Joel Belz, a longtime Covenant College trustee and one of the founders of Chattanooga Christian School, died Sunday at Asheville, N.C. He was 82.
Mr. Belz was described as "a builder, a founder, an educator, a writer, a father of five and friend to hundreds. His life's goal was to share - with children and with adults alike - his awe of the creator of that world, and the love of his savior Jesus."
He started It's God's World, a publication for children, and later launched World Magazine, which gives the news daily to a large audience across the world through a Christian prism.
Mr. Belz was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, to Max Victor Belz and Jean Franzenburg Belz. He was the second of eight children. Max and Jean founded Bible Presbyterian Church of Cono Center and Cono Christian School near Walker, Iowa.
In addition to their work as pastor and teacher, Max and Jean Belz ran a family printing business from their home. Joel had learned to operate a Linotype by the time he was 11 years old. The early experience left him with a lifelong fascination with human invention in general, and with printing in particular.
Joel attended the fledgling Covenant College, then located in St. Louis, Mo. In 1963, he scouted a new location for the college: the Lookout Mountain Hotel in Georgia, built in 1928 but standing now unused and abandoned. For three months during the next spring, Joel lived alone in the empty hotel, taking the measure both of the property and of local support for the planned relocation of the college there.
After Covenant College moved to Lookout Mountain, Mr. Belz worked there in public relations and as an instructor. He met and married a Covenant alumna, Diana Ewing. The couple returned temporarily to Iowa, where Joel completed his master's degree in mass communications.
The family returned to Lookout Mountain, now with two young daughters. Joel helped to found the Lookout Mountain Christian School near the college, and he built a geodesic dome in which his family would live.
Joel's marriage to Diana ended in divorce. He was then serving as headmaster of LMCS, during which time he actively recruited black students from the city of Chattanooga, increasing their number to about one-third of the school's small student body. The school later moved downtown to Broad Street, better to serve the city. Now known as Chattanooga Christian School, it currently enrolls 1,400 students.
In 1975, Mr. Belz married Carol Esther Jackson - also a graduate of Covenant. The family moved two years later to Asheville, when Joel was hired as managing editor of The Presbyterian Journal.
Joel and Carol Esther Belz were founding members of Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church in Asheville. By 1979, they were the parents of five daughters, all of whom would attend Asheville Christian Academy, then located a short distance from their home in Haw Creek. Joel served for many years on the ACA board and rejoiced to see it grow into an institution that serves 800 students today.
For the next 40 years, Joel and Carol Esther served faithfully in their local church and in the larger denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America. In 2003, Joel was elected moderator of the General Assembly of the PCA. He served on the board of Covenant College over a span of 38 years.
The Presbyterian Journal was succeeded in 1987 by WORLD, a weekly news magazine. WORLD had itself grown from a popular line of children's papers, which Joel had founded six years earlier. At that time, he had envisioned a news magazine for school children, akin to The Weekly Reader but with reporting from a Christian point of view. The first edition was called It's God's World.
Over the years, World News Group expanded to include a journalism institute, a daily podcast, websites to augment the papers, and a video current events program for students.
Mr. Belz was preceded in death by his parents, Max and Jean, and his brother, Nathaniel.
He is survived by his wife, Carol Esther; his daughters, Jenny (Andy) Gienapp, Katrina (Eric) Costello, Alice (Mark) Tucker, Elizabeth (Derek) Odegard, and Esther (Brian) Morrison; 16 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and a large extended family.
Visitation will be from 4-6 p.m. on Friday at Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church in Asheville.
The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Arden Presbyterian Church.
Burial will follow in Mountain View Memorial Park in Black Mountain.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that gifts be given to Covenant College at covenant.edu, Ridge Haven Cono at ridgehaven.org, or World News Group at wng.org.
Anders-Rice Funeral Home and Cremation Center is in charge of arrangements.