Auth: Jon Trott Srce: CORNERSTONE magazine, vol. 21, iss. 100, pp. 18, 37, 41-42. Date: 19

 Auth: Jon Trott
 Srce: CORNERSTONE magazine, vol. 21, iss. 100, pp. 18, 37, 41-42.
 Date: 1993
 Titl: Bob Larson's Ministry Under Scrutiny
 Note: Italics indicated by guillemets

                 BOB LARSON'S MINISTRY UNDER SCRUTINY

   This January, ®World¯ magazine published an investigation into the 
background and ministry of Bob Larson, whose radio show "Talk-Back" 
airs on over 175 stations in the U.S.  Reporters Jay Grelen and Doug 
LeBlanc interviewed thirteen individuals who have known Bob Larson or 
were employees of Bob Larson Ministries (BLM).  ®World's¯ criticisms 
included Larson's income ($403,310 between Bob and his then wife in 
1990[1]), and the allegations by ex-employees that pretaped radio 
programs are presented as live and that phone lines run by the ministry 
are mainly devices for gathering funds.  The magazine also found 
evidence that Larson's novel ®Dead Air¯ was not written primarily by 
Larson.  Bob's response has generated further controversy.

   ®Cornerstone¯ contacted some of ®World's¯ interviewees, plus others 
not previously interviewed.  Sharla Turman Logan, who was keyboardist 
for Bob Larson's high school rock trio, the Rebels, was interviewed by 
®World.¯  Logan, who lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, listened as 
®Cornerstone¯ read her this 1974 quote from a Bob Larson book, ®Hell on 
Earth¯:

        Bob Larson achieved fame at the age of thirteen when his 
     first hit song was published.  He had his own rock'n'roll 
     band at fifteen, and performed on radio and television over 
     the next years until his career took him to Convention Hall 
     in Atlantic City.[2]

   Logan's reaction is swift.  "What?!  I knew him at thirteen, and I 
never heard of any hit song."  What about Atlantic City?  "Convention 
Hall?  Yes, we played there," Logan says.  "But it was a Lions Club 
Convention, one song.  We did a parody of `Charlie Brown.' You know, 
`He's a clown / Charlie Brown.'"

   This is Bob Larson's account of the Rebels' effect upon their 
listeners, from his 1972 book, ®The Day the Music Died¯:

        On Sunday morning it was a church, but on Saturday night 
     the pews were removed, our musical equipment was placed on 
     the platform, and beer was dispensed in the basement as  
     teenagers danced in the sanctuary.  It was especially 
     popular because cars could be parked surrounding the 
     building.  This provided a convenient bed of immorality 
     during intermission for the release of sex tensions 
     stimulated by the dancing.[3]

   Sharla Logan heard the same story years before Bob first published 
it.  "I saw him preach in 1965 or 1966, when I was in college at 
Greeley, Colorado."  Logan couldn't believe what she was hearing.  "I 
was offended. I was hurt.  None of us ever did anything sexually or 
even drank. My father went with us to the concerts as a chaperon, and 
he would have picked up on any sexual stuff.  We played at pizza 
parlors, rodeos, and churches.  Everyone came, from little knee-high 
kids to grandpas and grandmas.  But Bob talked about us like we were a 
bunch of sluts, if you'll excuse me.  I was crying, sitting there 
hoping people wouldn't look at me.  At the next intermission, I left."

   An antirock crusader in the sixties and seventies, Bob switched in 
the early eighties to fighting "cults."  Next came talk-show radio; first 
as a guest on Marlin Maddux's "Point of View," then as host of his own 
"Talk-Back" program.  In 1985, Larson expanded his ministry offices 
from five thousand to fifteen thousand feet.  1989 was a banner year 
for Larson.  He published five books that year, among them ®Straight 
Answers about the New Age¯ and, more significantly, ®Satanism: The 
Seduction of America's Youth¯.  Larson increasingly focused on Satanism 
and, as Geraldo and others discovered, Satanism and "satanic ritual 
abuse" made for great media drama.

