Your mom and I were greatly affected by the move of God that influenced the believing Church of America in the 1970s, known as the Jesus Revolution, a glimpse of which is documented in the movie of the same name. Many of us in our teens had begun to succumb to the radical antiwar movement of that era birthed by the Vietnam Conflict (War) which the United States entered beginning in the mid-1960s.
Mom was a Junior at Broomfield High School during the summer break of 1972 and attended a family camp at Flathead Lake, which was using the Methodist Camp site, but was known as, “Camp Farthest Out,” or CFO Camp (near Kalispell, MT). It was there that during a campfire testimony by one of those gathered, a young lady, described her conversion encountering Jesus sitting in the passenger seat of her car when driving through a terrible rainstorm. Your mother sensed the holy presence of the Lord Himself, and surrendered to Jesus (“Jesus, if you want me, you can have me!”), while weeping and being simultaneously comforted by His presence. As she went to bed, she wondered, “Will this feeling of the Lord’s presence, this light, be as real to me in the morning as it is right now?” Indeed, the light was there in the morning, and she never looked back! This was August 2, 1972, at Flathead Lake, Montana.
Mine was a different story, an account of a hippie, post high school, who distrusted society and its norms. I was 19 when three of us (then working together at Colorado Leisure Products in Broomfield) decided it would be adventurous for Bill, Rick and me to move to Southern California, where Bill’s dad lived near Gardena. Bill’s wife, Rene, would join us later, but the three of us drove out, picked up a Thrifty Shopper newspaper circular at a convenience store in Gardena and looked for a place to rent nearby. The person we contacted would turn out to be the daughter of the retired missionary couple who lived in the property next door to this rental. Bill “sweet talked” our rental agreement, and we moved into a three-bedroom house in Redondo Beach, California, in April 1972.
The Fays, retired from Missionary Alliance serving Paraguay and Brazil for 50 years, were in their 80’s and loved me to the Lord. I accompanied them to North Redondo Chapel, an interdenominational church, for a prayer meeting, Wednesday, May 10, 1972. I had used amphetamines, marijuana, hashish, and LSD, but sitting in that prayer meeting, I thought to myself, “This might be a safer way to experience God.” I went forward with others to pray as an altar call was being made, and a youth pastor, Ed Snyder, counseled me regarding a decision to follow Jesus. Russ Reidsema, a layman working with a UCLA Navigator Bible study, and being discipled by their Nav staff leader, Alan Lunford, connected with me after church the following Sunday, and “I never looked back!”
May this gift, the DVD, and our short testimonies serve you well in recounting your parents’ faith and their desire that you walk in a way that magnifies the mighty name of Jesus, who gave us life, cleaned us up, and called us (and you) to walk in good works, (Ephesians 2:10) “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” So, our lives are Soli Deo Gloria, for God’s glory alone. 1 Corinthians 4:7 “For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
We love you guys, and Jesus loves you even more! Love in Him, Mom and Dad (July 2023)