Not sure how I discovered the game, but I quickly became hooked. The game’s creator, Ethan Allen, was a former major leaguer who became the head baseball coach at Yale University for many years. He was George H. W. Bush’s (the future president) baseball coach at Yale and was a respected teacher of the game.  ASB used real players and real statistics and produced very realistic results.

The game consisted of a mock ball diamond, a spinner, and a series of round disks representing individual major league players. A current website (https://baseballgames.dreamhosters.com/CadacoASB.htm) explains how the game worked: “The disks, with a die-cut rectangular center hole, punched out, were placed over a small cardboard block mounted on the game-board, a spinner spun over it, and the wedge number — 1 through 14 — at which the spinner stopped indicated the result of each at-bat.” The spinner would land on a number indicating a walk, single, double triple, home run — or an out via strikeout, ground out, or fly out.

The number “one” indicated a home run. A home run hitter like Mickey Mantle would have a much larger slot for a homer than speedster Richie Ashburn. Mantle was the all-star centerfielder for the Yankees in 1952, and Ashburn was the all-star centerfielder for the Phillies, my favorite player at that time. Ashburn was not a power hitter, so his home run slot was slim, but his singles and doubles were large because he was a consistent hitter who beat out bunts and stretched singles into doubles. I was captivated by the accuracy and realism of the statistical results.

My neighbor Steve joined my excitement, and we organized so that each of us conducted a 50+ game schedule with two separate leagues. Then we had a world series of our own at the end of our season. We had a great time keeping all of the statistics just like we read in the sports pages of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. But this was our league, and to us, it was not fantasy — it was real.

Butch and Pat weren’t too interested in my game adventure, but they agreed to go if we could stop at the magic shop on Randolph Street, a few steps west of State Street. I can’t believe my mother allowed me as a 13-year-old kid to go with two friends downtown Chicago via the Elevated/Subway train. We had a ball on the “L” — running back and forth between cars and acting like typical jerks. Then they introduced me to The Treasure Chest that I’ve recently learned was owned by a famous Chicago magician who hosted a local TV magic show. We had a great time traipsing up and down the Chicago streets, exploring The Treasure Chest and running the stairways of the Merchandise Mart. Those were truly different days.

I’ve not been a big game person the rest of my life but was enticed by Connie about three years ago to join the monthly Mexican Train Tournament conducted here in Maranatha Village. This event draws around 100 or more every month to play in six-person table configurations of this challenging and competitive game. Some strategy and thinking are required — which I like — but lots of luck is needed. I am amazed that we have a handful of octogenarians, and beyond, that are so sharp and have so much luck. Several of these ladies win over and over. We’ve dragged our kids into Mexican Train, and the granddaughters were overjoyed this Christmas to get their own set.

But we are also still adventuring. The Lord has allowed Connie and me to travel extensively in ministry for many years. During those trips, we continued to explore new places and new experiences. And we are still doing it today as we have launched out over the past seven years to explore the adventures of Florida. This coming summer Connie and I are praying about a new adventure…stay tuned.

I’m not sure why they accepted my youthful decision, which I admit was partly motivated by taking the easy road. I was always the guy that wanted to figure out the easier way to do something. That just made sense to me. So I elected to take three courses that would be academically less demanding – and they have made my life so much more productive. God was gracious in guiding an immature kid to make decisions that would have a profound effect for good on my learning and subsequently on my life serving the Lord.

Second, I took Spanish. Again, I don’t remember the precise reason. Perhaps the other choice before me was Latin, and I thought Spanish would be easier. Or, maybe the options included an English literature class with Mrs. Rule that I would avoid at any cost. Not sure, but I learned to understand English grammar much better by studying Spanish. But most importantly, my brief excursion into Spanish prepared me for later studies in Greek and Hebrew during my post-graduate studies in seminary.

Finally, I chose a semester of Journalism as an English credit. That was my most significant decision – and I can’t take credit for the life-shaping impact that single semester experience has had on my life and ministry. Today it is evident that God’s grace was setting me on a course to prepare me for tasks in the years to come.

In that class, I was exposed to all the facets of newspaper writing and production. A domineering lady was the teacher and served as the sponsor for The Lindblom Leader, the school’s large eight-page broadsheet newspaper. She assigned students in her class to write articles for The Leader and called us reporters. Then she recruited, or appointed, individuals (usually her pets) to become the editorial leaders for the next year – as Seniors.

I was quite pleased when she chose me to be the Front Page News Editor. That meant I could direct the reporters, design layout, create headlines, and run everything about the first page of the paper.

