Tag Al Baird

The good deeds have always been there, but they were far more visible across the U.S. on October 1 than on any other day so far in the short fifteen year history of God’s modern-day movement.

It is absolutely amazing that a few ignorant fishermen could spread a revolution around the world. Only God can do things like that.

Things are not always what they appear to be. Just a few seconds were left in an important high school football game that would determine the final state championship playoff spot. The favored team was ahead by two points and they had the ball on the opponent’s 40-yard line. To win, all they had to do was fall on the ball and let the clock run out. But the coach sent in a play that so totally rattled his team in the huddle that they were called for a delay-of-game penalty. Although confused and perplexed, the team ran the play that the coach had called: the quarterback handed the ball to the tailback, who then ran 55 yards in the WRONG direction – into his own end zone! A sure victory had now turned into a tie game because of the two-point safety. What a crazy coach! That is what everyone in the stands and on the field thought. But remember, things are not always what they appear to be. The coach knew exactly what he was doing. You see, because of the way the season had gone, his team had to defeat their opponents in this final game by at least four points. With only seconds left in the game and ahead by only two points, his team would have had to score on just one final play when they were 40 yards from the goal line – nearly impossible. He knew that by his causing the game to be tied with the safety, his team would have a much better chance to win in overtime. And they did! They won by six points and went on to the state championship playoffs.

This is the last issue of LA Story. I type that sentence with a real sense of sadness, because we are closing a chapter that has lasted eight wonderful years. Closing down LA Story is like saying good-bye to a dear friend. We started with a staff of just two in January 1994. I was the Editor, and Maryann Rose was the Associate Editor. That was it. We knew very little about publishing a news magazine that would chronicle God’s accomplishments in Los Angeles and around the world. It didn’t take long for us to enlist more help: we were soon joined by Emily Bringardner as our Art Director and Roger Lamb as Managing Editor. Along the way, we picked up Robin Fawcett, Lisa Holman, Janet Dixon, Marcia Lamb and Declan Joyce. In addition, Michelle Tinti, Lance Tracy and Bart Moyers have been very helpful at different times. When we began, the LA Church had 3,300 members and the worldwide membership was 47,000 – each about one-third of what they are today. The movement was in just 53 nations, but now 170 nations have disciples worshiping in them. God has done amazing things in just eight years!

Sitting across from a network TV reporter who is doing a negative story on the church is about my least favorite thing in life. He or she is armed with questions carefully crafted to entrap me, magnifying every word and facial expression with video cameras. Almost every interview is the same, full of the “when did you stop beating your wife?”-type questions. An hour-long interview is normally edited down to a couple of minutes of the most damaging-sounding Religious freedom is a great blessing, but most of us who have it take it for granted. comments they can piece together – often out of context. After one interview for a national program, I asked the producer why he focused on the comments of a negative few rather than on the many marriages that have been rescued by the church, the almost non-existent divorce rate, our many projects to help the poor, or our racial diversity. His answer still rings in my ears: “Churches are supposed to do good things and that is not news that people will watch!”