10 Houston Youths Join Revolutionary Christian Group!
By Steve Singer, Chronicle Reporter, Houston Chronicle, Texas
December 28, 1969, North America
David had been down the Hallelujah Trail Before.
About three weeks ago, he’d gone to the camp of a wandering band of self-styled revolutionary Christians at Bear Creek Park in west Harris County to “see what I could find.”
Now he was back, reaching the group at their new campsite in Duessen Park in the Lake Houston woodlands of northeast Harris County.
He stood at the edge of the pine grove and toyed with the strap of his motorcycle helmet as the smoke from the fires for the noon meal drifted over his head.
One of 10
A youth named Michael greeted him with a smile and a nod. Instead of hello, Michael said “Praise the Lord.
Soon David, an 18-year-old machinist, was accepting Jesus Christ, kneeling among the pine cones and needles with Michael’s hands on his head.
David is one of 10 Houston youths who have joined the revolutionary Christians since they first parked their buses and vans and set up their tents on Dec. 2.
So they join the revolutionary Christians, whose members now include 10 married couples, 45 single males, 20 single girls and 10 children, the youngest three months old.
The group has traveled 15,000 miles in the year since they formed, spreading the gosp0el, trying to get the kids off the drug hook and bringing their message of impending doom to society.
Their church is in the open air, or “if the Lord wants to bring us closer together and sends in a cold front”, they move into a big tent and stoke up a pot-bellied stove.
Von, a dropout from Memorial High School where he was “going through the motions” of his senior year, said:
“I was leading a senseless life. I’d get stoned in the morning to get through classes, stoned at noon to get through work and stoned at night to get past my parents. When I came out here I felt turned inside out. I felt so powerful that I came back and asked to stay.”
But their happiness is not shared by their parents.
True, Von’s parents have visited him at the camp and plan to contribute an electrical generator, but John says his parents called him a maniac and kicked him out when he tried to explain what he’d done by quoting from the Bible.
“They said my God was different from their God while I was reading from Genesis,” John said. “When my wife went home to say goodbye, her folks hid her brothers and sisters.”
Michael, another Memorial dropout and the first to join the group here, said his folks told him they’d “rather see me in an insane asylum or out pushing dope than out preaching Jesus and living in a tent.”
But Thursday was Christmas and many of the parents came out to see their children. Some brought things the group could use, such as kerosene lanterns, blankets and money. John’s folks brought about $100 worth plus a flowing gown for Gail.” Others used the day for another try to get the kids to come home. Michael’s folks asked him to come home for dinner and to receive his gifts but asked him not to do any preaching. He didn’t go because “that would have been my most important reason to go.”
Once the visitors had left, the group began to celebrate the holiday.
The cooks were preparing a 15-pound ham that a grandmother of one of the boys had given them.
They didn’t have a tree because “of all the trees around us” and they exchanged good wishes and blessings instead of gifts. There was a 10-hour Bible session.
Today their leader, Joshua Levi, will pass out presents, shampoo and soap and toothbrushes donated by a local druggist.