Keep moving through life and you come to know more than a few people who become really famous. I could list my acquaintances who have excelled so well, but here I mostly want to talk about the Rev. Homer Larsen, who for 44 years has been the radio pastor of Christian Crusaders, the 8th oldest continuous radio ministry in the United States and 70 years old next month. It can be heard 8:30 a.m. Sundays here KXEG (1280 AM).I called him Homer during the years he sat on the governing board for the Cedar Falls (Iowa) School District. From 1972 to 1980, one of my tasks was to report on the biweekly or monthly meetings of that school board in my role as assistant state editor. (I got the assignment after Richard Whitt quit, went to work for the Louisville Courier-Journal and won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting in 1978). School board meetings were Monday nights. In those years, I was getting married, having my two children and watching them grow. Meetings lasted a couple hours or more. Then I drove back to the dark newsroom of the Waterloo Courier to write my article on a typewriter and have it ready for the afternoon newspaper published the next day. Among the reporters at the school board meetings with me in those days were Dennis Ryerson, now the editor and vice president of the Indianapolis Star, and David Westphal, who went on to become managing editor of the Des Moines Register and is now the Washington bureau chief for McClatchey Newspapers, the second largest newspaper chain in the U.S.
Homer was a white-haired, golden-tongued, affable school board member. Across the table was Joy Corning, who served as board president for a stint and went on to become the lieutenant governor of Iowa, 1991-1998. Across the quarter century, I have caught the Christian Crusaders show on the radio and have been amazed that Homer keeps on preaching. Now 82, he has been doing the show since 1962. When I was state editor at the Courier, one of my department writers was Linda Kettner, a member of Homers church, Nazareth Lutheran Church in Cedar Falls which he served for 43 years until retiring in 1996. He is now pastor emeritus. Linda used to tell wonderful stories about Homers Sunday morning services, the spirit in his preaching and what he asked of his church. As a skilled reporter, she picked up a lot of the inside stories of that large, dynamic church. Linda is now longtime director of university relations for the University of Iowa.
This week, Janet Mennen, executive director of Christian Crusaders, sent me a press release titled: In a World of Change, This 70-Year-Old Radio Ministry Has Not Lost its Focus.” It carried the subtitle Christian Crusaders Has Broadcast in Phoenix-Mesa Area Since 1989. It cited Larsens clear, dynamic, Gospel-centered preaching. (Interestingly, Janet has lived just outside of my hometown of Parkersburg, Iowa, for almost 30 years).
The first Christian Crusaders broadcast was Sept. 6, 1936, from the hour-long worship of Trinity Lutheran Church in Waterloo. Its pastor was the Rev. G.E. Melchert, who would do Christian Crusaders for 20 years. It was first broadcast by station WMT-AM (originally named for my newspaper, then called the Waterloo Morning Tribune). The Rev. Bruno Schlachtenhaufen of First Lutheran Church in Waterloo was the radio speaker from 1956 to 1962. Then came Larsen. Originally called Your Hour of Worship, its name was changed when it went to 30 minutes. It was never intended to take the place of church attendance, but rather to carry a Lutheran liturgical service to anyone unable to attend church and also reach out to the unchurched.
Christian Crusaders is 30 minutes, includes two or three timeworn hymns, prayer, scripture and the Homer Larsen sermon that stresses a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Broadcasts are heard on radio stations in nine states and on the Web at www.ChistianCrusaders.org.
What makes this radio program unique is that even though it has changed very little since its origin 70 years ago, it continues to be a popular choice for many radio listeners today, Janet Mennen said. While many worship services have become more contemporary in format, Christian Crusaders has not changed its broadcasts to follow that trend. While its board looked at changes, listeners wanted to keep it as it is, she said. It has resisted catering to a youthful audience. …Weve determined that, while reaching the younger generation is extremely important, the need for our aging population to hear the message of salvation is just as vital.
Larsen attributes the shows longevity to the faithful preaching of the Word of God. I would say it is also because of Homer Larsens character, sermon writing and tenacity. For me, that ageless pastor brings back fond memories of another era in my years of newspapering. And he — and so many I worked around in those days — just keep on doing some important work.
