Outreach Efforts
Dave Sable: In about 1982 or so I remember being a part of a campus meeting at the House of Prayer where Tim shared this vision about a publication for the campus to be called "The Pilgrim Journal." He selected (though I think it was pre-arranged) Wendy Wisley (Hinman) to be the editor. It printed such things as the Assembly views on dating, Christmas, etc.
[Re. Ebenezer Fellowships] I am thinking the first Memorial Day thing was also 1982 or 1983 at Carbon Canyon Park. It had very funny skits including Don Mader, Mike Miller and Randy Sutton doing "Ringo" to a Louie Lamour book. The next year it was at Craig park in Fullerton (by the Iron's house). It also had some very funny skits. I remember one year the Iron's house did something about witnessing. By the time I proposed to my wife (evening after the picnic) in 1985, the skits were banned. I think they got a little too close to home. (Such as Diane Miller or someone making a brother scrub the driveway with a toothbrush for buying pitted cherries instead of the unpitted ones - or something like that).
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Tom Maddux: Re. "Dayspring": Around 1976 I wanted to start a small evangelistic paper to hand out on the Pierce College and CSUN campuses. I mentioned it in the Worker's meeting, and Tim Geftakys was enthusiastic about the idea. Tim convened a meeting of interested folks on a Sunday afternoon at the baseball diamond in the park just south of the 91 freeway in Anaheim.
At the meeting it became evident that Tim had not bought into my idea, but rather had taken my idea for the paper and expanded it into a much more involved plan to produce a major campus paper. Since I had realized that no one was going to get behind my idea, but that they would actually print Tim's paper, I went along.
The first, (and only), issue, called "The Daystar", consisted of an article I wrote about school prayer being banned on college campuses along with my tract "None Like Him". [Ed: Also Mark Wheel's testimony]. I think Rand Bates did the art and layout work. It turned out to be about what I had hoped for, with one exception. The exception was that no one wanted to do the hard work of writing for and producing the paper. In addition, I couldn't even get a commitment that the printing ministry would do the printing. The one issue was handed out on a number of campuses though.
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Tom Maddux: Regarding GG's mission statement for the proposed 'Torch and Testimony' magazine, he called it "The Acts of the Apostles". Once when the Worker's meeting was still at GG's house, during the time when the Torch and Testimony was being planned, GG told us that he had had a dream in which an aged man was holding out a book to him that said, "The Atlas of the Apostles". I commented that an atlas is a book of maps. His reply was that an atlas is also a record of people's actions. Poor dumb me. I was operating under the ridiculous belief that reality is what it is, instead of the being what the Great Man says it is.
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Dave Mauldin re. the Pilgrim Journal: At the time I read the Pilgrim Journal it reminded me of a poor copy of Keith Green's monthly booklet, I can't remember the name.
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Joe Sperling re. puppet ministry: I'm not positive, but the "puppet ministry" may have been started by Glenn Strome from the Valley. He and his wife joined the Assembly in 1978/1979 time frame out in the Valley and eventually lived with Tom Maddux in the brother's house. Glenn was very much into puppets for some reason, and I helped him to make several of them which were used to entertain the children (I believe this was during lunch time--but don't remember really well). Glenn was only involved with Assembly for a short time as I remember, so his name may not ring any bells. Of course, there was a much larger "puppet ministry" going on at the same time in the Assembly itself--there were about 300 puppets in Fullerton.
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Dave Sable: I remember a Sunday when Tim gave his famous "the anchors of the faith are like four legs on a desk" sermon officially initiating Anchor groups. George got up and proclaimed what a wonderful talk it was and how he loved the illustration about the annoying school desk where one leg always was shorter than the rest. He then announced Tim being a leading brother and in the work full time. Steve Irons then got up and shared a verse about Paul calling "Timothy whose father was a Greek" (we all thought that was a funny connection). I remember it being early enough in my process that I really didn't fully grasp what it all meant.
I would have to guess Tim G in the full time work was around 1978-1979 because it happened not long after I started coming consistently. My first seminar was the Wars of David in September, 1978. Then, In the Heavenlies in January, 1979.
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February,1998- There were 65 Workers in Nigeria who met regularly and also held an annual Workers' Seminar in July. The January 1998 "Believers' Prayer Letter" reports:
Many of these brethren travel among the Assemblies for itinerant ministry to build up the Lord's people in their faith. Samuel and other brethren also hold evangelistic meetings in new villages....They also travel with a movie projector that they use to show Christian films, which often results in souls coming to Christ. In the middle of the movie they stop and preach the gospel. This is very effective since the people want to see how the movie ends and thus remain to hear the gospel message."
