KEITH GREEN'S AMAZING 10-YEAR LEGACY!

“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19

Hello Friends:

     Welcome to the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember again what Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
     I’m again piggybacking off the Jesus Movement theme. Even though I gave my heart to Jesus about five years after the height of the movement, I grew up during that time and I call myself a “hippie wannabe” with my long hair, beard, and my definite search for meaning in life. My last website post and video were about the “The Jesus Revolution”, based on a 1971 Time article, and the “Jesus Revolution” movie currently showing in theaters across America.
     For this post I explored a little bit more about Keith Green, a prolific Christian music artist, who gave his heart to Jesus in 1972, one year after the Time magazine “Jesus Revolution” article was written. Keith also grew up in the hippie scene in the Los Angeles area where Pastor Chuck Smith had such an impact on the hippie culture. The interesting thing is that I didn’t hear or read of any connection between Green, Pastor Smith, and the Jesus movement.
     Keith Green was less than three months older than me, so I can identify with him in the era we both grew up in. But I can in no way identify with him in the area of talent. He was a child musical prodigy and at the age of eleven Keith was the youngest person ever to sign a major recording contract. Decca Records’ goal was to make Keith a teen idol. My wife and I watched him perform on “I’ve Got a Secret” in 1965. I did a video with 11-year-old Keith Green on the piano and singing—transposed into twenty-four-year-old Keith Green again on the piano and singing.
     The problem with the 11-year-old Keith Green’s recording career was that the Osmond Brothers, and particularly Donny Osmond, stole the limelight. Keith’s rock-‘n’-roll career waned, and I could only find proof of two recorded singles.
     Soon afterward as a teen, Keith drifted and he struck out on his own to find out what life had for him. He experimented with drugs and spirituality. In his search for God, he was struck by one fact. All the other religions said that Jesus was a prophet. They said that Jesus was one of many ways to experience God. It struck Keith, however, that Jesus said about Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (God) except through me.” Keith was swayed by the fact that Jesus claimed to be the “only” way to reach God. 

     So in 1972, with this logical deduction, Keith made a calculated decision to follow Jesus, since he claimed to be the only way to find God. The problem was the fact that Keith wasn’t yet born again. That came sometime later when attending a small Bible study. It was told that when Keith finally gave his heart totally to Jesus in 1972, his fervor which was so evident in his music, turned to a fervor for Jesus, and telling others about the love of Jesus.
     Friends said Keith wasn’t a perfect man. Sometimes he could be overbearing if people didn’t see things the way he saw them. But there was one thing. He was on a path in the next ten years that left a legacy that will never be forgotten. Following is Keith Green’s amazing 10-year legacy:

• 1972: Keith Green gave his life to Jesus.
• 1973: Married Melody Green. 
  
• 1975: Keith and Melody started taking people in need into their small house, dubbed “The Greenhouse”, because it was a place of “growth” for people in their faith in Jesus.
• Their home in Los Angeles became too small, so they purchased a home next door, and rented five more to eventually help up to 75 people at one time.
• 1977: Keith and Melody started the non-profit Last Days Ministries. 
  
• 1977: Released his first album with Sparrow Records entitled, “For Him Who Has Ears to Hear”.
  
• 1978: Released second album “No Compromise”.
  
• 1978: Greens started publishing “The Last Days Newsletters” from their garage.
  
• 1979: Negotiated release from Sparrow Records to produce albums to give away at no charge. Also, to go on free-to-the-public concert tours. Keith felt that the Gospel shouldn’t be sold. He only accepted love offerings for albums and concerts.
  
• 1979: Outgrowing their space in LA, they packed up and moved to Texas, and started their ministry there on 180 acres of land that included an airstrip. The ministry grew exponentially in the next three years, including nationwide distribution of the “Last Days Newsletters” to students.
  
• 1980: Released third album “So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt”. Bob Dylan, a good friend of Keith, played harmonica on one of the songs.
  
• 1981: Released the “Keith Green Collection”.
  
• 1982: Released “Songs for the Shepherd”.
  
• 1982: Tragic plane crash, killing Keith, two Green children, a family with six children, and the pilot.
  
• 1984: “The Prodigal Son” was an album released by Melody in 1983 after Keith’s death.
  

     So, the amazing facts are that Keith Green, in 10 short years became a Christian, started an outreach ministry to needy people, released six albums with fifty-four very, very impactful songs, and expanded the Last Days Ministries exponentially to reach students all over America. What a legacy!

Until I see you next time, keep sharing the wonderful love of Jesus,
Arlen

THE JESUS REVOLUTION: CAN IT HAPPEN AGAIN?

 

“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19

Hello Friends:

     Welcome to the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember again what Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
     Time Magazine put out an article in June 1971 where the cover page reads, “The Jesus Revolution”. 

