The Jesus House

Jesus House Christmas CD

2012-01-30T12:24:00.000-08:00

Keep the first weekend of December, 2012 open for the release of the long-awaited (?) Jesus House Christmas CD titled
“Coming Home: A Jesus House Christmas”
It is a compilation of original songs by artists who used to perform at the Jesus House.
Quite an assortment of musicians, styles, etc. We’ll have some sort of listening party or perhaps even another reunion concert.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2010-11-22T10:58:00.000-08:00

The Chronicles of Narnia were books read and re-read during the Jesus House years.
The following review of the latest installment of the movie franchise is added here to reach as many people as possible. Yes, it's the same on I put on my Facebook page.
Hope you are planning to see the movie on December 10.
Blessings
Terry

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The following is a brief summary of some reactions and reflections on the movie. I viewed the film November 18 with a theater full of pastors, pastor’s spouses, and employees of Zondervan. A few children were present but not many. I’m leaving out a lot of details because I do not want to spoil it for others. There are no spoilers.

I urge you to plan to see the movie December 10 or at least opening weekend. As with all long-term franchises, the next movie gets the green light based on the revenue of the most recent. A strong opening weekend will probably result in immediate filming of The Silver Chair, which really needs to be made if for no other reason than the one I provide below.

My opinion of the film in one sentence: Not as good as The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe but better than Prince Caspian.

Strength: It’s a better children’s movie than Prince Caspian. I still do not like the casting of an older actor, Ben Barnes, to play Prince Caspian. It seemed the producers were trying to produce a teen movie and attract the Twilight crowd.

Strength: Will Poulter, the actor playing Eustace. He is fabulous. He doesn’t look like I imagined Eustace during 36 years of reading these books. but I’m not disappointed. He is the right blend of comic relief, narcissism, and serious reflection. The quality of his performance is enough to green light The Silver Chair. His presence also gives me hope that The Silver Chair will be another children’s movie.

Strength: The relationship between Eustace & Reepicheep.

Strength: Ramandu’s daughter. Wish she had more screen time.

Disappointment: The magical, beautiful moments. There were a few, but they were too short. One of the best was the arrival of Ramandu’s daughter but even this one was too short. Another was the first glimpse of Aslan, but it too was brief. There was nothing to rival the best magical moments in LWW; Lucy’s first entrance into Narnia or the first look we have of Aslan. These books need magical moments.

Disappointment: The battle scenes were difficult to follow. This might be corrected by release date because it was explained that post-production work is still being done.

Changes from the book: A plot devise is added to provide a quest to the story in addition to that of finding the seven lords. It’s an okay change.

Nice surprise: Yes, Peter & Susan make cameo appearances as does the White Witch.

A change I wish they had made: I was hoping they would bring Trumpkin the Dwarf along so Peter Dinklage would be back. He is a great actor who was not given enough in Prince Caspian. If you question my assessment of his ability as a actor watch The Station Agent then compare it with the character he portrayed in Elf.

To all my friends who are hard-core Chronicles fans/geeks: I believe you’ll like the movie. You want to see it on the biggest screen in your area.

Name the JH Christmas CD

2010-11-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

The release date of the Jesus House Christmas CD has been delayed due to the time it takes to get everything recorded, mixed, duplicated, packaged, etc. So it will be released sometime before Christmas, 2011. But for now we need your creative help! The previous CD, the one distributed at the last reunion, was given a name that came through the minds of Terry Fisher and Deny Brigance. For this one we would like to tap into your mind. Yes, YOURS! We are announcing the official Name-the-Jesus-House-Christmas-C-D Contest and you get to be part of it. Submit your name either by responding to this note or emailing Deny or me. For me use: revfisher@earthlink.net

Contest ends on Christmas Day, 2010.

So...you are wondering...what do you win? Good question.
At the very least, you'll get a free CD. Of course, lots of other people will get free CD's too, although there might be a small charge to cover materials, but we won't charge you.
Maybe we can get a bunch of the artists to sign yours. How's that for incentive?
We'll acknowledge you somewhere on the cover.
I'll publish your name on the Jesus House Blog.
Maybe I'll put your name on my Facebook page.
Maybe you'll get a free meal out of it, but no promises there.
Mostly you'll have the fun of naming the next CD!

Start submitting those titles. Look forward to reading your ideas.
Blessings
Terry

big hit!

2010-06-23T07:55:00.000-07:00

adamsfishyodor was a big hit leading worship at Grace Church in Piqua. Thanks to the JH people who came. We had at least one JH person in each of the three services with nine in the third service! I'm officially done with my duties as Lead pastor at that church. July 11 I begin as Senior Pastor at Lawrence Avenue United Methodist Church in Charlotte, Michigan. Who knows when adamsfishyodor will surface again. Perhaps at a reunion near you!

this is it, folks!

2010-06-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

this sunday those legendary performers, adamsfishyodor, will lead worship at Grace United Methodist Church 9411 North County Road 25-A in Piqua, Ohio. Services are 8:15, 10:00 & 11:15.
don't miss this unique worship opportunity!

Jesus House Day!

2010-05-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

Memo:
To: All Jesus House people in the Dayton/Cincinnati area
Re: Jesus House Day!

Sunday, June 13, adamsfishyodor (i.e. Christopher Adams, Terry Fisher & Kent Odor) will lead worship at Grace United Methodist Church in PIqua, Ohio.
Personally, I think every Jesus House person in the Dayton/Cincinnati area needs to attend one of the three worship services; 8:15, 10:00 & 11:15. Come to the last one and we'll let you take us out to lunch!
Many of you have said, "Hey, Terry, some Sunday I'm going to visit you at the church in Piqua." So far, Deny Brigance, John Jaffe, The Perkolaters with Wendy Wilson, plus Kent and Chris are the people who have visited. Deny's been here three times and John twice!

Time is growing short! My final Sunday at this church will be Father's Day, June 20. So, I've declared June 13, Jesus House Day at Grace United Methodist Church!
How can you refuse?
Mark your calendars, put it on whatever means of electronic system you use, look us up on MapQuest, and journey to Grace United Methodist Church, 9411 N. County Road 25-A in Piqua, Ohio

Just in case you cannot make it on June 13, and have a very good reason, of course I can't think of any good reasons, but perhaps you can, but just in case, you are welcome to visit another Sunday just know that I will not be here Memorial Day Weekend.

jesus house mini reunion

2010-05-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

April 18, in the afternoon a group of 30 or so gathered in a room at the Vineyard MotherShip in Springdale for a relaxing afternoon of great music. Eight artists performed a selection of songs which included, "the first song the lord ever gave me," a secular song, a hymn, and a personal favorite. We concluded with a joint performance worshiping together with Holy, Holy, Holy. You can view the performances on YouTube by searching for Jesus House Mini Reunion or following this link. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jesus+house+mini+reunion&aq=f

If you want to see the performances in order:
Randy Moody
Paul & Kim Niehaus
John Gould
Rick & Diann Marksberry
Terry Fisher
Jennie Daniel Pitney
Finale, Holy, Holy, Holy

It was a great afternoon which caused some of us to remember and miss the occasional intimate evenings at the JH which featured a small crowd with a solo performer like John Gould. The big crowds were great, but so were the small ones.

Hope you can make the next one.
And, yes, a Christmas CD is being recorded!

Thanks to Julie Daniel Green for the videos and the labor in putting them on YouTube.

adamsfishyodor leads worship!

2010-04-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

News Break...News Break...News Break
We've just confirmed the appearance of adamsfishyodor at Grace United Methodist Church!
Sunday, June 13, the famed trio will lead worship at three morning worship services. Chris Adams, Terry Fisher, & Kent Odor will once again grace the stage, sing some of their funny songs but also lead in worship. In MorningSong, the 8:15 service, they will lead classic hymns and contemporary worship songs in the other two services at 10:00 & 11:15. It will be a treat for these three good friends to be on stage one more time. Mark your calendars, tell your friends and neighbors, but don't let anyone you know miss this historic morning!

Grace United Methodist Church
2511 N. Co. Rd.
Piqua, Ohio

For more information, call the church office and talk to Steve.
937-773-8232

another Jesus House Reunion, the short version

2010-04-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

Most of you have probably heard about this, but if you have not, apologies for not posting earlier.
Sunday, April 18, which is tomorrow, there will be a small reunion concert featuring Jesus House Artists. The details are below. Hope you can make it, if even for a portion of the afternoon. I will be late since I need to speak at three services in the morning and will not be able to make the start time driving down from Piqua. It will be a fun afternoon.
The concert will be in the Vineyard Resource Center Banquet Room

Our event is in the nature of a Coffee House with acoustic guitar performers. Coffee & tea will be available.

Date:
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Time:
2:30pm - 5:30pm
Location:
The Cincinnati TriCounty Vineyard Church (The Mothership)
Street:
11340 Century Circle E.
City/Town:
Cincinnati, OH

Each artist will be playing four songs:
1. Their first Christian Song
2. Their best / Favorite original Christian song
3. A secular song they have always wanted to play
4. A hymn or worship song

Tentative Schedule:
Randy Moody – 2:30
Paul & Kim Niehaus – 3:00
John Gould – 3:30
Rick & Diann Marksberry – 4:00
Terry Fisher – 4:30
Jennie Pitney – 5:00
5:20 - Finale: A song, pre-learned, played by all.

The Perkolaters!

2009-11-25T08:06:00.000-08:00

For anyone in the Cincy/Dayton/Lima area.
Sunday, December 6, The Perkolaters will lead worship at Grace United Methodist Church, Piqua, Ohio.

In case you're not sure who the Perkolaters might be, and their connection to The Jesus House, they are Jim Wilson of the Willouby-Wilson Band and Rick Fields of Prodigal. They will lead worship and perform a couple of their originals. Also, Terry Fisher will be speaking! And if that is not enough, the church serves donuts, coffee, & juice so if the message is boring, you can sit quietly eating your donut and drinking your coffee!

The services start promptly at 8:45 & 11:00 am. Yes, they start on time. Hard to believe isn't it? Prompt starting times from old Jesus House people...

The church building is located at 9411 North County Road 25-A and is less than a mile off I-75. If you are traveling north from Cincinnati, once you get to Dayton, keep going north past Dayton, to the second Piqua exit, (exit 83) turn right and you'll find the church after a couple of corn fields. It's a little over an hour drive time from Northern Cincinnati.

Hope to see many of you on December 6.

Happy Thanksgiving!

favorites

2009-10-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

Was I allowed to have favorites?
That is, among our musicians?
I did.
If you have read this blog for the past year, you have seen an amazing list of musicians and other performers. Some were more effective than others. Some we scheduled many, many times, others appeared only once. Some were requested by others and I could never understand why. Others were some of my personal favorites. Below I'm going to list a few of my favorites and why they were my favorites. If your name or your favorite artist is not listed, that only means you did not make the list this time, I might do this again in the future.

Anyone who has attended the reunions has probably heard that John Gould played the Jesus House more than any other artist. One reason is because he played through out the 14 years of the ministry.

A few days ago, I was wondering which artist played the Jesus House in the most different incarnations. Dave Workman would qualify since he played as a soloist, as a member of the Paul & Dave Band, as a member of Pridigal (as bass player and drummer) and also, as a drummer for one incarnation of the Terry Fisher Band!

Deny Brigance certainly qualifies because he played as a soloist, as a member of Monk, a member of Steffens-Brigance plus several other bands he assembled for one-time concerts.

I believe Rick Marksberry probably takes the prize. Rick played at the House in a wide-variety of musical incarnations. He played as a soloist, as a back-up musician for people like Jim Bankowski, Tony Ross, Terry Fisher and probably many others I'm forgetting. He was a member of at least three bands; 'Cinnnati, Windfall and, the ever lovable, Dead Rat Road Band. Rick also performed with his wife, Diane. One of the reasons Rick performed with so many people was his versatility as a musician. He played guitar, fiddle, peddle steel, and banjo. He also plays piano & drums but I do not remember him playing either of those instruments at the House. If you attended the last reunion, you saw Rick & Diane in charge of the sound for the day, plus he played in the Super Group (see Youtube). Rick was also instrumental in recording & mixing many of the tracks for the JHCD besides singing and playing various instruments.

So now that I have that musing out of the way, on to my list of some of my favorite performers. Remember, this is not an exhaustive list, just six I chose for today:

6. Deny Brigance. Besides being the second performer to bring a set of drums to the House, Deny consistently showed that he had a deep love of music and a deep love for Jesus. He brought variety, new music, and one of the best rock & roll screams ever! Besides all that, Deny provided us with some of the best harmonies to flow through our sound system.
5. John Gould. Yes, he played more often than anyone, but besides that, John was musical perfection. Vocally and instrumentally, John was always in tune, a major accomplishment for many of us in those days, but also brought a depth of message that few others could equal.
4. Rick Mullins. Sure, sometimes Rich was hard to work with and at least one time he completely bombed! Hard to believe. Of all the great song writers we had, and we had great ones, Rich had more music flowing out of him than anyone. He was hard on our piano, but I always felt bad we didn't have a better instrument for him to play. At least the last time he played at the house, on an off night during our final year, when he happened to be in Cincinnati we were able to provide him with an electric grand so finally we heard him play an instrument worthy of his ability. Rich's creativity inspired the rest of us to greater heights.
3. Randy Matthews. He started it all. There was never a voice with more passion, intensity and energy. For those around in the early months, you had the pleasure of hearing him nearly every week. Randy was the first. Years later, every time he visited he was powerful. Among all the soloists with a guitar in the Kingdom, Randy was the only one who achieved the intensity and volume of a band all by himself.
2. Prodigal/Crossroads. They started as Crossroads but changed their name when they began recording; too many other Christian bands named Crossroads. Though it took them awhile to finalize a solid line up, especially filling that pesky bass player role, once Rick, Loyd, Mike & Dave became the band we knew as Prodigal they were an incredible musical and spiritual force. One of my favorite bands to preach after. I also loved opening for them. When we could no longer have them at the House (their sound system would not fit) it left a ministry hole. Fortunately that hole was filled by the next band.
1. The Willoughby-Wilson Band. The other favorite band after whom I loved to speak. They were creative, solid and always exhibited a desire to serve. I was blessed to open for them in many other concert settings. Only once did I have to play after them, at 2:00 am in Washington Court House during an all night youth concert. What were we thinking? One summer they even became a house band at the JH, playing once a month. It was great to have them so consistently.

These six acts consistently reached people at deep spiritual levels, exhibited consistent quality of music and tried hard to fit within the context of the Jesus house Ministry. Rarely were they compensated and most turned it down when we tried. I will forever be grateful to them, and to other artists not mentioned in this list for the willingness to let God use them at the place we called The Jesus House.

NOTE: Some of you might be interested to know that on December 6th, Rick Fields, from Prodigal, and Jim Wilson, from The Willoughby-Wilson Band who sometimes perform together as The Perkolaters will be leading worship at Grace United Methodist Church in Piqua, Ohio. Services are 8:45 am & 11:00 am. Terry Fisher, former runner of things at the Jesus House and currently Lead Pastor of said church, will be speaking. Everyone is invited to visit. The church building is located at 9411 N. Co. Rd. 25-A right off I-75 in Piqua.

and one more thing...

2009-10-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know, I told you I was finished, but, well, you see, things keep popping up that I need to share.

In a recent email, Deny Brigance sent the following observation:

"It struck me this morning that one of the things I like about the legacy of The Jesus House is that, back in those days, it was demonstrably clear that there is only one Church. Only Jesus Christ makes real church members. And now, years later, as we've all gone our semi-separate ways denominationally, or at least with customs and practices if not doctrine, it's nice to have something going on from time to time that points up the reality of the One Church."

Deny's thoughts reminded me of a postcard I received from Sheldon Vanauken in 1987, after the Jesus House was closed. Some of you will remember Vanauken as the author of A Severe Mercy, a popular book around the Jesus House in the late 70's and early 80's. Vanauken wrote a later book titled "Under the Mercy" which chronicled his spiritual journey. One of the experiences he related was his move into the Catholic Church. I was not bothered that he joined the Catholic Church but I wanted him to elaborate on the one of the reasons; which was that he concluded that it was historically the one true church. I've never believed that any of our non-profit organizations we call churches can represent the "one true church" leaving all the others out, so I was surprised that he gave that as one of his reasons. In his response to my question, printed in small writing on both sides of a postcard was, "the Catholic Church is the ancient church, founded by St. Peter in the days of the legions of Rome. It wrote the creeds which include; 'I believe in one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic Church.' That did not mean some invisible, nice collective of Christians wherever they might be gathered. It meant the church: priest, bishops, sacraments - Above all, sacraments - which require priests. Christ is indeed present when two or three are gathered in His name, of course, but that is not the church, not the sacraments, not the teaching authority of the apostles (bishops)."

Receiving the postcard from Vanauken was an interesting experience for me. I had never previously written one of my favorite authors. Lewis and Tolkien were both gone before I read any of their books. I was amazed he took the time to write. I was also amazed by his response. Since I don't believe you need to have a priest or any ordained person in order to baptize or serve communion, then his point about needing the Catholic church in order to have sacraments would never point me in that direction.

Of course, his reasoning that the Catholic Church was founded by Peter in Rome leaves out the Greek Orthodox Church founded in Constantinople at the same or possibly earlier time. For some years the Bishop of Rome and the Bishop of Constantinople had conflict over who was more powerful and who was really leading the church. Eventually, they stopped trying to work together and the Roman Catholic Church and Greek Orthodox Church grew out of that. Yes, I just simplified a journey of history that took many years to develop, but this is a blog not a history book.

Vanauken found the move into the Catholic Church comforting and an aid to his spiritual growth. I'm glad he found it so, but I'm still perplexed that he was looking for the "one true church" among the organizations that have been started by human beings in our attempt to worship God. Although there were times when we thought we had a little better understanding of God than others, we were usually brought back to the reality that we were human and prone to mistakes, while trying out best to worship God in spirit and truth. Deny's thoughts reminds us that the Jesus House was then and still is an eccentric collection of Christians from a variety of backgrounds. I like that. I hope you do too. If you don't, we'll just disagree on that point, okay? But we will not start a new denomination over it.

Music Update
There is, in the works, a new recording project for JH people. A collection of original Christmas songs will be written, recorded, and released on CD by Christmas 2010. Several songs have already been submitted. Stay tuned for more updates.

Final Things...for now.

2009-09-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

A year ago I started this blog as a means of recording some of the history of the Jesus House but also to prepare us for "The Next and Mostly Likely Final Jesus House Reunion" that occured last May as well as the Jesus House Recording, It's About Time, which was made available at the reunion.

This is most likely the final entry for this blog. Of course, with me, you can never tell. If tomorrow I think of a new entry, it will be here. Thank you to all who have responded to this blog either here, in emails, phone calls, and in person. It's been rewarding to remember the ministry and record those recollections.

The Jesus House was a unique ministry that tried to share Jesus in ways that, at the time, were not common in other settings. It was a great outlet for musicians to develop their art. It was also the place where many people first encountered Jesus then experience spiritual maturing.

For those of us who had the pleasure of working on the staff, it provided us with a place to learn how to be leaders. We made lots of mistakes, sometimes learned from those mistakes, and occasionally did something right.

Beyond anything else, I hope we gave honor to the the Creator of the Universe.

Blessings
Terry Fisher

Artists Who Played the Jesus House the 3rd, 4th, & 5th Saturdays of September: The first name is for the third week, etc...

1972 - Sharon Wilson, Vicki Eaton, Rich Davis & Terry Fisher all in one night; Dan Stenerson; Mark O'Hara
1973 - John Gould; Virgil Warren & Rising Hope; Randy Moody
1974 - Mark O'Hara, Kent Odor & Terry Senters; Kevin & Mark
1975 - Kent, Mark & Tony; Terry Fisher
1976 - Terry Fisher; Prodigal
1977 - Selah; Rick Roberts
1978 - Rising Hope; Andy Danzl; Carolyn Randell
1979 - Sharing Night; Harriet Lewis; Rishing Hope
1980 - Harriet Lewis & Hog; Stephens-Brigance
1981 - Cathy Snyder; Rick & Diane
1982 - Revelation; Jon Owens
1983 - Bill Williams; Phil Parshel, Mo Dunn

That's All Folks!

artists, where did they come from?

2009-09-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

Starting the Jesus House with the idea of hosting a weekly Christian concert was itself a leap of faith.
We did not have a list of potential artists to perform. We knew we couldn't have Randy Matthews perform every week. We assumed we would find people to play. And we did. Not always easily.

The first summer, when Randy left on a tour across the country, I took over booking artists.
We had a couple of artists scheduled but the first time I needed to find someone myself, I decided to go to the top.
At the time Nick Clooney had a daily television show in Cincinnati that featured a singer named Len Mink. A few months earlier we visited the set of the show and met Nick Clooney, Len Mink and others on the show. I decided we needed to have Len sing at the Jesus House so a couple of us drove down to the TV station, walked into the reception area and asked to see Len. Fortunately the receptionist, Cathy, remembered us and allowed us to see Len. Even though Len had a Methodist Church background, at the time he was not a Christian. He agreed to sing that weekend and had a great time with us. The next time Len sang at the House was a few months later, the very day he became a Christian! He was visiting Isabel Ricketts at her store, Christian Church Supplies which used to be on the corner of 9th and Vine right next door to a pornographic bookstore. Isabel was an amazing woman and a force for Jesus in those days. Isabel loved that her Christian bookstore was located in a rough part of town rather than out in the suburbs. Any time someone had a need, Isabel was ready to close the shop, take you in the storage room and pray for you. The storage room prayer meetings were famous. That was the place where Len prayed to receive Jesus. The following year, he left the Nick Clooney show to begin singing Christian music full time. He's spent years working with Kenneth Copeland. The last time I saw Len was in Spring, 1978. He was performing a concert at a friend's Methodist Church. After the concert Len took off his watch, gave it to me and said, "The Lord wants you to have this." It was a very expensive watch that was given to him by Copeland. Not sure why the Lord wanted me to have that watch, I don't think I had a habit of being late for things...

