Confessions of a Zig-Zag Christian
by Daniel Francis Eggink 
Brother Glen Gainsbrough was a part of the "House Maranatha" in Rio Linda, California, in 1970 where I and my wife Cynthia Fisher Eggink were immersed in the Rio Linda Creek and baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ by brother Cecil Barns.

Brother Glen and his wife Trish had first heard the message of Christ in 1969 from brother Francis (called father by many) at "Christ's Church on the Mount" in Woodstock, New York, while they were tripping. A few months later  they accepted Jesus as their Lord. They arrived in California and met Cecil prospecting for gold on the American River. They were the first persons to accept the gospel from Brother Cecil who was a brand new Christian himself having just received the Gospel of Christ from an old Baptist named Troy McGrath.

They camped together beside the river and preached what they knew to hippies who seemed drawn to the remote site. Hundreds accepted the Gospel from them during that summer of 1969.

As new Christians they were not infected by many winds of doctrine and preached the simple gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven as it is written. Brothers Cecil and Glen believed the words of Jesus when he said, "Except a man forsake all that he hath he cannot be my disciple." It was a potent message and appealed to many young people who were rejecting the hypocrisy of society and the churches they had been exposed to.

When the weather changed they rented a small rundown house in Rio Linda on the northeast edge of the city of Sacramento. Soon the house, chicken coops and rusty old cars on the property were overflowing with young disciples studying the Word and praising the Lord. The brothers earned money working together cleaning the chicken houses of professional poultry producers. It was a busy winter and the brethren reached thousands more.

I, meanwhile, was sitting in the Fresno County Jail because I had smoked marijuana in public as a statement that marijuana users were arbitrarily being discriminated against while toxic and addicting nicotine filled cigarettes were being freely dispensed and publicly used along with dangerous alcoholic beverages.

But God was working on me and I accepted Jesus as a result
of reading the scriptures in my cell. During that period of incarceration I read the words of Jesus that said "Repent, be baptized for the remission of sins and you shall receive the Holy Ghost." I studied the word repent and knew that I had, but who was going to baptize me?

Some of the other inmates told me that outside there were real Christians, not hypocrites, but people who  were living the life and had the real power of God. I wanted that because all my life I wanted to be a healer and the gospel said about Jesus, "As many as believe on him to them gave he the power to become the Sons of God."

Upon my release from the Fresno jail I obtained a job cooking in a restaurant in San Mateo, California, and was reunited with my wife, Cynthia, and our son, Jason (David). Cynthia had accepted Jesus as her Lord as a result of my letters from jail. We were both determined to live a new life in Christ but where were the brethren? Who was going to baptize us? We asked almost everyone we met if they knew any Christians? We asked that question because in the Book of Acts we read that, "The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch". The answer was usually "No, I'm a Catholic", or Mormon or Jehovah's Witness or whatever but never just a simple yes.

One day in early spring of 1970 I was witnessing by will power to the best of my limited ability when two young men in a coffee house overheard me and said "Praise the Lord. We were just saved last week." It was the first time I heard  someone say the words "Praise the Lord  or the term "I was saved". I asked them where this happened and they told me about how they had been baptized in a "Christian house" near Sacramento. They told me that the brethren were living together and shared everything. I and Cynthia talked it over and decided it sounded like the Book of Acts we better check it out. So we packed our belongings into our pickup and headed to Rio Linda.

My first reaction when we pulled into the driveway of the Rio Linda house  was to flee. It was physically very unattractive but I thought "if this is where the Christians are, okay God ". When I  knocked on the door a young women about 16 or 17 years old opened it and pointed her finger at my chest and said, "Do you love Jesus?" I was taken aback and stuttered yeah, yes because no one ever asked me that before. She invited us in to the kitchen and, sitting at the table with a bible in front of him, was brother Cecil looking up with a bright smile saying welcome. He asked me what I wanted and I said, "I want to be baptized."
After listening to  Cynthia and I give the testimony of our conversion Cecil took us down to the creek and baptized us in the name of Jesus in front of his congregation which included brother Glen and sister Trish.

