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George Vandeman | |
|---|---|
| Born | George Edward Vandeman (1916-10-21)October 21, 1916 |
| Died | November 3, 2000(2000-11-03) (aged 84) |
| Education | University of Michigan |
George Edward Vandeman (October 21, 1916 – November 3, 2000) was aSeventh-day Adventist evangelist who founded theIt Is Written television ministry.[1][2]
Vandeman was born on October 21, 1916.[3] At the age of 21, he attendedEmmanuel Missionary College inBerrien Springs,Michigan. He found a job working at a weekly 15-minute radio broadcast inElkhart,Indiana. While there, he met Nellie Johnson and they were married the following year on October 2, 1938, inSouth Bend, Indiana. After completing his second year of college, Vandeman began working as a full-time evangelist. During a series of meetings inMuncie, Indiana, Nellie gave birth to their first child, George Jr. The birth of their sons Richard and Robert soon followed. The Vandeman's fourth child, Connie, was born in 1956.
Vandeman received hisMaster of Arts degree in speech and communication from theUniversity of Michigan. His 1946 thesis was entitled, "Spurgeon's theory of preaching". He was thenordained as a minister, and worked as a field instructor in evangelism at Emmanuel Missionary College[3] for four years. He then joined theMinisterial Association at theGeneral Conference (world headquarters of the church) in 1947,[3] taking the position of associate secretary, and at age 33 becoming one of the youngest to work in Adventist church leadership.
In the years followingWorld War II, Vandeman and othercharismatic Adventist speakers likeFordyce Detamore spearheaded a drive for the publicevangelism of major cities.[4] He conducted campaigns inPittsburgh in 1948,Washington, D.C., in 1951 andLondon in 1952, amongst other places.
After returning from a mission project inEngland, he was asked by the newGeneral Conference PresidentReuben Richard Figuhr to continue with the Christian television program. Six years earlier then-presidentJames Lamar McElhany had convinced Vandeman to try television as a means of reaching others with the Gospel. As such, he created a six-month experimental evangelistic effort for television. At the time, he wasn't able to get the financial support he needed, and temporarily put the effort on hold.
In the mid-1950s Vandeman started work on a series of television programs called "It Is Written", which he planned to air for several weeks in an area as a warmup to an evangelistic program.[3] In spring 1956,It Is Written launched its first telecast in black and white—a full-message, Bible study telecast in Washington, D.C. The program later became one of the firstreligious television programs to air in color.[5] The program's title was based on theBible verseMatthew 4:4, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."[6]
Vandeman ran the firstIt Is Written campaign inFresno,California, in 1958, and later in Washington, D.C.,Detroit,Philadelphia and other cities.[3] The telecast was launched to all of California in 1962, and this effort was followed by a month-long series at theLos AngelesMemorial Sports Arena. By the mid-1960s it was being broadcast internationally on a weekly basis.[3]
In 1971, theIt Is Written production studios moved to theAdventist Media Center inThousand Oaks, California. In 1975, Vandeman began conductingRevelation Seminars.[7] The seminars consisted of a one-day, eight-hour Bible study followed by a luncheon. Over a course of 10 years, tens of thousands ofIt Is Written viewers traveled hundreds of miles to attend one of 300 seminars.
In 1979, the ministry's success was noted byExcellence In Media, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting excellent family-oriented programs by honoring media with Angel Awards. Vandeman and theIt Is Written team were given their first Angel award. They would ultimately receive a total of 10 Angel Awards fromReligion in Media.[8] Vandeman was later presented with an International Distinguished Achievement Gold Angel award — Excellence in Media's highest honor. In 1980 he received the Religious Heritage of America Faith and Freedom Award for Television Religious Personality of the Year.[8] He was a member ofReligious Heritage of America, theStrategy for the Elevation of People Foundation, and theYear of the Bible Committee.[8] Vandeman was invited to presidential briefings during both theReagan andBush administrations.[8]
By the 1980s,It Is Written had more than 600,000 regular viewers. That number surpassed 1.5 million in the 90s. In 1990, theIt Is Written production team and Vandeman traveled to theSoviet Union to tape "Empires in Collision," an eight-part series.It Is Written was one of the first religious telecasts to be aired onSoviet television.[9] In 2000 it was broadcast in 8 languages to over 150 countries.[8] It was a "pioneering force" in Adventist evangelism.[10]
One of his most popular series was "What I like about...", which investigated shared beliefs between Adventists andBaptists,Methodists,Catholics,charismatics and others.[8] See:Seventh-day Adventist interfaith relations.
Vandeman founded theNew Gallery Centre in London.[8]
He served as the primary speaker ofIt Is Written until his retirement in 1991,[3] whenMark Finley succeeded him. He died on November 3, 2000, at age 84, at his home inNewbury Park, California of heart failure while asleep.[10] He was survived by his wife, Nellie ofCamarillo, California, and by children George Jr., Bob, Ron, and Connie Vandeman Jeffery.[8][10][11]
According toPaul Harvey,
According to one report,
According toPaul Harvey,
According to Mark Finley,
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