The First Two Weeks of September: The First Artist is week one, the second is week two
1971 - John Gould (This was John Gould's very first appearance at the House! It was also supposed to be my last night at the House. Well, that didn't happen...I stayed for 13 and a half more years. Was that too long? Probably, but cannot change history.)
1972 - Rick Markberry, Kent Odor
1973 - John Elliott, adamsfishyodor
1974 - Donnie Yazell, Terry Fisher
1975 - Kings Disciples, Stephens-Brigance with special guest Carolyn Randall
1976 - Kevin Boys, The Paul & Dave Band
1977 - Rick & Hodgie, second week is blank
1978 - Rich Mullins, Terry
1979 - Not sure who played the first week. I was in Oxford opening for Randy Matthews and Windfall. Many of the Jesus House people were also in Oxford for the concert. Rick & Hodgy played the second week.
1980 - Terry Fisher, Bill Williams
1981 - Geoff Thurmin, check the songs he has on Facebook. Good stuff, Bruce Kircher
1982 - Reaching Out, John Gould
1983 - Hodgie-Mapes, Dave Workman

So, What Gives?
So, what gives, Terry. I thought you were going to stop writing this blog in August. Not that you've been writing much lately, but who am I to complain???
I decided, since I started it last October, I would continue till the end of September so, for those of you who like things complete, you have access to every artist who ever played the Jesus House. At least...the ones who are listed on the official Jesus House calendar. As you have noticed, there are some gaps! So, there will be a few more entries then I will be done! Hopefully, I'll find time to print these off to place in my Jesus House Archives.
Two things to keep in mind. There is movement toward two additional reunion ideas. One is to have a smaller version of our reunion concerts featuring songwriters. The other is to have a Conglomerate Reunion. If these ideas materialize, you will find the info on the Blog as well as Facebook.
Happy Beatles Day!

cultural icons

2009-08-13T11:15:00.001-07:00

While in California recently my son and I stopped by Neverland Ranch and took photos standing by the gate. I was going to include one of those but for now the computer is not cooperating. The untimely death of Michael Jackson, a giant cultural icon, reminds me of the death of both John Lennon and Elvis. Both were bigger icons for me than Michael Jackson because they were personal musical influences. Even though I respected Michael Jackson's talent and accomplishments, he was never a musical influence.

I learned of Elvis' death when Rick Markberry showed up one summer evening in August to pick me up to go see a local band play at Bogarts and the first thing he told me after I opened the door was, "Elvis died." During our evening, we discussed Elvis, his music and the various ways he was a musical influence on us. I allow myself to eat a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich only in August and January.

A few years later, I returned home late on a Monday night in December from working at Bick's Driving School, turned on Monday Night Football just before Howard Cosell announced that John Lennon had been shot and was presumed dead. Rick Mapes, Hodgie and I sat up all night listening to Peter Leighton on Q-102 as he interviewed people and reported on Lennon's death. The season leading into Christmas, 1980 was very sad. That had been a very sad year for me anyway and his death was a continuation of grief.

It's amazing to think that the death of a cultural icon would have such a personal impact but as I observed the displays left at the Neverland gate, I understood how some of the fans were feeling. I have never visited either Graceland or the Dakota but I would like to.

Cultural icons impact us, influence us, and cause reactions in us.

For some people, the Jesus House probably fits the category of a cultural icon. It was something that impacted people in spiritual and cultural ways. I was always amazed when a new person to the Jesus House would respond with a comment like, "I never knew it was possible to have Christian music in a style that I like." We became so accustomed to the weekly concerts it was easy to forget that thousands of others never had the same advantage. We because accustomed to the different ways we did Bible study or small groups or experienced worship and fellowship together but many others only knew traditional church styles.

Besides the music, the Jesus House also impacted the way people dressed. It was always fun to see someone start wearing a certain style of clothing then over a couple of months see others adopt the style. (Remember leg warmers or Earth Shoes? Yes, both invaded the Jesus House although ten years apart) This also happened with things like Rubic cubes (summer of 1981 everyone had one!), tea drinking (winter, 1974 everyone drank Constant Comment!) and running (in 1979 everyone was running!). Yes, the Jesus House had a huge spiritual impact on people, but it was also a gathering place for shared culture.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed the Third and Fourth Weeks of August

The Third Week of August

1972 - Doug Yost, Kevin & Doug, Mike & Blain
1973 - Vickie Eaton, Mike Wilshire
1974 - Conglomerate #2!
1975 - Mark O'Hara
1976 - Conglomerate #4!
1977 - Conglomerate #5!
1978 - Conglomerate #6!
1979 - Conglomerate #7!
1980 - Conglomerate #8!
1981 - Conglomerate #9, #9, #9, #9, #9 ...
1982 - Share-it
1983 - Conglomerate #11

The Fourth Week of August

1972 - Mark O'Hara, Vickie Eaton
1973 - Conglomerate #1! Camp Evergreen, not far from where I currently abode!
1974 - Wings of Deliverance singers, musicians, etc. A wild bunch! Also, Sherry Fayard & Sharon Wilson
1975 - Conglomerate #3!
1976 - Tony Ross
1977 - Jerry Gelesppi
1978 - ? It's blank.
1979 - Hymn
1980 - Share-it
1981 - Rob Rodebush
1982 - Share-it
1983 - Terry Fisher

August Occasionally had a Fifth Saturday. Here are the artists who helped us out on those Fifth Saturdays:

1974 - Rising Hope, Cliff & Dave
1975 - Sela
1980 - Prodigal
1981 - End O Summer Bash, Family Nite

another reunion

2009-08-10T10:22:00.001-07:00

No, don't get excited. This is not news about another JH Reunion.
Some of the people who attended the JH Reunion in May are planning to attend the Summer of Love Three concert this Saturday, August 15 at the Riverstar Ballroom (formerly the Starlight Ballroom. Wasn't it called Moonlight Gardens many years ago?). Tickets are $20.00, music begins 7:00 pm. I'll be there when the doors open at 6:00 pm and try to reserve 1-2 tables.

This event is hosted by Haymarket Riot and features bands or musicians who played in and around Cincinnati in the 60's. Many of the bands are groups I remember hearing during my high school years. Deny Brigance, longtime JH performer and Executive Producer of the JH Recording Project will be performing with Haymarket.

Also on the line-up this year, Balderdash, The Daybreakers, Bill Bartlett, Sacred Mushroom and lots of others.
Check out the web site: http://www.summeroflovethree.com
I attended last year and had a great time. Also, Steve Helwig from Haymarket attended the Jesus House Reunion, so I think we need to return the favor!

Proof

2009-08-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

A residual benefit of being on staff with the Jesus House included invitations to perform concerts or speak at churches, schools, campus ministries, camps, retreats and other ministries like the Jesus House. During those fourteen years I appeared multiple times at nearly every major college or university in the area including Miami, UC, Bowling Green, Moorhead and UK. Churches from a wide variety of denominations hosted me either as a speaker or concert performer. I was even a Lenten speaker for a Catholic church! One of my favorite speaking opportunities, one that never paid, was speaking in a Philosophy class at Colrain High School. I was invited the first time in 1978 and spoke in the class every quarter for the next six years. During that time, students at Colrain also invited me to be a Baccalaureate speaker twice. My purpose in the class was to answer student questions as a representative of Christianity. They were free to question me on anything concerning Christianity. Naturally, there were questions about evolution vs. creation, the existence of God, is Christianity the only way to God, why is the Bible so confusing, and may other, probing, challenging questions. I loved the interactions. The teacher, Mr. Colusi always made sure I provided information about the Jesus House Invariably, every time I spoke, students from the class visited the Jesus House the following Saturday night. The following is a fictitious account drawn from several experiences in the class.

Proof
"Can you prove heaven exists?"
That was the question from this class of high school seniors. They requested proof from me, the guest speaker in their philosophy class.
Proof.
Proof before they would believe.
Did they want heaven to exist?
Was that hunger in their eyes?
Or were they hoping that this experience would once and for all settle the question and the answer would be no, heaven does not exist so ignore the rumblings in your heart. The stirring you feel for some other place.
They wanted proof. Proof of a place which cannot be visited, cannot be photographed, cannot be video taped, so how to prove.
I cannot prove.
Cannot give irrefutable evidence.
"No," I respond, "I cannot prove the existence of heaven. At least not any more than you can prove the existence of a cafeteria in this building. Is there a cafeteria?"
"Yes." Declared several students at once.
"Prove it."
"I've been there. I ate lunch there today."
"Proves nothing." I said, " You are giving personal testimony of a personal experience claiming you visited your fictional cafeteria. Jesus claimed to have come to us from heaven. The Apostle Paul wrote about being taken up to heaven either in bodily form or in a vision. The Apostle John described heaven as he saw it in a vision. Yet, these testimonies are not proof enough for you of the existence of heaven. For our purposes today, personal testimony is not enough. Try again."
"I'll go get some food and bring it to you."
"That only proves you have access to food. It does not prove the existence of a cafeteria."
""We will take you there."
"No. I won't go. I do not believe that this fictional cafeteria exists so why should I agree to be taken to a place that doesn't exist. I will not take direction to your mythical cafeteria anymore that you will take directions to heaven."
"You are frustrating!" says one of the students.
"Yes I am, but do you see the point?"
"No."
"You see, before I will accept any of the things you tell me about your cafeteria, I must first believe in at least the possibility that it exists. Until then, anything you claim is inadequate. In order for you to accept any of the proofs of the existence of heaven, you will need to believe in the possibility that it exists. I would like to take all of you to heaven. I would love to give you directions in how to get there. But first you must believe it exists or at least in the possibility it exists. This is a dichotomy of faith.

This Week in History: Artists Who Appeared at the Jesus House the First Two Weeks of August

The First Week of August:

1972 - Pam Coburn, John Gould, Kevin & Doug
1973 - Soul Purpose
1974 - John Gould
1975 - Larry & Carl
1976 - One Lane Road
1977 - Grant Edwards & Jon Owens
1978 - Tony Ross
1979 - Zion
1980 - Rob Rodebush
1981 - One Way Players, Grant Edwards
1982 - Minstrial
1983 - Slapstick Saints

The Second Week of August

1972 - Andie Frost
1973 - The Bozo Brothers
1974 - New Birth
1975 - Bob from Chicago (That wasn't really his name. I'm sure he had a last name, but it's not in my notes. I had him listed as Bob from Chicago...)
1976 - Sharon Wilson & Sherry Fayard
1977 - Joni Ridner
1978 - John Gould
1979 - John Gould
1980 - Blank date the week before Conglomerate.
1981 - Bill Williams (Now days known as the Reverend Billy Rose!)
1982 - Conglomerate Weekend featuring Brown Bannister as speaker and guest worship leader.
1983 - Deny Brigance

Godspell

2009-07-20T14:27:00.001-07:00

Spring of 1973 the Jesus House went to see Godspell. A touring production of the musical played at the Schubert Theater in downtown Cincinnati so the entire Jesus House staff (with dates and/or spouses) plus Alan Sipple (Methodist pastor extraordinaire!) and "Bud" & Cathy Downs (Pastor from Highview Christian Church) plus others whom I do not remember, trooped down to an evening performance. It was a great celebration, a great evening, and, for at least one unnamed couple, a really great first date!

The innocence of spirit of the production was inspiring. The songs, the method of presenting Jesus' parables, and the joyfulness of the cast infected us in a way that lasted till the summer, when the movie was released! I loved that John the Baptist used a bucket and sponge to baptize everyone. Occasionally we had baptism wars at the House (sprinkling vs. immersion) and, even though I fully participated in those zealous discussions (arguments?) I laughed when I saw the bucket and sponge. I turned to Alan and said, "He isn't using anyone's method!"

The following summer, when the movie was released, we endorsed it, encouraged people to go see it, and took groups whenever possible. I do not remember how many times I saw the movie that summer, but it wasn't till Star Wars in 1977 that I spent so much money on tickets to see the same movie over and over. adamsfishyodor ripped off some of the skits to use in our concerts, especially on our famed trip to Eden, North Carolina!

Part of the appeal of Godspell was that the play & movie captured a style of Jesus and style of Christianity for which we hungered. In many ways, the Jesus House, including the staff and those attending, were trying to define Christianity in a way that was pure, honest, Biblical and free of the stuffiness and traditional trappings that we observed in churches. Godspell, even though it was conceived outside the church, captured the simplicity and joyfulness of the gospel. It was not and still is not very deep, but for the time it was perfect. (Historical note: According to the JH calendar, there was a production of Godspell presented at the Greenhills High School Auditorium July 28 - 31, 1976 which we promoted. Do not remember who put together the production but tickets were only $2.00!)

Recently I watched the movie again, this time with my children, ages 23 & 16. They were not impressed. I tried to help them understand why it had an impact on me but could also see the cultural limitations within the movie that made it difficult for them to embrace and enjoy. I guess it's one of those things that fit a certain time and place.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed the Third & Fourth Weeks of July

The Third Week of July
1972 - Steve Baxtor, John Chaney, Jerry Keever
1973 - Kevin Boys
1974 - Soul Purpose
1975 - Not sure who played because I was in Springfield promoting Conglomerate.
1976 - Rich Mullins
1977 - John Gould
1978 - Randy & Kent
1979 - Rick Roberts
1980 - Larry Bubb
1981 - Willoughby-Wilson Band
1982 - Wild Olive Branch Band
1983 - Bobby Maupin, Sharon Cook

The Fourth Week of July
1972 - Marc O'Hara & Linda Daniels
1973 - Rich Davis
1974 - Eighty people came to see someone, but the date is blank!
1975 - Jon Owens, Grant Edwards showed up from the One Way House in Springfield to promote Conglomerate!
1976 - Harvest, Grant Edwards (Promoting Conglomerate!)
1977 - Madison Gettman Jr. (A one-man band!)
1978 - Prodigal
1979 - Jim Bankowski
1980 - Prodigal, Grant Edwards
1981 - Lester & Marcus
1982 - Willoughby-Wilson Band, Grant Edwards
1983 - Ted Brickler

Artists Who Willingly Showed Up For The Occasional Fifth Saturday in July:
1972 - Rich Davis
1976 - Rising Hope
1977 - Kent & Randy
1978 - Windfall
1982 - Nori Kelly

Bibles

2009-07-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

The Jesus House was not a place for the King James Bible.
Even though it is a beautiful translation, in 1971 it was not for us.
I was not sure what "begat" meant nor "divers" nor "taketh" and all the Thee's & Thou's were for a different time.
When I did read aloud from the KJB I translated as I went and substituted words I thought were better or just left some words out.
For those of you who love the KJB, bless you, but it was not for a group of teenagers and young adults in spring of 1971.
For other translations, though, our options were limited. We had Good News for Modern Man and The Living Bible. A few people discovered Philips (one of my personal favorites) or the Amplified (too many words).
Good News became our staple in those early years. After all, there were drawings! The first book of the Bible that I read was Acts, a very exciting book for a young Christian who knew little or nothing about the Bible or Christianity. I was ready to be the next Stephen!

A man from Highview Christian Church once tried to convince me to use the KJV, his reasoning being that all those "young people" will eventually begin reading it so start them young. I told him I could not agree and even if Good News had some literary deficiencies, I was going to continue using it until something better surfaced. Admittedly I was young, immature and belligerent, but I think I knew something about my audience that he did not. We wanted the teenagers and young adults at the House to read and understand the Bible. Music and the Bible were our two big issues after making sure a person knew Jesus.

After a few years, we graduated to New American Standard, an incredible translation even though it lacks the poetic flow of the KJV. Once the New International Version was released, first the New Testament, then the complete Bible, the Jesus House became NIV central. We gave away inexpensive versions of the New Testament, then sold leather bound copies of the whole Bible. Of course we were excited because our own Dr. Foster helped translate it.

I still teach & preach mostly from the NIV although I really like the New Revised Standard Version and Philips. It has been amazing to see how American Christianity has moved away from KJV and embraced the NIV as well as many of the other contemporary translations released in the past 25 years. NIV is the biggest selling translation followed by the KJV.

I'm aware, though shocked, that there are still translation wars over the Bible. A few years ago I interviewed with a church that was contemporary in style but embraced the tired King James Only dogma. Perhaps heaven will contain a Hall of Fame for the Worst Christian Convictions of all time. If so, I believe the KJV-Only dogma will be prominently displayed, but that's only my opinion. As Larry Norman used to say, Curb Your Dogma.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the First & Second Weeks of July

The First Week of July
1972 - Restoration
1973 - Christian Runion and her Dad! This may have been the first time a parent performed at the Jesus House. I'm pretty sure it is the only time a father/daughter duo played.
1974 - Jim Bankowski
1975 - Rick Roberts
1976 - Ed Gutfrennd (The only Catholic Priest to perform. Some of his best friends called him Father!)
1977 - Terry Fisher - Just after I graduated from college and just before a left for an extended trip to California.
1978 - Deny Brigance
1979 - Hymn
1980 - Rising Hope
1981 - Ice Cream - I'm pretty sure this is not the name of a group. It was the 4th of July so I believe we had an ice cream party instead of a musical guest then probably sent people away to find fireworks.
1982 - Ice Cream - We did it again! Only 30 people showed up for our ice cream so it must not have been very good!!
1983 - Share Night

The Second Week of July
1972 - Kent Odor
1973 - John & Sandy
1974 - John & Grant
1975 - Bob Clarke with Steve & Barb Steffens
1976 - Carolin Randall, Steve Young
1977 - Kevin Boys
1978 - Terry Fisher
1979 - One Lane Road
1980 - Zion
1981 - Pete Leighton
1982 - Variety Night
1983 - Phil Parchal

Close to Finished!
You've probably noticed that since the Reunion, I've dropped the entries back to every two weeks. This is primarily due to my schedule. I am planning to finish this blog by the end of August. If there are any questions about the Jesus House or topics you want me to cover, make your requests known and I will respond!

Movies

2009-06-25T12:58:00.001-07:00

Movies were important to the Jesus House.
Unfortunately we did not possess today's technology to show videos easily, especially to show short clips from movies to help enhance messages. That would have been nice, very nice. Instead, people had to depend on my descriptions of scenes from movies as I shared them in my messages. For those of you who used to go see movies because of a recommendation from me, I urge you to see UP! It is amazing. A parable about the adventure of love, which is of course the greatest adventure of all. It is also a great adventure movie.

Even with our limited technology we occasionally showed movies. As mentioned in a previous blog, the animated version of The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe was an Easter tradition for a few years. Also, during several summers we showed Francis Schaeffer's films series, How Should be Then Live and Whatever Happened to the Human Race. These were shown in their film versions thanks to Rick Mapes' friend Tom Rocklin loaning us his 16 mm projector. With the advent of video, Mike Stephens was willing to loan us his VCR for an occasional movie night. We viewed Somewhere in Time which made everyone want to fall in love. We also showed Something Wicked This Way Comes, which made everyone not want to go to a carnival.

We never got to watch Veggie Tales, which I'm sure would have been a big hit at the Jesus House. "No hair for my hairbrush..." Nor did we get to watch The Princess Bride, The Lord of the Rings, or any other of the hundreds of movies I could list that would surely be celluloid stapes for Jesus House people. So, due to the times and lack of technology advances, we missed out on a few experienes.

But, we also did not have to contend with people sitting during the concerts watching one of these movies on their cell phones...

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the Fourth Week of June

1972 - Teri Senters
1973 - The end of a blank month.
1974 - Monk
1975 - Sonshine '75 - The first year of the Sonshine Festival at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds featuring Randy Matthews, Chuck Girard, and other very early Jesus Movement artists.
1976 - Crossroads fBefore they were called Prodigal.)
1977 - Prodigal (After they were called Crossroads...)
1978 - Marc O'Hara (Never changed his name.)
1979 - Lynda Kemeny and Joe Kennedy (This night was unique in at least two ways. Joe Kennedy was the first and, I believe, the only person to ever perform at the Jesus House from a wheel chair. Lynda Kemeny was the only person to ever perform who was trained to sing opera and actually went on to a very successful opera career in Europe.)
1980 - Caroline Randall
1981 - Beth Cook
1982 - James Issac Elliott (One of the few people to sing who performed only country music, only wanted to perform country music, and even though he was from Michigan, looked and talked like he needed to perform country music. Good thing he moved to Nashville so his persona fit in.)
1983 - Rick & Hodgie.

Artists I Didn't Like

2009-06-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Occasionally someone will ask,
"Terry, were there artists who played the Jesus House whose music or performance you didn't like?"

Yes.

Thots from Marc O'Hara

2009-06-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

In response to the last entry concerning death, Marc O'Hara sent me his thoughts. I loved his sensitivity and insight into responding to death. The following is an edited version of Marc's thoughts. Thank you Marc for sending this and for allowing me to include this on the Jesus House Blog.

"This week's JH blog about death brought back some memories that I thought I'd share.

I don't recall the guy's name that died on the bicycle, but I remember an incident with him. Years ago I was driving to my job in Delhi from my apartment in Erlanger. I don't know what took me to downtown Covington. Anyway, I was heading up the street to the ramp that takes you on to the lower level of the Brent Spence Bridge and I had this thought come into my mind that I was to pick up a hitchhiker. It was your friend from the Bible Seminary and he was hitching back to school in Price Hill. As I recall had a good talk about his girlfriend and a job he just took driving a Taxi and was telling me about witnessing to people. A month later I heard about the accident. I remember how full of God's love this fellow was and thinking at the time that God had called him home.

