Mesa Daze

Mesa Daze - Newsletter #38
Lambert Dolphin with Lawrence Hoppis

Life at the Mesa (1956-1972)

At the ripe old age of 30, when everything in life starts to go downhill, I happened to discover that Jesus Christ had been running the universe all along – without my help! It wasn’t an accident, my coming to Jesus, of course. God had been pursuing me for a long time. The true story of my career in science is available for you techies to see.

Soon after, I was dunk-baptized at Los Altos First Baptist Church. (I was living in a grand old Adobe house at the time).

Some neat ladies from Kansas, Helen D. Baugh and Mary Clark (Stonecroft) got in touch after hearing I had been telling my story at several women's lunches in the area. They asked me to write up my story which became a small multilingual booklet “My Search.”

Mrs. Baugh and Miss Clark enlisted me to speak at their area conferences across the country. I remember well being invited to speak to a Mayor’s prayer breakfast in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

The Mayor presented me with the key to the city which I still have.

A long-haired hippie, Eddie Weyman, 20, came up afterwards and we arranged to meet at a coffee house that night. Somehow I convinced him to fly with me the next day back to The Mesa. (It was a kind of commune during the Jesus Movement with ten guys living with me in my one-bedroom pad).

Those were the days of the Jesus movement, which followed the hippie summer of love in San Francisco, (1967). My old adobe hacienda in Los Altos Hills was flooded with younger guys and gals seeking answers.

I asked Eddie to please write up or record the true story of his life as it is amazing! More from Eddie: stuff I had forgotten! November 14, 2020. "I met Linda at a Mesa bible study. Attended Foothill College. You became my legal guardian; I was under 21. I stayed till January 1971. I then went to LA to visit Hal Lindsey, (a big earthquake happened while I was there). Met Verne Bullock, Larry Norman, Don Williams, Dave Anderson, and helped start Renewal House,"

"I did Bible school with Peter Frankovich, was roomates with Prof. Rick Webb by USC, then after a year I moved back to the Mesa, worked as monkey keeper at Syntex Labs and other odd jobs then back to NJ, to work on pipe crew, then back to Ft Laud., job at WWOG Christian Radio in Boca, then WKID TV, CHANNEL 51. StockMarketToday show with Gene Inger, Fred Hall, and Mickey Rooney. I introduced Mick to D. James Kennedy, they prayed together. I did underwater dive work for AtlanticSaveADock, became Pro dog trainer for AllBreed and FlaK-9. I'm just scratching surface, I need a secretary...."

Eddie fit right in and slept on the straw mat on my living room with everyone else. His foxy chick shown in the photo was a girl he met here I think? Eddie Weyman phoned me recently and after losing touch for 50 years we had much to catch up on. We talked for three hours! Eddie stayed in the Bay Area for some months before returning to Florida. He now lives in Daytona Beach.

Recently Eddie messaged me, “Do you remember enlisting me in the CWLF in Bezerkley in the spring of 1970, with Jack Sparks and Pat Matriciana? Yosemite Retreat, Mt Hermon, me giving my testimony to a big audience. Staying in a cabin with Luis Palau and family, and going to see Joan Baez occasionally at her house on Page Mill Rd., being ordained as the 'Minister of Horizontal Fellowship,' soo many memories.”

Mel Fagan, a new follower of Jesus, a “long-haired hippie freak” some called him, was perfectly straight, and he managed our house superbly. I set up bunk beds for ten in the spare bedroom, and Mel cooked and kept “The Mesa” livable and consecrated, evicting sluggards, and taking in real refugees who had nowhere to crash for the night.

I tried my best to get Mel to cut his hair. I felt that his true identity was tied up, like Samson’s, in his shoulder length silky brown hair. Mel refused to “repent.”

Mel Fagan returned home one day to see if his parents would welcome their returning prodigal long-haired offspring. They did not—until Mel confronted them with the picture in their front hall. Sure enough it was a painting of Jesus, and Jesus didn’t have a crewcut.

Those of us who witnessed the Jesus Movement will never be the same! Many thousands of young people were attracted to Jesus Christ back then. (See Revisiting the Haight-Ashbury). The hippies dispersed from San Francisco in the Fall of 1967, because the free food ran out and the weather got too chilly for sleeping bags in Golden Gate Park. (See The 1967 Summer of Love: A Web Site Tour).

Various Hippie Stuff

Wednesday Brothers of Thunder

Revisiting the Haight

What LSD did for me

Ted Wise

Ted Wise and I visit India

Economic necessities and the lure of false security in "the Establishment" swallowed up the Jesus People also. A bit later in time, Ray Stedman flung open the doors of history to a whole generation of disenfranchised kids. The “Jesus Movement” is another story. So also is Body Life a story waiting to be told.

Lawrence Writes:

No discussion on Body Life would be complete without a careful (re)reading of Body Life by Ray. From the back cover:

"Ray Stedman shows you how to recapture the vigor and authenticity of the early church – a radical body of enthusiastic believers who spread the Word of God throughout the world! This book – considered a classic by many – brings you challenging questions that make Body Life both personal and practical. Body Life is a groundbreaking book inspiring churches and disciples to return to New Testament Christianity. Using principles from Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4, Stedman helps you discover the dynamic purpose of the church and the exciting role you have to play in the body of Christ."

If you do not have this book in your library, please consider adding it today. Lambert and I will be working in coming newsletters on timely update to the vital concepts and questions originally presented by Ray back in 1972. On a personal note, I hope you are all enjoying the our new newsletter format. Lambert and I are both very pleased to be co-laboring for the gospel to increase our content and your enjoyment!

Write to Lawrence

Life at the Mesa (1956-1972)

Various Hippie Stuff

Homework Assignments