Under Ward's tutelage, I would soon discover a cornucopia of new ministry resources, venues and methods.
The Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship & Women's Aglow
First thing, I became the principal sponsor of a new chapter of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship in Port Arthur. We rented the Wyatt’s Cafeteria banquet room, and two quite influential local businessmen and I started talking it up among denominational people, including some that Ward already knew in the area. The FIRST NIGHT over 150 people attended to hear one of Ward’s recommended speakers. Dixie and I provided the music and singing that night.
Secondly, I became a sponsor and organizer for a new Port Arthur Chapter of the Women’s Aglow International. We rented a room at the Driftwood Hotel and packed it out for the first meeting.
Then we got with some people in Beaumont and started promoting a Women’s Aglow Chapter in Beaumont. Within three months, the attendance at the Ramada Inn was over 250.
I bought a nice bus-coach to transport people to Charismatic events in Houston. It was a 25-passenger custom vehicle formerly owned by a limousine company that had transported celebrities. This bus had carried the blues-rock band ZZ Top while they were in Houston. It had high-back captain seats, carpeting, refreshment bar, stereo music, PA system, etc.
We began carrying folks to events at John Osteen’s Lakewood Church, Kenneth Hagin seminars, and various FGBMFI and Women’s Aglow events.
Christian Television Takes The Lead
Christian television was experiencing explosive growth. Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and Pat Robertson started the 700 Club in Virginia Beach, which evolved into the Christian Broadcasting Network. Jim left CBN to go to California, where he and Paul Crouch started the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Then, Jim moved again, this time to Charlotte, NC, where he started the PTL Club. Every Christian of every denomination was being profoundly influenced by their multi-denominational, inter-denominational, non-denominational, (even anti-denominational) ecumenical approach. Bible doctrines became utterly impertinent. Nobody spoke of Bible doctrines. The worst thing any preacher could do was to speak of Bible doctrines. It was a death warrant for ministry.
Both CBN and PTL had huge audiences in the Beaumont-Port Arthur Media Market. I contacted both networks and became a monthly sponsor. As a local Church, I was able to obtain a monthly computer-generated report of all the people in my area who had contacted their ministry in the previous thirty days. Those became valuable contact leads, and I sent personal letters to those prospects, inviting them to The Gospel Lighthouse. I also began to organize and advertise a week-long chartered bus trip to PTL.
The Agape Force
Through the Church in Waco, we also connected with Tony Salerno and The Agape Force ministries in Lindale, Texas. The Agape Force was a huge youth ranch not far from David Wilkerson's ranch just outside of town. We arranged to have a van-load of teens from The Agape Force come and conduct a week-long crusade for the Gospel Lighthouse, doing door-to-door evangelism, street concerts, training sessions, etc.
We set up a flat-bed trailer off of an 18-wheeler for a sound-stage on the parking lot at Wyatt’s Cafeteria in Port Arthur on a Saturday night. Gulfway Drive was “the drag,” and thousands of teen-agers cruised up and down the drag all night long. We cranked the PA system up as loud as we could stand it and put on a Christian music concert to get the kids’ attention. Hundreds of kids came around, and we preached and witnessed and prayed with them.
Then we took our church kids to Lindale for a couple of big events/concerts with artists like newly-converted Barry McGuire (star of the hippy Broadway show "Hair"), Nancy Honeytree (popular with "Jesus People" and the "Jesus Movement"), and 2nd Chapter of Acts. Their hippy-savvy ministry was creating a whole new genre of youth ministry, an eccentric sequel to Wilkerson's Teen Challenge coffee-house street ministries.
A Laity-led Movement
IMMEDIATELY, everything in my local ministry began to take a radically new direction! That is no exaggeration. Ward began to effectively mentor me in my pastorate. He sent me a steady stream of “ministers” to fill my pulpit. Our monthly calendar was jam-packed with activities and events.
