The Jesus People in Cape Town during the '70s

Brian's Story

2009-12-08T23:19:00.001-08:00

Brian's Account of the Hippie Revival

Brian O'Donnell

My Father became a Christian at the Billy Graham film at the Jan Van Riebeeck Festival and from then on my life was never the same. My Father started a Mission in District Six, Salt River and Woodstock where he preached and led people to the Lord. He took me with him on many occassions. He used to put up huge signs saying "Jesus Saves" in front of our house, which was embarrasing the Family, my Mother threatened to leave home so I took down the signs at night. My brother Miln and I started attending the Baptist Church when we were older as this was the only place we were allowed to go to on the Weekends and the only place where we could meet girls. We attended the Youth for Christ rallies that were very active at that time.

When I finished school, I went to work and decided that I was not going to go to Church again as I felt that Christianity had restricted my life since childhood. I embraced the World and did what every red blooded young man would get up to. I met my future wife at a Bus Stop on a Boxing Day night. I had spotted her at a cinema in Cape Town one night when she and her friend walked passed us at Interval. Sandy and her friend Lynette would not accept a lift in our car, so we followed the bus up to her house in Moulie Point. When she got off the bus I told her that I also lived in Sea Point, so as not to seem too uncool. Anyway the rest is history, we went steady for a few years and then got married in St James Anglican Church in Sea Point. We had two children, a boy called Zane and a girl called Lisa within 2 years and 1 month.

I started building Surf Boards in our Lounge and then my friend Tom Munro and I decided to manufacture Surf Boards for a living. i.e. Viking Surf Boards. We later parted and he went on the make Munro Surf Boards and I made O'Donnell Surf Boards. O'Donnell Surf Boards became one of the best Surf Boards around and were very popular. I then opened a Surf Shop and besides surf boards I sold clothing and leather sandals and thongs. My friend Tony Kitchen opened a record Bar in my Surf Shop which was also very popular and it became a place for people to hang out in.

I had heard about the Kensington Market in London and I decided to open a Market in Cape Town.

This was the Apartheid period in South Africa but there was no apartheid in the Market. People were allowed to mix freely and own Shops. the was no segregation in our Coffee Bar and the result of this was that we were regularly raided by the Security Police especially in our busiest times.

The Market was based on the Hippie, anti-establishment, alternative way of life ... this was the sixties post "Woodstock" a time of freedom, burn the bra, birth control pills, hallucinogenic drugs, free love, "Make Love Not War"... get back to the "Garden".

There had to be more to life that just working in a concrete jungle for 8 hours a day and never seeing the sunlight. The established way of life was regarded as plastic [artificial], autocratic and controlling. This was a time of optimism a bright new world where people could express their personal style and use their talents to make a living.

The Market consisted of 21 shops and was the first Boutique Shopping Centre in South Africa. Many creative alternative people started shops in the Market and it became known as "The Hippie Market" because of the way the people were dressing and because the chaps had long hair. The stalls were run by an interesting and diverse group of people which made the Market very popular with young people, Hippies, tourists and people who were just curious. On the weekends it was a teeming mass of people and we required crowd control. It became the place to be if you were a visiting Hippie from another city.

After the success of the Hippie Market I decided to open up a night club with my friend Tony Kitchen. We took over the 'Blow Up' and renamed it the 'Factory'. When my friend Alan Flack, a bofin with sound and music, joined me the Club was renamed 'Head Quarters'. This was the sign outside the Club.

I began to experiment with drugs and tried LSD which made me more God conscious and I started off on a journey to find God. I was given a book "Power of the Mind' which I believed would help me find the Truth but I just became more and more depressed. Christman Stander owned a Stall in the Market selling his designer jewelry, I spoke to him about the occult and power of the mind but he just pointed me to Jesus.

I had succeeded in everything I did but still felt an empty void inside so I stopped going to my Club ... I only wanted to be on the Beach with my Family and watch the sunset. Nothing could fill the emptines I felt in my life.

On Christmas night 1969, I was sitting in my bedroom, looking at the present my Father had given me i.e. a Christian book he always gave as presents and which I never read. I looked at the back of the book and there was a note saying that if you wanted to be Saved you must just accept Jesus as your Saviour and send the card to Canada. I thought how stupid that was ... but I mentally filled in the card and then felt the power of God descend upon me .... I knew that I knew that Jesus was the Way!. I felt clear and all my doubts, fears and insecurities just disappeared. I knew there was no other way for me I had found Truth at last and I felt a new boldness come into my life.

After my experience with Jesus in my bedroom that night I knew that I had to tell everyone and was very aware of the implications. I was the Leader of the Hippie Movement in Cape Town, a well known Surf Board builder and a Night Club Owner. I had been reported in a many Newspaper articles. I wrestled with the idea but I felt compelled to publically declare that jesus was the only Way.

Christman Stander invited me to meet a group of Christians from the 'Narnia' outreach in Hillbrow. The meetings were at Alan and Trish's home. They were a pentacostal Group and it was there that we experienced the Speaking in Tongues and Interpretation. They were wanted to reach out to Cape Town and it was decided that a "Narnia Committee" would be formed to steer the Group. The Committe Members consisted of Ëve, Alan and Trish Crabtree, Christman and Drikkie Stander, Jerome and Brian and Sandra O'Donnell.

We got together on free nights to seek God for guidance on where to start our outreach. I suggested that we use my night Club on Sunday night as it was a quieter jazz night. Everyone agreed and Eve read a Scripture from Genises. "In the Beginning was the Word and..."

After the first night of our outreach, at about 1 am, I was woken form my sleep by Richard Wisdom who told me that the Market was on fire saying that "The police just watched and said 'let it burn'".

