School Ousts Two Teens for Christ

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

December 19, 1968, North America

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 on campus, she said.

Both girls were taken home by the campus security chief Obie Moore. The junior later returned to classes after changing from her robe.

“I had to do what my mother wanted me to do, so I put on the same kind of dress that all the school robots wear,” she said.

The girls said Thursday afternoon they would continue “to spread the saving grace of Jesus Christ on campus.”

According to the senior girl, the two organized a noon prayer circle and Bible study class which in two months has grown from three to 14 students.

She accused the administration of persecuting students who “proclaim their love of Jesus.”

“I don’t understand why they do this to us. Six months ago my life was one big booze party. I was never happy. And then I was led to the Lord and, Praise Go0d, happiness and joy have constantly filled my heart. I want to share my own peace of mind with others,” she said.