Origins of Fullerton Assembly

[houseoxtianlove]

Anybody out there from the original Fullerton Assembly? I'm thinking of the original estimated 35 that Margaret says showed up for the first meet at Hillcrest Park Recreational Center, 1971.

[Oscar]

House,

I was there from the second week on.  What do you wish to know?

Tom Maddux

[houseoxtianlove]

Hi Tom,

You, Steve Irons & all who came to the House of Christian Love w George & sons for chapter summaries through Genesis during 1970-71. What do I want? I'm working to rebuild an accurate oral history of what happened during the early '70s from the point of view of others such as yourself.

Who am I? At this point just another aging Christian sex symbol (happily married & hiking through the glorious open hills of San Juan Capistrano) but 38 years ago the elder & overseer of HCL (prior to George's first entry into the doorway at 10442 Chapman Avenue in Garden Grove). Remember my name? I sat alongside of you & Steve I. at Hillcrest Park meetings after hours on Sunday afternoons.

[Oscar]

House,

Well howdy,

Long time no see.  I remember you.  I guess I will leave it to you to mention your name.

Unfortunately, I never attended the Bible studies at the H of CL.  I was there a few times and remember the house itself.

Here are a few things that I do remember:

1. In your room you had the stars painted on the ceiling.

2. Sheryl was your girlfriend, (I think), and lived in the breakfast nook that had been turned into a little room by putting up a plywood partition.

3. Some dear brother who was a fireman had spent time with your group attempting to bring you some sound teaching, but had died.

4. GG basically transferred the allegiance of the house's residents from you to himself by getting in and impressing the young folks.  He brought you into the leading brother's meeting while this was in process in order to secure your  continued presence while he won the allegiance of the folks.

As soon as this goal was attained GG then began to slander you to the rest of us.  I was told that you were ambitious and imagined yourself a great Christian leader.  He also told me things designed to lead me to believe that you had been misappropriating house funds for your personal use.

I, being one of GG's faithful followers, believed everything he said and never asked for any corroborating evidence. For that, House, I sincerely apologize.  We leading brothers "stood with" brother George when the time came to get rid of you.  If I recall correctly, he had primed the rest of us before the LB meeting so that we would not wish to discuss anything.  You came into the meeting not suspecting anything, and then left as soon as he told you that you were "over'.  We then turned to other business.  Later on, my turn came.

Again, I apologize and ask your forgiveness for my part in that sorry story.  For you it was really a blessing in disguise since you got free of his clutches long before the rest of us woke up.  That, however, does not excuse the rest of us for believing and supporting GG.

5. I also seem to remember that you and a couple of the other H of CL folks had been involved in publishing a youth outreach paper called "For Real".

6. After the H of CL closed GG brought the big wooden table to his house, had it refinished, and put a little brass plaque on it that said, "House of Christian Love, 1970-1972".  I probably have the years wrong, but that is pretty close. 

What have you been up to?

Blessings,

Tom Maddux

[houseoxtianlove]

