Time Magazine: Religion

March 12, 1973

Wes Lockwood, 20, a junior at Yale, had a dental appointment at 4pm last Jan 16. He never made it. Nor did he show up at 6pm for his job as a dishwasher at the Faculty Club. He was next seen being driven through a tollgate on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, where he cried for help and said he was being kidnapped. Police stopped the car, which also contained two white men and a black. One of the white convinced the cops that the boy was mentally ill. They then drove on to an apartment in Masontown, Pa., 40 miles south of Pittsburgh. Lockwood was held captive there for 2 ½ days.

Thirteen days later, Dan Voll, 20, a good friend and former roommate of Lockwood’s at Yale, was walking along 119th street in Manhattan when a 6-ft. 2-in., 200-lb, white man grabbed him by the arm, and a smaller black …

By M. Onieal, Syracuse New Times

March 8, 1973

It’s become an almost expected part of life these days to be stopped by someone on the street asking for spare change. Many who have been down and out before will come up with a dime, remembering the time someone dug in their pocket for them. Others know the look and the old hard-luck rap all too well and have learned to walk on by without breaking their stride or silent stare.

In either case, it’s come as something of a surprise recently to be stopped by members of the religious sect known as the Children of God and told they want to give out something for free—“the Word and the Way.”

The Children of God, known to be the most radical and fastest growing part of the Jesus People Movement, established a colony in Syracuse last March and since then have been traveling throughout the city preaching their mixed …

By Jane Perlez, New York Post

March 2, 1973

On the third floor of a dilapidated shingle house on Staten Island, where the veranda floor boards are falling in & a “for sale” sign hangs forlornly by the front door, the Children of God are seated around the dining room table studying & reciting the Bible.

Today’s session, led by 22 year-old Lehabim (real name Ian Gillis) is aimed at two new converts, both 18 year-old dropouts from city schools. If they remain in the sect after their two-week introductory course on Knowing Your Bible, they’ll give up their personal possessions, assume a Biblical name & join the 12 member “family” at 25 Henderson Av., as dedicated disciples for spreading the Gospel.

These 18-to-28- year-old devotees of the fundamentalist sect founded in California five years ago by preacher David Berg live in apparent communal happiness planning their Jesus takeover of the world. They believe their God-directed existence, based literally …

By Steve Rago, The Union-Gazette

August 2, 1972

ELLENVILLE – The light after noon rain flittered down to the floor of the forest in little drips. As the droplets gently touched down on a bed of browned pine needles, a Child of God opened her Bible to read from the Book of Acts.

“And all that believed were together and had all things in common…” (Acts 44). This simple statement from the Bible, is the basis for an organization called the Children of God. It is part of a religiously oriented drug rehabilitation “family” in Ellenville with members throughout America and parts of Europe.

But it is more than that. It offers spiritual sanctuary and solace to those in desperation, be it from drug abuse or personal dissatisfaction with the world and its hypocrisy.

The family feeds the hungry. Those who hunger for love and brotherhood find it here by basing their lives on the Bible.

“We are …

The Ottawa Citizen

March 11, 1972

So they do, on a cold, sunny late winter afternoon on the Mall.

They skip and walk, singing updated hymns. A youth who passes them comments: “See what Jesus freaks are turning into nowadays.”

At the corner of O’Connor and Sparks, they stop and pause. In groups of two and three, they clasp arms and pray. A woman who notices remarks to her companion, “They’re putting on a play or something.”

With shouts of “Praise God”, “Revolution! For Jesus! Ottawa! For God!” the nondescript band of nine breaks up to go witnessing.

They walk up and down, talking to people who’ll listen and the gist of every message is Jesus is good for whatever ails you.

The Children of God are in Ottawa.

Jesus Revolution

The six-member group is but one colony of the most publicized out-growth of the Jesus revolution. The children number only 2,000 in all but they’ve …

Tucson Daily Citizen

December 24, 1971

Instead, just three weeks ago she joined the new Tucson colony of the Children of God, a four-year-old fundamentalist sect that has been linked with bitter controversies throughout the country.

As “Jesus revolutionaries” Jerusalem and her dozen or so fellow disciples at 1609 E. Silver Lake Road scorn drugs, premarital sex and material goods and goals. They hold to a literal reading of the Bible and believe the world will soon end.

Like more than 1,500 other Children living in nearly 50 US colonies, most of them in Texas and southern California, the fervent youths now living here subject themselves to a rigid lifestyle.

Their authoritarian ways are in stark contrast to the formerly permissive habits of typical converts such as Jerusalem, but somehow seem to attract the lost, lonely and depressed.

Before this month, Jerusalem was a University of Arizona art student – a senior set to graduate this …

By Wade Burkhart, The Sunday Freeman, Kingston, N.Y.

December 19, 1971

Every day is like Christmas, a day of thanksgiving, joy, praise and dedication to Christ, say the Children of God. When Christmas comes, it is more a holiday party than the holiday of holidays.

The Children of God are an evangelical, fundamentalist sect of young people, dedicated to preaching the Gospel and saving souls. According to Mike Ainis, and group Spokesman, the commune in Ellenville is one of about 30 or 35 in the United States. There are four other settlements in Canada, and four more in Europe.

From 60 to 70 people reside in the Ellenville commune. It is a family-type atmosphere with everything held in concert. Their moral code is strict (no drugs, intoxicants, premarital sex) marriage is sacred and revered, and the saving of souls is everyone’s mission.

There will be some special activates for Christ’s birthday. They intend to have a tree and decorations, and perhaps …

By Larry Walker, Enterprise Staff Writer, Elizabethtown, Kentucky

August 16, 1971

Despite innovative rumors to the contrary, Elizabethtown’s Children of God colony has quietly and efficiently gone about its business since the arrival of the settlers last October. Its business is the Lord’s. The colony occupies a 74-acre tract of land off the Valley Creek Road on the LaRue side of the Hardin-LaRue County line.

(On the national level, the Children of God religious organization claims 1,400 members in 29 colonies. Started nearly three years ago, the base camp in Mingus, Texas has over 200 members on a 460-acre ranch).

Most of the colonies are concerned with reaching the youth with street witnessings and testimonials, but the Elizabethtown work deals with “training the brothers.”

Presently, nine young persons between the ages of 18 and 25 are at the camp. Five single men and two girls are undergoing a five-week crash course in Bible study to arm them with answers to back …

By George W. Cornell, Associated Press Religion Writer, Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colorado

June 5, 1971

Soft-spoken, cheerful, Bibles in hand, they extend profuse blessing to anyone they meet and then, as if imparting a choice secret, they say: “Jesus loves you.”

