Freque Factory
Kings Mansion, Part 2
I've described what the house looked like and who was there, time to talk about my adventures while I was there.
When I first moved in no one in the House was attending a local church, despite the House rule about that. I soon found out that was a recent development. The House inhabitants had been attending a local church that had been supportive. Then suddenly the support was gone. As far as we knew, we hadn't done anything to upset anyone. Eventually the news came out that the pastor was having an affair. I don't remember all the details now, but it led to our leaders pulling us out of there.
Eventually they decided that, for now, we would start attending Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa evening services. Chuck Smith was an excellent Bible teacher and the Afterglows were good. Although it was about an hour drive each way, we went for many months and almost always enjoyed it. We loved the music! We finally stopped when the crowds got too huge. It wasn't as nice when you had to sit outside-and with our distance we didn't always get there in time to get an inside seat. I think also that may have been when some changes started. I seem to remember the Afterglows were no longer encouraged. Probably that was about the time that Lonnie Frisbie stopped leading them.
Probably one of the best adventures we had was due to lost tickets. There was to be a huge 3 day Christian music festival at the Orange County Fair grounds. All of the good contemporary Christian music groups we liked were performed. The local Christian music store was selling tickets. For some reason the House had agreed to sell a block of tickets. Came the day to turn the money in, the tickets were gone. No one in the house remembered agreeing to sell them even. But we owed the money, apparently. P contacted the Festival promoters and cut a deal. In exchange for the missing money/tickets, we would provide 3 days worth of volunteers.
The fair grounds were just down the street from Calvary Chapel, so it made for 3 really, really long days, but it was so worth it. I mostly worked at the check-in table at the performers entrance. I didn't get to hear a lot of them perform, but I did get to meet many of them and deal with their problems. The big thing I discovered was that my favorite performers were very human. I saw band leaders with egos, with tempers, and some that were humble and helpful. That event was so much fun! I wish I had kept a program of it.
I celebrated my 21st birthday while living at the House. My dad took me out for lunch at our favorite Mexican place, Panchitos. I ordered my first legal drink (in CA), a Margarita, of course. That night was a meeting night at the House and there was a cake for me. As everyone present was singing the birthday song for me I realized that this was my real birthday.
Things started to change at the House when M announced that she was pregnant. Suddenly she didn't have the energy to do everything she had been doing. We began to realize just how much she had been doing. Her prior complaints made much more sense to us.
I think impending fatherhood got to P as well. He began to voice his feelings of inadequacy in dealing with the House. Well, he was being a spiritual father to all of us! So he started looking for a low cost Bible college locally. The two of them had also started visiting local churches again, since we had stopped attending Calvary Chapel on Sunday nights.
One Sunday P & M came home very excited from visiting a new church down in Monterey Park. It was the home of the Bible college he had found. The very next Sunday, he declared, everyone in the House was going there for Sunday morning service. As far as he was concerned, he had found our new church home.
There was something about the name and location of the place that seemed familiar. Could it be the same church that Lisa had taken me to (in what seemed) so long ago when I was a brand new Christian? That place was very Pentecostal, as Christian churches go. I was what was being called Charismatic, so faith wise, it wasn't such a stretch anymore. And a lot of what I had thought so strange back then, wasn't so strange to me now. Sunday would tell.
The following Sunday was life changing for many of us. As I had suspected, the church, LWT, was indeed the Pentecostal church Lisa had taken me to. The worship band was as strange as ever, though not as strange as it seemed before. Eventually I got used to the mix of piano, drums, guitars, trumpet, steel guitar, and harmonica. The important thing was that God was there.
In the middle of worship prophecy broke out. Ignoring the Pentecostal "Thus sayeth the Lord..." the message was clear. 'The place I was standing was Holy Ground. I should take off my shoes (Biblical precedent). This was where I belonged. I was not to leave until God told me it was time to go.' I took off my shoes and stayed.
There was a lot of uproar around the House after that. Some of us, like me had clearly heard from the Lord and were committed to our new church. Others wanted no part of it. Things came to a head a few weeks later when M told me that the house would be closing soon. She and P needed to focus on the next phase of their life together. And two weeks later, we were all moving.
Kings Mansion was an amazing place for a very transitional time in my life. As I started learning how to be a Christian, in Huntsville and then at the Christian coffeehouse, I realized how little I knew about my new faith. And how far I was from what I could be as a Christian. As I read the Gospels I realized how radical the faith was that Jesus preached. It wasn't just church on Sunday. It was a totally new lifestyle. The more I read, the more I liked that lifestyle. And I especially liked the fact that God was helping me get there. But I knew I needed more help in starting that faith walk. I wanted to life in a place where I was surrounded by God.
The Kings Mansion was that place for me. If I had a question about what I was reading in the Bible (and I had a lot), there would be someone around who could help. Need prayer? Someone was always there. And I could be there for them. We all learned that it is almost as good to serve as to be served. I needed to feel loved and I was.
In many ways, it was like moving into a Catholic convent. Our lives were centered around God. None of us dated (at the time). It was like living in a Second Chapter of Acts life.
Was it perfect? Not at all. We were all very different individuals, each of us with our own opinions on how everything should be done. But we really tried to live a Christian life. And mostly we succeeded.
I think it was because I was living there, immersed in learning what it was to be a Christian, that my transition from the hippie drug culture was so easy. Why would I want sex or drugs when I was experiencing the love of God first hand?
So what happened to the people of Kings Mansion?
P & M drifted away from our new church. I think he only finished one semester of the Bible college he so wanted to attend. Several years later I ran across M. She and her child were fine, but she and P had divorced. He wasn't doing well. I pray he was able to deal with whatever it was and has since found happiness.
F, T, Lori and C all went with me to the new church. More on them later. I wish I could remember the Opera singers name. He vanished when the House closed down. I'd like to know if he was ever able to be successful in his career choice.
L. didn't do so well. His rebellious nature caused him to go off on his own. He fell into drug and alcohol use. I happened to talk to him a few years ago. He was mentally unstable, dealing with a lot of stuff.
Kat and Susan stayed with the Altadena house people. Blessings upon them. I wish I was still in contact with them. Charlie didn't actually live in the house and attended a church with his family. We rejoiced with him when he graduated from high school and prepared to attend college. But by then the House was closed and the group was scattering. Charlie went his own way-away from us.
Troubled Noel did finally find his way to the Lord and was living with us at the end. He got into trouble at the new church (I'll talk about that later) and I lost track of him. I just checked, he does have a facebook page, so maybe someday we'll talk.
F's family friend, Kieto went with F to the new church. Kieto loved the Lord until he died a few years ago. I look forward to seeing his smile again.
In conclusion, Kings Mansion was a unique part of Christian history. It was part commune, part half-way house, and part school of Christian living. It and others across the country like it created safe places for those wanting to leave the hippie culture with it's drugs and increasing violence. It was a place where people like me could transition to more traditional churches.
So many of us needed places like Kings Mansion. As we were to find out, many of the more traditional churches weren't ready for an influx of former hippies turned Jesus Freaks. They had no idea what to do with us.
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