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Morning in the Camp

Below is an excerpt from the first chapter of Morning in the Camp.

THE SOUND OF RAIN

It all started for me in the early 1940s, this religious experience that has come to be known as different in some churches along Main Street America. However strange it may seem to some, it has been the greatest factor in the molding of my life and is as much a part of me today as ever.

Some of my earliest memories come from Saturday night Church services in a small country town where it was common to hear Uncle Jess strumming a flat-top Gibson guitar as he would sing,

            Brother, this is that,

Sister, this is that;

This is that, that fell at Pentecost…

 The old song was based on the New Testament scripture:

 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: Acts 2:16-17

A tambourine, an upright piano, and dozens of hand-clappers would accompany the singing of songs like this with a rhythm and a sound that now, in some areas, seems to be fading into the past. A sound that was noticeably hushed by the mere installation of padded carpets, where once the resounding hardwood floors amplified the music of tapping feet….

To lose themselves in worship

was exactly what people came there to do,

including my family. p.10

          I would later understand that during this time of worship, under this powerful unction of the Holy Ghost, miracles would take place all over the building. Conviction would overcome sinners, and they immediately became cleansed from sin as they yielded to the Spirit. More than a simple decision to live a different lifestyle, this was a life-changing transformation by the power of the Holy Ghost….

          But who are we…? And what is the real purpose for which we have been called? … Is there a message concerning the future of the true believer that is not being talked about enough today?…