One afternoon in June 1995, I found myself trapped in the Bodhi Tree, a stucco-fronted bookstore on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood where New Age wisdom-seekers sip herbal tea while discussing the latest ravings of Shirley MacLaine. I was freaking out because the professor Iâd travelled 6,000 miles to meet had apparently stood me up. Stephen OâLeary, of the University of Southern California, had just published Arguing the Apocalypse, a prize-winning study of the rhetorical techniques of televangelists. I was researching my own book about the end of the world and was desperate to pick his brains. He was almost two hours late and the wind chimes were driving me nuts.
I was seriously considering flying back to London when this tubby little bearded guy scuttled in, babbling excuses and making a squeaky fuss about the best place to sit on the veranda. He wore shorts and Birkenstocks. Then he launched into his Aristotelian theory of millennial rhetoric, speaking so fast that he lost me in seconds. Weâre not going to hit it off, I thought, not realising that my life had changed forever.
"One of the pastors and group of church elders I have the most respect for, the pastor who takes just enough of a salary from the tithes and his other job as a Christian college professor and works another part time job on top of all that and the elders who were and are pillars of a good community who are mostly retired and teach good morals, good fair farming folks like my grandfather who are veterans and good men who would give the shirt off their back to another person. When my grandfather passed the proper funeral was only very close family but the public memorial we quickly ran out of seating, parking and food because we expected 100-200 and there was 4-500 who showed up to show respect in a tiny town but by the grace of God and enough veterans/active personnel and the sheriffs department getting surprised with the numbers we were able to make sure anyone from anywhere was able to be sheltered, fed and were able to honor a good man and a proper pastor. He didn't need or want to take a dime from the church so he didn't, he put money from his retirement account into funding the hard times the church went through when needed and he was just a middle class man."
@brs690
9 hours ago: