Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?
The most famous person I ever met wasn’t famous when I knew him and his family. At the time he was just my pastor, the head of our church. While pastoring the church I grew up in he also wrote many books 📚. For every book he wrote; we listened to a series of sermons on the book 📖 prior to its publication. He wasn’t as famous as some other authors or other people, however, knowing an author personally when I was a child was still pretty amazing in my opinion.
Who is this person you might ask? The name of the most famous or infamous person I have ever met was Dr. Timothy Francis LaHaye. He was better known as Tim LaHaye. He co-authored the Left Behind Series with Jerry B. Jenkins. He wrote more than 85 books some of which included “How to Be Happy Though Married,” “Spirit Controlled Temperament,” “How to Win Over Depression,” as well as the “Left Behind Series.” He also co-authored prophecy books with Craig Parshall and Thomas Ice.
Tim LaHaye served as the Senior Pastor of Scott Memorial Baptist Church in San Diego, California for approximately twenty-five (25) years beginning around 1956. Under his ministry Scott Memorial Baptist Church grew extensively and later was divided into three locations. The three locations included the original site in University Heights on Oregon Street, One in El Cajon on Greenfield Drive, and one in Poway. [It was in 1963, when I was seven years old, that Pastor Tim F. LaHaye baptized me.]
During his tenure as Senior Pastor of Scott Memorial Baptist Church; Tim LaHaye founded Christian High School in 1965 and later in 1971 founded Christian Heritage College (now known as San Diego Christian College). Both schools began on the University Heights location on Oregon Street and later relocated to the El Cajon campus belonging to Scott Memorial. Other activities and involvements for Tim LaHaye was helping to establish the Institute for Creation Research in El Cajon, California (currently located in Texas) along with Dr. Henry M. Morris Sr.
In 1981, he left the Scott Memorial and the pulpit to concentrate his time on politics and writing. That same year he helped found the Council for National Policy, an extremely conservative and powerful organization which was a policy making think tank. Also, during the 1980’as he founded the American Coalition for Traditional Values and the Coalition for Religious Freedom. Later on in 1998, he founded the Pre-Tribulation Research Center along with Thomas Ice.
LaHaye is best known for his writings in the Left Behind Series. The Left Behin Series is a series of apocalyptic fiction that depicts the Earth after the pretribulation rapture which Premillennial Dispensationalists believe that’s when the Bible states it will occur (I do not desire to get into any debates regarding when the rapture or any end time events will happen). Even though Jerry B. Jenkins did the actual writing of the Left Behind books the whole concept and notes for the books belonged to Tim LaHaye. The first book of the Left Behind Series was published in 1995. There are twelve titles in the adult series and the juvenile novels, as well as audio books, devotionals, and graphic novels.
Everyone may not know who Dr. Tim F. LaHaye was (he passed in 2016), and even though he became well recognized due to the Left Behind Series, to me he was just my pastor during my childhood and youth years.
God Bless. Thank you for listening and sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.
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