Chapter 31

     The Assemblies of God Church had a college youth group they called, “Chi Alpha”.  I had heard about it from the pastor of the church I had been going to and decided to go and give it a try.  The first time I went, I sat outside the meeting room and watched people going in.  Someone came up and asked me if I would like to come in too, and I did.  My first night at Chi Alpha.

     There were about thirty-five or so students in attendance.  Most were my age, and it didn’t take long to make friends.  The campus pastors lived in the “Chi Alpha” house just a few blocks from campus.  It was a daily gathering place for students during their off times from class.  We also had meetings and gatherings there as well.  Most of the doctrine taught there I had grown up with and I was familiar with; Pentecostal, Evangelical teachings. 

     A couple months after my Git ‘N Go blast from the Holy Spirit, I ran into a friend of mine who had told me a few months earlier that she had a friend she thought was a perfect match for me and wanted to set me up on a blind date.  I had not had a date in over six months, and I agreed to give it a go.  I had never been on a blind date before.

     We met at the well-known McSalty’s Pizza for dinner.  She was a really nice gal and we talked for a bit when she asked me if I partied, code for drink, pot, or “?” I told her about my faith and that I had given up partying.  After explaining a bit about Jesus, she responded stating, “That is what I want”.

     I explained she could open up to Jesus anywhere but if she would like some privacy we could go back to my apartment where I had a Bible.  She chose to follow me back to my place.  There I walked her through the basics, and she said a prayer of faith.  She left excited and I was so glad to have been able to help her through it.

     She was the first person I ever led to the Lord.  I got her a Bible a couple weeks later, but I didn’t really know what to do afterward and I didn’t see her again till about six months later.  She told me she was enjoying the Holy Spirit in her life and seemed to be doing well.  I have always regretted not having done more for her though.

     I plunged into the study of eschatology, the study of the end times, asking many questions about this and that and of different views on how the end times would play out.  Most of the people at Chi Alpha were what was known as “Pre-Tribulation Rapture” believers of which I was not.  The doctrine didn’t line up with what I had come to believe in via my studies and what I had come to believe due to my dreams.  But I was always interested in hearing others’ views and would always pick up a gold nugget here and there.

     A double date was set up by a friend of mine with two of the Chi Alpha girls. The gal he wanted to go out with would only double date on a first date.  I was paired with a friend of hers whom I knew from Chi Alpha.  We ended up going out and became good friends, my first Christian girlfriend and the shorter, dark-haired girl from my “The Room” dream. 

     The Assemblies of God’s International Headquarters is in Springfield, Missouri as was their Chi Alpha headquarters.  They scheduled a nationwide student leadership conference to be held in Springfield over the New Year holiday that year, 1980-1981.  It was called “Student Activist Leadership Training” hence, S.A.L.T.

     Several of us from our local Chi Alpha group went and it was one of the first “mountain top” experiences of my life.  The teachings were great, and the worship services were the best I had ever experienced.  It was an incredible experience with all those college age Jesus lovers in one place. A memory for a lifetime for sure.

     One of the most memorable parts for me was a teaching given by a local pastor, Cal LeMon.  He was the local pastor of the Evangel Temple Assemblies of God church.  One of the more conservative churches in the area.  No rolling in the isles there.  A very well-educated man with amazing perspectives.

     He taught on the relations of our current society comparatively to the gospel and God’s values for our life.  He referenced a book by Professor Christopher Lasch, “The Culture of Narcissism”.  It was a perspective on the “70’s Me Generation” of which I had just lived through.  An excellent read for those interested in social history.

     I had been an avid student of history since I had received my first ten dreams; my attempt to understand what and why certain things were to come.  Due to the issues at home, I had spent many-a-day reading everything from biographies, encyclopedias, and you name it trying to put the pieces together.

     This was the first perspective on history and especially contemporary social history of my generation from a faith perspective that I had ever been exposed to.  It was awesome and pushed my studies down a whole other path.  Also, this is when I was introduced to the Humanist Manifesto of 1933 and its insidious agenda, which explained to me the why and what was being taught in my classes at the University. 

     There were students there at S.A.L.T. from all over the nation and it was great to meet them and hear what was happening on other campuses.  I met a group from Bozeman, Montana and they asked me to give them a tour of the Ozarks. We drove down to and through Branson, Missouri about thirty miles south of Springfield.  The Ozark Mountains were totally different than the Rockies of the northwest and they appreciated the tour.

     They had a special spirit about them, and they invited me to come see the Rockies someday.  I had read a lot about the explorers of the west while growing up and really hoped I could make it to Bozeman sometime to do some exploring of my own.  I kept their contact information and let them know I just might actually take them up on it someday.

     That next semester went by slowly for me.  So much new to think about and being in a secular university setting with classes being taught contradictory to my faith was giving me difficulty.  I considered looking into one of the local Christian Colleges but decided to just keep going where I was. 

     Near Springtime I was walking through the Student Union building with our campus pastor, Mike, when a really shocking thing happened to me.

     All of a sudden, my surroundings changed and although I was still walking with Mike, my surroundings looked totally different than what I was used to seeing.  The walls were different.  The furniture was different.  The layout of the place was different.  The only thing that was the same was the flight of stairs we were about to go down.

     Then, as quickly as it happened, it stopped.  Mike was still talking and then he looked around and made a statement of how this whole place may even change someday.  My inclination was to get out of there as fast as I could and try to figure out what had just happened to me.

     That was my first experience of what I came to call a “Flash Forward”.  Where I saw a place as it would appear in the future.