Our Life Together Vol. 3 Nr. 48, December 16, 1975

The concept of "laying down one's life in love" was central to our thinking in community. Without a genuine love for one another, community couldn't work; we would always be at one another's throats because, as we all know, it is sometimes difficult to live with others. In this article, Ken goes two steps farther in the concept; the healing power of love and the freeing of people from the demonic. When Ken discusses healing in the concept of this article he is talking about inner healing (deep healing, healing of memories or healing of emotions). This became a central part of our ministry in community. In the beginning, this was in no way some kind of pseudo psycho therapy. It was simply praying with people to help them overcome difficult memories of times in the past. Of course we would also stay with them while they were hurting -- thus "laying down our lives for them." We believed (and many of us still do) that there was a real power in the demonic. We didn't believe in "demon possession" of Christians. We did believe that demonic beings could gain a foot hold through bad memories/experiences in life. We needed to be delivered from these forces as we were healed. Love and care for one another was the main healing agent.
Larry's article with a long quote by John Knox is inspiring to me. It continues to amaze me as I remember how much we liked to study and learn in the church. We had intellectually hungry people and talented teachers. It was a good time.
Ken discusses the scripture concerning "completing Christ's sufferings." I think he is correct that we accept God's profound and free Grace and then cheapen it by continuing in our lives of selfishness and sin. The quote from Dave and Neta Jackson's book reminds me that my son and I actually stayed with them in 1979. This was an enjoyable part of our trip. More about the trip when we get there in our progression through OLT.
Tim Pagaard provides another lesson from McFoone.
I have mentioned Nancy Mitchell before. She was a talented lady who was in our church for years. She passed away at all too young age -- late 50's -- I think. This little poem reinforces the thoughts presented in Ken's lead article.

I enjoyed Ken's little discussion of a natural opportunity to witness on his flight to Detroit. It also points out how times have changed; he mentions being served a meal. This doesn't happen any more!


These questions provided by the community in Australia weren't actually asked of us in our community. If you don't know anything about what it meant to be in community, these questions are instructive, for they were certainly implied when we entered into the community life.

My little testimony was a very early Richard Hensgen writing. I hadn't even started seminary yet. Of course I didn't need seminary to write this testimony -- it's just that I didn't find out that I could write until I went to seminary. I really shied away from writing.

The poem by Eliot was discussed on Facebook.

The little article on Coming Missions really says it all for this page.

This is another little piece of artwork produced by our children.
We were privileged to have the entire Bishop family with us over Christmas. One of our international times of celebration.

Our Life Together Vol. 3 Nr. 47, December 9, 1975

This article by Ken is interesting to me because it deals with one of the ideals of the 70s; the early church. There was a lot of teaching about what the early church was and, therefore, how we, the 2oth century church, was supposed to be. I think that we at FBCCV, particularly those of us in the ministering community saw ourselves as a living reproduction of what the early church must have been. Even though Ken had some of those feelings (based upon talking much with Ken in those days) he presents some of the pitfalls of this kind of thinking. We cannot arrive at the early church by trying to copy what they did. The church was and is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The church will be what he wills. The church regardless of what it looks like from the outside; liturgical, free, charismatic, pentecostal; if the Spirit of Christ is active in the church, the same characteristics that moved the early church will move us.
Ken continues his article here. He makes a profound statement about idealism. "I'm glad that the Lord has somehow spared us from the tyranny of idealism. (One of the main effects of idealism is that it makes a person very critical of those who do not live up to the ideal.)" Amen. I have been the victim of that critical spirit on several occasions.

Bud, his family and ministry team returned from Wichita. Bud comments on the great gifts and talents that God gave to the FBCCV. We certainly had a lot of very gifted people in many fields. Of course, Bud's word continues saying that to whom much is given, much is expected. Incidentally, he mentions Ralph Hunt. Ralph and his wife have been active in the Holy Spirit conference for years. I didn't see them this year -- we are all getting older.
I couldn't help but notice that Randy Hasper joined the New Life Printing and Abbacraft ministries. Now Randy is pastor of FBCCV.
Another lesson from McFoone.
Larry Clark was always faithful about bringing quotable quotes back from any of the conferences he attended. This is no exception and is well worth reading.
As Larry continues his quotes, I am reflecting once again on our widespread ministry. We ministered in MI and NY. We ministered in Baptist settings and Catholic settings. We ministered in churches and we ministered in communities. I must also add that in many of these cases it was mutual ministry; we ministered to them, they ministered to us.
Clay presents a thoughtful statement that we must not forget during the Christmas season, the the most important gift we give is that of ourselves to Jesus.

