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always stressed the importance of
learning how to live (not just how to
earn a living), every student at the
college was required to take courses
in family and marital relations- all
taught from a biblical perspective.
A speaking club as well as classes in
public speaking helped prepare the
men for the pulpit.
As
they studied in college and
participated in the work of the
Church, the students were also eval–
uated asto their potential to be used
by God in the ministry. If a young
roan was dedicated, had a good
knowledge of the Bible and showed
potential as a public speaker, he was
often sent out to assist a pastor in an
established church in the summer
after his junior year . Then, after one
more year of college training, he
was sent out to serve God's people
full time. Once it was established
that God was calling him to the
ministry and that he had met all
bíblica! standards for the ministry
(as laid down in I Timothy 3 and
Titus 3), he was ordained an elder.
A brief survey of the Church's
growth will show how explosive its
development has been since the es–
tablishment of the college. The orig–
inal congregation was established in
1933. A second congregation was
formed in Portland, Oregon, in
1938. The third church began with
the creation of the colJege in Pasa–
dena, California, in 1947.
By the time the first students gradu–
ated, the backlog of visit and baptism
requests from across America num–
bered in the hundreds. Newly or–
dained ministers conducted month–
long " baptizing tours" across the
country in a marathon effort to catch
up. Soon the first church east of the
Rocky Mountains was established in
the east Texas community of Big
Sandyat the center ofa concentration
of members and suppor ters. (Big
Sandy later became the site ofone of
three Ambassador College caro–
puses.)
Seven additional pastorales were
established in the next seven years.
Then in 1956 nine churches were
started in one year alone. In the
14
next ten years 133 new churches
were started. And since 1970 an av–
erage of 39 new churches has been
establ ished every year!
In
the early years, with so many
new pastorales being created in so
many widely scattered areas, it was
often necessary for one roan and bis
wife (and occasionally an assistant)
to care for two or three congrega–
tions in cities hundreds of miles
apart. One such early circui t in–
volved preaching to the St. Louis
church on Friday night, taking the
midnight train to Chicago, deliv–
ering a sermon there Saturday
morning, and then rushing off to
Milwaukee to preach in that city the
same afternoon. Although such gru–
eling tests of physical endurance be–
carne less common as more
ministers were ordained, to this day
the responsibilities of sorne of the
ministers of the Church resemble
those of the early frontier circuit
preachers.
For example, the Worldwide
Church of God in Champaign, Illi–
nois, has a weekly attendance of
around 250 people (about average
in the United States). But these 250
people are scattered over a thirteen
county arca covering roughly 10,000
square miles. This seems small when
coropared to the parish of a minister
in Australia who was formerly re–
sponsible for four churches within
an area stretching 1100 miles along
the eastern coast and five hundred
miles inland.
The theoretical "average" minis–
ter drives an estimated 2700 miles a
month.
It
is still very common for a
Worldwide Church ofGod pastor to
deliver two sermons on a Sabbath in
churches that are anywhere from 60
to 200 miles apart.
Beekeeplng to Boatbulldlng
W
hat kind of roen are
he 680-plus ministers
f th e Worldwi de
urch of God? Where
have they come from? What kind of
activities do they enjoy? Like the roen
Jesus Christ chose in
His
day, these
dedicated servants were called out of
many different walks of life, many
in mid-career. A good many of the
Churcb pastors and their associates
enrolled in Ambassador College as
either high school graduates or as
transfer students from other aca–
demic institutions. But a very siz–
able percentage (approximately 40
percent) carne to Ambassador from
other backgrounds. Represented in
tbis group is a contingent from the
military, including not only the
Armed Forces of the United States,
but also the British Army, the Royal
Navy, the R.A.F., the West German
Army and the Army of New Zea–
land. There are former combat sol–
diers, two submariners, a missile–
launch officer, Air Force tech–
nicians, and a sprinkling of West
Point and Annapolis graduates.
Besides these, there is a former
petroleum engineer, a high school
teacher, a songwriter, a meteor–
ologist, a welder, an accountant , a
forester for the State of ldaho, a
coal miner from England, and even
a sheep-station owner from the out–
back ofAustralia.
Over fifty roen had previous de–
grees ranging fr om B.A .'s to
M.B.A.'s and even M.D.'s prior to
coming to Ambassador.
Since many of the early publish–
ing and media efforts of the Church
were concentrated in North Amer–
ica, most ministers are U.S. citizens.
But there are also Germans, Cana–
dians, Scots, Irish, English, French,
South Africans, Burmese, Indians,
Filipinos, Latín Americans, Austra–
lians and New Zealanders.
On a recent questionnaire con–
cerning their interests in sports and
hobbies, almost every roinister lis ted
at least one of the following: fishing,
hunting, camping, golf, basketball ,
gardening or scuba diving. A sizable
portion are prívate or commercially
rated pilots, and at least one is a
certified fiight instructor. Reading
preferences range from journals in
business, psychology and sociology
to current events publications and
biographies of great persons.
Sorne are amateur radio oper-
The
PLAIN TRUTH June/ July 1978