It all started in the summer of 1984.  I had no idea I was about

to become a Christian.

I never would have dreamed that I'd be writing songs about

Jesus.

In fact,  I could remember a few summers earlier having a

conversation with a friend.  He was telling me how some

people would go out and do music for the Lord and not even

get paid for it, or just get a free will offering. I couldn't

understand it!

He explained it wasn't about the money, it was just about

telling people about Jesus.  He thought that was pretty cool. 

I thought that was pretty crazy!  Who was I to know that less

than a year later I'd be doing my first Christian concert at the

local park! 

And for free! 

I created my first poster for the event by taping my info to the

back the back of a bar poster from Bruisers Pub.  ( A nightspot

I used to frequent before my sudden conversion to Jesus!)

We photocopied 2000 and pasted them on cars at the mall

and around town.  Out of the 2000 we got 2 to show up from

the flyers, with a total crowd of maybe 50, but hey, I was actually

out there telling people about Jesus.  I was thrilled!

At that concert was a guy who would become one of my first

Christian friends, Keith Glasgow.  For fun Keith shot some home

video of that concert with an old beta camcorder.

The clips look like old color photos, but you have to remember

this was shot in 1985 as a home movie!  Click on the thumbnails

to watch the clips.

My first concert though happened 3 weeks earlier at Faith

Community Church.

During this time I was in a spiritual whirlwind, meeting new Christians

left and right!  It was fantastic, and for season I was part of a house

church that met a Jim and Janette Wisdom's home.  I thought it was

the greatest thing in the world.  It was like everything glowed with

God's radiance when we met.  My heart was on fire for Jesus!

It was the perfect setting to fellowship with all the new Christians

I was meeting.  It was only fitting then that I should be baptized in

their backyard pool!

During this time I recorded my first cassette of songs and called

it simply, "The Songs of Jesus".  Later on I decided to call my

ministry that because I felt the songs I wrote were given to me

by Jesus, and they were meant to be about Jesus and following

Him.

My first cassette cover of songs recorded in 1985...