28 years ago, I spent a summer in Long Beach, California. In fact, I spent two summers there, two memorable, life-changing summers. During that first summer, in 1982, I had the chance to go to a concert by Keith Green, a free concert he was giving at the Long Beach Arena.
Keith Green was a contemporary Christian singer whose music had a deep impact on me when I was a teenager. As I dealt with teenage angst and adolescent passions, I spent many a night listening to the profound lyrics of some of Keith’s songs (as well as some of the playful ones). It’s strange to me to hear some of those songs sung in a church setting today, “purified” from the pounding rock beat of the original.
The concert was powerful. The crowd was a bit rowdy, as far as Christian concert crowds can get rowdy. At one point they started a chant of “We love Jesus, yes we do, we love Jesus, how ’bout you?”, bouncing back and forth between two sides of the arena. A college classmate that was there with me leaned over and said, “This isn’t chapel at ACU, is it.”
A few weeks later, I had returned to Texas and was watching a show on TV, when they gave a short news report. One of the headlines: “Singer Keith Green was killed in a plane crash.” I was stunned to hear the news.
Hearing the postman at that moment, I went to the mailbox and found something addressed to me.
A postcard.
From Keith Green.
A standard postcard sent to thank me for attending the concert and to invite me to receive more of Keith’s materials. (He published the Last Days Newsletter)
Wow. That was a moment to remember. July 28, 1982.
That was 28 years ago. Keith Green was 28 when he died, so his widow and some others are doing a webcast tonight as a tribute. I won’t be able to watch, but if you’d like to see it, visit www.keithgreen.com for details.
I’ll include a video of one of the songs that meant a lot to me when I was young: “My Eyes Are Dry.” No, it doesn’t sound much like what you find in Songs of Faith and Praise. I only wish I could be at a congregation that could sing this song with the same passion.
{Photo taken from wikimedia.org; copyright of this photo is held by Last Days Ministries}
Wow. That is a sad story. I’m sorry that this happened. Something got in me to read the blog on fb and i did. I will pray for you. Thank you so much for sharing Mr. Archer.
Our lives are filled with memories. Often times a single word, a song or a smell can take us back to a moment of time and we can relive the moments. Sometimes the moments are so sweet and so special we want to stay there and other times we wish we could erase them forever and we push them away.
Thanks for sharing this moment and this person who impacted your life.
Readers of your blog may appreciate this video of a visit to Keith’s gravesite, by a brother who also writes very good scripture songs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMErs73sRhc
Left a comment but don’t know if it registered. Said I needed to fill all the reply info out again. I am, so let’s see if this one goes through. Not going to repeat everything I wrote last time – just say good post.
A friend of mine turned me on to Keith Green back in the 80’s … love his music. Do you remember Don Cagle (and Barbara) at Long Beach. Don had a heart transplant and barely stayed alive long enough to have the surgery. One Sunday when there was still some doubt if he’d ever get a donor, he requested that song. The church gathered around Don, as many of us as could laying our hands on him and we sang that song with a passion like you’ve never experienced. Not a dry eye in the place. I was supposed to preach that morning but as I recall, I didn’t. What sermon could have been more powerful than that moment? I worked out some guitar chords to that song a few years ago (more than just the three chords of most contemporary Christian songs) and still love to just sit and play it while remembering that Sunday morning. My mom was visiting with us during that time and said it was the most meaningful worship time she’d ever had in her life.
Greg,
I remember Barbara better than I do Don. What a powerful moment that must have been.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer