I was the treasurer and business manager of Glide from 1970 to 1981. The Internet records about Glide are total nonsense. They are based solely on the self-serving history as told by Cecil Williams. Here are the facts.
This page at Stanford is accurate: “By the early 1960s, …. Glide Memorial, a small congregation with a large endowment in the form of the Glide Foundation, was ready for change. In 1962 Bishop Tippett appointed the community organizer Lew Durham as director of the Foundation. Durham and pastor John V. Moore ('41) began to initiate a more progressive social agenda. The following year, the board established the Glide Urban Center, a new urban ministry that developed programs to counter the Tenderloin's worsening delinquency, prostitution, and drug problems. Rev. Ted McIlvenna was brought on to run the Glide Young Adult Ministry, Rev. Don Kuhn became Glide's publisher and PR specialist, and the charismatic Rev. Cecil Williams was hired as Minister of Outreach. Williams was named Glide's next pastor following Moore's departure in 1966.”
The first organizer to arrive at Glide in 1962 was Lew Durham. (Photo on the right) I wrote a blog post about Lew but it doesn’t do him justice. He was the manager of Glide from 1962 until he went to live in a commune he started. He left in about 1978. Lew brought in the three other significant ministers. He himself was a powerful force and supported the other ministers in their work. He also maintained the needed cohesion and civility.
One was Ted McIlvenna. (Photo on the left) The blog post I wrote about him covers much of the relevant material. Ted changed the world more than nearly any other person I’ve ever known. He revolutionized the global knowledge and lives of everyone in the field of human sexuality.
Another was Don Kuhn. (Photo lower right) Don shaped the political future of San Francisco, for better or worse. In the current era of ‘wokism’ San Francisco is a leading source and bad example. Don, with good intent, was a highly relevant player in that transition. Don left Glide in about 1975 to be a minister at two churches; one in Oakland and one in the San Francisco Sunset District. The blog post on Don is here.
These three men brought in Cecil Williams to be minister to the congregation in 1964. The other three went about their work while Cecil took all the glory and after I left, he took over the church, entirely. My blog post on Cecil, which is laudatory, is here.
One of the early blogs I wrote about Glide is here. It has a few more details.
I owe a great deal to my time at Glide. The knowledge I gained, the platform to work from and the help of Don, Ted and Lew were immense. The time and freedom to do my own work was of incalculable value. The actual work in my office was very minor; it only required a few hours of work a week. I had a great staff. Among my major accomplishments at Glide were
- the creation of the Third World Tours, which led directly to the vast modern tour business in San Francisco and the hundreds of walking tours.
- I forced the New York investment banks and firms to follow my investment practices which gave the freedom and technology for non-profit foundations to invest overseas.
- The creation of Wino Park at 6th and Minna, the first and to-date, only park for people later called the ‘homeless.’
By the time I left Glide I was no longer on good terms with Cecil Williams because I refused to give him and his family the unreasonable salaries he wanted. I organized my own farewell dinner which was filled with my close friends and dignitaries of San Francisco to make sure my reputation was never sullied after I was gone. I had Cecil say some kind words about me.