I cannot recall this other guys name. I think it was Ken. He was a good friend of Len Mink. He worked at one of the TV stations and just accepted the Lord. I met him at a prayer meeting. Like the rest of us at the time, he was full of God's Love and wanting to share it with everyone. He was killed on a Cincinnati street in a brutal beating. As I recall there was a charity that bore his name. If I think about it long enough, his name will come to me.

Rich Mullins was an acquaintance to me. I never knew him well. When I heard of his death always felt like God called him Home. Rich was one of those people that you know was special. My best memory of him was a party that Ann Sparks, Pam Moore and ???? gave at a house they rented. I think he wrote the Lake Between the Hills about that area. Ed. Note: Actually they named the house in Montgomery after Rich's song. Once again, he played a really nasty piano. But at least it wasn't green. He sure could make those old out of tune Wurlitzer uprights sing.

Back when Odor and I were hanging out Kent told me about playing music at the funeral. I had never been to a funeral with music. I was impressed.

I spent a couple of days recently with Andy Danzl doing the CD. I vividly remember Andy's beautiful wife Alice and once spending an evening with both of them. She just learned she was pregnant. Heck I think all the FCC women were pregnant that year. I moved away to Middletown and lost track of folks. I was shocked to hear Alice had died. I didn't see Andy again until about 15 years later at the Northern KY Vineyard.

I think you may have left College Hill Presby when Hal and Marsha (Lucas) Erdmann's son died in a freak accident. I think he was only 19 or 20 years old.

Deb Smith's death was a shock to us all. She was a special lady."

All the people Marc and I have mentioned were very special people who found a way into our hearts. Never does absence speak so loud as when it is as permanent as death.

This Week In History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the Second and Third Weeks of June

The Second Week of June
1972 - Marc O'Hara
1973 - Another Blank Month
1974 - Rick Roberts
1975 - Jim Bankowski
1976 - Jesus House was closed for the second annual Sonshine Festival in Hamilton, Ohio at the fairgrounds.
1977 - Sharon Wilson
1978 - Daybreak
1979 - Family Night (What, you ask, is a Family Night? Usually it was an evening that allowed a variety of people to share in a variety of ways. Some sang songs, some read things or told jokes. Sometimes we included worship.)
1980 - Hymn
1981 - Steffens-Brigance
1982 - A Blank Week

The Third Week of June
1972 - Talent Night (What's a Talent Night? Similar to a Family night but in an earlier time in our history!)
1973 - Still blank after all these years.
1974 - Agape Singers (Yes, as strange as it might seem to some of you, we did actually have a group appear at the JH that had "singers" as part of their name. It was a common thing in those days but not among the JH artists.)
1975 - Variety Night (What's a Variety Night? Is it just like the "Family Night" or "Talent Night" just a different name? No, actually. A Variety Night included a collection of scheduled performers most singing 2-3 songs but they were scheduled in advance whereas a Family or Talent night was spontaneous with no knowledge of who might perform. Sounds dangerous doesn't it? It was!)
1976 - Terry Fisher
1977 - Closed for the annual Sonshine Festival.
1978 - Marc O'Hara
1979 - Closed for the annual Sonshine Festival.
1980 - Closed for Sonshine.
1981 - Sonshine, again.
1982 - Sonshine, one more time.

On Death

2009-06-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

We didn't think about death very much in those days.
When a death occurred, we usually did not know what to do or say.
Our very first year, a fellow student at CBS who attended the House regularly was killed while riding his bicycle. It was not an easy experience. We knew he was with Jesus but we were not sure if we needed to cry or laugh for joy. During the next couple of years we had some parents die. Kent and I even did a funeral for a family who lived a few blocks away. It was a large family, most of the kids attended the House, and the parents loved the place. When the father died, his wife asked us to lead the ceremony. Kent sang Lord of the Dance and a few other songs and I delivered the eulogy.

In preparation for the Reunion, I looked through lots of old files, one of which contained photos from my surprise 30th birthday party. (No one was supposed to turn 30 at the Jesus House!) Two of the photos include Alice Wiggins Danzl, a dear friend who came to Jesus in her early 20's. How exciting it was to see Alice leave an old life, embrace the new life provided by Jesus eventually marrying Andy Danzl, giving birth to one son, before losing her life to cancer. She was a beautiful, remarkable woman who experienced a radical change in life direction after becoming a Christian.

Lately I've been thinking about death primarily because of two recent memorial services I've conducted. One was for my Uncle Bob, my father's last surviving sibling. I posted his eulogy on my Facebook page yesterday. If you are interested in reading it you are welcome to view it there. Uncle Bob was a great man who loved his family, his community and his church. Even with those positive guides his eulogy was still difficult to write because of the family connection. Many of us are now at the age where parents, siblings and other family members will be dying. Death is never completely easy.

A death that affected many of us was the untimely death of Rich Mullins. We loved Rich for his talent, his love of Jesus, and because many times he was just plain strange. He left an impact on the Christian music industry but for those of us who heard him beginning when he was 18 years old at the Jesus House those were personal songs that continue to be remembered. I have one recording of Rich from the last 30 minutes of an evening at the House that includes songs like Lake Between the Hills. It's fun to hear him play on that really bad piano and remember his early years of performing.

You were the first to go
But not the last to leave
Maybe I'll join you soon
But if I delay
Save me a spot
And when I arrive
Let's have a beer
With Jack
And all who went before

The relationships we established all those years ago have continued in ways none of us would have predicted. Even the relationship with people like Rich continues because of the bonds of love that were forged through many hours of prayer, conversation, music, meals shared and all the other elements of a life shared together. One of the verses I read at Uncle Bob's funeral is Philemon 7," Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you have refreshed the hearts of the saints." That verse applied not only to Philemon and my Uncle Bob but also to Alice, Rich and all who have allowed the Holy Spirit to flow through you to encourage and refresh others.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the First Week of June

1972 - John Gould
1973 - Another blank month on the old Jesus House Concert Performers Calendar!
1974 - Not sure who sang, but 80 people attended!
1975 - Randy Moody
1976 - John Gould (The weekend of Dave & Deb Cain's Wedding!)
1977 - Madison Getman Jr and his Band of Angels.
1978 - Rich Mullins
1979 - Caroline Randall
1980 - Godshadows
1981 - Larry Bubb
1982 - Rod Ellis & Reaching Out
1983 - Risen Son

Cell Phones

2009-05-28T05:39:00.000-07:00

For the Reunion, I prepared several observations to share, if needed, during set up between musicians. I did not share all of them, including the following.

There are many reasons I'm glad cell phones did not exist during the Jesus House era. One reason is because of the obnoxious ring tones some people choose to use at maximum volume levels! Imagine yourself, sitting on the floor, leaning on one of the pillows listening to Jennie Daniel Pitney sing one of her beautiful songs and suddenly you hear the Star Spangled Banner playing on someone's cell phone.

A few years ago, a man named Peter Laufer gave me a copy of a book he wrote titled, Wireless Etiquette. The premise of the book is that every new technology requires instruction in use. For cell phones, we need someone helping us understand when to have the ringer silenced, when to answer or not answer the phone, and when to leave it at home or in the car. I was in a small group Bible study one day when one of the members answered her cell phone and started a conversation. In grad school, one of the other students, a pastor, answered his cell phone in the midst of the professor's lecture!

I'll admit, I have a love and hate relationship with cell phones that goes beyond how obnoxious they can be. I also hate cell phones because they are not reliable. Because of advances in technology, we can check email, surf the web, and update our calendars. Wouldn't it be great if you could actually talk on a cell phone and not loose the connection? Be honest, how many of you have experienced a dropped call on your cell? Let's see a show of hands. Come on, don't be shy. Okay, see, everyone. (You say you didn't see those hands? I saw those hands, why didn't you?) Of course, the cell phone companies know the phones are unreliable. That's why one company used a national advertising campaign with the tag line, "Fewest Dropped Calls." In essence they were saying, "We know our product is going to fail you. We just believe we will fail you less often than our competitors. That's like McDonald's advertising, "We will burn your hamburgers less often than Wendy's" or Delta promoting, "Fly with us our planes crash less often than United." or a church advertising, "Fewer of our members go to hell than the church down the street."

Yes, I have a cell phone, in fact I've had one most of the time since 1995 but I still don't like them and really don't like talking on one. So, if you have my cell number, don't be surprised if I don't answer your call. It will just be dropped anyway...

This Week in History: Artists who performed at the Jesus House the 3rd, 4th & 5th Weeks of May

The Third Saturday of May:
1972 - Rich Davis, one of the early Christian musicians in Cincinnati.
1973 - No One Listed (Not the name of a band)
1974 - U.C. Players and Randy Moody This was also the weekend of the Concert on the Lawn at Shiloh United Methodist Church!
1975 - Kent Odor
1976 - Tim Hacker
1977 - Don Wetstine - The only musician I ever met who enjoyed singing at weeks of Junior High Camp!
1978 - Cindy Price, Tony Ross
1979 - Harvest Team
1980 - John Gould
1981 - Dove - And you always wondered, was there ever really a group named Dove. Now you know.
1982 - Deny Brigance
1983 - Nori Kelly

The Fourth Saturday of May:
1972 - Doug Adams, Bob Chick
1973 - A Blank Month (Also not the name of a band)
1974 - The Bozo Brothers (Kevin Boys & Andy Danzl)
1975 - Rich Mullins
1976 - Donnie Yazell
1977 - Latter Reign
1978 - Tom Black & Brent Eresman (Yes, the same Brent Eresman who play sax and flute on several cuts on the JH CD Project!)
1979 - Zion
1980 - Brent Eresman (Wait, didn't he just play, no, okay, that was two years before. What happened to Tom?)
1981 - Willoughby-Wilson Band
1982 - Terry Fisher, Rhema
1983 - Revelation Band

Artists Who Played that rare fifth Saturday:
1975 - A Rising Hope Weekend! Yes, folks we expanded into two nights for this special weekend. Unfortunately only 25 people showed up for Friday night. But we had 116, a decent crowd, for Saturday. We worked those Rising Hopers to death that weekend!
1976 - The Yahoo Band - A band from the One Way House in Springfield.
1980 - A special weekend with Jon Owens performing and Dr. Foster speaking.
1981 - Cathy Snyder
1982 - Sower

Where Are They Now?
Just before the Reunion, I heard from Cathy Snyder who is married to a producer, living in Columbus, still singing and recording.

Rich Mullins Photo

2009-05-14T07:04:00.001-07:00

Someone left a framed photo of Rich Mullins at the Reunion.
It's not the large one that was hanging on the wall. That belongs to Randy Moody.
It is a smaller one that was sitting on the table with the CDs. If it's yours, let me know so we can get it back to you.
If it's not yours, please ask your friends who were there. Help us track down the owner.

Saying Goodbye

2009-05-12T05:37:00.000-07:00

At the Reunion, Jennie sang a song, "How Can I Say Goodbye," which you can view on YouTube, just be prepared to cry. It joins "One Big Time in the Kingdom" as a celebration of the incredible relationships God grants us as we meet one another, celebrate together, become friends, learn to love and, sometimes, hurt one another. The grace of God becomes so real when one person is able to forgive another. Grace is also evident as we learn how to say goodbye to one another. The Reunion, the recording, and the preparation caused many of us to renew dormant friendships. It was exciting to watch people who had not seen one another in many years hugging, talking in animated conversation and sharing email information.

At the Jesus House we perpetually said goodbye to people. It was, by design, a transitional ministry. Our purpose was primarily to help a person become a Christian and start on the road to growth before connecting with a church. It's true that some people came around the House for years but those were exceptions.

Some came during high school years, others during college and still others as they embarked on young adult years. It was hard to see people move on to involvement in churches and stop showing up as often, but we never intended to be anyone's church. Around 1980, I briefly considered starting a new church out of the House but did not have a strong enough vision to begin the process.

Anytime we say goodbye, there is an experience of grief, which I think is the strangest of all emotions, or perhaps I should say, collection of emotions. Jennie's song perfectly captures the mix of emotions experienced when saying goodbye to a dear friend. It is a combination of sorrow over the loss of the friend, joy for the new experiences the friend will have, and deep aching that points us to regret over missed opportunities that cannot be recaptured.

When we closed the Jesus House, it was a decision Rick Mapes and I made. Initially we thought it would close, but re-open with a new, younger staff, and a renewed ministry to high school students. The Jesus House Board voted to confirm out decision to close, but not re-open. The unfortunate part of our decision is we did not allow people time to grieve and prepare for the closing. I've apologized to some of you individually over the years but now I'll apologize to all of you. The decision was the right one, but the method of saying good bye was not good. I sang the last night we were open, then announced our closing. I'm sorry we never had a farewell celebration. These reunions have been good for many reasons and one of them is it has allowed us to have that farewell celebration.

The closing of the Jesus House shows that sometimes, even good things end.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed the First Two Weeks of May

The First Week of May
1972 - Randy Matthews (Our founder returned for the first anniversary)
1973 - No artists listed for the month of May, 1973. I don't think I was on vacation.
1974 - Marc O'Hara
1975 - Donnie Yazell
1976 - Diakonoi, Andy Danzl
1977 - Ken Atkinson (The day after Terry Fisher finally graduated from CBS after six long years!)
1978 - Mark Ryman
1979 - Another blank date???
1980 - Cathy Snyder
1981 - adamsfishyodor (Our tenth anniversary!)
1982 - Brethern
1983 - Linda McCay

The Second Week of May
1972 - Grant Hammond (Our Second Director returned as a continuation of our first anniversary celebration)
1973 - The Blank Month
1974 - Terri & Ric
1975 - Deny & Holly Brigance
1976 - Paul & Dave
1977 - Andy Danzl
1978 - Steve & Kevin - Puppets!
1979 - Rod Ellis with Ann & Sandy
1980 - Deny Brigance
1981 - Randy Matthews (Continuation of our Tenth Anniversary Celebration)
1982 - Revelation
1983 - Love Reaching

awesome CD

2009-05-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

The Youth Pastor of the church where I am Lead Pastor has been listening to the Jesus House CD today.
The evaluation of this 22 year old who just graduated from college last year: "It's awesome!"
He especially likes the musical variety.

The Reunions are Ongoing!

2009-05-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

Last evening I encountered another Jesus House person, whom I've not seen in 25 or more years. Unfortunately she did not hear about the Reunion and was disappointed to have missed it. No doubt this experience will be repeated. At this point, the best we can offer is a copy of the CD and directions to the YouTube videos.

Deny or I will be glad to mail out CDs to anyone who supplies an address, at least while supplies last. Remember, though, you are welcome to make your own copies of the CD to give to friends.

I've been thinking about reviewing the entire reunion to offer my responses but have not had enough concentrated time to accomplish the task. But, here are a few short remarks.

I loved everyone's set. Each musician or collection of musicians was a treat and musical and spiritual blessing.

Having said that there were a couple of musical highlights. I suppose I could call them the best of the best of the best in hopes that they will not cast a negative shadow on other performances.

Jennie Daniel Pitney: Incredible voice, guitar work and sensitivity to the spirit. Her Mary song is fabulous! Her set was also my daughter's favorite. Jennie, the next time you visit your family in Cincinnati, my living room is available for a concert! Your voice still knocks me out.

John Gould: I've been listening to you since our senior year of high school but never grow tired of your voice. Thank you for including family members in part of your set. They were great. Be Ye Glad brought tears to my eyes.

The Super Group: As far as I'm concerned, A Closer Walk With Thee could have stretched for an hour and I would still have been on my feet clapping, singing and celebrating.

The Perkolators: You are so good that I cannot find the right words to describe what happens when you play together. I'm sorry I missed most of your set while preparing my brain to morf into afo. I think I deserve a repeat performance. Any evening in my living room!

This reunion was a special day and because it was so good, we are prompted to do another and try to capture again the great experience. For now, let's enjoy the memories of the day, the CD and the videos.

Special thanks to Annie Wantuck, Betsy King & Rachael Brigance (who's married last name I'm forgetting, sorry!) for organizing a great dinner of Skyline Chili and Larosa's Pizza. You took a huge burden off Deny and me while ministering to everyone at the reunion.

jesus house on youtube!

2009-05-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

Go on YouTube and search for Jesus House Reunion.
There are a dozen or so videos from the reunion already posted.
More details later.

The Day

2009-05-05T03:48:00.000-07:00

May 2, 2009 seems like one long blur of conversations, hugs, and introductions. Lots of photos are floating around Facebook. Eventually there might be videos on YouTube. I'll lift a few photos later in the week and add to the blog.

I'm estimating that through out the day, we had 150-200 people show up. No actual counting was done.

I've decided to keep the blog going for a while.

Later in the week I'll include a description of the day.

The Reunion

2009-05-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

It's 2:00 am, I just arrived home from the most recent, and most likely, final Jesus House Reunion. Later this week, I'll spend time reflecting on the day, but for now, I'll merely quote Mary Beth Hughes, "Terry, this was the best reunion ever!"

Thank you to all.
Blessings
Terry

really last

2009-04-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is really the last post before the reunion.
I did not include an artist list in the previous post and decided that's not right so I'm going to include the list for the end of April and the first week of May.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed the 4th Week of April

1972 - Alan Jones
1973 - Latter Rain
1974 - Muster Weekend
1975 - Rich Davis & Jackie Fathergill
1976 - Covenant (Karen & Jennie)
1977 - Denise, Lyndell, & Terri
1978 - Rick Roberts
1979 - John Gould
1980 - adamsfishyodor reunion tour III
1981 - Rising Hope
1982 - Minstral
1983 - Brad Coleman

April occasionally had a fifth Saturday:

1972 - Tim & Barbee
1977 - John Redell
1978 - Hymn
1983 - A film: "It's Friday But Sunday's Comin'" featuring Tony Campolo

This Week in History: Artists Who Played the First Weekend of May

1972 - Randy Matthews, special first anniversary weekend concert
1973 - Nothing listed for May & June in 1973. Not sure what I was doing...
1974 - Mark O'Hara
1975 - Donnie Yazell
1976 - Diakonoi, Andy Danzl
1977 - Ken Atkinson
1978 - Mark Ryman
1979 - Nothing listed???
1980 - Cathy Snyder
1981 - adamsfishyodor reunion IV celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Jesus House.
1982 - Brethern
1983 - Linda McKay

the last post

2009-04-30T10:29:00.000-07:00

Well, this might not be the exact last post.
I'm still thinking about it.
I've had several people ask if I might continue a while longer.
If so, it will be through the summer so I get to list everyone who ever played the house.

But, it's the last post before the reunion.
I'm in my office listening to "It's About Time" the Jesus House CD Project.
42 songs of really good music. Very interesting, eclectic collection of styles and moods.
I have five songs left and have enjoyed this first complete listening.
The project begins with a surprise addition that I think everyone will enjoy.
It concludes with a great song by Mike Wilshire titled Magnify which includes vocals by Kent Odor, Marc O'Hara and a multitude!

I love hearing all these songs, most of which, were performed at the House at some point in the 14 years. On the CD they are mostly performed by the original artist. I hope you are blessed by this project and find it a regular part of your inspirational and devotional life.

Hope to see all of you on Saturday, 3:00 - 11:00 pm
Highview Christian Church 2651 Adams Road in Mt. Healthy
Dinner will be served at 5:00 pm catered by Skyline Chili. Donations to cover the cost of food will be essential.

Blessings, love & grace
Terry

reunions

2009-04-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

This will be our fifth!
And it's just a few days away.
I'm really impressed by the people who are flying in from out of state and in at least one case, from out of country.
It will be wonderful to see everyone.
Preparation for the reunion has prompted memories, some of which I've written in this blog.
Some memories are good.
Some memories are painful.
Life is a series of experiences; some great and some bad. From those experiences come memories.
I think that those who are attending the Reunion are people with good memories of the Jesus House.
Good memories of friendships established within those walls.
And for some of you, good memories of becoming a Christian.
If past Reunions are an indication, a good time will be had by all.

The First Reunion: May 14, 1989 at Fellowship Christian Church
It was a one-day reunion beginning at 2:00 with Terry Fisher and concluding around midnight with fishyodor and friend Marc O'Hara. Also included that day were Hodgie, Lee Benken, Deny Brigance (with band) Rough Draft, John Gould, Loyd Boldman (with band) and the Willoughby-Wilson Band. The reunion was organized by Joan Boertlline with a promotional poster by Loyd Boldman.

The Second Reunion: April 30 & May 1, 1999, Pleasant Run Church of Christ
An expanded reunion with the addition of Friday evening. Seventeen artist or bands played and Dr. Foster spoke.

The Third: May, 2001, Pleasant Run Church of Christ
A similar cast of characters, once again two days, and the return of Dr. Foster who told the story of his experience at our very first Conglomerate. He said that when he left the previous reunion, he didn't know if we would ever ask him back but just in case, he wrote the message he would present. It was a great message. adamsfishy had to play without Kent so Marc O'Hara, once again filled a spot with us. We concluded the night with spontaneous worship that included Jim Wilson, Rick Fields, Hodgie joining Marc, Christopher and me on stage.

The 4th: May, 2004, Pleasant Run Church of Christ
adamsfishyodor was back in full-force! Deny Brigance showed up! We toured the Jesus House property!
It was a great reunion.

And now, the Fifth and, no doubt, final Reunion: May 2, 2009, Highview Christian Church 2651 Adams Road in Mt. Healthy, not far from the Jesus House Building.
A great line-up of musicians plus a brand new, hot off the duplicator, 42 song double CD of many of your favorite original songs from the Jesus House performed by the original artists. It will be yours free just for attending, and sitting through a brief, 45 minute presentation on a unique opportunity we want to offer you on some vacation condos in Florida...no, no, no, there will be no presentation on vacation condos. The CD's are free to you as a gift from the artists who wrote, recorded and performed the songs.