These are the street Christians, the “Jesus Freaks,” who in recent months have proliferated exuberantly across the country, to the surprise and sometimes uneasiness or ordinary church folk.

“Have you met the Lord?” they ask. “It’s beautiful to walk with Him.”

Their movement started out in California and for about two years was largely concentrated in that area. But now extensions of it are cropping up from coast to coast, and from Minneapolis to Miami.

“It’s sweeping the country,” says Evangelist Billy Graham.

“It doesn’t bother me that it might be a fad. At least it is a positive fad. I’m for anything that promotes the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

ALTHOUGH MANY well-groomed “straight kids” are involved in it, in affluent suburbs and on …

By Jerry Dean, The Sun Bulletin—Binghamton, N.Y.

March 23, 1971

The Children of God are coming.

Led by two advance men named Brother Josea and Brother Abel of the Tribe of Levi, the Children of God will set up a colony of 15 acres near Binghamton.

Brothers Josea and Abel—the only names they use—said yesterday their mission is to reach young people who “want to get rid of their hang-ups by serving the Lord.”

Youths’ hang-ups,

The hang-ups prevailing among today’s young people, they said, are sex, drugs, long hair, the radical movements and, yes, even the church system.

The brothers, both with neatly trimmed short hair and formal clothing, laughed as they talked with groups of people.

“People expect to see us with long hair and beads and blue jeans.

“But this is different than all those other Jesus groups which have to do their own thing. Life in one of our colonies is discipline and self-denial.

“We want …

By Ron Kapfhammer, Enterprise Staff Writer

October 15, 1970

The “Children of God” are digging in for the winter on a 74-acre tract on Valley Creek Road on the LaRue side of the Hardin-LaRue County border.

The Elizabethtown colony of the Children of God was started three weeks when a group headed by Daniel Anderson, an elder in the religious organization that has adopted the name Children of God, settled in the thickly wooded area.

The group adopted its name, Children of God, because “that’s what people called us.” Anderson said Wednesday afternoon.

The Children of God, a personification of the American Puritan Ethic, lead a life similar to the Pilgrims who colonized New England in the 17th Century, Anderson prefers to compare the Children of God with First Century Christians who gave up everything to practice Christianity.

The group of 16, all young persons between the ages of 20 and 28, are “winterizing” the old, deserted, weather-beaten farmhouse …

Advance, Palo Pinto County, Printed in the interest of Mineral Wells and Palo Pinto County, Mineral Wells, Texas 76067

May 28, 1970

Reports over the past few weeks that a hippy colony was being established near Thurber, prompted an ADVANCE reporter to go to the area this week to investigate.

The colony was supposed to be located about three miles south of Thurber just across the south line of Palo Pinto County, in Erath County.

As the ADVANCE reporter came to the location so described, he came to a huge padlocked iron gate with a sign next to it that stated, “Friendly visitors welcome from noon till dark. Honk and walk to the gate and someone will come to assist you.”

The reporter honked and one young man came running from a car parked atop a small hill a short distance away and another came up riding a bicycle.

They greeted the reporter cordially and one set out in search of the director and the other one unlocked the gate and invited …

By Don Sloan

March 7, 1970

The entry sports assorted painting and psychedelia and proclaims in bold, hand painted letters: “I AM THE DOOR: JESUS CHRIST.”

Above that door, a large sign tells who anyone who drops into 2421 East Rosedale will find: “REVOLUTIONARIES FOR JESUS.”

On foot-high risers, flanked by guitar amplifiers and drums, a bearded young man is preaching, dressed in a white T-shirt and flowered Bermuda shorts. He is barefoot.

“The Bible bugs some people,” he says, “You can’t get ‘em to believe in it while they’re in the flesh. You’re doin’ good if you can just get ‘em to believe it’s the Word of God.”

Loud “amens” come from different corners of the room.

“You can’t fight these people,” he goes on. “Just say, ‘I’m sorry if you don’t like the gospel. I didn’t write it—God did.’

‘Take it up with Him.’”

THIS WAS A BIBLE CLASS

At the Revolutionary head-quarters, a …

By Post News Services, The Houston Post, Texas

January 3, 1970

It was about dark on Wednesday—the end of a day, the end of a year, the end of a decade—when the band of “Christian revolutionaries” rolled their Jeeps into Spring Creek Park near Tomball.

They had found a new home—for one week.

There is perhaps no more typical symbol of the main theme in the story of religion in the 1960’s than this scene, to which Houston ministers responded both critically and with praise this week.

The theme has been called “provisional, mobile, questioning, inventive, heterogeneous, open-ended.”

THE WORDS accurately describe “The Children of God,” some 100 such mobile young people and adults, who began the new year in the Houston area after meandering 1,500 miles.

The group claims, like the biblical writer, that “here we have no continuing city. Church buildings, they say, “are a lie and abomination.”

“Churches of today say come down and get, get, get,” said …

By John McCleskey, Editor, Stevenville Empire-Tribune, Texas

January 3, 1970

“Today’s younger generation is now relying on drugs throughout the nation in an effort to seek true personal identity and solutions to society’s ever-mounting social, governmental and economic problems. Our delegation is assembled here to fulfill God’s teachings according to the Bible. Praise the Lord, brethren.”

These idioms were voiced Thursday afternoon by Jonathan Byrd, former Huckabay resident and spokesman for the “Children of God” assembly now residing some five miles south of the Thurber community. The site is owned by Henry Jordan of Los Angeles, founder of the Texas Soul Clinic in 1946.

Initiated in 1967 by Byrd’s parents, the Children’s working teams began traveling throughout the United States recruiting members for their movement and reorganized approximately five months ago to begin solicitations in several major cities. This tour included sessions in Washington, D. C., New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago and recently Houston before entering their Erath County …

Miami Herald, Florida

January 1, 1970

Houston—(AP) “I ran into a man today who gave me $20,” said a quiet-voiced youth to a gathering at a campsite among pine trees north of Houston.

“He told me he didn’t ordinarily give to charity. I told him he was not giving to charity, but for charity.”

“Amen!” exclaimed many of the people assembled with the speaker around a pot-bellied stove in the tent.

Such a revival meeting atmosphere is one aspect of what happens when the “Children of God,” a nomadic flock of young people reach town.

They insist that theirs is the last generation and that revolution, either from within or from outside, will destroy the nation soon.

Thus their vigils and witnessing are of warning and mourning.

THE GROUP reflects a simultaneous looking back and looking ahead, a curious combination of old-time fundamentalist religion, monastic life confined to no one place, and modern underground church which …

By Steve Singer, Chronicle Reporter, Houston Chronicle, Texas

December 28, 1969

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 …

By Warren Weber, Chronicle Reporter, Houston Chronicle, Texas

December 5, 1969

Nothing was really seedy about him.

