“So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt?” Pt. 1

Thus begins a song from the musician evangelist, Keith Green, circa. 1980.

When I went to college early in 1977 – while yet a senior in high school – I wanted to be a part of a revival movement. I enrolled at Minneapolis School of Theology (MST) in 1978 because I had read Harry Conn’s Preface to the Centennial Edition of Finney’s Systematic Theology (Bethany, 1976) and had heard his lectures on Moral Government at Rockford College that summer, as part of a seminar/conference featuring some of the faculty of the school.

(Yes, this is the Rockford College of later Chronicles of Culture acclaim: Samuel Fleming, Otto Scott, et al).

I had attended Rockford School of Theology for two years, which was a part of Rev. Don Lyon’s mega-church and media ministry. Since he had fallen out of favor with his denominational sponsors (Open Bible Standard) for running for Congress against John B. Anderson, the Church and the School were being shut down (actually, physically dismantled). The radio ministry was sold-off to another local mega-church – the First Assembly of God (Ernie Moen) – and I was on my way to the Twin Cities.

The centennial revival of Finney’s theology was cresting in organizations such as Loren Cunningham’s Youth With A Mission and similar organizations like the Agape Force (Tony Solerno), and Last Days Ministry (Keith Green). Keith Green was a power unto himself, but was heavily influenced by evangelists such as David Wilkerson, Leonard Ravenhill, and Winkie Pratney.

The twin-city complex of the Lindale/Tyler, Texas area was where an unusual concentration of these cutting-edge ministries were to be found. It had become almost like a place of pilgrimage during the 1978-1982 time period for many former “Jesus People” transients.

Upon the dissolution of MST, I had returned to Rockford to engage in campus ministries and wrote my study on eschatology, “Hope for Tomorrow,” as an advocacy for postmillennialism. You can find it here:

https://2046ad.org/hope-for-tomorrow-a-rebuttal-of-apocalyptic-determinism/

It was first circulated among colleagues in the “Moral Government movement” in 1980 as a research paper (e.g. Rev. Victor Scalise of Rockford Bible College), then as a white paper in 1982, and then finally in book form in 1983.

Appendix A of that study was called “Postmillennialism: An Imperative of Moral Government” (1982). You can find it here:

https://2046ad.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/scanhopeadd.pdf

I had submitted it as an article for publication to the head of Evangelistic Education Ministries, Gary Kenner, in his “Notes & Quotes” newsletter, which was the flagship publication for Moral Government theology at the time. Kenner was close to Conn and in fact, not long later, moved to Rockford, Illinois to join Dean Harvey to lead what was once the mother church of Moral Government thinkers: Chapelwood Evangelical Free Church (later changed to Chapelwood Community Church).

Kenner declined to publish it. Finding no other support and not willing to participate in yet another schism (no less than three had rocked MST during its tenuous three-year charter), I left Rockford for Wyoming to pursue my ministry aspirations. Having completed my training for ministerial credentials with Lee College (Cleveland, TN), I was set forth into the ministry by the Church of God and left for Wyoming. I was appointed to a parish there.

The article closed with this warning: “I fear that we are approaching a point of losing our nerve: and I warn, that if the Moral Government movement is unwilling to meet those conditions necessary for advancement, that a false pietism will overtake us; and in the face of increasing opposition, a sort of romantic desire to retreat to the monastery will occur.”

I was right. Keith Green’s music began to reflect a yearning for the Rapture; Loren Cunningham abandoned Moral Government theology outright to embrace the charismatic movement, and the former faculty of MST was scattered to the four winds. While Harry Conn would remain a popular speaker among some YWAM affiliates for many years, well into the 1990s, the movement had crested ideologically. And thus, yet another blunted tip of the spear of Evangelia Americana began its pilgrimage back to Egypt.

(To be continued)

James Wesley Stivers, March 11, 2023