This is a complete transcript of the first part of an oral history interview with John W. Fawcett (CN514, T24) for the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives. No spoken words which were recorded are omitted. In a very few cases, the transcribers could not understand what was said, in which case “[unclear]” was inserted. Also, grunts and verbal hesitations such as "ah" or "um" are usually omitted. Readers of this transcript should remember that this is a transcript of spoken English, which follows a different rhythm and even rule than written English. Three dots indicate an interruption or break in the train of thought within the sentence on the part of the speaker. Four dots indicate what the transcriber believes to be the end of an incomplete sentence. ( ) Words in parentheses are asides made by the speaker. [ ] Words in brackets are comments by the transcriber. This transcript was created by Emily Banas and Bob Shuster and was completed in June 2020. Please note: This oral history interview expresses the personal memories and opinions of the interviewee and does not necessarily represent the views or policies of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives or Wheaton College. © 2020. The Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives. All rights reserved. This transcript may be reused with the following publication credit: Used by permission of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. WCBGC Archives CN 514, T24 Transcript - Page 2 Collection 514, Tape 24. Oral history interview of John W. Fawcett by Robert Shuster on March 27, 1995. SHUSTER: This is an interview with John Fawcett by Robert Shuster for the Archives of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. This interview took place on [pauses] … FAWCETT: March 27th SHUSTER: …March 27, 1995 at 4:00 p.m. at Buswell Library on Wheaton College campus. John, when were you born? FAWCETT: I was born October 21, 1961. SHUSTER: And where was that? FAWCETT: Ft. Worth, Texas SHUSTER: And are you a Christian? FAWCETT: Oh, yes. SHUSTER: How did you come to know the Lord? FAWCETT: I was brought up in a Christian home and when I was four, I initiated a conversation with my mother and father, I believe, and then the next morning I asked them if I could kneel and pray and ask the Lord into my life. SHUSTER: So, you grew up in a Christian family? FAWCETT: Right, my father was a pastor and then later a missionary to Brazil. So, from when I was seven until eighteen, I grew up on the mission field, São Paulo, Brazil. And then I came to Wheaton [College]. SHUSTER: How did you choose Wheaton? FAWCETT: Actually, Russell Shedd, a missionary there in Brazil, had been speaking with me throughout my high school years about what a great place Wheaton was and I applied here. That was actually the only school I applied to [laughs], so youthful inexperience or whatever [Shuster chuckles], but I applied to Wheaton. SHUSTER: Had your parents gone here or…? FAWCETT: No, I was the first in the family. Now so far, I’ve got two siblings that have been here beside myself. SHUSTER: And what have been your connections with Wheaton over the years? © 2020. The Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives. All rights reserved. This transcript may be reused with the following publication credit: Used by permission of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. WCBGC Archives CN 514, T24 Transcript - Page 3 FAWCETT: Well, after I finished in 1985 (I graduated a year later than my entering class because I took some time off) I went to the University of Chicago library school. And as I was finishing a year and a half later, I got a call from the Music librarian, who… SHUSTER: On campus here? FAWCETT: On campus here, yeah. SHUSTER: Yeah. FAWCETT: …who informed me that she was leaving and wanted to ask me if I would be interested in applying for her position. So, never expecting to come back to Wheaton so soon, I found myself in a faculty position a year and a half after graduating [Shuster chuckles]. And I took that position for probably four or five years in the music library. And then when my supervisor’s position became open, in public services, I took that acting head of public services and now head of public services. So, I came in ’87, it’s ’95, so eight years. SHUSTER: [Talking over Fawcett] Going on eight years. FAWCETT: Yeah. SHUSTER: And I know too that you have been active in various Christian ministries in the local community, can you mention some of those? FAWCETT: Well, yeah, I was involved in church music ministry throughout my college years, I was the piano player for a local church. After that I also was involved in a Christian ministry of healing some to people coming out of homosexuality. And then later through church and pastoral care ministries, to issues of healing in general, not just sexually related ones but involving prayer… SHUSTER: Which church were you…? FAWCETT: I was at Trinity Baptist [Church] at the time and I left Trinity Baptist in ’88. I was at Trinity Baptist for about eight years, from 1980, when I came, until ’88. And then I went to Church of the Resurrection, which was a then growing Episcopal church in West Chicago where the pastor had come recently, a Wheaton grad, and there was a real renewal that began in that church around that time and I wanted to be involved in that. And eventually that church left the Episcopal denomination over some of the theological issues that were stirring, among them ordination of homosexual priests which was really the tip of the iceberg, had to do with a whole lot of issues about Biblical authority and whole worldview shifts. But presently, that’s where I am attending, and I am also the musical director… SHUSTER: Uh-huh. FAWCETT: …at that church; worship leader, I guess, would probably describe what I do at the church. © 2020. The Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives. All rights reserved. This transcript may be reused with the following publication credit: Used by permission of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. WCBGC Archives CN 514, T24 Transcript - Page 4 SHUSTER: Kind of like a master of ceremonies or…? FAWCETT: Well, I do the selection of songs for the worship and I work…. I don’t do a lot of verbal communication with the congregation. If it is appropriate, I do… SHUSTER: Uh-huh. FAWCETT: …but most…mostly its coordinating special music, working with the musicians and the team we have. I play the piano there [unclear]. Work with some students there as well, who do choir with me as well, so… SHUSTER: You mentioned the healing ministry and the music ministry. Aren’t you also involved with some of the student groups on campus? FAWCETT: Yeah, well indirectly. I’ve been… (I’m trying to think) I’ve done…I’ve done some small group chapels in the past and then I’ve had some…I’ve attended over the years with WCF, which is the… SHUSTER: World Christian Fellowship FAWCETT: …World Christian Fellowship, which is the context in which what we are going to talk about really arose. SHUSTER: Uh-huh. But you just attended those meetings? FAWCETT: Right, I’ve not actually been involved in terms of the leadership with that. SHUSTER: Well, you mentioned the events last week. When did you first hear that something was going on…something unusual was going on? FAWCETT: Well… SHUSTER: How…how did you learn that something was going on? FAWCETT: …I think that’s very interesting. I got a call at 11:30 p.m. on Mon…on Sunday night, which would have been a week ago Sunday. And a student, whom I know from church, and who…. Well, actually I had given a…a talk on…I think on…on issues of healing and so forth in their dorm. I had been invited to just talk to the dorm floor. That was one of the real connections I’ve had with this student, Doug Zimmerman. He called me to tell me that he thought there was something amazing going on, that there were a lot of students standing and confessing their sins and they were just looking for direction. I guess people were initially confessing and…and then just sitting down. And he said, “If you come over there should be a lot of opportunity for ministry here, if you want to be here.” So, I initially sensed his anxiety and I think I picked up a little of that. And then I came over…. .I prayed about it and I thought, “I should go.” But even as I was still coming over, I felt apprehensive about what I might find. I thought, “Is this going to be emotionally excessive? Are we going to have some kind of a chaotic sort of a thing going on here? Is it going to be overly focused on…on berating oneself for…for © 2020. The Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives. All rights reserved. This transcript may be reused with the following publication credit: Used by permission of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. WCBGC Archives CN 514, T24 Transcript - Page 5 sin and not fully focusing on the healing and the forgiveness aspect?” And so, I walked into the chapel and as soon as I came in, I quickly saw that I was….I had misread the spirit of what was going on.