A few years ago Pat mentioned that she and I were Jesus Freaks to someone that was a generation younger than us. They laughed, hadn't heard the term and were surprised that we would want to be called such.
It was popularized during the late 60's, early 70's. With the hippie movement and all its drugs, free love (cheap sex) and other revolutionary ideas about our culture there came a resurgence of a personal relationship with Jesus. It wasn't typically encouraged in main stream denominational churches. It had tastes of the hippie culture from ocean baptisms in CA to the congregating of east coast surfers in growing charismatic churches. Young people were looking for meaning but weren't ready to give up their bell-bottomed jeans, long hair and off beat persona.
I had walked away from my involvement in church as a senior in high school. It was costing me friends by being a "Christian" and I didn't see much difference in their life style and that of the kids outside of church. But after wandering around in college for a couple of years I was longing for meaning and something to invest my life in. I returned to a small Baptist church in Reynoldsburg, OH where I was living at the time.
It just so happened (Ha) that a radical Baptist pastor named Arthur Blessitt was dragging a cross across the US, preaching where he could, bringing kids out of the drug culture into a relationship with Jesus. He had florescent orange stickers with a peace symbol on them that pointed to Christ. He told of druggies, hippies, bikers, prostitutes and others who weren't typically welcomed in church finding peace and release in Jesus. He really believed that the Acts of the Apostles could be lived again. At 20 I was hungry to see that too.
In fact I had walked away from the church because it didn't seem relevant to the issues I was facing. To hear that the Gospel was powerful enough to set people free was just what I was looking for.
I jumped on board and began the ride of a life time. I became hungry to read the Bible and spent time with a close friend four years my junior who was as passionate about following God as I was. We shared our faith with others and spent time reading the Bible.
Soon I was called to active duty in the navy. I had dropped out of college and lost my deferment. When I arrived on my ship I discovered that my chaplain was a Pentecostal. Many of the chaplains were just as carnal as the rest of the crew and took the navy as a way to avoid serving in a congregation. He introduced me to a charismatic church that was drawing kids from the beach culture to Christ.
During my time in the navy I continued to see God move in remarkable ways. We fellowshipped with sailors from other ships in our NATO fleet. I served as protestant lay leader on our ship since none of the officers wanted to do it. That involved holding worship services onboard when out to sea. At one point the chaplain from the carrier wanted to have me ousted because I wasn't ecumenical enough but the crew "revolted" and the captain asked him to return to the carrier and not come back. We had Bible studies and guys came to know God. Sometime I'll write about the discussions we had on the bridge when in port with the metaphysician.
We met Christians when we came to ports around the Mediterranean. Someone gave me a book to study called Youth Aflame by Winky Pratney. I studied it while at sea. We worked in a Youth With A Mission coffeehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark and did some street evangelism on another cruise. With met kids in Athens, Greece who introduced me to Francis Shaeffer that resulted in a trip to Switzerland later in the cruise. We knew that we were on a trek that was led by the Holy Spirit at the expense of the navy.
I remember writing letters back home to friends about the things we were experiencing. One of my friends said it was like getting letters from a modern day apostle Paul.
So what is God doing today that resembles the Jesus Freaks...those who were sold out to Jesus and following him?
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