In January of 1984, Bud Weniger let me know he was taking the presidency of Maranatha Baptist Bible College. I instinctively knew our family would need to move to the Washington D.C. area so that I could fulfill the next step in the ministry where God had placed me. Our home in 1984, and the office for the American Association of Christian Schools, was in Normal, Illinois, where Bud was my boss at AACS, but more importantly pastor of Calvary Baptist Church.

It was not practical to keep the office in Normal long term because I would continue to work under Bud after he moved to Wisconsin. AACS needed to either move to Watertown, Wisconsin, or to the area of the nation’s capital where a good bit of my work activity was focused. I realized right away that the D.C. area was the only logical choice. Thus began a year and a half journey to Northern Virginia.

My responsibilities with AACS, as Executive Director, required me to travel extensively. Within a few months of this turn of events, I was appointed to the Exemplary Private School Recognition Project committee by Chuck O’Malley, Executive Assistant to the Secretary of Education for Private Education. That appointment increased my travel to Washington to once a month over the next year. At the same time, I still traveled all over the USA and Canada on behalf of Christian education. It simply made sense to relocate the AACS office to the DC area and to move our family there so that I would be home more often. That was the plan.

By the summer plans were beginning to take shape and so we took a family vacation to the Washington area to introduce our kids to the beauty and historical significance of our nation’s capital. We also intended to begin house hunting.

That trip was memorable. First, because we followed the advice of a colleague to book lodging in a short-term apartment complex for a week that turned out to be a mini-nightmare, but we survived. Second, we met our valued real estate agent, Ken McKeehan. Kenny owned White House Real Estate Company and was extremely knowledgeable and well connected in the Northern Virginia housing market. He was also a wonderful Christian and member of the church that became our home church, and he became a dear friend.

On one Sunday afternoon, Kenny gave us a tour of possible homes and quickly steered us to the Pleasant Valley subdivision in western Fairfax County, just south of Dulles Airport. It was there we found a split-level model home that led us to say, “Yes, that will meet our needs nicely.” In December of 1984, we signed a contract to have a new home built. Even though in January the price jumped by $10,000, we had a locked-in contact at the original price. God’s grace led us and we moved in by late June of 1985 right after Kristy graduated from high school. It was a whirlwind.

It was through Kenny that we were introduced to his neighbor and close friend, the legendary NFL football coach Joe Gibbs. It was the coach’s wife Pat, and son Coy, that became our close friends, although we met Joe and their other son, J.D., on several occasions. Our youngest son Chad was a classmate of Coy, and they played football together for several seasons. Connie and I would sit with Pat at the games and we came to have great respect for Coach Gibbs and his family. They are an amazing story of God’s grace. We treasure the memory of those Friday night football games when we sat with Pat Gibbs watching our boys play. The coach was always pursuing a Super Bowl, and the Redskins won one the season just after we left Virginia.

The move exposed our family to the “fast-lane” lifestyle of the sprawling Washington-Baltimore metroplex area. Our house, in the suburb of Chantilly, was 30 miles straight west of the U.S. Capitol, but 20 miles outside of the Capital Beltway. For three exciting and taxing years, we became very familiar with living and struggling in the “outside the Beltway” environment.

As we were planning to move I determined that I needed Connie to join me in the AACS office. A close friend in ministry warned me that might not be a good idea, but I learned quickly that it was the right idea – and thank the Lord we walked that stressful part of the journey as a team. We worked together opening the first Washington area office for AACS at 10195 Main St., in historic downtown Fairfax, Virginia.

Several years before moving Connie and I began to take evening walks due to the example of her parents following her father’s heart attack. In Pleasant Valley, Virginia, the walks through our subdivision became a regular exercise in receiving God’s grace. Looking back we see how God taught us the sufficiency of grace during that time of struggle. In remarking about modern day advertising a current Bible commentator observers that marketers preach the, “power to escape weakness in leisure, but Christianity offers power to endure weakness in love.” We found that to be true.

Today every time we watch a newscast reporting on the political struggles and tensions in Washington, D.C., we hark back in memory to our three years living outside the Beltway. We enjoyed immensely the beauty and history of the area, but we remember the suffocating traffic and congestion, plus the pressures of a fast-lane lifestyle. It took its toll on our health and family.

Was it worth it? Absolutely. During those years we were privileged to participate in the growth and maturing of the Christian School movement. We met many fine Christian educators, valued leaders, and servants of the Lord. We also rubbed shoulders with many hard-working politicians and dedicated public servants. The Lord allowed us to make life long friendships with wonderful Christian people who live and survive in the Washington area. We realize now that God was gracious to help us survive that environment, and after three years escape to Wisconsin. We learned to trust God and walk with Him in a deeper way.  

Connie and I took many day trips to well-known and lesser-known historical sites, and I always loved seeing families enjoying the Capitol Mall – which I think of as America’s “Main Street.” I am afraid the area is even much more stressful today, but I know the ability to survive from 1985-88 was due to God’s grace. We found that truly, “God’s grace is sufficient” for our every need. To repeat an old gospel song, “We wouldn’t take nothing for our journey now.”

The good old days are gone. But many good lessons of the past have been profitably passed on. Likewise, valuable wisdom skills are transmitted from generation to generation. These legacies are worth treasuring. Most of us do not disparage the influence of our grandparents – but we often thoughtlessly discount the past. The cherished personal memories we have received from those who influenced us and guided us often transcend the latest whiz-bang fads or eye-popping technology.

Dennis L. Peterson is a friend of mine who is an author and historian and a former editor and educator. He blogs and passes on many valuable insights from lessons that a study of history affords and the wisdom that can be gleaned from family heritage.

