My roommate, Jimmy Hoppers, and I showed up at a small Southern college in the fall of 1969 — the University of Tennessee Martin (UTM) in rural West Tennessee. Little did we know that it would drastically change our lives in unexpected ways. Jimmy has written about our experiences in a book called “The Jesus Revolution Southern Style.”

It was there at UTM that, for the first time in my life, I encountered Jesus as a living reality rather than as a religious story. I was swept into a movement of God that was unorganized, mostly unchurched, Spirit-led, supernatural, and the most exciting time of my life.

Multitudes of students were getting caught up in Jesus. We would spontaneously gather all across campus to talk about Jesus and to Him. We were part of a spiritual movement that was producing Southern Jesus Freaks.

After graduating, I wanted to continue my Jesus Revolution experiences, so I moved to Southern California to attend Melodyland School of Theology—a charismatic seminary in Anaheim not too far from Calvary Chapel.

My first day there, I was waiting in line to register. When my name was called, a guy behind me said, “Frank Beard said to tell you hello.” Frank Beard was a fellow UTM Jesus lover. The guy behind me, Marlon Rains, had met Frank in Atlanta. I told him the motel where I was staying. Then I went on to register.

My father and brother had driven to Anaheim with me and were planning to fly back after a week. I was searching for an apartment but having no success. The day before my family was going to leave, there was a knock on our door. When I opened it, I saw Marlon Raines with two other guys, Tom Griner and Eric Stovesand. He said, “We’ve rented an apartment and need another roommate. Would you like to join us?”

With great relief, I jumped at the chance. Those three guys became lifelong friends. They loved Jesus so much! Marlon and Eric were from St. Louis; Tom grew up in the South. Together in our friendship, we continued to experience the Spirit-led spontaneity of the Southern-style Jesus Revolution.

However, things were different in Southern Cal. The School of Theology was on the same property as Melodyland Christian Center, one of the first megachurches in the USA. The classes began in an amazing way. They would start with about five minutes of spontaneous prayer and praise (even sometimes including singing in tongues). Then they would shift into classroom style lectures.

I loved the beginnings of the classes, and I learned a lot from the lectures, but the Southern style Spirit-led interaction was hard to find in the California Jesus Revolution. My three roommates and our friends frequently experienced it among ourselves however other than that it seemed rare.

I searched for it at Melodyland Christian Center. The church services there were anointed with great teaching, but the people in the huge congregation were basically kept as spectators. On Saturday nights I would sometimes go to a Jesus Music concert (before it was called Contemporary Christian Music) at Calvary Chapel (the church featured in the movie and book “The Jesus Revolution”).

In spite of the spiritually, the school and the churches around us were training us to conform to and to be leaders in the passive audience model of church. In its early days, the school was teaching us that if we had a grown up in a denominational church we should go back into that denomination and become a pastor so we could change it from within.

They convinced me. I had been an active member of a Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and they had a very small seminary in Memphis, Tennessee.

So, after three semesters at Melodyland, I transferred to Memphis Theological Seminary. It was religion Southern style — very structured, analytical, formal, controlled, and dry. Several of the professors didn’t even believe what the Bible clearly taught. I endured and was able to keep God’s fire burning in my heart by boldly speaking up about the living Jesus, finding and reading deeply spiritual books from the school library, daily devouring the Bible, and frequently praying in tongues.

I graduated and was eventually ordained as a Cumberland Presbyterian pastor. What a misfit I was. They were not accustomed to a Jesus Freak pastor. I’ll talk about my pastoring experiences in another post.

I believe that spectator-style church is a misunderstanding of Christianity. Learn how to experience Christ beyond traditional church. Google: Beyond Church Ekklesia.