I got dressed and went to see what had happened and saw that the structure was still standing but everything was destroyed. The amazing thing was that Andrew Purcell, our insurance Broker, had come to see me two days before to sign the insurance contract. We were devastated but we knew that God would somehow turn the disaster into good. The Insurance Company gave us an upbeat Egyptian Builder who said that he could rebuild the place in ten days and he did just that. From that day on miracles became our standard fare.

We had regular meeting in the Headquarters Night Club twice a week and people were being added to our numbers daily. Some of the people who used to meet in the Group at Alan Crabtree's Home were Michael and Denise Coleman, Alan, Jenny,Avril and others.

When the Market re-opened a few of the previous Stall Owners left since they had lost everything in the fire. Others decided to finish their stludies and go back to university. Yet others had gained the confidence to open up their own businesses elsewhere and quite a few successful businesses grew from their experience in the Market. New people moved in to take over the vacant shops. Christman Stander opened up a Christian Book shop plus sold his handmade jewellery. People were accepting Jesus as their Saviour on a daily basis.

We met on the beaches, in the mountains and whenever we met it would be around our love for Jesus.

We often broke bread and worshipped God, we baptised people in the sea, Clifton Beach, Camps Bay Beach and private pools whatever it was convienent.

While we were camping and relaxing in Hermanus, our Good News bibles by our side, a Dutch Reformed Minister spotted us. He looked at all the bibles lying around, at this very unusual looking group of Hippies but obviously loving Jesus, he said he knew then that God was pouring out his Holy Spirit and that Revival had started. He was so excited to see this that he invited us all to his church service and some of us took up his offer and went.

After the fire there was an opportunity to extend the Coffee Bar ... my brother-in-law Dave Valentine decided to give up his work in the Engineering field and take over the Coffee Bar as a Mission to work amongst young people. Earlier David and his wife Jean had come to know the Lord through our testimony, they got so excited that they were willing to put everything on the line for God's Kingdom.

He added a photographic booth that took Blow Up photographs and this proved very profitable.

Often people would walk into the Market, be witnessed to by a number of people and by the time they reached the Coffee Bar they were ready to accept Jesus as their Saviour.

There was also a small booth in the Coffee Bar where people could listen to Christian tape ministry. The tapes were reproduced and either given away or sold for a minimal amount.

Mike and Denise Coleman were involved right from the start, Dave Lupton came into the Market, got saved and became an integral part of our group. Michelle also got saved and, like Denise came to work in the Clothing Boutique in the Market.

She later married Dave Lupton. Johnny Weber, who had gotten saved on his way down to Cape Town after he was arrested in Beaufort West and jailed. A christian heard that he was incarcerated and hitched to Beauford West to minister to him. This so touched Johnni that he gave his heart to the Lord and he also come to work in the Market.

Jack Hartland, a young rebel, came down from Pretoria to Cape Town, spent much time debating with Dave and Chrisman and finally accepted Jesus as Saviour in the Market and also became an integral part of our Group.

Marge Ramsden also came down from Johannesburg, had accepted Jesus as Saviour while listening to a record of Jesus Christ Super Star, and opened the first Christian Commune in Cape Town.

Many were being added to our Group which grew exponentially. We remember all those with whom we were so intrinsically linked Rowen, Lindsey, Chris and Sharon Duggan, Christine, Colleen, Pierrie, Peter Stott, Jacque Krige, Jenny and Avril Mills, Danny and Sue, Paul and his wife, Alan and Jenny Buchan, Alex, Sue, Pauline and so many others.

We started using the Coffee Bar, which had a separate entrance, in the Market as an outreach at night time. It was called 'One Way Inn' conveniently situated in the night life hub of the City. I met Jessup Sutton in Durban , a Presbyterian minister at the time, when I shared my Testimony at the Sugar Bowl for David Burnett. Jessup left Durban soon after to join a Pentacostal Church, The Assembly of God in Harfield Road. He gave us Bible Studies in the Coffee Bar which were much appreciated by all. Mike Bowen was another Christian who also came to our Home meeting to give us Bible Studies. Many thanks to both of them who gave of their time to help us understand the bible.

By this time we were regularly attending the Assembly of God in Harfield road for breaking of bread on Sunday mornings. We enjoyed their open ministry and we really appreciated talking to many of their more mature Christians who had such wisdom and who had experienced many miracles in their lives. Top of our Pops would be Mrs Mills and Granny Klopper who had such a sweet spirits and who were an inspiration to everyone young and old alke. Brother Bond used to also come to our night club to preach and we were never bored when he did and it was always so easly to recall his messages. Many overseas visiting speakers such as Alan Redpath, heard of the Hippy revival in Cape Town and blessed us with their ministry.

We started outreaches preaching on the streets and market squares in Cape Town. Our outreach team consisted of anyone who could give a Testimony and was mad enough to go with us, as a result many more came to accept Jesus.

My main outreach Team members were Michael Coleman, David Valentine, Johnny Weber, Dave and Michelle Lupton, Jacque Krige, Jack Hartland, and others who are just as important but too numerous to name now. All very important in helping us with the Lords work.

We blitzed Cape Town with Christian tracks, stickers and painted Christian slogans on walls all over the City. Wonderful miraculous times were had ... so many people were being added that we decided to rent a building at 93 Loop Street for our meetings.

I started getting invited to speak and testify at so many meetings that I decided to divide the groups into three teams to be able to fulfil our commitments. I was invited to speak at the assemblies of Rondebosch Boys High, Bishops, Sacs, Wynberg,Westerford, Plumstead High, Meadowridge, Rennish and Sea Point High. I was also invited to speak to the Unversity of Cape Town students and every Koshuis in Stellenbosch, and hundreds of different Church Groups. Over this four year period our teams were out nearly every night testifying and preaching.

When I preached at a Paarl School... I asked "who wants to accept Jesus as Saviour?" ... nearly the whole School put up their hands, then I prayed a corporate prayer for everyone to accept the Lord.