     The article inside discussed the turmoil of the late 1960s and early 1970s with the Vietnam War, protest riots, and the hippie movement with its prevalent drug usage. The result was that thousands of young people, including hippies, turned to Jesus for answers. On the first page of the article, it explained the following wanted poster popular at the time that was put out by a Christian underground newspaper:

WANTED

JESUS CHRIST

ALIAS: THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD, KING OF KINGS, LORD OF LORDS, PRINCE OF PEACE, ETC.

Notorious leader of an underground liberation movement.

• Wanted for the following charges:
• Practicing medicine, winemaking, and food distribution without a license.
• Interfering with businessmen in the temple.
• Associating with known criminals, radicals, subversives, prostitutes, and street people.
• Claiming to have the authority to make people into God's children.

APPEARANCE: Typical hippie type—long hair, beard, robe, sandals.

• Hangs around slum areas, few rich friends, often sneaks out into the desert.

BEWARE: This man is extremely dangerous. His insidiously inflammatory message is particularly dangerous to young people who haven't been taught to ignore him yet. He changes men and claims to set them free.

WARNING: HE IS STILL AT LARGE!

     I went to see the “Jesus Revolution” movie on Thursday afternoon with some friends. The experiences shown in the movie brought back memories, some bad—some good.

     I graduated high school in 1972, so I was aware of the hippie movement, and after high school, I entered my phase of what I call “hippie-wannabe”. I grew shoulder-length hair and a beard. I even had one friend tell me, “Man, you look like Jesus.” Soon afterward, however, my hair on top mostly fell out, and I then looked like—and felt like an insecure bald man.
     I did just a little bit of the drug scene in those days—but like both Greg and Cathe Laurie in the Jesus Revolution movie, I had two really bad experiences tied to using drugs. I’m thankful, in retrospect, for the bad experiences, because with the last one, after three days of extreme paranoia, I made up my mind, even without living for Christ, to never use drugs again.
     In the Jesus Revolution movie, Pastor Chuck Smith was on his last leg as a pastor. His Calvary Chapel church was floundering. His daughter then introduced him to a hippie she met named Lonnie Frisbee. The relationship started rocky between the Jesus-freak hippie and strait-laced Pastor Smith. But later they warmed to each other, and Lonnie began bringing other hippies to his church, against the wishes of many in the congregation. The church began to flourish with young people attending from far and wide.
     Lonnie Frisbee in the movie said eloquently what was driving young people toward Jesus. He said, “It’s desperation, man”! Young people were desperate for hope. They were desperate for true love. And they were desperate for meaningful friendships.
     I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, even with the flaws of some of the characters on full display. After the movie concluded I asked a teenage boy in the lobby, “Do you think a Jesus Revolution can ever happen again?” He shyly said he thinks it can.
     So, what do you think? Can a Jesus Revolution happen again? What will it take? Can people in today’s world be so desperate that they again call out to Jesus for help—and are you and I so desperate for our loved ones and others that we call out to God—for Him to bring another Jesus Revolution?

Until I see you next time keep sharing the wonderful love of Jesus,

Arlen

WHAT HAPPENED?

“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19

Hello Friends:

     Welcome to the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember again what Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
     I’ve been watching some Adam Bowbrow ping-pong videos on YouTube. Adam is trying to bring ping-pong back into popularity all over the world. Back in the day, I was a pretty good ping-pong player, but I realized recently, without any practice, I'm fair, but no longer good at ping-pong.
     Adam, in his ping-pong videos, shares a meme with almost every video. It’s of a Chinese man who Adam played in the past. In the meme, the man was in disbelief at an unbelievably good shot made by Adam. He then smiled at Adam, and uttered the famous words—"What happened?”  It’s a very funny meme.

     The meme mirrors my concern about—“what happened” to mine and our power in the church. After all, didn’t Jesus promise us power with what He said in Acts 1:8? “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
     Didn’t Jesus promise us power in John 14:12? He said, “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”
      Didn’t Paul write about power in Ephesians 1:19? “What is the immeasurable greatness of his (Jesus’) power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.”
     Didn’t Paul pray for God’s power to be manifested in us in Ephesians 3:16? He wrote, “I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through His Spirit.”
     Paul once again wrote in Colossians 1:11 about the power we have access to. He wrote, “Being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience.”
     In James 5:16 James wrote, “The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.” James didn’t say that our prayers might be just a little powerful—but very powerful.
     Peter in 2 Peter 1:3 wrote, “His (God’s) divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” We as believers have direct access to God’s divine power.
     Power is mentioned in some form 385 times in the Bible. Most times it refers to the power of God, His son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit. But as you have just seen, there are many references to God’s great power that He gives you and me as believers.
     So my question is about us as believers not realizing that great power—“What Happened?”

Until I see you next time keep sharing the wonderful love of Jesus,
Arlen