Peace for Today broadcasts daily programs of inspiration, encouragement, and personal reinforcement.

Memories of Ken

by Marge Lakes

I first met Ken Haystead and his wife, Gladys, in the fall of 1964 when they came to Alhambra, CA and Ken was candidating for the position of Senior Pastor of a church my family attended.

Ken mentioned to the Board that he had a little radio program heard locally in Portland, which he had begun just recently, using some of his Portland church members for music, on which he spoke of encouragement, uplift and spiritual things.

Our church membership elected Ken Haystead to be the new Pastor at a congregational meeting in the fall of 1964, and he was to resign his Portland pastorate and move his family to Alhambra by July 1st of 1965. Ken and Gladys and their 4 children arrived in So Calif about the time we were having the Watts riots here. Quite a welcome! The skies were full of smoke and often we could see the fires.

Ken said goodbye to many Portland friends, as well as his radio audience. It was a wrenching move for his family, and the Portland church. When he started his fifteen minute morning radio program, his church underwrote the cost as a Home Missions Project. Now it would end.

It wasn't long after his settling into the routines of his So. Calif. church that he heard from a man he had not previously met — a Chevrolet automobile dealer in Portland. The gentleman said he had been a faithful and appreciative listener to the daily radio programs, and wondered if Ken would continue them in the Portland area if he helped underwrite the cost?

Ken consulted with the Board of the Alhambra church to see if he could use the church facilities and recruit some of the musicians and use the church recording equipment to produce programs for airing in Portland. The Board agreed, and consulted the Missions committee to see if they could take on a local radio program for Southern California listeners. The Boards agreed to underwrite the cost for local broadcast time, feeling it was good advertising for the church.

The purpose of this little radio program that Ken called Peace for Today was to help listeners start their day with some positive, uplifting information that would bring encouragement as well as spiritual uplift.

Many of the church membership got behind this effort, and Peace for Today was launched in Southern California from a little station in Glendale. It was recorded in the sanctuary of the church, and with the use of microphones and sound equipment began to take on a pretty professional sound. Copies of each week's shows were sent to Portland to be aired over KPDQ by the Chevrolet dealer.

I often assisted in the Church Office, and my husband was on the Board of Trustees. We became good friends with Ken and Gladys, as their 4 children were close to the ages of our three.

I began listening to Ken Haystead on Peace for Today about thirty years ago during a very difficult time in my life. The helpful upbeat atmosphere of the show, coupled with Ken's practical advice for daily living brought me the direction and inspiration I had been seeking to handle several formidable life challenges.

As soon as my health and emotional vitality returned, I asked Ken if he could use some help with the show. Soon I became Ken's helper and later his co-host.

During the next 9 or 10 years the program was picked up by radio stations outside of Southern California and Portland. It became well listened to by the morning drive population as well as homemakers up and down the West Coast...Fresno, San Francisco, Paradise, Portland, Seattle, — and also Kansas City and San Antonio. By 1974 there were about 20 church members volunteering. We worked out of a room in the basement (formerly a storage room) opening mail, responding to requests and doing many necessary chores. We had an annual dinner in 1973 to celebrate the helpers, and shared information that there were now 4,000 listeners on file and we were receiving more than 1,000 pieces of mail a month.

What had been a small hobby and venture, had grown to proportions that it was time for it to become an entity in its own right. In April 1974 Ken left the pastorate and Peace for Today, INC. became a reality. A board was formed, a little office over a beauty shop was set up, and papers were filed with the State of California for non-profit status, and clearance with the IRS was granted.

Leaving the shelter of the church sponsorship was a big step, but one that Ken felt necessary, and would also give him opportunity to pursue a Marriage Family Counselor status, and provide counseling services — for which there was a demand.

There were about 200 who were willing to back this venture. Ken wrote about it in 1981 in one of his IT SEEMS TO ME articles. Actually, of the 200, there were only about a dozen of us involved on a day to day basis, picking up and answering mail, doing program preparation, and trying to raise enough money to cover the $4,000 a month it took to pay radio stations (In 1974 dollars it seemed like a lot!) while we volunteered.

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It Was the Sixties

by Marge Lakes

It was the sixties. The Cuban Missile Crisis had put the nation on edge. Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev was threatening to launch a Soviet nuclear missile from Cuba, and the U.S.felt in danger. The Kennedy White House had been facing down the Soviets with an ultimatum that they dismantle their missile bases at once but newscasts everywhere were reporting that the Russian warships were on their way to Cuba.