Here is Christine May's version of what took place ..."Do you remember when we went to that Girls Reformatory in Paarl I think it was and we all gave our testimonies and you spoke and gave an altar call and there was dead silence for what seemed like ages and then all the chairs got thrown over in their stampede to come and accept Jesus. We were all instant altar counsellors! What an awesome privilege! I also remember the Larry Norman concert and his song "why should the devil have all the good music!" (I also remember how Coleen and I had to get separated in church because we used to giggle so much!!!) I have memories of the Goodwood show and the Market stand there!! And those lovely salads that Krisman used to make at the Market coffee bar! Good God times! I often testify about those days and how on fire we were and nothing could stop us talking about Jesus!"

When our team went to a reformatory for Girls in Durbanville, nearly all the girls went forward to accept Jesus as Savour at the alter call. Fortunately there were quite a number of us to pray with them in groups. This was such a wonderful time that we began to think that this was how it normally happened. God really blessed us in every way, it was a wonderful time just basking in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

We got together at Michael Coleman's house and just decided that we should go up to Cape Town University to preach the next day. We went to Jammie Hall steps at Lunch time where the students were usually congregated. When we arrived there we found the steps deserted and noticed all the Students were seated in the Jameson Hall waiting for Sonny Leon to speak. There was a microphone and an empty stage and so, feeling a bit intimidated myself, I pushed Jack Hartland and Jacque onto the stage to speak. When Jacque started speaking the students they switched off the microphone and booed him off the stage, then one of their student leaders stood up and said "You call yourselves liberals, why don't you give them a chance to speak" then Jacque handed the mike to Jack who began his testimony and just as he finished Sonny Leon arrived. God had prepared a stage, microphone and audience for us.

Avril's story

2009-12-08T22:31:00.000-08:00

Avril's memories of the Jesus Movement

The funniest story which I remember about the Jesus Movement is when we were asked by Brother Bond of the Assemblies to go and give our testimonies at a Church in Retreat. We had already been to the Church previously to give our testimonies and they were such a fantastic community and were having a baptism service on the Sunday at Princess Vlei. We hadn't yet been baptised so they invited us to join them and get baptised which we did. We duly arrived at Princess Vlei and there were about thirty or so of us holding hands and all walked into the murky water and were gloriously baptised by the minister. When Brother Bond asked us to go and give our testimonies at the same church we were only to happy to go and see everyone again and arrived at Brother Bonds house in Plumstead dressed as we always were in jeans and t-shirt. He took my sister and I aside and asked us if we wouldn't mind going home and changing into a skirt or a dress as the Church in Retreat would be offended to see woman dressed in pants. We were only too happy to oblige and went off home and came back dressed in our mini skirts and boots. The mini skirts barely covered anything but we didn't want to offend anyone by wearing pants! Brother Bond later spoke at a Conference and told the story to the gathered clergy as the turning point in his realisation that what people wore didn't matter to God, it was what was in their hearts as he was more embarrased about the mini skirts than the pants which we had originally worn. The Church, which had accepted us with open arms the first time we visited there, had never been offended to begin with. A real learning curve for the Assemblies.

Another story which springs to mind is the first time I met Johnny Weber. I had been saved a few weeks and had heard about Johnny who was visiting Jo'burg at the time and had never met him. We were all at Bishopsford where we used to gather on the weekends and have informal fellowship. Johnny arrived late really excited about a wonderful group of people he had met at a beach where they were so close to God that they didn't even wear any clothes and he had spent the afternoon with them. We all laughed as he had stumbled on Sandy Bay the Nudist Beach. In Johnny's mind these people were very close to God as they didn't even have to wear clothes.

We later visited Sandy Bay with the Harfield Assemblies for their Annual Picnic. When we were told where we were going, we went to the Pastor and told him it was a nudist beach but his response was that there were no nudists beaches in Cape Town. I have some nice pictures of John Bond sitting on a rock with his walking stick....I thought he may have used it to rebuke the nudists. I remember him chasing the nudists to the other end of the beach.....such good memories.

We all went along and spent a lovely day there and were just told to look away when the nudists came past....I don't know what the nudists thought of us!!

My own experience of the Jesus Movement was when I went to Harfield Road to watch my brother Keith get baptised. I hadn't been to Church in years and went along just to appease my mom who had been a Christian her whole life. At the meeting we saw all the Jesus People who were also getting baptised, Brian O'Donnell, Marge who we had known from the Jo'burg days and Loader Street days. Marge invited us to Headquarters Coffee Bar for a Monday night meeting the next day and my sister Jenny got saved at this meeting. I wasn't too interested at this stage as I was involved in other things and really thought that all the Christians were a bunch of idiots anyway. The next week I went along to the meeting and met with all the Jesus People. That night there was a woman speaking. She had been a prostitute and was nicknamed the Vodka Queen of Cape Town. She spoke about the love of Jesus and for the first time in my life I heard about how much Jesus loved me and coming from a very strict Pentecostal Background where all we heard about was the Judgement of God and how we were all going to hell, this was the first time that I heard someone speak about a loving relationship with Jesus. This really touched my heart and I went forward for prayer and gave my heart to this wonderful person Jesus who loved me so much. I suffered from panic attacks which used to grip me in the night so that I couldn't go to sleep. I opened a Daily Light which my mother had given one us and read from the reading for that day and the Word was "Your God neither slumbers nor does He sleep, He will give His beloved perfect peace when she lays her head down to sleep". For the first time in years I feel asleep with no panic attack and woke up in the early hours of the morning being bathed in His presence and love. It felt like I was being baptised in liquid love that seeped into every part of my being. Speak about being a new creature in Christ....I felt different, looked different and was so in love with Jesus I finally understood what the "Vodka Queen" of Cape Town had been talking about.