The Rio Linda house only lasted a few months longer before the health authorities shut it down because of over crowding. But during the time it was in operation I and the other brethren became exposed and infected by the winds of many doctrines.

Local pastors from diverse denominations would invite us to their churches but always it seemed like returning to Babylon and the pastors were not acting out of love but rather to increase their congregations. There was one pastor who stood out from the others. His name was Boswell and he stays in my prayers. The Rio Linda brethren wanted to be a congregation following the pattern of the Book of Acts. We were sheep who could follow no shepherd but Jesus. We had no experienced elders, just faith that Jesus would lead us.

After that the Rio Linda House was disbanded. Cynthia and I were left behind in Sacramento because I was very ill with a bone infection. A brother, Keith, let us stay in his apartment until God led us to where he wanted us.
A Christian couple who visited us at the Rio Linda house told us about a Christian conference center called "Springs of Living Water" near Chico where we could live and work. We stayed there for a few months and were then offered a little house in Richvale amid the California rice farms. During that period we attended a "March for Christ" at the state capitol in Sacramento and met an elder sister in the lord who had a ministry called the "Household of Faith". She was a widow whose husband was a missionary pilot who died in a plane crash in South America. She and her 3 children lived with another elder Christian lady and her three daughters. Shortly before we met her the other elder died living her with the responsibilities for both families.
She asked Cynthia and myself to move into her house and minister with them. Ignoring the council of the couple who told us about "The Springs of Living Water" we moved in. Little did I know
that I was entering into a perilous situation that would in a few years turn into a back slidden condition called, being "filled with my own ways" and I thought I was doing God's will.

After a few months with the "Household of Faith" we decided to take the show on the road and by faith preach the Gospel where ever God would lead us. Our little caravan of old cars made its way north to the remote mining community of Happy Camp on the Klamath River.

 In the fall of 1971 brother Dale Mowry and brother Bernie came  to visit Cynthia and I  where we were camped with our small congregation and working in the woods. They told us about the ministry they were part of  on 8th street in Fresno and urged us to join up with them. We proceeded to Fresno, though against the council of the elder sister. Another reason I went to Fresno was because brother Glen and Trish had joined that ministry and I loved them.

I must also admit that I went to Fresno because I was running short on faith and knew I lacked the experience to lead the congregation through the coming winter. I knew I wasn't an elder and though I could see brother Dale was little more experienced than myself I yielded to his worldly competance. Little did I realize that Dale expected me to be a real leader. During the winter of 1971/72 members of the "Children of God " cult started visiting 8th Street and while Dale was away in Switzerland I took Cynthia my son and the unmarried members of our little band from Fresno to a ranch run by the "Children of God" near King City. Why? Because I mistakenly thought they had it together more than we did in Fresno. Oh, how deceived I was. We spent 6 months with the "COG" spending time in Ellenville, New york, Washington, D.C. and Crockett Texas. I could no longer stomach their false doctrines and deceptions and together with everyone who went in with me minus 1 we departed and made our way to Laredo, Texas, where, by faith in Christ, we started anew. It was the Fall of 1972.
As we drove into Laredo we passed a run down pink casa with an A-frame chapel in front and a big sign saying "Heaven or Hell One Breath Away." A smaller sign said, "For sale". We called the owner, Ed Hurley, who was a member of the Full Gospel Business Men's Association. He said we could use the place until he sold it.
God blessed us in Laredo and more than a few turned to Jesus during our stay there. The most notable event was a blizzard that
closed the roads between Laredo and San Antonio for a week. During that time a young couple returning from Mexico were stranded and accepted the gospel while they stayed with us before returning to Florida. Two months later we received a letter from a young woman who said she heard about our mission and wanted to come and serve the Lord with us.
To be continued...The testimony of Abigail's arrival in Laredo.
Have any questions or comments? Just fly it by!