   Randy Johnson joined BLM in 1989 as a part-time shipping staffer. 
"After about a month in shipping, they switched me to the Communicator 
Club, 1-800-223-CLUB," Johnson told ®Cornerstone.¯  "Those lines are 
open all day for people wanting to call in donations to BLM.  In 
September of '89, they launched Compassion Connection and the Hope 
Line.  I was the original person on the Compassion Connection, which 
does follow-up with `Talk-Back' callers.  On the Hope Line, we accessed 
the computer and gave people in crisis a referral to a ministry in 
their area."  Johnson felt that ®World¯ was too harsh in its criticism 
of the referral lines and that many people received help through them.

   Johnson left BLM on June 10, 1992.  "I found myself having 
increasing philosophical differences with Bob.  Bob tends to like the 
sensational.  He promised people, for instance, that no matter what the 
Satanists were doing to them, the Hope Line could get them into the 
underground.  Well, that was the last straw for me.  What underground 
was he talking about?  Sure, we had a few numbers for people who 
®might¯ be able to get someone connected.  But there was no underground 
I knew about for those abused by Satanists.  I'm the guy who's supposed 
to know and tell these callers!  So I wrote a memo to my supervisor 
that recounted Bob's claims.  Then I wrote, `If there's an underground, 
maybe we should give Bob's number to these people so ®he¯ can put them 
in the underground.'  The supervisor got angry with that, and I said, 
`That's it.'  And I left."

   Bill Achilles, another phone-line staffer until recently, told 
®Cornerstone,¯ "I thought the on-the-air fundraising was very 
manipulative.  It was `Send money or this ministry won't be able to 
run, and we won't keep your radio station [as an affiliate].'"

   "Re-airs," old radio programs whose high points are recycled and 
patched together as fresh shows, troubled a number of BLM employees.  
®Cornerstone¯ spoke to Alan Hergert, who worked for BLM during a 
six-year period ending in October 1992.

   "When I first started in the production department, it was all 
pretty straightforward," Hergert says.  "Bob would say, `You're 
listening to a taped program.  Sit back and enjoy it; these are some of 
our best callers.'  Then there was this sudden inspiration--`You know, 
we're losing a lot of money telling everyone we're taped.'  So instead 
of warning the listeners at every commercial break not to call in, they 
just started the tape with `Live! "Talk-Back" with Bob Larson.'  At the 
end it would say, `The preceding program was prerecorded.'  In between 
was an hour's worth of show."  What about people who called in, 
thinking the show was live?  "We activated all the Compassion 
Connection phone circuits so everyone got a busy signal."  The 800 
number set aside for donors was left open.

   Over the years, Hergert maintains, the re-airs evolved from sounding 
canned into a sophisticated blend of old and new.  Old calls were 
cataloged according to topic and dated; after six months the best calls 
were recycled, Hergert says.  "All we did was take out comments that 
dated them.  After we'd spliced a bunch of these calls, we'd write a 
script for Bob to follow.  Now, during a normal live show, Bob has a 
computer line that gives him the information on where people are 
calling from, their sex, their age.  We pulled that from the computer 
files for the re-airs, and he'd say it as though the person was there."  
One slight difference.  "When live, Larson said, `I need a five hundred 
dollar champion to send money for Shane.'  When recorded, Larson said, 
`I need a champion to donate for kids like Shane.'  That way, if a 
pesky journalist called and asked us if the show was live, we could 
say, `Hey, we didn't ®say¯ it was live.'"

   Hergert feels responsible for designing what to him seemed an 
elaborate deception.  He viewed his best programs as those that evoked 
the most emotion.  "I called them three-hankie shows.  And three-hankie 
shows brought in a ®lot¯ of money.  A decent re-air brought in ten 
thousand dollars.  To me it was almost like a game, or that's how I 
rationalized it.  If my re-airs did real well bringing in donations, it 
was like scoring fifty points in basketball.  You're like, Wow! I did 
really good!  In my heart I knew it wasn't right, but the boss was 
telling me it was right."

   In the summer of 1992, Alan attended "Promise-Keepers," a men's 
retreat led by University of Colorado coach Bill McCartney.  "Speakers 
said, `This is what a man is, what he needs to do.  Part of being God's 
man is integrity.'  And it hit home.  I thought, `I'm saying these 
words, but am I living it?'"  Soon afterward, Hergert says, he left 
BLM.

