Christian Research Institute - Transfer To California

Transfer To California

In 1974 Martin left New Jersey and relocated to California, and this also entailed the transfer of CRI. In the early stages Martin was assisted by Bob and Gretchen Passantino as staff members in CRI. Martin also became part of the teaching faculty of the newly formed Melodyland School of Theology in Anaheim, where countercult apologetics was integrated into the curriculum and the 13,000 volumes of CRI's library was housed there. Later the ministry opened an office in El Toro, and then shifted to larger premises in Irvine.

The upsurge of interest in Martin's work and CRI coincided with the Jesus People revolution, the counterculture, and the social conflicts over new cults in the 1970s. During the 1970s and 1980s a number of younger apologists were mentored by Martin through CRI and included Cal Beisner, Todd Ehrenborg, Craig Hawkins, Carole Hausmann, Kurt Van Gorden, John Weldon, George Mather, Paul Carden, Rich Poll, Robert M. Bowman, Jr., and Elliot Miller. The profile of CRI increased with the widespread sales of Martin's book The Kingdom of the Cults (now in the vicinity of some 750,000 copies sold), his audio-tape albums, his radio ministry, and his appearances on national television.

Martin was also involved in the establishment of the MA program in apologetics at the Simon Greenleaf School of Law (now Trinity Law School) in 1980. Martin taught there on cults and the occult throughout the 1980s, and was assisted from time to time by Bob and Gretchen Passantino.

In 1977 CRI launched a new quarterly periodical called the Christian Research Institute Newsletter, which in 1978 was retitled Forward. Through this periodical analyses were published about such movements as Hare Krishna, Jonestown, Rajneesh, the New Age and Satanism.

In 1983 CRI established the Instituto Cristão de Pesquisas (ICP), an affiliate ministry in São Paulo, Brazil. Founded by staff researcher Paul Carden, it was eventually led by Martin disciple Paulo Romeiro.

In 1987 Forward was revamped as Christian Research Journal, which was initially devised as a tri-yearly publication. In 1990 the journal was enlarged in size and became a quarterly publication, and has since become a monthly periodical. The Christian Research Journal has won several awards of excellence from the Evangelical Press Association. The journal now covers a wider range of issues in addition to cults, such as general apologetics, ethical apologetics, world religions, and theological controversies. It also includes contributed essays by authors who are not staff members with CRI.