. Then for
several weeks we conducted an extensive e-mail correspondence.
My thinking for the potential of the museum matched Joe's very well.
I basically wrote a job description on how I could help Joe achieve
his vision for ministry through the museum.

The result: My 28 plus-year California sojourn is ending and
I'll be moving the west Texas. For a boy raised north of Seattle
that is quite a change, but I am excited about it. I believe the
Lord has prepared me for a life time (I've had a love affair
with dinosaurs since second grade) for involvement in a ministry
helping Christians be more confidence in the Bible and giving solid
reasons to non-believers why they should receive Christ as Savior
and Lord.

I will be wearing a lot of hats. I hope to function in administrative
roles in managing and promoting the museum. My desire is to relieve
Joe of a lot of administrative functions that are bogging him down.
Also I will be bringing my many years of publication experience to
work with Joe on his future books and other publications. I will be
living in an apartment attache d to the museum. I appreciate your
prayers as I step out in faith into a new chapter of my life. Praise God!

Fossil Hunter Part 1

2009-12-22T11:01:00.000-08:00

[The following was written in 2000 and first published in Alpha-Omega #92
(May-June 2000) as a part of my Ensign Report #90. It discusses my
interest in fossils and Creation Science.]

Back in the mid to late 1960s I came across a book called The Genesis Flood
written by theologian John C. Whitcomb and scientist Henry M. Morris. The
premise of this book was that many (if not most) of the geological features
on the surface of the earth were a result of the worldwide flood described
in the book of Genesis. This book is credited with sparking the revival of
Creationist thought in the late 20th Century. On of the fascinating sections
of this book had to do with “misplaced fossils.” That is fossils that are out
of their supposed normal sequence in the rock strata. One of these misplaced
fossils were what looks like human footprints in the same rock strata as
dinosaur footprints in the riverbed of the Paluxy River near Glen Rose,
Texas (southwest of Fort Worth).

In the early 1970s while I was working in audiovisual department of
Campus Crusade in San Bernardino we obtained a copy of a motion picture
called “Footprints in Stone” produced by Films for Christ. This film documented
the excavations that had been conducted in the late 1960s at Glen Rose.
The film was quite convincing in showing what really looked like human
footprints with dinosaur footprints. How could this be! According to the
orthodox scientific view man came on the scene maybe a million years ago
and the dinosaurs supposed died out 65 million years ago.

By 1980 John Morris (who is now the president of the Institute for Creation Research)
wrote a book called “Tracing Those Incredible Dinosaurs and the People Who Knew Them.”
John had conducted a long term study of the Paluxy site and fossils and believed the
evidence was compelling to put his findings in book form.

In 1982, Dr. Carl Baugh began his own excavations at the Paluxy site which continue
today. He has built a Creation Evidences Museum nearby which houses exhibits of the
tracks and related items.

In the mid-1986s one researcher found several of the tracks that had reptile-like
toe stains that seemed to indicate that they were actually dinosaur tracks that
just looked human. These were found only in a few of the many dozens that
have been excavated over the years. This caused the greater creationist community
to back off on using the Paluxy tracts as positive evidence for their position.
Dr. John Morris’ book was pulled from circulation as was the film Footprints in Stone.
However Dr. Baugh has continued to excavate at the site and is turning up more
evidence that the footprints as genuinely human. There are several newer books
that present this evidence.

This past year my paleo-friend, Terry Beh and I were looking to
be involved in another dinosaur dig for the summer. I came across Dr. Baugh’s
website and noticed the Creation Evidences Museum was sponsoring a dig at
the Paluxy River. Having never been to Glen Rose I was rather excited about the
possibility of being on a Creationist dig. Terry was somewhat skeptical because
he was of the opinion that the evidence had been discredited. I felt that the
evidence was still sound but i wanted to see for myself.

Terry and I eventually went to the dig for three days around the Fourth of July
weekend. Terry’s initial skepticism melted away by what he saw the evidence
and as we participated in the hard, back breaking work of the dig.
While at the dig Terry and I met Mr. Joe Taylor who is a fossil reconstructionist
and museum owner and director. Joe Taylor was there as an expert helping
to supervise the dig. He is as the man behind the Mt. Blanco Independent
Fossil Excavation Team. He had a team there that was working on a book
in a nearby motel (had several computers set up). The book has now been
published and is called Fossil Facts and Fantasies. The book is a potpourri
of interested stories and photos about Joe’s adventures in Creationary paleontology.

Thespian Don

2009-12-18T12:20:00.000-08:00

I got recruited to be in a Christmas Drama at my Church (Evangelical Church of Green Valley)
in early December. It was the Christmas story with Mary and Joseph coming to Bethlehem.
I got the part of Joseph. Can an artist and writer be an actor? I had a few speaking lines.
Yes there is some overlap (Just ask Stan Lee!). The occasion was the annual Women’s
Christmas Tea and there were three performances with a total attendence of around 500.
Mary is Mrs. Gayle Coover who was also very involved in planning and administrating the event.

Narramore Years Part 24

2009-12-07T09:25:00.000-08:00

The Narramore ministry began a slow and gradual decline
before I came to work there. There was a period of expansion
in the mid and late 1960s and during the 1970s. The Rosemead
facility was build in the 1960s and the graduate school
began as well as the counseling facility and conference
center. When I arrived in 1982 the last the major building
was constructed--a dinner/living facility that was on the
hill above the main office building (The Top-of-the-Ten).
This supplemented the already existing on campus apartment
building. A swallow swimming pool (perfect for water volleyball)
and hot spa was also put in at the same time. Before this time
many of the conference attendees needed to find off campus
housing accommodations. Dr. Narramore believed that this would
attract more attendees to the various seminars put on by NCR.
Dr. Narramore had developed a large following during the 1950s,
1960s and 1970s via his radio program and his extensive
traveling lecture schedule. He saw the Rosemead campus as a
place where he could have people come for a more extended
time of training, counseling and education than was possible
in a single evening lecture or even a week end seminar.

However by the end of the 1980s and early 1990s it was getting
increasingly difficult to fill the seminars that were given
on campus. Dr. Narramore later admitted that the Rosemead
ministry may have been a victim of the success of another
one of his earlier ministries. By the late 1970s the Rosemead
School of Psychology had merged with Biola University and
had moved to Biola's LaMirada campus. Dr. Narramore felt
that with the Rosemead School of Psychology graduating
students (as well as other similar Christian-based schools)
who were establishing practices around the country the
need for traveling the Rosemead campus had diminished
considerably. Also Dr. Narramore's following was getting
older and his outreach activities such as radio and travel
speaking were likewise downsizing.

Newer champions of Christian counseling like Dr. James Dobson
and others were reaching new generations of Christians
and addressing psychological issues. The ministry was
largely built around Dr. Narramore's dynamic personality
(as is true with many para-church groups) and when he became
more advanced in age his own aging constituent base declined
and the organization was not able to attract sufficient
interest from younger people. Of course there were exceptions
to this like the Missionary Kid's Re-Entry seminar which continued
to be popular and is still being carried on by another ministry.

However by the early 1990s consideration was being given to
selling the Rosemead campus and moving to a smaller facility.
Finally in June 1996 NCF closed a deal with a East Asia
educational company who purchased the Rosemead facilities.
I was involved in the move which proved to be a bitter-sweet
experience. It was a move that needed to be done because of
the overall lessening of ministry and subsequent need
for the campus.

The downsized staff (Roy Mathison, John Davidson and others
retired or moved at that time) relocated at a office building
in Arcadia north of the Rosemead facility. The Arcadia period
was one of more transition as Dr. Narramore and the NCF Board
were actively engaged in search for a new NCF President. This
was a period of uncertainty for the remaining staff. Finally
in 1998 Dr. Bruce Narramore was contacted and accepted an
invitation to became NCF president. Dr. Bruce started bringing
in his own people including Dick Innes. Within 2-3 years of
Dr. Bruce Narramore becoming president the original staff
who had made the transition from Rosemead campus were replaced.
I left Narramore officially at the end November 1999. My view
of NCF at this time it is still a valid para-church ministry
but much smaller and less robust than it was in the 1970s and 1980s.

I used the time after leaving NCF in early 2000 to finish
my book on my great-great uncle Silas Ensign (Please see
Narramore Years Part 18 October 18, 2009 for more details).
The end of March 2000 I attended a banquet given in honor of
Dr. Clyde and Ruth Narramore. This proved to be a more fitting
conclusion to my work with NCF.

Narramore Years Part 23

2009-11-30T08:34:00.000-08:00

Israel Dig Part 3

One of the things I learned while there is that while
these archeologists are careful scientists using techniques
of investigation perfected over the past century or more
—archeology is an inexact science. Much speculation,
guesswork and conjecture goes into the conclusions that
these individuals that these individuals come up with.
Often the archeologists disagree among themselves
concerning the meaning of the data. At our particular
site the younger scientists often disagreed with the
conclusions of the older archeologists. They also
disagreed on how the organization and operation of
the dig should be ran. Certainly there were egos in
conflict and the stuff of real human drama present
this summer at Tel Beth Shemesh. We often thing of
scientists as being completely objective and
dispassionate about their work. Such is not the case."

During the time at the dig I met many interesting people.
The dig volunteers were made up of many group. There were
independent diggers such as myself as well as undergraduate
and graduate students from Indiana University (Bloomington),
Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia) and Princeton Theological
Seminary (Princeton, New Jersey). I was able to get acquainted
with a number of them which enriched my time there. We did
take a weekend tour of the Negev desert I southern Israel
and visited the Ramon crater, the excavations at Avdat and
some very interest canyons similar to those in Utah or Arizona.
We visited the mud baths at Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea and the
fortress at Masada. After I left the dig I spent several days
in the old city of Jerusalem and walked around the city walls,
visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, walked down the
Via Dela Rosa, went to the Wailing Wall, the Stepping Stone
structure in the City of David, the Israel Museum and a Sunday
church service at the Garden Tomb.

Soon it was time to leave Israel and I fly back to Amsterdam
and then back to Los Angeles. Oddly I had picked out some sort
of flu bug that dogged me during my time in Israel and after
I got home. However, I wasn't going to allow this to slow me
down to much and I persisted (God gave me the strength) during
my time in Israel.

This was a wonderful one of a lifetime experience
that I'll never forget.

Narramore Years Part 22

2009-11-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

Israel Dig Part 2

"The next day started with a 4:10 Am knock on the cabin door.
After dressing and having an early morning snack (saved from
the previous night), the volunteers boarded the bus (with
buckets and other dig paraphernalia)for a fifteen minute bus
ride to the dig site. When we arrived at Tel Beth Shemesh we
walked up a dirt road to a base camp where the tools were
kept in a large storage shed. This sled came complete with
its own Arab guard who slept on the roof! Then I was assigned
to a supervisor who had his own "square." Archeology in Israel
is accomplished by squares. Each site is divided up and excavated
by a series of 8 meter by 8 meter squares. Each square is
separated by a meter of earthen wall. The earth is removed very
carefully by towels or more vigorously by a special shovel that
looks like a hoe on steroids. The famous archaeologist "spade"
was nowhere in evidence at this dig. I don't think our archaeologists
believed in them.

The artifacts uncovered were pottery shards, animal bones (very few
pig bones were found indicating it was an Israelite city during
the Iron Age), stone cooking and grinding areas and architectural
structures such as large stone walls. In one of the adjacent
squares a large water cistern (underground water reservoir) had
been discovered. It was hot, sweaty and dirty work. While some
excavated dirt from the squares, others would place the dirt in
wheelbarrows and transport it to a dump site near the dig. Perhaps
the most exciting thing we found during the first week was a live
scorpion under the sand bags that ringed the top of our square.
The scorpion was quite different from the ones I encountered in
Colorado years ago. We captured it and took it far away from the
squares and released it unharmed.

We worked from about 5:30 AM to 8:30 AM and has a half hour
breakfast (bread, milk, cereal, apples, dark chocolate spread,
jam, hard boiled eggs, and the ever present tomatoes and cucumbers)
and then went back to the dig and worked until 12:30 PM. At that
time we returned our tools to the storage shed to be housed until
the next day. Then we boarded the bus and travel back to the
kibbutz. Most of the volunteers went to the major meal of the
day—lunch (which was already half over) and then back to the cabin
for a shower, rest, study or nap until "pottery washing' which
started at 3:30 PM. This lasted for about an hour or more and
was a time when the pottery shards from the dig were washed and
cleaned by the volunteers using hand scrubbers. After the washing
was completed, there came a time of "pottery reading" where the
site archaeologists, Shlomo Bunimovitz and Zvi Lederman, would go
through the sacks of pottery shards from the previous day and
evaluate them in terms of their age and over all quality. Pottery
is one of the ways the excavations in Israel are dated. The pottery
fragments we unearthed dated mostly from the 8th and 9th centuries BC.
This would place them sometime after the beginning of the Divided
Kingdom (after Solomon).

These shards were from the Iron Age II for the most part. The
Iron Age started about 1200 BC and lasted until 586 BC when the
Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar invaded and destroyed Judah.
Iron Age I is from 1200 BC to 1000 BC and Iron Age II is from
1000 BC to the late date. Beth Shemesh also has an earlier
Bronze Age history going back to 2200 BC or more but the work
i was involved in was Iron Age. Beth Shemesh was probably destroyed
during the time of the Assyrian invasion under Sennacherib in
701 BC and was never fully occupied as a city. The tel at bet Shemesh
has gone through two other extensive archaeological excavations,
one in 1911-13 and another in 1928-1933. The current excavations
under Bunimovitz and Lederman started in 1990 with dig seasons each
summer since then.

After the pottery washing came dinner around 6:30 PM where lectures
from 7:30 PM until about 9:00 PM. These lectures were given by
the site archaeologists and visiting archaeologists. These lectures
involved slides and helped get us better acquainted with the
overall history of the region. Perhaps the most memorable one
was of Ashkelon, a major Philistine city on the Mediterranean
coast of Israel.

Narramore Years Part 21

2009-11-16T07:41:00.000-08:00

Israel Dig Part 1

One of the areas of interest I've had over the years
was in archaeology—specifically in Biblical archaeology.
Perhaps this is related to my belief in the trustworthiness
of the the divine origin and transmission of the Old and
New Testament scriptures. The Bible makes lots of historical
claims or historical reports. The Bible speaks of places like
villages, cities and regions and individuals, people groups,
and nations that existed and left remains of their presence.

I have read and purchased books on the subject of Biblical
archaeology trying to see how this historical science has
been used to confirm the scriptures. I also came across a
popular magazine called the Biblical Archaeology Review
(BAR) that presents excavation data in a mostly layman
friendly manner. BAR is a often interesting and often
frustrating read as many of its contributors do not have
a high regard for the trustworthiness of scripture. Most
of them see some worth in the Old and New Testaments
as documents reporting on events that took place in
ancient times. However many deny well recorded Biblical
events such as the existence of the early patriarchs,
the Exodus, the Conquest of Canaan and other events.
It seems as if part of the problem has to do with
correlation of Biblical and non-Biblical chronologies.
Non-Biblical chronologies seem to be taken as the standard
to which the Biblical chronologies are judged and have to
adhere rather than the other way around. Other
chronology-related issues have to do with the physical
evidence left behind where it is or should be.

Through the influence of BAR I decided to take a trip
to Israel and go on an archaeological dig. This dig was
at Beth Shemesh about 15 miles or so west of Jerusalem.
I stayed in the Kibbutz Ha'rel near the dig site with a
number of other excavation workers. Here are some
excerpts from an account of the dig (in June 1997)
that I wrote shortly after my return from Israel.

2009 Tucson Comic Con Report

2009-11-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

Photos: Top: Daniel Bradford of Blacklist Studios
Top (Right) Game player
Second Row: Boba Fett and more Star Wars characters.
Third Row: Sand Person from Star Wars. Also
Mike Oliveras (Tucson Convention organizer),
Don Ensign and Brent Hofstra
Bottom Left: Don Ensign at the CCAS table.

For the second year the CCAS had a table at the Tucson Comic Con on Saturday, November 7, 2009. The convention was held in a larger venue at the Hotel Arizona in downtown Tucson. Last year according to the Convention organizer there were between 300-400 and this year three were around 1500. There were many more vendors (and artist tables) than last year with at least 56 vendors participating in the dealer's room. We arrived shortly before the official opening time of 10 AM and stayed until around 6:30 PM. We had a table next to James Babcock who was presenting his Unbelievables. Have you ever wanted to become a custom made super hero? Well, James can do that for you.

I asked a friend (a non-comics man) from my local church to help me with the table this year. Brent Hofstra proved to be a very valuable co-worker on this outing. I spent time with him the day before showing him the tracts and other comics material we were making available at the table. Also since this was his first Comic Con I emphasized the unique aspects of Comic Cons and the various types of people who he would see there. Brent, who has ministry responsiblies, did very well adapting to the Con environment and saw the spiritual hunger of so many at the convention.

The convention had leggy girls on roller skates buzzing around the dealer's room telling visitors of upcoming community events. A tall young man dressed in black with a long lime colored tie walked the floor with wireless mic in hand. On the hour he would announce the winners of a door prize drawing with gifts provided by many of the vendors. A sizable crowd gathered around him whenever he announced the winners. A number of people came in costume. A local Arizona Star Wars group fielded Darth Vader, Empire Storm Troopers and there were a whole troop of Boba Fetts in various sizes and color schemes. Perhaps the best costume was that of a year and a half year old girl decked out in a Wonder Woman costume complete with mini cape.

Several vendors stood out. One was called Body & Blood. I talked with a man who was manning the table (not one of the creators) and he told me the premise behind the series. In an alternative reality after the Resurrection Jesus did not ascend into heaven but stayed on Earth to become the ultimate vampire. The visual images were disturbing (and disgusting). While I try to be as toleratant as possible I had to tell the man that this concept was blasphemous. He, not being on of the creative people, actually agreed with me.