   Elements of the sensational reached a new high in 1992 with the 
publication of Larson's novel ®Dead Air¯.  One donor letter from BLM 
read:

     I watched them rip apart a newborn baby and take the heart 
     while it was still beating.  I can't forget the screams.  I 
     still hear them every night!"[4]

   ®World¯ magazine's star whistle-blower, Lori Boespflug, says she 
authored this ad, and--more significantly --she, not Larson, wrote the 
vast majority of ®Dead Air.¯  Boespflug began at BLM as a secretary, 
but within a year became a vice president before Larson fired her in 
June 1992.  In his contract with publisher Thomas Nelson, Larson claims 
sole authorship of ®Dead Air.¯  Who is telling the truth?

   Central to Boespflug's claims of authorship is a July 8, 1991, 
letter addressed to Bob Larson from his lawyer, William T. Abbott:

     Dear Bob,

        With the passing of each day, I become more and more 
     concerned about your potential liability to Lori in 
     connection with ®Dead Air¯ and its sequels.

        The time table is immediate.  You will soon know if 
     ®Dead Air¯ is to be a publishing success and, quite 
     possibly, if theatrical rights are to be optioned.  
     Assuming success, and knowing the role Lori has played, it 
     would amaze me if she is not sufficiently astute to use 
     this opportunity to both secure her financial future and to 
     launch her own literary career.  More specifically, she 
     will demand recognition and/or profit participation in 
     connection with sequels and possibly ®Dear¯ [®sic¯] ®Air¯ 
     itself.  I know how I would advise her in this regard, and 
     it is unrealistic to think that my insights are unique.  
     Her delay in contacting me, of course, increases my 
     concern.

        What should you be doing now to anticipate her?  I will 
     first address a legalistic solution which I know is doomed 
     --allowing her to write sequels but contractually 
     establishing that they are works for hire.  Even if she 
     agreed to this and signed a confidentiality agreement, her 
     liability for breach could never equal the value of public 
     recognition of her authorship.  Even beyond that financial 
     consideration, her ego, like that of most creative people, 
     could not be satisfied with anonymity after the risk of 
     ®Dead Air's¯ failure had passed.

        Instead, I believe that you have two more realistic 
     choices.  First, truly and simply use Lori as a researcher 
     and document that as her role.  You will be required to 
     write more, but after all, it is you who will enjoy the 
     benefits.  Second, if you want Lori to write, give her 
     credit, (ideally under a pen name because of past gossip) 
     and a negotiated percentage of profits, ®but not copyright 
     ownership¯, in any sequels.  This is not an unusual 
     solution and has the benefit of obviating any question of 
     who wrote how much of either ®Dead Air¯ or the sequel.  
     Also under such an arrangement, where her profits are tied 
     to yours, she has no interest in embarrassing you regarding 
     the authorship of ®Dead Air¯.

     Please call me regarding this matter at your 
     convenience.[5]

   ®Cornerstone¯ reached Abbott, who declined comment on the matter.

   Apparently, however, Larson did not take Abbott's advice regarding 
the ®Dead Air¯ sequel, ®Abaddon¯, due out in late spring of 1993 
through Thomas Nelson Publishers.  "I wrote the first hundred pages of 
the book before he fired me," Boespflug told ®Cornerstone.¯  She 
provided us with a copy of her agreement with Bob regarding ®Abaddon¯, 
which outlines her duties and is dated April 7, 1992:

     You hereby agree to provide me on or before May 1, 1992 an 
     outline of the first two hundred (200) pages of the sequel; 
     and on or before July 1, 1992, an outline of the remaining 
     two hundred (200) pages of the sequel.  If so requested by 
     me, said outlines shall contain or be accompanied by 
     character sketches, narratives, fact research and sample 
     dialogue, all collectively referred to herein as ("the 
     creative material").  Also, if so requested, you shall 
     assist me in any and all editing of the sequel that may be 
     necessary before its final acceptance by a publisher.[6]

   ®Dead Air¯ is an allegedly fact-based account of the satanic ritual 
abuse of a small girl.  Boespflug says that Larson allowed her to make 
up the story but inserted chunks of his radio callers' stories into the 
mix.  She notes that no evidence existed to back the stories Larson 
inserted into the text.