Jessop Sutton's story

2009-11-25T05:51:00.001-08:00

Revival In Cape Town.

This is a brief history of the Hippie Revival in Cape Town as I experienced it.

Jessop Sutton

In 1971 I was in Durban as a Minister in a Congregational Church. While there in that capacity I had received the baptism with the Holy Spirit which sort of took me out of normal Congregational Church thinking and pointed the way to my becoming involved with a Charismatic of Pentecostal denomination -- and precipitated my separation from the Congregational pulpit in Durban.

In the providence of God, I was to return to my old company in Cape Town. In Cape Town I was to join up with the Assembly of God in Harfield road from where I was to be launched headlong into what was referred to as The Hippie Revival. But there was one event in Durban which was to be my first sight of Christians concerned in the activities in Cape Town -- Brian and Sandra O'Donnell. How it happened was that I had become involved with Youth For Christ in a committee formed to run an evangelistic campaign in Durban. A series of Gospel meetings was held nightly for a week in a tent erected in the grounds of our church. Other meetings were staged in venues elsewhere in Durban. Professor Louw Alberts was the main speaker at the larger venues, Cliff Richard came out from England to sing and tell of his faith in Christ, and Brian and Sandra, billed as converted Hippies from Cape Town, would be there to tell how their lives had changed after believing in Christ. Brian was to play a big part in my life in Cape Town not too long after that campaign.

Back in Cape Town, on a Sunday soon as we had settled into our new home in Kenilworth, I made my way to the Congregational Church in East Claremont. But the experience was disappointing and I knew that life in the Congregational Church was no longer for me -- I had become used to a different sort of dynamism both at New Forest and also at the Assembly Of God in Durban that Dorothy and I had attended on one or two occasions, something more like the Church in New Testament days. Dorothy on that Sunday took herself and the children across the railway line to the Assembly of God in Harfield Road, almost directly opposite Dormax Gardens where we had an apartment. The following Sunday, or perhaps even the same Sunday in the evening, I also went to the meeting there.

The practice of the open ministry, according to the principle that all believers have a ministry with freedom to speak in the meetings, appealed to us as being true to the New Testament. It gave me the opening to continue preaching and teaching without being in full-time service in any church, something that I had contemplated even while still in Durban where I would have taken secular employment and continued to be the Minister of the New Forest Church. Such was the situation we had seen at the Assembly Of God in Durban where the Pastor was self-employed in the building trade. "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely you have received, freely give", said Jesus. Apart from Sunday School, there was also a good programme for the children, called Minitime, on a Friday afternoon. After we had been attending services there for a while, I stood up one Sunday Morning and said to all "Dorothy and I have been worshipping here with you all for a while now and we like what we see and it accords with New Testament practice, so please consider us to be members with you, and we will do likewise, unless an Elder at the door says it is not so. But if one day you move away from this New Testament style of being the Church in this place, we will consider ourselves free to leave and go elsewhere". There was a general murmur of approval and an Elder stood up and said, "You are very welcome here in our assembly". And so we settled in with the Assemblies of God.

Life now became hectic for us. I was about to do what I wanted to do in the Church, namely, giving of myself in the service of the Gospel free of charge, the demands upon my time would be great and the sufferer would be Dorothy, and to a slightly lesser extent, Andrew, Jenny, Suzanne and Timothy. I was launched into that service unexpectedly not long after we joined the Assembly. It was the time of what was called 'The Hippie Revival' which started in America but soon spread to other countries as the Hippie Culture spread, largely through overseas Hippies who moved abroad. Brian and Sandra were prime-movers of the revival in Cape Town. Brian was the owner of a notorious Night Club near the centre of Cape Town. The Headquarters Club, as it was called, had a reputation which reportedly had caused it to be placed out of bounds for the Navy recruits in Simonstown, but then Brian became a Christian one day while reading a book that had come his way. His life changed, and through him and Sandra, the Hippies who frequented the Club, also began to be converted. Most of them landed up at the Harfield Road Assembly Of God where they had been welcomed in spite of their strange dress and habits. Brian then started meetings on Thursday evenings at the Headquarters Club where Bible Studies were conducted and the Gospel preached. It was not long after Dorothy and I came to the Assembly that the Pastor asked me if I would conduct the Thursday Evening Bible Studies, something which I was keen to do. That took me into a pleasant time of ministry to, and fellowship with, the Hippie community. But it was soured at the beginning when I learnt after the first Thursday that the Pastor had summarily caused me to displace Alan Crabtree who was already doing it. I apologized to Alan and assured him that I had not known about his ministry there, and that had I known, I would not have agreed to the suggestion. He was not mollified, however, and he and his wife stopped coming to the Assembly.

I said life became hectic. Now we were involved in meetings almost every night of the week, and twice on Sunday. Dorothy went to the Bible Study at the Assembly on Wednesdays while I stayed at home to be with the children and to prepare for Thursday Night at the Headquarters Club, then on Fridays I attended the weekly prayer meeting at the Assembly while Dorothy stayed at home. On Sunday morning we all went to the Breaking of Bread meeting, and on Sunday Evening I went to the Gospel Service and Dorothy stayed at home. On Saturday afternoon the children went to Minitime at the church which was run by one of the men of the Assembly, Ron Mallory. We frequently had Hippies and others over for coffee after the evening Gospel meetings, becoming good friends with them. Among our coffee-guests was Jackie Ewers, an American girl (not herself a Hippie) who had found her way to Harfield Road Assembly. Jackie returned to America and married. She is still in e-mail contact with us after all these years.

Thursday nights at the Headquarters Club were interesting to say the least. The decor and ambience were distinctly cultic and the assembled people were wonderfully varied, with Hippies mingling with drunkards who came off the street at the sound of the activities. Brian ran the meetings, leading in singing choruses and then I would take the floor and preach or teach. During the meeting, while many sat in the main group, somewhere off-centre some would be smoking (I think it would as often as not have been dagga) and listening with half an ear. Over time, many of those were also converted and came to the Assembly.

