'60 Minutes' shot turns
into a bonanza
for Hensley

By J. Robert Razemore

staff writer

In the opening shots of the television
program "60 Minutes' Sunday night,
the Rev. Kirby J. Hensley of Modesto
quipped with a smile and his tongue
rolling to one side of his mouth,

"Yeah, I'm a con man."

Yesterday he opened the first big
sack of mail prompted by that
national exposure, sifting out checks
and cash totalling maybe $10,000.
There's more today, and there will be
more tomorrow.

"Ooooo wheee ... This is mining.
This is gold mining. It's surprising
what money will do for you,"

the peppery head of the Universal Life
Church exclaimed as he opened more
letters in his world church
headquarters in west Modesto.

Money to Hensley has only begat
more money, something he has not
frittered away. He still lives a modest
life in his Poland Road home.

"I can't see spending it ... If the
Lord's willing and the creek don't
rise, I'll get by."

That he does. He has bought his own church,
several rentals in Modesto and 640 acres of
foothill land in Wilcox, Ariz., for a
retirement village. But that project is
stalled in a tangle of legal problems
with Arizona officials.

When Hensley "gets by" best is
when the television cameras are
whirring and the newspapers are
writing about him - good or bad.

The news has been both to Hensley
in the 10 years since he started telling
people he would ordain anyone for the
asking. And with the minister's
license goes an invitation to become
an honorary doctor of divinity for a
$20 donation.

Hensley was pleased when a San
Jose policeman challenged his issuing
of degrees, as he fought the state, the
Internal Revenue Service and the
federal courts. The public watched,
listened and read of his trials and
tribulations. And they responded -
his flock of mail order ministers grew
to more than 5 million worldwide.