A Blessed Life (22)
In 1970 our family left Fisherville and headed for Winchester, Kentucky. We were going back to the familiar campus of Southeastern Christian College. I was taking a position as registrar and student recruiter. With two young children under the age of three, we settled in a small two story apartment in a house abut a block from campus. Once again this was a move precipitated by my unsettled nature and uncertainty about what I should do with my life. My days were filled interacting with young men and women while Colleen spent her days with our two toddlers plus one more that she babysat.
After a little over a year at Southeastern Christian we were on our way back to Fisherville. Our dear friend who had moved us to Winchester, now returned with his farm truck to move our beat and battered furniture back to the church parsonage. I am sure he and many others wondered if this young preacher would ever settle down.
Returning to Fisherville was something akin to returning to the scene of the crime. I was under suspicion because of my previous involvement with the Jesus Movement on the streets of Louisville. In fact there was an incident that caused a city wide stir. A young reporter from the Courier Journal asked to do a story on the Jesus People, and to accompany me on a Saturday night as we met to worship and then go out on the streets. I gladly agreed. In the process of writing his story, he asked me why I thought so many young people were flocking to this new wave of the Spirit. I said that I thought it was because so many organized churches seemed so dead. When the Sunday paper came out my picture was front page of the religious section with a serious misquote. It read, Morrison says, “the original church is dead.” End of quote and pretty much end of my reputation and ministry for the next two years.
– Terry A. Morrison