This went along smoothly at first, and then our overbearing advisor changed from being flattering to controlling. I would later learn this was her method of operation every year. She would recruit with sweetness, and then she would change to become dictatorial and controlling. She wanted the editors to spend all their time in her newspaper office under her fiefdom. But some of us had another life too.

At first, I humored her, but then started to realize she was grooming me to be the Editor-in-Chief for my final semester. I determined I could put up with the aggravation, but balked when she wanted to dictate who would take my place as News Editor.

Ultimately she told me that she was making the decisions and that was that. I said, fine, but then she didn’t need me and I resigned. That was it. I never went back and my career with The Leader was over. My relationship with the rest of the staff was not harmed; they were glad that finally, someone stood up to her.

Years later at our 50th Class Reunion, I had the opportunity to talk with the female classmate who wound up taking the Editor-in-Chief position. She said the sponsor was still her old self for that last semester, but my stand helped the staff to gain a little more respect from the old gal. But I have to take my hat off to that teacher. She taught me the basics of writing news stories and “putting the paper to bed” in the parlance of old newspaper layout jargon.

In all of my ministry positions, it has been my responsibility to lead or contribute to organizational publications. During my time with AACS I edited four different publications. Now with the wonders of technology, I write copy and within minutes have it whisked away electronically to spread information around the world in literally seconds. And that makes my job easier – just like I worked so hard at so many years ago. 

Prior to the Second World War private education was generally associated with Catholic and Lutheran religious schools that were known as parochial schools.  There was a small group of Christian schools serving the Reformed denominations, and then an even smaller smattering of independent Christian schools. I believe the current Christian school movement received its impetus in the early 1970s spurred by the development of the curriculum publishers A Beka Books and Accelerated Christian Education. From that time Christian schools, and ministries to support Christian education, grew dramatically.

Connie and I served in and around the Christian school movement for 40 years. Initially Connie taught at all levels from kindergarten to high school and then at the college level. Then she joined me in administrating a national Christian school organization, two Christian colleges, and finally we served side-by-side in a Bible curriculum publishing ministry. In that final ministry we traveled to teacher’s convention and interacted with Christian school teachers and administrators. Ultimately we also exhibited at home-school conferences and interacted with several thousand home-school parents. In all of these years one could say that we saw the good and the not-so-good aspects of Christian Education and the Christian school movement.

Unfortunately not every school that opened during the boom years was an adequately conceived and supported educational institution. Many schools operated in less than ideal facilities, and were underfunded and understaffed. Still, we can attest to the fact that we’ve met thousands of bright, resourceful and dedicated servants of the Lord who labored in Christian education. And we know countless adults today who are products of Christian schools and home-school education who are very productive and impressive members of society.

During the presidency of Ronald Regan I served on the U.S. Department of Education’s Exemplary Private School Recognition Project committee for four years. This group of educational leaders represented all facets of the private school universe at that time. We reviewed dozens of school nominations and then voted to reward the most “exemplary” schools each year for their effort.

During that experience our entire group of participants learned some important things about effective schools. The most notable schools were not marked by financial prowess, or magnificent facilities, or faculties with distinguished intellectual accomplishments. Instead, in every case there was a head of the school who was a respected, caring, and strong leader in the institution. Faculty members were enthusiastic teachers who relished the focus and commitment of their leader, and poured themselves into their student’s lives. This was true in financially deprived urban schools or in well endowed suburban institutions. People made the difference. Leadership was essential, and caring instructors followed their leader in impacting students in the classrooms.  

Early in the 1980s I began to give a convention workshop that addressed the three greatest challenges that confronted the Christian school movement at that time. I said they were:

• The challenge of governmental interference that was an ever-present reality facing Christian schools in the early days of the movement.
• The challenge of demonstrating educational legitimacy and ultimately proving academic competency by student outcomes.
• The final challenge mentioned in that workshop remains a persistent struggle for the movement today.  That challenge is the mission to produce godly young people, who are the products of the Christian school movement. 

Even though great strides have been accomplished in securing legitimacy and liberty the spiritual battle has not yet been won; the task has not been finished.  Perhaps because our battle with sin will never be completed until Christ returns.  Perhaps it is because we have not placed as much emphasis upon the spiritual dimension as we have upon the educational program.   Perhaps it is because ungodly societal influences have become more powerful and pervasive.  Nevertheless, this is still our greatest challenge in our schools, churches and homes.

In 1986, the late Alan Peshkin, a professor of comparative education from the University of Illinois, wrote a book entitled God’s Choice: The Total World of a Fundamentalist Christian School.  I participated extensively with Dr. Peshkin during his research and became a personal friend. He was a renowned ethnographer who wrote penetrating studies about varied educational experiences all over the world based on extensive fieldwork.