One of the most dramatic reunions is found in the Bible in the story of the Prodigal Son, sometimes referred to as the Forgiving Father. The son had no idea what kind of reception he would receive upon arriving at his childhood home. When he asked his father for his share of the inheritance, he was, in essence saying, "Dad, I wish you were dead." He knew he was arriving back home as a failure. He brought no gifts from his travels other than an empty stomach, worn out clothes, and a broken spirit. The humility with which he intended to approach his father was his lesson learned. That is until he found himself in his father's forgiving embrace. Then he learned about love and grace. The father knew how to host a reunion!

I thank my God for you whenever I think of you. My constant prayers for you are a real joy, because we have worked together for this gospel from the first day until the present. I am confident of this: that the One who has begun his good work in you will go on developing it until the day of Jesus Christ. It is only natural that I should feel like this about you all - you are very dear to me.
Philippians 1:3-7

Muster Weekend

2009-04-23T12:55:00.001-07:00

A few weeks into 1973 the staff of the JH decided we wanted to organize a "revival!"
Lots of churches used to have fall and spring revivals, but we knew, since it was the Jesus House, it had to be something different. First we needed a name.
That was because everything at the Jesus House had a name or a nickname.
Kent, Chris and I spent an afternoon at the CBS library researching names.
Kent found it: Muster! (It had an exclamation point the first year)
We created a logo.
We created t-shirts.
We created posters.
We scheduled a speaker (Tom Smith the first year. Excellent choice.)
We scheduled a band. (An unknown group from Michigan named Rising Hope.)
In addition, we scheduled as guest soloists some of the JH favorites. (John Gould, Randy Moody, & Rich Davis)

The results?
An incredible weekend of evangelism around Cincinnati, including Sunday afternoon at Eden Park, three evenings of meetings at Highview Christian Church with a 150-200 people each night, and great number of people becoming Christians or renewing faith in God.

The long-term results were several. First, we decided to host Muster annually, which we did for six years. Second, as a result of meeting at Muster, Tom Smith invited Rising Hope (specifically Mike Goldberg) to become Campus Minister at Miami University. Mike & Susan Goldberg, Ross Johnson & Mikal Keefer moved to the Cincinnati area and became an important part of the Christian music community.

After two years of Muster at the Highview building, we moved it to the Jesus House. The following is the guest line-up for each year.

April 25-27, 1973 (Highview Christian Church)
Speaker: Tom Smith
Music: Rising Hope
Featured Soloists: John Gould, Randy Moody, Rich Davis

April 26-28, 1974 (Highview Christian Church)
Speaker: Gene Hardaway
Music: Rising Hope, Latter Reign, adamsfishyodor
Featured Soloist: John Gould
Mixed-Media Presentations: Mikal Keefer

April 11 & 12, 1975 (Moved to the Jesus House building.)
Speaker: Grant Edwards
Music: Rising Hope, Brothers of the Son (another Michigan group this one including Kent Odor's brother Kevin)

April 9 & 10, 1976
Speakers: Lewis Foster, Grant Edwards, Mikal Keefer
Music: One Lane Road

April 15 & 16, 1977
Speaker: Mike Reinus
Music: One Lane Road, Prodigal

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed the Third Week of April

1972 - Dave Ooten, Jerry & Lynn, Girls from Bowling Green (Not sure who the girls from Bowling Green were. Were they from Bowling Green, Kentucky or Bowling Green, Ohio? I have no idea.)
1973 - Marc O'Hara
1974 - No artist listed on the calendar. It was the week before the second year of Muster. I must have been too busy to record the artist. The following day I played at Mt. Washington Church of Christ and the week before afo played at Charlie Pater's Church(?)
1975 - Rick & Hodgy (Yes, they have two cuts on the Jesus House Recording Project!)
1976 - Tony, Sharon & Anita (Probably Tony Ross, Sharon Wilson and Anita Workman before she was Anita Workman.)
1977 - The Final Muster Weekend
1978 - Randy Matthews (We substituted an annual concert from founder Randy Matthews instead of doing Muster Weekend)
1979 - Rick Fields (Where was the band?)
1980 - One of the Flocks (a small group) from Fellowship Christian Church. Must have been a musical Flock!
1981 - The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
1982 - Minstrial
1983 - Willoughby-Wilson Band This was University of Cincinnati night at the Jesus House. Some of the Campus Fellowships brought groups of people to the House for the evening. We had almost 200 hundred people packed into the place!

Where Are They Now?

I mentioned Rising Hope in the description of Muster because that brought them to the Cincinnati area for the first time. You might be interested to know where the members of that group are residing and what they are doing. Michael Goldburg lives in Cincinnati and can be heard Monday - Friday in the mornings on WNKU playing an incredible selection of music. Susan is now a pastor, just finished up an Interim position in France and is ministering in Tailand. Ross Johnson lives in the Cincinnati area, leads worship at his church and will be appearing at the Jesus House Reunion. Mikal Keefer lives in Colorado Springs and applies his considerable creativity to his position at Group Publishing.

people

2009-04-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

As you gaze at the people in the previous two posts you may have recognized a few faces, perhaps even your own. One of the joys I experienced during 14 years at the House was people. I look at those faces and realize I was spoiled because the people who showed up on Saturday night wanted to be there. I was not faced with the problems youth ministers encounter because of students who are forced to attend youth group by their parents. I was not faced with problems many pastors have from church members who have lost passion for Jesus and enthusiasm for church but attend out of obligation or tradition but do not enjoy being there. Week after week people showed up for the concerts with joy and enthusiasm. I'll admit there were nights when things did not go well. Sometimes the musicians were boring or very inexperienced. Sometimes the musician was not connecting with the crowd. Sometimes we had technical problems. But those nights were the exception. The normal experience at the Jesus House was celebration, worship and genuine excitement about Jesus, the music and being together.

As I gazed at those photos supplied by Christopher Adams I saw faces of people I dearly love. People I miss. People with whom I have had "one big time in the Kingdom" and look forward to having "one big time in the Kingdom" for all eternity.

Thank you Randy Moody for that theme song for the Kingdom.
Thank you to all of you who showed up, celebrated, and allowed me into your lives.
I hope to see you on May 2.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed the Second Week of April

1972 - Stan & Frankie from Ball State
1973 - Lee & Reggie
1974 - Kevin & Rick
1975 - Muster Weekend (More on this tomorrow!)
1976 - Muster Weekend (Ditto)
1977 - Jim Bankowski
1978 - One Lane Road
1979 - Randy Matthews
1980 - Harriet Lewis (Someone just told me Harriet recently died.)
1981 - John Gould (Swapped emails with him today!)
1982 - The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (Told you this was a multi-year tradition!)
1983 - Ocean of Love (Great name but I do not remember anything about them)

a few more, thanks to Christopher Adams for these images

2009-04-22T14:50:00.001-07:00

a few saturday night images including the old murals

2009-04-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

The Last Few Blog Entries

2009-04-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

This blog is coming to a close. I will add a few additional entries this week and next, but once the Reunion occurs, the Blog is finished. I realize I've been off my game with this blog during April. I'll have to pull the Easter card. As the Lead Pastor of this church, the weeks building up to Easter were busy and occupied. The time since Easter has been recovery!

So speaking of Easter, I'm reminded of a tradition we followed for a few years, showing The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe around Easter. No, not the most recent Walden Media version and not the BBC version from the late 80's early 90's. No this was the animated version produced by the Episcopal Church and originally broadcast on television. It was not a great version but was much more impressive when projected on the "big screen" at the Jesus House. Fortunately the movie was produced on film, not video tape, so we were able to rent a copy and project it using Tom Rocklin's 16 mm projector.

The first year, our friends from the Logos Bookstore in College Hill (Remember that place? It was the best Christian book store that has ever existed!) brought a display of C.S. Lewis material. We sold lots of books, gave away copies of LWW and even gave away a Chronicles set. We also supplied free popcorn all during the movie. It was a reverse offering. Popcorn was circulated in large bowls. The point was, grab a hand full and pass it on!

We had such a great time we decided to do it again the following year. Yes, the Jesus House had traditions!

This Week In History: Artists Who Performed the First Week of April (Yes, I told you, I'm behind. I'll catch up, I promise)

1972 - The Easter Bunny! (Yes, the Easter Bunny made an appearance) Also the Jesus House Singers & Players with soloist Teri Senters.
1973 - Larry Pennington
1974 - Dick Mott
1975 - Dead Rat Road Band (Some of these guys were at Rick Marksberry's last Sunday night recording additional vocals for a song on the Jesus House Recording Project. See below for more details.)
1976 - Ric Roberts (Ric just sent a note for us to read to everyone at the Reunion. Want to know what's in the note? Come to the Reunion!)
1977 - Rich Mullins
1978 - Odor Clarke & Burns (They have a couple of songs on the JHRP!) Also, Jason Nightingale, an actor, performed the first three chapters of Revelation.
1979 - Marc O'Hara (He has a couple of songs on the JHRP plus sang harmonies on several other cuts!)
1980 - The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (See above)
1981 - Prodigal (Lloyd Boldman and Rick Fields each have cuts on the JHRP)
1982 - John Gould (Yes, John recorded Slow Me Down for the JHRP)
1983 - Jon Owens

Further Adventures in Recording
One of the songs, Magnify, written by Mike Wilshire, recorded by Kent Odor & Marc O'Hara needed a multitude to sing on the last chorus. This was because Mike used to invite an audience to sing with him on the song. So a multitude gathered at the Marksberry's house. Specifically Ric & Barb Hine, Marc O'Hara, Deny Brigance and Terry Fisher (me). Alright, it doesn't sound like a multitude when you read the list of names, but after we recorded our parts on three tracks then put them together, it sounded just like a multitude!

After finishing the recording we had a spontaneous listening party. We heard about a dozen of the 40 songs from the project. I assure you, there is some incredible, beautiful music awaiting your listening ear. Deny Brigance (producer) and Rick Marksberry (engineer), have done incredible work. Also, Marc O'Hara, Andy Danzel, Diane Marksberry as well as Deny & Rick have added vocal harmonies, guitar, mandolin, percussion, violin and other sounds that have enhanced many of the songs. I recorded Immanuel for the project with my voice, guitar and Christopher Adams' bass. I asked Rick to add violin because since I wrote that song, I've always heard a violin on it. Finally, on Sunday night I heard for real the violin I always heard in my mind. Many of the songs will finally be heard the way we always imagined them.

Of course, some of the songs needed nothing additional so they did not tweak everything.

I look forward to seeing all of you starting at 3:00 pm on May 2.
You'll hear the music live, then go home with your own copy of the recording project, now titled "It's About Time." Because it is about time these songs were recorded for posterity.

For those of you not on Facebook...and why not?

2009-04-02T10:26:00.000-07:00

For those of you not on Facebook, below you can see the song & artist list for the Jesus House CD Project. It is an amazing list of 41 songs! Many of them will be performed live at the next, and most likely final, Jesus House Reunion, May 2, 2009.

The Jesus House CD Songlist

41 songs
Adamsfishyodor: Child of the King (Traditional)
Adamsfishyodor: Sohio Station Blues (Odor)
Loyd Boldman: Emotional Shorthand (Boldman)
Deny Brigance: A New Song (Moody-Brigance)
Brigance, Shelby, Helwig: Holy Roller (Brigance)
Andy Danzl: Mercy (Wilson)
Andy Danzl: What Makes A Man Real (Wilshire)
Bob Clarke: Joy (Clarke)
Bob Clarke: Sleep Little One (Clarke)
Bob Clark: How Much Love (Clarke)
Brent Eresman: Higher Up (Eresman)
Terry Fisher: Emmanuel (Fisher)
Terry Fisher, et al: Please Don't Preach (On that scripture tonight) (Fisher)
Terry Fisher, et al: Only the Father Knows (Fisher)
Fishyodor: ‘Cinnati (Fisher)
The Sherri Fitzgerald Band: 1st Peter 5: 9, 10 (S. Fitzgerald)
Sherri Fitzgerald w/Brent Eresman: Consider It All Joy (S. Fitzgerald)
John Gould: Slow Me Down (Gould)
Rick & Hodgie: Can You Imagine the City (Hodgetts)
Rick & Hodgie: O Come Lord Jesus (Mapes)
Diann Marksberry: No One Loves Me Like You Do (D. Marksberry)
Rick Marksberry: Canaan, Can You Hear Me (R. Marksberry)
Rick Marksberry: Hoedown (R. Marksberry)
Randy Moody: The Kingdom (Moody)
Randy Moody: The Sinsong (Moody)
Kent Odor: Begin (Odor)
Odor / O’Hara, et al: Magnify (Wilshire)
Marc O'Hara: Praise the Lord (O'Hara)
Perkolaters: On Top of the World (Fields-Wilson)
Prodigal: Shout It Out (Boldman)
Rising Hope: I Am the Bread of Life (M. Suzanne Toolan)
Rising Hope: The Lord Will Be My Snowtires (Johnson)
Tony Ross: Worries of the World (Ross)
Steve and Barb Steffens: Psalm 143 (B. Steffens)
Steve and Barb Steffens: Psalm 128 (B. Steffens)
The Steffens & Brigance Group: Take My Hand (S. Steffens- B. Steffens)
Sharon Williams: Maranatha (Williams)
Sharon Williams: Isaiah 55 (Williams)
Willoughby-Wilson Band: Standing in the Wake of the Storm (Wilson)
Al Willoughby: The Reward of His Suffering (Willoughby)
Mike Wilshire: Cross-Town Transfer (Wilshire)

another recording session

2009-04-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

Sunday night another group of grizzly JH veterans gathered for a recording session. Rick & Diann Marksberry hosted us. Included in the evening, although not everyone is pictured below: Deny Brigance, Andy Danzel, Brent Eresman, Terry Fisher, Rick & Diann Marksberry, Kent Odor, Marc & Linny O'Hara, Sharon Wilson Williams and her son-in-law Amos (?). We recorded, ate chili, and talked lots. The recording is now over 30 songs! Yes, Kent Odor finally got his wish. At the end of the evening he and I recorded a quick one-take of "Get the Sin Out of Cincinnati."
Special thanks to Marc O'Hara for the photos.

images from the past

2009-03-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

In 1971, I drove down to Fountain Square in Cincinnati because I heard Arthur Blessett was speaking at something called Spiritual Revolution Day. It proved to be a life-changing day. That was the day I met Randy Matthews and some of the high school students who were involved in putting together the Jesus House. This photo appeared on the front page of the Cincinnati Enquirer the next morning. It was a great day.

Larry Norman was supposed to appear at the first Spiritual Revolution Day but sent Randy Stonehill instead. The following year they both appeared along with Phil Keaggy's band Glass Harp. This is one of the flyers from that day. Norman was absolutely incredible. Many years later, I attended a music conference in Colorado where Keaggy taught a workshop. During the question and answer period I asked him about Glass Harp's appearance at SRD and what the other two members of the band thought. He explained that even though the others were not Christians, they respected his faith and were very happy to participate in the event.

Hope you like these images from the ancient past.

staff sojourns

2009-03-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

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

jesus house recordings

2009-03-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

All of the recording we've been involved with lately has resulted in me remembering past recording projects by artists who frequented the Jesus House. Most of you were not around in the first few months of the JH but Randy Matthews' first album, "Wish We'd All Been Ready" was released around the same time we opened in 1971. This album is pretty tame by today's standards and would not even be considered a rock & roll album but remember this was released on Word Records, which, up to that point had released only gospel-style quartets and soloists. Randy was a huge stretch for them. For his second record, "All I am is What You See," they started the Myrrh label which later included releases by artists like Amy Grant and Petra.

With this as our beginning, you might think that it was very common to have recording artists at the House as well as have regular House musicians with records. The major label artists we had perform at the House was very small. They included Ray Hildebrand, Andrew Culverwell, Gary Chapman and Albrecht, Roley & Moore. Technically Chapman & A,R,&M played at Conglomerate, not one of our regular concerts.

The most common form of recording that artists did in those days was called "custom" recordings. Instead of being signed to a record label, the artist scheduled their own recording sessions, designed their own album covers and sold the records out of the trunk of a car or from a table set up in the back of the room! Jesus House artists who recorded custom albums (in no particular order) included: Rising Hope, The Willoughby-Wilson Band (an EP, their album came later), Soul Purpose, Zion (Before Amy Grant recorded Rich's Sing Your Praise to the Lord), Jon Owens, The Wild Olive Branch Band (what a long name), Jim Bankowski, Bill Williams (Rev. Billy Rose!), Steven Alexanderson and Geoff Thurman. I'm sure there are others, but that's a pretty good list for now.

The one time Servant played the Jesus House, they were not yet signed to a label.

Artists from the Jesus House who went on to sign with a label include Rich Mullins, The Willoughby-Wilson Band and Prodigal.

If I've left anyone out, please excuse and correct me. I'll be glad to edit this post and include other names.

There are artists like John Gould that I always thought needed to be recorded. That is one reason why I am so glad for the current Jesus House Recording Project. Recording is so much easier and affordable today.

In the next entry I'm going to get back to some of the chronological history. There are still stories to tell and time is running short. I will cease writing new material after the next, and most likely, final, Jesus House Reunion Concert on May 2.

This Week (technically last week) in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the Third Weekend of March

1972 - Terry Fisher, Marc O'Hara This was the first time I sang at the Jesus House. I was really scared and did not want to do it. Up to this point in my performing history, I sang for two youth retreats and used to sit around the House playing guitar and writing songs. In our early months Randy Matthews made me sing for him once, which was really hard, but he liked my song, "Jesus Freak" the first Christian song I ever wrote. Some people like to say, "The Lord gave me this song" when introducing a song but I could never say that about Jesus Freak, at least with a straight face. I was not sure the Lord wanted anything to do with the song! Nevertheless, I'm sure I sang it that night, along with the second song I ever wrote, "Sing a Song About Jesus." which was based on a Sesame Street song. One final detail before I proceed to 1983, I was tricked into singing. It was a conspiracy among some friends that included Marc O'Hara! Marc was scheduled to sing, but claimed he couldn't be there for the first set so I was left to sing. But wasn't it amazing when Marc walked in the back while I was on stage singing??? Still, we had 105 people there that night and ended the evening with four baptisms! Okay, back to our regularly scheduled list...

1973 - Mike Wilshire, Marc O'Hara (What is it about Marc not singing the whole night?)
1974 - Larry Pennington
1975 - Soul Purpose (Kent Odor was in Michigan this weekend. Wonder what he was doing?)
1976 - Soul Purpose
1977 - The Paul & Dave Band
1978 - Jim Bankowski, Sharon Wilson
1979 - Bruce Kircher
1980 - Kevin Boys
1981 - Terry Fisher
1982 - Share-it Nite
1983 - New Creation

Reunion Update

2009-03-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

This will be a brief entry. I promise two longer ones later in the week since I missed last week.
Last night Deny Brigance, Andy Danzel and I converged on Rick Marksberry's house to complete a couple of songs for the Jesus House Recording Project. Between swapping stories, catching up, and remembering the past we actually completed some recording!
"Don't Preach on that Scripture Tonight" is now a do wap song with harmonies compliments of Deny, Andy & Rick. As Deny said last night, "When you used to sing this song at the house, this is the way I always heard it in my head." Those guys did an amazing job.
We sent Andy home to his wife around 10:00, Deny and I finally left closer to midnight. Driving home, I listened to several of the songs to be included on the project. It will be an eclectic collection of great music. Copies will be available at the Reunion.
If last night is any indication, the reunion will be an incredible experience.
We will celebrate the life God gave us together all those years ago.
We will celebrate the life God has given each of us since those days.
We will celebrate the great gift of music.
We will celebrate Jesus.
I hope you are planning to be there.
Spread the word.

May 2, 2009, starting around 3:00 in the afternoon and finishing around 11:00.
Times are approximate now and will be firmed once we know the complete list of musicians.
The location is Highview Christian Church on Adams Road in Mt. Healthy not far from the Jesus House building.
We will not be using the Jesus House building because it is a private home and I'm pretty sure they do not want us performing music in their living room and drinking soft drinks in their kitchen!

afo, etc

2009-03-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

Photos keep surfacing, whether we want them to or not, in files, under books, in scrapbooks, etc. Some were probably hidden in order to save future embarrassment but the time for that is over. We need to be proud of our past! No matter how we looked!
Below are two photos of adamsfishyodor in all their splendor! The first is our first gig! We are on stage singing at our school's talent show. Believe it or not we were a big hit! We sang Larry Norman's Moses. Because the school was so conservative in those days, most of the people never heard of Larry Norman so naturally they had not heard his song

The second photo is from our big trip to Eden, North Carolina. This was the longest trip ever for adamsfishyodor. We drove three vehicles and were glad to have a group of friends with us including Betsy Reams, Alan Sippel, Larry Pennington, Andy Wilson, Mike Vanskee & Muncho (Unfortunately I do not remember Muncho's real name.) Quite a few photos of this adventure have survived as well as a record of the trip written by Betsy. It was a great journey. Besides the photos, diary and memories, a song survives that adamsfishyodor will be singing at the next, and most likely final, Jesus House Reunion on May 2.

"I'm on my way
to North Carolina
I'm on my way
I'm southern bound
I'm on my way
to North Carolina
gonna bring Jesus to this town....

communing

2009-03-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

The Jesus House found multiple ways to commune together.
The following contains three examples:

Occasionally, in the summer, we hosted Sunday picnics on the grounds complete with softball games across the street at the elementary school ball fields, burgers grilled on our "back deck," homemade ice cream and people, lots and lots of people sitting outside on the grass.

In the early '70's Kent Odor suggested we host a weekly, early morning, communion time on Sundays. It sounded like a great idea, except for the fact that we were a late, Saturday night ministry that usually did not close the doors till midnight. Who was going to get up early on Sunday morning to lead people in communion. Who else? Kent! After all, it was his idea. So for about six months, maybe longer (My brain blocked out the details. I have a vague memory of people downstairs sharing communion. Sometimes I joined them. Well, maybe not as often as sometimes. Maybe every once in awhile, okay, maybe not even that often. I'm pretty sure I showed up at least three times.)
Kent led 7:00 am Lord's Supper. (If it's in the morning, as it is in most churches, why is it not called Lord's Breakfast?) Kent was always great for keeping his commitments. I don't remember why we stopped this.