His clothes might have been a bit wrinkled and his hair a bit long. Otherwise he looked like any college student.

He walked up to the small boy with a John-John haircut—his son—and asked him, “Where is God?”

The little boy unhesitatingly pointed up toward the heavens.

“That’s right,” said the young father as he took his son’s hand and led him to a camper.

“The church of today has turned its back on the young people and offers them nothing,” added Levi.

The revolutionary Christian commune was formed a year ago with six members. It now comprises about 10 couples, 25 single girls and 45 single males—mostly in their late teens or early 20s—and 10 children.

The single men live in a large tent, the single women in two old buses converted into dormitories and the couples in campers and small tents.

Each …

By Myra Dye, Collinsville Herald, Illinois

October 27, 1969

A group of persons “proving that they can live as Jesus lived and do what Jesus did effectively” are camped along the Mississippi river at the Lewis and Clark Park near Hartford.

Alton Evening Telegraph, Illinois

October 23, 1969

Ninety young people, calling themselves God’s Children, proclaim the Lord will bring about a great revolution in America and punish its people for their sinful ways.

Camped in the Lewis & Clark Park near Hartford, the group is encouraging young people to take up God’s work and eliminate sin in the United States, “—or the revolution will surely come,” they say.

Asked if their messages have anything to do with the war in Vietnam, Lvi said: “That is only a small part of the trouble in the United States. The real problem is sin.”

The young people, 18 to 25 years of age, have given up worldly things to help demonstrate their dedication to God’s work.

The only luxury items they have are trucks, trailers and cars in which they travel from place to place, like the Children of Israel following Moses. They have some money derived from the sale …

Waukegan News Times, Illinois

October 15, 1969

There’s at least one group of people in the United States who are not aware there is a nationwide moratorium on the Vietnam war today.

Clad in red burlap robes, wearing yokes meant for oxen, and carrying shepherds’ staffs, the group—with thousands of Chicagoans looking on in astonishment—formed a silent processional and prayer vigil.

The red represents the blood of Christ, the yoke, bondage. The staff symbolizes justice and the burlap calls for repentance, the cowl means judgment.

Then, after 10 minutes, the group, as mysteriously as it had appeared, disappeared—leaving loop shoppers wondering who they were, what they were doing and where they were going.

Asked if the group was planning to observe today’s moratorium, one long-haired member of the group asked, “What moratorium?” He knew about the war, but not that nation-wide demonstrations had been planned.

License plates in the caravan indicated members of the group came from …

By Richard Foster and Christopher Chandler, The Chicago Sun-Times, Illinois

October 10, 1969

Fifty persons marched on the Civic Center and other places in the Loup Thursday—peacefully, and somewhat mysteriously.

They wore red robes, pounded staffs on the sidewalk, passed out literature and prayed. Their spokesman talked about the death of America and quoted Jeremiah.

Some wore gold or silver earrings in their left ears. Others walked through the Loop with wooden yokes around their necks.

They came to Chicago, their spokesman said, because “God told us to follow the cloud—where the action is.”

At the Civic Center, they stood wordlessly for about 10 minutes, opened scrolls with biblical inscriptions and, one by one, knelt in prayer for another 10 minutes.

On one of the scrolls the words of the prophet Jeremiah were inscribed.

“O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes; make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the spoiler shall …

By Joseph Modzelewiski, Daily News, New York

September 22, 1969

Hundreds of Sunday churchgoers were mystified by the appearance outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral yesterday morning of 38 youths belonging to a strange religious cult.

Wearing wine-colored burlap robes, the demonstrators appeared to be in a trance as they riveted their blank stares on the façade of the cathedral for more than an hour.

All held long wooden staffs in their right hand and copies of the Old Testament in the left. Wooden yokes hung from their necks and the 28 men had small metal hoops on their left ears. The foreheads of the 10 girls were smudged with charcoal.

Police Are Puzzled

Police arrived at noon, but they also were at a loss to explain the significance of the group.

“They are the Children of “God mourning the death of America,” claimed John Treadwell, spokesman for the oddly costumed youths.

Treadwell said the group was protesting what he called the …

Montreal, Canada

July 1, 1969

The cars pulled up one by one, Arizona, Florida, California. Their license plates told the story of their journey, and the shouts of “Hallelujah! Told of their welcome arrival.

The travelers spilled out of the cars, and embraced the waiting group one by one—man hugging man, woman kissing woman, wife greeting long-awaited husband.

The Revolutionaries for Jesus were making one more stop on their self-appointed journey across the continent.

“God’s given us a message,” explained an intense young man. “He said ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.

Take Cathy, a young woman who had been a heroin addict for eight months when the Revolutionaries met her in a drug clinic in Miami.

“Now she’s turned to Jesus,” said Faith Dietrich, daughter of Rev. David Berg, a Texan preacher who founded the group.

She embraced Cathy, smiling warmly at her. “Praise the Lord.”

She took up the …

Salina Journal, Kansas

June 19, 1969

Lurana Nolind uses folk music in a different type of youth revolution.

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Howard C. Nolind, Tescott, now is Mrs. Jonathan Berg and a partner in an unusual teenage evangelistic campaign.

The Bergs head the Teens for Christ Midwest road team and consider themselves under orders to “spread this revolution for Jesus throughout the nation.”

“God has really changed me into a hard core missionary whose only purpose is the mission field,” Mrs. Berg wrote her parents. “And it’s so urgent that it be done now.”

The former Ottawa county “Junior Miss” and Kansas Wesleyan university student went to California to work with Teen Challenge, a program to help rehabilitate young drug addicts.

Once in California she decided to work with teens for Christ, which was seeking to “reach the hippy generation with Jesus.”

Her singing fits in with the Teens for Christ use of …

By Kenneth W. Harrell, special to the Miami News, Miami News, Florida

May 3, 1969

A small tribe of hippies has come here from Huntington Beach, Calif. as the vanguard of more ex-drug users who have found “high” in Christ and are trying to spread it around the country.

The group of 15 is staying at the home of Miami businessman Chrales Bledsoe, who is supporting and helping the group and likes to be thought of as their leader. Bledsoe lives at 275 NW 29th Ter., Hollywood.

One of them, a 27-year-old wanderer, Arny says, “We’re against organized religion.” Hearing that the Miami area was in need of a Christian movement, Arny and the others climbed aboard their Ford bus, and left California, the headquarters of the movement, called “Revolutionaries for Christ.”

Faith Dietrich, Arny’s 18-year-old wife spoke softly as she poured coffee for hippies.

