Opa Locka, FL

DECEMBER 1973

When I worked downtown Miami I was told I would never move again, but that changed because within 2 months I was transferred a few miles away to a Northern Miami city called Opa Locka to a Air-Sea Rescue Station. I worked at an airport for the Coast Guard little knowing that in little over a year's time I would be transported in one ot those helicopters while my friends took me to a Miami hospital.

In Opa Locka I began attending an Assemblies of God in Opa Locka a few miles from the base. The pastor there was Jim Rentz who in time became Jimmi Swaggart's Campus Pastor. When Jimmi Swaggart became national news for his indiscretions (meeting with prostitutes) Jim Rentz took over the ministry for 3 months. When Swaggart was again caught with a prostitute, Rentz fired Swaggart from the Jimmi Swaggart Ministries, and when Swaggart was fired from his own ministry...he turned around and fired Rentz. Oh the drama!

Jim Rentz and his wife were really awesome people who had me over for dinner or for his wife's great iced tea regularly. I didn't like tea usually, but she put so much sugar in the tea that it became something totally different. Pastor Rentz was also a decent preacher with a church of about 300.

I loved the music in the church - whoever deemed themselves to be a good musician got up front and played during the hymns. In particular there was this guy who played an out of tune violin. Not only was it out of tune, but he seemed to be tone deaf. Up front the band consisted of the pastor's wife on the piano, some old lady on the organ, an accordian player, a guitar player (the pastor's son) and this old guy who dominated the sound with his violin.

As good as Pastor Rentz was, when I brought visitors to his church, for some reason there was always a visiting evangelist which always meant disaster ... Every time! There was one evangelist who told us how to properly discipline children - he told us how great his kids were as a result... years later one of his daughters became a prostitute.

There was also one who was very much like the guy who preached by spitting and frothing at the mouth, pacing the platform like a trapped animal, screaming and then talking softly, challenging and attacking the audience with words that virtually put us through a lousy sermon for one hour. This happened on more than one occasion.

There were one or two exceptions to the rule. At another Assemblies of God in Jacksonville, FL, I saw Arthur Blessitt who was really good. When I saw him in 1972 he was beginning a long and interesting career walking around the world carrying a cross. Check this out: http://www.blessitt.com/. He has walked almost 40,000 miles in 315 countries and was the one who prayed with George Bush years ago. He was one of the best preachers I ever heard. He was also the weirdest preacher I ever heard. I thought he was great.