The Door, the satirical “Mad magazine” of...

The Door, the satirical “Mad magazine” of evangelical Protestants for nearly 25 years, has been donated by its El Cajon publishers to the feisty Trinity Foundation in Dallas, which describes itself as a “religious media watchdog.”

The bimonthly magazine, which lampooned the foibles of ambitious preachers and tasteless evangelistic ploys, also ran lengthy interviews with leading evangelical thinkers and leaders.

“We appealed to readers who themselves can’t keep quiet when they see churches taking themselves too seriously or trying to hide mistakes and flaws,” said Mike Yaconelli, senior editor of The Door.

The subscriber base of 8,000 fluctuated as the magazine outraged or delighted evangelical readers.

Though Yaconelli long ago moved to Yreka, Calif., near the Oregon border, to be pastor of a church, he continued to edit the magazine published and subsidized by Youth Specialties, which provides materials and seminars for youth ministries.

“I lost my passion for the magazine even as I developed passion for some other things,” he said.

The January-February issue, the last one edited by Youth Specialties, was at the printing press this week, Yaconelli said.

The next issue will be the product of Trinity Foundation, a group best known for helping national TV programs expose the financial dealings of televangelist Robert Tilton.

Foundation President Ole Anthony said he plans to increase the size and reach of the magazine. He will add the satire of columnist John Bloom, who writes under the name Joe Bob Briggs, and retain a regular column by Yaconelli.

Anthony said the March-April issue will feature “Losers of the Year,” including radio shock jock Howard Stern, who thanked God for his success, and Robert L. Citron, the former treasurer of Orange County who said he listened to financial advice from a psychic and an astrologer.

“Humor and satire are among God’s most effective tools to show forth the vanity and futility of all flesh and to deflate the leaven of religious hypocrisy and bigotry,” Anthony said.

PEOPLE

* Attorneys Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and Carl E. Douglas, part of the team of lawyers who successfully defended O.J. Simpson on murder charges, will be saluted Feb. 18 as “trial lawyers of the year” by Pastor T. Larry Kirkland and Los Angeles’ Brookins Community African Methodist Episcopal Church. Cochran and Douglas also will be made honorary members of the 8,000-member church at 4831 S. Gramercy Place during the 8 a.m. service. Kirkland criticized those who praised the prosecutors rather than Simpson’s attorneys. “In football and in the game of life, the spoils usually go to the victors and not the losers,” Kirkland said.

* The 10-year-old Skirball Institute on American Values has announced that founding director Rabbi Alfred Wolf will take a less active role and consultant Eugene Mornell will become executive director. Mornell has been an assistant staff director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and executive director of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. Also, institute advisory board member Robert F. Erburu, who recently retired as chairman of Times Mirror Co., will succeed Msgr. Royale Vadakin as chairman of the institute’s board. Part of the American Jewish Committee, the Los Angeles institute was formed to identify, explore and promote values held in common by Americans.

CONFERENCES

* The Rev. George F. Regas, who retired in May after 28 years at Pasadena’s All Saints Episcopal Church, will speak Friday night at the 62nd annual state assembly of Church Women United in Whittier. Speakers include Ann Reiss Lane, founder of Women Against Gun Violence, and the Rev. Ginny Wagener, executive director of the South Coast Ecumenical Council. The two-day meeting at Whittier First United Methodist Church, 13222 E. Bailey St., will begin with registration at 11:30 a.m. Friday. (310) 697-0492.

* Pepperdine University School of Law’s Institute for Dispute Resolution will offer sessions on how to manage conflict and change in churches. The first workshops will be held Thursday and Friday to teach “negotiation and conciliation.” The second set of workshops on March 7 and 8 will teach mediation skills. The programs cost $85 each. (310) 456-4655.

* Minority students and others interested in promoting ethnic diversity on Christian campuses can attend the first Western Regional Multicultural Student Leadership Conference on Friday and Saturday at Biola University in La Mirada. The Rev. Kenneth C. Ulmer of Faithful Central Missionary Baptist Church will speak. Workshops include “A Korean Response to the L.A. Riots” and “The Aftermath of Proposition 187,” the state initiative approved by voters in 1994 that limits benefits to illegal immigrants. (310) 903-4874.

DATES

* Author Ray Bradbury, known for his science fiction, will talk on “The Great Future Ahead” at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Santa Anita Church, an independent congregation in the metaphysical New Thought movement, at 226 W. Colorado Blvd., Arcadia. Tickets are $5. (818) 446-8206.

* Marcus J. Borg of Oregon State University, author of “Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith,” will be the keynote speaker at a pre-Lenten seminar Feb. 17 at All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena. Registration is $15. The deadline is Friday. (818) 796-1172.

* Spiritual jazz vocalist Rickie Byars, a recording artist who heads the music ministry at the 4,000-member Agape Church of Religious Science in Santa Monica, will perform at 7 p.m. next Saturday at the church, 3211 Olympic Blvd. Byars, who has written 75 musical compositions with Pastor Michael Beckwith, will be honored this month with the United Church of Religious Science’s first Arts Award. Tickets are $15. (310) 829-2780.

* “Reclaiming the Bible: A Catholic’s Response to Fundamentalism,” a conference next Saturday and Sunday at Mount St. Mary’s Doheny campus in downtown Los Angeles, will be led by Father Ronald Witherup, academic dean and professor of Bible at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif. Lectures and workshops will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. The fee is $30. (213) 746-0450, Ext. 2136.

* The newly formed Jewish AIDS Professionals Network will hold discussions Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Congregation Beth Chayim Chadashim, 6000 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 653-8313.

FINALLY

Although one venerable religious humor magazine recently departed the state, Christian stand-up comics are still doubling over audiences in Southern California pews.

Comedy nights at Protestant churches appeared to proliferate about a year ago. One agency, Clean Comedians, books performers who maintain that good comedy “doesn’t have to be filthy to be funny.”

* Illusionist and comic Adam Cristing, founder of Clean Comedians, will appear with comic-impressionist Steve Bridges at 7 p.m. Friday in the sanctuary of Holliston Avenue United Methodist Church, 1305 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Part of the proceeds will go toward retrofitting of the church.

Tickets at the door will be $10 for adults and $5 for children, but $1 less if purchased in advance. (818) 793-0685.

* Christian comedian and singer Broderick E. Rice will perform tonight in Pasadena. Known for his imitations of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, gospel singer Marvin Winans and other personalities, Rice will tape his performance for an album with Born Again Records.

Rice will begin the taping at 6:30 p.m. at Victory Bible Church, 1497 N. Hill Ave. Also present will be friends from the casts of television sitcoms “Martin,” “Family Matters” and “Minor Adjustments,” a spokeswoman said.