Gordon Fry had resigned as pastor of the Baptist Church at Port Pirie. Gordon and his wife Helen felt they should move to Adelaide and find a house in the southern suburbs of Adelaide. A week before removal day in August 1971, a house in Malvern became available for rent which met their requirements. The only drawback was a large two-storey building in the backyard of 114 Cheltenham Street. (This building became a focus for the ‘Adelaide Jesus Centre’ which came into being in October 1972.) Months passed quietly by. Gordon got a job in the Public Service and his wife Helen had a spinal operation. They both came into a deeper experience of the Spirit of God. Gordon got involved with the Public Service Christian Fellowship within his workplace and connected with people who were to be key in the formation of the ‘Adelaide Jesus Centre’.

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In August-September 1971, two men from Campaigners for Christ visited Renmark at the invitation of the Baptist Church. Bruce Townsend was heading up ‘Campaigners for Christ’ in South Australia and John Smith at the time was an evangelist with ‘Campaigners for Christ’ based in Melbourne. John spoke at several different churches and some well attended meetings were held in a hall in the main street. 

 

There was something about John’s preaching that struck a chord in Malcolm Graetz, a 16 year old lad from Renmark West. Over a fellowship tea at the Baptist Church one night, Malcolm got chatting to John Smith. John gave him a July 1971 issue of ‘TRUTH’ Jesus Paper. The paper was from  a ‘Jesus People’ group called ‘Voice of Elijah Ministries’ based in Spokane, Washington, USA. John shared about this ‘Jesus Movement’ that was happening amongst young people in the USA and other parts of the world. Malcolm read this Jesus Paper and felt hungry for more of what John Smith had shared and what these Jesus People were experiencing. Don Drayson, the Baptist pastor at Renmark was also stirred by John’s passion for God and was able to talk with John about the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

 

Many things developed in the next six months before Malcolm left Renmark in February 1972 to study at the S.A. Institute of Technology in Adelaide. Malcolm comments: 

There was a strong desire to discover the fullness that God wanted for me. I wrote to the Jesus People in Spokane and ordered more copies of TRUTH Jesus Paper. I started meeting with Don Drayson to pray and to share what God was doing in our lives. We also met with Ian Hooper who also desired to be filled with the Spirit and be a witness to God’s love and power. 

We went out on the streets witnessing to the love of Christ. During the summer, seasonal workers appeared for the fruit harvest. Some were long haired hippie types. The Jesus Papers helped tap into their world. We set up a Coffee House in the Baptist Church hall and invited in people we had met on the streets. We encouraged them to have a personal relationship with Jesus, experience forgiveness of their sin and become part of God’s forever family.

An Adelaide Uni student called Geoffrey Coombe came to work on our fruit block in December 1971 and January 1972. We became close friends. When I went to live in Adelaide, he lived not far from where I was living in Unley. We continued to meet together to pray and attended Bible Studies up at Old Government House at Belair. We also attended Unley Park Baptist Church.

I kept in touch with John Smith and got some Jesus Papers from him. In December 1971 John had published an Australian Edition of the TRUTH Jesus Paper from USA. John and his wife Glena often referred back to this critical time in their lives when God provided for them financially. Geoffrey and I felt we should financially support John and his fledgling ministry.

 

To quote from his book ‘On the Side of the Angels’, John Smith says, 

...we needed $450 (to print the next Jesus Paper). Glena said, ‘I believe God is with us in this. Go ahead and publish it. You won’t have to pay the bill for a month.’. But I wasn’t so sure. I had absolutely no support from any outside source that could finance either the paper or anything else. And in 1972, $450 was alot of money. But Glena was firm. She made me send it to the printers. Later that same day, two cheques arrived in the post. They exactly covered the amount we needed. They came from two anonymous Adelaide University students who knew nothing of our circumstances, but just felt they ought to send us some money. It was stunning.

 

This Jesus Paper was published as ‘Truth & Liberation’, giving it a more Aussie identity. The many Jesus Papers that sprung up over the coming years served to connect Christians together across the country.