Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS THE LORD TOOK HOLD OF BUGBROOKE
and the occult. The revival itself was turning into a counterculture
as transformed young ‘Jesus People’ followed the
teachings of Jesus and lived a life of sharing. For them, Jesus
was the revolutionary of revolutionaries.
In July the local Northampton paper had carried an article
about the Jesus Revolution, and this coincided with the chapel’s
publicity for the Jesus Lives Crusade. In the minds of the
locals the two were associated. Violet tee-shirts, bell-bottom
jeans, and long hair, confirmed it. Bugbrooke Chapel was full
of Jesus Freaks. They were, without a doubt, the Jesus People.
The Crusade began in August with a convoy around the
villages. Cars and minibuses displayed stickers and posters,
while, in the middle, a lorry chugged along full of tee-shirted
youngsters on straw bales, sporting guitars and Jesus grins.
Noel, in his posh Audi, led the convoy down the A5. When
they got to the outskirts of Towcester, they turned round, and
the whole procession did a U turn through a petrol station!
The attendant stared unbelievingly as the lorry came through.
‘Smile! Jesus loves you!’ they shouted — and handed him a
gospel tract.
The culmination of forty days of activity was a music festival
on a village green near Bugbrooke. Gerald Coates came
with a team, along with some music groups whose styles varied
from gentle gospel to heavy rock. Carol and others told
their stories from the back of the lorry as hamburgers and
onions sizzled nearby.
Old friends from Bedford who had been praying for sober
Noel to get the blessing turned up, and got a shock to see his
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