Back in the Jesus People Revival it was all about the music. Music drew us in to hear the Gospel. Music was a part of what we did to reach our friends and neighbors. Live music played by real people. The Jesus people revival was driven by music and preaching.
A shift began to happen in the early 1970's.While pastor Mitchell began to experiment with church planting and all that went into that the other major movers decided to follow the music stream. So while we began to train men in the local church to become pioneer pastors, Calvary Chapel began to develop contemporary Christian music.
Today we have Christian music as entertainment and pop radio with only slightly different lyrics masquerading as worship. We saw the rise of CCM and the loss of evangelism and personal holiness.
But God helped pastor Mitchell; and while he was not sure how it would all work out, he became convinced that discipleship in the local church was better than seminary training, and that a small local church with God's help could make international impact. We are now part of a world-wide Fellowship that is powering on into the next generation; because we, with God's help, have stumbled onto God's plan for world evangelism. Evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and foreign missions. All without a formal organizational structure or a denomination's support.
This should be a sober admonition that small decisions can have long term impact. Miss God by an inch today and you will be miles away very soon.
Thank God for Wayman Mitchell and the way he forged, by faith, a way that has kept us powering on until the present time.
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