One fellow was a businessman from Houston, the multi-millionaire owner of a chain of carpet stores. Another was a police captain from Houston. One was a hillbilly gospel singer. Another was an executive officer from International Harvester in Louisville, Kentucky. He was a Church of Christ layman turned miracle worker. His specialty was stretching legs. A fifth guy was a Dentist who had the gift of healing. He testified to my congregation that, “just last night, while I was sitting in my den drinking a beer, one of my dental patients called me and said, ‘Doc, I’m sick! I need you to pray for me!’ So I told him to come on over, and I would pray for him. He did, and God healed him instantly!”
If I tell you, “I’ve seen it all!” - go figure!
The Happy Hunters
I was literally reeling from this radical new version of Christianity and the ministry. But before I could catch my breath, Ward sent “The Happy Hunters” to me. Oh, my. Charles and Frances Hunter. If you have never heard of them, there is no way I can describe them to you here. He was a retired wealthy president of a large CPA firm in Houston, and she was the retired owner of a large printing company in Houston. Together, they billed themselves as “Charismatically yours!”
The Happy Hunters were taking the world by a storm. They were regulars on Jim Bakker’s PTL Club, and of course had appeared on all the other Christian TV outlets, too. They operated out of Austin Wilkerson’s Evangelistic Temple (A/G) Church in Houston. Wilkerson had always been on the progressive cutting edge. He had Andrae Crouch and the Disciples there almost before anyone had heard of them.
Now the Hunters were like nothing you have ever seen before. First of all, they required a guaranteed minimum for their appearance. I forget now what it was, but it was astronomical, and I agreed to pay it. I also had to guarantee a crowd. So I rented the Port Neches-Groves High School auditorium, which seated almost 1000. I bought large newspaper ads in Port Arthur and Beaumont. I bought radio spots and sent out thousands of direct mail pieces. I worked like a slave on that meeting.
They came in like a whirlwind. They rolled in with their bus and rolled out with considerably more money than I had guaranteed them. They set up book racks, record racks, tape racks, t-shirt racks, mailing list tables, etc. They brought their own musicians, band and singers. They took over.
The house was nearly full; about 900 people showed up. Frances and Charles put their fast-talking, professionally orchestrated service into high gear. In no time at all, they had 150 people standing behind a closed curtain backstage listening to Charles instruct them HOW TO SPEAK IN OTHER TONGUES. He literally said, “Say what I say,” then gave them a sample of his tongues-speaking skills.
Looking back from here, I can’t believe that I didn’t react violently to what I was seeing. I can’t believe that I fell for it. But that is exactly what I did. In fact, I was so enamored with the “success” of the whole thing, that I decided I would sponsor an event of this kind once every month. I called them, "Charismatic Praise Gatherings."
"Charismatic Praise Gatherings"
I immediately contracted with The Singing Rambos to come to the Beaumont City Auditorium for a Gospel concert the very next month. Dottie was riding high on several new hits, and again, I ran huge, expensive ads in the Port Arthur News and the Beaumont Enterprise. I went to KFDM-TV and produced a television commercial advertising the Rambos, and ran that ad on the local evening news all during that month. I promoted it on radio and by direct mail. “FREE CONCERT!” I said.
I had a live radio show every Sunday morning from 7 to 8:30 called, "Sunday Morning Sunrise." I spun gospel records and promoted the church. I promoted the Rambo concert on that show for a month.
Almost 1000 people showed up to hear the Rambos. Dottie and her other female vocalist showed up in blue jeans that afternoon at the City Auditorium. She had made her name in Gospel Music as a holiness Pentecostal preacher, but that had changed. I had never believed that a woman should wear slacks, especially jeans, but now the rules were changing, so I didn’t say a word.
