Two of the hippies who became Christians in California during the Jesus Movement of the 1960′s and 70′s were Keith and Melody Green. Keith was a talented musician who started writing songs and playing the piano at a very young age. Both he and Melody were young people searching for truth when Jesus revealed himself as their Savior and Lord in 1975. “We felt we had been shot out of a cannon into another universe,” Melody said. “We knew this was the truth we had been looking for and we wondered how we could share it with others. Keith would bring out his guitar and sing on the street or beach and a crowd would gather and then he’d tell them about Jesus. Not coming from any church background, we were looking at Christianity with very fresh eyes.”
On July 28,1982, Keith and his two oldest children died in a plane crash behind their home near Tyler, Texas. Melody was left with their youngest daughter and was pregnant with their fourth child. Keith Green was twenty-eight years old when he died.
Of course no one knows exactly why such things happen to people, especially young Christians who are on fire for God. Keith was a voice for Jesus in his generation and he spoke boldly to all who would listen. Bob Dylan played harmonica on one of his albums, but Keith had no desire to be a celebrity… he just wanted people to know Jesus. He once said, “If you follow the Jesus who was crucified, the Jesus who called sinners to repentance, the Jesus who requires denial of self as requirement to follow Him, then you can kiss popularity with the world good-bye.”
In 2001, Melody published some of her late husband’s journal writings and concert messages in “Make My Life a Prayer” (published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon). She wrote, “Today, Keith’s words are just as relevant as the day he spoke them – and they will bless, inspire, and challenge you on your journey of getting closer to Jesus. I know how Keith would be amazed at how God has continued to use his few years of ministry and multiply them into this new millennium and into the hearts of a whole new generation. When Keith went to be with Jesus just seven years after meeting Him, the Lord gave me John 12:24 – about a grain of wheat needing to die before it could bear much fruit. I understood it to mean that God was going to take what He had put in Keith’s heart and, like seed, spread it across the land into the hearts of many. I pray that these concert messages will inspire you to rise up and cry out to God for grace and growth in your own life — and for the lost, the poor, and the hurting.”
“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” John 12:24-26