The most common way we communed involved going out to eat. Yes, at midnight, after the house closed, we adjourned to a local eating establishment. Massive quantities of Jesus House people eating massive quantities of food in restaurants usually in the direction of Northgate Mall. The destination varied from season to season, year to year. Dunkin' Donuts was one of the early places as was White Castle. Later, we moved to Denny's for many, many years. Perkins also received our culinary attention. This post-concert experience was invaluable for getting to know people better. I am grateful for the restaurant managers, servers and cooks who supplied us with space and food so we were able to commune with one another. I hope the tips were sufficient!

Special Congratulations! Jim & Wendy Wilson (Willoughby-Wilson Band) became grandparents this past weekend!

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

1972 - Dave Grove, Deanna Yager & Eric Fruge (Great friends from Georgetown College!)
1973 - John & Sandy
1974 - One Way House Night (A variety of friends from the One Way House in Springfield, Ohio performed.)
1975 - Carl & Larry
1976 - Jim Bankowski
1977 - Rising Hope
1978 - Prodigal
1979 - Karen Hess, Samantha from Indianapolis
1980 - Rob Rodebush (aka Showcrumb)
1981 - Tim Root
1982 - Dave Workman (although in those days sometimes we called him "Davy." Dont' tell anyone at the Vineyard.
1983 - In the Spirit

adamsfishyodor, ancient days

2009-03-05T13:28:00.000-08:00

Since I treated you to recent pics of the adamsfishyodor recording session I thought it fitting that I include a few photos from the past, some from way, way past. Three of the four are in black and white. Hope you enjoy them, and, no laughing!

The first one is from one of our very first performances at the Jesus House. If my memory is correct, we did not actually perform a concert that evening, but decided to perform Moses in the same clothing we used when we performed the song at our school's talent show. So, here we are, in our bib overalls with Christopher playing his upright bass, Kent on someone's steel string acoustic and me on Kent's nylon string.

A few months later it was Christmas! Kent decided I desperately needed a pair of red, knee-high tennis shoes. In those days, I wore converse nearly all the time. I alternated between a pair of white high tops and blue low cut, depending on the rest of my wardrobe. Not sure about the expression on Kent's face...

A year later, adamsfishyodor, decided on a return performance at the CBS Talent Show. We went electric and performed "Whole Lot More of Jesus and a Lot Less Rock & Roll." Yes, Christopher actually wore a priest's shirt and, you cannot tell in the photo, but I have the red knee-high tennis shoes on but hidden under the pants of my blue denim suit.

Long before there was a Jesus House Reunion, adamsfishyodor performed reunion concerts. Actually we performed four, the first two were weekend tours which included performances at the One Way House in Springfield, Fellowship Christian Church, and Wings of Deliverance Temple, in addition to the Jesus House. This photo is from the third reunion. Each reunion had a theme and T-Shirts. I still have my shirt from the second reunion. If anyone else still has yours, please bring them to the JH Reunion, May 2!

I have other photos which I might include in future posts, but that's enough for now...

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the First Weekend in March

1972 - John Gould, Sharon Wilson
1973 - Koinania (No, not the great jazz group from the late 1980's)
1974 - Latter Reign (The first time they played the JH we had them as Latter Rain, but we were wrong!)
1975 - John Elliott
1976 - Jon Owens
1977 - White Horse (Just about as loud as the music ever got!)
1978 - Showbread
1979 - Rick Roberts
1980 - Brent Eresman; Lois & Marsha
1981 - Monte
1982 - Randy Morris
1983 - Brad Coleman (Brad was a student from Miami University who sang "He Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" and "And I saw his face, now I'm a believer" He also juggled!)

afo recording session

2009-03-04T12:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday evening, March 1, afo gathered at the Alyssa Fisher Recording Studio somewhere in the hidden areas of Mt. Lookout in Cincinnati and, along with producer & engineer Deny Brigance "layed down some tracks" as they say. Below are some images captured that evening by Alyssa Fisher. The group is most grateful for her generosity in opening her space to a group of rowdy musician types all old enough to be her father, which, in fact one of them is.
They recorded Child of the King and Sohio Station Blues to be included on the forthcoming Jesus House Recording to be featured at the next, and mostly likely final, Jesus House Reunion, May 2, at Highview Christian Church on Adams Road in the Mt. Healthy area of Cincinnati.
If I saw these photos for the first time without explanation, I would not be sure who these old guys are, but since I know they are in fact the beloved adamsfishyoder, and since I was there, I have to accept the fact that they are in fact the three young men we knew "all those years ago".

Retreats

2009-02-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

The Jesus House had retreats.
The most well-known was Conglomerate.
It was also the longest annual retreat.
The less well-known retreat was Recharge, a small winter retreat we hosted January of 1982 & 1983.
Recharge #1 was held at Wildwood, a Presbyterian camp East of Cincinnati with a great winter lodge.
The first year, Alan Sipple and I were speakers with worship music led by Jim Wilson & Alan Willoughby.
Workshops (The Jesus House always had lots of workshops at retreats) were led by Jim Wilson (Jesus on the Job), Nancy Lattimer (Attitudes Toward Handicapped), Rick Mapes (Attitudes Toward Divorce) and John Jaffe (Friendship). The cost was $14.00!

The following year we moved the retreat to Camp Birch in Yellowsprings, Ohio. We probably did this so we could go to Young's Dairy late at night and drink milk shakes. I spoke with music once again presented by Jim Wilson & Alan Willoughby. The workshop leaders were; Jim Wilson (Life Under the Son), Rick Mapes (Anger) and John Jaffe (The Lord's Prayer). I believe this was the year Rod Ellis created an incredible chicken stew for lunch.

Both of the Recharge retreats started on Friday evening and concluded on Saturday afternoon in time to return to the Jesus House for an evening concert from the Willoughby-Wilson Band.
These were small retreats with 20 or so people in attendance.

Conglomerate was different.
Larger retreat.
Larger scale.
Conglomerate was the brainchild of Grant Edwards and me. We cooked up the idea one afternoon in the library at CBS/CBC/CCU. It was a combined effort of Grant's Springfield ministry, The One Way House, and the Jesus House. Each year we had 100+ people in attendance. The eleven Conglomerate retreats were held in three locations; Camp Evergreen (a YMCA camp outside Piqua, Ohio, not far from my current office) Camp Wilson (another YMCA camp a little further north) and Camp Birch (conveniently located near Young's Dairy outside Yellowsprings, Ohio) The retreats featured a primary speaker, special musical guest and lots and lots of workshops. We also had quiet times; an essential part of Conglomerate where many people first learned how to experience personal devotions. Below you can read the list of speakers, musicians and workshop leaders.
The name, Conglomerate, was the creation of Christopher Adams! Yes, the adamsfishyodor guy. For the first year, he dubbed it, Conglomerate: A Weekend to God Your Head Together. The One Way House did not use the Conglomerate name the first year, but soon caught on to the beauty and essentialness of the name.

The first year, the cost of the weekend, which included five meals was $10.00. By the eleventh year the cost was a whopping $30.00!

Naturally there are lots of Conglomerate stories that could be told, and I would love to hear some of yours, but one of my favorites concerns something that occurred at the second Conglomerate. Dr. Foster related this story from his perspective during his talk at the third Jesus House Reunion.

Our custom was to baptize people on Sunday after our morning worship and before heading home. A girl named Bev wanted to be baptized on Saturday just before dinner. The day had been rainy and though the rain stopped as we gathered by the lake to see Bev baptized the sky was still covered with clouds. She and Mark Elliott, from the One Way House, walked down into the water, which was drab and dark because of a lack of sunlight. Mark lowered her into the water and just before he raised her up, the sun came through the clouds causing the lake to shimmer like it was coated with silver. Mark lifted Bev from the lake and the water ran off her like liquid silver. It remains the most beautiful baptism I have ever witnessed. I stood speechless staring at the water and Dr. Foster walked by me. I looked at him and he said, with tender emotion in his voice, "Doesn't it just make you miss God?"

(Historical note: Mark and Bev eventually married.)

A Year by Year Listing of Conglomerate
#1 - A Weekend to God Your Head Together
August 15-17, 1973, Camp Evergreen
Speaker: Gary Boys
Musical Guest: Grant Hammond
Workshops: Virgil Warren: Faith; Grayson Ensign: Second Coming of Jesus; Steve Seevers: Take Up Your Cross
Quiet Times created by Kent Odor featuring black rocks
Attendance: 120

#2 - A Time to Renew
August 16-18, 1974, Camp Evergreen
Speaker: Dr. Louis Foster
Musical Guest: Rising Hope
Workshops: Lewis Foster: Translating the Bible; Tom Friskney: I & II Thessalonians; Mikal Keefer: Communion
Quiet Time created by Grant Edwards featuring The Narrow Path to Life
Attendance: 135

#3 - See & Do
August 17-19, 1975, Camp Evergreen
Speaker: Bruce Montgomery (Campus Minister at Bowling Green University(ACT). Got lots of concert gigs from Bruce!)
Musical Guest: John Gould
Workshops: Bruce Montgomery; Worship & Ministry; MIkal Keefer: Confrontation; Lewis Foster: Hell (I wanted to title it "Dr. Foster Gives You Hell" but Grant nixed the idea.)
Attendance: 121

#4 - Open the Door . . . Wider
August 20-22, 1976, Camp Evergreen
Speaker: Doug Dickey (Campus Minister at Purdue University.
Musical Guest: Rick Roberts (Jon Owens from the One Way House, an African American guy led some worship. Rick Roberts is caucasian, with a gutsy voice. When Doug started speaking in one session he said, "I don't understand, the black guy sounds like a white guy and the white guy sounds like a black guy!)
Workshops: Doug Dickey: Personal Devotions; Lewis Foster: Philemon; Mikal Keefer; Possessions; Rick Roberts: World Hunger/missions.

#5 - Passing Through Trials
August 15-17, 1977, Camp Evergreen for the last time. (The director changed and the new guy didn't want us!)
Speaker: Tom Smith (Campus Minister at University of Cincinnati soon to be founding Senior Pastor at Fellowship Christian Church)
Musical Guest: Judson & Sharon
Workshops: Tom Smith: Pain; John Elliot: Praise; Mikal Keefer: Peer Pressure (Was he there every year? Almost. And we were glad!)
Attendance: 120

#6 - Dead to Self, Risen with Christ
August 18-20, 1978, First year at Camp Wilson
Speaker: Willy Walls (Campus Minister at Ball State. What is it with all these campus ministers? They were available, plus they really wanted to come knowing they would be speaking to mostly high school and college students.)
Musical Guest: Randy Matthews (Yes, Jesus House founder as well as one of the founders of contemporary Christian music)
Workshops: No record of the topics but he leaders were: Willy Walls, Lewis Foster, Mikal Keefer and Randy Matthews presented one on music.
Attendance: 110

#7 - One Day At A Time
August 17-19, 1979, Camp Wilson
Speaker: Lewis Foster
Musical Guest: Albrecht, Roley & Moore (All our musicians were great but for some reason these guys really stand out for me. They were absolutely fabulous!)
Workshops: Lewis Foster: Heaven; Mikal Keefer: Loneliness Within and Without Marriage; Tom Smith: Discovering Discipleship Through Evangelism
The Year of the Conglomerate Holy Hug!
Attendance: 100

#8 - And Does Not Change
August 15-17, 1980, Camp Wilson
Speaker: No record of who it was. Anyone remember?
Musical Guest: Chalice
Workshop Leaders: Mark Pruden: Romans 12:1-2; Tom Smith: II Timothy 2:2; Mikal Keefer & Kathy Sprinkle: Acts 2:42-47; Lewis Foster II Corinthians 9:8 (What's with all these Bible references? Were there no worship titles? No, we decided to try something different. Did it work? I think so, but it was the only time we did it.)
Attendance 105

#9 - Accepting Others, Accepting Yourself
August, 14-16 1981, Camp Wilson, the last year. Before the following year the dining hall burned down!)
Speaker: Don Finto (Absolutely incredible!)
Musical Guest: Gary Chapman (A few months before he won a Dove Award!)
Workshops: Don Finto: Worship; Mark Pruden: Singleness, Dating & other Difficulties; Adam & Eve Applebee: Marriage, Communication and Sex (Me thinks the clientele at Conglomerate was getting a little older...) Steve Schertzinger: Fellowship; Issac Sponfabre: Abraham, Yesterday & Today
Attendance: 150

#10 - Losing Your Foundation
August, 13-15 1982, Camp Birch (Bring on Young's Dairy!)
Speaker: Grant Edwards, Terry Fisher & Brown Bannister
Musical Guest: Brown Bannister
Workshops: Tom & Deb Smith: Parenting (Now I know the clientele has gotten older!); John Jaffee: Friendship; Brown Bannister: Experiencing Worship
Attendance: 100

#11 - Growing Up
August 19-21, 1983
Speaker: Don Finto (He was so good we had to bring him back.)
Musical Guest: Mike Hudson
Workshops: Mike Hudson: Anxiety; Terry Fisher: Vulnerability; Grant Edwards: Meditation; Michael Goldberg: Creativity; Don Finto: Maturity

The following couple of years, The One Way House, which by then was turning into or had turned into House Christian Fellowship and eventually re-named Fellowship Christian Church had a retreat they called Conglomerate but the Jesus House did not participate. In 1985 they had me speak at Conglomerate on Singleness & Singles Ministry. That was shortly before I was married.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed the Fourth Weekend of February

1972 - Kent Odor, Alan Rarley
1973 - Florida Beach Team (A group of CBS/CBC/CCU students who went to Florida for Spring Break and told people about Jesus instead of drinking and getting into trouble. Of course, Kent Odor went with them so my guess is they got into a little trouble!)
1974 - John Gould
1975 - Sherry & Sharon (Sherry's daughter is getting married this weekend, meaning February 28, 2009!)
1976 - K-Players
1977 - One Lane Road
1978 - Marc O'Hara
1979 - Cathy Snyder
1980 - Windfall
1981 - Willoughby-Wilson Band
1982 - Cynthia Shallot, The Paul Stookey Film
1983 - Harriet Lewis

Money

2009-02-19T15:20:00.000-08:00

The Jesus House was one of the cheapest of ministries to finance.
For fourteen years, we needed approximately $100.00 a week to pay the mortgage, keep the lights burning and finance other assorted needs. Originally, the Director received a salary of $50.00 a week. When Rick became the Director he decided he really didn't need the money so we discontinued the salary/stipend. Occasionally we collected an offering for one of the musicians or bands but we usually limited that to once a month. Most of the artists refused to allow us to even consider giving them money. Some of you will remember that the last couple of years we charged a $2.00 admission fee. We resorted to this to help increase revenue.

The bills were always paid. Sometimes just barely paid, but . . .

As I reflect on the $5,000.00 annual budget, it amazes me when I remember how difficult it was sometimes to raise. There were many weeks when I am convinced that most of the money came from the staff. All of you former staffers who are reading this are probably embarrassed that I would mention that. I do it, not to make any of us look like martyrs, but to highlight how completely sold we were on the importance of the Jesus House. During fourteen years, nearly every week I heard from someone thanking me for the ministry. Lives were changed. People encountered the reality of the Creator of the Universe. In addition, many musicians, writers and actors found a place to express faith through the use of the arts.

For all of you who put your dollar or dollars or quarters in the box week after week, thank you. Those contributions, small or large, helped provide an important ministry.

As you think about your current church I hope you will channel your passion into that place. When you contribute money to your church, you are worshiping God and providing a place where people encounter the Creator of the Universe.
Bless you for that.

This Week in History Artists Who Performed the Third Weekend of February
1972 - Mark O'Hara, Rich Davis
1973 - Kevin & Doug
1974 - Sharon Wilson & Sherry Fayard
1975 - Steven Alexanderson
1976 - Tony, Sharon, & Anita
1977 - People from Georgetown
1978 - DeeDee Hoffman
1979 - The calendar is blank. I played in Oxford at Miami University that night.
1980 - Rick Fields - The last and maybe the only time he played as a solo artist.
1981 - James Issac Elliott
1982 - Bill Williams, the Wild Man!
1983 - Cathy Snyder

Secular Music at the Jesus House

2009-02-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

I know, I promised an entry about our retreats. That one is on the way, but I decided to include this one first. One of the purposes of the House was to provide a place for Christian musicians to play Christian music. Much of it was evangelistic in nature and most of the music was original. In the early days, there were people who performed secular songs but changed the lyrics to reflect a Christian message. (He's a bridge over troubled waters...) Randy Matthews, who founded the House, really hated that so we urged artists to discontinue the practice. Only once do I remember someone doing it and making it really fun. A student from Miami University in Oxford changed the lyrics to a Beatle song and we were treated to "He loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah." It was so absurd it was fun.

Over the years, though, there were secular songs included in various artist's sets. Some were songs with solid Christian messages already in the lyrics, some had borderline spiritual messages and some had no spiritual content but were fun anyway.

The secular song performed by the most artists was Mighty Clouds of Joy. It was originally recorded by B.J. Thomas in 1971, post-Raindrops but pre-Christian, pre-Country hit making days. Mike Wilshire was the first to sing it at the Jesus House in fall of 1971. After Mike, Marc O'Hara performed it, then Terry Fisher, then Deny Brigance in, I believe, the Stephens-Brigance days.

The song most surprising for the fewest performances was Jesus is Just Alright With Me. Originally recorded by The Birds then covered by The Doobie Brothers, it seemed like a natural song for JH performers, and is one of my favorites but, alas, unless my memory is faulty, it was performed only once by a band featuring Bruce Kercher while he was still a college student.

A song I always expected but never heard was Presence of the Lord by Eric Clapton from Blind Faith. Clapton was represented once though by two guys from College Hill Presbyterian Church, a drummer & bass player and performed a really long, really loud instrumental version of Sunshine of Your Love. I think they justified it by saying they spelled sunshine with an "o" instead of the "u."

During the first year of operation, James Taylor music was big with You've Got a Friend and Fire & Rain. Also that first year, quite a few people sang He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (and always told the story involving the priest and the two orphans) and Bridge Over Troubled Waters. One of the big worship songs that first year was a rewritten version of the 1958 Phil Specter tune, "To Know Him is to Love Him." Of course we know who the "him" was for us! And yes, we seriously sang it as a worship song. Stop looking at me that way. Please wipe that smurk off your face. All we had otherwise was Kum By Yah.

As the years progressed we saw other Paul Simon compositions added. Besides Bridge Over Troubled Waters we heard Loves Me Like a Rock and some song about cereal(?).

The Eagles showed up occasionally with Desperado and once with a re-written version of Already Gone.

It was a memorable night when a group from Georgetown College sang re-worked Bee Gee songs. Pre-disco Bee Gees, like To Love Somebody and Got to Get a Message to You.

The Paul & Dave Band used to perform, "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long" by Chicago and something by the Beatles but the title is escaping me right now. I'll remember it later and edit this section. The Beatles were also represented the night John Gould sang, "Here Comes the Sun."

As far as songs with absolutely no spiritual content, Stephens-Brigance sang Rock & Roll Music and I sang Up On the Roof, Midnight Hour & Mustang Sally!

Finally, let me say that no one ever sang a Beach Boys song...

If I've left out songs, let me know and I'll add them!

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed the Second Weekend of February
1972 - Grant & Jane Ann Hammond
1973 - John Gould
1974 - Lisa Gosnell & Dave Keith (this was a French Lick Weekend!)
1975 - Marc O'Hara, Mark Elliott from the One Way House in Springfield speaking. (The staff was gone on another French Lick Weekend!)
1976 - Scruggs (one set) Ross Johnson (one set)
1977 - Not sure, no one is listed. It was another French Lick Weekend.
1978 - Kent & Randy
1979 - Hymn (Yet another French Lick Weekend)
1980 - Godshadows
1981 - Brent Eresman
1982 - Geoff Thurman
1983 - Forerunner

The Reunion

2009-02-08T10:23:00.000-08:00

Hope you liked the photos I included a few days ago. I will be glad to include any additional photos. Email them to tfishh@gmail.com

The reunion seems to be taking on good energy. Nearly every week I hear from someone from the past. Many of these contacts are made on Facebook. If you are not yet on Facebook, I urge you to join. You will find many JH people, FCC people and House of the Carpenter people. In some cases, you'll find people who experienced all three. Lots of photos floating around, some embarrassing, some not so embarrassing. There is also a Prodigal group on Facebook that you can join to see photos.

The Jesus House Recording Project is coming along. The goal is to have that completed and ready by the reunion. You will hear some great songs, all of which were performed at the Jesus House at some point during the 14 years.

Remember to mark your calendars for May 2, 2009. Tentatively we are planning to have live music 2:00 - 11:00 pm. Those times could change as we have a clearer picture of all the participating artists. The Reunion will be at Highview Christian Church 2651 Adams Road in Mt. Healthy. The building is not far from the Jesus House.

Later in the week, I will resume the historical narrative of the Jesus House with an entry about our retreats, both Conglomerate and Recharge! but till then...

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed the First Weekend of February.

1972 - Doug Adams (I believe he was a musician from College Hill Presbyterian Church)
1973 - Jan Bean & Christian Runion (Christian was pictured in one of the previous photos.)
1974 - Not sure, it might have been adamsfishyodor. The space is blank but afo played in Hartford City, Indiana the night before so we might have traveled back and played the house. I know there were 113 people in attendance.
1975 - Bob Clark & Tony Ross (A couple of skinny guys with great songs!)
1976 - John Gould
1977 - Creation INC
1978 - Cindy Price
1979 - One Lane Road
1980 - Rick, Tom & Hodgy
1981 - Geoff Thurman
1982 - Rick & Hodgy (What happened to Tom?)
1983 - Geoff Thurman

Things I Said:Quotes from Terry Fisher's Jesus House talks.
In order for a person to become a Christian, at least three opinions need to change:
The Bible has to become more than just a good book
Jesus has to become more than just a good man
God has to become more than just a good idea.

