Keith Green was a man who was born in 1953 and since an early age, wanted to know God. He was born to a Jewish family but investigated various religions. He met and married his future wife Melody, another Jewish person who was searching for God.

Melody was working at a music production company when they met. From that point on they were on the search for God together. Keith’s musical talent was evident to all, however he struggled for big break, playing at small clubs in the Los Angeles area. They got a big break, at least in their search for God, in 1975 when they were invited to a Bible study in Bel-Air where they both finally accepted Jesus. However, Keith continued to struggle with some doctrinal points.

However, when Keith got over those points (the biggest one being Jesus actually being God–a point Isaac Newton never could get over) he was all in. He and Melody wanted to live their lives like Jesus and Keith would no longer do secular music and they opened up their home to street people, and abused women. They were radical in their commitment to give and spread the Gospel. They gave and they gave and the Lord continued to bless them with more.

Keith continued to do his music but he struggled with the differences between business and ministry. He always felt conflicted about charging people for tickets to see his shows or buy his music. He believed that no one should have to pay to hear the Gospel. I wonder what he would have thought about televangelists. He tried giving away records and got taken advantage of. He tried giving them away but with stipulations and still got taken advantage of. All the while, his record company was pulling its teeth out wondering how they were going to make money with such an artist. Nevertheless, Keith kept trying to do it all for the Kingdom and not for a profit.

Keith and Melody and their children bought a 120 acre farm in Texas for their Last Days ministry in 1879. It was a big ranch far away from cities or shopping centers or any creature comforts. They built the ministry buildings from the ground-up. In order to get the things they need, they had to have a light plane, which Keith learned how to fly. By 1982, they had a staff of 100 people and Keith’s music was at the height of its popularity.

July of 1982 Keith and two of his children and a family of visitors were all killed when that plane crashed. Melody states in her book, No Compromise (2008) that though she was devastated (as naturally anyone would be) the Lord reminded her of John 12:24:

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

Keith Green was a radical and wanted to know God completely. He wanted to know the mind of God and all about what that meant. He was open to doing all that the Lord had for him to do in loving and giving in all the areas of his life. He was not perfect but he laid it all down in front of the Lord and the Lord used him mightily and gave him all he needed to accomplish the Lord’s will and more. He was a radical and the Lord wants to use us too in the same way.