Behind the Work 1982
Author: David Markopoulos | Living Education
These posts summarize the forums that our Living Education-Charlotte students attend each week.
January 16th, 2026 was the 40th anniversary of the death of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong. For a recent forum presentation, the Living Education-Charlotte students had the opportunity to watch a Behind the Work film from the year 1982. This video covered several major aspects of the Work being done by the Worldwide Church of God, and familiarized the students with the heritage of the Church of God.
The video contrasted the humble beginnings in Eugene, Oregon to the grand, large-scale facilities in Pasadena at the time. Mr. Armstrong pioneered the modern era of the Work from a small office space. By 1982, the Church’s headquarters included many buildings such as the Ambassador Auditorium, various college facilities, and more.
The film also showed several behind-the-scenes meetings between Mr. Armstrong and department heads, showcasing different aspects of the Work, including the editorial process, the college, facilities management, and Church administration. Today, we have several departments following in those same footsteps and performing the same jobs many who came before have. At that point in time, the Church had over 400 congregations, and regularly maintained refresher courses for the ministry to keep them up-to-date and focused on their mission to serve the membership.
While this era of the Church may seem far in the past for us, this was a relatively recent time in history. God used Mr. Armstrong and several faithful men like him to carry out a large-scale Work, making use of resources and technology that had never existed up to that point in history. Today, we have the responsibility of carrying on that same Work of preaching the Gospel and preparing for the coming Kingdom.
David Markopoulos is a Living Education alumnus from the 2023-2025 school years. Originally hailing from Chicago, he currently works for the Living Education program.