Faith is an attractive blonde who knows the Bible as well as her husband (who spent months in the hills …

Miami Herald, Florida

April 16, 1969

FORT LAUDERDALE—They called themselves former pot-heads, speed freaks and hate mongers…

They called themselves Christian revolutionaries for Jesus, and held hands and prayed…

The corridors of Municipal Court looked like a scene from a Fellini art film Tuesday as 12 young disciples of a religious cult called Teens for Christ massed in support of four of the brethren who’d been arrested for picketing for Jesus.

AS THEY waited for their spot on the docket, they talked of conversion and Christ, cradled well-marked Bibles in their arms and addressed everyone with “God bless you” and “praise the Lord.”

They’d been caryin such messages as: “Jesus is Risen, He’s Alive, Halleluja.” and “God said great confusion would come…Turn to Jesus. Put prayer, Bible and God back in schools.”

THEY CHOSE to march on the sidewalk before the police station, they said, because another of their group, Bill Garrison, had been arrested for …

Dave Green—Citizen Staff Writer, The Tucson Daily Citizen

April 15, 1969

Scores of hippies are flocking to Tucson, and with them has come a small band for reformed hippies carrying Bibles, whose mission, they say, is the conversion of their bearded brothers to that “old-time religion.”

Most of the new arrivals are here to escaper the “great earthquake,” which they contend will cause most or all of California to slide into the ocean by the middle of April. Dozen are here now and they say that as many as 500 are expected here within two months.

Not so, however, with the eager little group who call themselves “the Revolutionaries for Jesus.” They have discarded their love beads and taken to Bibles. They have given up their pads and gone to church.

Befriended by an artist-missionary on Tueson’s South Side, the small, but energetic little band began collecting its flock of would-be converts just last week. Invited to Tucson from Phoenix by …

By John Schmidt

April 1, 1969

An 18-year-old Flowing Wells High School senior recently has had a heavy cross to bear.

Less than three months before her graduation in June, Patricia Rodriguez was told by her principal, Victor Meneley, that she would no longer be able to attend school if she continued being a disruptive influence on her classmates.

Patricia brought a Bible to school each day and when opportunities presented themselves, she preached the word of God to anyone who would listen.

Meneley said the whole thing started in March when social studies teacher Len Skrobel arranged for the “Revolutionaries for Christ” group to visit and lecture his classes. Skrobel invites representatives of many groups to sp0eak. Recently prisoners, dope addicts and politicians, extremists from the left and right have shared their views with the youngsters.

Later, when a teenage counterpart of the “Revolutionaries for “Christ” came to town, two Flowing Wells girls joined them. …

By Arthur R. Vinsel, Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

April 1, 1969

Trials are over but tribulations continue today, after 14 Teens for Christ crusaders were convicted by two juries of violations during a recent Costa Mesa School demonstration against “Godless modern society.”

[Prosecutors] rested their cases on Maundy Thursday in Harbor District Judicial Court and firm but gentle juries returned guilty verdicts.

The Rev. Dave Berg and his flock headquartered at the Gospel Light Club, 110 Main St., Huntington Beach, plans to leave for Arizona soon, fearing the storied California doomsday earthquake.

They will reverse their exodus temporarily if the state whose people judged them Thursday in two separate courtrooms, based on degree of charges lodged, remains intact.

“We’ll be back to court if California is still here,” Miss Donnelly said today.

“I knew in my mind they’d say guilty, but I knew in my heart we were still innocent,” Miss Donnelly said today with a hint of forgiveness for 10 …

Tucson Daily Citizen, Arizona

March 7, 1969

Scores of hippies are flocking to Tucson, and with them has come a small band of reformed hippies carrying Bibles, whose mission, they say, is the conversion of their bearded brothers to that “old-time religion.”

Most of the new arrivals are here to escape the “great earthquake,” which they contend will cause most or all of California to slide into the ocean by the middle of April.

Dozens are here now and they say that as many as 500 are expected here within two months.

Befriended by an artist-missionary on Tucson’s South Side, the small, but energetic little band began collecting its flock of would-be converts just last week. Invited to Tucson from Phoenix by the Rev. Edward “Ted” Ware, pastor of the “Fellowship Church,” at 2570 Menor Strav., the six-member team moved into the pretty little white church—and things haven’t been quite the same there since.

First, they removed …

By Terry Coville, Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

March 1, 1969

Huntington Beach officials are not lining the streets to bid farewell to the militant Teens for Christ who are leaving because they fear the destruction of California.

“It doesn’t grieve me very much that they should go to Tucson,” says Mayor Alvin Coen.

The youthful and zestful evangelists have picked Tucson, Ariz., as their new headquarters. A vantage point to watch California sink under the wages of sin sometime this month.

And how about the desert community of Tucson? Can it withstand the Christian onslaught of the teens’ fundamentalist religion.

‘INVADERS’

“We plan to absorb them just like the Chinese did their invaders,” says Larry Ferguson, assistant managing editor of the “Arizona Daily Star.”

“These Teens for Christ can exercise their freedom of speed in Tucson as long as they don’t annoy anyone,” he added.

Huntington’s Mayor Coen took a less benevolent attitude toward the teens, “Now that they’re leaving, …

The Daily Pilot, California

February 24, 1969

The militant Teens for Christ group noted for picketing schools and hassling organized religion, is planning to flee Huntington Beach for fear of the destruction of California.

Leaders of the teen organization assert that predictions from the Lord indicate California, as a land of sin, will be destroyed, perhaps by the predicted great earthquake of April 15.

Thus the young followers of Jesus are packing their bags and preparing to flee the state. They are going to Tucson, Ariz.

“We’d be gone by now,” declared Miguel Ward of the Teens group, “except that some of our followers are still in court in Costa Mesa.”

For the past year, they have been based at the “Light House” club on Main Street in Huntington Beach, and led by Pastor Dave Berg who began his preaching to youth in Miami.

Their new home in Tucson will also be called “The Light House.” It’s …

The Daily Pilot, California

February 22, 1969

About 15 Teens for Christ picketed Fountain Valley High School Monday from 2 to 4 p.m. in their continuing protest against what they charge is education’s unfairness to religion.

The young Christian revolutionaries have previously picketed Marina High School and Huntington Beach High School to demonstrate their belief in the right to distribute Bible tracts on school property.

February 22, 1969

Somewhat like avenging angels, a contingent of Huntington Beach’s Teens for Christ swooped down on Laguna Beach Wednesday carrying placards, wearing sandwich signs, and admonishing all to follow God’s word.

Laguna Beach police reported numerous calls from shocked citizens complaining about the “hippies” marching up and down the main city streets at about 4 p.m. No incidents were reported.

Police estimated that 50 to 70 of the self-styled Christian zealots made the Laguna trek. The group seemed to congregate at the Mustic Arts World, 670 S. Coast Highway following their arrival in the city from Huntington Beach.