On other nights, the headquarters Club continued to operate as a Night Club but when the lease came to an end, Brian closed it down. The Thursday Night meetings then moved to the Crypt of St. George's Cathedral, kindly made available by Dean King. That was an interesting development because we were completely charismatic (Pentecostal) while he was fully opposed to the baptism with the Holy Spirit and the consequent manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit. I had a meeting with Dean King, arranged for us by Elizabeth Fair, a fellow staff member at Woolworths, at which the Dean and I debated the issue intensely. The debate was also pursued in letters to the newspapers at the time. Interestingly, it was not long after that that the parish of St. George had a Spirit-filled Bishop in the person of Bishop Burnette. The Charismatic Movement in the Churches was well under way in Cape Town to the extent that we even had one or two Catholic Nuns attending our meetings, at the behest of the Catholic Archbishop, commissioned to find out more about what was going on. I remember particularly a Sister Peter, secretary to the Archbishop if I remember correctly, who came both to the Assembly at Harfield Road and to the Thursday meetings with the Hippies.

We later moved the Thursday Bible studies to another business that Brian owned -- a business called simply "The Market", but generally referred to as the 'Hippie Market'. an unique Emporium of many small stalls owned by different people. There, in a coffee shop upstairs, we held our regular Thursday Night meetings, and there also did we drift together for coffee and fellowship at lunch time, or to meet for prayer at lunch time when an urgent need required it.

During this phase, led by Brian, we organised the "Give God A Chance' campaign in Cape Town. Round stickers were printed in red and green which, at the hands of the more active Hippies, notably Johnny Weber (who died recently in a motor accident in Durban), appeared on lamp posts and traffic lights throughout the city -- one sticker appeared even on the green traffic light of the robot where Darling Street joins Adderley Street and stayed there for several years. Brian arranged for the hire of the Green Point Stadium for a series of meetings to be addressed by prominent speakers, and we organised a demonstration for one lunchtime in the city centre. It was 1972 when mass meetings and demonstrations were banned under a Sate of Emergency decree but we got past the restriction by marching in single-file, five metres apart, round several city blocks carrying placards while Dorothy and several others followed the same route in cars with banners stuck on the sides. Dorothy and I, with three or four others who came to help from time to time, made about 400 placards nailed to wooden staves. I think the meetings in Green Market Stadium drew a crowd of about thirty-thousand on the Saturday night of the campaign.

Another feature of the time was regular preaching in Green Market Square at lunchtime once a week. Brian and Dave with three or four others from the Market would arrive with a chair to use as a soapbox and we would take it in turn to testify and preach. I have a newspaper clipping of a photo of Brian on the soapbox and several of the team standing by. Occasionally one or other colleague or person from Woolworths would pass by and see me there but would say nothing.

The day came that Brian hired space in the new Sun Arcade and transferred his Market operation there. He then hired the first floor of a building in Loop Street, known to us as 'above Top Ten Car Sales', for the Thursday Night meetings.

While at the 'above Top Ten Car Sales' venue, the fellowship decided to form itself into a regular Assembly Of God and moved the meetings to the Presbyterian Church in Somerset Road, kindly made available by that community for times when they themselves were not using it. It was at that stage that I stopped going to the Thursday night meetings. The group, which had consisted mainly of Hippies in the beginning, had gathered other members and had become a fully-fledged Assembly Of God within the Assemblies of God denomination. They started having their own meetings on Sundays for Breaking of Bread (Communion), exercising the Open Ministry of all believers. From Somerset Road they moved to hired premises in Sea Point and then bought a site on which to erect their own church building and hall. By this time they were officially known as The Sea Point Assembly of God with a large congregation.

At the end of the year in 1972, with the lease on the flat in Dormax Gardens coming to an end, we were offered a house to rent in Princess Road in Bergvliet. The owners were transferring to Uitenhage and needed a tenant urgently. We liked the house so accepted. We all still went to the usual meetings at Harfield Road Assembly Of God but that was to change sometime in 1974 when the Elders at Harfield Road decided that a team led by Faans Klopper should start an Assembly in Meadowridge. Dorothy and I were 'summarily' detailed to join the team when we were included as one of the families to go in an announcement at the Sunday morning Breaking Of Bread meeting! It took us by surprise but it was obviously the right thing to do because we were now living in the Bergvliet/Meadowridge area. It was also very much in line with my own vision for the Church that local churches should indeed be 'local' and small enough to benefit from the New Testament practice of the ministry of all believers such as described by Paul the Apostle in his First letter to the Corinthians, Section 14, verses 26 to 33:

"How is it then, brothers? when you come together, every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done to edifying. If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If any thing be revealed to another that sits by, let the first hold his peace. For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints."

I will continue with further developments in my life in the Assemblies Of God in another chapter, but let me say that the real story of the Hippie Revival in Cape Town is one that should be written by Brian if he could be persuaded to do it. He was involved from the beginning and highly instrumental in promoting the whole affair.

Jessop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith The Lord of hosts".

[Zecharia 4:6]

Dave's story

2009-11-24T05:42:00.000-08:00

JESUS PEOPLE REVIVAL CAPE TOWN

By Dave Valentine.

The "Hippy Market"

In 1970 Brian O'Donnell had a surf shop and decided to open a 'flea market' in Loop St. The market had small stalls which were let to producers of artistic clothing and hand made articles. Brian was influenced by the Hippy movement and named it the "Hippy Market". He also had a nightclub called the 'Factory' which catered as a dance and meeting place for young hip people. The Hippy movement was a the result of a reaction against established values in society and the war in Vietnam, their motto was "make Love not War".

