Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
We always heard about "storms, rebellions, etc." in the Recovery. Seems like every decade had one. They were actually PURGES. Every one of these storms was initiated by Lee or the Blendeds. "This is only a test," as the announcer would tell us. That's right, "loyalty tests." Were we absolute for Lee ... or NOT?
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I was involved in what may have been the first of these purges, which took place in Berkeley in 1974. I was recently saved and fresh off the streets and was living in a huge old frat house that had been acquired and converted into a brothers' house. It was up on Warring Street (pronounced like "wearing"), and was appropriately called "Warring House." There were close to 50 of us in this house, many who still looked pretty wild & crazy - I had hair down to the middle of my back. At the time I didn't know this was thought of by some as just a temporary repository for the young/wild ones to facilitate transition to a more "productive life."
Warring House was led and operated by two older bros who were both named Doug. One was Doug Kreuger (sp?) and I forget the other Doug's last name. Many of us didn't have regular jobs, but the house had a little landscape and grunt labor business going. Several of us would pile into a big panel van with "Warring Brothers" painted on the side and go attack some nearby job, and the money earned went toward our housing and care. Then we would come home in the evening, have some fellowship, get into the word, sing, and have dinner (or some may have been invited out to eat with others). It was real and fresh and I loved it as did most everyone there. Many evenings there would be a large main gathering at the big converted commercial garage the church had purchased, which was down on Telegraph Ave (the craziest street in Ba-zerkly). It was called "CJs Old Garage" - ironically named that before the church got it! The meetings were absolutely alive and through the roof!
After being basically on the streets for a few years before then, I had found my home and rest forever with the brothers at Warring House, or so I thought. A few months went by and one day we were told the house was being dissolved and everyone had to move out. We couldn't believe it! Sure, there were some funky things happening with some of the brothers - like this one American Indian bro who would come home blind-drunk occasionally - but it was understood (at least by the bros living there) that this place was sort of a clinic or halfway house where the Lord could work on us until we had some mature growth and were ready to move into a more regular environment.
So there was this huge upheaval and we were all quite distressed over it. We wanted to know who had made the decision to close the house and we were told the elders decided it. But then we heard that brother Lee had thought that this house wasn't a normal situation and was not what the church was doing, so away with us all. (BTW - I had no idea who this Brother Lee was at the time . . .) I remember the angst and tears shed over all of this. Eventually the two Doug's took about 25-30 bros with them to Sacramento, where I think they had some connections with the LC there. 10-15 bros just disappeared I think, and have no idea what happened to them. (I'm not really sure about those exact numbers as we were generally kept in the dark about it all.)
I was one of perhaps only five or so brothers who stayed in Berkeley, and moved into a smaller, old sorority house right next door called "Hosanna House," where there were two couples living and a few single bros. I was told this was a much healthier environment. It was also conveyed that I needed to cut my hair, get baptized and get a regular job, which I did - but I felt like a fish out of water, to say the least! A few months later I left and went back to Ohio (eventually returning to the Berkeley LC a couple years later).
Looking back, Hosanna House was perhaps a healthier situation, but it was also tough for me. I felt like I had to conform outwardly, and I felt just plain awkward about it all. The Lord originally had miraculously led me 2000 miles to the LC there and it was so glorious, but things faded quickly within much less than a year. It was the Lord's sovereignty for me at the time, but I do wonder what might have happened if the ax hadn't been applied so abruptly (evidently via central command & control) to the Warring House work.