I was a teenaged rock-n-roll guitarist when my drummer friend grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to what he said was supposed to be a great new music venue. He called it "Jesus Music," and though I considered myself a "seeker" -- even at such a young age -- I wasn't all that sure I would be impressed. I went along, more to humor him than to be enlightened.

We rode the city bus from his home in Northeast Kansas City downtown to a place somewhere near Grand Avenue and Ninth Street. "Grand Avenue Temple" was emblazoned in large letters across the front of the building. And though we were a little early, there was quite a crowd filing up the concrete stairs and into the foyer.

Past the entranceway, we entered a world unlike any church I had visited before.

The first thing I noticed was that there were few, if any, actual in the sanctuary. Folks were standing around visiting, or sitting on the floor in small groups, waiting for the show to begin. All around were barefoot young ladies with long flowing hair dressed in flowing dresses and adorned with beads. There were young men -- many with long, flowing hair as well -- in blue jeans, tie-dyed tee-shirts and sandals. I half expected to smell the pungent odor usually associated with such gatherings.

On the platform were numerous musicians tuning their instruments and playing little riffs in preparation for the program to come. They looked more like they belonged on stage at a Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane concert than in a church. "This is a church, isn't it?" I asked my friend. He assured me it was.

We walked toward the platform, wanting to see what these guys were playing, what amplifiers they were using, and all that sort of important information. Before long -- and without announcements, prayers, or committee meetings -- the music started.

And I was amazed.

In actuality, we were experiencing something that had begun on the west coast, in places like San Francisco and Los Angeles, and had migrated to the Midwest. We were enjoying the musical fruits of what would come to be known as "The Jesus Movement." Much of the Christian music we enjoy today has its roots in the Jesus music of the late 60s and early 70s.

Folk-rock artists like Barry McGuire, Chuck Girard and Randy Matthews joined with rockers like Randy Stonehill and young Christian singer-songwriters like Jamie Owens-Collins to create a genre that has lasted throughout the many changes seen in music since 1968. Add folks like the prophetic musical genius Keith Green, folk-stylist Nancy Honeytree, bluesy Andre Crouch, and the almost operatic vocal stylings of the Second Chapter of Acts to the mix, and you have a musical palette to please a plethora of musical tastes.

Pastors like Chuck Smith at Calvary Chapel and Jack Hayford at Church on The Way in southern California opened the doors of their churches to this rag-tag group of musical hippies who were searching for love, peace and freedom. They were seeking in the person of Jesus Christ.

For my birthday this year, Daughter Number Two gave me a CD-DVD package featuring some of those original Jesus Music folks. Though it's been a good many years since I followed my drummer friend into the world of Jesus Music, it didn't take long for the memories, and tears, to start flowing. Like I said before, I was seeking when I first experienced the flow of the Spirit through amplified guitars and awesome lyrics.

Jesus Music helped me find my way.

Sometimes I get so caught up in being a minister of the Lord that I forget to just be His.

Thanks, Angela, for helping me to remember the fire and passion of my first love.