Alan spent many hours in Connie’s classroom, as well as those of other teachers in the school. He told me that the level of education was excellent, and he was deeply impacted by the commitment and convictions of the faculty, staff, and students. Being a secular Jew, he was troubled by the evangelistic commitment of Bible believing Christians, but he did not doubt the sincerity of everyone involved. Perhaps his most penetrating analysis was his comment that the Christian school’s “total institution is imperfectly total, perhaps inevitably so, because unlike the Amish, its adherents live mainly within the world it rejects.” That was an astute observation, but I would disagree with his use of the word “rejects.” As believers we do not reject the world – but we are called to minister in the world. The Christian school may be an imperfect world, and it is, but the ministry of impacting lives for time and eternity is a blessed privilege.

Recently, in our retirement community, Connie and I attended the memorial service for one of our residents, who had been a shut-in since we came to Maranatha Village. We knew her only from Facebook posts and some email interaction. But at the service where her life and service for the Lord was celebrated, we learned that she had been a classroom teacher in two Christian schools for 39 years. It became apparent early in the service, from the testimonies of her family members, that Linda Bond had touched hundreds of lives. Her legacy was that of a “life well lived” in pouring herself into students. That testimony has been repeated over and over in the hundreds and hundreds of classrooms in Christian schools over the years. That is the blessing of Christian Education.

After reviewing records of the Exemplary Private School Recognition Project, I discovered that Linda Bond’s school, Arlington Baptist High School, was listed as one of the recognized schools among the 1984-85 recipients. That was the first year of the project and Arlington would have been presented their recognition certificate by then Secretary of Education William Bennett. Linda taught Spanish for 25 years at Arlington Baptist.

I experienced twelve wonderful years of pastoral ministry during my time as a youth pastor and as a very young senior pastor. People asked me was it a difficult decision to leave the pastorate in St. Paul to take a position with the American Association of Christian Schools in 1978. I always responded that I never made a decision to leave the church; instead God just led me along.

Let me explain. In the mid 1970s I challenged the people of Faith to consider establishing a Christian school in our church facilities. We studied, planned, and prayed as a church; and then took a secret ballot vote that was 100% for launching the school. To seek guidance and mutual protection we aligned with the fledgling baby organization of the Minnesota Association of Christian Schools.

I’ve described in an earlier post entitled  Political Grace how the Lord thrust me into the political arena as an unschooled legislative liaison for MACS. And how, by His grace, I developed a deep personal relationship with two politicians who were bold believers and witnesses for Christ in the Minnesota legislature. I crammed an informal post-graduate course in government relations and religious liberty into two years.

At the time AACS had about 600 member schools scattered around the country that were mostly attached to 17 autonomous state organizations. However, AACS’ service and communication to the schools and state organizations was limited and undeveloped at that point. Folks were paying dues and feeling like they weren’t getting much for their money. My task was to get on the stick — and serve the state associations and schools. A new friend, Jerry Tetreau, said at the time: “Yesterday would be soon enough.”

Over the ten years we served with AACS I traveled to most every state and several Canadian Provinces promoting, organizing, communicating, and building relationships with people. I loved it! During that time I met hundreds of dedicated, talented, and godly servants of Christ in the Christian school movement. According to my records I took 280 trips and traveled about 325,000 miles by air and car. When we left AACS in 1988 there were over 1,600 member schools and 40 state associations. It was an exciting time and regularly I fielded questions from secular news reporters about the dynamic growth of Christian education.

Little did I know that on one of my first trips I would meet Charles Walker, the guy who made the Tennessee Association tick, and he would become our daughter Kristy’s father-in-law many years later. Connie and I sit in our Florida Room every morning in Maranatha Village and marvel how yielding to God’s leading in the 70s landed us in our present home and place of ministry. We are still able to serve and follow the Lord on our Grace Journey.

In my next installment of Grace Journey I will write about some of the triumphs and trials, blessings and burdens of the Christian School movement.

Here is a link to an audio recording of George Mensik preaching and giving his testimony. You will find this personal account to be the harsh truth about George’s sinful life, and then the glorious change that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ brought to his life.

This is the final installment of the “A Gangster for Christ” episodes. I encourage folks who knew George Mensik, or heard him speak, or know of results from his ministry, to post comments and any information you have about this remarkable man.

