Believers Bible Church wasn’t officially founded as such until 1974. But churches don’t just pop out of nowhere all of a sudden. According to an account written by founding member Earl Swain, “God began a work in Grand Prairie in November, 1968 when He brought Curtis French to a local church to serve as the Music and Youth Director.” Swain continues:
Curtis’ vision was to reach nonbelievers with the gospel through the youth, both in … and outside of Grand Prairie through summer mission trips. After the youth camp in the summer of 1969 on the Sunday night service at the First Baptist Church, the service was given over to the youth to share what God had done in their hearts at camp. The service started at 7:00 p.m. and didn’t close until 9:30 p.m. God sent revival that night as never seen before, and the decision was made to continue meeting the next night, and meetings continued for an additional two nights (Monday through Wednesday). The youth were having prayer meetings before school, and many people from other denominations and churches started coming to the Monday to Wednesday night meetings. [On] Monday, 35 to 40 people responded to the invitation, and Tuesday there were more than 100 decisions for salvation or recommitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Wednesday the church was filled, and more than 200 people crowded the altar at the invitation. What an experience to see a truly Holy Spirit-sent revival!
But as significant and as that revival must have been, it was just the beginning for those involved in the formation of Believers Bible Church. Swain wrote, “The moving of the Holy Spirit continued, and in July of 1971, several Baptist churches worked together, under Curtis French’s leadership, to conduct a youth-led summer revival in a Grand Prairie park, with Barry Wood from Hollywood, California, as the evangelist, and the Holy Spirit moved in power to bring scores of people to faith in Christ.”
Soon, others began to get involved in God’s work in Grand Prairie. Swain writes, “Following the July, 1971 crusade, several adults met to discuss beginning a ‘Christian Coffeehouse’ ministry, led by Cecil Bartel and Earl Swain. That meeting resulted in forming Christians In Service to Youth, better known as CISTY. The house was called the ‘True Vine.’”
Cecil Bartel was also a founding member of what would become Believers Bible Church. Bartel’s daughter, Janis Burdett (nee Bartel) recalls the events that led to the church’s formation during her teenage years in the early seventies. “We grew up at First Baptist Church in Grand Prairie,” Burdett says, referring to herself and her siblings. “And when I was in high school, we had participated in a citywide crusade that was in the park [the July 1971 revival], and it was back during the Jesus movement. The evangelists and the musicians were all from California.”
Burdett remembers the presence of the sort of youth who perhaps most famously characterized the Jesus movement. “During that crusade, we had a lot of young people get saved, and there were street kids, hippies, long-haired kids … drug addicts. They got saved, and they were wanting to … study the Word … and be discipled.”
But there was a problem—one that also, regrettably, seems characteristic of that era based on testimonies and media portrayals. Burdett explains, “Sadly, the churches during those times, First Baptist and First Methodist … they didn’t want those kids in their churches, and the church leadership said they didn’t want them.”
Bartel and Swain, among others, were part of the effort to address this problem. “My mom and dad, and Earl and Louise Swain, were from First Baptist,” Burdett recalls. “And there was a group from the Methodist church, which was Lloyd and Jan Carlisle, Randy and Martha McCracken….they were all concerned that there was no place for these kids. Out of that concern rose a coffeehouse, where they hired a guy to just disciple and work with those kids.”
Swain recounts the early days of the True Vine ministry. “To start that ministry, money was raised; an Urban Renewal-owned house was rented; approval was given to remove some walls to make a larger meeting room; and the house was fixed up. A man from California, Bob Hensley, who participated in the Grand Prairie youth-led city crusade, was hired to become the full-time director of the CISTY ministry.”
And, according to Swain’s recollections, the ministry thrived for a time and bore great fruit:
Bob played the guitar for singing, led a Bible study and sharing every night except Sunday, counseled, and helped to lead in great fellowship at the house. In-depth Bible studies with guest speakers were held on some afternoons. In nine months’ time that Bob led the CISTY ministry, there had been about a thousand decisions made [for Christ] as a result of the Coffeehouse ministry, from teens to a 75-year-old person. The Coffeehouse ministry continued through 1972.
God was doing amazing things. But He wasn’t finished—not by a longshot.