The Murals!

2009-02-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Christopher Adams and Rick Mapes for the following photos.
Terry

Mapes

2009-02-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

So there I was, walking through the administration building at Cincinnati Bible College (formerly Cincinnati Bible Seminary, now Cincinnati Christian University... the school has changed it's name more often than a guy in a witness protection program who can't stay away from his girlfriend...) as I was saying, before I got lost, I was walking through the administration building for a reason that has been lost to the hazy daze of college life when I recognized the sound of a voice as it floated out of an office door. I looked through the office door and spied Richard Allen Mapes sitting in the office of someone official. I assumed, since he was someone who attended the Jesus House, that he must be in trouble! So I listened. I spied. Thinking I might need to come to his aid, I moved back into the shadows so no one could see me and waited for the outcome of Rick's trouble. I was wrong. Rick was not in trouble. Yes, this is in contrast to the experience most of the Jesus House staff had when sitting in an office in the administration building. In fact, Rick was talking about enrolling in school full-time. He had been auditing classes but decided to enroll and actually receive a degree! Eureka! The answer to all our problems!!

A little back story. In those days, the person who was the Director of the Jesus House was supposed to be married. I agree with your thoughts, kind of an archaic way of doing things. Yes, that means Jesus would never have been able to be the Director. Yes, Paul would never have been able to be the Director. Yes, the Pope would never have been able to be the Director . . . okay, enough examples. It was a rule, one of the few we had. The other rules were, no smoking in the Jesus House, no consuming alcoholic beverages in the Jesus House and no painting any walls black. (Deny, I think at one time or another you broke all three of those rules!) So why, you ask, was I (Terry Fisher) allowed to be the Interim Director? I guess the rule did not apply to Interim Directors. End of back story.

I went home excited. If Rick Mapes was going to be in school full-time and since he was married, he could become the Director. (I just reminded myself of another rule. To be on staff, you had to be enrolled at Cincinnati Bible College or one of it's other names, full-time. This rule was relaxed for me when I graduated.)
Upon arriving home I told Kent about my discovery. He was excited.
I contacted the Elders at Highview Christian Church and shared my discovery. (They were our overseers. That's three syllables not two) They were excited and gave me the authority to approach Rick with an offer of employment.
Offer extended and . . . after much discussion, prayer, and conversations with others, Rick accepted. He, Jenny & Christy moved into the Jesus House and changed us in many very good ways. For one thing, there was a child in the house. She was the cutest 2-year-old who ever lived until I had my own children. I am not going to include stories about Christy out of respect for her grown up self except to say that she became my buddy, was a wonderful companion every day when I returned from work or school and she prepared me for being a father and enjoying my children.

Rick did not have the experience with ministry that Stan had, but at that point in the development of the House, it was not important. One of the strengths Rick brought, though, was great organizational skills and a willingness to learn how to run the ministry. He had been attending the House since our first summer of operation, so he knew the ministry from that angle. Now we were teaching him about it from the other side. Because Rick is so smart (more on that later) he was a quick student. This was very important for many reasons, one being that Kent Odor was about to get married and move out. Yes, adams was gone, odor was about to leave, and fishy needed another friend and co-worker. Rick became that and more. Compatibility was important among the staff. We needed to like the same kinds of music, food, and adventure. There was instant compatibility with Rick, Jenny & Christy. During their time on staff, we had our first Jesus House birth when their son, Micah was born.

Besides Rick's strengths, we soon saw that Jenny was going to bring a new set of gifts in her creativity. She found so many ways to express creativity and had lots of drive. Jenny is the reason the entire downstairs was repainted. She moved us from the bold, psychedelic days of the early 70's into the more subtle earth tones of the late 70's. We lost all the murals of our early days (if anyone has photos, please scan and email them to me: tfishh@gmail.com) but moved into a new visual era. Her contributions were inspirational and exciting. She even understood that it might be a good idea if someone organized our Thanksgiving Feast to make sure not everyone was going to bring green beans!

I could write lots about Rick and his family but want to end this blog with one example of Rick's abilities. During those years, he worked full-time at a second shift job, attended school full-time, was a husband and father and helped run the house. Rick graduated a year after I did. A week before his graduation, he brought home his cap and gown. As we checked it out, he pulled out a golden rope and asked what it was for. I informed him, it meant he was graduating with honors. He wondered what he was to do with it. I responded, "I assume you drape it around your neck, but I'm not completely sure." Then he asked the question that I knew was coming. "Well, what did you do with yours." My honest response needed to be, "I didn't have one." Ever the inquisitive person, Rick persisted, "Why not." "Well, you see, Rick, I didn't graduate with honors." He didn't ask anymore questions...

This Week in History(Actually last week) Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the Fourth Week of January

1972 - Mark O'Hara
1973 - Mike Wilshire
1974 - Monk
1975 - Bozo Brothers
1976 - Terry Fisher, Sharon & Dan, Sandy
1977 - Rick Marksberry
1978 - Dave Shubert
1979 - Closed due to weather. Peter Leighton highlighted us on the Q-102 weather closings. Called us the most important closing announcement. The only person who showed up was John Jaffe, who thought the roads were fine.
1980 - Andy & Alice Danzl, Rick & Diane Marksberry
1981 - Larry Bubb
1982 - Lois Snider
1983 - Lighthouse

Fifth Saturdays Yes, January is another of those months with an occasional Fifth Saturday.

1972 - Rick Carter
1976 - A huge round up of people including, Tony Ross, Andy Danzl, Rick, Hodgy & Tom (eventually known as Manna) and Terry Fisher
1977 - Prodigal
1981 - Scott Roley
1982 - Willoughby-Wilson Band (Recharge Weekend, more on this later)
1983 - Willoughby-Wilson Band (Recharge Weekend Too)

Things I Said Quotes from Terry Fisher's Jesus House Talks

If a sin takes more than 15 minutes to commit, does it count as two?

growth, change, departures

2009-01-22T14:53:00.000-08:00

After the arrival of Stan Carter we added additional staff. There was no master plan to these staff additions but upon reflection, and without sounding too corny . . . okay, I'm going to sound really corny, but I think there was a Master's Plan. Yes, I did it. I sounded really corny just then didn't I? To all of you with a "corny filter" on your computer, you didn't get to read that line, but that's okay.

The staff additions, which WE didn't plan, helped facilitate growth in the ministry. Kent Odor was added Fall, 1972, Chris Adams moved into the house summer of 1973 but he was already pretty engrained into the ministry. These two additions changed the dynamics of the ministry in very positive ways. We had our first Muster Weekend spring, 1973 and by fall 1973 the ministry was busting. Not only was afo acting as house band when needed but traveling to other places. The outreach of the ministry had spread to Forest Park, Greenhills, Princeton and Colrain High Schools. We even had an opportunity to speak and play music at an after school assembly for Greenhills High School. Students still came from Mt. Healthy High School but it was exciting to see people from all these other schools. It was more exciting to see how many people were becoming Christians. We also began to receive more and more invitations to speak at churches all over Cincinnati. Anytime one of us spoke at a church we saw the youth group from that church the following Saturday night. There is no way to count how many people we were able to tell about Jesus but I am grateful that the ministry had moved outside the property on Coogan Drive expanding into all these other venues.

With all these high school students, Stan knew the responsibility of the ministry needed to move beyond the staff. He organized a team of students who began working on different aspects of the ministry including outreach, hospitality, and spiritual growth; all important aspects of any effective church or ministry.

By spring of 1974, Stan decided his time with the House was finished so he and Linda bought a home nearby and moved out. It was a great loss to us but just the first of two. The second loss occurred a few months later when Christopher Adams decided to move to the West Coast to be near his family and attend Pacific Christian College. This was the right move for Christopher especially since he could major in psychology at PCC but of course it meant the end of adamsfishyodor, at least for a few years! Stan and Christopher both added important leadership and wisdom to the Jesus House and their absence was keenly felt. The first summer without them the building seemed very empty to Kent and me. The first thing we did was ask Andy Wilson to move in for the summer while he was preparing for college the following fall. His presence was a delight.
(As three bachelors living in that big place we decided to at least upgrade the quality of our menu so we purchased a case of rib eye steaks from a meat supplier, put them in the freezer and ate steak all summer!)

I became the Interim Director of the ministry while we searched for a replacement for Stan. Kent took over scheduling and leading the Saturday evening concerts. None of us expected me to be the Interim Director for over a year! It was not the best fit for me and I did not do it very well. That was my first experience, but not my last, of being in a ministry position for which I was not adequately gifted. When Paul wrote about different gifts distributed to Christians, he was not kidding. It's interesting to me that the very time I was working outside my gifting, I was studying Spiritual Gifts at CBS with the incredibly intelligent and gifted Dr. Virgil Warren.

God is a provider, sometimes when you least expect it and often in ways that you and I could never plan. The staff of the Jesus House changed again the summer of 1975. The change began one morning in the spring when I walked through the administration building at Cincinnati Bible College and overheard a life-changing and ministry changing conversation. But more on that later...

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the Third Saturday of January
1972 - Bob Chick & Doug Youst
1973 - Grant Hammond
1974 - The Bozo Brothers (Kevin Boys & Andy Danzel. adamsfishyodor was in Athens, Ohio playing at O.U.!)
1975 - John Gould
1976 - Salt & Pepper
1977 - Rick Roberts
1978 - Paul & Dave (It was a night designated as, "Bring Your Favorite Atheist Friend" We were pretty radical!)
1979 - Andy Danzel, Terry Fisher
1980 - Cathy Snyder
1981 - Harriet Lewis & Hog (?) Don't remember who Hog was.
1982 - Tim Root
1983 - Share-it (An evening for the crowd to share their gifts.)

Hey, Terry!
What?
I know you're probably finished with this entry but I have a question.
You're correct, I am finished but, okay, I have a few more minutes till I need to attend a finance meeting. What's your question?
Has the Jesus House ever expanded into additional nights of regular programing?
Yes, several times.
What were they?
At one point we had Family Night on Wednesdays. I described this in a previous entry. It was organized by Kent Odor.
Later we added Fridays.
What was it called?
Fridays.
When was it?
On Fridays.
What did you do?
We worshiped and had Bible study.
You mean like a church service?
Not exactly but close.
How long did that last?
About a year, maybe two.
Anything else?
Yes, for a couple of years we had the Jesus House Literary Society, which later received a name change to Third Sunday.
What was that for?
To read books and talk about them.
What kind of books?
C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Vanauken, and anything else we fancied.
That sounds like fun, why did it stop.
Because I joined the staff at College Hill Presbyterian Church and had responsibility for the singles ministry on Sunday nights.
Too bad.
Yes, but sometimes, even something that's really good comes to an end.
You mean like this blog entry?
Exactly.

FCC

2009-01-20T15:12:00.000-08:00

But first a note: In a previous blog I mentioned a ministry in the Dayton area run by Jim Spicer that also hosted Christian concerts. I could not remember the name. It was The House of the Risen Son in Englewood, Ohio a suburb of Dayton. Thank you Jim for refreshing my memory. The HOFRS had tables and chairs unlike the wonderful JH that offered pillows on the floor.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled blog entry.

Last weekend Christopher Adams journeyed to Cincinnati to add his incredible bass playing to some tracks destined for the Jesus House Recording project. Deny Brigance provided digital recording equipment and Steve & Barb Steffins opened their home, sitting by patiently without headphones so they could hear only bits and pieces of the action. (If only we had video taped the proceedings. It could be on Facebook or YouTube!) As I was laying down tracks for "Only the Father" it occurred to me that I was surrounded by people who were previously involved in FCC. (Not the Federal Communications Commission but Fellowship Christian Church.) The Jesus House's connection with FCC was very different from the CHPC connection. It started the first summer the House was open . . .

One Sunday afternoon the Jesus House Staff was preparing to commune over a very tasty fried chicken dinner when a young man with dark hair, scruffy mustache and big smile walked in and introduced himself as Tom Smith. My first response was, "That's the best his parents could do? When your last name is Smith the first name needs to be Archimedes or or at least Black." Fortunately I didn't dwell on his name. We invited him to join us for dinner and heard about his reason for relocating to Cincinnati. Dinner concluded with the JH staff being excited about the new Campus Ministry at UC and Tom being excited about the Jesus House. None of us knew how intertwined the two ministries would become.

Tom established a very effective ministry based out of a place called the House of the Carpenter. Within a few years students from the UC campus ministry frequently attended the JH with many of them becoming performers. The performer list includes but is not limited to Deny Brigance, Randy Moody, and Rick Hine. Deny had and still has an unbelievably high rock & roll singing voice, incredible harmonies and great original rock & roll songs. Can you get better than a Christian R&R song titled "Holy Roller?" Deny was also known for putting together great bands when he performed at the House. Randy Moody wrote some of the funniest songs in the Kingdom of God, (Sin is the ring around my bathtub) as well as a wonderful celebration of the deep relationships we experience in the Body of Christ. (Randy sang, "One Big Time in the Kingdom" at Deb Smith's memorial service fall, 2007 and left me in tears.) Prior to his career in television production Rick Hine became an all purpose bass player and harmony singer for many bands including a few put together by Terry Fisher!

After a few more years, The House of the Carpenter decided to enter the Christian coffeehouse bizz and opened a concert venue in their basement on Sunday nights. Because they were University of Cincinnati students, and much sharper than the Jesus House staff, and because they did not serve coffee, they concluded they could not rightly be called a "coffee house" so they became the "Cookie House." Yes they did serve cookies! It was a great place to play. A relaxed atmosphere and a slightly older crowd than we had at the Jesus House during those years. In addition, the Jesus House always closed at midnight (yes, I made people leave by midnight) the Cookie House never closed!

The campus ministry also hosted a Sunday morning worship service. This started in the lounge of one of the dorms, Sander Hall (Thank you for the reminder, Deny) eventually moving into a large meeting space, the Great Hall, in the Student Union Building. During the mid to late '70's it was one of the few, if not the only, place to attend a worship service that featured contemporary music. The service also featured the excellent preaching of Archimedes...er..I mean Tom Smith. This service eventually grew into the church that became Fellowship Christian Church. I never became a member of FCC and because of my schedule could not attend regularly, but whenever possible I drove down and was always blessed by the worship services both in Sander Hall and Great Hall. Sometime after becoming Fellowship Christian Church they moved into the old Methodist Church building diagonally across from campus until securing property and building a new structure on North Bend Road.

Because of the style of worship, it became a natural place for the Jesus House to channel new Christians. It was an easy cultural transition for people who became Christians through the ministry of the JH to find FCC as their church home. It also helped that many of the musicians who played the JH worshiped at FCC. Kent Odor, of the JH staff, also spent time as one of the pastors at FCC.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the Second Saturday of January
1972 - Baily Dickerson & Rich Davis
1973 - Brothers from the House of the Carpenter (see above) including Randy Moody & Dick Mott. This was the first time attendance on Saturday evening broke the 200 barrier. We had 201 people in attendance. Those HOTC boys could pack in a crowd!
1974 - Jon Owens
1975 - Rich Mullins
1976 - Rich Mullins
1977 - Dee Dee, Terry Fisher
1978 - Mark Ryman (from the One Way House in Springfield, Ohio!)
1979 - Covenant (Karen & Jenny!)
1980 - John Gould
1981 - Dave Workman
1982 - Cathy Snyder
1983 - Revelation Band\

Where are They Now?
Fellowship Christian Church no longer exists as a church. From my limited observation, it appears the members have spread among quite a few churches in the Cincinnati area including several Vineyards, Crossroads, College Hill Presbyterian and probably many more of which I'm not aware. Many of us had a reunion Fall, 2007 at a memorial service for Deb Smith, wife of Tom Smith. We were able to gather at the FCC building for a celebration of an incredible life. The place was packed. After the service, many of us drove over to the Springdale Vineyard for a reception. It was amazing to see many of the original House of the Carpenter boys (men) as well as original Jesus House people. Old friendships were renewed and the seeds for the Jesus House Recording Project were sown. Thank you, Deb, for being a rallying point for us.

The CHPC Connection

2009-01-05T14:46:00.000-08:00

The Jesus House had a connection to College Hill Presbyterian Church off and on throughout our 14 years. In those days CHPC had a "coffee house" called the Back Door. The name was derived from the fact that the entrance was in the back of a building next door to the church. The front of the building was a Audi dealer. The space is now part of the CHPC parking lot. Some of our musicians were borrowed from the Back Door. There were differences between the Jesus House and the Back Door: they had tables & chairs, we had pillows; their walls were painted black, ours were white; their musicians were playing background music while people talked and ours was a concert setting where we did not want people to talk. We thought we were better. They thought they were better. We were both good.

The very first night we opened the featured singer was someone from CHPC although his name has been lost even though a recording exists. He was a folksinger with a guitar.

One Sunday afternoon a young couple from CHPC showed up at the Jesus House with bags of groceries. Their Sunday School class decided that morning to take up an offering and provide food for the JH staff. Since none of us had paying jobs that summer, we ate what ever food happened to appear in the kitchen. We were very grateful for the generosity of that class.

At the end of the first summer we co-hosted an outdoor event at Devou Park in Northern Kentucky that included a line up of Jesus House artists, Back Door artists and Young Folk, the high school choir from CHPC. I co-organized the event with Rob Jackson who was serving on Summer Staff at CHPC that year. That fall Rob enrolled at Gordon College outside of Boston. Not sure what Rob is doing these days although I know Gordon College is still in full operation because I've sent them tuition money the past few years. My daughter graduated from there in May.

The Devou Park event was not well attended. I think there were more musicians than audience. It would not be the first time that happened nor that last. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported on the event and blamed the low attendance on a feud we had with the Children of God in Clifton. Just goes to show, you cannot believe everything you read. I did not know anyone affiliated with the Children of God!

The affiliation with CHPC continued in an off & on manner until November, 1983. The final 15 months the JH was open we had a very close relationship. Mostly this was due to me joining the staff at CHPC to run the college & singles ministries while continuing on the JH staff. It is good that I was single in those days. I also continued to travel to perform concerts and speak at retreats. It was really too much but I did not know it.

As I review the history of the Jesus House it is good to recognize how much we gained from various church affiliations. I think we were a stretch for some churches to understand but a place like CHPC was so kingdom minded that they supported and endorsed us even if we made them a little uncomfortable.

The Week in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the First Saturday of January

1972 - Closed (January 1)
1973 - Teri Lillivig & Vicki Eaton (a couple of Forest Park High School students.)
1974 - Terry Fisher
1975 - Bob Clark & Tony Ross
1976 - Crossroads (No, not the church, the band who later became Prodigal!)
1977 - Randy Moody (aka Moods, now a Nashville resident)
1978 - One Lane Road (Country Rock from Northern Kentucky)
1979 - Rick, Hodgy, & Tom (Later known as Mana?)
1980 - Deny Brigance (Producer of the JH Reunion Recording Project!)
1981 - Steffens-Brigance
1982 - Geoff Thurman
1983 - Larry Bubb

closing out the years

2008-12-30T13:09:00.001-08:00

New Year's Eve at the Jesus House was a mix of closings and big celebrations. As mentioned in a previous post, in the early years we tended to be closed around Christmas and New Year's Eve because we were college students on break visiting our families. Years later, we had New Year's Eve celebrations, the first was organized by Loyd Boldman and people from Northern Kentucky. These events usually involved multiple bands and other performers. I believe the first time the Willouby-Wilson Band played the Jesus House it was a NYE Celebration. But back to our first year . . .

The first ministry year, 1971, Christmas Day & New Year's Day were on Saturdays so we were closed. On New Year's Day, though, some of us traveled to the Dayton area to hear Randy Matthews perform a concert at House of the Risen Son run by a guy named Jim Spicer. We knew Jim from the Cincinnati Bible Seminary and many of the musicians who played the Jesus House also played his place. Fast-forward 37 years and the guy who is the Senior Pastor at Highview Christian Church is (drum roll please) Jim Spicer. Yes, the same Jim Spicer. Jim is one of the reasons we will be able to host the next (and no doubt final) Jesus House Reunion Concert at Highview. A few days ago, Chris Adams said, "Having the Reunion at Highview will be like a home coming." Not only was Highview essential in establishing the Jesus House, but many of you were baptized at Highview. The first couple of years of Muster Weekend (more on that in April) we used the Highview building. For many of us, Highview was the church we attended on Sunday mornings. Most of the time we were walking in groggy because of the late night and because we probably just crawled out of bed. The people of Highview were always very encouraging. Many of them loved the ministry of the Jesus House and supported us in ways that included but were not limited to feeding us, making us welcome in their homes, feeding us, loaning us cars, feeding us, providing financial support and, finally, feeding us.

Many names could be listed as huge Highview supporters but since this blog is not intended to cover pages and pages, here are just a few:

David & Shirley Phillips - Dave was the Senior Pastor at Highview when the Jesus House started. Dave was also my first ministry mentor. Many times I dropped by their house to see if Dave was available to talk. He and Shirley always welcomed me in. Dave would offer me a seat and Shirley would offer me a sandwich. I always accepted the seat and turned down the sandwich. Ten minutes later, Shirley would bring me the sandwich I turned down with a glass of iced tea. God used Dave to prepare me for ministry. God used Shirley to prepare me for ministry. When the church was not sure about the wisdom of starting the Jesus House, Dave stood up for the vision and said, "God has placed this opportunity in our laps. We can accept it and see what happens or we can turn it down. It is something new and different and maybe uncomfortable for some of us, but there is no doubt it is an opportunity from God."

