Foreword, Acknowledgments, and
Preface
It has been my pleasure to meet and visit with Michael MacIntosh and to learn something of his commitment to Jesus Christ and his heart for evangelism. He was one of the instructors at our International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists in Amsterdam in 1983. Mike is part of a new generation. Unless our Lord decrees otherwise, he will be one of those chosen to carry the proclamation of the gospel into the twenty-first century. What an honor that will be!
This astonishing story of Mike's life, as narrated by my longtime friend and colleague Sherwood Wirt, speaks for itself. It not only shows human nature at its lowest and highest potential but also provides a message of hope to those whose lives have been marred and twisted by the underside of modern culture. I commend it to its readers and hope that many will find in this book the key to eternal life.
Billy Graham
Acknowledgments
Many people have assisted generously in the preparation of this book. I would like to thank particularly Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California; Pastor Edward T. Smith of Calvary Chapel, Encinitas, California; members of the MacIntosh and Riddet families; Robert and Jennie Gillespie, editors of Horizon International magazine; Steven Keeling; Don Abshere; Patty Appel; Lee Roddy; Dr. Billy Graham, for his gracious foreword; my wife, Winola Wells Wirt, for unfailing support; and editors Peter E. Gillquist and Larry Weeden of Thomas Nelson, Inc. for wise counsel. I wish to acknowledge the use of a quotation on pages 95 and 96 by the Rev. Chuck Smith taken from Hugh Steven's book, The Reproducers (Regal Books, 1972). Certain names in the narrative have been altered to protect living persons.
S.E.W.
Preface
Flipping around the television channels during the holiday season of 1978, I glimpsed a young man sitting on an ottoman in front of a Christmas tree. He was surrounded by children and unopened gift packages and was talking about Jesus. With my thumb on the remote control ready to switch lanes, I paused and waited for the pitch. It never came. I waited for the giveaway. It never came. I looked for the showman's touch, the ego feathers, the bright lambent smile, the disturbing evidence that religion is just humanity's roundabout way of serving itself. Instead I was drawn by the simple charm of an earnest young man who seemed concerned about ordinary people. From the way he spoke, he understood what a lot of young families were going through. After a while he passed around the packages to his children.
On a Sunday morning not long after, my wife, Winola, and I paid a visit to the old North Park theater on University Avenue in San Diego to hear Michael MacIntosh preach. What we saw and heard, we liked. We realized that God had endowed him with unusual gifts. As we became
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better acquainted, we also learned that instead of building up his congregation to mammoth size, he had deliberately sent his associates and church members out to start other congregations in the county, many of which were now flourishing. This was different. This broke the pattern. Instead of creating an empire, MacIntosh was dismantling it. I had to find out more.
What I gleaned is the substance of this book. It is a true narrative. Michael MacIntosh and his friends in the ministry are symbols, I believe, of a dramatic change taking place in American church life — a change of which the church is only dimly aware. But he is also in his own right a remarkable trophy of grace. Disraeli once cautioned us to read no history, only biography. Words cannot capture a life, but they can make a good story. I commend this one to you.
Sherwood Eliot Wirt
Poway, California
August 1984