Signs the set members carried proclaimed “America is Doomed,” “Jesus Saves,” “Peach,” “He is the Light” and “Dig God,” as well as many Biblical admonitions.

“Why don’t you creeps take those paper signs off and go to church,” one woman screamed at the Teens as she passed by in her car.

A marcher …

By Arthur R. Vinsel, Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

February 21, 1969

Robbery and marijuana arrests before three defendants were Born Again didn’t count Friday, as 14 rejoicing Teens for Christ crusaders walked out of court in Costa Mesa, freed without bail pending their trial.

Granting so-called O.R. releases in three groups of defendants, Judge Schmidt brought joy to the prisoners facing 36 more days in Orange County Jail.

“O, Sweet Jesus,” crooned one long-haired girl adoringly at the decision.

“Hallelujah, we’ll be back out picketing tomorrow,” declared another bearded evangelist, whose Teens for Christ cohorts simultaneously staged a demonstration outside the Harbor District Judicial Court building.

“Thank the judge and praise the Lord,” said Uncle Dave Berg the 49-year-old spiritual adviser to the sect, headquartered at 110 Main St., Huntington Beach, in the Gospel Light Club.

Only the flipping of Bible pages and whispered chapter and verse numbers could be heard in the audience, but one youth spoke up during a …

By Arthur R. Vinsel, Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

February 21, 1969

A court-appointed public defender today challenged the constitutionality of charges on which 16 militant Teens for Christ crusaders are imprisoned while awaiting jury trial in 37 days.

Winos, bad check writers and traffic offenders alike are hearing again and again the saving qualities of the Christian way, while the 16 youths remain with them behind bars.

“We think the constitutionality of the law is pretty shaky,” said adviser Berg today in a telephone interview, as a Subteen for Christ suddenly babbled into an extension.

“Honey, will you get that baby off the phone?”, asked Berg continuing on to say the 16 among 17 arrested in Costa Mesa Monday remain happy and constructive in their jail confinement.

The Rev. Berg and his flock believe that right will triumph over might and remain cheerful in the face of adversity as more and more jail cells have rung with hymns of courage.

By Richard Buffum, Los Angeles Times, California

February 21, 1969

If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, as it has been said, then a lot of religion is more so. It can get you tossed into the Costa Mesa jail these days.

Fourteen members of the activist Light Club Teens for Christ were jailed and arraigned early this week for socially unacceptable activities on the sidewalks adjacent to the Maude B. Davis Intermediate School and the Costa Mesa High School.

The young Christian zealots, ranging in age from 18 to 22 (four are girls), were passing out religious tracts Monday and trying to convert students to the Gospel as they departed the schools. Some of the rebels for Christ carried crosses, Bibles and waved placards, urging unqualified acceptance of their favorite revolutionary who got Himself into deep trouble with the authorities nearly 2,000 years ago.

However, I hasten to add that the unbecoming activities that landed them in the …

The Daily Pilot, California

February 20, 1969

Jailed, but free from cares of the secular world, 16 members of Huntington Beach’s militant Teens for Christ group today are campaigning to convert other fellow prisoners, with 38 days to work at it.

Efforts by Public Defender James Lang to win release of the four girls and 12 men on a no-bail promise to appear for jury trials April 1 in Harbor District Judicial Court were rebuffed Wednesday.

Judge Calvin Schmidt refused to reduce the $65 bail set for each of the defendants, aged 18 to 22, arrested Monday while demonstrating at Maude B. Davis Intermediate School in Costa Mesa.

“That Judge Schmidt seemed to have a hardboiled attitude towards us the minute we entered the courtroom,” said Uncle Dave Berg the 49-year old Teens for Christ spiritual advisor whose son, Paul, 21, is among those held.

Judge Schmidt ordered all 16 returned to Orange County Jail until they …

By Arthur R. Vinsel, Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

February 19, 1969

Hymns of courage and faith in adversity rang through the Costa Mesa City Jail Monday night, as police booked the biggest crowd since last summer’s celebrated Hessian motorcycle gang roundup.

Refusal to obey orders after being warned once led to the mass arrest of 17 members of Huntington Beach’s Teens for Christ, loudly evangelizing at two adjacent school campuses.

Crowds of children who had been listening to the self-styled Christian revolutionaries preach jeered a team of police officers commanded by Sgt. Bob Ballinger as the militants were led away.

The five girls and 12 men—four of them actually seniorteens in a sense—were booked on suspicion of all or combination of, two penal code offenses and one education code violation.

“The thing that some people just refuse to understand is that we aren’t arresting those people for preaching or picketing,” Police Chief Roger Neth said today.

Refusal to disperse, willful and …

By Terry Coville, Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

January 23, 1969

The young, determined Teens for Christ today appear on a collision course with the California Education Code, and neither educators nor teens appear willing to step off the track.

The Huntington Beach based hippie-style Christians’ latest problem involves two teenage girls in trouble with Marina High School authorities for distributing Bible tracts on school grounds.

Cheryl Pierce, 17, a senior at Marina has been suspended from school for a week for what she calls “Christian witnessing.”

Barbara Kaliber, 14, a Marina freshman, claims she had to sign a handwritten agreement stating she knew the California Education Code’s provisions for passing out literature on school grounds.

Tuesday afternoon, the Teens for Christ picketed the school to protest the actions, as has been their custom in past similar instances.

The California Education Code, sections 8453 and 8454, is always the reason given for suspension of Teens for Christ followers who have been …

The Daily Pilot, California

January 16, 1969

Members of the Teens for “Christ in Huntington Beach picketed Garden Grove Community Church Sunday morning, scene of a prior encounter in which the hippie-appearing band was asked to either sit in the pews or move outside.

Dressed in long, flowing clothes, sandals and beads and with hair of both sexes falling over shoulders, about 50 of the church-hopping band paraded in front of the Garden Grove church carrying signs.

About a half-dozen of the group attended the services, but one of the youths said he was refused admittance by an usher who allegedly told him that a tie and coat were needed for church services.

David Berg adviser to the group of religious zealots who operate from the Light Club on Main Street near Coast Highway, said that he had not been happy with the attitude of those who attend the Garden Grove church.

He said that for the …

By Terry Coville, Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

January 16, 1969

Teens for Christ carried their battle for Jesus to the front of Huntington Beach High School Tuesday afternoon and continued it on to the evening meeting of the Huntington Beach Union High.

Protesting what they term “education’s muzzle on religion,” about 15 or 20 hippie-clad Teens for Christ picketed the high school from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., carrying signs calling for a return to Christ and passing out religious tracts to students leaving classes.

