Midwest BEAT Magazine

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EDITORIAL

THE SOAPBOX: One Guy's Opinion

by Tom Lounges, Publisher

This past month has been a personally rewarding one for me, having renewed a
close friendship with someone from my past that I had not seen nor heard from
in over a decade.
    While it has been great grabbing lunches together and catching up on what
we've each been up to over many steaming cups of mocha lattes, it is the
timing of my buddy's return into my life that makes me wonder if maybe there
is a bigger picture to see, a greater force at work.
    The situation that brought us back together was his taking the job as the
publicist for the newly opened Family Christian Center in Munster, IN.
    As such, it was his job to pitch me on the new $7 million dollar
multi-media facility. As a journalist, it was my job to report on it.
   While reporting about the 3,000 seat auditorium theatre, the million
dollar Martin light show, the state-of-the-art digital sound system, an
in-house television editing studio and other cold hard facts, I discovered
something else...a human aspect to it all.
   The hard protective callouses on my heart from too many news stories about
kids killing kids, parents abusing children and stupid hatreds causing wars
and related atrocities, had softened as I observed the real difference one
person can make.
   Looking past the multi-million dollar facility of steel and concrete, I
saw that the real story there was not the high-tech production or the many
concerts and stage plays on the Center's agenda, but rather the man who had
the vision to make such a place a reality in N.W. Indiana.
    While covering this story, I saw the actual cause and effect of one
person's deep-hearted belief that life can be made better if we just get off
our butts and reach out our hands.
    Re-educating me to this lesson in human impact, which I had learned long
ago but had forgotten in the flurry of the work a day world, was a
Harley-Davidson riding preacher named, Stephan Munsey.
     As the Pastor of the Family Christian Center, Munsey focuses on those
who most need a purpose and meaning in their lives - America's youth.
   Munsey has uniquely built his congregation around rock 'n' roll and other
performing arts. "We are a sight and sound generation," he said. "So I use
high-tech FX and production, and a little touch of Hollywood to get my
message heard."
      Whether he is swinging down to his pulpit from the balcony on a rope a
la Ted Nugent, riding a Harley through the building and up to the stage a la
Rob Halford, or using a parade of rock star look-alikes to exemplify the
importance of making the right and wrong choices in life, Munsey gets
attention and shows young people that church and God need not be the dry,
dusty and pious experience it once was.
    As a parent and someone who cares about the kids of today's generation, I
wanted to tip my hat to this man, who has helped to turn around the lives of
many area kids once in gangs, using drugs, using alcohol and living on the
streets. What's cool is that he did it with a medium to which they could
understand and relate...with rock 'n' roll!
    "Kids want a voice. They want something of their own," said Munsey.
"That's why we built this building. It's here for the young people of
Chicagoland."
    As we now approach Thanksgiving and Christmas, I wanted to share my warm
experience at the Family Christian Center with my readers and acknowledge a
man who is making a positive difference in our community.
    Incidently, while reporting on the events at the Center, I ran into a few
old heavy metal rocker friends that once head-banged with me in the local
clubs. I'd wondered what had become of them.
     As it turns out, they just found a new rock 'n' roll path to follow, one
with a different drummer to help them keep the beat of life.
     As I close this article, it seems odd to me that I would be writing this
particular editorial in an issue that has Glenn Danzig on its cover promoting
his new CD, Satans Child.
    But then again, maybe it's not so strange, it really just comes down to
looking at both paths and choosing which one we each want to follow. Nothing
personal Glenn.