On the day we moved in 1954 into the parsonage on Chicago’s south side, I remember being taken to the Gossage Grill at 63^rd and Kedzie that was owned by church deacon Cecil Gossage. I think it was George Mensik that took me that day to pick up a bag of hamburgers for our family. Maybe it was another man…because at Marquette Manor Baptist Church there were several dozen faithful men who were always ready to serve. But George Mensik, former gangster, was a key personality in that band of godly brothers who possessed an unwavering passion for lost souls, and he instantly became a strong friend of our family. George was known as our “preachin’ deacon” during my dad’s short three year ministry at Marquette.

I learned just this week from Jim McCarty, a fellow Boys Brigade club member of that era, that George Mensik frequently hung out at Gossage Grill when he was not out preaching. As I remember, George and Elsie Mensik lived just around the corner and down the block from the little lunch-counter restaurant where Cecil doled out his famous chili, delicious grilled hamburgers, and a steady dose of the gospel to customers who would line up three-deep to be fed. I know that Cecil and George were ardent witnesses for Christ who unashamedly shared their faith constantly. And I can imagine that George shared his testimony with many a patron in that shop.

Gossage Grill was a gospel factory. Almost weekly Cecil was bringing a recent convert to church that he had led to the Lord; or he was shepherding some down-on-his-luck soul he was witnessing to at the time. Cecil thrived on that kind of stuff. So did George Mensik. These men would regularly go with a group of Marquette men to preach and witness at the downtown Chicago rescue missions, including the famed Pacific Garden Mission. By the time I arrived on the scene, as a 13 year old, these laymen were well established in their ministry practice, and I was challenged and inspired by them all.

When my dad was taken to heaven three years later in a plane crash it was the men of the church who really stepped up to encourage and guide me in my Christian walk. George Mensik was especially significant in that ministry of mentoring me.

If you query the archives of Newspapers.com you will find literally dozens of articles published during the 50s and 60s in small town and city newspapers that announce the preaching of George Mensik in local churches. He traveled all over holding evangelistic meetings and getting into to local prisons wherever he could. But getting into the ministry was not an easy proposition for George.

I remember him a number of times saying from the pulpit, “Most preachers get their sermons with points 1, 2 and 3, but I get my sermons like a ball of string and then I try to unravel it. Amen?” George had no formal Bible training, and no college education. He was a graduate of many jails and prisons – and the school of hard knocks. His language and Chicago accent was smothered in street lingo and colorful gangland expressions. But his compassion was glowing and apparent. He would say with a tear in his voice, “Every time they threw me in jail they would say, ‘we’re going to make you a better man.’ But praise God when he saved me he made me a new man. Amen?”

While I was still in high school I remember being in a conversation with him when he told me how difficult it was for the church members at Marquette Manor to accept him for several years after he was saved. He very honestly expressed that he could not blame them. He knew that it was a great risk for the congregation to take him into their midst knowing that past gang members and various temptations existed right there in their neighborhood that was home turf for the mob organization. He said that he realized that he had to live the life of a true Christian to be accepted and trusted.

By the time I met him he had been saved for over fifteen years and the grace of God was powerfully evident in his life. He had also developed a burden for men serving time in prison – and especially for those awaiting execution. I heard him on a number of occasions talk about prisoners who he led to saving faith in Christ and then walked with them to the electric chair. All of this led him to acquire a deep concern for the families of the inmates that he met and ministered to all over the country.

When I was in seminary George came to Minneapolis to preach, and took Connie and me to a restaurant for lunch. After eating we walked to the cash register. He opened his wallet and fanned out seven $100 bills and said to the waitress, “Do ya tink dat will cover da bill?” I said to him, “George, you shouldn’t be carrying around a big wad of money like that! Somebody could rob you.” He looked up to me from his stout and rotund body, squinted and spat out, “Let ‘em try!”

He then went on to tell me that he had to carry lots of cash so that he could help the families of prisoners that he visited. He said, “You can’t buy groceries for needy kids out there on the road with a checkbook, or plastic. If they have a need you have to have cash.” No one but the Lord knows how many families he helped. He carried 3×5 note cards in his shirt pocket that described the stories of families of prisoners that he fed, clothed, and led to Christ. After reading a short testimony from a card, he would lift his face to the congregation and say, “That’s my paycheck! Amen?” And then he would read another, and an another, and…every time adding, “Amen, brother, amen?”

He would say with a twinkle in his eye, “Da doc told me to watch my weight,” and then he would pat his considerable girth and growl, “I do. I keep it right where I can see it.” He carried all of the swagger and confidence of his underworld background and experience. Once early in my pastoral ministry I was with him, and a number of other preachers, at a famous huge south side Chicago restaurant. As we were walking across that enormous dining room I heard the buzz of chatter from surrounding diners. They thought George was “hizzoner” Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. As they say in the south, “he did favor” the famous Mayor Daley in appearance. I think George knew exactly what was going on and gave a little wink to loyal voters.