   Lori told ®Cornerstone¯: "How does Bob know if the person telling 
him about seeing a cat eaten alive, then regurgitated, and themselves 
being sewn up inside a dead horse, maybe dropped acid in the sixties 
and is having a bad flashback?  Or maybe they saw a scary movie and 
fell asleep and woke up after a nightmare, thinking `Hey, this must 
have happened.'"

   We asked Lori Boespflug how she feels about her work on ®Dead Air¯ 
and ®Abaddon.¯  "I don't feel good about it," she says slowly.  "I've 
gone to [Catholic] confession, and I know one day I'm going to answer 
for what I did."  Boespflug also admits that, as Larson charged on his 
radio program, she was living with someone for a time before being 
fired by Larson.  "That individual is now my husband."

   Larson responded to the ®World¯ article January 29 on "Talk-Back" 
and on a local Denver program called "Prepare for War."  Both 
broadcasts centered on Larson's claim that "a group of people, both of 
non-Christians and of Christians, has banded together across the 
country with the stated purpose of destroying me and this ministry."  
Larson added, "They recently sent me a large color photograph of 
several people who are part of this group standing on the front steps 
of my private property on which they had trespassed . . . holding a 
flaming Molotov cocktail threatening to burn the house down, with 
obscene language printed on the photograph."

   Larson continued, stating that upon arriving at a "Satanism 
Uncensored" presentation in another city, "the [hotel] desk clerk was 
ashen.  She said to me, `Mr. Larson, you need to call the sheriff's 
department of Jefferson County, Colorado.  Your home has been 
burglarized and burned to the ground.'"  One would naturally assume 
Larson's house ®had¯ burned down, since Larson did not indicate 
otherwise during the broadcast.  But according to Lori Boespflug, "That 
incident was a hoax."

   Larson's broadcast went on, "It has gotten to the point where I 
can't even let my dog out at night.  I don't venture out after dark.  I 
have to pull the blinds when I walk inside the house.  This is serious 
stuff.  This is scary stuff.  It is threatening to my life, limb, and 
property . . . .

   "There has been at least one attempt to break into my home.  There 
has been unlawful entry, theft of corporate ministry documents.  Why?"  
Bob Larson then spells out what seems to be an elaborate conspiracy 
theory.  "First of all, one of the people heading this up is an avowed 
atheist who has harassed other ministries such as Christian Research 
Institute, Campus Crusade for Christ, Josh McDowell.  I am now his 
latest target."

   The unnamed "atheist" is Ken Smith, a local law student who has 
repeatedly attempted to confront Larson with information Smith gleaned 
from divorce records and other documents.

   Is Larson's charge that Smith harassed Christian Research Institute 
true?  "It is not true," says CRI's Kenneth Samples, a senior research 
consultant with the group.  "Smith is a skeptic who has corresponded 
significantly with Rob Bowman, who was a researcher with us [until 
early 1992]."  When reached, Bowman elaborated to ®Cornerstone¯: "It is 
absolutely untrue that Ken harassed anyone at CRI, either myself or 
others.  He is a very intelligent individual who has a complex set of 
questions concerning Christ's Resurrection.  I only wish there were 
more apologists willing to deal with people such as Ken Smith."  Bowman 
continues a dialogue with Smith via mail.

   Larson's accusations went much further than just the "atheist," 
however.  In his broadcast, Bob went on to claim, "He [the atheist] has 
linked up with some other people in the Christian community whose names 
I have mentioned in the past, such as Mr. John Stewart, a Christian 
talk-show host, such as Bob and Gretchen Passantino, and a reporter by 
the name of Jay Grelen."

   We contacted each of the alleged conspirators.  "I only wish that 
Bob would deal with those things having to do with fact," John Stewart 
told ®Cornerstone.¯  "Only then will the air be cleared.  To fling 
about character assassination and unfounded allegations is untenable as 
a Christian minister."

   Bob and Gretchen Passantino, contributing editors to ®Cornerstone¯ 
and joint founders of Answers in Action, an apologetics ministry, 
responded strongly.  "Bob Larson should be ashamed of himself for 
deceiving and exploiting his listeners.  For him to slander us by 
associating us with some unprovable, outlandish conspiracy to destroy 
his ministry or cause him bodily harm is unchristian and unethical.  To 
link us with an alleged atheist `hit man' we've never talked to, never 
met, never had any contact with defames our long-standing integrity as 
Christians wholeheartedly dedicated to combating unbelief, the "cults,"
and the occult.  Larson has presented no evidence, and he will never be 
able to do more than call names and condemn us by false association and 
innuendo."