I had a defining moment a few weeks earlier, when a woman walked into my church on a Sunday morning, wearing a bright red pants suit. The red pants suit was not particularly offensive, because I always felt that any visitor should be welcome to come to church dressed however they felt comfortable at first. But this lady wasn’t just an ordinary visitor. She stood up in the middle of the service and began to prophesy. I was repelled by the sight and wanted to tell her to sit down and be quiet. But the people responded so powerfully to the things she was saying, it appeared that she really did have a word from the Lord for the people.
Then and there, I caved in. I let the circumstances overrule principle. I argued that if the Holy Ghost will use a woman in slacks to minister in the gift of prophecy, then who am I to disapprove of slacks on a woman?? In psychology, they call it situational ethics: the rules don't rule.
At the end of the Rambo concert, I preached a little watered-down sermon that everybody liked. A Catholic lady came to me afterward and asked me how much money I needed to cover the expenses. I had spent thousands of dollars on that meeting, and the free-will offering added up to about half of the cost. She wrote a check on the spot to cover the balance.
My relationship with the local Catholic Charismatics began to flourish. The F.G.B.M.F.I. was well-known for featuring Catholic Priests and Nuns as their guest speakers. In the Houston area, the Catholic Charismatic movement had become a major force, with thousands of adherents. I found that locally, they were among my most enthusiastic supporters, and certainly some of my largest contributors. In short order, I found myself attending Charismatic fellowships at St. Charles Catholic in Nederland, and for the first time in my life, I attended Mass and partook of the Eucharist, receiving my wafer at the hand of the local priest. It just seemed "the thing to do" at that point. HOW RADICALLY I HAD CHANGED, overnight!
Gene Mullenax
The third month, I had another “Charismatic Praise Gathering” at the Beaumont City Auditorium. The featured speaker was Gene Mullenax from North Little Rock, Arkansas.
Gene had one of the most sensational testimonies of anyone in the world. In the 1950s, he was a godless young man with a wife and small child, and he was down on his luck. Working for some kind of manufacturing shop, he fell ill with a respiratory problem. The doctors examined him and found his lungs diseased and his condition terminal. They decided to operate. He came out of surgery with his left lung and three ribs REMOVED. He had a huge cavity in his chest that was reluctant to heal. He was permanently disabled, crippled and so weak he could hardly get around.
The short version of his story is that he stumbled into an A.A. Allen tent revival, not having a clue what he was getting into. On the second night, he got in the prayer line. After praying for hundreds of others, Allen finally got to him. Briefly, Allen looked at him and said, “What do you need?” to which Gene responded, “A LUNG AND THREE RIBS WILL DO!” With no further conversation, Allen pointed to him and screamed, “Be healed, in the name of Jesus!”
Gene testified that instantly, he felt as it were HOT OIL flowing from the top of his head to his feet. He said it felt like someone placed a hose down into his chest and blew out the cavity. He stood upright with an immediate surge of strength. A burly friend of his was standing out in the audience, and when he saw something happening to Gene, he ran down the aisle to see if he needed help. Gene grabbed up this hulk of a man and danced all over the platform with him in his arms.
He went back to the doctor right away to have X-Rays made. The X-Rays showed that NOT ONLY did Gene now have a NEW LUNG and THREE NEW RIBS in place, but the new lung was also far healthier than his other remaining lung!
Allen published Gene’s photo and testimony on the front cover of his “MIRACLE MAGAZINE” from Miracle Valley, Arizona to a worldwide circulation. Somewhere down the line, the story came to the attention of someone in the FBI. He picked up on the startling claim of a lung and ribs being recreated and decided that the story had to be fraudulent. The FBI decided to charge Allen with mail fraud over the story.
FBI agents knocked on Gene’s door in North Little Rock asking to see his medical records. He sent them to his doctor, who verified that he did indeed have a new lung and three new ribs. After a complete and thorough investigation, the FBI closed the case, and recorded it as a “BONA FIDE MIRACLE”!
Gene spent the rest of his life telling that story. He built a Charismatic Church in North Little Rock, and for a while ran a television ministry from there.
