How many think I'm just kinda waffling on at the moment? Maybe, I am to a certain extent, but atleast I'm enjoying it. :) Praise God. I'll buy the tapes, as a matter of fact. :) Praise God. I would like to sing Old Rugged Cross. [755k .wav file, 35 sec]
You know, I haven't sung this for quite awhile. And I sang this one time in a bar. You would say, 'What are you doing singing this in a bar?' ABC wanted to do a thing on me for television. And a couple of other stations wanted to be there. I was in Yakima, Washington. And they said, 'Well, now that you are a Christian..,' I said, 'How do you want to shoot this thing? I want to do Old Rugged Cross.' They said, 'Why do you want to do a slow song like that?' I said, ''Cause I want to. 'Cause by the cross I was saved, at the foot of the cross.' They said. 'OK' and they showed up for the shoot. And they said, 'We're going to go to a church. We've picked out the church. We're going to film you singing in the church. The church will be empty, but we'll film you. Then we are going to shoot the cross, that's on the altar of the church. Then we're going to come back at six o'clock at night, and we're going to shoot the sunset. As you are singing, we're going to superimpose the sunset. And we're going to do this beautiful thing about being in the church, and a christian.' I said, 'No, No-o-o, No. No thank you.' They said, 'Well, what do you want to do?'
I looked at one of the cameramen. And I said,' Where is one of the worst murder rate in Yakima, Washington?' Where I was. They said, 'It's a bar downtown.' And I won't name it, because we're on television. Would not name it anyway, actually. They said that's where most of the murders are occurring. I said, 'That's where we're gonna shoot the video.'
We went down, pleaded the blood of Jesus over the place, over all the people in the place. I didn't look quite as cute as I do right now. :) I was wearing a leather jacket, a biker-type jacket, and a pair of blue jeans, and some boots, my sunglasses. And I walked in.To make a long story short, we unplugged the jukebox. The owner said we could have five minutes. Unplugged the jukebox. A couple of Hispanic men in the back said, 'Hey que pasa? Hey' And they started getting weird with the pool cues. They started walkin' toward us when we unplugged the jukebox. 'Que pasa?' I said, 'Meo amanos, cinco momentos, por favor.' They said, 'Oh, habla Espanol, well, va bien. Cinco momentos.' [You got five minutes.] These guys were shooting pool. There were bullet holes in the front window. I thought, we're in the right place. :) I went in there to shoot the video, and I left the cameramen out on the streets. As soon as the owner said we could shoot, I looked around, there were no cameramen in there. I went out and said, 'Get in here.' They were all setup on the street. They said, 'No, we're gonna shoot out here, looking at the front of the building.' I said, 'Get that camera. I've got five minutes. Get in here.' So, we went in and turned the cameras on. And I started singing Old Rugged Cross [755k .wav file, 35 sec].
And I stood up, quietly; in a very demure fashion, as I always am. :) And I went, [whistle] Yo! Check this out! I said , 'A lot of you guys know me from the old days. I was a drugger, head-banger, rivet-head. I was popping pills, smoking dope, filled with violence. Jesus changed my heart.' And I started singing Old Rugged Cross. And those people sat there with their drinks. And the prostitutes [I mean, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to pick out the prostitutes], and they started looking at me. And I started singing Old Rugged Cross. And as I started singing that song, those people started lookin', and goin' [stare]. They looked at me as if I was the dentist. It was like [awed stare]. Then they put their drinks down. And as I sang the song, the prostitutes came over, several of them and stood with me, and started singing the words. Men started crying. I went over and saw one man starting to cry. And I went over to shake his hand. And he immediately put his jacket over his face, because he was wanted for a felony murder [I found out later]. It was a rough place, but I saw the spirit of God fall. And we prayed the sinner's prayer, when the song was done. I don't believe you've gotta sing head-banger, heavy metal music to touch heavy metal people. I don't believe you have to get drunk to witness to drunks. I believe all we need is the power of the Holy Ghost.
My Deepest Love,
Jeff
ORU Mabee Center, Tulsa, OK., June, 1992