My name is Albert Krantz. I have been associated with the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries since February of 1972, when I was 21 years old.
At that time I was what many people would call a “hippie.” I was regularly taking drugs and wandering on the streets of Los Angeles. The members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministry, at that time, were actively evangelizing in that area, and that is how I heard the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. These people told me that I didn’t have to continue destroying my life with drugs and the other degrading sin that I was involved in, but that there is a way to have my sins forgiven, and gain power over sin and Satan. They were holding services every night where meals were served, and when I attended one of those services I was invited to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. Having done that, I found out that the ministry was set up as a learning center, a foundation, or seminary, where new converts to Christianity could learn the Bible, and how to walk a truly Christian life; to learn to minister effectively and become a soul-winning, functional member of Christ’s Church, which, the Bible states, is His Body.
I moved in to the ministry at that time. I lived in ministry housing, and was completely supported by the ministry. The main thrust of the ministry at that time was (as it still is) “The Great Commission,” to bring the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to every creature, to publish it throughout the world.
We were largely a self-supporting work, not accepting government funding, or asking for widow’s pension money, but being industrious, the ministry flourished in soul-winning just as the church in the book of Acts, and we were able, in 1973, to finance a television program which broadcast internationally for about 10 years.
As the ministry expanded we spread out into different areas, sending witnessing crews all over the country, and into Canada and Central America, and establishing outposts as we were able, all with the single goal of winning the lost to Christ. We expanded into Arkansas (Susan Alamo’s birthplace) around 1974, and continued our evangelistic efforts from that location. We established businesses: a restaurant and grocery store to buy food wholesale, and to be able to feed a growing congregation more economically; a couple of gas stations and a repair shop, to make our growing transportation needs more affordable; a concrete batch plant, to save on building material for the expanding housing needs of the ministry; and a clothing store, to be able to buy clothing at wholesale in order to clothe the people of the church more economically. All these businesses also, and mainly, functioned as soul-winning stations. They were staffed by trained Christians, who effectively witnessed as opportunities arose, and won thousands of souls to Christ throughout the time the businesses were operated.
After the death of Susan Alamo in 1982, the ministry outreach switched from television programming to more and more extensive literature distribution, and world-wide radio broadcasting, still focusing on soul-winning and telling the world about the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He is coming back to earth again very soon. These efforts are still the main thrust of the ministry. The soul-winning literature is now distributed in almost every country on earth, and we ship this literature, and audio messages, to distributors and anyone else who requests it, free of charge and postage paid. At all of our locations witnessing crews still go out and evangelize regularly, and services are still held daily where free meals are served, the Gospel is preached, and the lost are led to Christ. Many needy are taken in to the ministry and provided for. From drug addicts to executives, the Gospel is preached to all, and the ministry is still operated as a sanctuary asnd seminary for recovering from sinful lives and learning the Gospel and the power of God, His Son Christ Jesus, and His Holy Spirit.
Members of the ministry dedicate their lives to God’s service in many ways. The production and distribution of powerful, soul-winning literature, the maintenance and ministration of peoples needs of housing, food, clothing, etc., and the financing of the ministry, to name a few. These charitable efforts are all done cooperatively, and with a singleness of purpose that is to win souls for Christ.