looking back looking forward

It came from the Jesus Movement. No, not by way of California - but from right here in little ol' Alabama. I was the brat brother - the youngest kid hanging around my older brother and sisters at the early prayer meetings. I guess I was just thirteen years old - but I was drawn to the passion that burned from those early fires. I was there when the doors of the first Free House were opened - where coffee and friendship was poured out to anyone passing.

As the fellowship grew and the young Christians picked up guitars and went out to sing about life in Jesus - I followed along. I made myself useful, carrying guitar cases and PA equipment. Little brothers have to make themselves useful if they want to ride with the big boys. At the time, I had never heard of the term Jesus Music. The only Jesus music I heard was when I was around the older high school and college kids. The songs they sang from Cum-bay-yah Lord to Here Comes The Son. It was all about Jesus. He was the light that I was always drawn toward.

As the fellowship grew - and the music from the coast finally made it here to Alabama via Larry Norman, Malcom & Alwyn, Love Song...we realized that we were not the only ones singing about Jesus in four four time. So much happened during the seventies that I don't want to get away from the original intent of my post. The music both locally and nationally reflected a passion for Jesus and the term Jesus Music seemed the fitting term for what was going on.

Somewhere in the late seventies the emphasis seemed to drift from following Jesus -- to following personalities. I know that I am using a broad brush here - but it's how I feel. It's what I saw. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed the concerts and festivals - but eyes seemed to quickly become affixed onto "big names" rather than a big God. I remember by the end of the seventies, I was standing on the brink of the eighties looking back a short distance, wondering where the Jesus Movement went. When did Jesus Music turn into Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)? When did the Jesus Movement turn into a music industry?

I remember becoming disinterested in the vast amount of CCM that began to fill the shelves of music stores. Most of the CCM I was hearing didn't have that same passion - it was polished sentiment. It wasn't distributed to save souls but to sell records (my personal opinion). Much of the music at the time didn't have any originality or unique sound like the earlier Jesus Music pioneers. Most of it still doesn't. I tuned out Christian radio a very long time ago. Somewhere the industry figured out that a certain sound sold and that the sound was replicated for every artist out there. My dear old departed friend Arnie Sanford used to call it "ear candy".

So the Jesus Movement that washed over this country - ebbed many years ago. I have for a very long time felt like a shell washed ashore from a great tide. To me, I still have a passion to sing for Jesus. I realize that I am just an old fart with a guitar. I am a leftover Jesus Freak. I still have Jesus Freak friends who love to sing for Jesus. The only difference now is that I don't want to just sing about Jesus - I want to take Him to the streets. After all, He inhabits the praise of His people. I want to worship God OUTSIDE the walls and let His invited presence walk up and down the streets. That's been my heart for quite sometime. Ever since I was a kid just tagging along, I wanted to be part of that fire. I am just one of those shells left over from a distant ocean - ready to be picked up by that great tide and ride again.

Me, a along time ago at a coffeehouse far far away.