Bill & Vietta Keith - Vietta was the organist for Highview and Bill was a perpetual deacon who handled a lot of financial details for the church. At the conclusion of my first interview to determine whether or not I would join the Jesus House Staff, as I rose to leave the room, Bill held out his hand, shook mine and said, "My name is Bill Keith and I hope you get in." That was the first of many words of encouragement I received from Bill.
When I first met Vietta she was a stay-at-home mom of three who was attending college one class at a time. While raising her children, Vietta enrolled in one class each term at Miami University finishing first her Bachelor degree then her Masters. Once the children were raised she was able to enter and complete a doctorate program in counseling. Even though I remember all the peanut butter sandwiches Vietta served me over the years, she became a source of inspiration when I finally had the opportunity to enter a master's program at Fuller Seminary. I took one class a quarter for five years and completed an MA - Theology. Anytime I felt discouraged about the work or the pressures of attending grad school while working full-time and being married with children, I remembered Vietta.

These people, and many others from the summer and fall of 1971 had a huge impact on the genesis stages of the Jesus House. Without their willingness to accept God's call to do something strange and different, 14 years of unique ministry would have been lost.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the Fourth (and Fifth) Weeks of December
1971 - Closed (Christmas Day)
1972 - Closed
1973 - Christmas Family Nite (This means an assortment of people performed.)
1974 - Closed
1975 - Closed
1976 - Closed (Christmas Day)
1977 - Closed (Christmas Eve)
1978 - Rich Mullins
1979 - Zion
1980 - Terry Fisher
1981 - Donnie Yazell
1982 - Closed (Christmas Day)
1983 - Closed (Christmas Eve)

Decembers With a Fifth Saturday:
1973 - Closed
1977 - New Year's Eve Bash featuring Rising Hope
1978 - Windfall (A New Year's Eve Eve Bash that included DANCING!!!!)
1979 - Hymn
1983 - Larry Bubb (Visiting from California!)

Where Are They Now?
David & Shirley Phillips are still ministering to people. David is the pastor at Pleasant Run Church of Christ, the site of the three previous Jesus House Reunions. We were permitted to use the church building because of Dave & Shirley's continuing conviction that the Jesus House was a ministry birthed from the heart of God. We hope to see Dave & Shirley at the upcoming reunion.
Bill Keith went to be with Jesus over ten years ago.
The last I heard from Vietta she was a therapist and professor. Not sure if she is still doing that or if she has retired.

Christmas at the Jesus House

2008-12-22T09:34:00.000-08:00

In a previous blog I mentioned Alan Jones, a musician from Columbus who performed our first "Christmas Special." Alan and a friend sang a musical version of "The Night Before Christmas." This performance started a tradition that we kept off and on over the years. Usually, we scheduled performers who could include Christmas music as part of the evening, but in addition, we occasionally involved the Jesus House staff in skits or other silly things. You may have seen Tony Ross and me in sweaters and scarves doing our best to croon "The Christmas Song." When she was very young, Christi Mapes agreed to dress up like Rudolph. One year five of us dressed in choir robes and lip synched the Barking Dogs version of Jingle Bells. We did our best to make Christmas meaningful and memorable!

We also developed a tradition of hosting a Sunday evening Christmas Caroling party. This was an opportunity to take a group of 20-30 people around our neighborhood singing, then return to the House for hot chocolate and sit in front of the fireplace to read "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."

In the early years we usually closed the week between Christmas and New Years, primarily because we were college students who used the holidays to travel out of town to visit family. In later years, we began having New Year's Eve events. More on those in a later blog.

The last Saturday before Christmas tended to have larger than normal crowds primarily because of returning college students. These students tended to be people who attended the House during their high school years and were excited to get back to us. Many of these students were responsible for adamsfishyodor, then later me as a solo artist, having opportunities to perform concerts on University campuses. Ohio University, Ball State (maybe while David Letterman was there?!?), Morehead University, University of Kentucky, Miami University, and Bowling Green (of Ohio) were just a few (that I remember) places of higher learning that found themselves invaded by people from the Jesus House. In the adamsfishyodor days these trips usually included additional car loads of, mostly, high school students. Not sure if anyone attended one of those schools as a result of a trip with adamsfishyodor but we did our best to be good will ambassadors. Concerts in university settings were some of my favorite. The crowds were favorably responsive to the music. After the concerts, though, we had the opportunity talk to people about Jesus. These were the settings where we seemed to have the largest percentage of non-Christians in the crowd. As much as I enjoyed performing music for people, and I have always enjoyed that a lot, the post-concert discussions were fabulous experiences.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the Third Week of December.
1971 - Alan Jones (Banana Bread & Pumpkin Bread were served as special Christmas refreshments!)
1972 - Rich Davis
1973 - Sandy & Marge
1974 - Jim Bankowski
1975 - John Gould
1976 - Rising Hope
1977 - John Gould
1978 - Terry Fisher
1979 - Terry Fisher (two years in a row?)
1980 - Zion
1981 - Zion
1982 - Zion (The annual Zion Christmas concerts were huge!)
1983 - Bobby Maupin

adamsfishyodor

2008-12-15T15:19:00.000-08:00

In the list of artists for the second week of December you will notice adamsfishyodor played on December 9, 1972. This date was just a few months after we formed as an early '70's folk/rock/trio. Initially we formed to perform one song, Larry Norman's Moses, at the Cincinnati Bible Seminary Talent Show. We connected because after Chris Adams was baptized the previous summer, he approached me one life-changing Saturday evening and offered his services as a bass player. We played a gig together that summer at a county fair somewhere in Ohio. The exact destination is lost in the vague memories of playing anyplace someone would allow us to sing about Jesus, whether anyone was listening or not! Christopher decided to attend CBS that fall so when the Talent Show was looming, I asked him if him if he would agree to perform Moses with me. I knew Kent from the previous year and Chris knew him from his performances at the House so a trio was born! Since most of the singing groups at school had lookalike suits, we wanted to fit in and decided to wear bib overalls. The producers of the event even imported some bales of hay to complete our on stage effect.

Even though we were planning for a one-off performance, other forces were at work to keep us together. Grant Edwards of the One Way House in Springfield asked Stan Carter who he would recommend Grant schedule for a special concert. I assume Grant thought Stan would have a large list to recommend from all the performers who played the House. Instead, Stan said, "Terry, Kent & Chris are learning a song for the school Talent Show, they could do your concert for you." Grant asked if we had a group name and Stan responded, "Let's see, it's Chris Adams, Terry Fisher & Kent Odor, their name is adamsfishyodor." So, in one short conversation we had a name and were booked for a two hour concert. Fortunately, we already knew one song so all we had to do was learn enough songs to sing before and after that one song to fill in the rest of the time!

The response to the one song at the Talent Show and the concert at the One Way House (they called it Farm Out!) was positive enough to keep us together. As a trio, we performed for about a year and a half, sang all over Ohio with short trips into Michigan, Kentucky and Indiana. We had one long trip to Eden, North Carolina, which was made famous in that hit single, "I'm On My Way to North Carolina." Our trip to Michigan produced "Sohio Station Blues." We played youth groups, college fellowship groups, coffee houses (some actually served coffee!), outdoor festivals, church services and one ordination service (Alan Sipple's).

The next school year Christopher joined us in living at the house. Anyone remember his room in the basement? Our normal Saturday morning routine was to assemble in Kent's room and watch Saturday morning cartoons on his black & white television while eating various flavors of Captain Crunch. This activity was usually done in silence. Somewhere around noon, someone would ask, "Who's playing tonight?" That question started the activity of preparing for the Saturday night concert. These preparations included cleaning, setting up sound, and removing all traces of our personal effects that invariably were spread throughout the house during the week.

Besides traveling & playing music together, running the Jesus House, and going to school, we were friends. Sometimes good friends, sometimes not so good friends, but a deep bond developed among the three of us that has continued to the present. I was blessed to stand up with both of them in their weddings. Kent performed my wedding and Christopher would have been the Best Man but the very day of my wedding, he was doing his last minute packing to leave Cincinnati, heading northwest in pursuit of his Doctorate degree.

Since the conclusion of our adamsfishyodor days, we had four reunion tours and have participated, in some form, in all four Jesus House Reunions. (At the first we were fishyodor with Marc O'Hara and at the third we were adamsfishy with Marc O'Hara) Those of you who remember our afo days are not surprised to hear we had someone else playing with us. During our musical career we had various others play with us including, but not limited to Andy Wilson, Larry Pennington, Randy Moody & Carl Gregory.

afo will be playing at the next, and most likely final Jesus House Reunion, May 2, 2009.

This Week in History:Artists who performed at the Jesus House the second week of December
1971 - Robb Jackson (Robb was from College Hill Presbyterian Church, a place with which the Jesus House had connection off and on for many years!)
1972 - adamsfishyodor
1973 - Lana Herring, Vicki Cooper (Vicki was a friend from Cincinnati Bible Seminary, a very talented actress)
1974 - Sherry & Sharon (Fayard & Wilson, sensitive songs, great guitar players, and wonderful voices)
1975 - Stephens/Brigance
1976 - Diakonoi
1977 - 'cinnati (Andy Danzel, vocals & bass; Terry Fisher vocals & guitar; Dave French, drums; Rick Marksberry, vocals and any instrument needed for the song including but not limited to lead guitar, pedal steel, fiddle & kitchen sink.)
1978 - Paul & Dave (not sure if they were The Paul & Dave Band at this point! Were they still bachelors or were they married by 1978??)
1979 - Creation Inc.
1980 - Prodigal
1981 - Stephens/Brigance
1982 - Act One (music & drama)
1983 - Deny Brigance

Kent Odor

2008-12-09T11:31:00.000-08:00

The first Saturday of December, 1971 Kent Odor made his second appearance at the Jesus House. At that point we had no way of knowing that the following fall, Kent would join the staff, nor that he, Chris Adams and I would embark on our career as adamsfishyodor, nor that Kent would become a life-long friend.

Kent and I met in the library at Cincinnati Bible Seminary (now Cincinnati Christian University). Kent was interested in the Jesus House because he was a singer/guitar player who, while in high school, traveled throughout Michigan singing for churches, camps and youth groups. Kent was also a PK (preacher's kid) whose family had deep roots in the christian church/church of christ restoration movement.

In those days Kent played a little nylon string acoustic guitar that, given its small size, had a surprisingly deep, booming sound. His voice had incredible range as he could sing very low but also had a strong falseto. adamsfishyodor never really used his vocal talents, primarily because of my inability to sing harmony, but hopefully he gained other valuable experiences.

Kent joined the Jesus House Staff in the fall of 1972 and remained until fall of 1975 when he and Marcia married. His impact on the Jesus House was profound. He introduced us to the concept of small groups and created the first Jesus House small group in the summer of 1974 by teaching the book, Body Life, written by Ray Steadman. Kent is also responsible for demanding that we include personal quiet times at our Conglomerate retreats. In addition, Kent created Family Nights on Wednesday evenings. No one knew what was planned week to week at Family Night because Kent had so many ideas and never told us in advance what to expect. Family Nights introduced us to making donuts, tie dying t-shirts, making bagels, painting the pipes in the basement, and many other activities that I no longer remember. Kent recognized the importance of creating social opportunities for people to interact with one another. His drive for social networking was evident whenever adamsfishyodor headed out for concerts and found we had 2-3 additional carloads of people invited by Kent.

Since his years with the Jesus House, Kent has served a variety of churches: Fellowship Christian Church, First Christian (St. Louis, Michigan), East 91st Street Christian Church (Indianapolis), Willow Creek Community Church, Canyon Ridge Christian Church (Las Vegas) and now the Springdale Vineyard (aka the Mothership) in Cincinnati.

Kent has grown into an extremely wise leader with an unlimited capacity to understand ministry.

He and Marcia have four children and one grand child.

Yes, Kent will be at the next reunion concert, May 2, 2009. You will have the opportunity to hear his great singing voice on the Jesus House Recording Project.

This Week in History: Artists Who Appeared at the Jesus House the First Saturday of December
1971 - Kent Odor, Doug Adams
1972 - Linda Page
1973 - Jim Bankowski (with special guest Mike Wilshire)
1974 - Ross Johnson (solo night)
1975 - Morning Star
1976 - Deny Brigance
1977 - Creation INC. (Christian Theater)
1978 - Deny Brigance
1979 - (Record is blank. Not sure what we did.)
1980 - Peter Leighton (St. Nicholas Day!)
1981 - Sonrise
1982 - Christmas Arts Variety Show
1983 - Jama

A Life-Changing Experience
You will notice that Jim Bankowski performed the first Saturday of December in 1973. During the second set that night, Jim, along with his musical guest Mike Wilshire, led us in a medley of Christmas carols. That was the first time I consciously realised the spiritual impact of all those songs about Christmas. I had a life-changing worship experience as the beauty and truth of each of those songs became clear. I have always been grateful to Jim & Mike for that experience which continues to shape my appreciation of Christmas.

Baptisms

2008-12-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

The Jesus House gained a reputation in the early days as a place that was most willing to baptise people. Not all para-church ministries, especially youth oriented ministries were willing to baptise people. The Jesus House's reputation was deserved. We believed it was important to baptise a person as soon as the decision was made to become a Christian. The Christian Church connection and the Jesus Movement of the early 70's were influences. Baptism was identified as a first step for anyone becoming a Christian. Most of the Jesus House baptisms occurred on Saturday night after the concerts at which pointe we treked up to use the baptistry at Highview Christian Church. After we started the annual Conglomerate retreat, we baptised quite a few people in the lake at camp. I have a partial list of baptisms from the early years. No one kept track of all the baptisms in 1971 so my official list begins January, 1972 and ends in 1976. There are 125 people on the list. I will not list all the names here out of respect for privacy, but I will mention two people who, in my opinion, gave up their privacy years ago!
Christopher Adams - March 11, 1972
Rick Mapes - June 14, 1972
1972 was a very good year for baptising future Jesus House leaders!
I believe Rick Mapes might have taken over the duties of keeping track of the baptism list so he may have some additional names.
If you were baptised at the Jesus House and would like to find out the date, email me at tfishh@gmail.com
Dale, your name is not on my list. Sorry.
As a father, I look back on those baptisms with a slightly different perspective. Many of the people we baptised were high school and college students who were baptised without their parents being present. At the time I thought nothing of it. If either of my children made the decision to do something that important without me, I would be excited, but also disappointed. I wonder how many parents we disappointed. We had very few complaints. Well, time and experience gives insight.

This Week In History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the Fourth Week of November
1971 - John Gould
1972 - Al Green (No, not that Al Green, the other Al Green. The one who helped write Get the Sin out of Cincinnati.)
1973 - Rick Marksberry, Stan Carter, Al Green (Same Al Green)
1974 - Richard Mullins (He wasn't called Rich in those days.)
1975 - Rick & Hodgy
1976 - Karen & Jenny (aka Covenant)
1977 - Share-it (An evening devoted to Jesus House people sharing their gifts.)
1978 - Showbread
1979 - Steve Silcox
1980 - Judah
1981 - Rising Hope
1982 - Ted Brickler
1983 - Winning Edge

Fifth Saturday! November is another month with an occasional Saturday night. The following are artists who performed for one of those rare fifth Saturdays.
1974 - Randy Moody
1975 - Carl, Larry & Chuck
1980 - Beth Cook

Jesus House Reflections & Memories
I would like to include memories from others in this blog. If you have something you would like to share about the Jesus House, send it to me via email, tfishh@gmail.com
I reserve the right to edit due to space or bad writing...but would love to include your memories.

Thanksgiving Celebrations

2008-12-04T12:27:00.000-08:00

In a deviation from telling the chronological story of the first year, it seemed good to identify one of the annual celebrations that lasted for quite a few years. The Jesus House Thanksgiving Feast was a unique opporutnity for people to share Thanksgiving with an intimate crowd of 50-100. The first year we celebrated Thanksgiving it was prompted by a practical need. In 1973, I was employed at United Dairy Farmers and scheduled to work on Thanksgiving Day. Since I was not going to my parents house for the day a few of the other staff decided to stay around. Stan & Linda Carter supplied the turkey, my mother sent down her cole slaw (which Andy Wilson ate for the first time then quickly formed an addiction), the rest of us supplied other items. We set up a large piece of plywood on two wooden boxes, surrounded it with pillows and sat on the floor to eat. We thought we were eating just like Jesus! I do not remember everyone who dined with us that day other than Stan, Linda, Andy and Kent Odor. There may have been a few others.

The following year, Judy Gould suggested it would be fun to celebrate Thanksgiving at the Jesus House with friends, so we expanded the event. We had it the evening of Thanksgiving with multiple turkeys, at least one ham and lots and lots of other stuff. About 70 people dined with us so we had to set up mulitple plywood tables!

According to my records this annual event continued through 1980 although we moved it to the Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving. I do not remember why we stopped. I would love to hear your memories of this event especially if any of you remember why we stopped.

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the Third Week of November
1971 - Mark O'Hara, Ted Baxendale
1972 - Len Mink
1973 - Dick Mott, Leitourgia
1974 - Jon Owens
1975 - Bruce Kercher
1976 - John Gould
1977 - Odor, Clark & Burns
1978 - Rick Roberts
1979 - Agape Force
1980 - Rick & Diann Marksberry
1981 - Sanctury
1982 - Jews for Jesus
1983 - Harriet Lewis

apologies

2008-12-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

Apologies to all the regular readers of this blog.
I am several weeks behind in my posts.
This is due to a combination of illness, intense work schedule, and travel.
I promise to catch up in the next two weeks.

By Christmas & the New Year

2008-11-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

The last Saturday before Christmas we had a musician from Columbus named Alan Jones. Our Jesus House Christmas Celebration included special refreshments (banana & pumpkin bread) and a special a cappella performance of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" (musical version) by Alan and a high school friend who came with him. Alan was too young to drive so a friend and I drove to Columbus that morning and picked up Alan and his friend. On Sunday, another friend and I drove them back. We were a full service ministry. If you didn't have transpotation and you were a musician we really wanted, we found a way to get you there!

By Christmas, Grant & Jane Ann Hammond decided they wanted to leave the Jesus House staff. The style of ministry was not right for them. As they moved out, I moved back in and awaited their replacement. A few weeks into January, Stan and Linda Carter moved in and immediately became an important part of the ministry. Stan and Linda would live there for four years. Linda worked for a large insurance company in downtown Cincinnati while Stan and I attended school.

One of the important attributes Stan brought to the ministry was strong leadership, a willingness to be directive about the ministry and make decisions on faith that God would provide. I learned a lot about leadership from Stan and his father, Ralph Carter, a seasoned pastor. Stan had an ability to rally people and did a great job of that with high school students. Through Stan’s leadership we started the Jesus House Summer Bible Institute. Many youth ministries in church slow down in the summer. Stan decided he wanted us to be even more active and take advantage of people being out of school.

The Jesus House Summer Bible Institute was an opportunity for us to teach topics or sections of the Bible at a deeper level than we could on Saturday night. It gave people at the House an opportunity to study important issues. We ran the Bible Institute for many years and included classes on Hermaneutics, Personal Evangelism, Psalms, Hebrews, and many other books of the Bible. For me this was a forrunner of much of the teaching I did years later in churches.

With Stan's strong leadership the Jesus House was preparing for the numerical explosion that was about to happen and continue for many years. It was also because of his leadership that we were able to add additional staff. He was a leader who could lead and manage a staff that was not easy to lead or manage!

Quite often, when a church or ministry does not experience numerical growth the cause can be traced to a lack of strong leadership.

Stan & Linda were a lot of fun. Our first year together we shared meals (mostly provided by them) and learned a lot about our different backgrounds. They also introduced me to the incredible taste of cheesecake!

The sacrifice and dedication of Stan and Linda to help the ministry flourish can never be fully described.

This Week in History: Musicians who performed at the Jesus House the second saturday of November.

1971 - Dave Ooten
1972 - Kent Odor (He had just joined staff!)
1973 - Larry Pennington
1974 - Mary Ann (Must have been poplular. No last name)
1975 - Randy Moody (aka Moods)
1976 - Corban Weekend: Grant Edwards spoke; Jon Owens sang.
1977 - Deny Brigance
1978 - Greg Vernon (All the way from Beverly Hills, California!)
1979 - Caroline Randall
1980 - Chuck Pickers
1981 - John Gould
1982 - Lighthouse
1983 - D. J. Speers

Wait a minute! Hold on! I saw something on there called Corban Weekend. What in the world was that? I don't remember anything called Corban Weekend! Well, we only did it once. Corban Weekend was our attempt at doing a fund raising weekend to get people to pledge to the Jesus House. We found the term in Mark 7:11. Corban means, "a gift devoted to God." We even had a great comic strip promotion created by Loyd Boldman. If you remember anything about the Jesus House, all our special programs had to be "something" weekend. So we had Muster Weekend, Conglomerate Weekend, Rishing Hope Weekend, Eat-As-Much-Food-As-You-Can Weekend and Corban Weekend. Actually we never had Eat-As-Much-Food-As-You-Can Weekend, I just wanted to see if you are paying attention. So, we had Corban Weekend with Grant Edwards as a speaker and Jon Owens as our musical guest. They were from the One Way House in Springfield the ministry with whom we shared Conglomerate Weekend. That ministry had a Faith-Promise weekend every year and used me as a special guest so they returned the favor. We received a lot of good pledges to the ministry but 90% of the people who pledged never gave any money so we decided not to repeat the event. Sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you don't!

Where Are They Now
Stan and Linda are no longer married to each other but both still live in the Cincinnati area, both attend Highview Christian Church and help with the worship team. Stan also runs sound for the church. In addition, Stan owns Carters Music in North College Hill. Stop by and visit Stan and his cat Belmont or visit their web site, www.cartersmusic.com
Stan is one of the few music retailers in Cincinnati who handles Everly Strings, the best acoustic guitar strings on the market. At least according to Terry Fisher, little-known acoustic guitar player.