Hi Tom,
Right On! Not one to indulge in wagering or cards nevertheless I'll match your 6 points, flush Tim Geftakys' 4 anchors & raise you 4 Spiritual Laws (I was saved through the witnessing of another student at Fullerton college 6 years before the Assembly's mothership ever landed on that campus). I think my broad range of Christian experience helped me to make the break from Brother George unlike those who never had any sense of context apart from their assembly experiences.
Permit me a little elaboration on your 6 points:
1. Yes, there were florescent stars painted on the ceiling of  my room. They were there before I moved in. Since the house was originally a heroin distribution center in Garden Grove it's anybody's guess what those stars on the ceiling were all about.
2. Cheryl Allenson (maiden name) was my girlfriend. I recruited her from her home in Brisbane, CA and she wound up marrying one of the assembly's leading brothers. I have no idea of whatever became of her. She was a nice lady but we all moved on.
3. Ken Keneman (sp ?), a Captain with the L.A. fire department, was brought into the house for weekly teaching when another elder, Terry Shepherd, was ordained by the Assembly of God denomination and went to plant churches in Canada. TS was charismatic/ Pentecostal. I was not. I invited KK in to provide sound doctrinal teaching. He favored the old Scofield Bible and a number of the young people were into the Dakes translation (can we politely say "hogwash!?"). Keneman gave a wonderful 2-sides of the coin Biblical teaching on eternal security vs temporal security, predestination vs free will, etc. He was killed in a warehouse firefight and a number of us went to his funeral at a Baptist Church in Garden Grove. As memory serves me that would have been in 1970. This left an opening for a gifted teacher at the House of Christian Love as I was trying to keep the program going seven nights per week. And then one night in walked a smirking student from Fullerton named Tim Geftakys. 
4. I find your take on this particularly enlightening and a confirmation of what I heard from others even praying for my death (although not able to be verified). As far as the misappropriating of funds was concerned I can only say 38 years later I have never been confronted, charged or convicted by any court of law or Christian ministry of any legal wrongdoing. That's both a matter of public record and a clear conscience.   
You have no need of apologizing or asking for my forgiveness. For a season I believed in Brother George as dearly and as deeply as anyone (I still use the discipline of chapter summaries in studying my Bible although I' m a little more inclined to give the credit to Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, rather than George). The great strength of this man (George) was his ability to look into our eyes, genuinely listen to us and make us feel that we were a part of something big and special for God and we could all be great Christian leaders and if those aspirations were wrong I must plead guilty. At the beginning I thought his teaching was sound and judging from the posts on this board so did hundreds of others. And even now on the other side of it all I still am reduced to trembling and tears by those old majestic hymns of our faith.
5. "For Real" was a monthly youth publication put out by a Christian-conservative think tank based in Buena Park, the Christian Economic Foundation (CEF). It was part of the J. Howard Pew empire until the time of his death in 1971 when doors were closed and the building adjacent to Knotts Berry Farm was demolished.  I was co-editor and  drew a part-time salary. The paper espoused the 4 Spiritual Laws, film and music reviews and conservative economic commentaries. Great fun.
6. If only that table could talk. It would tell of people who sat at it who trembled and could not hold their utensils while eating because of what dope had done to them. It would tell of being covered by Bibles of young people who really sought the mind of Christ on a daily basis. It would tell of Godly sisters and brothers who served meals and sacrificed for others. It was a waterlogged bunch of planks that table and those benches from the tears of us all. The House of Christian Love story was also documented in a book published by David C. Cook and authored by then assistant editor Edward Plowman entitled "The Jesus Movement (formerly The Underground Church) pages 61-62. It was published in 1971. In retrospect I must say 1971 was a very pivotal year in the economy of God's perfect storms!
And what have I been up to? Permit me to address that another day.

Dave Kirby kirbside@dslextreme.com 
 

[Oscar]

Dave,

You said:

You have no need of apologizing or asking for my forgiveness. For a season I believed in Brother George as dearly and as deeply as anyone (I still use the discipline of chapter summaries in studying my Bible although I' m a little more inclined to give the credit to Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, rather than George). The great strength of this man (George) was his ability to look into our eyes, genuinely listen to us and make us feel that we were a part of something big and special for God and we could all be great Christian leaders and if those aspirations were wrong I must plead guilty. At the beginning I thought his teaching was sound and judging from the posts on this board so did hundreds of others

Yes, that is exactly the way it was.   In the early days I believed that I was part of a great move of God.  Part of what made GG so convincing was that he himself believed that he was a special instrument of God's work and purpose.

How sad that such ability was twisted into serving George's delusions about his place of central importance in God's plan.  His gifts became the instruments by which he bound people into his service.  Once bound, it was extremely difficult to get free.  Some never did.

Blessings,

Tom Maddux

[houseoxtianlove]

One thing I do find myself indebted to George for 38 years later.
In the beginning I did learn the mastery of doing some pretty decent Chapter Summaries. I started off trying to be cute and provoke chuckles at the House of Christian Love with funny titles, etc. In time I was able to get beyond my insecurities and God proceeded to get into my meanings and applications even to the point of being told that my insights were a blessing to others.
I have Brother George, Steve Irons and Mark Miller to thank for their role modeling at that point. I still do Chapter Summaries and don't hesitate to instruct them to new believers as I feel they allow an honesty checkpoint between individuals and the Word of God.

Something else I have not shared is that years after my break from the assembly at Hillcrest Park, I confronted my deep longing for a genuine worship experience by visiting it all over again when the brothers and sisters were meeting at the women's club in  downtown Fullerton. I was ceremoniously ushered to a seat in the back amidst much whispering and puzzled looks and told to refrain from partaking of the Lord's Supper.  Many prayers were offered for an upcoming campaign at Huntington Beach. I sat. I prayed. I  watched. I listened. And when it was all over I left with an intuitive confirmation that the Assembly that I had once known and loved had detoured down a path that I chose not to follow. And your assorted testimonies all over this board have reaffirmed the wisdom of my choice.