Daniel Bradford of Blacklist Studios was there (I had previously meet him at the Phoenix Comic Con) and I had a chance to chat with him. He and Tom Hall, both Christians, have done various comics including King (an Elvis-look-alike zombie slayer). Bradford's work is highly professional and somewhat resembles Mike Mignola's work.

A lot of young people came up to the table. Some of the tween and teenage girls picked up one or more of the color tracks. We also had copies of Eric Jansen's Christ of Prophesy displayed prominently and many picked up copies of those. Some of the young girls would look at it and somewhat mocking smiles and giggles would come on their faces. Some would replace the comic while others took it. Perhaps for some gospel tracts are like forbidden fruit. We gave out many tracts including Homeless Harry, Vengeance is Mine, Lonely Lady, Betrayed, Paraman Vs. Terriflex and others.

One gentlemen came up to the table who sported a white tee shirt with the EC Comics logo emblazoned on it. He seems to be somewhat acquainted with Christian Comics and the conversation turned on a short discussion of Jack Chick. He apparently was a dealer as he needed to return to his table.

Another one was a group from the Arizona Paranormal Research Society that was filming the various vendors. I gave a mini interview (on camera) saying that we as Christians are supernaturalists. We may perceive unseen phenomena from as dfferent perspective than they do but we believe that the material world is not all there is.

As far as sales were concerned it seems as if Christians were by and large the people who who buy materials from the table. That probably makes sense within the niche market that makes up the comic Cons. Christian comics tend to be a niche within a niche. One lady came up and made a large purchase for gifts to family members. Another woman who was very concerned about her nephew (with behavior problems and whose faith was wavering) asked for material that might be of help to him. In all truth the material we have is of a a more general nature from entertainment with a message to tracks to various Bible adaptations. Her nephews needs probably are beyond the scope of what we were offering at the table.

After a full day Brent and I visited a local Buffet where we eat and talked about the happenings of the day. Overall a good experience and a great place for seed planting.

Narramore Years Part 20

2009-11-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

Comics Researcher part 2

Captain Marvel, Jr.

In 1967 I became aware of a comics fanzine being published
in Washington State called Concussion. It was published for
around two years by Mike Robertson who lived in Maple Valley.
It was an article mimeo zine which meant it contained no
amatuer comic strips though it did have spot illos. The articles
ranged from commentary on currently published comic books,
to opinion pieces and to historical articles covering different aspects
of comic book characters. It was at least a second tier fanzine put
out by enthusiatic comic book fans.

It boasted articles by future pros like Mark Evanier (who was very
prolific as a fan writer and later as a pro) and some pro future artists
like Klaus Jansen. I started contributing to Concussion what came
to be a series of articles on an obscure 1940s magazine called
Dynamic Comics. The several issues that I obtained contained
characters like Dynamic Man, Dynamic Boy, Mr E, Lucky Coyne,
Dan Hastings and others. Under the series title of Glimpses of the
Golden Age I wrote brief accounts of these characters giving as much
analysis of the strips as I could (not having a complete run). While
these articles were better than a random single issue review they left
a lot of questions that only a more complete inspection of the series
would answer.

During this time I purchased via mail order for a number of 3/4 cover,
post-1945 issues of Captain Marvel, Jr. and Master Comics. The term
3/4 covers were issues that the retailer tore off the title cover logo of
unsold copies and sent the logos back to the distributor for credit.
These copies were meant to be discarded (not sold) but some of them
did survive over the years. My plan was to do a fairly comprehensive
article on Captain Marvel, Jr. I wanted to find out why the Fawcett
characters (especially the Marvel Family) were so popular in the 1940s.
On a visit to Portland, Oregon in 1963 (or 1964) visiting my brother
LeRoy we stopped by a secondhand book store and I purchased two
copies of Captain Marvel Adventures (circa 1946). The issues were in
good condition and I took them home and read them. I wasn't as
impressed as I should have been as I'd heard and read such wonderful
things about Captain Marvel. The artwork was cartoony and simplistic
and the stories were, well frankly, corny and cheesy. My first impressions
of the World's Mightiest Mortal wasn't a good one. These comics were
from another generation and they were from different from what Stan Lee,
Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Gardner Fox, John Broome, Gil Kane, Carmine
Infantino, Murphy Anderson, Russ Manning and others were doing
currently.

However the Fawcett Marvel Family comics held and maintained a
certain mystery and intrigue about them. Why were they so popular
in the 1940s that DC Comics forced Fawcett into a 12-year long court
battle over copyright infrigement. I decided to explore Captain Marvel's
official knockoff, the blue boy, Captain Marvel, Jr. When I received the
issues in the mail I probably read a few of them and thought I'd get
around to doing the article within a few weeks or months. However,
about that time Mike Robertson ceased publishing Concussion and I
did a lenghty study (sort of a swan song to my fanzine writing) on the
1950s Atlas Comics jungle heroine, Lorna which was published in
another zine called Comicology (1970).

At that time my life was taken up with college studies and after graduation
with working with Campus Crusade and eventually moving to Southern
California. The CMJ article got put on the back burner for many years.
Over the next several decades those issues of CMJ and Master Comics
traveled with me on my many moves in Southern California and eventually
to Texas. Finally in the fall of 2001 I pulled these issues out and started
writing summaries of each of the stories. I felt this would help me to become
familar with the character. I began writing the article in 2002 and mentioned
it off hand in an e-mail to PC Hamerlinck . PC is the editor of the Fawcett
Collectors of America section in the fanzine Alter Ego. Alter Ego was perhaps
the most well known super hero fanzine from the 1960s and was originated
by Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas. Thomas regained the ownership of the title
in the late 1990s and started publishing it again under the Two Morrows Imprint.
PC asked if he could publish the Captain Marvel Jr article after it was written.
The article centered on the post-war era of CMJ. Most articles about CMJ
center on his early Master Comics issues because they were drawn by the
outstanding draftsmen Mac Raboy.

The issues that I had were from 1946 and later so I decided to use this post
World War II period as a jumping off point to explore the Junior saga
in depth. I had enough stories in these issues to come to some general
conclusions about the character and what made him as popular as he was.
First he was a knock off of one of the most popular heroes of the Golden
Age of Comics. he was also a boy's hero that presented a character who
young readers (especially tween and young teen boys) could readily identify.
Also care was taken by the editor and writers to give a great variety of themes
and genre within the stories. There were human interest, fantasy, science fiction,
crime, horror, mad scientist, crime, super villain, war, and many other genres
were explored. While Captain Marvel Jr never attained the circulation heights
of the Big Red Cheese (Captain Marvel) he produced around 600 stories and
lasted until Fawcett ceased publishing their super hero books in 1953. Of any
of the fan writing that I'd done this was probably the best and most satisfying.

It was published in four parts in Alter Ego #19-22 (December 2002, January,
February, March 2003). Having this published in a resurrected Alter Ego was
like I had finally made it in fandom after 35 years.

Narramore Years Part 19

2009-11-01T20:47:00.000-08:00

Comics Researcher Part 1

There is part of me that enjoys systematizing data. Perhaps it is
like other people who like figuring out crossword puzzles or putting
together jigsaw puzzles or solving murder mysteries. One place where
that came into being was in my fascination with comic books. One of
the currents that found expression in the newly emerging comics
fandom in the early 1960s was a thirst for compiling data on the
old comic books and their creators. Jerry Bails, the father of
comics fandom, was an incurable data buff. He coined the term
"panelologist" for people with a bent toward gathering information
about the Golden Age comics in particular and all comics in general.
Besides the many lengthy articles and indices were compiled,
Bails himself indexed his favorite, All Star Comics and somewhat
later the super hero DC Comics from the 1940s. Others put together
indices on the MLJ comics and others companies. Toward the end of
the decade Bails published his Collector's Guide: The First Heroic Age
(a comprehensive Guide to the appearances of costumed heroes
in the 1940s). I contributed a small amount of data to this Collector's
Guide. Seeing my name in the acknowledgement section nestled
among many professional editors, artists, writers as well as prominent
fans and collectors was for a 21 year-old kid was a heady experience.
Howard Keltner's Index to Golden Age Comic Books came out in
the early 1970s as did the Who's Who of American Comic Books
edited by Bails and Hames Ware. About that time the first Comic
Book Price Guides started making their appearance. How could I
make a unique contribution to this facet of the comics hobby?

When I began reading the Green Lantern comic in the early 1960s
I noticed the writers (and editor) constructing a complete world
(actual a universe) centered around the exploits of the characters
appearing in this comic book. Green Lantern is a super hero who
uses a "power ring" (a super weapon) to accomplish all matter of
weird and wonderful things by sheer will power. He is basically
a cosmic police man. I began writing down the names of the
characters (major and minor) and which issues they appeared in.
I also included the places (cities, towns, countries, planets, etc)
where the adventures took place and included objects like weapons,
artworks and so forth. While this may have been an exercise in
trivia generation it was also an enjoyable past time. As the 1960s
progressed I had little time for this type of project (with college studies),
however I picked this up again in the late 1970s and did more of it.
I continued working on it off and on during the 1980s. I had followed
the Green Lantern comics and had pretty much of a complete run of
the issues to work from.

My early involvement with Alpha-Omega provided a place to
publish this information that I had been compiling over the years.
Sections of my first 10 or so contributions for Alpha-Omega
(1985-1986) contained parts of this index/glossary. I doubt that
many of the original contributors to Alpha-Omega really cared
that much about all this Green Lantern data but it was heartening
to actually see the material printed somewhere after spending a
couple of decades collecting it. For several years this information
sat in those obscure early Alpha-Omega issues. When the producing
Valiant Efforts the Green Lantern Index was put on the back burner
in the early 1990s. Once Valiant Efforts had ran its course I decided
to dust of the Green Lantern Index glossary and through more
research I updated the material and self-published it as
Emerald Light: An Index and Glossary to Green Lantern 1959-1994.
This came out in 1995 and I sold copies of it through Bud Plant's
(a comic book speciality seller) mail order catalog and also another
small distributor. I basically sold out my small print run.
This was a another very gratifying experience.

This is a project that had been gestating for around 30 years and
there was a real sense of accomplishment in seeing it to completion.

Narramore Years Part 18

2009-10-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

Genealogy Interest Part 2

Over several years I became more interested in the
actual lives of the people I was researching. I selected
one of my great-great uncles who I later found out
died in 1918. This was Dr. Silas Benjamin Ensign who
was an older brother of my great grand father, George
Washington Ensign. Much of my research about his
life was gleaned from the local newspapers that were
published in the small towns were he lived. The state
historical societies have microfilmed many of the
surviving copies of these old newspapers and I was
able to get them on inter library loan.

I spend many evenings and Saturdays hunched in
front of a microfilm viewer at the South Pasadena
Library going through hundreds of pages of these
19th and early 20th century newspaper reproductions
looking for any scrap of information about the elusive
Dr. Silas Ensign and his relatives that lived in Iowa
and South Dakota. I learned that certain sections of
these newspapers contained useful nuggets of
information about my genealogical quarry. These
were included at a marketing ploy by the editors
to encourage the readers to keep subscribing to
the newspaper. People like seeing their names in
print. This includes the comings and goings, personal
and business trip information, illness and heath
reports, some birth, marriage and death data were
all carried in these columns. Also individual
obituaries and other local news articles appeared
in the papers. After becoming experienced a
researcher can go right to the sections that are
most helpful as most of these local newspapers
were filled with advertisements and filler material.

Often the front pages were filled with world, national
and regional news that were provided by what were
would today called news syndicates. This allows the
newspapers to cover the world but their real news beat
was the local scene. I soon found that I needed to be
aware of other people (usually relatives) who lived
locally because they were more than likely a part of
my subjects life. I discovered that old Silas lived a
significant, interesting and long life. I also made a trip
in 1995 to Iowa and South Dakota in a effort to see if
I could uncover more information about Dr. Ensign.
I did end up finding his grave in the Lake Preston,
South Dakota cemetery. While there I also found some
descendants of his friends who gave me some of his
old photos and showed me his house. He had various
professions included farming, being a minister,
a homeopathic doctor and real estate developer.
He was involved in local and state politics and was
prominently involved in the social life of his communities.

He was also listed as one of the founders of New Hartford,
Iowa and Lake Preston, South Dakota. Perhaps most
important was his friendship with the CP Ingalls family
of DeSmet, South Dakota. Laura Ingalls Wilder, daughter
of CP Ingalls was the author of the beloved Little House
on the Prairie books.

It was a fascinating exercise to reconstruct this man's life
from the available records and I wrote and published a
short book detailing his life called Silas B. Ensign, Frontier Doctor.
After leaving the Narramore Christian Foundation I spent
time completing the book This book was published in 2000
and culminated a good ten years of research. I was able to
make it available to a family reunion that summer where it
was well received. There were still always questions about
this man's life that my never be answered. Even so it was a
very gratifying experience in biographical reconstruction.

Narramore Years Part 17

2009-10-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

Genealogy Interest

My interest in genealogy was advanced by the computer
technology that became part of my work place environment
in the late 1980s. I first started for my researching numerous
lines of my genealogy. It wasn't just Dad's "Ensigns" or Mom's
"Holdens" but also the Baileys, DeLapps, Coes, Hubbards,
Pratts, Hawleys, Lawrences, Farnworths, Morse, Strongs,
Dickinsons, Wilcoxs, Bentons, Shepards, Gunns, Wadsworths,
Lovelands, Websters, Chittendens, Hopkins, Judds, and many
others. I became a member of of the New England Historic
Genealogical Society for several years and became involved
in their book lending library and visited their headquarters
and library in Boston in 1989.

I also joined the Los Angeles British Isles Family History Society
which met in the Family History Library on Santa Monica Blvd
(Los Angeles). Over the years I attended a number of their meetings.
I attended a number of genealogical conferences held in the
Southern California area. I did this in order to educate myself
on proper genealogical research techniques. My early research
was mostly from secondary sources (printed genealogies, local
histories and so forth). As I progressed in my research I did more
basic research into census records, land and court records and
other primary sources. New genealogists are always cautioned
about the information contains in printed family histories—
much of it may not be factual. Searching the various branches of
your family tree is a fascinating and never ending endeavor. It can
be very compulsive because there is always a gnawing curiosity to
find out what those in previous generations were like. What did
they think, believe and feel about life? So little of that type of
information is handed down from one generation to the next.
In some ways on a personal level each generation starts almost
from scratch.

I made a trip (as previously mentioned) to New England in the
summer of 1989 and toured through Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and upstate
New York. I visited Hartford where my immigrant ancestor
James Ensign was one of the original settlers. Also visited
various places in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont
and New York where various of my ancestors lived (on both
sides) in the 1700s and 1800s. I also stopped and visited
Bellingham, MA and let them know I was from the other
Bellingham on the Pacific coast. In the summer of 1991
I flew to Illinois and traveled through Indiana, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
West Virginia, Kentucky and flew out of Illinois again.
This trip combined genealogy research and meeting
many of my Alpha-Omega Christian comics friends.
Visiting court houses, libraries and cemetery walking
were all a part of these trips. The reason I made a
concerted effort in my early forties is that I wanted to
do this type of traveling and research while I still had
the energy and stamina to do it. Rather that waiting
for retirement I programmed it in my schedule while
I was still young enough to do it.

Exploring Indian Ruins in Utah

2009-10-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

During the week of September 20-25, 2009 I went
on a trip to Southern East Utah. I experieced this
with two of my brothers, LeRoy and Russ. LeRoy
brought two of his grandchildren Austin, 13 and
Madeline, 11 who added a wonderful youthful
perspective to the outting. Russ and LeRoy are
rugged 4-wheel drive jeepers and we covered a
many miles of rough backroads from Highway 211
(North of Monticello) and near the Canyonlands
National Park. We visited a number of old Indian

Ruins (Anasazi) and one Cliff dwelling center. Young
Austin was our intrepid cliff climber who explored
the cliff side dwellings. I took many photos and
some video clips. This proved to be an enjoyable
time in some very beautiful terrain.

Narramore Years Part 16

2009-09-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

By far South Pasadena was the nicest area that I had ever
had the privilege of living. South Pasadena is just west of
San Marino which is a high rent district similar to Beverly Hills.
The house we lived in was an older mansion type of dwelling
that supposedly was the servant's house to an even larger house
that was no longer there (or that was the story). The street the
house was on was tree covered with many large mansion-type
dwellings. It even was the site of the filming of several movies
including the cult favorite, Christine, a demon possessed car.

During the 1970s a group of art school students rented the
house (they attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena).
Vance Sanders was one of those former students and was part
of the singles group at Sierra Madre Congregational Church
(Koinoia). We referred to the house as the Cal Trans House.
It was owned by California Department of Transportation
(Cal Trans) and was on a proposed freeway extension route.
Cal Trans also owned other properties in the area. However,
local resistence, over the course of a couple of decades,
prompted the state to abandon their plans for the freeway
extension.

I moved in to the South Pasadena house in July 1989 and
was there until the end of November 1996. At this time
Cal Trans had abandoned their efforts and were in the
process of selling their properties back to private owners.
The married couple who lived in the upstairs was able to
put together the financing to purchase the house.
However residential regulations now called for this to be
a single family dwelling so the rest of the house mates
were forced to move out and find to other living quarters.
This was the longest resident (almost 7 1/2 years) I'd had
since leaving Washington in 1971.