The First Autumn

2008-11-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

After a summer of constant activity with new people every week and continual requests for baptisms, the fall seemed very slow. Attendance at the weekly concerts had dropped significantly. It was very rare to have students dropping by during the week. Grant started a weekly Bible study but very few people participated.

Even with the small attendance at the concerts, (usually 40-50) there was a loyal crowd which included a steady group of people from Norwood who were part of a Lutheran Church. Whitey and Jo brought the youth group which included their two daughters. The entire family was a weekly source of encouragement.

I was pretty occupied with school, working an evening job at a fast-food restaurant and keeping my hair short (Remember dress codes? I had it at both school and work!). Since I was living with a family in the neighborhood, I was not around the Jesus House very much during the week. Usually I showed up early on Saturday evening to meet the artist for the evening and set up our sound system. Most of the time the sound system was two microphones plugged into a Fender Twin Reverb amp. We thought we were high tech whenever an artist showed up with a Sure Vocal Master system!

A significant event occured that fall which would have a profound impact on the Jesus House and teach me a valuable lesson about how a ministry or church grows.
One Sunday afternoon in September I attended a youth concert at a Christian Church in Finneytown. At the conclusion of the concert, the youth minister, Gary Boys, asked if anyone had any announcements. I stood up at the back of the auditorium and invited everyone to visit the Jesus House for one of our Saturday night concerts. The following week a high school senior from Forest Park High School named Cindy showed up with a friend. From that night, Cindy showed up on Saturday nights every week. I soon noticed that she always had a car load of people from her school. After a month or so I noticed two car loads, then three. I asked Cindy what she was doing to bring so many people from her high school. It was then she explained her weekly activity. Everyday, during school, usually between classes, she invited people to come with her to the Jesus House. She invited people who were friends and people she didn't know. Cindy began a movement. Soon, others who visited and liked the Jesus House began copying her. The enthusiasm spread to Greenhills and Princeton High Schools. Attendance at the House began to increase. By spring we were having crowds of 100-150. 50% was usually from Forest Park & Greenhills. The impact of Cindy's efforts continued for several years. Many, many of those students became Christians. I'm still in touch with some of those students, one of whom was Christopher Adams, who soon took on a very significant role at the Jesus House and in my life. More on him later!

This Week in History: Artists Who Performed at the Jesus House the First Weekend of November

1971 - Suni McGrath (The first performer other than Randy Matthews to have a record on a major label!)
1972 - Restoration
1973 - Grant Hammond
1974 - Deny Brigance (Perhaps his first?)
1975 - Sharon Wilson & Tony Ross
1976 - adamsfishyodor (The first afo reunion tour)
1977 - Jim Bankowski
1978 - Michelle Klaas (music), Rod Ellis (Dramatic performance of the Apostle John)
1979 - Lisa Allen & Barb Schock
1980 - Rob Rodebush
1981 - Forerunner
1982 - Coco Rock
1983 - Don Dickey

Where Are They Now?
Most of the people I reference in this blog are mentioned with first names only. This is because I have not asked for permission to tell their stories. The musicians and staff are different because we used to regularly advertise their names.
Of the people mentioned in this installment, Cindy is married with children and has a very successful business with her husband. They still live in the Cincinnati area. I have not had contact with Whitey & Jo but met a grand daughter at a memorial service some years ago.

If anyone I mention wants to leave a comment to let us know about your life those details are very welcome.

For the first months of the ministry, I've moved pretty slow through the chronology. This will not always be the case. I have fourteen years to cover during the next six months. I will discontinue this blog the first of May, 2009 when we have our next, and final, reunion. The final post will include a list of artists who performed during the summer months.

You might have noticed that I am a little behind in my posts. This is due to a crazy work and travel schedule. I hope to catch up this weekend.

What Happened to Terry Fisher?

2008-10-26T11:26:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the previous entry, most of the Jesus House Staff was dismissed at the conclusion of the first summer. I was honored to be part of that staff and yes, I was dismissed along with the others. I stayed around till the weekend because an old friend of mine, John Gould was scheduled to play the Jesus House for the first time. I decided it would be a good final evening and allow me the opportunity to say goodbye to the crowd. John was a big hit from his very first time at the House. For those of you who know him, that is no surprise. John has always been an incredible musician. His preciseness on guitar is a marvel. In addition, I've been listening to him sing since the fall of our senior year in high school and I've never heard him sing a bad note.

Another high school friend drove from my home town to transport me at the conclusion of the evening. All my worldly goods were packed into his car.

Also in attendance that final evening were Dave Phillips, the senior pastor at Highview Christian Church and Richard Engel, the chairman of the board. I appreciated their presence.

Midway through the evening they pulled me aside and asked to talk with me. They had been walking around the grounds praying and the Lord put me on their hearts. The three of us walked outside and they asked me two unexpected questions. The first, "How firm are your nomadic plans?"
"Not very," I said, "Why are you asking?"
Then came the shocker.
"If the church agrees to pay your tuition & books for one seminster at the Bible College and provides you with free housing, will you agree to get a job and continue attending school and pay for it yourself?"
I was stunned by the question and the offer.
The piece they did not know was just a few weeks earlier, I saw how my limited knowledge of the Bible made ministry at the Jesus House difficult. People were continually asking me questions for which I had no answers nor understanding. I prayed that God would provide me with an opportunity to learn the Bible. Now, just a few weeks later, the prayer was being answered.
They told me that I was not required to continue on staff at the Jesus House but if I wanted to I could.
I accepted it all; the opportunity to go to college and learn the Bible, the money for tuition and books, the free place to live and the offer to continue with the House.

The next few months I adapted to studying the Bible in a scholastic setting, lived with a family from church, ran the Jesus House on Saturday evenings, worked at a fast food place to save my next seminster's tuition and continued learning how to run the Jesus House. It wasn't easy, especially with the smaller staff, but God was doing some incredible things in our midst. The biggest lesson I learned that first fall was how any ministry or church grows. The lesson started with a high school senior named Cindy.
More details in the next installment.

This Week in History; Musicians who Performed at the Jesus House the fourth Saturday of October
1971 - Grant Hammond & the Jesus House Singers
1972 - Ron Elkins; Jackie & Brenda
1973 - Ray Terrell; Apocalypse
1974 - Andrew Culverwell
1975 - Crossroads (Their first time!)
1976 - Rich Mullins
1977 - Cannot tell. Too many names crossed out!
1978 - Steve Young
1979 - Zion
1980 - Zion
1981 - Zion
1982 - Zion
1983 - Willoughby-Wilson Band

What's will all those years of Zion playing the fourth week? They used to celebrate their birthday as a band by playing the Jesus House. They usually played around Christmas time too.
Since October is a month that often has a fifth Saturday, here are the people who played on a fifth Saturday.
1976 - Creation INC.
1977 - Becky & Karen; John & Dedra
1981 - Willoughby-Wilson Band
1982 - Willoughby-Wilson Band
1983 - Cathy Snyder

Where Are They Now
The building we used for the Jesus House was originally a judge's house and part of his estate where he bred & raised horses. After the judge died, the family sold off the estate which became the housing development around the House. During construction the building was the office for the construction company. After completion of the housing developement, the building was sold to the Christian Evangelising Fellowship which then used it to start a new church. Once established, Highview Christian Church took over responsibility for the mortgage on the property. The church grew pretty rapidly bought property nearby and eventually contructed a new church building. After years of sitting empty, the building became The Jesus House and continued as such for 14 years.
After the Jesus House closed in January, 1985, the property was sold to a new church. In the fall of 1985 my wife and I were driving around on a Saturday evening and she asked me to take her by the House. My wife did not know me when I ran the House and had never been there. As we drove by the property, I was shocked to see Rick Mapes car in the parking lot. I was hoping he had not forgotten we closed the place, so we stopped and knocked on the door. We learned that Rick was there teaching the current owners how to control the heating. The new owners were very gracious and allowed me to take my wife on a tour of the property, explaining how we used each room. The pastor of the new church was a woman who was living on the upstairs level with her family.

Not sure how long that church lasted but the property is now owned by a private family who is in residence. As you read these memories of the ministry, you might be tempted to drive by the House, perhaps even stop to look around. Please respect the privacy of the current owners and stay off the property. During past Jesus House Reunions, they have allowed us to tour their home. We've not yet been in touch with them to see if that will be possible at our next reunion. If so, you'll know in advance.

That First Crazy Summer

2008-10-13T14:40:00.001-07:00

Did we know what we were doing?
No.
The day Randy Matthews asked me to join the staff, he couldn't completely describe what I would experience because no one had ever done that before.
So what was it like?
I found a very brief journal I kept during my first weeks on staff. These few details will give you a sense of what it was like. I've left off the last names of the people mentioned, except in one case!
Remember, this was 1971.
- Sunday, May 9, Joined Highview Christian Church and was accepted by the Steering Committee to move into the House and join the staff. (I was glad since I had already been living there for about a week and already done at least one speaking engagement. This was for a local task force on drug abuse prevention. They had a student panel, all of whom were doing drugs, but were there to speak out against drugs. Each of the three students were baptized the following week.) Later in the day, talked with Debbie about accepting Christ and baptism. She was baptised.
- Monday, May 10, Staff traveled to Indianapolis to speak and sing at a public high school. Three high school students were baptised; Pat, Cathy & Susan.
- Tuesday, May 11, Baptized Mike Stevens and his friend Marvin.
- Wednesday, May 12, Staff traveled to Washington Court House to speak and sing in an assembly at a public high school. After the assembly we spoke in classes. I was assigned to the speech teacher. Twelve people from the school were baptized that evening at a local church including the speech teacher. Those baptized were; Evan, Katie, Greg, Monica, Ann, Becky, Cheryl, Brenda, Pam, Kathy, Cheri, Dianna.
- Thursday, May 13, Baptized Connie.
- Friday, May 14, Concert night. A group of high school students came from Northern Kentucky. Earlier that day, Randy and I drove to their church so he could sing at their spring banquet. Anytime he had a singing opportunity that included a meal, he always took someone else on staff. It was nice seeing them at the House that night. After the Jesus House closed we drove to Fountain Square and witnessed to people about Jesus.
- Saturday, May 15, Talked with Linda about accepting Jesus then baptized her.
- Sunday, May 16, Nothing
- Monday, May 17, We took the day off.
- Tuesday, May 18, Talked with Annette. Baptized Bob.

Over 100 people, mostly high school students, received Christ and were baptized the first year. One sunny afternoon, walking from the Jesus House up to Highview to baptize someone I thought, "I am so tired of being wet!" As soon as I thought it, I reprimanded myself. There was another part of me that intuitively knew I was experiencing something pretty special.

Some of you who were not attending the House that first summer might have noticed that I identified the concert as occuring on Friday instead of Saturday. That is not a clerical error. The first summer we were open, the concerts were on Friday evenings. Beginning with the fall, we moved them to Saturday because of competition with high school football games. The first couple of years, we were primarily reaching high school students. In later years, the crowd grew to include college students, then young adults.

Besides the details listed above, our normal schedule, if there was such a thing, involved spending time in the afternoons with students who were already Christians and the non-Christian friends they brought by the house. Once they were gone, usually by nine or ten in the evening, the druggy kids began showing up. We were usually up till 2:00 am talking with these folks. Consequently, on most days we did not wake up till almost noon.

Life at the Jesus House that first summer was in constant flux. By mid-June, Randy Matthews went on the road for a month to perform concerts all across the country. His first album had been released on Word Records and the label wanted him performing and selling records. Steve Scott went with him. Two guys with a few pairs of jeans and a guitar traveling in a little sports car. While they were gone, Grant and Jane Ann Hammond moved into the House to help while Randy and Steve were gone. During their absence, the Steering Committee decided to replace Randy permanently with Grant. As I reflect on this decision, I am ashamed that it happened. I will not go into all the details, nor point a finger at anyone who was involved, other than myself. I did not initiate the action, nor did I agree with it, but I did not do anything to prevent it. When Randy & Steve returned from their tour, they were each handed letters informing them that they had been dismissed from the staff. Since they had been living at the House they were told to immediately remove their personal items and move elsewhere. As you can imagine, they were hurt by this action. I am grateful that both men were eventually able to forgive us. Those of you who were around the Jesus House in later years will remember that Randy performed at the House many times.

With the arrival of Grant Hammond, there were some radical changes. Grant stopped the late night discussions with the druggies. He believed it was not productive, nor did he want people in the building past 11:00 pm. By the end of the summer, attendance began to slow down, not as many students were becoming Christians, not as many baptisms. With less of an evangelistic edge to the ministry, I was getting kind of bored.

Just before Labor Day Weekend, the Chairperson of the Steering Committee, a great man named Richard Engel stopped by one afternoon to deliver the latest news from the Committee. The remaining original staff were being dismissed and only Grant & Jane Ann were being retained. We were given till the weekend to leave. Joanie, a very free wheeling lady, hugged everyone in the room, packed her VW and was driving back to her home in Lexington within the hour. Mike & Pat were pretty angry. They also left that day. I decided to stay through the weekend because a high school friend, John Gould was going to play at the Jesus House for the first time Labor Day Weekend. It was also going to be our final Friday night concert.

"Wait a minute!"
"What?"
"You just said 'everyone' was dismissed."
"Yes, they were."
"What about Terry Fisher. I happen to know he was still there many years later."
"Oh, but was it the same Terry Fisher?"
"Of course it was."
"I guess you'll have to come back next week to find out what happened."
"What do you mean, wait till next week?"
"I have to go now. I have an important meeting to attend."
"No! Don't do this to me."
"Sorry. Signing off now."
"Come baaaacccckkkk...."

Tune in next week to find out what happened to Terry Fisher. Was it the same Terry Fisher? Was he replaced by an evil twin? Or a better version of the original?

This Week In History: Artists who performed at the Jesus House the third weekend of October.
1971 - Kent Odor
1972 - Terri Senters
1973 - Marc O'Hara
1974 - Latter Rain
1975 - Rich Mullins (known in those days as Richard Mullins!)
1976 - Ed Guttfriend
1977 - Terry Fisher, Terri Senters & some guy named Bryan
1978 - Lisa Allen & Karen Hess
1979 - Ed (No last name is recorded.)
1980 - Carolyn Randall
1981 - Randy Morris
1982 - Rick Marksberry & Homestyle (Bluegrass!)
1983 - John Gould

Where Are They Now?
Grant & Jane Ann Hammond lived at the Jesus House until December, 1971 so they were there approximately six months. They decided the life style of the place did not suit them. Grant was still a student at the Cincinnati Bible Seminary. Jane Ann had graduated the year before. A few years later they moved to Toronto, Canada as missionaries and the last we heard from them they had moved to Jane Ann's family farm in Washington Court House, Ohio. By then they had one son named Christopher. We've not heard anything from them for many years but would welcome any updated information. Grant was an incredible guitar player and very gifted musician. He formed the original Jesus House Singers, a group of high school students who sang with lots of enthusiasm but also sounded good! For a brief time, before the Jesus House started, Grant traveled with Randy Matthews, played electric lead and sang background vocals. Grant co-wrote several of the original songs on Randy's first album.

Early Days

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The seeds for the origin of the Jesus House began during the summer of 1970 when two Mt. Healthy High School students had life changing spiritual experiences. Mark Pratt traveled Japan with a high school singing group. Rick Coyle spent the summer working at a Christian camp. When school began in the fall, these two high school seniors decided they wanted to find a specific way to tell their friends about Jesus. With permission from their church leaders, they began a Thursday evening “Bible Rap” at Highview Christian Church. They invited their friends from school, who in turn invited other friends until a small group turned into a large group which turned into an even larger group. Because Rick & Mark felt inadequate to handle the size as well as some of the questions which were being asked, college students from Cincinnati Bible Seminary (now Cincinnati Christian University) were invited to participate as leaders. One of the students who volunteered his time was Randy Matthews, a gifted singer and songwriter whose music brought an extra level of excitement and interest. The crowds at this Bible Rap would number 50 one week, 100 another, with the high being 250 for a special concert by Randy. Many of these high school students were accepting Christ and were being baptized during the Bible Rap evenings.

The popularity of the weekly Bible Rap prompted the student leaders, the Elders of Highview and Dave Phillips, Highview’s minister, to brainstorm ways of expanding the ministry to these high school students. The church owned a piece of property which contained a large house that had served as the congregation’s first building. It sat vacant for several years with the congregation unable to sell it. Randy Matthews envisioned turning this building into a site for concerts & Bible studies with a full-time live-in staff.

By March of 1971, this was becoming a reality. Many of the people involved with the Bible Rap participated in an event called Spiritual Revolution Day which began with a rally on Fountain Square, a march through downtown Cincinnati and a concert that evening at Taft Auditorium. Arthur Blessitt was the featured speaker for the day. Randy Stonehill and Randy Matthews along with a variety of others performed music. Among many other events of that day was the first time Randy Matthews and Terry Fisher met. This meeting led to Terry visiting the Jesus House a week later. It was not yet open for business. In fact, it was the first day that people were working on the building; scraping walls, cleaning, and painting. This was in preparation for the opening of the ministry. During the day there was a break in the action while everyone trooped up to Highview Christian Church to baptize a girl named Carol. While returning from that baptism, Randy asked Terry to join the staff of the Jesus House. His reason was because of Terry’s drug background. Randy knew they were going to be dealing with a lot of high school students who were doing various forms of drugs and no one else on the staff had any experience with drugs.

The next month and a half, students showed up nearly every day after school to work and prepare the building. A gifted artist from the Bible College painted seven large murals in the meeting room. A smaller room was painted four shades of purple, one on each wall with the colors extending across the ceiling in triangles to meet in the middle.

The first Friday of May, 1971 was the official opening of the Jesus House. The place was packed with teenagers; everyone excited to finally have the place open. Randy sang that night along with another musical guest whose name has been lost. An audio tape of the evening still exists in the special Jesus House Hidden Archives!

The first Jesus House staff was: Randy Matthews, Steve Scott, Terry Fisher, Mike Buckingham, Pat Buckingham, and Joanie (last name forgotten, Joanie if you read this remind us of your last name!)

Next week: That first crazy summer!

This week in history: Artists who appeared at the Jesus House during the Second Week of October.
1971 - John Gould (the first of many!)
1972 - Steve Kroger
1973 - Larry Pennington
1974 - Rick Roberts
1975 - Rising Hope
1976 - Corban Weekend featuring Grant Edwards, speaking and special music guest, Jon Owens.
1977 - The Paul & Dave Band
1978 - Madison Getman Jr.
1979 - Jim Bankowski
1980 - Larry Bubb (Terry Fisher's Birthday!)
1981 - Steffins-Brigance
1982 - Rising Hope
1983 - Singing

Where Are They Now?
In the history section, you may have read some names you do not recognize. So where are all these people? Good question. The last we saw Pat Buckingham she was preparing to marry a Boston Celtic. Not sure if she did. The last time we saw Mike Buckingham (they are brother and sister) was at his wedding in 1976. Steve Scott, originally from Indiana has lived in several states and run various businesses. Joanie is from Lexinton and the last we heard she was still living there.
Unfortunately, not a lot of details, not because we don't love these people but because we've lost touch. Remember, in those days there was no email, facebook, etc.

Introduction to the Jesus House

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The Jesus House started the first weekend of May, 1971. The place featured weekly Christian music concerts in a large house located in the Mount Healthy area of north-west Greater Cincinnati. This blog is going to cover some of the history of the House including lists of former concert performers, updates on staff, photos from the past, and thoughts from Terry Fisher, the writer of this blog. If you have old photos that can be used on this blog please email them to Terry, tfishh@gmail.com

This blog will also promote the upcoming Jesus House Reunion, to be held at Highview Christian Church, May 2, 2009. More details, including a list of artists will be forthcoming. A new blog posting will be added each week.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading the blog.
Spread the word.

This week in history: Concert performers who appeared at the Jesus House the first weekend of October:
1971 - Len Mink
1972 - Restoration
1973 - Grant Hammond
1974 - John Gould, Rich Davis
1975 - Sandy Wagner, Andy Danzel, Ric Marksberry
1976 - One Lane Road
1977 - Sharon Wilson
1978 - Wild Olive Branch Band
1979 - Rob Rodebush
1980 - Dave Workman
1981 - Messinger, Tim Root
1982 - Kevin Boys
1983 - YWAM - "Toymaker & Son"
1984 - Sorry, no records kept of this year.

Where Are They Now?
The founding Director of the Jesus House was Randy Matthews.
Many of you might know Randy's name as one of the originators and innovators of the music genre that became known as Contemporary Christian Music.
When Randy began his singing career, he called it Gospel Rock both because of his appreciation for rock & roll music but also because of his family's Gospel Music roots. His father Monty sang in the Jordanaires.
While Randy was a student at Cincinnati Bible Seminary (aka Cincinnati Christian University) he was asked to help lead a weekly event at Highview Christian Church on Thursday evenings where dozens of high school students were gathering to discuss the Bible. Randy's musical talent and charisma help attract more students. When Randy learned that the church still owned a large house in the neighborhood with a large meeting room, he conceived the idea of The Jesus House.
More will be written in later blogs about this beginning.
Near the end of the first summer of operation, Randy left the Jesus House staff to devote himself to a full-time Christian music career. For many years, Randy performed 200-300 concerts a year, traveling all across the U.S. as well as frequent trips to Canada and several to Australia and England.
Randy recorded many albums on a variety of Christian labels. Some can be found online through resale web sites. To date, none of Randy's recordings have been officially released on CD.
So, what is Randy doing today?
He's a pirate!
Specifically, Red Beard the Pirate.
Randy performs childrens shows at several Florida resorts in his persona as Red Beard. You can read more about Red Beard on his web site. He also has a CD of original pirate songs! Check him out: www.redbeardrules.com.