Our Life Together Vol. 3 Number 8 February 25, 1975

The article that most interested me was the one on the Glory of God written by Gary Bell. He was one of the leaders of Abba Craft. He was also one of the main editors of Our Life Together -- later he was to become THE editor. But what we see here is that Gary was also one of a group of very talented young men who had real teaching ability and they were also articulate in writing their teachings.

Gary carefully develops the theme of glory as seen in both the Old and New Testaments. Finally his exposition culminates in the glorification of Jesus on the cross. From this we see that God's glory is seen in laying down our lives for others. Since this was right at the heart of living in community, we were demonstrating the glory of God in our living together.

Whether one shares the above belief or not, this was at the heart of living in community. Many of us have gone on to see community as a part of the social gospel. It is seen by these people as a political move. Therefore if we could only get the government to "see the light" everything would be right; we would love one another and share with one another, taking care of one another. The problem is that this doesn't work. This was also not our motivation for living in community. I can say for myself that I was only motivated by a strong desire to obey God and live for His glory. There was no other motivation. Without God, I wouldn't have touched this. I still wouldn't.

Another quick note; look at Kathy's drawings. She was one of the more prolific artists in the early days of OLT.

Our Life Together Vol. 3, Number 7, February 19, 1975

I mentioned on Face Book that this was an issue with a lot of meat in it. The cover article is written by Ralph Martin. The paragraphs below are quoted from "Days of Fire and Glory" by Julia Duin published by Crossland Press in 2009 -- the quote is from pages 53 and 54:

Another of the intellectuals was Ralph Martin, a philosophy major with luminous blue eyes and sideburns who specialized in Nietzsche. He had tossed aside his Catholic upbringing as an undergraduate, and become the University of Notre Dame's resident atheist. The first time he met Stephen Clark (discussed earlier in the book -- another leader of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal), they argued over Christianity. Ralph's atheistic sojourn ended while experiencing a dramatic conversion during a Cursillo weekend, and he was preparing to begin a philosophy doctorate at Princeton.

The two young men spent the summer of 1965 together at a monastery in Elmira, New York, during which time they both concluded God was calling them to leave graduate school for full-time Christian work. They resigned their fellowships at Yale and Princeton, gave away all their possessions, including Steve's huge library, and most of their clothes. By August, everything they owned fit in one large army pack. They had 87 cents between them, but salaried positions at a student parish at Michigan State University awaited them in the Fall. They had also been hired for positions on the National Secretariat of the Cursillo.

Ralph was also one of the leaders of the Charismatic Conference of 1977 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. He is the one who made the prophecy (again quoted from Duin's book p. 176):

As the words of prophecy flowed out over the stadium that warm July evening, 45,000 people dropped to their knees in semi-shock.

"Mourn and weep," the speaker said, "for the body of My Son is broken.

"Mourn and weep," he repeated, "for the body of My Son is broken. Come before Me with broken hearts and contrite spirits, for the body of My Son is broken. Come before Me with sackcloth and ashes. Come before Me with tears and mourning, for the body of My Son is broken.

"I would have made you one new man, but the body of My Son is broken. I would have made you a light on a mountaintop, a city glorious and splendorous that all the world would have seen, but the body of My Son is broken."

All was silent. The voice continued.

"The light is dim. My people are scattered. The body of My Son is broken. I gave all I had, in the body and blood of My Son. It spilled on the earth. The body of My Son is broken.

"Turn from the sins of your fathers and walk in the ways of My Son. Return to the plan of your Father. Return to the purpose of your God. The body of My Son is broken. Mourn and weep, for the body of My Son is broken."

Silence fell for several minutes.

That is an understatement. I was there. This was such a great celebration! Then this word hit. I think there was a huge desire for the Church to come together. The first night plenary speaker was Kevin Ranaghan, another Catholic, a professor at Notre Dame and head of the People of Praise Community, started by saying that we could be there all night discussing our differences, but he was going to discuss those things that we had in common. He did just that. What a great night.

Of course this is not a comment on Ralph Martin's article. But seeing his name brings up some profound memories to me.

Our Life Together Vol3, Number 6, February 11, 1975

Themes of renewal, restoration and healing were at the heart of what we sensed God doing in the Ministering Community. God had a purpose for us as individuals and as a church. We also, quite correctly, knew that whatever God was doing with us as a church, we were only part of what God was doing with His Church throughout the world.


Ken, in his cover article, discusses the fact that God is healing and renewing each of us individually. We are being restored to be God's creation before we were deformed by sin. Of course the emphasis of this particular article is that we need to be patient with one another when we are going through this process. This concept was important for basically two reasons. One is just the idea that God is renewing,restoring and healing. But, reason two was the fact that living in a community household brought all of this into the open. Healing was not a private thing. When a person went through difficult times, he/she went through it with all of us. If we were not patient with one another the household would blow apart. During my 7 years in community, I think that this occurred two or three times -- I am not talking about undercurrents (always present) nor individuals leaving -- I am talking about big blowouts where people were bouncing off the wall and/or walking out in groups.


One of these times was humorous and has been discussed on the House of Abba page in Face Book. This was the time when were all gathered to eat breakfast. Two of the women got into an argument regarding how one of the children was being managed. Before things calmed down, the large container of orange juice was being thrown the length of the table. Of course it got worse before it got better. I remember that the Bishops (an Anglican pastor from Oxford England and his wife) were there -- dressed for church. They had priceless expressions on their faces. I remember panicking and calling Ken to rush home (he was already at the church). We survived the "Great Westby House Food Fight."