   ®Cornerstone¯ tried to reach Bob Larson for an interview, but he was 
unwilling to meet with us until February 14 at the National Religious 
Broadcasters' Convention for a one-on-one interview.  BLM did provide 
®Cornerstone¯ with a written statement on February 4:

        We take great exception and offense to the tone and 
     tenor set in the ®WORLD MAGAZINE¯ article regarding Bob 
     Larson and the work of Bob Larson Ministries.  We feel the 
     facts stated in the article are incorrect and misleading, 
     and the procedures used in gathering the information 
     journalistically unethical.

        Furthermore, we are greatly disappointed in the 
     editorial by ®WORLD MAGAZINE¯ publisher Joel Belz, who has 
     never visited Bob Larson Ministries nor met Bob Larson, 
     yet felt no hesitation in comparing Mr. Larson to Jim 
     Bakker who was charged with several felonious crimes and 
     exhibited patently outrageous behavior.

        Bob Larson has been in active ministry 27 years, and Bob 
     Larson Ministries has played a leading role in Christian 
     broadcasting for over ten years.  The vision of this 
     ministry remains to "reach the needy at the point of their 
     need, giving hope to the hurting and help to the helpless."  
     It is disappointing that some are willing to attack a 
     ministry doing God's work without just cause or accurate 
     information.

   "What Mr. Larson has chosen not to say," ®World¯ reporter Jay Grelen 
told ®Cornerstone¯, "is that I have made repeated attempts to meet with 
him for an interview.  He had ample opportunity to sit down with me and 
hear what the charges were.  He was unwilling under any circumstances 
to meet with me."  Grelen says that he even offered Larson the 
opportunity to be interviewed with others--Larson's lawyers or 
CPAs--present.  Larson refused.  "If he could refute the charges we 
laid out in the article, there would have been no story.  ®None¯ of the 
charges have been refuted.  Instead, it's been ®ad hominem¯ attacks.  
His responses to date have been to `kill the messenger.'"

   Grelen was particularly indignant over Larson's treatment of Lori 
Boespflug.  "On his radio program castigating me, he said that Lori was 
just a secretary, a mother of three kids that's living with someone who 
isn't her husband.  But his tax records from the IRS, which I've got a 
copy of, list her as the vice president of Bob Larson Ministries!  
Either he lied to the IRS, or he lied on the program."

   Joel Belz of ®World¯ objects to Larson's complaint regarding 
comparison to Jim Bakker.  "We did ®not¯ compare him to Jim Bakker. We 
would agree that Mr. Larson is not guilty, to the best of our 
knowledge, of any felonies.  The editorial concerned our right as a 
Christian magazine to expose unchristian behavior in the body of 
Christ.  If we'd done that with Bakker, think of the shame we'd have 
avoided!"

   Belz worries about the powerful reasons many Christian publications 
have for not doing stories about prominent ministers.  "You know as 
well as I do the incredible interlocking interests that are at stake 
here.  This story did not make Thomas Nelson look terrific, and by 
implication you've got Word in there as well, since Nelson recently 
acquired them.  If you knock out Thomas Nelson and Word from your 
advertisers list, you're not going the direction the business 
department wants you to go.  It's easy to see why people back off.  But 
I feel the Christian media cannot back down."


ENDNOTES

 1. "Affidavit with Respect to Financial Affairs of Bobby E. Larson," 
case no. 91DR226, Division 9, District Court, Jefferson County, Colo., 
p. 2.  Also according to court transcripts of divorce proceedings, p. 
272.  Copy on file.

 2. Bob Larson, ®Hell on Earth¯ (Carol Stream, Ill.: Creation House, 
1974), author biography on dust jacket.

 3. Bob Larson, ®The Day the Music Died¯ (Carol Stream, Ill.: Creation 
House, 1972), 186.

 4. Bob Larson, donor letter, 14 Oct. 1991.  Copy on file.

 5. William T. Abbot, letter to Bob Larson, 8 July 1991.  Copy on file.

 6. Bob Larson, letter to Lori Boespflug, 7 Apr. 1992.  Copy on file.

[end-of-file]