Narramore Years Part 15

2009-09-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

I lived in an apartment in Montebello (821 N. Wilcox) from
shortly after I moved to the San Gabriel Valley in the summer
of 1982. This served me well as a place to began work on the
Valiant newsletter and the starting of the Alpha-Omega apa.
At the San Gabriel Union Church where I was attending I met
through the Singles class Jeff Masching and Greg Baker. Jeff
and Greg rented a medium-sized three bedroom house in Temple
City (directly north of Rosemead). During the spring of 1985 they
approached me about becoming their third housemate. At first
I was reluctant because I liked having my own apartment. I had
been living alone for around five years and it was working for me.
I had done the "housemate thing" from 1972-1980 and didn't see
the need to go back into that mode of life. Also the bedroom
I'd be occupying was very small, probably a kid's bedroom.
However, they were persistent and I ended up moving into
the 6011 Agnes St., Temple City home in April 29, 1985. Jeff was
an employee in the mailing department at Focus on the Family
headquarters and Greg worked for Thrifty Drugs. My relationship
with both men was cordial though not necessarily close. This house
was the location for a number of meetings with Ralph Miley
and Charles Whitley and our endeavors with Valiant Efforts.

About three years later Greg moved out. In 1989 Jeff announced
that he was getting married. This came as somewhat of a shock
(though he had previously mentioned he was starting to date
someone at his work) as I had seen him as a life-long bachelor.
There were no other potential roommates in the offing so
I began looking for other housing situations. By the end of
July 1989 I had moved to a large house (really a mansion)
in South Pasadena. I attended Jeff's wedding on August 12, 1989.

By late 1986 I was looking for another church home as the
singles group at San Gabriel Union was changing into a
divorce "recovery" group. I attended several other churches
and during 1987 found that Sierra Madre Congregational
Church was a good fit. The pastor Richard Anderson was
an excellent Bible teacher and the church had an active
singles ministry called Koinoina.

Narramore Years Part 14

2009-09-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

The Origins of Valiant Efforts Part 3

Perhaps one of the problems was both Ralph and Charles were
character creators not story generators. Charles the writer and
role playing guru had loads and loads of characters, but little in
terms of actual plots. Eventually we decided to recycle a plot I
had written for the revival of my Protector that appeared in a
then recent issue of Alpha-Omega (#12, January 1987).
This story dealt with child pornography.

We spent time working on a script and actually doing the artwork.
Ralph and I did pencilling and we both did some of the inking as
well as David Transue. David, artist then living in New York state,
whom I interviewed for the Valiant newsletter several years before.
I had kept in contact with Dave by correspondence since that time.
Jack Martin also did some inking on this first issue. The story was
way over written (Charles was our scripter) and concerned one of
Ralph's characters the Crippler. The creating of the story was a fun
experience (and some of the enthusiasm for the characters came
though) but it was very rough and not great comics by any means.
We were able to do a lot of the production work in the NCF print shop
and it was printed there.

The second issue of Valiant Efforts (September 1989) was a much
better effort. Instead of one long story we decided to do an anthology
with three different strips. The issue consisted of Ralph Miley's
Street Fury, Charles Whitley's Dragonstrike and my Golden Protector.
Ralph's work had grown a lot (he was a college art major) and was
enchanted by Mark Poe's excellent and detailed inking. Mark was an
early member of Alpha-Omega and a later Center Mailer for the Apa.
Charles strip had breakdown's by Billly Leavell and inking by John Tigne.
Billy was also an early member of Alpha-Omega (and three time
central mailer) and a minister to the deaf in Tennessee. John was one
of the Santa Monica comics discussion group who lived south of me.
Billy did some very good layouts (which John doing some minor changes).
John did some excellent inking on the story. I pencilled and wrote the
Golden Protector story with Dave Transue doing the inking.
Dave did a good job on the inking. This issue overall was a much
better effort that the first one and it was also printed in by the NCF print shop.

Both of these issue Ralph, Charles and I promoted to comic shops in
southern California. We compiled a list of shops and spent several
Saturdays traveling around the greater Los Angeles area from Santa
Monica to San Bernardino talking to store owners about carrying our
books on consignment. We not only produced the books were were
also involved in distributing them to regional comic shops.

Narramore Years Part 13

2009-08-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

The Origins of Valiant Efforts Part 2

These reservations stemmed from study of the publishing industry
and actual involvement (albeit from a non-profit status) in production
of publications. The actual long term success rate of independent
comics publishers is vanishingly small. One can probably count on
one hand the success of independent comics publishers in the print realm.
For every Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtles and Elfquest your have dozens
and dozens perhaps hundreds of well intentioned but failed publishing
enterprises. Part of this has to do with under capitalization (under financing),
what distributors will actually take (and their cut of the cover price) and
the actual ability for the fledgling company to actual produce material in
a regular timely manner. It also has to do with the ever diminishing
market for comic books.

During the 1940s and 1950s comic books were a true mass market publishing
industry printing hundreds of thousands of copies (and selling) for any given
title. There was that much market for comic books during that period.
With the advent of television and later video games, special effects movies,
the Internet and other entertainment options the audience for comic books
became increasingly fragmented and diminished. Comics became increasingly
a niche market catering to specialized age, gender, and thematics categories.
Even by the mid-1980s much of this was evident even if some of these factors
(Internet) were still future. With the direct sales market (comic speciality shops)
becoming a major factor in comics publishing several new companies were
launched during that time (Pacific, First, Eclipse, Comico, Valiant/Acclaim)
being the most prominent. Most of these companies were well financed efforts
with a certain amount of business salve, acumen and experience behind them.
They weren't fanboys doing this out of their homes. Having said that each of
the above companies are now a footnote in American comic book history.

My initial proposal of doing a fanzine type of publication (even though the
heyday of fanzines was long past—though something called small press was
very popular at the time). However Ralph and Charles were not to be deterred
by doing a mere fanzine. They wanted to do real comic books. Even with these
reservations I got talked into becoming a third partner in these efforts. My
non-negotiable was that we do comics with Christian themes and characters.
Why do expressly secular material with a market already glutted with such
material? Also I was looking at it from an eternal perspective. In 1987
Jack I. Martin, a local Christian comics fan and artist. would throw in with
us for a time. Out first meeting with Ralph and Charles in December 1986
developed a multi-year partnership that from an informal company
(Valiant Comics—not the Jim Shooter entity) and produced several issues
of our flagship and only title Valiant Efforts.

These meetings were part business meeting (we had agendas and fairly
detailed meeting notes) trying to structure a viable publishing company
and part bull sessions and part story/plotting sessions. Both Ralph and
Charles were quite loquacious. They bantered story and plot ideas around
with high energy and enthusiasm that I usually thought were reserved for
devotees of professional sports like football or basketball. This liveliness was
in marked contrast to the critical nay saying that I had been exposed to and
endured in the Santa Monica comics shop just a few short years before.
These were fanboys expounding excitedly on their own projects and the
wonderful characters they had created and the great stories they were hoping
to generate for these characters. The atmosphere of those meetings were
charged and exhilarating. I often sat in quiet amazement and rapt attention
at this fantastic expenditure of creative hot air.

Narramore Years Part 12

2009-08-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

Origins of Valiant Efforts Part 1

(Please see Campus Crusade part 38 - May 12, 2009 post of background to Valiant.)

One of the consequences of mailing out the first issue of
Valiant was receiving replies from interested individuals.
Most of these responses were in the form of letters. Early
on I received a phone call from a person in Southern
California who saw the Comics Buyer's Guide ad and
started receiving the issues. The phone calls were always
amiable and encouraging. These calls began on an infrequent
basis in 1984. By 1986 the caller who identified himself as
Ralph Miley moved to nearby Santa Fe Springs. Santa Fe Springs
is about 20 minutes by freeway southeast of Rosemead.
Ralph was a school teacher and recently married.
Ralph was one of the original members of Alpha-Omega when
it was formed in 1985. After two years of phone chats we decided
to meet in person and I visited him at his home on August 30, 1986.
Ralph is a delightful and out-spoken brother in the Lord and
this was the first meeting of many that occurred over the years.
Our first meeting (where I also met his lovely wife Desiree) was
one of talking about comics in general and possibly doing some
projects together.

The next time we met he brought another Christian comics
fan (and substitute teacher) with him named Charles Whitley.
Charles was a strong role playing game enthusiast and a
graduate of Point Loma Narazene College. Both Ralph and
Charles were intensely interested in producing comic books.
Ralph had met Charles at a comic book shop and their mutual
interest in making comics brought them together. Both were
filled with fire and vision about how good comics should be
done. They had past favorite series that loomed large in their
minds as the way comics should produced. However, most
of the then current professional offerings by Marvel or DC
didn't fit that standard. This type of attitude I've found is
hardly unusual but quite typical among older comics fans.
I have certainly have seen it in myself.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle for the older comics reader is
being able to lay aside these pre-conceived notions and
realize that while there is a huge amount of chaff being
produced at any given time in comics history there are also
examples of very good new material being produced. Among
many fan creatives there is a desire to show the world what
really good comics are like. For many it is difficult to separate
what is reality and what is delusion in terms of actually making
comics, marketing them and finding a sufficient audience to
continue producing them on a regular or even full-time basis.
Usually fan creators are disillusioned with the major publishing
houses and desire to go the independent route of self-expression.
When Ralph and Charles presented their desires to me I had
great reservations.

Narramore Years Part 11

2009-08-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

Comics Fandom 1982 Part 2

So I came into the group with some expectations that were
perhaps 15 years out of date. Most of the fans, a group of from
6 to 8 people, were primarily interested in discussing the most
recent offerings of Marvel or DC Comics. Some felt personally
betrayed by editorial changes made, for example, by Jim Shooter
(then editor-in-chief) at Marvel Comics. Many meetings tended
to degenerate into boring roasting Jim Shooter sessions. Others
hearkening back to recent runs on specific comics that were
supposedly so much better than what was then being offered.

While I had experienced some fan negativity through the fanzines
of the 1960s it seemed as if the major emphasis of these discussions
was on fault finding with the major comic companies. Some of the
more loquacious members used the group as a platform for
pontificating about the perceived faults of the major publishers.
Comics history, constructive discussion and methods of normal
civil discourse seemed to be in short supply during many of the
meetings. Even though I hung in with the group for a long time
in hopes that I might steer the discussions in more positive directions
I eventually found my efforts were not bearing fruit.

Perhaps the most important thing to come out of this association
was some friendships that developed. One was with John Tigne,
a young artist, who later did some artwork on Charles Whitley's
Dragonstrike (in Valiant Efforts). John later went on to work for
several years as a background artist with Image Comics.
David Seidman, who worked as a comics editor with the
Los Angeles Times Syndicate and later with Claypool Comics,
was one of the more reasonable and well-spoken group members.
Perhaps out of this experience was the realization of the very
limited potential of being part of a secular group where there was
a lack of positive direction and common conversational civility.

Narramore Years Part 10

2009-08-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

Comic Fandom 1982

At the 1982 San Diego Comic Convention I picked up
a flier from the freebie table about something called
the Comic Arts Society that met weekly at the HiDeHo
Comics shop in Santa Monica, California. This was a
group of comics fans who got together to discuss comics.
Soon after getting settled in my new job at NCF I drove
to Santa Monica and found the comics shop (one of the
comic major stores in Southern California) and became
involved on a regular basis for probably two years.
(First date attended meeting was August 11, 1982 and
attended meetings through 1983 and into 1984).

My impressions of comic fans were largely shaped my
by interactions with fans in the 1960s and the fanzines
they produced. People like Jerry Bails who was a PhD
college professor who produced Alter Ego, Comics
Collector, The Comics Reader and the Alpha CAPA Apa
set a high standard. Others like Robert Jennings who
produced The Comics World with its lengthy, analytical
and well-thought out articles on old comics heroes,
Roy Thomas, a school teacher, and co-editor with Bails
on Alter Ego and later writer and editor at Marvel Comics
and DC Comics. Rick Weingroff in his Slam Bang and
Tint analyzed comics with an intellectual depth that
was rare but refreshing. Experienced adult fans like
Ronn Foss, Biljo White (a fireman), Howard Keltner,
Larry Herndon and Buddy Saunders and many others
also made important contributors to the hobby
of comic collecting. These people produced publications
that I respected and were very gracious in their exchanges
with other fans and readers. Early comic fandom had
a good spirited nature about it that was very refreshing.
My limited interaction with older Washington State fans
like Mike Robertson (I contributed to his fanzine
Concussion) in the late 1960s) also were cordial.

There were certainly many, many fanzines produced
during that time that were of minimal quality—
"crudzines" and there was a certain amount of carping
about unpopular editorial decisions by the major
publishers but still a gracious spirit prevailed in
most fanzines. Producing a fanzine was too much
work for it not to be an enjoyable labor of love.

Even though I started attending the San Diego
Comic Con in 1974 and thoroughly enjoyed it—
it was a different and perhaps less personal
experience than the 1960s fanzine scene. While
it was deeply satisfying to see and hear from the
writers and artists whose work you had admired
and enjoyed the experience was also very temporal
and fleeing. With a fanzine (or correspondence)
you had something you could keep and document
those early years. There was a potential paper trail
that didn't relay on rapidly fleeing memories.

Narramore Years Part 9

2009-08-03T09:03:00.000-07:00

This also lead to the first of a series of trips to the midwest
and eastern states. On each of these trips I used the
"Mennonite Your Way" system to help manage expenses.
This travel system had many Mennonite church members
opening their homes to travelers for overnight accommodations
at minimum expense. This proved to be a good way of meeting
some very nice people as well as making such a trip affordable
for one living on a modest salary. In late June and early July
1987 I traveled to Iowa. I flew to Minneapolis, Minnesota where
I visited Randall Van Meter for several days. We took a side
trip east along the southern shore of Lake Superior (Wisconsin)
and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Having never been to
the Great Lakes I found this experience fascinating. Lake
Superior is almost like a small sea. We went up the
Keweenaw Peninsula to the cooper mining area.

After this excursion I proceeded by rental car to Iowa.
I drove to New Hartford, Butler County (just west of
Waterloo and Cedar Falls). My father was born there
in 1902. The Ensign family moved there in 1854 from
upstate New York (my great grandfather, George
Washington Ensign was part of that family group).
My grandfather William Bradley Ensign with his family
moved from Iowa around 1904. They initially moved to
Missouri and by 1907 moved again to western Colorado
(Delta/Montrose). This was a very gratifying experience
as I visited the Oak Hill cemetery where ancestors and
other family members were buried. From there I went
to Guthrie Center (south west of Des Moines) and visited
with a distant cousin Burnette Bailey. My mother's side
of the family (the Holdens and Baileys) came from
Guthrie Center in around 1908 to western Colorado.
My grandfather Clem Holden was born in Guthrie Center
in 1881. This was also a rich time of seeing where some
of my ancestors had lived.

From there I traveled to Curryville, Missouri. Curryville
was where the Ensigns (and the birthplace of my late
Aunt Adeline) moved for several years after leaving Iowa.
Then I traveled to Ensign, Kansas a tiny town southwest
of Dodge City. I investigated the reason for the name and
found out it was named in honor of a distantly relation,
George Leonard Ensign (1852-1935), who was an early
town developer and businessman in that area. This was
the first of several trips with on of the primary objectives
was to research family history.

Narramore Years Part 8

2009-07-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Two major developments arose in my encounter with
micro-computers and dtp. First was becoming involved
with a local MUG or MacIntosh Users Group. This was
the San Gabriel Valley MacIntosh Users group. The MUG
provided both a general monthly meeting and several SIGs
(Special Interest Groups). The SIGs covered areas such as
Computer graphics, Excel, Filemaker Pro and several
other areas. The SIGs usually met monthly and provided
information, answered questions and training in
these specialized areas.

At first I thought these MUG groups were rather odd,
almost cultic in their devotion to computer technology.
I could understand the need for strong dedication to a
specific subject in school in order to master it but the
leaders of the MUGs were devoted to this on a purely
volunteer basis. Computer geeks are a very unique breed.
I attended many of their general meetings as well as
some of the SIGs. I found it overall fairly helpful in trying
to keep up with the constantly changing world of micro computers.

Perhaps a minor downside of the user groups is that most
of the presenters in the main meetings were software or
hardware marketing representatives who were often more
interested in selling their products that helping the users.
One needed to discern whether the products that were
promoted were vital your your use and goals in computing.

I also subscribed to magazines like MacUser, MacWorld and
MacAddict over the years in an effort to keep abreast of the
world of the MacIntosh. Not being overly mechanically or
technologically-minded this continuing education process
was far more labor (mostly mental) than pleasure.

In 1987 just after the arrival of the MacIntosh II in the NCF
office a long submerged interest resurfaced. In 1959 my
parents purchased a large burgundy color cover volume
called The Ensigns in America--better known as the
Ensign Book. Earlier my father had provided information
on his family to the compilers of this tome. I much later
learned that this was a second and greatly expanded and
revised edition of the original that came out in 1939. It cost
$10 which was a massive amount in those days for a
single book. It was a good investment. I recall many times
as a young child looking through that book and realizing
that all of these people were related to me. The genealogy
bug bit me but it was a very slow infection. Most people
consider investigating family history in their senior years.

However, I decided that I wanted to make some sort of
contribution to the family history. Using the new computer
technology that was available at work I began researching
the various family lines and developing family tree charts
showing the connections to my parents. Using the computer
in this way not only gave me more practice in computer skills
but also helped to clarify my family heritage. Each year for
about five year I sent out copies of my family history research
and diagrams to as many relatives who I thought might be
interested in them.

Narramore Years Part 7

2009-07-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

My years with Narramore vocationally were set into a
creative routine of layout and design for the magazine
and other printed literature that NCF produced
(booklets, brochures). It was read, layout, design and
paste up from month to month and year to year.

However the 1980s was a time of tremendous change
within the graphic design profession. The digital age was
dawning and it made a tremendous, transforming and
lasting impact on publication design. I had the privilege
of being in on the ground floor of this revolution. Within
a couple of years of arriving at NCF I took an UCLA
extension class (November-December 1983) on
computer graphics. While this was a lecture class
(with no hands on) it started me thinking about the
future of what I was doing.

For the first five years I was at NCF we had our own
in house typesetter, Rilla Hubbard. She performed her
work on a high end type setting equipment to the
specifications that were required for our publications.
In 1987 Rilla announced her resignation from NCF.
At that time the publication department were faced
with several challenges. We could either try to find a
replacement for Rilla and train her on our typesetting
equipment (a high learning curve) or farm our typesetting
needs out to an outside vendor. Another possibility that
was beginning to present itself was the rising
desk-top publishing (dtp) option.

The dtp option basically folded the typesetting job into
that of the designer. Prior to his time I gave the type
specifications to the typesetter who produced the gallies
of paste up ready copy. The new dtp methods allowed
the designer to determine the layout of the publication
on screen complete with in place type that could be
printed out as ready made layouts for editorial proofing.
Essentially it eliminated the typesetter's job. At first
I was somewhat leary about this not so much that
I was costing anyone their job (Rilla had already gone)
but that I was taking on added responsibilities.
I wasn't sure I wanted them. This was a very different
way of thinking than what I'd been use to for the past
10 or 15 years.

With our computer savvy young editor Bill Henderson
we started investigating this option. We first looked at
the the emerging MS Windows. Both Bill and I were
not overwhelming impressed. Bill, almost as an after
thought, suggested we also review the Apple MacIntosh
option. Even at that time Apple was making waves
with its MacIntosh Computer. The MacIntosh II Apple's
first desktop model (as opposed to their modular single
box—MAC SE, etc) had just arrived on the scene.
The salesman proclaimed this machine with its 1 mb of RAM
and 40 mb hard drive as having more computation power
than the giant Univac computers of the 1960s that took
up a whole room to house.

We liked what we saw with the Mac and were shown an
early version of Pagemaker, the leading dtp program of
the period. The more we looked and evaluated the more
we liked the MacIntosh option. Before we made out final
recommendation one salesmen showed us a new Mac-based
dtp program that was just being introduced called Quarkxpress.
My initial reaction is that it was better (easier to learn)
than Pagemaker. We ended up getting the MacIntosh II with
a Apple Laserwriter and a copy of Quarkxpress. We had now
entered the digital age.

I felt and feel privileged to have had many years of experience
with the traditional cut and paste layout techniques and
was able to make the transition the the electronic, digital design.
I came into this at age 39. I made me feel good that I was
still able to learn new technologies. However, I realize
that the younger generations who have been raised
on desk top (or laptop) computers and other electric
gadgets are far more adapt with these wonder machines
that I ever could be.

Narramore Years Part 6

2009-07-13T09:12:00.000-07:00

Coming into the San Gabriel Valley I visited at several
churches and eventually ended up going to the San
Gabriel Union Church (Lenox Palin, then pastor).
There I became acquainted with Randall & and his
brother Tim Van Meter. Randall, who lived in nearby
El Monte, was a public librarian and Sunday School
teacher for the singles group at San Gabriel Union
Church. Randall, a highly intelligent and articulate
man, presented his teaching in a erudite yet practical
manner. Randall was very well read and had a great
interest and knowledge of history. I became friends
with him and visited his home on a number of occasions.
He even visited with me the Campus Crusade book
discussion group that I was still attending on a fairly
regular basis after my move to the San Gabriel Valley.
Randall proposed starting a similar group locally.
This we did and several people already mentioned
including Dan Norris, Steve & Caroline Hatch, and
Sheryl (Black) Logan. Sheryl was a former Campus
Crusade staff member I'd been acquainted with during
my last few years with CCC. She had moved to the San
Gabriel Valley and later married Ron Logan. Several
years after the group began Randall moved to Minnesota
to pursue studies at Bethel College. The discussion group
continued on for some time after he left. For a time I was
busy reading books for both groups.

Also in the church group I met Kimla Brecht. Kimla
became a special friend during this period and we shared
many good times together. Kim was on the U.S. Olympic
Swim Team (1968 & 1972). We attended the 1984
Los Angeles Summer Olympics together.

Narramore Years Part 5

2009-07-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

There were other people that I enjoyed fellowship with
during the time I was working at NCF. Besides Roy Mathison
I worked with Debbie Bond. Debbie, originally from Chester,
Pennsylvania, was hired in 1983 to work with me on producing
the Psychology for Living magazine. Debbie was a cartoonist
and we had her do a number of illustrations for the magazine
as well as doing much of the paste up. Debbie was a delight
to work with and was one of the younger people in the
organization. She worked at NCF for two years
before leaving in 1985.

One special friend who worked in the print shop was
David Firenze. David worked as a print bindery assistant
and general gofer. David was a unique brother in the
Lord who was a strong ministering and witnessing Christian.
He had been active during the time of the Jesus movement
and taught home and church Bible studies. He worked at
NCF for well over 30 years. I went to a number of movies
with he and his wife, Linda and watched videos in their home.
David had a wonderful large library—actually a pastor's library.

Also in the print during the first years at Narramore was a
print work technician and negative "stripper" named Fred
Wachtman. Fred, who previously worked for Moody Films,
was an artist and he became an early contributor to
Alpha-Omega. He brought a unique perspective to the first
issues of the Apa with his auto-bio comics o his youth as a
worker on an Alaska fishing boat. John Davidson was the
head printer who had been with NCF for many years
and was a mechanical quiz who kept the printing presses
running with it seemed like bubble gum and bailing wire.

Dan Norris worked at NCF the first three years I was there.
Dan worked on the grounds crew while doing some post-graduate
(a graduate of Taylor College in Indiana) work in psychology.
Dan later moved to Illinois where he was involved in social work.
Dan was a natural athlete and he, Steve Hatch (also a grounds
worker) and I often played water volleyball at the NCF pool during
lunch breaks. Another water volley ball player was Dr. Lee Bendell
(VP of Administration). Dr Lee Bendell with his wife Gloria
(a concert vocal soloist) came to NCF after a distinguished
30-year career with the US Marine Corps (Lieut. Colonel)
with combat service in Korea and Vietnam (he was at
the battle of Kha Sanh). Dr. Bendell was with NCF from
1975 until his retirement in 1995.

Narramore Years Part 4

2009-06-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

Dr. Narramore and Ruth and their two children, Melodie and Kevin
often performed as a family singing group during the Seminars and
other events. The Narramore family were all very musically talented.
After work while waiting to go home Dr. Narramore often sat down
at the NCF piano and played classical religious and classical pieces
from memory. The Narramores were gracious hosts and usually had
dinners for the Seminar attendees at their Pasadena home. I,
as an often "holiday orphan," spent several nice Christmas or
Thanksgiving meals with the family. Melodie Narramore was
a drama instructor at Biola university and later California
Baptist College (Riverside). Kevin Narramore specialized in
organizational psychology and later became a consultant. My contact
with the younger Narramores was somewhat limited during the
time I worked there.

Dr. Narramore was well connected within the contemporary
evangelical Christian movement. When Billy Graham needed
counseling for his employees he would contact Dr. Narramore.
During the seminars there were different devotional speakers
that were lined up to challenge the attendees. One morning
Chuck Smith, the founder of the Calvary Chapel movement,
spoke. Dr. Narramore enjoyed telling a story about a young
graduate psychological student who came to him for advise.
This student was preparing to launch a career in the counseling
field and asked Dr. Narramore whether there was room in the
field of Christian psychology for other workers such as himself.
Dr. Narramore encourage the young man to avail himself of the
opportunity to enter Christian psychology. There was more than
enough room in the then pioneering field. This young man was
James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family.

Narramore Years Part 3

2009-06-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

Within the realm of Christian psychology there are various schools
of thought. Some schools are very critical of others claiming that
they have adopted too much of secular psychology to the detriment
of Biblical principles. I admit that that is something I that I did not
examine or study with any kind of thoroughtness. Dr Narramore was
a sound Christian man and the organization had a good doctrinal
statement and was sensitive to overt aberrant teaching. NCF offered
a referral service of Christian counselors across the country. They
were very sensitive that people be directed to good, sound Christian
counselors and would drop any counselor who was not adhering to
solid Christian doctrine as well as compatible psychological principles.

The people I worked with closest with at Narramore were those
associated with the publications. Roy Mathison was NCF's chief
designer/artist who started with Dr. Narramore in the late 1960s.
His desire to semi-retire in 1982 was the reason I was able to
come in. Roy turned 65 that year and was wanting "to back off"
from full time work. After I came Roy cut his time to four days
a week and within a year it was three days a week. By perhaps
1990 he was coming in two days a week and by the move from
the Rosemead campus in June 1996 he was coming in one day.
After 14 years Roy fully retired from NCF at age 80 in 1996.
Roy was a joy to work with. He did article illustrations and a
monthly cartoon for the magazine. Roy's background was varied.
Roy and his wife Phyllis were from Algona, Iowa. During the 1940s
he produced single panel cartoons and comic strips for a small
midwestern newspaper syndicate. He and Phyllis and their
growing family moved to Southern California. He worked with
the calendar publisher, Brown & Bigelow. He later worked with
Child Evangelism Fellowship as an artist and was involved in
designing one of their popular evangelistic tools of the period.
When Child Evangelism decided to move their headquarters
outside California Roy not wanting to move was able to get a
position with Dr. Narramore. Roy and Phyllis live in Whittier,
California (near Rosemead) and I was a welcomed guest in their
home on numerous occasions. Since Roy and I shared an interest
in cartooning we enjoyed many pleasant conversations
about the art form.

I worked closely with Mrs Ruth Narramore, wife of Dr. Clyde
Narramore. Mrs Narramore had taken over the editorship of
the organization's magazine, Psychology for Living, some time
before I arrived. Mrs Narramore, a highly intelligent and
talented woman, was a very gifted musician. My procedure in
working with Mrs Narramore was similar to the process at Campus
Crusade. I would come up with illustration ideas for the articles
in the magazine and then I'd present them to her for her evaluation
and approval before going ahead with the layout production.

Narramore Years Part 2

2009-06-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

The NCF ministries has developed over a period of many years.
Dr. Narramore was a psychologist with the Los Angeles Unified
School District and in his share time developed a ministry
speaking in churches and other groups about mental and
emotional problems and how those relate to the Bible and
the Christian experience. Dr. Narramore had a a vision for
the integration of the Bible with sound psychological principles.

He established the Narramore Christian Foundation to address
these issues on a popular/lay level. When the Rosemead facility
was built it added greatly to the potential of helping people with
their mental/emotional issues. Rather than Dr. Narramore
spending a weekend church conference in Pennsylvania where
he could at best only lightly touch on important issues there
were seminars at Rosemead that could go into much more depth
over a greater period of time.

These seminars were aimed at specific groups. There were seminars
for Business People & Professionals ( 1 week); Laymen (1 week);
Ministers & Missionaries (2 1/2 weeks); Teachers & Educators
(1 week); and Missionary Kids (2 1/2 weeks). The Laymen's seminar
was given at least twice a year and the others once a year.
The seminars included lengthy and intensive psychological
testing (written), lectures by the Narramore staff and guest
speakers, and group work. The group work consisted of the
conferees splitting up into several small groups and going
over the material that had been presented during the lectures
and class sessions. For those who wanted it individual counseling
with a trained therapist was also provided during the seminars.
For those receiving this type of specialized help they were
encouraged upon returning home after the seminar to seek out
a qualified Christian counselor to continue work on their issues.

The seminars were designed for people who were functioning
individuals. People with severe emotional or mental problems
or handicaps were not invited to the seminars as they needed
more intensive help than a week or two week seminar could deal with.
About two years into my time with NCF I had an opportunity to
take one of the Business People seminar. I found it interesting
(I'm not sure how helpful). I had to go through the lengthy written
testing again and I had read enough of Narramore's literature
since coming to NCF to have a heads up on what was being
presented at the seminar.

Prior to this time my interface with psychological matters was
a subscription during college to the magazine Psychology Today.
I found the magazine (it was seductively secular) very interesting
though not enough to want to go into the field. Also I appreciated
the Campus Crusade staff psychologist Howard Blandeau whose
tapes I collected and listened to frequently. Also I happened on
to James Mallory's The Kink and I which made a big impression
on me early in my Campus Crusade years. I even gave some
devotionals on it.

Narramore Years Part 1

2009-06-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

My last working day with Campus Crusade was Wednesday,
July 7, 1982 and the actual termination day was July 16, 1982.
I attended the San Diego Comic Convention July 8-11 and
during the next week I looked for an apartment in the Rosemead
area. I closed out my San Bernardino apartment July 16 and
moved temporarily to the Narramore housing facilities on
July 17. During the next several weeks I moved into an
apartment in nearby Montebello.

There were some similarities and many differences between
the Narramore Christian Foundation and Campus Crusade.
Both were thoroughly evangelical in their orientation and doctrine.
Where Campus Crusade was a very dynamic organization with
new (and mostly young) people coming on the staff constantly,
NCF was much smaller with a static and mostly older staff.
Whereas the CCC headquarters had perhaps 300-400 staff
and hourly employees Narramore had perhaps around 30 staff
during the early years that I was there. Campus Crusade was
dedicated primarily to outreach, evangelism and discipleship.
Narramore was much more narrowly focused. Dr. Narramore
emphasized three aspects of a person's makeup. There was the
physical, emotional/mental and spiritual. In Dr Narramores
lectures, radio programs, tapes, books and other printed matter
he does touch on the physical and spiritual aspects of
human makeup. The spiritual relates to a right relationship
with God through Jesus Christ (the Christian gospel). However,
by far Dr Narramore's emphasis was on the emotional and
psychological makeup of people. Being born again didn't
necessarily mean that all the emotional and psychological
baggage one had acquired during life is immediately gone.
He often said that the churches were filled with people who
had great emotional and psychological needs. Dr. Narramore
was a pioneer in the Christian counseling movement and his
many books and pamphlets conveyed this commitment.

The time I arrived at the Rosemead campus of the Narramore
Christian Foundation (mid-1982) was a time where the
organization had reached its zenith and was plateauing off.
In the mid-1960s Dr. Narramore was given the Rosemead
property where the NCF headquarters and counseling center
were built. In the late 1960s Dr. Clyde and his nephew,
Dr. Bruce Narramore, started the Rosemead School of Psychology
which was a graduate school for Christian counselors. By the end
of the 1970s Biola University had taken over the graduate school
and it was moved to the Biola campus in LaMirada, California.

In 1982 when I arrived the lower part of the main administration
building housed a functioning counseling out patient clinic/center
that served the local area. This center was eventually closed (as
was one in Arizona) several years after I had started working there.
During the first couple of years I was at NCF another building
(plus a small swimming pool and hot spa) was constructed. This
building served as a dinner area and a residential facility. The
campus was composed of a two-story main administration building,
a separate auditorium, a residential facility (besides the then-newly
constructed building) and a Print Shop-Mailing/shipping building.
Another building was licensed to Southern California Edison.
There were several parking lots. The buildings were situated on and
around a hillside which made for a multi-level campus. There was a
sense that the best days of the organization were still ahead as the
new building was constructed to provide for additional housing for
more conferees. Prior to this time some of the conferees to various
NCF seminar had to secure off campus housing.

Campus Crusade Part 42

2009-06-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

The next two months after my decision to leave Campus
was a whirlwind of activity. I was committed to designing
a final issue of AIA magazine (while my successor was being
chosen). It was also a time of packing and getting ready for
a move from the San Bernardino area to the San Gabriel valley.
I didn't seriously consider the option of continuing to live in
San Bernardino and doing the commute to Rosemead. While
many living in Southern California then and now do such daily
trips I didn't think it was at all practical. I needed to survey
the new area and find an affordable place to live.

There was a final prayerletter to write and send to my faithful
supporters informing them of my decision to leave Campus
Crusade and take up a new position with Narramore
Christian Foundation. My brother Russ, Nancy and nephew
Eric came to visit Southern California in June and were
supportive of my move. I officially resigned from my position
on the San Bernardino Christian School Board. There were
numerous good-byes to be offered to the many friends I had
made at CCC. This was made easier because I was within
easy driving distance and I planned on maintaining as
many relationships as possible. I had become a regular
with the CCC headquarters book discussion group and was
determined to stay in touch with many who were attending that.
There were many lunches and dinners with friends and former
housemates during this time.

Perhaps one of the hardest to leave was my friend Don Franklin.
He took it quite hard (I had become almost a son to him).
Don was very special as we had done a lot together. He had a
special place in my life. He was one of the most unforgettable
characters I'd ever met. He was a sincere Christian, a World War II
vet (though he was never sent overseas), a long time worker on
the Santa Fe Railroad and a dedicated weight lifter. He was still
doing 400 lbs full squats at 60 years old. He did actually go
with me and helped with the move in July and met some of
the people at my new workplace in Rosemead. I continued to
stay in touch with Don until his untimely death in 1986 (March 14).
I was told he was hiking up Mt Rudidoux, which we had done
together, when his heart gave out. While this was very sudden it
was a way that was appropriate for Don to leave this Earth
and enter heaven.

Campus Crusade Part 41

2009-05-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

(Today is my birthday so here is an extra post.)

In May 1982 we had our headquarters staff training
in San Diego. Shortly after that my AIA magazine editor
John Carvalho told me he had talked with a gentleman
at a conference (in Florida ?) that he was looking for a
graphic designer for his organization. I had discussed
with John previously my desire to pursue other employment
options outside Campus Crusade. John gave me the name
and contact information for this employment opportunity.

I found out that it was with the Narramore Christian
Foundation in Rosemead. Rosemead is in the San Gabriel
Valley about 40 miles or so west of San Bernardino.
I thought this interesting for as a young teenager I had
listened to Dr Clyde Narramore on the radio and had
enjoyed his program. I had my first interview on May 18
and a second interview on Friday, May 21. I met Dr. Lee
Bendell, the vice-President, Ruth Narramore, the editor
of their magazine, Psychology for Living, Roy Mathison,
the retiring company artist/designer and Dr. Narramore
himself. The interview also consited of thorougth and
lenghty psychological testing session. A job offer was
extended and I accepted it on May 28, 1982. The job was
more of a lateral move that a step up. I would basically be
doing the same thing for NCF as I had been doing for
Campus Crusade--working on NCF's magazine and
other print material.

A number of reasons went into this move. One, was the
sense that I'd accomplished about all I was going to in
Campus Crusade on a vocational level. I had more than
lengthened the initial two-year commitment by a factor of 5.
I didn't feel an obligation to stay with Campus for "hiring" me.
On a spiritual level I'd felt that Campus had given about as
much as it would toward my spiritual development.
During the winter of 1979 I took several seminary level
courses (Church Growth & Anthropology-Christology)
offered by staff from Campus Crusade's Institute of
Biblical Studies (IBS).

There was also a social aspect that entered into it.
The social landscape of Campus Crusade during those
years was a rapidly changing milieu. I had gone through
two or three generations of friends and housemates
during the eleven years I was on staff. A good friend,
Jim Lowe, a writer in the CCC editorial department
had moved back to his native Texas to take over the
running of his father's newspaper when he suddenly
passed away. Jim, who I often prayed with, was typical
of those who were in and out for my life over the
course of several years.

Also I saw a lot of friends finding their mates and while
I dated a good bit things didn't fall into place as I
thought they should or would have. There was a
sense of needing a change from the rapidly changing
singles social enivornment that I found myself in
within Campus Crusade.

There was also a long submerged desire to actually be
paid for the work I did rather than having to raise
financial support. Like so much in life this is complicated
as I very much appreciated the people who invested
in me to be on Campus staff (felt humbled and privileged)
but at the same time there was a restlessness to have
the work I did support my living.

This sense of restlessness had been with me for several
years. During 1979 I had made a serious effort at job
hunting sending out many letters and resumes and even
took a week of vacation (June) and traveled to Orange
County (CA) looking for work in the graphic design area.
Since being flooding out of the Hampshire house
(January 1980) the following two and one half years
were a time of transition. The AIA magazine design job
made that period much more enjoyable but did not
radically alter my eventually career path away from
Campus Crusade. It seems as if the time was right and
the doorway open for a new work place (and challenge)
that was congenial to my faith and artistic/design talents.

Campus Crusade Part 40

2009-05-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

The last two years I spend on Campus Crusade staff were
(as with previous years) spent in many activities. 1981 was
filled with activities like attending meetings of the San
Bernardino Christian School Board, working with the
Sparks at church, attending book discussions, drawing
with the other Crusade artists at noon and painting with
the group in parks on Saturdays, a car accident (March),
brothers Russ (and Nancy) and LeRoy visiting (July) and
going to Universal Studios with them, going to the
San Diego Comic Convention (July), attending the Creation
Convention with Paul Johnston (November), Jury Duty
(December), Campus Crusade staff training (April & October),
portrait painting class at the Community college plus comic
strip drawing, workouts and dates.

Some of the books I read in 1981 were Art Needs No
Justification by Hans Rookmaaker, Stained Glass
by William F. Buckley, Jr., Addicted to Mediocrity
by Franky Schaeffer, The Book of the Dun Cow
by Walter Wangerin, Jr, The Agony and the Ecstasy
by Irving Stone, Sexual Suicide by George Gilder,
1984 by George Orwell, Lust for Life by Irving
Stone, The Moon by John C. Whitcomb and Donald
DeYoung, The Beginning of the World by Henry M. Morris,
What Ever Happened to the Human Race by Francis Schaeffer &
C. Everret Koop, America BC by Barry Fell and many others.
Also my reading of comics was back in full swing.

This was an enjoyable year as I was working on AIA magazine
(a dream job), Ronald Reagan was in the White House (even
though he took over when the country was in a deep recession
and his abortive assassination), the Iran hostages were freed and
things were busy but fulfilling.

1982 was also one of many activities similar to the previous year.
In March (20th) I moved my office from Arrowhead Springs to
San Bernardino. Campus Crusade built an office complex on
27th Street that would eventually house a significant part of
the headquarters staff. The organization did not want to build
more facilities at Arrowhead Springs making it potentially
prohibitive to possible future buyers. Campus Crusade eventually
moved the entire headquarters operation to Orlando, Florida in 1991.
On April 3 I went hiking with Don Franklin up Mt. Rubidoux
(near Riverside). This year I worked in John Paul Stark's congressional
campaign. I volunteered during his telephone get-out-the-vote campaign
at his headquarters as well as precinct walking. He won the primary in
June and attended his victory party. I also had a lesser involvement in
his Fall campaign which he lose to the incumbent Democrat.

Likewise some of the books I was reading in 1982 were Walden Two
by BF Skinner, Marco Polo If You Can By William F. Buckley, Jr.,
The View from Sunset Blvd. by Ben Stein, Entropy: A New World
View by Jeremy Rifkin, The Maze of Mormonism by Walter Martin,
The Tapestry by Edith Schaeffer, The Last Unicorn by Peter S.
Beagle, Decision Making and the Will of God by Gary Frieson
and many others.

Campus Crusade Part 39

2009-05-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

Blogger Note: I see that my narrative it getting
ahead of itself so next week I'll return to
the my final years with Campus Crusade.

That left me as the central mailer for the Apa.
I believed that if the Apa were to be a long term
success than I needed others to help carry the load.
I asked several older, more mature Alpha-Omega
contributors to be part of a CCAS Board that would
help direct the newsletter (still being published at
that point) and the Apa and any other publications/
activities that would be generated in the future.

These contributors were John Pierce (Ohio),
Harry W. Miller (Kentucky) and Billy Leavell(Tennesee).
During and after my first central mailer tenure the
Board (pastor-cartoonist Steven Shipley was also
involved) conducted its business entirely by mail
and produced the first CCAS bylaws that has
brought stability to the Apa over the years.
Alpha-Omega has published over 145 bi-monthly
issues over the past 24 years making it a fixture
in the Christian Comics movement.

Campus Crusade Part 38

2009-05-12T15:04:00.000-07:00

During the early 1980s I started researching and writing
an article on the early 1970s “Fourth World” comic book
series by Jack Kirby. I believed it was a tragedy that the
series was canceled before any real conclusion had taken
place. I also saw a thread of spirituality running through
the stories—a thread of Biblical Spirituality. Toward the
end of 1983 Paul and I began planning a newsletter. This
newsletter would be geared towards comics fans who were
Christians. We named it Valiant—a sort of revival of the
short-lived fanzine I’d help produce in high school 18 years
earlier. We run a short ad in the classified section of
Comics' Buyers Guide announcing a free newsletter for
“Christians interested in comics”. Our first issue was dated
May 1984 and began with a six issue installment series
of my New Gods article. The letters from Christian comics
people came in at a slow, but steady rate. At the end of
Valiant’s 14-issue two-and-one-half year run we had
accumulated around 200 on our mailing list. We developed
a “phantom/umbrella” organization called the Christian
Comic Arts Society that ‘produced’ the newsletter. Paul and
I were essentially the CCAS at that point.

Through the newsletter, Valiant, we made the earliest
contact with Christian comics fans who are or were well
known in the movement. Billy Leavell, John Pierce and
Harry Miller all responded early on to the CBG ad. One
local Southern California Christian comics fan called
me in the summer of 1984 and wanted to check me out.
Was I a real Christian or just some sort of cultic mole?
Every month or two thereafter and we had some great
discussions on comics and faith. Finally in 1986 I made
a trip to his new home in nearby Santa Fe Springs where
I met him and his beautiful wife. This was Ralph Ellis Miley.

Toward the end of 1984 Paul Johnston suggested that we
produce an amateur press association (APA) publication
where the newly forming community of Christian comics
fans could connect and express themselves creatively.
I thought it was an excellent idea. I had been involved
in a short-lived comics Apa back in the mid-1960s. We
made announcements in Valiant about the upcoming Apa
that we christened Alpha-Omega. The first issue of
Alpha-Omega made its debut in March 1985 and has been
published on a bimonthly basis ever since. About that time
Paul was bowing out of involvement (he did write some
material for Valiant, but never contributed to the Apa that
he had originally suggested).

Campus Crusade Part 37

2009-05-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

This was the year I started getting more interested in
comic collecting again. Two titles that spurred this
interest. The first was the New Teen Titans written
by Marv Wolfman and drawn by George Perez. This
was a great revamp of the older title that was popular
in the 1960s. The other was the All-Star Squadron
(came out in early 1981) written by Roy Thomas and
drawn by Richard Buckler. This was a retroactive
retelling of the Justice Society of America stories
from 1941-42 with a lot of other super hero characters
thrown in from other companies that DC had
since acquired the publishing rights.

On October 28, 1979 I had dinner with the newly weds
Terry and Ann (Clayton) Walsh. During that time with
Terry and Ann I talked somewhat about my interest
in Christian comics. Terry suggested that I pray for
and find others who shared a like interest in this type
of endeavor. I seems as if a light went on on hearing
his idea. Oh, yes why hadn't I thought of that?! This
was two years after I'd made my Antediluvia Comic
and premieres it at the San Diego Comic Convention
(1977). This is where I date the first step toward the
establishment of the Christian Comic Arts Society.

I started praying about this and almost two years later
on October 2, 1981 I had lunch with Paul Johnston,
a young CCC writer who was a ardent comics fan.
Paul had been around for a couple of years at that
point but we had just gotten to know each other at
that time. We had heard we had a mutual affection
for comics and we had a good chat. We later collaborated
on one of his characters a female who had a Protector
of her own. While I still have the artwork it is not very
good. I basically had to learn perspective all over again
(and I was in the very beginning stages of that). Also
Paul's scripting approach was novelistic (way too
many words). Effective comic book scripting for
adventure/super hero stories uses an economy of
words. The visuals are there to carry the story and
the words are vital supplements to the illustrations.
Both of us were definitely still learning the comics craft.
At that time there was very little "how to" books
(unlike today) about the mechanics of comic book
story creation.

Campus Crusade Part 36

2009-04-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

Examples of my busyness. In February 1980 which was during
the hostage crisis in Teheran, Iran a special noon prayer group
was formed o pray for the hostages and their release. I was
involved in that group on a frequent basis during that time.
On Feb. 28 and 29 I visited the Human Engineering offices
in Los Angeles with several of my Worldwide Challenge art
team for extensive appitude testing. This was a valuable
experience that I have gone back to over the years.

On March 1 I attended one of my former housemates wedding.
Dean Riffert (a non-CCC housemate from the Hamphire house)
married Mary (?). This was one of the romances that developed
during the course of our living together. On April 26 one of the
CCC photographers I worked with Tom Mills got married to
Karen Murphy. The next Saturday on May 3 Noreen Ketchum
my WWC workmate married Mr. Dave Davis and I also attended
that wedding. My other WWC office mates (Bill Rhodes and
Ann Clayton) had married their fiancees the previous September.
I had a number of lunch dates with single women whom I was
interested in. This was definitely a time of looking for a
prospective mate. Lunch and dinner dates, hikes, trips to
Disneyland were part of the dating routine. While marriage
was something I was interested in the relationships I had
never seemed to point definitely in that direction.

During 1980 a group of CCC artist frequently got together
for drawing at lunch time on Wednesdays. we asked other
staff members to pose (clothed of course) for us. On Tuesday
nights starting on March 4 I started a portrait painting class
given by the local community college. One of the other CCC
artists, Jacque Donecho (and for a time Kathy MacDonald)
attended with me during the course of this class.

On March 15 and 16th I visited Johnny Meitz and his family
near San Diego and go to see him with his hawks (He has
written a book on falconery under the name Johnny Hawk).
Johnny was the artist I took over from as the transparency
designer back in 1972. Johnny and left Campus Crusade at
that time and was doing freelance illustration and design.

While living with Don and Lucille Franklin (Jan-June 1980)
I did yard work and painted one of their bed rooms and had
meals and devotions and prayer times with them. Living with
Don and Lucille was very special after being flooded out
of my Hampshire home.

I developed regular prayer times with another staff member
a writer named Jim Lowe. Jim later left CCC staff and went
back to Lampasas, Texas to run his family'e local newpaper
after his father died.

Amongst those activities there were prayer letters to put
out, church and Sunday School to attend on Sundays,
School Board meetings, Book dicussion groups to got
to (and read the books).

Books I was reading that year ranged from Lenin in Zurich
by Solzhenitsyn, Til We have Faces by C.S. Lewis to
A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuckman to Mila 18 by
Leon Uris, to Foundation by Isaac Amioz to Eros Defiled
by John White to Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon
to Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs to
The Impressionists by Denis Thomas to
The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien to the
Battle for you Mind by Tim Lahaye to Star Trek:
The Motion Picture to Sharing Your Faith with a Muslim
and many others. Many of these were read for
the book discussion group.

I was involved with John Paul Stark's congressional
political compaign to oust longtime incumbent
George Brown. Precinct walking was a part of that.
1980 was the year Ronald Reagan run against
Jimmy Carter for president and I was very
interested in the race as were million of
other Americans.

I went home to Washington in September for my
support raising. During that trip my mother and I
took a side trip to Montana to visit my brother
LeRoy and his family. LeRoy at that time was pastoring
a small congregation in Manhattan, Montana called
the Manhattan Bible Church. During thast side trip
we visited Yellowstone National Park. The first time
I'd been there since I was a small child.

Of course I attended the San Diego Comic Con (July 31-Aug 3).

Campus Crusade Part 35

2009-04-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

However by the 1979 and 1980 I sensed a need for a change.
During this time I had sent out resumes and even had some
job interviews that never went anywhere. On January 13, 1979
I wrote this as "Possibility Thinking" for the next ten years
1979-1989. It said "By 1990 to own and manage a company
that publishes and distributes Christian comic books. 1979-
Leave Campus Crusade. Work as a penciler for a comic book
company to gain credibility before Jan. 1, 1982. Work as a
pencil artist for two years - to learn the ropes 1982-1984.
Later on find financial support for the company. Work on
comics as part time--Have another job in commerical art
for full time. 1982-1987- Look for Christian editors, artists,
letterers, printers. Talk to comics people about Christ.
Problems: Comics industry may collapse in the early 1980s.
Find new format."

How do this actually work out in the years ahead? I actually
left Campus Crusade in July 1982 (not 1979). I never seriously
pursued the comic book penciling option. Here is another
report I wrote on May 16, 1979 ten days before my 31th birthday.
"Have been getting input on my career goals and aspirations
as far as going into comics as an artist is concerned. Most of
the input is negative but very realistic.
"Yesterday I received The Comics Reader #168 that contained
an interesting article by Mike Tiefenbacher in it. He describes
his attempt to break into the comics industry.
"His comments seem to be very much like my own efforts to
do comics. His main thrusts are these: (1) To go into comics
you have to live in New York City for at least some time. He
states that New York--"a very crowded, very alien environment
that I was glad to exit as soon as possible." (2) He states that
after a visit to the DC offices he found them to be "a closed shop."
(3) His greatest argument came from a letter by Dan Atkins, a
inker for DC and Marvel. Atkins stated he in 1975 did 217 pages
of new art and his gross pay was $4,575.50 and after expenses
it was $1.875.00. In 1976 he did 178 pages (at a higher page rate)
for a gross of $4850 and a net income of $2010. Inkers are not
paid as much as pencilers but still the pay is not that great. (4)
He sums up "in order to make living wages these days in the
comic book field, one has to be very very fast. Quality, beyond
competency, doesn't enter into it."
"This leads me to the conclusion that I should not try to enter
the comic book field as a full time artist."

As I entered into the 1980s thoughts of working for comics full
time pretty much died. However I did get a get a full-time job
in 1982 as a commerical artist (art director) with the Narramore
Christian Foundation that took me through the 1980s and 1990s.
From 1987 to 1991 I formed a Christian Comics company with
Ralph Miley and Charles Whitley called Valiant Comics and we
produced several issues of Valiant Efforts.

The comic book industry did not collapse in the early 1980s
but it did begin to change from its traditional distribution
centers —general stores, super markets, and drug stores to
comics specialty shops.

Campus Crusade Part 34

2009-04-13T09:21:00.000-07:00

During the late 1970s and 1980s while I didn't keep
a daily journal I did keep a detailed weekly and
monthly schedule. Occasionally I'd write out my
thoughts concerning personal events or thoughts
on the future. These schedules have survived the
years and several moves. As I look back on these
schedules they were filled with numerous activities.
I was becoming somewhat unsettled about my work
with Campus Crusade. While I had no problems
with the organization I felt that I had done about as
much with Crusade as I could without a radical
re-orientation of career objectives (and conversely
Crusade had done about as much for me as it would -
or at least that was my perception). The basic option
was to leave headquarters and accept a field ministry
assignment such as being on a college/university
campus team or an international assignment.

Many of my co-workers were dissatisfied with being at
headquarters and wanted to be on the field where they
perceived they could have more direct people-to-people
ministry. They felt that being at headquarters was a second
rate assignment and were anxiety to move on. Campus Crusade
put a great emphasis on having a "submissive spirit" and following
the decisions of those in authority (This did not make Campus a
dyfunctional or cultic organization as most secular businesses
require a level of cooperation and availability from their employees).
Issues such as readiness for field assignments and the wider needs
of the organization played into these personnel decisions. However,
that was not my inclination as I enjoyed being at headquarters
doing art and design work. Increasingly during this time a sense
that the reasons I had jointed CCC staff back in 1971 were
completed —especially for me.

Dr. Bill Bright was very big on setting audacious and humanly
impossible target goals. One of his favorite sayings was, "Small
goals don't inflame the hearts of men." When I jointed CCC staff
in 1971 the goal was to see the Great Commission fulfilled in the
United States by 1976 and the world by 1980. Massive projects
like Explo 72, Explo '74 (in Seoul, South Korea), Here's Life America
and the Jesus Film Project were all launched with the idea of seeing
the Great Commission fulfilled within this generation (the generation
of the 1970s is how I interpreted it). As mentioned earlier this made
Campus Crusade with its very conservative button down image a
revolutionary organization. There was a sense of urgency to get
the gospel out. While even then I realized that there were many
ethnic/people groups that didn't ever have a written language or
a Christian church the great goals CCC had were very exciting for
young people such as myself to be involved in.

Campus Crusade Part 33

2009-04-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

Returning to my oncoming Autobio.

Much of the next two years (1980-82) was centered
on designing the Athletes in Action magazine. This
was a dream job and the culmination of my previous
years of working on the Worldwide Challenge art team.
The AIA magazine was designed outside the organization
by a Christian designer. The decision was to bring it in
house and I applied for the position of art director. Since
AIA was a quarterly magazine I was able to solo design
and paste it up as well. Those were a good two years.

I had a good time working with same of the same folks
I did with WWC. Photographers like Tom Mills, Greg
Schneider, Phil DeJong and writers like Bill Horlacher,
Ken Sidey (nephew of well-known Time Magazine writer,
Hugh Sidey), Chuck MacDonald and others. John Carvalho
was the editor of the magazine. He was a young, bright, very
energetic sports fan and a very good writer and editor. My
work with John had mostly to do with him handing me the
article gallies and article page count and I'd come up with
the layout and design. He and I were involved in photo
section and photo shots also.

Perhaps my best issue was my last one (Summer 1982) where
the cover had a crowd shot of media people mobbing a "pro" athlete
in his home much to the chagrin of his wife. My dear friend Don
Franklin was in this photo and it as a hard-bitten sports commentator.

First Independent Creation Conference

2009-03-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

1. Don Patton showing Bea Dunkel and
others creation evidence.

2. Joe Taylor talking to Linda Drake.

3. Joel Peck talking with Aaron
Judkins and Jordan Hall

4. John Adolfi

5. Whitney Yule

6. Phillip O'Donnel

7. Paul Viet

8. Mary Ann Stuart

9. Linda Drake

10. Jordan Hall

11. John Hanker

12. Joel Peck

13. Jodi Storm

14. Jeremy Auldaney

15. Dave McQueen

16. David Babbitt

17. Andrew St. Marie

18. Aaron Judkins

19. Dennis Peterson

20. Joe Taylor

On March 3 and 4, 2009 at the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum
in Crosbyton, Texas was held the first meeting of independent
creation science workers. The conference was organized and
hosted by Joe Taylor, director of the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum.

The first day was involved in everyone sharing what they have
been doing in the movement. Some are field excavators,
researchers, speakers, writers, museum directors and
resource personnel.

The second day was used as a brainstorming time concerning
a name and web site for a cooperative association of independent
creation workers. Also discussed were possible co-op publishing
ventures, a training school for creaionary paleontologists, TV shows,
videos and other issues.

The evenings were devoted to viewing recently produced motion
pictures including Whitney Yule's excellent bio of Joe Taylor called
"Bone Digger" and John Mackay's somewhat controversial but
energetic "Darwin On the Rocks."

Over all around 35 people attended (families included) and the
meeting represented a good step in the right direction toward
developing a mutually beneficial association of creation science workers.

Included here (above) are photos I took of some of the people who
attended the conference.

Campus Crusade Part 32

2009-02-16T16:36:00.000-08:00

"As concerning my former residence on Hampshire Rd.
which I lived for over four years I will definitely not be
moving back. That whole neighborhood has been declared
a disaster area and it looks as though the city will be moving
the homes out of there and be selling them for the owners.
Hampshire Rd. itself perhaps will be turned into a park and
flood control canal. However at this late date a lot of the
details have not been nailed down. Recently I was over at
the house and I still felt a strong emotional attachment to it."
This is from my May-June 1980 newsletter.

However life went on. I was promoted to "Feature Design Director"
which meant I was in charge of designing the Feature section
of Worldwide Challenge. "Noreen Ketchum (our senior art director)
recently left staff and married Mr. Dave Davis, a U.S. Air Force officer.
Having worked with Noreen almost four years I am happy to see
God moving her into this joyful next phase of her life."

"We have also gotten two new staff in our office. Beth Bratcher,
from Texas and Lori Creedle from Georgia. Both have been very
useful and I have been involved in helping to train them. I enjoy
the people I work with very much. They are fine Christians and
I wish you could meet them."

I came back to Bellingham is September 1980 to share about
a new job that I was preparing to go into. I had applied for the
art director position for Athletes in Action magazine. While I
had enjoyed my work in Worldwide Challenge magazine I felt
that I had peaked out with my WWC involvement. Eddie Maggard
had his sights on becoming Bill Rhodes successor as art director.
Which was fine with me. Eddie eventually did become art director
and did an excellent job in raising the level of design several
notches above what it had been.

Athletes in Action magazine was a quarterly evangelistic magazine
that had been around for a number of years. I felt very privileged
to get the assignment and it was an enjoyable two years being
the chief designer of the magazine.

On November 24, 1980 a wild devastating fire swept through
Arrowhead Springs destroying a number of buildings including
the quonsets where I had worked for several years in the Audiovisual
department and the building that housed the writers and editors.
It seemed as if I was getting use to disasters having just gone through
a flood 10 months before. It was as if old things were being replaced
by the new. Campus Crusade had built several new office building
on 27th Street in San Bernardino where I eventually had a office.

I had stayed with Don and Lucille Franklin for several months and
then moved in with several other staff men over the summer. When
I returned back form my visit home to Bellingham I rented a single
bed room apartment on Genevieve Street in San Bernardino.

Campus Crusade Part 31

2009-02-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

As the 1970s were running its course things continue to change
in my job with Worldwide Challenge magazine. "Bill Rhodes,
who is the art director of the magazine got married to
Miss Ginny Heyl on her parent farm in Spring Mills, PA on
Sept . 1" [1979] -(from October 1979 prayerletter). While
Bill was gotten I assumed a number of his responsibilities
designing features on the Jesus film and Roy Rogers.
"When you think of the power of God's Word coupled
into a visual medium like motion pictures that relates
so well to the 20th century mind the impact of this film
could be tremendous." The Jesus film was then translated
into dozens of languages and it was viewed by hundreds
of millions of people in many countries in the years following.
It is very satisfying that I had a small part in promoting this film.

We had two new staff come into the WWC art team at that
time, Karen Murphey from Louisiana Tech (the same
school Bill Rhodes and Eddie Maggard graduated from).
Karen was with us for a short time and later transferred
to the headquarters training center. Donna Daniels
from Decatur, Georgia (University of Georgia) also
came into the department and was also "a real help
in getting out the magazine."

As 1980 arrived a major change happened in my living
situation. There is taken from my Jan.-Feb. 1980 prayerletter.
"On December 1, 1975, I moved into a nice five-bedroom house
on Hampshire Road in northern San Bernardino with five
other Christians. The house was being purchased by Mrs.
Doris Oram. Doris is a 67-year-old great-grandmother who
works in the Print Shop at Arrowhead Springs. She was our
"house mom" and landlady. Our rent monies enabled her
to make the house payments.

"When we first moved into the house we all prayed that
this home would be used to God's honor and glory. Over
the past four years we have had many Bible studies,
Growth Group meetings, parties, workdays and wonderful
Sunday afternoon lunches (with many guests) in our house.
Three of the housemates met their future wives while living
there and two others shortly after they moved out. Lots of
struggles, personal growth and good times were shared by
everyone that lived at 1141 E. Hampshire Road.

"On Jan. 10, 1980, there was a flash flood that sent about
3 to 4 feet of mud down Hampshire Road from a nearby
flood control basin. The mud and water literally went over
the flood control dam wall. This first flood carried two of
my housemates' cars that were parked in front of the house
and deposited them about half a block down the street. The
mud and water of this flood did not get into our house.
However, on Jan. 14 we experienced another sudden downpour
(I was at work when it happened at about 5:00 p.m.) which
sent an even greater volume of mud and water over the flood
control dam and our house (among 28 others) was invaded
by a torrent of silt-laden liquid. We had between 6 inches
and 3 1/2 feet of mud in our house. We lost all of our carpets
and living room furniture. I personally lost a number of
valuable books, magazines, shoes, personal artwork, photos,
my art portfolio and some clothes. The mud knocked in the
garage door and caused so much pressure on the wall that
separated the garage from my bedroom that it knocked a
hole in it. The water and mud also forced its way in through
the front door and through the dining room sliding glass doors."

"When the flood was happening, one of the housemates,
Manny Wong, was talking to me on the phone. I think I
will always remember him describing how the mud was
picking up his car (a 1975 Camaro) and how the mud was
going over and through our sandbagging of the dining
room doors. Fortunately, Doris and her boss got to the
house at that point and got Manny out of there as the mud
came bursting through the front door. They escaped the
mud by going through the back yard and over a concrete
block wall that was knocked over by the mud just after
they jumped over it.

"Greg Praniewicz (another of my housemates) and I
reached the scene about half an hour after the flood
subsided and made it into our home. What a sight!
Three feet of mud and sand in our living room. The
furniture was floating in a "stew" of mud."
"Tuesday morning, Jan. 15, we were back at the house,
ready to dig out. For the next week we did that with
the help of the California Conservation Corps,
volunteers from Norton Air Force base, Campus
Crusade and our individual churches."

"The flood was blamed on a devastating forest fire
that occurred on the foothills above our neighborhood
last September. All of the vegetation was burned
off so that there is nothing to hold back rapid erosion
during rainstorms. County officials have indicated
that it may take 5 or 10 years for it to grow back
enough to hold the soil well enough to prevent
further mudslides and flooding."

Don and Lucille Franklin offered housing for me
after the flood. I spent several months with them
at their home in nearby Rialto, California.

Campus Crusade Part 30

2009-02-02T11:24:00.000-08:00

Here are more short life items from the late 1970s.
* From the May-June 1978 prayerletter. Noreen Ketchum
spent two months in England to help start a British version
of Worldwide Challenge. Cindi Arauz came into the
department and I trained her to take over the managing
and design of the WWC news section. During the summer
we had a student intern work with us named Jane Wrede
from Wisconsin. I also was involved with training her.
Jane several years later returned as a full time staff and
worked on the magazine design team.

In April we had Headquarters staff training with
well-known Bible scholar Dr. Bruce Waltke a
special speaker who lectured on the book of
Proverbs. He also assisted in translating that
book for the New International Version.

* In May the Publications Department hosted
the Evangelical Press Association's Annual
Convention (at Arrowhead Springs). "There were
around 250 conferees from many Christian many
Christian publications (like Moody Monthly, His,
Eternity, Christian Life, Campus Life and so on)
assembled here. I was in charge of the committee
that made the awards displays, posters, signs and
so on. It was a tremendous time and a lot of work."

* On May 17 my former roommate Jim Winchell
was married in Riverside. I was an usher in his wedding.

* During August I flew to Seattle/Tacoma airport
where I met my mother. We then proceeded to fly
to Fairbanks, Alaska. I spent the next three weeks
or so with my brother Russ. "It was a real vacation.
I endeavored to fit into my brother's life style as
much as possible. I helped him work on building
his garage, cut firewood for his heating stoves, and
set up a booth (for selling his wood burning, space
heating stoves) at the local fair. Looking back on
the got quite a bit of work out of me."
However we did take a number of trips including
a trip down the Chena river (that goes through Fairbanks)
in a paddle wheeler, a trip to Mt. McKinley National
Park (lots of grizzly bears in their natural habitat) and
a ferry trip along the south coast of Alaska to view the
famous Columbia Glacier. My brother also took me
up several times in his Cessina 150 airplane." I had
opportunities to speak about my work to Bethel
Baptist Church who were supporters at the time.
I also spoke the junior church and gave an illustrated
lecture on how dinosaurs fit into the Bible.
Over all a great time in Alaska.

* From my Sept-Oct 1978 prayerletter. We had a
new staff man come into the WWC Department,
Eddie Maggard who recently graduated from
Louisiana Tech University. Eddie in several
years would succeed Bill Rhodes as art director
for Worldwide Challenge. "In July I had the
chance to teach the young adult Sunday School
class for one Sunday on the area of evolution
and creation. It was part of a series on
Christian apologetics. During October I was a
substitute teacher for the Senior High Sunday
School class. It was definitely a challenge
(trying to go through the book of Acts in 5
Sundays) to relate to teenagers even though
it hasn't been that long since I 've been there myself."
Also I was asked to be on the school board of
the San Bernardino Christian School at that time.
This has been mentioned earlier in this recollections.
I was even elected vice-president of the Board
that serviced a school of 136 students. I also
produced a brochure for the church, took photos
of church events, wrote book reviews for the
school newspaper and was an usher.

* During this time I was still working out on
weights at a local Gym and still doing things
with Don Franklin. During that time (October 1978)
meet bodybuilding champion Bob Birdsong
(Mr. America, Mr. Universe) who had become a
Christian along with his wife Laura. It was able
to have a ministry in his life by giving him
cassette tapes by Bill Bright and Tim Timmons
(a popular CCC speaker) on marriage. Bob
surfaces in San Bernardino for some time as
an associate manager of a new weight lifting gym.
He and his wife later moved to New Mexico
where they worked with the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes. "Bob is preparing for the
Mr. Olympia contest in September.
The Olympia is the ultimate bodybuilding title
(you have to be a Mr. World or Mr. Universe
to compete)..." Bob never won the Mr. Olympia
but he had a solid witness to other athletes
during that time.

Campus Crusade Part 29

2009-01-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

The latter half of 1970s were filled with many activities
and events. Included are some of them.

* In February 1977 I began involvement in a "growth group"
that was sponsored by the church that used Navigator
materials. Heavy emphasis was placed on memorization
which I was never good at. Small groups are an attempt
to help church people become more intimate with each
other. Small groups can be wonderful if people are really
clicking. If not they can become just one more activity to
juggle on an already busy schedule.

* In the Fall of 1977 my church (Faith Bible Church) had
the film series How Should We Then Live? written and
produced by Francis Schaeffer. Dr. Schaeffer presented
the idea of looking at history from a Biblically Christian
point of view. This type of overview thinking deeply
influenced the way I thought about origins, creative
artistic and literary endeavors and so forth. Our ideas
about life and reality were so influenced by the prevailing
materialist, liberal mind-set that the Christian needs to
realign his thinking in conformance with Christian patterns.

* In October 1977 the WWC art staff went on a retreat with
the Publication Dept. and we presented a skit about angels.

* I built a adjustable multi-purpose bench for weight lifting
in the garage that I used for several years.

* My work in WWC progressed as I was made art director
of the News section which meant that I did the layout
and design (photo selection, cropping for that section
of the magazine. I also continued doing layouts for the
feature section. In January 1978 I made a trip to Hart Press
in Lone Prairie, MN which was our printer to supervise
the printing of an issue. This was a pert that everyone
on the team had the opportunity to do during that time.
That was an interesting experience as I discovered what
ice fishing was as well as seeing the magazine being run
off on a large web press. I came home from my sub-zero
journey and got sick with the flu. I also starred in a magazine
ad for CCC's prison ministry as an inmate! My beard at that
time was wonderfully dark.

* During this time I continued as a constant reader.
"I have a confess to make. I am a confirmed bookaholic.
One of the surest signs of self control in my life is to go
into a bookstore and come out empty handed. However,
more often than not I succumb to temptation." (from
my March-April 1978 prayer letter). In this letter some
of the books I mentioned that I had recently or was
reading was Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago, The
Red Decade by Eugene Lyons, An American First,
It Didn't Start with Watergate, Understanding the
Male Temperament by Tim LaHaye, Dinosaurs,
Those Terrible Lizards by Duane Gish, The Assault
on the Sexes, Eat, Drink and be Ready (about civil
preparedness from a end times viewpoint) and
the Four Loves by CS Lewis.

* Along about this time I became involved with
two social groups. One was a Inkling's reading
group (Inklings was not the name of the group
but the writers group we were reading) that were
devoted to reading and discussing the works of
British authors like JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis,
Charles Williams and others. This group consisted
of Kathy Golden, Jacque Donecho, Steve Becker,
Greg and Kathleen Schneider, Mark Bloom,
Rick DePrisco and many others over the years.
I even attended meetings occasionally after I
left Campus Crusade in 1982. It incredibly ran
for around 18 or 20 years. This was a good social
experience as I learned a lot from many other
people. The selection of books we discussed
expanded into many other fiction (fantasy,
science fiction, mainstream) and non-fiction
books from Christian and secular writers.

* The other group was a once a week drawing
meeting of Crusade artists to practice their
sketching skills. This happened during lunch
and we recruited models from other staff
whenever possible. This proved to be a valuable
time also as it helped to retain skills in a very
busy schedule that could easily get lost in the
press of more immediate concerns. Several of
us even took portray painting classes at the
local community college during that time and
even had some plein air painting and
drawing outings.

Campus Crusade Part 28

2009-01-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

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

Campus Crusade Part 27

2009-01-05T10:08:00.000-08:00

My interest in comics did not cease when I was
working with Campus Crusade. I took a different
direction. Here is an excerpt from my August-
September 1977 prayerletter that discusses a
special project that I'd worked on during those years.

