Healing the Nation

I have been involved in the healing ministry for many years. As a boy I was consistently drawn into squabbles between the other kids and all the girls poured out their little hearts to me about the boys they wanted as "special friends".

The school counselor at Mount Vernon Community College was my hero. Betty Ann Ward showed us students more love, grace and patience than any adult I had ever known. So, after resigning my teaching job because of conflict with the principal over his racism, I decided to enter a program to train college counselors.

After graduation from Southern Illinois University I took a position at University of Cincinnati. The campus was hot in 1967, 68, 69 and early Seventies. Riots, marches, Viet Nam protests and mass sit-ins made life exciting and challenging. During that time, however, I met a group of people who were intensely involved in the movement of the Holy Spirit. For the most part, they had been given the "Left foot of fellowship" at their traditional congregations and left to start house fellowships for praise, worship and Bible study.

Some scholars call this, "The Fourth Great Awakening" but we called it "The Jesus Movement" and it took the world by storm. Karen and I, along with two small kids, began a house church on Jefferson Avenue across from UC. Each Thursday night a bunch of refugees from sex, drugs rock and roll and rebellion gathered in our house for a long evening of Holy Spirit interaction.

It was wonderful. However, like every large revival, the light of Christ drew many people from dysfunctional backgrounds into our little flock. Former addicts, prostitutes, sexual perverts and drug pushers came to faith in Christ and brought their pain, neuroses and habits with them. We were overwhelmed.

In every mass revival this has happened. Wesley's The result is a desperate need for healing, healers and ongoing support. Norway has one of the most famous hospitals and clinics in the world. It was a direct result of their revival in the 30's and 40's. They, like Karen and I, discovered that healing and empowering individuals was not enough. Scarred people grew up in dysfunctional homes with parents in pain.

This revelation led me to pursue a doctorate in Counselor Education and later to study ways to "Heal the Family Tree".

In earlier blogs I have told about some of my family healing experiences. You may wish to read them again. Next: Healing the American Family Tree