Recently Dennis wrote an article entitled The Ring. Here are some interesting and excellent excerpts from that thoughtful and engaging piece.

“I got Daddy’s high school class ring…It was a small ring…Today it fits me and, in fact, I have a little trouble getting it off at times, especially when it’s hot and my fingers have swollen…”

“Inside the upper shank is engraved “10KJOSTEN,” indicating the gold composition of the ring and its maker. The Josten’s firm was founded by Otto Josten, a watch repairman in Owatonna, Minnesota, in 1897. (The apostrophe later was dropped.) In 1906, the company began making emblems and awards, including rings, for schools. They added yearbooks in 1950…”

“Today, I wear Daddy’s ring as not only a replacement for the college ring I lost but also a constant reminder of Daddy, my memories of him, and the character traits he taught me, more by his example (and his discipline!) than by overt, formal instruction.”

You can read the whole story at https://dlpedit.wordpress.com/2021/04/30/the-ring/. You can also profit from Dennis’s finely honed craft of writing – especially his careful telling of stories and the wisdom that he gleans from digging into the fuller lessons found in historic events, things, and most of all, people.

I wrote the following to him.

I love your sense of history and quest for learning and finding meaningful thoughts and truth in the basics of life. You stimulate others to search their roots, interests, and exploration of new and different things.

Your story resonated with me. When I was a student at Pillsbury Baptist Bible College, in Owatonna, Minnesota, I worked one year as an information guide at the Jostens ring plant that was two blocks from campus. I took small groups of people through the plant to see how rings were designed and made. I especially loved showing visitors the World Series Championship rings that the craftsmen created. As I remember the Pittsburg Pirates 1960 championship ring was on display and it had a replica of Forbes Field on the crown of the ring. They had a few craftsmen that were unbelievably talented artistically. That was an amazing experience for me as a college kid.

As I remember a guy by the name of Charlie Hermann recruited me for that job. It was through my association with the Owatonna Parks & Rec director that Charlie was directed to me. I only worked a few times each month, but the experience had a profound influence on me at the time. Many years later I learned that Charlie rose to be a Vice President in the huge corporation that Jostens has grown to be in the business of publishing and recognition products. The ministry Connie and I retired from – Positive Action Bible Curriculum – had books printed by the Jostens company.

I’ve learned that Charlie Hermann became a legend in Jostens’ organization. He was a super motivational speaker and dynamic personality. The Jostens website recorded this about Charlie:

“We’ve come to associate his face with a Jostens sales meeting, service awards banquet, training seminar, a management development program, high school commencement address, or some other kind of special occasion for Jostens or the community. To many people throughout the organization and the United States, in fact, Charlie Herrmann is Jostens.”

Some people have super personalities like Charlie, and others are faithful and consistent influencers like Dennis Peterson’s dad. Their contributions to our lives are like beacon lights to illuminate our paths and guide us in our quest to find God’s truth and gain a helpful understanding of life. Jesus said: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16.

About 1950, I discovered a game that became a dominant part of my life for about five years. The table-top game was named Ethan Allen’s All-Star Baseball game. It was launched in 1941 and produced by a Chicago company Cadaco-Ellis. This game was a fore-runner to the current fantasy sports phenomena that has grown into a multi-billion dollar business estimated to involve over 60 million people worldwide. But in 1950, All-Star Baseball (ASB) was a relatively simple board game in a box and was marketed to pre-teen boys who loved baseball. I fit the bill completely.

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.

A few years later our family moved to Chicago, and I persuaded two of my new friends, Butch and Pat, to go with me on an exploration to find the headquarters of Cadaco-Ellis, the manufacturer of my beloved game. By searching the massive Chicago phone book, I discovered that the company’s offices were on the 14th floor of the 20-story Merchandise Mart, near Moody Bible Institute, on the north side of the downtown loop.

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.

Mexican Train with the family at Christmas 2019.

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.

Sometime during my Junior year at Lindblom High School on Chicago’s south-side, I made decisions that became life-shaping for me. I don’t remember when, but I told an academic counselor that I was not going to take Chemistry or Trigonometry. No way. I was being herded along in my large public school, during the post-Sputnik era, toward a science career. I just put my foot down and refused to take those two subjects. I agreed to take Physics and College Algebra – but the two Senior-level courses were a bridge too far.

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.

First, I took Typing. I don’t know my exact rationale, but somehow I thought, in the late 1950s, that typing would be beneficial. I guess I knew that I was going to Bible College and that I would need to know how to type. I worked the summer after graduation as a bell-hop in a resort and saved my tip money to buy a portable typewriter that I used all through college and seminary. I also learned the rudiments of keyboarding that did not become significant until years later with the roll-out of Windows 95 and my initial immersion into computers.

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.

Lindblom Technical High School

School auditorium with two balconies

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.

This whirlwind of experience landed me in the place where my former boss, Bud Weniger, asked me to help him with the new responsibilities he had acquired administering AACS. That process was a slow step by step journey that was God’s plan all along. I had no other choice than to follow His guidance each step of the way. Now I see that it was all a part of His grace journey for me, and for our whole family.

So, in July of 1978 we found ourselves in the first home we were able to buy, and back in Normal, Illinois. It was just a few days after we arrived that I received a phone call from a dear friend of mine, Pastor Bob Kelley, who was on the board of the Tennessee Association of Christian Schools. Bob said, “Gerry, we are in a meeting, and the TACS board is considering pulling out of the AACS.” He went on to say that he stuck up for me saying, “Gerry Carlson has just been hired. I know him. Let’s give him a chance to see what he can do.” Boy, that was pressure right from the git-go.

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.