      

George Mensik went on to become an evangelist for the famous Pacific Garden Mission, and then became the very first missionary appointed by the Baptist World Mission.

God was working on George Mensik. One day early in the year of 1937 he told his wife and little girl that he would go to church with them. They had not attended church since they became Christians and did not know just where to go. The radio provided their “church.” So a letter was written to the office of the Christian Business Men’s Committee asking for a suggestion as to what church they might attend. Instead of a letter, the Mensik’s received a visit from E.G. Zorn, at that time executive secretary of the committee. Then he learned the story. He then recommended the Marquette Manor Baptist Church, not only because it was close by, but because it also stood for genuine Christianity.

That is why on the morning of February 28, 1937, Mr. and Mrs. George Mensik and the daughter walked in the church. Rev. M.A. McCone was preaching during special services. Back home at the dinner table, George looked at his wife. “Did you ever tell that preacher anything about me?” he asked. She never had seen or known the evangelist before. Her husband was curious. The preacher seemed to talk about him all during the sermon. George decided he would go back that afternoon to check up. Again the message seemed for him alone. Mensik left the services deeply stirred.

At the door Pastor E.O. Odegard grasped his hand very warmly. He asked Mensik if he were a Christian. George assured him that his wife and daughter were Christians. Mr. Odegard saw at once that he had a real opportunity to present Christ and pressed his advantage. He then invited Mensik downstairs to a quiet room where they might talk man to man. Before they left the room another sinner had turned to the Savior.

The announcement at home struck joy to the hearts of his family. Now the three could be united in fellowship and prayer. But George knew only how to make his living with his wits. At that moment he was a card dealer in one of Danny Stanton’s gambling joints, and for two and a half months afterward he worked steadily at his job. Then, one afternoon God spoke to him: “What are you doing here?” George stopped, realizing for the first time that as a Christian he had not business in such a place. He shoved the cards across the table to the boss and said he was through.

The first job George landed was as a night watchman with a mail order house. Several months later he was told he would have to carry a gun. That meant obtaining a permit from the detective bureau. Apprehensive of what might happen next, George went with a company official to the bureau where he was listed under his right name and several aliases. In a few minutes his record was dug up. It was bad. There would be no permit. The mail order official was rather sympathetic but told George that, of course, the job was off until he could clear up his record.

Back home he sat down and wrote a letter to Chief of Detectives Allman, acknowledging his past life, but recounting his conversion and asking if the chief wouldn’t intervene on his behalf. He needed an honest job. That night George took the letter to prayer meeting and the entire group went to its knees.

A few days later a reply came from Chief Allman. Mr. Mensik was to return to the Detective Bureau and renew his application. He asked for Christian business men to accompany him as character witnesses. There, before his amazed eyes, the bureau officials not only granted him the desired permit, but removed his finger prints and photographs from the crime files, and destroyed them.

Mr. Mensik heard about the Fisherman’s Club in Cicero and began to attend Saturday afternoon meetings. He was thrilled with the testimonies of twice-born men, some of whom were saved from lives of deep crime. Their fellowship gave him courage and zeal to win others. He applied for membership and found that the application form had a “catch” in it for him. No smoker could be allowed as a member! George was a heavy smoker, chiefly of marijuana. The form stayed in this pocket for six months. One Sunday evening as he stood outside the church he decided on the basis of Philippians 4:13 that he could get along without smokes. He destroyed all he had.

Today this man is greatly used of God to point other men and women to his Savior. Frequently he is invited by churches in other cities to spend a week-end there, testifying for Christ. He has witnessed in a great many rescue missions, hospitals, jails. For four and a half years he has been employed by a steel company in the Chicago area.

His employers permit Mr. Mensik to carry on his Gospel work in whatsoever way he desires. Once a week at two company plants he holds a shop meeting. The company pays for all the supplies for a tract rack maintained in the plant, and they have provided him with $150.00 to spend for soldiers’ Bibles. Every afternoon a prayer meeting is held by 17 plant Christians, some of whom are Mr. Mensik’s converts. George Mensik is a living demonstration of the power of God in the life of a man saved from sin.

This account was published originally in “Power” magazine in August of 1944. That publication was produced and distributed by The Scripture Press of Chicago. Today Scripture Press is owned by David C. Cook of Colorado Springs, CO. The story was also reprinted in the book, “I Was Born Again” in 1947. That book was a collection of “Conversion Stories” compiled by Norman Wingert, and published by E.V. Publishing House of Nappanee, IN.