When The Forerunner began in 1981, God directed a few individuals to start a publication which would reach the young people of this generation with the message of the gospel.
The method was calculated: to boldly penetrate the minds and hearts of students with biblical truth by invading the most strategic strongholds of atheistic humanism – the university campuses of America.
The Forerunner was a lonely voice in a vast wilderness of student apathy and pessimism during those first few months, but the news of a growing conservative movement began to flourish by late 1982. By 1983, thirty-five conservative newspapers had been started on major secular campuses. The number more than doubled in an another year. Even at the U.C. Berkeley campus, which has long carried the reputation of being the most liberal of academic institutions in the U.S., students were following that trend: One survey proved that twice as many Berkeley students considered themselves conservative as did those in 1971.
All during this time The Forerunner was addressing issues which were at the center of campus debate. We presented biblical alternatives to Marxism, feminism and welfare statism. We challenged the student audience to re-evaluate the propaganda and liberal bias that they are continuously subjected to in the classroom. We even staged a forum between a creationist and an evolutionist and printed their arguments. We were determined to bring American students face to face with the realities of the Word of God as it applies to modern life and controversial social issues.
Our newspaper has gone out like seed on what was originally dry and rocky soil. But over the past five years God has obviously been watering and plowing the ground to make it fertile for a spiritual harvest. Even the secular news media today is reporting on the increased interest on campus. Religion courses in the major universities are filling up at record rates. The spiritual climate is obviously changing: the stolid pessimism of the 1970s is being replaced by a reawakening to traditional values, to patriotism, and to morality.
But we cannot stop here! The war of ideas on the American campus is far from being over. The devil’s advocates – obviously provoked by the new surge of traditional values and spiritual feeling spawned among the students of the 1980s, are even more vehement.
That is why it is imperative that we drive full-force into this battle for the campus with renewed vigor and hard-hitting ammunition. The Forerunner’s campus edition is invading the university setting this September. This new edition – with its contemporary, “New Wave” look – is being especially designed to appeal to the collegiate audience. Although it will contain some of the same type of material as the regular edition, our campus paper will have a sharp, evangelistic edge aimed right at the heart of today’s student.