During this time a new movement from America called the 'Jesus People' swept across the land, starting in 1969 with Teen Challenge's Narnia Club in Hillbrow and Nelson Nurse's underground club called 'The Down Stairs". Some of the Hippies that got saved there moved to Cape Town and started working in the Hippie Market, amongst them were Christman Stander, Johnni Weber, Mike & Denise Coleman.

In 1970 Brian O'Donnell who comes from a Baptist family involved in missionary work in the railways, got convicted about the life he was living and recommitted his life to the Lord. Brian was married to my sister Sandra who also committed her life to Christ. I was a leader in a nominal church for seven years and was so impressed by their testimony that I followed them to Harfield Road 'Assembly of God' which had welcomed the Hippies. We were amazed by the 'singing in tongues' and the 'Gifts of the Spirit', speaking in tongues, prophecy and healing that were practiced in this Pentecostal 'breaking of bread' service. We were impressed by the open ministry where anyone who had an inspired message could stand up and preach. The Lord was in this awe-inspiring place.

Harfield Road 'Assembly of God' a conservative Pentecostal church in their dark Sunday suits and head coverings for women, was in the throes of a revival, after a prophecy that "God would bless them with men like a flood". They were located in Kenilworth and expected a flood of businessmen... imagine their surprise when these long haired, barefooted Hippies dressed casually and colourfully started flooding into the church.

Initially they resisted but then John Bond stood up and said "We prayed for revival and these are the people that God has sent us, lets welcome them" and they did and it wasn't long before the church was overflowing.

Brian opened up his club "The Factory" to Monday night bible studies and then turned it into a Christian Coffee Bar called "The Headquarters". I made a full commitment in my own church and my wife Jean had a life changing experience at one of these Monday night meetings. In June 1971 my wife and I were baptised in water, along with about 40 hippies and Brian and Sandy O'Donnell, at Harfield Road.

The 'Market" was robbed and set on fire, a terrible setback testing our faith. The "Market" was rebuilt in two months. Many of the previous stall holders had lost all their stock and left. The vacancies were soon filled by recently saved Hippies, my wife Jean and sister Amy amongst them, setting up a shoe shop. Christman Stander started a Christian bookshop and Bernie Auditory a sticker stand.

Brian had to close 'The Headquarters' nightclub and opened a coffee bar in the Market.

I was a Sales Engineer in 'Industrial Units' at the time when the owner of the Coffee Bar in the Market left and Brian offered it to me. I was a forty year old with four children and seriously had to pray about it first.

That night I had a dream of a coffee bar occupying half of the top floor space with a "One Way Hand" Jesus people sign pointing to heaven and decided to call it "The One-Way Inn".

Brian was shocked by my intention to give up my job as there was no guaranteed income and the size of my venture. He said that I couldn't have all the space I wanted since the space was occupied. I assumed that I might have misunderstood the dream but within a week the stallholders left and some even left their machines behind. Brian recognised this as the Lord's will and gave me the space rent free! I left 'Industrial Units' and sold most of my assets to set up a real coffee bar restaurant.

For sating I considered utilising the railway bunks which I had procured at a Railway sale and had previously donated to 'Bishopford', a halfway house for Hippies in Hout Bay, which Brian had funded and subsequently closed down.... but the Lord had a better plan! While I was painting the walls a 12 year old coloured kid told me that 'Cleghorns & Harris' was closing down and that he would take me there. I followed him up some stairs past a well known coffee bar called 'Clock Work Orange' . To my surprise they were in the process of dismantling

the coffee bar and all its contents were for sale, including seating, decor, padded bar counter and bar fridge.

I immediately called Brian and he suggested I offer them R150 for all of it, which was half my monthly salary at the time.

I presented the offer to the person in charge and he asked if that was just for the bar counter. I replied for everything and that it was for a good cause and that he should explain to Mr Cleghorn that it was for a Christian Coffee bar. After waiting anxiously for a few days Mr Cleghorn responded with a counter offer of R200.

I enthusiastically accepted the offer and marched over with bunch of Christian Market Hippies to dismantle the goods. While dismantling the decorative panels which separated the bar from the shop, we accidently set off the sprinkler system, which we managed to switch off before extensive water damage was caused... but I was still billed R200 by the insurance company ... a lesson that I should not let enthusiasm run away with me.

The good thing was that the furniture fitted exactly into the space and matched the paintwork perfectly. The leather cubicles could seat about twenty people around its round tables and the bar counter matched the units on the wall and fitted perfectly...praise the Lord!

While we were busy installing the furniture, a young man asked who we were working for and how much we were getting paid? The Christian helpers said they were working for Dave "as unto the Lord". 'Bill' then asked me if he could work for me and I asked him, "What can you do?" "I'm a plumber" exactly what I needed to plumb the kitchen!

I gave him my bakkie and off he went to purchase the fittings he needed to do the kitchen. After he finished fitting the kitchen I decide to let him help me in the restaurant full time.

We acquired an extractor fan from Barry Cutler who ran an airconditioning ducting factory up the road in the Malay Quarter. All that was still needed was the floor tiles...and inquired of the Lord. That day a tough dude in motorbike gear came into the coffee bar... I assumed he was unsaved so I gave him a tape recorded testimony to which to my surprise he listened with tears in his eyes. I asked him if he knew the Lord and he said that he did and told me that he had a terrible motorbike accident which resulted in a brain injury that had him admitted to a closed ward in Valkenberg. One day a Christian visited him and prayed for him and he was miraculously healed. I asked him what he did for a living and it turned out that he was a tiler by trade. I told him that I had asked the Lord for a tiler and he agreed to do the job at a good rate. Just then the phone rang Mr. Comblatt from Arden Scott & Theason called me about a Briggs & Stratton engine which I had supplied and asked him if he supplied Plastic tiles. Yes he did and agreed to give them to me at wholesale price. Within a day the job was completed with a cream cross in the centre.

