Little Compton Resident Publishes The Good News Today

As the vice-president of marketing and sales for a Fortune 500 company, Lawrence L. Lepore had it all: a six-figure salary, fast cars and a waterfront luxury condo, where he lived with his wife, another company executive. But then he lost it all: the company changed hands, his wife left him, and he no longer could afford his upscale lifestyle. Depressed and broken, he was brought to his knees, where he found redemption.

Today, Lepore is the managing editor of the non-denominational Evangelical newspaper, The Good News Today, available at 700 locations throughout Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. The Little Compton resident oversees a staff of 30 volunteers who write, photograph and distribute 16,000 copies of the free newspaper to 500 churches and 200 business locations every month.

“There’s a need for a newspaper in New England that represents God’s perspective,” Lepore said.

A native of Cranston, Lepore went to Oaklawn Baptist Church until he was about nine years old.

“My parents were moral and loving but not really very vocal about their faith,” he said. “I questioned the existence of God. It was a nice story like Santa Claus, but I didn’t really see a lot of proof.”

Lepore attended Rhode Island College for a couple of years, majoring in psychology, but then quit. He got involved with drugs.

“I tried to make changes in my life,” he said. “I cut my hair and got a respectable job. American Bureau Publications, Inc., publishers of the 'Better Business Bureau Consumer Resource Book,' gave me experience in advertising sales and taught me good business ethics.”

Then Lepore landed a job with InFoPlus, publishers of “The Talking Phone Book,” the first computer-enhanced yellow pages.

“I learned about my business and developed people skills,” he said. “We were a Fortune 500 and Inc. 100 company.”

He was promoted to vice president of marketing and sales for New England, taking on management responsibility for 200 sales representatives.

“I made a ton of money, but I still had that emptiness inside of me,” he said.

Then the company was sold.

“I had put my heart and soul into that company,” he said. “It led to the breakup of my marriage, losing my property, cars, everything that was important to me.”

The turning point came after a two-week drinking binge.

“I woke up one morning in my bed with a woman I barely knew,” he said. “With tears rolling down my face, I cried out to God, ‘I don’t know if you exist or not, but I need to know! I’m tired of this life!’”

Lepore turned on the TV, and Robert Schuller was preaching on his program “Hour of Power.”

“Every word that he spoke was specifically for me,” he said. “It was like God was speaking to me through Robert Schuller.”

Lepore said that he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior that morning. He found a small New Testament Bible and read it cover to cover.

“I read every day and literally got lost inside Scripture,” he said. “I started calling my old friends and apologizing for stuff I had done wrong.”

Lepore sold his condo and moved in with a friend. He worked odd jobs and spent the rest of his time ministering to the homeless, drug addicts and alcoholics on the streets of Providence.

“I would talk to them and get them off the street,” he said. “I made contact with churches to get pastors to take them under their wing. That’s what the broken and dejected need – friends to love them and show them the love of God.”

A former co-worker, whom he had not seen in eight years, offered him a job.

“I was led back into corporate America, something I swore I would never do again,” Lepore said.

For three years, he worked for a publisher of college directories, building a sales force and sharing his faith with people on the job.

During a business trip to Worcester, MA, Lepore picked up a USA Today at the door of his hotel room and began reading the front page headlines.

“I am sick of bad news,” he thought to himself. “What if the paper were filled with nothing but good news?”

Lepore took the idea to his pastor, who arranged for him to present his vision to a group of Rhode Island pastors. Although they were unable to support the newspaper financially, they agreed to make it available to their 40 congregations.

In almost four years of living frugally, Lepore had saved $100,000, which he had planned to use someday to open a rehab facility. He decided to invest the money into the newspaper.

Moving back home with his parents, he established the business as a one-man operation, planning to write, sell ads, publish and distribute the 10,000 copies of the newspaper himself. He bought a Rhode Island mailing list and sent out an announcement that a new Christian newspaper was coming to the state. Then the phone started ringing.

“I started getting calls from volunteers, offering to write and take photographs,” Lepore said. “The paper started to snowball. I slept and worked in my parents’ garage for the first five years.”

In 2005, Lepore married CherylLynn, who now serves as administrative assistant of the newspaper.

Today, the couple works out of their West Main Road home, embracing the ministry that keeps on growing. Currently, with the help of 30 volunteers, they write and publish 16,000 copies of The Good News Today every month, which are available at 700 locations region-wide. Supported by advertisers, the newspaper is free.

“Everybody wants good news,” said Lepore, who is now celebrating his ninth year in business.  

For more information about The Good News Today, P.O. Box 161, Little Compton, RI 02837, call (401) 619-0418; email info@thegoodnewstoday.org or visit www.goodnewstoday.org.