Our Life Together Vol. 3 Nr. 46, December 2, 1975

One of the issues that we dealt with often in community was that of self-sufficiency. It wasn't that we didn't want people to be mature people, it was that we believed that the Christian life as lived in community should be different than the "normal" American life; "I can do it all myself." Ken uses the passage in 1 Corinthians 12 describing the body of Christ to illustrate his thesis that we all need one another. We really believed that none of us is completely sufficient in ourselves alone. I still believe that. To a large degree, I am who I am because of the love and support of my brothers and sisters in the Lord.
I really like Mike Secor's article. We need to be free to be enthusiastic about our Great God. Worship can be quiet and contemplative, but it can also be exuberant and enthusiastic. Mike and his wife are still walking with the Lord and live in a neighboring town. Mike's mother is still in FBCCV.

On this page, Tim Pagaard explains his cartoon character, Waldo McFoone. Tim continued the series for a number of months. I am the proud possessor of a framed three strip series describing my departure from the Navy. Each Christmas in community we would draw names and then make a present. Tim drew my name in 1975 and presented me with his McFoone strips. They hang proudly in my office at Bay View Baptist.
Bob Mumford gives a good antidote for "end time psychosis." This was really rampant in the late 70s and early 80s. There were books on the 100 reasons Jesus will come in 1980 -- then the same author would write the 100 reasons why Jesus will come in 1981! I look forward to the return of Jesus, but let's wait until he comes. In the meantime, let's continue to live lives empowered by His Spirit.
This article by Patty Farmer is a great testimony. I used to love to hear the young people tell stories like this. I have lost touch with Patty and don't know where she is currently. She went on to be a missionary in Africa for a number of years.
I just read this passage from the book of Nehemiah in my devotions this morning. I remember well Ken discussing our troubles with the city and using this passage as a rationale for not getting sucked into petty squabbles.

Larry discusses the church library and it wasn't bad for a small church library. I did a significant part of my seminary research at our church library.
I couldn't help but notice Larry's itinerary to Monroe MI and Kingston NY. Joe Atkinson was the pastor at Monroe for a number of years and he also was Vice Chair of Holy Spirit Renewal Ministries and was in charge of the Holy Spirit conference. As a retired person, he makes a couple of trips to India each year to train pastors. The daughter of the pastor at Kingston, now Norelle Lutke of Wichita KS is the current Vice Chair and runs the Holy Spirit conference. Great fruit!




I won't comment on this open letter except to say that it gives great background to our troubles with the city of Chula Vista. It was this trouble that really made us so controversial and such a big item in the news for a long period of time.

Our Life Together Vol. 3 Nr. 45, November 25, 1975

Ken's article is an important document in understanding the legal problems that our Community had with the city. In the mid-70's this was a huge issue, not only in the community, but in the city of Chula Vista. Many people, including some who supported us, believed that we just didn't care about legality or legitimacy. We never started out to cause problems. This is an interesting article setting forth our early history.
These were heavy times, particularly for those of us who were a part of the leadership. We were dealing with things that could drastically change our lives. Were we going to go to jail? Was the community going to be forcibly evicted?
Harry Orgovan who has been seen earlier in OLT comments on happiness. Then Larry Clark comments on meeting God in every day life. As usual, Larry presents a well written and interesting article.
Bud Miller continues to update us on the progress of his (and his team's) ministry in Wichita. Here again we see our ministry outside of our area and outside of our denomination; working with the Mennonites.

Linda Frey writes a nice article of becoming healed through her awareness of being a real child of God. Linda was the daughter of Wallie and Louise Gray who were leaders in the church even before Ken arrived. She is still married to Leonard Frey who served as an elder for several years. They now live in the LA area.

I remember very well when Clay discussed "frog kissing." This sounds like a great ministry. We didn't always call it that, but this is very much at the heart of what it meant to live in community.

I will discuss McFoone when it actually appears in a few issues.
My daughter, Robin, was a joyful handmaid. I suppose I was at this meal although I have no memory of it. I can only identify a couple of the people in the pictures, even though I knew them all -- it was a long time ago. I see Dolan Wolford for sure (the one with the beard), he was an elder. He was also a CPO in the Navy. He is now living in West Virginia.