Coping With Change - Hazards and Costs of A Major Paradigm Shift
So, for me, within months of making the connection with F. E. Ward and the Charismatic movement, my life was radically and unalterably changed.
Things were not quite the same, however for the little congregation of 100 that had followed me to this juncture. They were traditional, classical, old-fashioned, Full-Gospel types. Some of them were relatives and close friends from many years. As I began to make the transition into the Charismatic movement, they balked.
They weren’t as profoundly impressed with it as I was. They weren’t buying it at all. But for me, the course was set.
I Was Forced To Choose Between The Old Way And The New Way
I went back to the Pastor for counsel. He presented me with an offer to come to Waco, and join the staff at Spirit of Love. There, said he, we would put together a television ministry that would open unlimited doors of ministry for us. I would join the ministry staff and oversee the development of a television and media ministry. I imagined vast potential. There were so many incredibly gifted people in that church - musicians, artists, singers, actors, media professionals, and more. And they had money and buildings.
I relished the thought. I was 26 years old. I felt that I was on the brink of a national ministry, maybe international.
I knew that they had the resources, and I had the talent, and if it was God’s will, nothing could stop it.
I could not have possibly comprehended at the time how many powerful and subversive dynamics were at work. Little did I know what would be the ramifications of being snared in the Charismatic net. I could have never guessed the eventual outcome.
Meanwhile, Dixie was eight months pregnant with our second child when I decided to close the church in Nederland and move to Waco.
I didn’t want the church to go on. I no longer believed that the old direction was the right direction. I did not want somebody else to come in and perpetuate the wrong thing. I knew that the group that was there did not want to go in the new direction. So it was the end of the line.
If I had been able to take them in the direction I felt it should go, I would have stayed. But I knew that it was not going to fly the new course. I could not support two opposing ministry models at once, and I didn’t want anybody else to sustain a ministry that I had deemed to be out-dated, self-limiting and headed for obsolescence. In only three years, I had taken many risks and made plenty of mistakes, but I had pressed forward, always looking for a better way.
This was no small or easy decision. Gut-wrenching would scarcely describe it. I fasted and prayed for days. I locked myself in the church building, and lying on the floor, I wept desperately. I could see that the end was near for my dream. It was like a death. In my spirit, I surveyed Jefferson County from my pastoral vantage point, and yearned for the opportunity to reach it for the kingdom of God. No words could describe the affection I had for that place. It was the land of my nativity. I had countless lifelong friends and acquaintances. It was by far the biggest decision I had ever had to make. My heart was shattered and broken. But in my heart, I knew that for then and for there, it was over. And I had no one to confide in except Dixie, and she was miserable with child. Not a sympathetic friend to be had in that city.
It Was A Very Lonely Time.
I proposed to the people that we should sell the building, pay off all the bills and disband. I had formed a board of ten men who had refinanced the property when we made several improvements to it. We had installed a nice cement parking lot and a nice illuminated sign on the highway.
The ten men, including myself, were on an $85,000 note together. I hired a lawyer to meet with the board and work out a solution. As it turned out, each one of them wanted to do something different. In the end, the building was sold, and the equity was split evenly among the ten men who then donated their part to the ministries of their choice.
I personally took the responsibility for all the miscellaneous loans - every other debt that had been created over the past three years, and in time, I personally paid them off out of my own pocket.
On April 24th, 1978 at 8 PM, I headed to Waco in a large U-Haul truck loaded with everything we owned. I left Dixie in Beaumont because she was due to have the baby. My goal was to get to Waco, unpack, and return quickly to Beaumont before our baby was born. It was not to be. I drove all night, arriving around 4 am. At 7 am, a phone call came that Dixie was on the way to the hospital to have the baby.
Continue to:
Long Winding Road - Chapter 10
"Catch The Spirit Of Love"
Return to:
Long Winding Road - Chapter 8
"A Major Paradigm Shift"
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Ken Raggio
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From Ken Raggio's Book