About

About Me

This is a historical overview of my life in ministry over the past 42+ years. It highlights the key points and milestones of how God has chosen to use me in His service. May all glory go to Him, because it really is not “about me” but it’s a record of how He, by His grace and loving kindness, has chosen to work in and through me for the advancement of His kingdom.

Larry grew up in the south Denver area, and then pursued a B.S. in the Physical Sciences at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. With an interest in the environment and pollution, he also picked up minors in Chemistry and Environmental Studies at CSU, graduating in 1976. During his undergraduate years, he became involved with Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) and was a part of the student movement for three years.

One highlight of his involvement with the Campus Ministry as a student at CSU was a special outreach in which he challenged dozens of professors to allow Christian business leaders and scientists to speak to their students in their classrooms on pertinent topics from a Judeo–Christian worldview. Several hundred students were addressed, and a handful asked for follow-up to learn more about the relevancy of Christianity to their fields of studies and what it means to know God personally.

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Upon graduation, Larry moved to Northern California and took a job in the environmental testing field and worked in the industrial air pollution sampling area—primarily in the Western United States. During that year, the traveling gave him more time to read. Two books that reshaped his thinking career-wise were: Pollution and Death of Man by Francis Schaeffer and Come Help Change the World by Bill Bright. This new thinking led to him becoming involved in the citywide evangelistic campaign, (“I Found It”) sponsored by 117 churches in the greater San Jose area; the effort was part of a nationwide Campus Crusade for Christ initiated outreach. Sensing God’s leading, Larry took on a full-time role with the campaign and served as the operations administrator for five months. During that time, Larry saw the critical need in ministry for people with organizational and administrative gifts and felt led to pursue a full-time missionary staff position with Campus Crusade the following summer (1977).

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His first assignment with Campus Crusade for Christ was to assist the leadership of a new International School of Theology (I.S.O.T.) that the ministry was launching at its headquarters in San Bernardino, California. He served for nine years in a number of positions, including planning, recruiting, marketing, fundraising and public relations.

During his second year with the ministry, he had the opportunity to take a short-term assignment in the Middle East and assisted with a conference to train scores of pastors and lay leaders from across the region in effective evangelism and discipleship. As a result of his involvement with the conference, he began to capture a vision for helping see more people reached on a global scale and also saw the “JESUS” film for the first time—a black and white “field test” version. (A short time later, the film was released in 2,000 theaters across the United States.)

Seeing a need to strengthen his academic knowledge to serve in management in ministry, Larry pursued an M.B.A. in Marketing at the local California State University campus. He completed the degree in 1983. Also, as he saw the need for people in fundraising in ministry, he narrowed his job focus to serve primarily in that field. Later, he became certified as a fundraising professional. His spiritual gifts in administration, leading and giving, intersected and complimented the formal education and I.S.O.T. served as an excellent forum to apply what he had learned.

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In 1986, the winds of change brought the opportunity to join a new fund development team, with a small but growing Campus Crusade for Christ ministry, The JESUS Film Project. The vision of taking the gospel on film to people worldwide, in a language they understand, gave Larry a fresh call to full-time ministry. During those early years, he went on several short-term trips to Africa, South America and Russia, which helped affirm his vision and call.

Over the years, he has served in various roles in the fundraising and development areas helping provide the resources (a) to translate and distribute the film in more than 230 countries, (b) to provide for effective follow-up of new believers, and (c) to aid in church planting in more than 100 nations. And, working with individuals, churches, foundations, and businesses, he has a part in seeing God raise up tens of millions of dollars to help advance the gospel worldwide.

During 2007, the California offices of The JESUS Film Project were moved to the Orlando, Florida headquarters of Cru and a team of a couple of dozen remained in Laguna Niguel, CA in a field office where Larry is currently serving as Associate Director of Development. He has taken additional trips to Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe which provide opportunities to see how the ministry is daily changing tens of thousands of lives of people in every corner of the globe. These occasional trips also show how much more still needs to be done to give everyone, everywhere an opportunity to know Christ personally—a vision that keeps Larry and the ministry pressing on.

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Desiring to continue to improve his professional knowledge and skills, Larry pursued an advanced certification in the fundraising field. In 2000, he earned a senior level certification, becoming one of the first Christian ministry professionals to do so. Along with pursuing outdoor sports and recreation, Larry is an avid “do-it-yourself” guy around his townhouse. Snow skiing, bicycling, running, swimming and hiking can be found on his calendar. He enjoys reading, especially biographies of various U.S. presidents and learning about their styles of leadership and life in the country during the eras they served. Traveling and seeing new people and places is another enjoyment, although he does not do it as much as he’d like.