staff sojourns

If you've followed the chronological sequence of the House you've seen that staff changes were fairly common.
Before I go on, a little review: The original staff was going to be four guys, Randy Matthews, Steve Scott, Ted Baxendale, and Greg (last name escapes me but he was from Indianapolis). Ted and Greg never joined the staff but an unknown interloper named Terry Fisher came out of no where and joined up for three months. Within a few weeks we were joined by Mike Buckingham, Pat Buckingham and Joanie (her last name still escapes me but she was from Lexington). Randy and Steve left on a cross country tour and Grant and Jane Ann Hammond joined us. All of this occurred from April - August, 1972.

The first summer ended and everyone was asked to leave except Grant & Jane Ann. Through circumstances explained a few months ago, I stayed. January, 1973 Grant & Jane Ann left and Stan & Linda Carter joined. Fall of 1973 Kent Odor came to stay. Also that fall Greg (the same Greg who didn't join staff at the beginning who's last name I do not remember) joined us for a few months. Chris Adams was really part of the staff even though he did not move in until the following summer.

Stan, Linda, Terry, Kent & Chris continued as the staff until spring of 1974 when Stan & Linda moved out with Chris to follow in the summer. Andy Wilson moved into the house for the summer while he prepared for a fall departure to college.

Kent and I were the staff for the next year until summer of 1975 when Rick, Jenny & Christy Mapes moved in. No sooner were they settled than Kent married Marcia and moved out. Sometime during the following year a student from the University of Cincinnati named Tony Ross approached Rick and asked if he could move in and join the staff. We were a little surprised by this because no one had ever asked to join the staff. Usually we were begging people! So Tony moved in for the first of two stints on the Jesus House Staff. It quickly became apparent that Tony was an exceptional musician. He didn't just play music, he knew music. I was continually amazed at his ability to master an instrument, then move on to another. During the time when he decided to put together a Second Chapter of Acts group, he drove me nuts listening to the music while he transposed all the parts including voices, horns, etc. It was a pretty amazing feat. I've never been able to listen to Second Chapter of Acts music since, but it still was amazing to watch him put together a huge band and vocalists to perform the music. It was the biggest musical project ever attempted by someone from the Jesus House. Tony left us for awhile to move to California where he worked at the Fender factory to learn how amplifiers are constructed. Once he was finished with his sojourn to the West Coast he moved back in with us for awhile until he decided to join the Cain family as an auxiliary son then also become a student at Miami University. Somewhere during one of his two stints at the House Tony played bass for Crossroads/Prodigal. Since then, Tony has developed into an incredible worship leader, become a pilot, husband and father. Tony is featured on the Jesus House Recording Project and will be singing at the reunion, May 2.
Tony is an incredibly gifted, multi-talented individual and it was a pleasure to live with and know him. Plus we had a really great nickname for him. Sorry, I'm not including it in this blog. Some people let their children read this you know. Just in case Tony's children read this, I don't want to cause undo embarrassment. But, if you ask at the Reunion, I'll tell you privately!

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the Forth Week of March

1972 - Ted Baxendale (Yes, the Ted who was supposed to join the staff but never did.)
1973 - Rich Davis, Brad Sewell
1974 - Bruce & Dale, no last names included.
1975 - Bob Clark & Tony Ross (Great harmonies!)
1976 - Stephens-Brigance (More great harmonies!!)
1977 - Donnie Yazell
1978 - 'Cinnati (Terry Fisher, Rick Marksberry, Andy Danzel, Dave French)
1979 - Lisa Allen
1980 - Jim Bankowski
1981 - Jon Owens
1982 - The Wild Olive Branch Band
1983 - Tim Root

Fifth Saturdays: March is another month with the occasional fifth Saturday. Those artists were:

1973 - adamsfishyodor, Sharon Wilson (Why would a sweet girl like Sharon agree to share the bill with those three scruffy guys? They probably paid her...)
1974 - Wilshire-Haveline (Yes, this was Mike Wilshire. Incredible musician)
1975 - Cathy, Kitty & John (I think this was Kitty Daniels, whose sister Jennie will be performing at the Reunion) The night before we had our only ever Good Friday Dinner with a Passover Meal.
1979 - adamsfishyodor (This was either our second or third reunion concert tour)
1980 - Rick Roberts