The Hensgens Move into Westy House

Linda and I along with our two children, Rick and Robin, were quite happy in our home on Nolan Ave. I was in the Navy and doing very well. There was only one problem, the Lord continued to tell Linda and I that we had to take new steps in our Christian life. Linda was very involved with the church and I was an elder and part time director of the choir. By 1974, we knew that a change was coming. I asked the elders to join me in prayer for direction in my life. At an elders retreat, the elders (along with me) determined that it was time to resign my commission as a Naval Officer. This was a big decision. I already had 14 years in the Navy and was a Lieutenant Commander who would probably be promoted to Commander within the year. This meant that I would lose my retirement and medical benefits. But, Linda and agreed that this was the next step. We also agreed that we should move into community.

I submitted my resignation to the Navy and my letter was accepted, but I was required to make one more deployment to the Far East. This deployment would be from early October 1974 through the Spring of 1975. I was serving as the Logistics Officer for Aphibious Squadron One. Getting ready for deployment is a very busy time for logistics officers. We were to deploy on a Monday. On the Friday, a week before this deployment, Ken Pagaard called and said that we had been accepted and were to move into Westby house. He further said that we must move out of our house and into Westby this week end because the Kings were going to move into our house on the following Monday. We had lived in our house for 7 years and I was preparing for deployment. I can't really describe the hectic weekend; we threw away so much. But on Monday we moved into Westby and the Kings moved into our house. One week later, I left on my final deployment. Westby was a wonderful experience, but I don't ever want to have to move like that again. We stayed there until June of 1981.

How Community Started

The following quotes from an article in Vision Magazine, no. 16, July, August, 1976 by Ken Pagard gives some history describing how the community began:

It all began innocently enough, almost four years ago, as an expression of God's love in us. John tells us in his first letter that if we have this world's goods, and see a brother in need, then close our heart to materially helping that brother, we can lay no claim to having God's love. (I John 3:17) There was a girl from Seattle, pregnant, living in an apartment by herself, going to pieces. So we invited her home with us. Then an incorrigible boy from the school where my wife teaches was sent to Juvenile Hall. We felt nine years old was too young for that, so we asked the authorities if we could have him. My brother, a missionary in Africa, asked to leave his two teenage children with us to finish high school. Then an alcoholic whom I had tried to help for years was invited to join us, then a man just out of prison, and a divorcee with two children.

Other families in the church were also doing the same. We would get together to help each other, compare notes, and pray together. Gradually the sharing became broader and deeper. Ones who had come needing ministry were healed, and wanted to stay on as part of the ministry. Others from the church joined in to strengthen the ministry. This was given increased impetus through contacts with the Christian community at the Church of Redeemer in Houston, Texas, a couple of years later. The households ministering to broken people began to come together into a single entity sharing with each other, while remaining geographically separate. Over the following two years this group of families caring for needy individuals gradually developed into a real Ministering Community.

The name explains what it is. It is a community — people sharing together. More and more it has come to the point of sharing all things in common, as in the early church (Acts 2 and 4). This is a sharing together of material possessions — those who work contribute their total income to the community households. Each household has its own common treasury from which are paid all the household bills, food, clothing, etc. Each person also receives an allowance for incidental needs and expenses. We try to work it so that there are enough wage earners in each household to be able to meet expenses of the household. However, if one household is short and another has extra, there is sharing from one house to another. While for legal reasons title to most houses remains in individuals names, for all practical purposes they belong to the Community.

However, the sharing is more than material, it is the sharing of a whole life. It is a matter of living together with real love for each other, learning what it is to be considerate of each other, adjust to each other, give in to each other. It is a matter of in love being subject to one another, surrendering something of our independence so that we can become one body serving the Lord. This means a growing in being open with each other, and being freed from the many bondages that bind.

The start that Ken mentions as "about 4 years ago" was in 1970. This article which will be cited in more articles and in a book which I am preparing discusses how First Baptist Church became itself a Ministering Community.

Westby House 1977

This is Brenda Gire's rendition of our household. We are welcoming Ken and Mona Pagard back from their trip to England. Starting on the back row l-r are Mike Green (holding the banner) Linda Hensgen (my wife), me (the little chubby guy with a moustache), Sharon Stolebarger, Dan Stolebarger, Bruce Blankenheim is looming over Sharon and Dan, Gordon MacDonald, Brenda Gire, and Tim Pagard (holding up the banner. Second row: Robin (my daughter), Rick (my son), Kevin Lockits, Patti Pagard and Denise Mims. Bottom row (seated): Hilary Faux (a visitor from England), Katherine Pagard, Joshua Mower, Jacque Johns and April Mower.

My family and I moved into Westby house in early October, 1974. It was called Westby house because it was located on Westby Street. When we moved in, there were actually 30 people living there. I only stayed there the first week and then I was gone. I was a Naval Officer and deployed to the waters off Viet Nam and Cambodia. I returned in April of 1975. Ken Pagard (during this period, he changed the spelling of his name to the actually Danish spelling -- Pagaard) the pastor of First Baptist Church Chula Vista was the head of our household. We lived there until June 30, 1981.

I will be talking a lot more about our experiences, but let me sum it up. It was a great experience. Linda and I grew as a couple. Our children matured as they grew. It was not always easy -- but the results were good.