"Have you ever had a dream? A dream that excited
your mind and spirit. A dream that would not let you sleep
at night. A dream that thrust you to the brink of your
own creative abilities. A dream that after years of
struggle to keep alive in one's imagination would
not let itself die, but would continue to resurrect
itself after the primary stimulus had worn down.
A dream that was uniquely yours to see to its fulfillment.
I have had such a dream and with the perseverance
and determination that the Lord has given me
I saw it to completion.

"As a young child I discovered that I had a desire
to draw, to create flat, yet dynamic image on paper.
As I proceeded into my teen years I became
fascinated with cartooning. Also the art of graphic
story telling intrigued my mind. Living outside the
city on a small farm it was difficult for me to get
involved in extracurricular activities at school
(health problems limited my sports involvement).
I developed much to the bewilderment of my
parents at that time an insatiable appetite for
cartoons in all forms, especially newspaper comic
strips and comic magazines.

"Consequently again much to the surprise and
perturbation of my parents I would spend great
quantities of time at the drawing board sketching
my own comic stories. Being naturally creative
and wanting to get involved in the actual comics
process I started doing my own graphic stories.
Working out of my own imagination and fantasies
and putting them down on paper in a two dimensional
form became a consuming passion. Looking at it from
two points of reference this was beneficial. It gave
me a chance to develop the small ability that I have
in creative writing and it provided me something
concrete to illustrate. Also it allowed me a chance
to delve into the problems of drawing and develop
my greater talents in that area. Interestingly enough
elements of my own Christian faith made themselves
apparent in many of these stories.

"I can remember distinctly an incident that happened
in my early teen years. As I was telling my oldest
brother about my interest in this area, he challenged
me with the idea of doing comic versions of Bible
stories. Of course this had already been done by
both secular and Christian publishing companies,
and far better than I could ever do it. But the idea
of having a Christian theme or characters who were
Christians stuck very strongly in my mind. After that
time many (if not most) of the stories I did had in
them some type of Christian theme or characters.

"During this time I began to be involved in what is
called today comics fandom. Through letters and
amateur publications (and only rarely in person)
I made contact with persons of like interests. It
was an involvement that was very meaningful to me.
I had several correspondents as well as writing letters,
doing drawings and comic strips and scripting articles
for various amateur publications.

"I had a desire to communicate my faith in Christi
to these friends, but usually I was quite unsuccessful.
I continued this involvement throughout high school
and college. I was always wanting to share the
reality of Christ with these people."

Continued next week

Campus Crusade Part 26

2008-12-29T09:07:00.000-08:00

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?!' "

Campus Crusade Part 25

2008-12-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

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.

Campus Crusade Part 24

2008-12-15T09:21:00.000-08:00

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.

Campus Crusade Part 23

2008-12-08T08:50:00.000-08:00

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.

Campus Crusade Part 22

2008-12-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

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.]

Campus Crusade Part 21

2008-11-25T10:08:00.000-08:00

My work with the Worldwide Challenge Art Team
consisted of a number of tasks. Here are the steps
we used in order to put the magazine together.

1. The beginning of our monthly job dealt with
receiving finished manuscripts from the Editorial
Dept. Each artist would take the copies of the
articles and read them and come up with ideas
on how to illustrate them.

2. After several days the art team (often with
sketches or drawings) met with several of the
editors and we pitched our illustration ideas
in a brainstorming session. The brainstorming
session was a cut session where many concepts
were eliminated. While all ideas have merit you
learned not to fall to deeply in love with a specific
concept. Many of the articles in the magazine had
to do with abstract spiritual concepts that don't
always readily avail themselves to easy illustration
concepts. Personality or ministry event stories
were the easiest to work with.

3. Once the idea was agreed on by the editors
and designers the transforming of that idea into
illustration or photograph was the next step.

4. If it was a photo we worked with one of Campus
Crusade staff photographers to schedule a photo
shoot. Often we needed to recruit models for the
photos and we had a large pool of available staff
and family members to choice from.

5. We also did illustrations when the article called
for it. The designers, most of whom had illustration
skills, took turns on doing the illustrations depending
on whose style fit the project idea the best.

6. Once the illustrations were chosen the magazine
was divided up into sections among the designers to
do the layouts for. Each designer was given a specific
number of pages with either a right hand lead page
or a left-right spread. The News section of the magazine
was done usually by one designer which dealt mostly
with columns of type and event or people photos.

7. The layouts were first done as thumbnail sketches
with measurements from the typeset galleys. Once the
thumbnails were approved by the art director then the
designer would take photo copies of the galleys and
make a dummy mock-up of the layout showing where
the copy flows and where the photos or illustrations
were located. The layouts were all incorporated with
a single mock-up magazine or dummy which the art
director and chief editor would approval or ask
for changes.

8. During this time photo shoots were scheduled and
illustrations drawn. Once the finished mock-up was
approved the designers took the typeset copy and
begin pasting it up on pre-sized layout boards.

9. Once the paste up was done it was proof read by
several of the editors and corrections were typeset
and pasted on the boards and then these corrections
were approved by the editors.

10. Once final approval was given including any artwork
and photos the art boards were sent to a pre-press
house for the negative flats to be done. They provided
a blueline or dummy copy of the magazine for one final
proofing before it was sent to the printer.

11. Once the final blueline proofing done (with any
last corrections) it was sent to an outside printer
specializing in magazine printing. Several weeks later
we would receive copies of the magazines.

This was my daily work experience from 1976 to
1980. We had an outside type house do our typesetting.
With the advent of desktop publishing a number
of years later the need for outside typesetting and
even paste up was eliminated. For those designers
who made the transition from rubber cement paste up
on art boards to designing your layouts on the
computer screen the old days are not missed. The old
paste up methods seem almost medieval in comparison.
Digital technology has changed things radically in
the graphic design industry.

Campus Crusade Part 20

2008-11-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

My work with Worldwide Challenge magazine began
with an intensive training period on magazine design.
Noreen Ketchum, the original designer on the magazine,
devised and instituted a comprehensive study program
on how to put magazines together. The following is
taken from my February 1977 prayerletter.

"Since the middle of September [1976] I have been
working with the art team that produces in cooperation
with the editors and writers the monthly magazine
of Campus Crusade, the Worldwide Challenge.

"When I first entered this new area I was placed in
an extensive training program that lasted about six
weeks. I was given books to read on magazine design,
creative processes and the usage of photography in
publications. Also I had assignments in redesigning
magazine articles (all the way from tiny thumbnail
sketches, to mock-ups-practice layouts, to the
finished of layout). Also involved in this was photo
selection and the making of illustrations. There is a
whole new language in magazine design which I am
still learning. There is "picky paste-up", "gallies",
"teasers", "subheads" and "kickers" among others.

"This time of training was a very valuable learning
experience and I am still on a less accelerated training
program. I've been in the area for over five months
now and I've learned a lot, but I still have a lot to learn.
My previous experience with transparencies however
made my transition into this new area a relatively
easy and quick one."

In some ways this was the most concentrated and
career important training I received. I was better
that any of the graphics courses I took in college.
It was on the job training where you were actually
implementing what you learned with real job projects.

2008 Tucson Comic Con Report

2008-11-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

The last four photos. James Babcock with his Madame X table. Don Ensign (right)
with Con Organizer Mike Oliveras. Last Don Ensign at the CCAS table. The first
photos are ones taken during the Con.

Tucson Comic Con Report

(This is a personal report of my experience manning the CCAS
table at the 2008 Tucson Comic Con, Nov 8, 2008)

I packed my material Friday night and
headed into Tucson the next morning. I arrived
at the Four Winds Sheraton hotel around 8:45 AM
and saw a familar stream of causally clad
people lugging in boxes of comics and other merchandise.
The location of the Con was in the Convention Center
building immediately behind the main hotel.
I walked into the building and saw my friend
James Babcock to my left. I had the table next to the main
entrance and James was seated at the next table
with his laptop computer out and working on
some character designs.

James helped me unload my car and we transported the
boxes of Christian comics into the convention hall.
I set up the table and also taped my freshly made large CCAS signs
to the wall behind the table. There were several Tucson
comic book stores, local comic book companies, and artists filling
the forty tables which lining the walls and
also a number of tables in the middle of the floor.

The official Con opening was at 10 AM. This was a free
admission event and with a very healthy stream
of people flowing in and out of the hall for most of the day.
This first annual Tucson Comic Con was a one day affair
and there was a general aura of excitement and enthusaism
among the exhibitors and attendees.

My CCAS table had free items (Chick tracts,
CCAS/Four Square Press color comic tracts, NASV New
Testaments, etc) on the right side and for sale comics,
graphic novels(Serenity, Z Graphic Novels, 2008 Guide to
Christian Comics) and so on occupying the center
and left parts of the table.

I received good response to the CCAS table. Here are some short
summaries of conversations.
* One conventionally dressed middle aged lady (perhaps
a church goer) came over to the table and I explained the
concept of Christian comics and showed and discussed
some of the items I had for sale. I could tell that that this
was a difficult concept and that she was having a hard time
wrapping her mind around it.
* Another 30ish or so woman came up to the table and
picked up a copy of Homeless Harry and stood in front of
the table very intently reading it completely through. She
seemed moved by it and picked up several of of the tracts.
*An African American women came up to the table and
mentioned that she worked at a homeless shelter. She
also picked up Homeless Harry (asking for three copies)
inquiring where she could get more. I also introduced her to
the other Street Comix—The Lonely Lady, Vengeance is Mine
and Paramen that she might be interested it.
She thanked me very much for being there.
This was a response I received a number of
times during the day.
* Yet another women approached the table and mentioned
that see worked in a soap kitchen and eagerly snatched
up a copy of Homeless Harry and wanted to find out where
she could get more.
* Another women showed a lot of interest in the table and
I asked her what church she was attending. She mentioned
a local Tucson congregation and was very interested in the
material we had. Later in the day she bought her husband by
and he spent time looking over our for sale items. I showed
him Proverbs and Parables which excited him (though he wished
it were in color). He ended up buying several items. He mentionred
that coming to own table and buying these items made it
worth cominbg to the convention.
*Late in the day I noticed one of the Lonely Lady tracts
torn up and placed on the Lonely Lady stack (Lonely
Lady is a short story of a hooker who meets the Savior).
I figure the message had gotten through and hit a sore spot.
* Besides seeing many tracts and New Testaments taken
it was encouraging to see a number of purchases of our
Christian comics and graphic novels.
* On a personal note Sequentially Tucson #3 made its debut
at the Con. Sequentially Tucson is a comic published by
IndieOnly Comics that showcases the talent of local
comic artists. I contributed a six page comic strip to it
featuring the Christian super hero the Golden Protector
(co-starring Ben Avery's Scout). This comic had been in the
offing for over a year and it made the convention even
more special.
The goals that I had for the convention were met. First, I wanted
to have a clear presense for Christ at this local start up venue.
Second, I wanted to introduce the idea and concept of Christian
comics to this new convention and begin an ongoing
education process which is for some a novel and even
radical idea. This was a seed planting venture with our presence
and the tract give aways. And lastly I wanted to see some
Christian comics sold. These goals were accomplished and
many prayers were most definitely answered.
At the finish of the convention James Babcock and his mother
Betty and I met at a local eatery for a debriefing of the day's
events. James likewise had a great time hawking his freshly
printed comic—Madame X Inc #1.
This was an excellent experience where I'm sure many seeds
were planted.

Campus Crusade Part 19

2008-11-13T09:45:00.000-08:00

This week I conclude excerpts from my prayer letter
(October 1976) telling about my transition from working
in the Campus Crusade's AV Dept. and art team
of Worldwide Challenge magazine.

"However over a year ago I began to see that I was in
need of a change. I felt that I had learned about as much
as I could from transparencies and also that some new
blood would be good for the area. The Lord during the
past year has confirmed this desire a number of times.
Since coming on staff I had not up until felt the need
for a change. But now this desire was there and building.
As I mentioned in a previous newsletter during this past
year a new staff man (John Carter) entered the area and
I knew that he would be my successor to the position.
During this year I have been working with him and
training him. As of August 1 he has taken over as
Production Manager of Graphic Design. There will be
three working in the area again in the near future.

"During the past year I have been praying about and
considering several options. First was the possibility
of going into our sister AV area—Slide Show productions
as a director. THis would mean working with old friends
but little further experience in terms of doing artwork.
For a period this spring I was able to spend some time
working in the slide show area to actually see the 'nuts and bolts'
process from the inside. Another option was concerning
going into the Art Dept. (now called Creative Studios).
In April I had several meetings with the manager of Creative
Studios. At that point I gained the opportunity if going into
the Art Dept. (a long submerged desire started to resurface).
This was a very difficult decision to make. It took me two
months of prayer and evaluation before I made the decision.
I felt that my background and primary skills were in the
graphic art area and that it would be the most prudent to
continue going in that direction.

"Later in another meeting with the director of Creative Studios
he asked me to consider going on the art staff of Crusade's
magazine, the Worldwide Challenge. After considering and
praying about it for a time I accepted the offer. About the
middle of September was when I made the transfer to the
Challenge from Graphic Design. The time between when
John took over transparencies and when I left was a period
in which I served in the advisory capacity."

Green Valley McCain Rally

2008-11-04T11:39:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos I took yesterday at a John McCain Rally
in Green Valley, Arizona. No matter what your political views
are these are some fun photos. Enjoy.

Campus Crusade Part 18

2008-11-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

The next phase of my Campus Campus career began
in the last part of 1976. I made a move out of the Graphics
section of what was the Audiovisual Dept. to work with
Worldwide Challenge Magazine. Worldwide Challenge
was Campus Crusade's then monthly magazine that
covered the happenings of the ministry as well as containing
spiritually challenging articles. Here are excerpts from
my October 1976 prayerletter.

"Someone has rightly said that in this world if there
is one constant—that constant is change. At this time
I am in the process of a major change. I am changing
jobs for the first time in nearly three years. By the time
you read this I will have phased out of th Graphic Design
area and into my new job. That new job is working on the
art staff of the Worldwide Challenge, Campus Crusade's
monthly magazine.

"Let me give a brief summary of my time so far on
Campus Crusade staff. In 1971 I came on staff with
the original hope of going into the Art Dept. In 1971
I came on staff with the original hope of going into
the Art. Dept. Instead of that assignment I was placed
in what was then called the Audio-Visual Dept. Within
A-V I did everything from duplicating audio tapes to
film research to finally designing and producing overhead
transparencies. For over 4 1/2 years I have been the head
artist or Production Manager (the tile is now) for
Graphic Design (the art section of A-V now called
Media Productions).

"When I first came into the area (even though several
artists had preceded me) it was a primitive, underdeveloped
area of Audio-Visual. Yet this area had tremendous
potential. Over the years I have had the privelege of
witnessing "revolutionary developments" such as the
obtaining of our first Thermo-copy machine, professional
art tables and equipment, a typesetting machine,
a printing press and several other full time personnel
(that I had the honor of training and working with).
The area developed from a 'one man' show to a
sophisticated, efficiently running operation. While
I had input into this development often as not I was
just an amazed observer to the great needs and to a
number of different people whom the Lord used to
provide truly visionary solutions to those needs.
I praise the Lord for my time in transparencies.
I have contributed to it and the Lord has taught
me much over the past several years from it.

More Next Week

Campus Crusade Part 17

2008-10-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

These years that were filled with a lot of joy and excitement
were also tinged with sadness. On July 31, 1976 the Big
Thompson river flood happened in Colorado which calmed
100 lives including 7 Campus Crusade staff women. One of
those women was June Fugiwara. June was one of the students
who came on staff from Western (WWSC) the same year (1971)
that I did. June went to the same church in Bellingham during
her student days and I got to know her during that time.
Below is taken from my September 1976 newsletter.

"I do not actually remember the first time I met June but it
must have been around 1967 or 1968. She was going to
Western (Western Washington State College) at the time.
As I recall she had not been a Christian very long. She had
come to know Christ in a personal way via one of the
televised Billy Graham Crusades.

"June attended Immanuel Bible Church at the same time
faithfully and was involved in the college-career group
on Sunday nights. During those times I saw June as
an energetic, full of life, ease to laugh Hawaiian. She was
very enthusiastic and willing to share readily what the
Lord was doing in her life. Little things and big things.
Answered prayer, people witnessed to, special scripture
verses and a quick smile were qualities that
June had in abundance.

"June was also involved on campus with a Christian student
organization called Campus Crusade for Christ. She was
involved long before my own entrance into the movement.
She became one of the key girl student leaders with her
own action group of other students. Because of this she
became a strong prospect for joining the CCC staff. Being
older than June [I found out later she was about a year
older than myself!] I graduated from WWSC in 1970 and
then took some post graduate work during the remainder
of 1970 and 1971. My primary intention however was to
work with Crusade in seeing our campus saturated with
the gospel. That was an exciting year and we saw our
goal accomplished.

"June continued her student involvement with Crusade
that year invited (along with myself) after her graduation
to Arrowhead Springs for IBS and later new staff training.
After the training we both returned to the Bellingham area
to develop our support team base. I remember very vividly
several weeks into the support time that June had hit a
snag and had run out of contacts. She was pretty discouraged.
I remember at that point I came to see her to cheer her up
and encourage her. Well I don't know if my visit did much
good or not, but she did end up raising her support more
than a month before I saw my own completed!

