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The first Christian festival I ever went to was Jesus 1979 in Canada. My brother Todd, my next-door neighbor Brian,
and friend Roger all headed up to Toronto with Brian's aunt and uncle, Roy and Ada, who were Charismatic Catholics in
their sixties. The experience blew us away and opened our eyes to the growing Charismatic Movement and contemporary
Christian music scene.
We were all recently saved, but lived our whole existence in rural Western New York, where there were few tongues-speakers
at the time. There were about 9,000 of them at the festival, as we camped out in tents and trailers to listen to the
hottest speakers and artists.
With Bibles in hand, we sat and listened to Loren Cunningham, Mike Evans, George Brunk, David Mainse, Brian
Rudd, Gerald Derstine, and other big pastors, teachers, and preachers. In between, we watched concerts by Larry Norman,
Randy Stonehill, Keith Green, and others. Ironically, the last night featured Norman and Stonehill together, followed
by Benny Hinn. (Enlarge the schedule to the right that we managed to save.)
This event prepped us for a trip to the more massive Jesus '79 in Mt. Union, Pennsylvania. This time, we went with
a youth group of twenty kids and a few adults. It was a crazy time and I don't remember much, but there was alot of
laughing, praying, singing, listening, writing, dust, mud, cooking over a fire, and sleeping in tents.
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