The picketing was brought on by a warning from school officials to Mike Wallis, 15, a Huntington Beach High sophomore who was told not to pass out religious tracts on the school grounds.

The same evening the Christian revolutionaries returned to the school area to picket the Board of Trustees’ meeting at district offices, across Main Street from the Huntington Beach High School campus.

“Uncle” Dave Berg, leader of the group spoke to the trustees, …

source unknown, a California newspaper

January 7, 1969

Five persons protesting the arrest of two self-styled evangelists picketed the Public Safety Building for about an hour and a half Sunday, changing “Jesus Christ Saves.”

The pickets—all were young persons—were demanding the release from jail of Arnold Theodore Dietrich, 27, and Robert Francis McDonald, 21, who were arrested on disturbing the peace charges at Sears, Roebuck & Co. store, 450 Long Beach Blvd., Saturday night.

Police said the pair were in custody in lieu of $125 bail each after “telling the people about Jesus” by shouting “Jesus Christ saves” and “You’re all going to hell” at department store customers and [employees].

The incident began when 12 persons from the religious group entered the store. They were asked to leave after customers began complaining.

The group left, but Dietrich, who told officers he was on leave from the Ft. Dix, N.J., Army base, and McDonald, who gave his address as …

By James McNabb, Jr., Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

December 23, 1968

The marching Teens for Christ are marching out of Huntington beach, “Uncle” Dave Berg, 49, founder of the militant sect reported today. The exodus, however, is only temporary.

“They’re going home for Christmas,” he explained.

The hippie-appearing teens Sunday capped of two months of march-ins into county churches with a visit by invitation to the First Methodist Church of Fountain Valley followed by Christmas dinner and football in Lake Park in downtown Huntington Beach.

Robed in their biblical garb, about 30 of the sect marched into the sanctuary at 18225 Bushard St. before the 11 a.m. service taking their customary seats at the front of the church.

The Rev. Ken McMillian said he made the last minute invitation when he learned the group had received no invitations to attend Christmas Sunday worship services.

Our people responded very well. They were a little bit up-tight about the suddenness but the overall …

By James McNabb, Jr., Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

December 19, 1968

Two pretty girls affiliated with the church-hopping Teens for Christ Thursday were sent home from a Huntington Beach High School, one with a five-day suspension slip and the other with orders to slip out of her Biblical gown into something less comfortable but more modern.

Assistant Principal Owen Miller said one girl, a junior, appeared on the campus at 15871 Springdale St. robed in illegal Biblical dress.

She was reportedly discovered talking about Jesus to another student and was handed the five-day suspension when she refused to obey orders to halt her preaching.

Miller said the other girl’s suspension came in conjunction with truancy charges, but the petite, brown-eyed senior denied the suspension Thursday was connected with alleged skipping of classes.

She stated it was her fourth suspension since the term began but insisted only the first two were for truancy. The third was three days for passing out gospel …

By James McNabb, Jr., Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

December 19, 1968

Two ranking Huntington Beach police officers Wednesday refused to order the arrest of a lone Teen for Christ after being called to do so by Marina High School administrators.

Capt. Earle Robitaille, commander of the detective division, said he could “see no reason to arrest” pretty Terry Painter, 24, who about 3 p.m. had crossed over to picket on the forbidden northwest corner of Edinger Avenue and Springdale Street.

“She isn’t breaking any law,” said Robitaille, who with Patrol Capt. Harold Mays responded to the call of administrators.

Miss Painter, attired in modern dress and carrying a small American Flag said she crossed over to “be a test case.”

She admitted she had been warned repeatedly by campus security chief Obie Moore and Miller that she would be subject to arrest for picketing on the corner bordering school property.

The dark-eyed [brunette], who gave her address as 116 Main St., …

By James McNabb, Jr., Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

December 19, 1968

Two pretty girls affiliated with the church-hopping Teens for Christ Thursday were sent home from a Huntington Beach High School, one with a five-day suspension slip and the other with orders to slip out of her Biblical gown into something less comfortable but more modern.

Assistant Principal Owen Miller said one girl, a junior, appeared on the campus at 15871 Springdale St. robed in illegal Biblical dress.

She was reportedly discovered talking about Jesus to another student and was handed the five-day suspension when she refused to obey orders to halt her preaching.

Miller said the other girl’s suspension came in conjunction with truancy charges, but the petite, brown-eyed senior denied the suspension Thursday was connected with alleged skipping classes.

She stated it was her fourth suspension since the term began but insisted only the first two were for truancy. The third was three days for passing out gospel tracts …

By James McNabb, Jr., Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

December 12, 1968

The sandal-shod Teens for Christ have been ordered by their “spiritual adviser” to begin picketing Golden West College as one member of the militant Huntington Beach sect faced arraignment today on week-old trespassing charges.

“Uncle” Dave leader of the band of hippie-appearing young people, announced the sandwich board protest Sunday at the conclusion of an evening meeting at the First Baptist Church of Fountain Valley.

The Teens, headquartered at 116 Main St., attended morning worship services at the First Christian Church of Orange then wound up their 24-hour-day personal evangelism with the panel discussion in the sanctuary of the Baptist Church at 17415 Magnolia St.

Both visits were by invitation. Previous march-ins were surprise processions during worship services. The decision to send pickets to Golden West stems from the Dec. 6 arrest of six of the self-named “Christian revolutionaries” found distributing religious tracts on campus.

Police were summoned on campus …

source unknown, a California newspaper

December 12, 1968

NEWPORT BEACH—”Teens for Christ”—the group that carries placards bearing such slogans as “We Dig God”—made a brief scene Thursday at Newport Harbor High School.

Principal Charles E. Godshall said that six members picketed the school and handed out literature to a scant student population from 11:45 a.m to 12:15 p.m.

By James McNabb, Jr., Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

December 12, 1968

Turning from Bibles to sandwich boards, the militant Teens for Christ Sunday picketed the Orange County Jail in Santa Ana, and the Huntington Beach Police Department.

They were protesting continued confinement of five brethren arrested Friday on trespassing charges at Golden West College in Huntington Beach.

Earlier, a roaring motorcycle police escort unexpectedly accompanied eight carloads of the church-hopping teens from their headquarters in the “Light Club,” 116 Main St., to the Huntington Beach city limits.

The target of their fourth consecutive Sunday church march was the Shield of [Deliverance] Center, 115 E. 6th St., Santa Ana.

But the self-styled “Christian revolutionaries” got off to a halting start when three cars in their caravan were pulled over by Huntington Beach police for alleged traffic violations.

A Fountain Valley patrol car zipped into the procession as it crossed into that city on the way to the San Diego Freeway.