"June and I kept in touch over the years via prayerletters.
Because of our different locations of service (she in Berkeley,
CA. and later Hawaii) an I at Arrowhead Springs we seldom
saw each other. One of the rare times I did see her was at
Fort Collins last year. I had the privilege of taking her out
to dinner on the 4th of July. It was an excellent time of
fellowship in which we were able to catch up on each others
lives over the past four or five years. June had matured
greatly in the time. The evanescent spirit was still there
but I could see that the years of training and responsibility
had made her increasingly sober and aware of her
commitment to Christ. I noted an increasing concern
in her life for he evangelization of the Asian peoples
for her Lord.

"In the last prayerletter I received from June she enclosed
as a gift a tiny tube of 'leilani' cologne, a very sweet
Hawaiian fragrance. This fragrance was so much like
June and her life.

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His
triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet
aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we
are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are
being saved and among those who are perishing.
(II Cor. 2:14, 15)

"This was June and her life and her works. She was
and IS a sweet fragrance to the Lord. I am both sad
and joyful at her homegoing to be with her Savior.
Sad that we can no longer draw upon her enthusiasm
and her talents to use for the work we have here to
do and yet joyous that she is now with her beloved
Savior (II Cor. 5:8)."

Agape,
Don

Campus Crusade Part 16

2008-10-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

During those years I did do some non-ministry related vacations.
This is taken from my June 1976 prayerletter.

"Recently one of my roommates, Steve Bradshaw and myself
took a week off for vacation and took a trip up the California
coastline. We had a great time, relaxing and unwinding
from our work schedules. We did a little of everything from
sunbathing on the beaches, beachcombing, camping, hiking,
sightseeing and picture taking. I would highly recommend
the trip up the California coast to you as it is very beautiful
we stopped at Heart Castle and spent several days in San
Francisco. In San Francisco we rode on the cable cars,
visited Chinatown and Fisherman's wharf and even took
a boat trip and tour of Alcartez Island (Steve works in a
prison ministry). All in all it was a tremendous week."
As I recall this was probably the first actual vacation that
I had since joining CCC staff.

Steve was a great travel companion. He was quite outgoing
and a good talker and very interested in other people.
Another year Steve and I took a short vacation trip to see
the Grand Canyon which was the first time I had visited
this fantastic natural wonder. Steve soon left Southern
California to start his own prison ministry in in his native
Oklahoma. When Steve left our home situation on
Hampshire many of us were disappointed on one hand
but excited about what the Lord would do through Steve
in the years ahead.

In July of 1976 I again attended the San Diego Comic Con.
This was an escpecially memorable year. One of the major
guests was popular science fiction/fantasy writer Ray Bradbury.
Bradbury had written on othe the modern science fiction
classics called the Martian Chronicles. During the convention
the Viking I Mars lander touched do on the surface of Mars.
This was the first time an Earth vehicle had landed successfully
on this planet. Ray Bradbury was absolutely beside himself and
ecstatic that he was able to witness the fulfillment of his long
time dream of an Earth connection to the Red planet.
This was certainly a historic event comparable to what happened
on July 20, 1969 when Neil Armstrong first set foot on Lunar
soil being the first man on the moon.

Rex Allen Days

2008-10-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

I attended the Rex Allen Days Celebration in Willcox, AZ Oct 4, 2008. I went with two friends
James B and Richard K. Willcox is about a hour and a half drive east of Tucson.

We went to the Parade, visited several museums including the Rex Allen Museum,
attended the Rodeo and had a great dinner at one of the local eateries. We had
a great time. Willcox is the real America.

These photos were taken on Oct 4, 2008 in Willcox, AZ at the Rex Allen Days Parade and
the Rex Allen Rodeo. The first photo is Richard K. (left) and James B. in front of the Rex
Allen statue on Railroad Avenue.

Campus Crusade Part 15

2008-10-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

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.

Campus Crusade Part 14

2008-09-19T15:01:00.000-07:00

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.

Campus Crusade Part 13

2008-09-12T17:21:00.000-07:00

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."

Campus Crusade Part 12

2008-09-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

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.

Campus Crusade Part 11

2008-08-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

One of the major projects I worked on during late 1973
and early 1974 was doing illustrations for a series of training
transparencies of the Transferable Concepts in Mandarin
Chinese. I was able to work with Andrew Ho who was at
that time the director for Mass Media in Asia.

The Transferable Concepts were the basic teaching about
the Spirit Filled Life written by Dr. Bill Bright. These "Concepts"
were the foundational core of Campus Crusade's teaching
about how to successfully live the Christian life. This was
a great project to work on and I showed a number of the
illustrations I did in my January 1974 newsletter.

In October 1973 I returned back to Washington for another visit
with my parents and support team again I had several meetings
in my folks home for my supporters. After I returned to California
I had a new boss, George Sarris who was working in the Radio and
TV department. George had an excellent speaking voice and was
the announcer on Campus Crusade's radio program. Others of
my co-workers at that time were Rich Buhl (directing slide shows),
Tommy Gleaton (mechanical whiz and slide show producer),
Dave Dooney (Radio and Paul Burton (training).

Toward the end of April 1974 my parents came down for a visit and
stay for a week as guests at the Arrowhead Springs hotel. They were
very impressed with Campus Crusade headquarters and I was able
to take them to Disneyland, Knox Berry Farm, the San Diego Zoo
and other Southern Calif. attractions. This was a wonderful trip for
them and I was delighted to introduce them to the people I worked
with and other friends like Don Franklin.

In early 1974 I received help in my area from another staff member
who was working in film production and video taping. This was Crystal
Nicol who had come on staff the previous summer. Crystal was an
extrovert and a lot of fun to work with. She hailed from Redondo Beach,
California with a Lebonese mother and Irish father. She was quite
artistic and between jobs we draw a satiral comic strip of the different
people in the media departments and posted them on the inside of the
front door of the Quonset Hut we worked in. Crystal would later marry
(in 1975) a big Polish-American former college football player and fellow
Campus Crusade staff member named Ski Kazmierski. Later in 1974
Crystal and I were joined by Judy Caudill from Arkansas whose first
staff assignment was working in the transparency area. Judy proved
to be a steady and dependable worker and was a value member of the
growing sub department of the Overhead transparency section.

For two years from October 1972 to October 1974 I lived in the Acacia
household of Andy Jelmert a(mentioned previously) and other housemates
Dick Lewis (worked in the Campus Office) from Phoenix, Arizona;
Russ Daniels (worked in Publications), from Virginia and
Van Wong from Buffalo, New York. I enjoyed the housemate situation
but Andy wanted to give us a chance to experience other living
situations so several of us moved to other places.

Campus Crusade Part 10

2008-08-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

My first year on Campus Crusade staff was an exciting one—
perhaps the most exciting of my CCC tenure. However,
the next year was also filled with many events and exciting activities.

I was given some more responsibilities in the convalescent hospital
ministry and worked for a time with another staff member named
Keith Yates. Dick Berg had married Becky (James) and they
eventually became less involved in the ministry. I also was
involved in the 24 hour prayer chain ministry on the
Arrowhead Springs campus. There was a special room
of the prayer chapel that was dedicated to prayer for many
requests of ministry activities as well as more personal
requests. One of my early prayer prayers was Ron Walburg
who worked in the accounting department. We arrived at
the Prayer chapel at 6 AM Sunday mornings for an hour of
prayer for the various requests. I was involved in this ministry
aspect for most of my time at Arrowhead at various times and
with other partners. Early on we started an Action group system
at Arrowhead that I was a part of. While this was a good idea
Action groups didn't work as well at Arrowhead
as they did on campus.

My work in the Audiovisual Department continued to grow.
I was pretty much out of the tape area and doing transparencies
for the various ministries full time. In January 1973 I went
with two other AV Dept men to explain the merits of using
overhead transparencies to a meeting of CCC Campus staff
at Talbott Seminary. In late June through August I had my
first assistant in the transparency area. She was Molly Houck
from Boyertown, Pennsylvania. "She proved to be a real help
in the very busy time immediately before our All Staff training
at Purdue University in Indiana during July and August."
(from my August 1973 newsletter). Molly left Campus Crusade
a short time later to return home to pay off some debt. The
increase in demand by the teaching staff for overhead
transparencies showed the need for more help in that area.

In late March 1973 I had an operation for which I was
hospitalized for the removal of a pitolanoetal cyst. Some
weeks before I rode in a van that apparently stimulated
and infected the cyst (above the tail bone) so that I had
trouble sitting down without a lot of pain. I was in the
hospital for 5 days and was out of work for a week or so.
As of this writing this has been my only hospital stay
(except for tonsil removal as a small child).

In June 1973 the first annual headquarters staff training
was provided and Dr. Bill Bright, Howard Ball (director
of the Lay Ministry) and other CCC leaders teaching.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee, former pastor of the Church of
the Open Door (in Los Angeles) and popular radio Bible
teacher also taught during that time.

Variety and the wearing of different hats seemed the order
of the day during that time. This is from my August 1973
newsletter, "Also in June I had the opportunity to be present
for the video-taping (then transferred to film) of a new
Andre Kole movie. This film is called "World of the Seance"
and is even better than "World of Illusion", Andre Kole's
first evangelistic film. Andre Kole is a world famous illusionist
who is on the staff of Campus Crusade and speaks to thousands
of people around the world each year about the claims of Christ.
I was able to take slides during and after the taping which
were used at All Staff training in Purdue in July and August."

In early July another staff man, Bob Wanner (from the Marketing Dept)
and I attended a Summer Institute for Scientific Creationism
conducted at El Cajon (just east of San Diego). This was conducted
by the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) and the instructors
were Dr. Duane Gish (Associate director of ICR), Harold Slusher
(Geophysics), Stuart Nevins (Steve Austin-Geology) and Dr. Robert
Franks. I had been interested at least since in the Creation/evolution
debate and this was a real stimulus to that interest. "One day we a
had the film "footprints in Stone" that documents the discovery of
dinosaur tracks and human foot prints found together in the same
strata of rock. Man was supposed to have evolved about 60,000,000
years after the last dinosaur became extinct. These tracks were found
in the Paluxy River in Texas (near Glen Rose). They prove that man
and dinosaur lived at the same time and demolishes the
uniformitarian-evolutionary hypothesis." (from my July 1973
newsletter). Little did I know that years later I would have an
involvement in those very fossil digs. Bob and I returned and
started a short lived creation study group with several other CCC staff.

Campus Crusade Part 9

2008-08-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

The rest of my first year on Campus Crusade staff was
filled with moves, work and a trip home to Washington.
Two volunteer staff in the Film department, John and
Florence Hafner asked another staff man and myself
to house sit for them at their home in Crestline. John
Hafner was an older rather plain spoken gentlemen
who had worked for many years as a film cutter in
Hollywood. He had worked on many of the great films
in Hollywood's Golden years. Crestline is a mountain
community north of Arrowhead Springs and is a
destination for skiers in the winter time. I closed out
my apartment on Fifth Street at the end of March and
moved to the Hafner home and lived there until the
Explo 72 in June. After returning from Explo I found
another one bedroom apartment on F Street (in San
Bernardino).

I lived there for around three months and then received
an invitation from Andy Jelmert to share a house with
he and several other Campus Crusade men in a new
housing development on Acacia Street in northern
San Bernardino. Andy worked as an administrative advisor
(he had taught on the college level) with Steve Douglass
(who was CCC VP and much later Presdent of Campus
Crusade after Bill Bright) and Bruce Cook. The house
sharing arrangement was one that I experience several
times during many Campus Crusade years and after.

As a full time CCC staff member I had my own financial
and prayer support team. The staff members were
encouraged to not only write monthly newsletters
("prayerletters") to their supporters but to plan annual
support maintainence and raising trips back to re-connect
with those supporters. In November 1972 I headed back
to my home in Washington and held 3 meetings with
my supporters at my former home. At these meetings I
showed the "One Way" film which was a summary of what
happened at Explo 72 and presented a slide presentation
of my work at Arrowhead Springs. A couple of months
before I purchased a Single lens reflex camera—
a Yashica TL Electro X and shot slides of my work.
This camera was to sure me well for several decades.
It was a solid work horse of a camera. These meetings
proved to be a very good experience as it allowed my
parents to become involved directly in my work as hosting
the meetings. Before this I don't remember our house as
being used for meetings of any kind.

I also visited with friends like Bob LaRievere, Rick Nelson
and of course Scott Campbell. This was a good time.
It was interesting that this was now my former home.
This was the home I grew up in and loved and still loved
but my life was now elsewhere. Things had changed.

Campus Crusade Part 8

2008-08-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

This time I'm finishing my coverage of the Explo 72 event.
Following Explo were three television specials that covered
some of the Explo meetings that were aired in the last part
of July and the first part of August. This is from my August
1972 newsletter describing the response to the Explo TV specials.

"About one hundred or so of the headquarters staff from all
of the various departments pitched in to help with the flood
of over 115,000 letters that came in. It took us two weeks to
do them all and on the last day nearly the entire Headquarters
staff (250-300) were working on the mail.

It was an enlightening experience just to see how God used
these programs in the lives of tens of thousands of people
across the country. Letters came in from all age groups,
children, teens, college age, young career middle age and
senior citizens all were moved by the powerful presentation
of the gospel on these programs. Many came to know
Christ for the first time, Many Christians were encouraged
as they saw the enthusiasm of the Explo delegates in the
Cotton Bowl and many back sliding Christians were
convicted of their waywardness and came back into full fellowship.

Here are a few examples of the letters we received in response to
the televised specials. One teenage girl from Newport Ricky, Florida
wrote saying that she was not going to watch the Explo specials,
but 'something' prompted her to in spite of herself. When Bill
Bright gave the invitation she received Christ as her personal
Savior and Lord, and now has real peace for the first time in her life.

A young man from Rochester, N.Y. has this to say;
My name is Steven---- and I'm 12 years old and I just received
Christ on one of your Explo 72 [shows] and I am really happy.
All I can give is one dollar, that's all I have in my piggy bank.

Another teenage boy wrote this from Kansas;
Thank you Bill Bright, Billy Graham and all the rest. Last
night I accepted Jesus and I am so happy. I feel better and
why not I've got Jesus and that's all I need. I am enclosing
one dollar I really can't afford it but really after what you
and Jesus did for me I can. I know that with Jesus I can do
better in school, have better friends and feel better.

This came from a 16 year old girl from Quiney, Calif.;
Thank you so much for just being there when you were
needed. I was on the fence not knowing on which side I
should get off. I prayed that God would send some
answers to my many questions. As I was turning the
channel on my TV I stumbled across Explo 72. What
a stumble it was, but thanks to you and Explo 72 and
most of all Jesus Christ I am stumbling no more. I'm
walking straight forward on the road to the gates of heaven.
And as I enter I plan to have all my friends there by my side.
Those who don't know the message of Jesus Christ soon
will, thanks to Explo 72.

Multiple this by the hundreds and thousands and you can
just begin to understand how greatly God used these
programs in the lives of people around the country. Out
of the 1300-1400 (from all 50 states) letters I personally
processed I did not encounter one negative response even
though a few of the other analysts reportedly received an
occasional one. One very encouraging note to me was that
out of all that mail I came across a letter and contribution
for the TV specials from one of you my wonderful supporters.
This is an experience I will treasure in seeing the power of
God working through the medium of Television."

Explo 72 was a once in a life-time experience for me a
wonderful and thrilling time.

Glimpses of 2008 San Diego Con

2008-07-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

(I interrupt my Campus Crusade account with
a more immediate report of my life)

How can on sum up an experience like a modern
Comic Book convention that swells to the size of a
small city over a four day period? How can one
describe the ebb and flow of surging crowds that
are in such a hurry to go--where? The Comic Con
International: San Diego is a cultural phenomenon
that acts both as a barometer of popular culture
and an influence of that culture.

This weekend (July 24-27, 2008) I attended the
39th San Diego Comic-Con. I attended with several
purposes. Most central is my involvement in the
Christian Comic Arts Society. This time we extended
our small press table for the 12th year. We were
flanked on each side by representatives of other
spiritual traditions, Diablo Publishing and Necroscope.
Curious passersby surreptitiously snapped digital
photos of this seemingly odd confluence of soulish
persuasions. Our tracts and other freebies found
ready acceptance and flew off the table. Also our
book sales were much better than last year. Numerous
Christian believers who stopped by were encouraged
by what they saw. Even Superman who claimed to be
a Baptist stopped by for a visit. It was his 70th
anniversary. He didn't look a day over 40.

We also had a CCAS sponsored "Spirituality in Comics"
panel. We make efforts to diversity our panelists and
our move in that different this year was Holly Golightly,
the happy and bright red-haired wiccan, who has written
Sabrina the Teen aged Witch. This panel perhaps covered
familiar territory but it did provide food for thought for
those unaccustomed to thinking in terms of the deeper
nature of popular media.

Saturday CCAS sponsored our first open forum get together
of Christian fans and creators. We didn't know what to
expect but there was a good turn out of mostly young
people (and rightly so) where introductions were made
with a brief summary of CCAS history followed by an
unstructured time of visiting. This could very well become
another CCAS convention tradition.

The next morning we had our traditional Sunday chapel
service. Robert Luedke, writer/artist of the Eye Witness
graphic novel series, gave an excellent devotional that
ended up challenging the audience to make comics,
graphic novels, artwork, costume design, sculpture and
other creative projects for next year's convention. Kevin
Yong video tapped the session as well as the Spirituality
in Comics panel the day before. This was followed by a panel
lead by Leo Partible that discussed trends and happenings
with the Christian comics field. On the panel were Luedke,
Robert Flores, Sergio Cariello, Clint Johnson and Jerrell
Conner. This was likewise a very good panel with the
participants grappling with issues of how to do comics
from the heart of a Christian believer.

As with all conventions the four days slipped away into
the files of memory and lots of good and not so good
digital photos. Overall this was a very encouraging
experience for everyone.

(This is my short convention report--a longer one
should follow in the not too distance future.)