I decided to build some steel bar stools myself with the help of one of the hippies and the Lord found me some cushions at Harfield Road which matched exactly which completed the coffee bar.

So the Lord helped us to make this Christian Coffee Bar a reality which became a meeting and outreach place to people from all over the world and all denominations.

We had outreaches on Saturday and Monday nights where youth went walk about in the city and invited lonely people in.

During this time many young people were won over to the Lord including Jack Hartland, Ian Herslet, Peter Stott and Allan Unser.

"Give God a Chance"

The 'One Way Inn' was the meeting place for the "Give God a Chance" committee also called the Narnia Committee. One evening we were all gathered at someone's flat the ladies challenged the men to do more and seek God for a vision. Brian O'Donnell, Christman Stander, Mike Coleman, Johnni Weber, Berni Auditory and I all newly baptised in the Holy Spirit and not very confident yet, decided to wait upon the Lord in another room. Brian brought a tongue and I interpreted, "You are all wanting more power but you have received all the power you need when you were baptised in the Holy Spirit". They were not convinced and asked for confirmation. Then Bernie started seeing a vision "I'm in a desert and looking for water all over the place, then suddenly see that the water is at my feet!"

Then Brian said "I had a dream last night... "we were all marching with armbands reading "Give God a Chance". At this time of global political upheaval, the war in Vietnam and the struggle in South Africa, Hippies were proclaiming "Give love a chance" and we felt that this was our opportunity to proclaim to Cape town to "Give God a Chance".

Ron Haskins and Basil Jacobs joined the organising committee and it was decided to include all denominations in the biggest Jesus event ever in Cape Town. The job of communicating the vision to the other denominations fell on my shoulders and I didn't quite know where to start since I didn't have many contacts outside of the church I attended. Then one day my minister walked into the market and I enthusiastically shared the vision with him. His indignant response was, "If anyone would call this type of meeting it would be the Local Council of Churches!"

That led me to look up their name in the telephone book and call them. I asked "Do you have all the names and addresses of all the churches in Cape Town?" "Yes" the lady responded... "Could you give them to me?" I asked, "No, certainly not! ... but if you bring me the envelopes I can run them through my addressograph machine". Praise the Lord! I was delighted and quickly had the letters preprinted and sent Jaques Krige over to have them addressed.

Ian Hertslett worked for Mills litho in Woodstock and he told me that they had lots of scrap cardboard which we could use for posters. I drove our "Give God a Chance" combi to Mills and to my amazement they loaded the van full of beautiful white cardboard which was used for printing cigarette boxes.

We hired a loft above a car sales room in 93 Loop Street which became our headquarters and production began to screenprint 5000 banners. We had many inspiring meetings there with Noel Cromhout and John Bond preaching to crowd of about 150 Hippies.

On the day that we were meant to have the inter-denominational church leaders meeting I went to 93 Loop Street and to my horror found an official council notice on the door forbidding public meetings in the place, because of fire hazard, due to the fact that there was no fire escape.

I had to think quickly and noticed "Freddie Viveros' Auction Mart next door, I appealed to him and he offered his building for free! Then I noticed that it had been a church building which could seat ± 300 people. Many years later I had the opportunity to lead Freddie to the Lord.

That evening Brian & Christman shared the vision of a big meeting at Green Point stadium with six well known speakers and preceded by a march and a motor cavalcade with ± 200 ministers. During open question time they expressed their doubts about the committee and wanted to elect their own, even our own smart young university students began to side with them. I was very disappointed by their response and stood up and began to share how the Holy Spirit had inspired us to create the "Give God a Chance" concept and provided the means to make it happen even to the last minute change of venue, "You are sitting in a miracle as you heard of God's intervention! Coffee will be served next door". To my amazement they all stood up and gave the committee their vote of confidence, inspired by "the word of faith".

Various local churches all over Cape Town invited Brian & Sandy to share their testimonies, along with a group of Jesus people they also reached out to schools, colleges and universities.

At the Full Gospel Camp at Wolwe Kop, an old prophet Brother Geswenk, gave Brian a booklet of God's vision for Africa. On the cover was a map of Africa, set alight by a candle starting in Cape Town and burning all the way to Cairo. He said to Brian that he believed that the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Hippies was the beginning of the revival.

On the big day of the "Give God a Chance" campaign we at the Central Methodist Church in Green Market square to pray then marched through the City Centre with hand painted banners and a motorcade covered with "Give God a Chance" banners advertising the meeting at Green Point stadium.

The "Youth for Christ" music team accompanied by our musicians and Brian led the worship, Frank Retief [Church of England], John Bond [AOG] Manekam[Dutch Reformed] Eddie Mc Cullum and others preached to a crowd of ± 6000 people and over 600 gave their hearts to the Lord and joined various church fellowships.

Refreshments were distributed by volunteers of the "One Way Inn". The money raised was sufficient to cover the costs of airfares for the speakers from up country and we had plenty of food left over to distribute to the needy.

Many new churches were sprung up after "Give God a Chance" one of them being Meadowridge which became 'Peoples Church' in Constantia. Loraine Pym an Anglican, experienced Jesus People overseas and was so enthused when her children came to Christ that she asked the Lord for a meeting place. She received a word that they would receive a furnished 'upper room'. Garden Cities had just such a room in the Meadowridge Shopping Centre which had been a library and offered it rent free. She consulted Brian on how to run a coffee bar. Since I lived in Bergvliet, Brian dragged me along to a meeting at the Anglican Church and I was asked to join the committee consisting of Loraine & Graham Pym [Anglican], Dick & Anne Le Matré [ Presbytarian], Neville Riley [Baptist], Lionel Kaper [Anglican] and my wife Jean.