The hippie-appearing …

By James McNabb, Jr., Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

December 10, 1968

Fountain Valley Pastor Alvin Dana Hawkes has invited the militant Teens for Christ to evening worship services Sunday at the “First Baptist Church “to tell us what they believe in.”

The Rev. Hawkes, 31, said the church-hopping Teens have accepted his invitation to participate in a panel discussion at the 7 p.m. service in the church sanctuary, 17415 Magnolia St.

The Rev. Mr. Hawkes said Thursday he almost “got cold feet” about inviting the Teens, “It might turn out to be rather exposing” he said.

The minister, who has served his congregation since last Nov. 10, added he received the unanimous support of the church board.

“It’s a calculated risk to launch something new. We may make a mistake, or we may even fall. But if we’re not committed enough to risk an invitation to these people, then maybe there is something wrong with our motivation,” he said.

Mr. Hawkes …

Daily Pilot, California

December 10, 1968

The not-so-secret target Sunday of the marching Teens for Christ will be the First Christian Church of Orange, Dave Berg militant leader of the Huntington Beach sect, revealed Friday.

Berg, 49, disclosed the name of the church at a meeting at Golden West College with school public relations director Bruce Williams and the Rev. Ken McMillian of the First Methodist Church of Fountain Valley.

Berg said his church-hopping teens had accepted an invitation of the Rev. Jay Calhoun, pastor of the Orange church located at 1130 Walnut St., to attend the 11 a.m. service.

It was the gray-haired leader’s first public appearance in a week. He has been confined with a throat infection.

He said his decision to veer from the usual surprise tactic was based on what he felt was a need for a “change.”

“We’re looking forward to going somewhere where we are wanted,” he added.

Daily Pilot, California

December 10, 1968

The sandal-shod Teens for Christ have been ordered by their “spiritual adviser” to begin picketing Golden West College as one member of the militant Huntington Beach sect faced arraignment on week-old trespassing charges.

“Uncle” Dave Berg, leader of the band of hippie-appearing young people, announced the sandwich board protest Sunday at the conclusion of an evening meeting at the First Baptist Church of Fountain Valley.

The Teens, headquartered at 116 Main St., attended morning worship services at the First Christian Church of Orange then would up their 24-hour-day personal evangelism with the panel discussion in the sanctuary of the Baptist Church at 17415 Magnolia St.

Both visits were by invitation. Previous march-ins were surprise processions during worship services.

The decision to send pickets to Golden West stems from the Dec. 6 arrest of six of the self-named “Christian revolutionaries” found distributing religious tracts on campus.

Full congregations greeted the band …

The Daily Pilot, California

December 10, 1968

Jury trial for five of the six Teens for Christ arrested last week on misdemeanor trespassing charges has been set for Jan. 9 in West Orange County Municipal Court.

The young militants Monday pleaded innocent to the charges of interfering with the peaceful conduct of school activities at Golden West College in Huntington Beach and refusing to leave the campus when asked to do so.

About 20 members of the Huntington Beach-based group’s leadership team sat in Judge Philip McGraw’s courtroom during the arraignment proceedings.

Outside, small bands of the self-styled “Christian revolutionaries” picketed in front of Westminster City Hall, which is adjacent to court facilities.

Released on their own recognizance were Jonathan Berg 19, son of the group’s “spiritual advisor” Dave Berg; Nancy Dewar, 18; Joseph Langford, 18; Douglas Toerper, 19, and James Burke, 27.

By Richard Buffum, Los Angeles Times, California

December 6, 1968

The Rev. David Berg, 49, adviser to the controversial Light Club Teens for Christ of Huntington Beach, has flowing gray hair, a mellifluous voice and a strong, yet ethereal face. He appears well qualified to minister to a flock of adoring old ladies.

Instead to borrow phrases from his congregation of young hippie types, he and his evangelist family (originally from Mingus, Texas) have another bag.

They’re where it’s at. They dig the alienated, confused teenagers, the physical and spiritual dropouts from our over-heated society.

In a sparsely furnished store building on Main St., a few steps from the Huntington Beach pier, I met three lightly bearded youths. They were crouched on the floor around a low, round oaken table. They were diligently studying Bibles and taking notes.

This, a battered, garish room vaguely reminiscent of a giant Japanese teahouse, is the temple of the crusading evangelists of Teens for …

source unknown, a California newspaper

December 6, 1968

HUNTINGTON BEACH—Pastor Dave Berg of the “Teens for Christ” movement here told The Register that the swix members of his flock who were arrested Friday when they invaded the Golden West College campus would “cheerfully serve their time in jail because they were doing it for Christ.”

The six members, including Berg’s son Jonathan, 19, were lodged in Orange County jail in lieu of $195 bond each after plice arrested them for interfering with college activities and refusing to leave the premises.

Members of the group were passing out religious tracts on the campus when arrested.

Berg said “They were thrown in jail and charged excessive bail like common criminals. We don’t have the bail money—we live by faith—so they will cheerfully remain in jail until they go to court.

“I talked to the kids on the phone and they said poice did not give them a chance to leave …

source unknown, a California newspaper

December 6, 1968

HUNTINGTON BEACH—Six “Teens for Christ”—four males and two females – were arrested at 3 p.m. Friday on a complaint from the dean of students at Golden West College who said the leaflet-distributing religious enthusiasts were “disrupting the school’s campus.”

The six arrested, part of a larger group of hippie-clad teenagers who with their pastor Dave Berg have been making uninvited visits to different county churches for the past eight Sundays, were on the campus at Golden West College handing out leaflets according to Dr. Dale L. Miller.

Dr. Miller said he requested the group to leave but they continued to distribute leaflets, so he called police. Six officers arrived at the campus and took the teenagers to the Huntington Beach police station for booking.

The six were booked on charges of interfering with the peaceful conduct of school activities and for refusing to leave the premises when legally asked to …

By Randy Waltrip, Staff Writer, The 49er, California

December 6, 1968

“We challenge the Christian churches of America to join us like the early church and sell all they have, have all things in common, and preach the Gospel.” With these words Miguel Ward, a former CSLB student, promulgated the doctrine of the pioneering Teens for Christ to an audience Wednesday at CSLB.

The Teens for Christ, whose headquarters are located at the Light Club on Main Street in Huntington Beach, visited the Long Beach campus Wednesday in an attempt to convince students that theirs is a cause worth joining. Small, printed tablets containing phrases from the Bible were handed out to passing students nearly the entire day. Heated confrontations between skeptic students and members of the organization continually attracted students from their classes.

“We have three causes.” Ward excitedly told students. “We hope to win souls, we hope to warn people about the Communist move within this country, and we …

By Richard Buffum, Los Angeles Times, California

December 4, 1968

Some are barefoot. Some wear sandals and the casual garments and hirsute adornment associated with hippies. They have been paying surprise visits to local churches on Sundays, in most instances disturbing the starched decorum of conventional congregations.

