Early Days

Rev. Hal as he became to be known and Barbara were overjoyed that their patience and prayers had been answered......and went to work nurturing us in bible principals and encouraging

us.....this did cause in a rift in the group as there were some kids that resisted but such
a bond had been formed that they remained for quite a time afterward.


At the time, Teen Challenge was a big deal...Bill Bright and others had written the
Four Spiritual Law pamphlet which had been printed and handed out to thousands.
Kay, others and myself went to the Lake Arrowhead Christian retreat for a week.
I didn't have enough money to go but someone at the church paid my way. There
we were taught by Bill Bright and others about evangelism, basic principals, etc,.
I don't remember any specifics but one thing that stands out was that one evening
we wrote out a private list of all of our sins and then stood outside in a circle and
threw the lists in the fire....realizing that the Lord had forgiven and forgotten them.
We were new creatures.
we enjoyed the hot springs that were there and as this was right after Christmas
they took bus loads of us to the Rose Parade to do street witnessing.
I am naturally a shy person and don't like confrontation.....Kay and I teamed up,
gave out a few tracts and talked to a few people...then watched the parade.....
afterwards we went back to camp, and they had a meeting with people giving
their experiences......I didn't say anything and felt a little shamed..they then
pushed people to sign up for overseas ministry which I wasn't interested in
and had us all sign up to pray for countries overseas also.

Looking back on the whole week, it was kinda of a mixed bag...we were
new believers and not ready to take on the world but it was a good experience
all in all.
A few weeks later, Kay, Sandi (my other good dear friend) and I decided
we wanted to be baptized by emerson according to the scripture. The
Methodist church didn't have a pool or anything, they baptize by touching
with water....but we insisted so Rev. Hal called another church that had
such a pool and all 3 of us were baptized there.

soon afterwards things started to move at a faster pace,
the year was 1971 and the Jesus Movement was racing
towards Oceanside, the Methodist church and our little youth group.