The J.C. Power and Light Company

Third Thursday of Easter

At some point early in the spring semester of 1973 I became involved with the J.C. Power and Light Company. "JC" was a contemporary Christian singing group, operating out of Blacknall Presbyterian Church in Durham. This time period was near the beginning of contemporary Christian music. 

Contemporary Christian music can be said to have begun in 1966 with the song "One in the Spirit" a.k.a. "They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love." It was written by a Roman Catholic priest named Peter Scholtes. As far as I know, he wrote no other music. I remember very distinctly the first time I heard the song. I think it was 1967, my senior year in college. I was taking a study break with a walk through Duke Gardens. Sitting on the ground near the pond in the tiered garden was a small group of students, eight or nine or so, with one guy with a guitar, singing the song. The students seemed in a way refreshingly odd to me, during this time of drugs, rebellion, protests, and secularism. I don't know who the students were. They were not "J.C." This was several years before "JC" began. I loved the song and its message. I still do. 

I may have first heard "JC" at Blacknall doing some special music for a Sunday morning church service. It was 14 students, 6 males and 8 females. Four of the males played guitars. The singers were really good. I didn't know any of the music, but I really liked it. I was struck by the lyrics, some came straight from the Psalms. Others reflected a deep faith in a very personal God. The leader of the group, Mark Taylor, announced a coming concert. Mark was a son of a rather famous pastor, Kenneth Taylor. Kenneth Taylor wrote The Living Bible, a best selling paraphrase of the Bible which still sells millions of copies every year. I went to the concert. I loved it. I soon made friends with some of the singers. 

Duke Chapel has an Easter Sunrise Service in Duke Gardens every year (except 2020). The J.C. Power and Light Company was picked to sing at the service that year. About three weeks before the service, one of the members of the group told me that Duke Chapel had something go wrong with the scheduling of a preacher for the event, and would I be interested. I was. 

So on a beautiful weather Easter Sunday 1973 I preached the Sunrise Service in Duke Gardens.The gardens were packed. Crowd was estimated at 1100. It's still the largest crowd I've ever preached to. I felt great about my sermon and got a lot of positive response. 

In the academic year '73-'74 I became the unofficial chaplain of "JC." I went to practices and concerts and on a couple of occasions gave short homilies at the concerts. I had passed prelims in fall, '72, and was at this point researching for my dissertation, being an assistant pastor at Blacknall, and being a Teaching Assistant for the undergraduate intro NT course. For a guy who had done nothing but study for years and years, this was quite a change. It was also doubtless a reason it took me a full five years to complete my dissertation.

Of the 14 students who were in the J.C. Power and Light Company 5 went on to be parish ministers, all in mainline denominations, none United Methodist. Of those five, four were female. Two ended up in churches  New York City, one in Princeton, NJ, and two (who became a married couple) in Ohio. Mark Taylor went to work for The Living Bible organization.

My life would take a radical change in December, 1974. That will be the subject of the next episode of this faith journey narrative. It will be entitled "Culture Shock." 

Faithfully,

Christian