There is an elemental quality about the visitors that reproaches—even desecrates, some of the over sensitive feel—the calm, middle-class respectability of their sanctuaries.

The team, as they prefer to call themselves, is currently paying surprise visits on Sundays to conventional churches. “We are doing this,” says Mr. Berg, “to show that hippies aren’t ogres.” And to protest the “folderol, hypocrisy and emphasis on constructing new buildings that obscure the true meaning of the Gospel. Buildings have become the curse of the church.”

The Bergs’ 19-year-old son Jonathan began “preaching at 5 with a Bible in his lap,” says his mother proudly. He is the director of the teen club, a seedy store front …

By James McNabb, Jr., Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

December 2, 1968

Huntington Beach’s church-hopping “Teens for Christ” struck again this Sunday—hopping in and out of the drive-in Garden Grove Community Church.

The 50 Bible-carrying young people who wear hippie-like garb were ejected after their surprise appearance, apparently because they violated church dress and seating regulations.

One of the band, bearded 21-year-old Miguel Ward, at first ignored the exit order, leaped to the altar steps and shouted at the 1,000 worshipers that their church is “a temple of hypocrisy.”

Ushers ordered the bead-draped band outside after the so-called “Christian revolutionaries” marched up a side aisle and sat on the floor at the front of the steel and glass sanctuary minutes before the 11:15 a.m. processional hymn started.

Ward and a companion, Joseph Langford, almost immediately were corralled by a quartet of the beflowered officials and with their arms pinned to their sides hustled out a side door.

The remaining number left peaceably …

Daily Register, California

December 2, 1968

HUNTINGTON BEACH—Pastor Dave Berg and his Teens for Christ will make a visitation today.

Berg said a substantial part of his group of 50 teenagers “are formerly hippies hung up on dope who have been delivered.”

Some of them, he said are still hippies and retain the garb of the hippie and when his group enters a church, the regular members generally appear somewhat apprehensive.

“But we are only there to express our love for them,” said Berg, a 6-foot man in his forties. “None of us is concerned with marijuana, pot, heronine, or what have you—we are cleansed, we are delivered from such things.

“Our marches to a different church each Sunday are a good-will gesture.

We meet at our hall 116 Main St. in Huntington Beach at 10 a.m. Sunday and we wait there for inspiration from God as to which church we are to visit. We never …

By James McNabb, Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

November 25, 1968

An apparent attempt to disrupt church services by a band of self-styled “Christian revolutionaries” from Huntington Beach was thwarted Sunday by a muscular minister of a Santa Ana congregation.

Pastor H. Syvelle Phillikps of the First Assembly of God Church reported the band of 40 to 40 hippie-appearing persons, with some infants-in-arms, entered the sanctuary at 500 W. Fifth St. shortly before he was to begin his 11:30 a.m. sermon.

Youthful zealots of both sexes marched up the aisle taking seats in the front rows. “They came to take over, but we stayed on top of the situation,” the Rev. Phillips said. He said he was forced to leave his pulpit and reprimand one of the agitators after several outbursts of, “that’s a lie!”

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound minister said the interruptions ceased when he jumped down and gently laid a finger on the nose of one of the noisiest.

At …

By Jerome F. Collins of the Daily Pilot Staff

November 15, 1968

More than two dozen howling, hippie-like strangers—some of the men bearded, some of the women hysterical—disrupted but did not halt services at St. James Episcopal Church in Newport Beach Sunday.

Nobody knew where they came from, nor where they went after their visit to the church.

They remained restlessly and noisily in their seats in front of the altar throughout the 11 o’clock services.

The outbursts endured by St. James’ congregation included a shout from one of the visitors during communion:

“This is hypocrisy!”

“It was a strong loud voice that could have been heard for a quarter of a mile,” said the Rev. David A. Crump later. “It was a bit shaking.”

The 41-year-old minister who is associate rector, said he was upset by the shout and his regular parishioners were doubtless horrified, but he didn’t attempt to respond.

Throughout the service, the casually garbed strangers (only two or …

By James McNabb, Jr., Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

April 21, 1968

Eighteen picketing Teens for Christ battled blustery winter winds Tuesday as they picketed Golden West College in Huntington Beach and promised to return today.

Led by former professional picketer turned Teen for Christ Daniel Anderson, the band of robed young people marched for about three hours in a large oval on the heavily trafficked Edinger side of the junior college campus.

The self-styled “Christian revolutionaries” said they are protesting the Dec., 6 trespassing arrest of six of their brethren found distributing religious tracts on campus.

Spiritual adviser to the band, “Uncle” Dave 49, watched the procession from his car parked on the south side of Edinger.

He accused Miller of circulating a “partisaned bulletin prejudiced against the arrested teens.” added he was “going to pray about pressing charges against the college administrator for his alleged violation of a section of the state education code by passing out the memorandum.”

Miller …

By Pamela Powell of the Daily Pilot Staff

March 16, 1968

“Education is the greatest enemy today of the true civilization. It only takes you two years to talk, it takes you the rest of a lifetime to keep your mouth shut.”

So said David Berg, founder and promoter of the Light Club in Huntington Beach, preaching to the hippie congregation in the aftermath of the first local double betrothal ceremony.

“The Bible calls it betrothal, it’s just as good as getting married. You make the vows and everything. I guess it’s like an engagement, but stronger,” said his 17-year-old daughter, Faith.

The purpose of the club at 116 Main St., is to help young people find the way through Christ. “This is the ultimate eternal trip. I found the real peace, joy and satisfaction. I talked to everyone and they didn’t have an answer,” Miss Berg said.

“Jesus said ‘I am the way, the truth and the light,’ either he’s …

By Thomas Edwards, Staff Writer at the Huntington Beach Haven

March 15, 1968

Desperate pleas from parents of runaway youths are tacked to a small bulletin board leaning against the inside of the storefront window.

Above the announcements, a tiny sign echoing a distant plea of optimism reads “You can help change the world.”

Lingering near the entrance, a few bearded, beaded and sandled youths look guardedly toward the rear of the room for signs of the nightly feed-in—trays laden with sandwiches.

THE SCENE—Huntington Beach’s newest hippie haven—a gathering place that has become a center of controversy for the city’s residents and the visitors who frequent it.

The Orange County Light Club, located unobtrusively on Main Street a few steps from the Huntington Pier, is the temple for the crusading evangelists of “Teens for Christ” and the visitor can expect pressure salesmanship for Christ to accompany the menu.

The interior is a facsimile of a Japanese teahouse resting on a large patchwork …