Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
I left my job as a school technician in Northampton and
began to grapple, weep and laugh my way through a story
that was both epic and passionately dear to my heart. As I
dug through the archives, listened to old tapes, and talked
with the many characters, memories flooded back. Then I
poured out my soul into the word-processor and tried to capture
the spirit and vision of those years. Mike got me to tidy
it all up! As it’s seen somewhat through my eyes, you’ll have
to bear with me when I (Simon Cooper) wander in and out of
the story.
Though this isn’t exactly an official history of the Jesus Fellowship,
there has been a good deal of hard research, discussion,
polishing and editing. We’ve also tried to provide some
biblical framework for what God has led us into and to set
our own story in the context of the wider Christian scene.
You’ll find that there are a lot of names in this book. We’ve
tried to keep them distinct without resorting to the formality
of surnames too often. (Within the Fellowship we often give
people unofficial ‘virtue’ names, and these are mostly used
to describe people.)
Neither of us could have produced this book on his own,
but then that’s really the theme of the whole book. This isn’t
a story by or about any one person. It’s too big for that. As
we’ve worked through this text, we’ve often been unashamedly
moved and humbled. For this is a story of a bunch of
widely different individuals whom God blessed, though they
didn’t often deserve it; changed, when they didn’t always want
it; and joined together — as a people with fire in our hearts.
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