When Brian closed the "Headquarters" I managed to get all the tables and chairs to furnish the "Upper Room"... so fulfilling Loraine's dream.

The 'Upper Room' became a popular venue for young people in Meadowridge as more and more gave their hearts to the Lord and were baptised in water and the Holy Spirit, which led to a revival in all the schools in the area to which Brian and his team were invited to speak. The revival spilt over to the parents who were influenced by their childrens' faith and enthusiasm.

Some of the Anglican churches became disturbed by the teaching on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then Archbishop Bill Burnett from Grahamstown was filled with the Spirit while worshipping in his quiet time ... he was thrust forward on his knees and stated praying in tongues. He phoned Noel Cromhout, who was then the local Assemblies of God minister, who confirmed that he had been sponteineously filled with the Holy Spirit. Soon afterwards Bill was elected as the Archbishop of Cape Town where he began to take his ministers on retreats to be filled with the Holy Spirit which led to the charismatic revival that swept Cape town and South Africa.

Bergvliet AOG started in the Old Library Hall opposite the Upper Room and moved to the Congregational church building some time after and later built the Constantia Assemblies of God building in Spaansemat Road, now called "The peoples Church".

In the meanwhile with the '93 Loop Street' meetings closed by the council a new venue had to be found and the St Andrews Presbytarian Church offered the use of their church building to us.

The "Down Town Assembly' began in 1973 which flourished under Paul Watney's preaching along with Johnni Weber, Mike Coleman and Brian O' Donnell. David Lupton and George the Greek were selected as elders. Out of this church Pinelands Assembly was started with Johnni Weber and Mike Coleman's preaching, first in a garage and then later in the town hall. Mike Coleman was eventually moved to Welkom to build up the church there and Pinelands was given to the John Fischer to care for. Donovan Coetzee and Andre Olivier got saved at St Andrews and eventually went on to build the Church in Tygerberg and Sandton respectively. Eventually "Down Town Assembly" moved to Sea Point, first to Glengariff Road and then built in Avenue Disandt under Noel Cromhout's ministry.

Andre Olivier was sent out from here to build up Fishhoek AOG and then Somerset West after which he was sent to Sandton.

John Bond started Tygerberg AOG which was later put in the care of Derek Morphew who defected to the Vineyard taking the church with him. The faithful along with Donovan Coetzee then started Durbanville AOG, now "Urban Edge". Many other assemblies were launched during this time.

"Go Tell" heard of our "Give God a Chance" meetings and asked the committee to help them to organise the "Nicky Cruise" crusade [of Run Baby Run fame].

Then we had Neil Armstrong the first man on the moon, and Brother Andrew at Green Point stadium.

Another "Give God a Chance" meeting with Nicholas Bhengu on Green Market Square and one in the City Hall.

The Market in 53 Loop St moved into the building next door, Brian took over the Coffee Bar and I started the "One Way Photography" stall which produced blow-up portraits on canvas or box-mounts and continued when the Market moved to the "Concourse" by the station until 1980 when I moved into full time ministry in Constantia. Kevin Taylor who had worked for me for some time, took over the business.

One of my highlights in fulltime ministry was when Rheinhard Bonkers came to Cape Town with his Big Tent to begin his Cape to Cairo mission. The Cape Town Evangelical Committee in which I was involved, played a part in organising the event in June which was to run for 14 days. We sent Andrew Righthouse to help him erect the tent which covered two rugby fields in size, was transported in 10 twenty ton trucks and required cast concrete anchors to hold it down.

The event drew huge media attention and our Moslem neighbours in the Cape Flats began to demonstrate and march around the tent. That week Cape Town experienced one of worst North Westers in years and shredded the tent and blew off the roof of a local mosque. Andrew Righthouse called me during the storm and I could hear the incredible flapping as the tent tore itself to shreds. When I arrived at the site the Bonke team and Christian supporters were dismayed at the damage but had to muster the troops and decide how to proceed. Either cancel or make it an open air meeting in the freezing cold. The Lord gave Dave and Maureen Unions a word from Isaiah "I will put a canopy over you" which encouraged us and we decided on the open air meeting!

Up to 100 000 people now attended the meetings which were broadcast to the community around us by huge 15 000 watt speakers which could be heard 10 km's away and in the homes of our Moslem neighbours who prayed for the tents destruction. We had fourteen nights of beautiful weather and Rheinhard wanted to extend the campaign for another five days and consulted the committee in this regard. We were tired from hectic meetings from 7pm until midnight for the last 14 days and decide to pray about it and I got a word from Proverbs 24 v 10-12:

"If you faint in the day of adversity your strength is small.

Rescue those who are being taken away in death;

hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

If you say "Behold we did not know this"

Does not He who weighs the heart perceive it?

Does he who keeps watch over your soul know it"

and will he not require man according to his work?"

and the confirmation Jeremiah 12v5:

"If you have raced with men on foot and they have wearied you,

how will you compete with horses?

And if in a safe land you will fall down

How will you do in the jungle of Jordan?"

This made up our minds to push on ... in those last five days more people came than ever before.

Over 600 000 attended and 32 000 made commitments, mainly from the Cape Flats.

It seems that it was not God's will to have this huge tent as the insurance company refused to pay for it as it was not made to specifications according to them. It was eventually replaced with financial contributions from Oral Roberts and Kenneth Copeland but the logistics of transporting and erecting the tent proved to be impracticle in Africa. After two young men died when a truck caught fire and exploded, Bonke erected it in Maputo and left it there as a permanent meeting place then moved up Africa and continued to attract huge crowds.

The Lord continued to bless the work in the AOG and other churches effected by the Give God a Chance crusades.

Many of the original members went on to build successful churches others filtered into other congregations and missions around the world, others fell away, but the miraculous way the Lord undertook and helped us will forever be in our memories.