Few people have impacted the world for Jesus as quickly as Keith Green did. His life on this earth was only a brief 28 years, but when he was born again, he used his platform as a well-known Christian singer to win lost people to Jesus and fire up believers. Many of you know about Keith, but many young people don’t. Let’s look together at his life of no compromise and introduce Keith Green to a new generation.
Keith Green was born in 1953 in a Jewish family, but his parents raised him in the Christian Science religious denomination. Keith jokingly remarked that it was neither Christian nor science. As a boy, Keith was a natural musician, learning to play the ukulele, guitar, and piano by age seven. He quickly gained the attention of music producers and was signed by Decca Records. Moreover, he was such a talented and handsome young man that he was being prepared to be a rising teenage heartthrob. Because so many other young men were crowding the industry at the time, his rise to fame failed to materialize.
As he progressed through his teens, with his dreams of a music career on hold, he began a search for deeper meaning and truth. Keith said he grew up reading the New Testament and called the mixture of being Jewish and learning about Jesus an odd combination that left him open-minded, but deeply confused and unsatisfied. He ran away from home several times and left permanently in his late teens. He started experimenting with marijuana, psychedelics, meditation, yoga, and various Eastern religions. Keith said, “I thought they were going to satisfy me, and they did sometimes for hours and days, but I’d always come down and say, no, that didn’t do it.” He also said, “I always knew when I found true happiness and peace, it would last.” He said that it was during this time that he was praying and searching with his whole heart.
It was around this time that Keith met his future wife, Melody, who was also Jewish. Melody said, “Being Jewish, I knew there was a God, but he felt so distant.” She was also involved in the hippie drug culture in her late teens and early twenties, but her biggest quest was her genuine search for the God she believed must be there. On the day Keith met Melody in early 1973, when she was working at a production company, he made the following entry in his journal: “Went to the Matrix Image, talked to Melody. I’m attracted to her. She’s a musician-songwriter-singer-creator. Very challenging lady, interested.” Melody says that Keith chased her like crazy and that their spiritual search brought them together. The couple quickly fell in love and were married in December that same year.
Keith said he came to realize Jesus was the truth in 1972. He said, “In 1973, I started praying to Jesus, but for the next two years, it was another trip; Jesus was another guru. In an interview, Keith was asked what put him over the edge and was the deciding factor about Jesus. Keith said, “In 1975, when I came to the acceptance that Jesus is God, that’s when I was born again.” Melody explained that she had a tougher time coming to faith in Jesus because of her strong Jewish identity and had to put the pieces together. She said, “Jesus was Jewish, the disciples were Jewish, he came to the Jews, I can do that and still be Jewish.” Around this time, Randy Stonehill, who was a good friend of Keith and Melody and a great Christian musician, invited them to a Bible study in another part of Los Angeles. They went to the Bible study, and that’s where everything clicked spiritually for Melody, and it was from this time that Keith and Melody went head and heart first into ministry.
For the next few years, the Greens opened their home to the destitute, addicts, bikers, the addicted, pregnant young women, and others of the least of these. It got to the point where they bought the house next door and then five other homes to be able to house, feed, and disciple those in need. At this time, Keith poured himself into his music and songwriting, along with Melody, who wrote songs as well. His career took off, and he became one of the most popular and best-selling contemporary Christian artists of the time. As I listened to many interviews and read articles, it became clear that Keith and Melody weren’t comfortable with the whole mass commercialization and financially lucrative business that much of Christian music was identified with. They decided they weren’t going to let their music or ministry be cost-prohibitive and began a pay-what-you-can policy for their music. Oftentimes, they gave away their tracts, music, and materials for free, numbering in the hundreds of thousands of items.
The ministry quickly outgrew the confines of Southern California, so the Greens and the group they cared for moved to a large ranch property in Texas. They formed Last Days Ministries there, which consisted of distributing Keith’s music, a popular magazine, and a housing and training center for young people. Keith was traveling to do concerts often during this time and would concentrate on writing articles for the magazine and teaching young people, and equipping them for what the Lord was calling them to. The ministry flourished for nearly three years and was touching people worldwide. Tragically, on July 28, 1982, Keith, along with two of his small children, Josiah and Bethany, and other family friends, died in a small plane crash near the Last Days Ministry property. Keith is survived by his wife, Melody, and their daughters, Rebekah and Rachel. Melody continues to head Last Days Ministries with the same purpose she and Keith started it with, of making Jesus known.
As we conclude this introduction to Keith Green, I want to move beyond a fascinating look into the life of a famous Christian musician and briefly focus on what made Keith Green a man of no compromise. As I read numerous articles and watched many interviews about Keith, one thing becomes very apparent. He had a heartfelt desire to make Jesus known and reach lost souls with such a sincere love and boldness that is only found in people who are truly sold out to God and filled with His Spirit. Moreover, for all of Keith’s talent and fame, he was consumed with making sure to never take credit for his ministry, but that God alone would receive the glory. Dear friends, I hope that you will take some time to get acquainted or re-acquainted with Keith Green, his ministry, and the beautiful songs about Jesus that challenged a generation. Suffice it to say that I know you will be deeply blessed and come away with a renewed love for the Lord and lost souls as you reflect on Keith Green and his life, one that he wanted to be a prayer to God. I will place links below several resources related to Keith and Last Days Ministries.
All for Him,
Howard
Click here for our in-depth podcast on the life of Keith Green, with interview clips.
Click here for Last Days Ministries – Find music books, and ministry resources by Keith & Melody Green.
Click here for Make My Life A Prayer: A book by Melody Green containing many of Keith’s journal entries.
Click here for Keith’s message on video: What’s Wrong With the Gospel?