Americans were excavating for bomb shelters — for the threat of nuclear holocaust felt very real. People were gathering together in churches to pray for peace. It is impossible in the current century to make people understand what the Cuban Missile Crisis was like for the average American.

It was in such a time as that that an energetic, young fortyish Pastor of a church in Portland, Oregon felt a calling to give his parishioners reassurance, spiritual uplift and encouragement on a daily basis. Many in the "baby boom" generation felt that if the world was going to end for them, they should "live it up" before we were nuked! Our country was in a time of dramatic change, and much in need of a reminder of family values, coping skills, and God's unfailing care. Ken Haystead wanted to do something positive1

He was inspired to start a brief fifteen minute early morning radio program that could be listened to in automobiles taking people to work, young people on their way to school, and homemakers getting their day started. The challenge was real, and with the help of some church musicians, a bright young radio announcer, and support from his church as a "home missions" outreach, the program was launched on a local station at 7:45 a.m.

The college generation was actively using the "peace" sign, and the name Peace for Today seemed appropriate for this brief, "day-starter" reaching the greater Portland area at 7:45 each weekday morning. His listening audience grew to include not only church members, but many Portland commuters..

Then in the Fall of l964 Ken Haystead received an invitation from a community church in Southern California to candidate along with four others for the position of senior pastor. The founding minister of this church, located in Alhambra, a community East of Los Angeles, was planning to retire. It was a fair-sized congregation with about 800 to 1000 in Sunday attendance and an active youth program

In the course of Ken Haystead's week long visit to Alhambra, he mentioned that he had a little radio program in Portland which he was prepared to leave, but could continue for the Alhambra, church if the Board was interested. A congregational vote was taken to choose a new pastor and of the five candidates, Kenneth Haystead was elected.

In July of l965, Reverend and Mrs Haystead and their four teen-age children arrived in Alhambra. It was about the time of the Watts riots — and they were astounded to see fires burning in Watts from the Alhambra hills. Although they were alarmed and wonder what they'd gotten into, this was yet another manifestation of the unrest of the incredible sixties that was so heavy on the heart of this Pastor.

The Haysteads had not been in Alhambra long, when Ken heard from an automobile dealer in Portland, who said he had been a faithful and appreciative listener to the daily radio program (which was no longer on the air) and wondered if it would be possible for Portland area to again receive the program them, if he were to underwrite the cost? Ken consulted with the Alhambra Church Board regarding use of the sanctuary and church musicians. He explained that the purpose of the morning programs was to give listeners a positive way to start each day — with encouragement and spiritual uplift.

The Church Board agreed to the use of church facilities and volunteers, and the Missions Committee expanded their home missions outreach to include the cost locally of a fifteen minute morning program. During the next nine years the daily programs continued, and as the audience grew, Ken was requested by other localities to expand the outreach. By l974 the program was aired in early morning hours in San Francisco, Seattle, Fresno, and of course, in Southern California and also in Portland (sponsored by the auto dealer).

In 1974 there were about twenty volunteers who came to work in a little basement room of the church, opening and answering mail, and responding to requests for the many printed items Ken offered. At a dinner honoring the volunteers, it was noted that there were 4,000 listeners who had responded, and more than l0,000 pieces of mail had been recorded during the past year.

In the Spring of l974 Ken Haystead left the church, to devote his time exclusively to the radio outreach, and many joined in the effort to incorporate Peace for Today, acquire its own IRS non-profit status, establish a Board of Directors, and write by-laws. All of this was accomplished, and new musicians joined the effort, and programs were recorded in a Glendale studio. One of those most interested, offered use of a rental apart- ment he owned located above a beauty shop. Peace for Today, Inc. was a real organization.

In an IT SEEMS TO ME article in July 1981, Ken Haystead wrote:

"God knows what He's doing, even when I'm not sure that's true. So often, for me at least, I see the will of God in retrospect. But that's nice! It makes for an awed sense of spiritual presence when one is able to look back and see unmistakable evidence of Divine Design! Looking back is revealing — and encouraging. To see that a "chance decision," an "unexpected contact," an "inner urge acted upon" all add up to fulfillment of a dream, is overpowering! Nothing can make you fall on your knees more quickly to acknowledge the sovereignty of the miraculous than to suddenly become aware of things falling silently, but surely into place. It is as though an invisible Hand or Intelligence guided or planned them in the darkest hours or the most difficult times. The tears come gently and you finally believe the words of the Lord through His prophet,

"For I know the plans I have for you. They are plans for good and not for evil, TO GIVE YOU A FUTURE AND A HOPE." (Jer. 29:11 Living Bible).

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