What is Gary Sweeten Doing Now?

This is the question I started with because we are changing the name and focus on our ministry.

What!? Again?! What are you going to do? Can't you just be satisfied with doing the same thing for twenty years or so or is you ADD gotten so bad you are bored again?

I have been through so many ups and downs, ins and outs that my family and friends are in a continual stage of confusion. First of all, I have had positions that were unknown and new from anything my parents or friends even heard about before. After leaving my teacher's job in southern Illinois the Lord opened up a position at the University of Cincinnati. It was in Student Affairs, something TJ and Leota Sweeten had never heard of before. Karen and I lived with a new born baby, Julie, for two years in a big residence hall of upper class males.

For a couple of years UC and other many campuses were roiled by unrest, riots, threats and unlawful use of drugs. As I was the head Counselor of a 600 man residence hall my staff and I certainly had our hands full during those days of tension and easily piqued students.

The university had to close its doors twice because of violence. The bumper sticker back then could have been, "Support Peace and get out of Viet Nam or I will Kill You." I was threatened with death or severe beatings several times but the Lord watched over me. We all wore badges identifying us as good guys so the police would not bash us over the heads along with the rioters, SDS and the dopers, with night sticks. It still did not make us feel very secure.

But God was also active. We often quoted So shall they fear The name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him. Isaiah 59:18-20

I had written a Master's Paper on riots in higher education so I was supposed to have been an expert on campus unrest. Man o man I was just an newbie and I learned a lot about prayer, helplessness and those who profit off of pain. The misinformation and egotism of the media who lied constantly to write a "big story" and the lies of the protesters whose motives and character were, at best, narcissistic and at worst, criminal.

But God poured out His Holy Spirit on us and brought many people to faith and healing. It was the beginning of the Fourth Great Awakening; an Awakening that is forty years into the normal 100 year cycle of Great Revivals and Awakenings. Thank God, those of us predestined by the Lord to be chosen for such a wonderful time are still feasting on His grace and marvelling at His mercy as we see how revivals and awakenings gather steam and change nations.

My new thrust is riding the waves stirred up by the Jesus Movement and the Great Awakening as God's plan continues to move along.