The other time that I remember wasn't funny at all. It revolved around a deep argument of two women. Everyone was taking sides. People were crying and running out of the house. I remember walking out with my wife and sitting around the corner of the house talking with another couple of people. Sounds trite now, but when you live in community, you are so emotionally close to one another that these situations are like family fights on a large scale. We had to have patience for one another.


Clay's article on the Restoration of the Church deserves some good commentary. Here I will just state that he brings in the larger implications of renewal. It isn't just for the individual, it is the church. When renewal, restoration and healing of individuals is taking place within a place of safety (the church), without patience for one another, that church can fly apart as fast as the community household. When I look back on this time, church life and home life were both very intense. They were good times. But it was the love for Jesus and the love for one another that allowed us to be patient with one another during the difficult times.

Our Life Together Volume 3, Number 5, February 4, 1975

(Note -- the pages are in order, but they read from bottom up rather than top down.)


The arts in general were a major component of our life at First Baptist of Chula Vista. Community allowed us to pursue art in a very serious manner. The forms of art included dance, drama, choir (classical), various music groups (folk, rock, bluegrass and even Christian pop), solo artists and composers of music. At the center was Abba Craft. This ministry was not really connected with the other forms of art mentioned, but many of the artists in Abba Craft were also musicians. I was a late comer (I was in the Navy), but when I got out, I became Choir Director, and Minister of Music. I was also a part of the drama ministry later. Even after Abba Craft dissolved, various kinds of art have flourished at FBCCV even to this day.


Gary Bell was a wonderful apologist for art. I love art but have about zero talent and very little knowledge; I am dependent upon someone like Gary to explain things. He does so in the two articles on art contained in this issue. The first article gives a rationale for Christian art. He traces the roots of art clear back to the time of the building of the Tabernacle. He also differentiates between art that glorified God and art that became idolatry. In his letter to the art student, he discussed how art has degenerated in our generation, but how a Christian artist can still stand out as a minister to glorify God.


The pictures are also wonderful. They bring back memories to me. These young men and women were so talented and so committed to their ministry. They blessed me a lot.


Ken's article brings out a theme that was very important in the life of the community; we really do need one another. I agree with Ken that this is a strong Biblical theme for any time and any place, but it was extremely important in the life of the community. Of course each of us was/is important in our own right, but none of us us sufficient in and of ourselves.


Larry in discussing integrity brings a note of reality into our community life. It was always easy to point the finger to someone else while excusing our own lack of responsibility. Larry tells us that we are each personally responsible for our own behavior. Jesus wants us to be people of integrity. I have written elsewhere in this blog about this problem.

Until Death Do Us Part

This issue of OLT came out May 14, 1974. I included the cover just because I think it was interesting. I think the heart of the issue is the short article by Mike Sandez. I think that he states so clearly the position that many of us had; we were in the Ministering Community as a life time commitment. The community households only existed for about 10 years, but our commitment was very strong at the time. What caused us to fall apart after such a short time. It was probably a combination of things. Probably the most important issue was the resignation of Ken Pagaard. He had the vision which was the glue that kept us together. We were committed to Christ, but Ken had the vision. The second reason was that Ken's resignation brought about a crisis in trust. Without trust, community can't exist. Thirdly, many of the young singles were growing up, getting married and moving out; normal. The last reason was that the 70s were coming to an end. Our culture was changing again.


Mike Sandez was a great young man. I remember him as so very zealous for the Lord. He was a great young evangelist. I remember him with great, long black hair -- yes, he looked like a hippy. I think that he worked as a welder. As community came to an end, Mike left the church and I lost touch with him for a while. Then he started coming around. He has short hair now and is an attorney. He still loves the Lord. That commitment never ended. Indeed, for most of us that was a commitment "until death do us part."

Making Disciples

As a first item I must apologize for being absent so long. I am working on several posts regarding the Inner Healing ministry at First Baptist. I realize that this has been keeping me from continuing to upload and comment on issues of Our Life Together. Therefore I am going to try to keep up every day (or every other day) uploading my regular articles while continuing to work on the posts about the Inner Healing Ministry.



The article pictured on the blog today is taken from the issue of April 23, 1974. The article is entitled "Discipleship". In this article, Ken discusses the importance of making disciples. He quotes Matthew 28:19-20, called the Great Commission, Jesus saying to His disciples,
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."



Evangelism had been at the heart of the ministry of the House of Abba. We wanted to reach people, especially young people, for the Lord. It was out of this ministry that community really came about. In the early days of the Ministering Community, evangelism was at the heart of the ministry. This began to shift as the community seemed to become an end in itself. I think that the shift was inevitable and really all right. Yet, it was disappointing to see a loss in zeal in reaching out into the wider community of Chula Vista and San Diego County.



As important as evangelism was, it was a deeper form of evangelism than often seen. All too often evangelism ends with a person's prayer to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior -- followed by an I'll pray for you and "it would be good if you would join a Bible believing church." In the scripture quoted above, Jesus tells his disciples to make disciples -- in doing so that were to baptize and teach. We really took this seriously. In this article, Ken is discussing how we were "ramping up" our discipleship program in 1974. Here again, discipleship programs had often been merely taking a course of instruction. In the Ministering Community, things could be a lot deeper. Relationships were deeper and thus the discipling relationship was also deeper.



I think that this was at the heart of the success of building the community and the church. The Church Growth movement tells us that people won't be integrated into the life of a church unless they form relationships. Forming relationships is at the heart of our discipling. Learn about Jesus in the same way that the early disciples learned about him. The most common invitation of Jesus to prospective disciples was, "Come and follow me." Indeed this was one of the things that FBCCV was trying to do right.