From nominal Judaism to the drug culture to Christ

The Dec. 27 issue of WORLD includes an interview with Lon Solomon, senior pastor at McLean Bible Church in Northern Virginia for 34 years and chairman of the executive committee of Jews for Jesus. The magazine interview emphasizes his experience in caring for a severely disabled daughter, Jill, but Solomon also has a story of God’s grace during his own time of growing up.

What was it like to grow up in a Jewish home in Northern Virginia?

My mom lit Sabbath candles. We celebrated the big Jewish holidays, but there was no real sense of God in our home. We didn’t own a Bible. We never talked about God.

You’ve said in high school you were “profane, unrighteous, sociopathic.”

Classic sociopath. I’d lie, cheat, steal without any pangs of conscience.

Then on to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: drug dealer?

When I was a junior. First two years mostly partying, drinking. Then I really got into the drug culture, doing a lot of LSD, psychedelics. People said, “You’re going to get enlightened if you do this.” I was looking to figure out what life was all about. I got into Eastern religions. Poured my heart out to a rabbi, and he didn’t know what I was talking about. After that, I lost all hope. I was thinking of ending it all.

But then you ran into a street preacher?

Bob Eckhart. He recently passed away. He was about 40 years old in 1971. He’d come to Chapel Hill every Saturday in a white Econoline van with Scripture all over the side, megaphones on top—it was like out of a circus! He’d hand out tracts. I thought, “This is the weirdest guy I’d ever seen in my life.” I had at the time a big German shepherd named Noah. He got into a dogfight and I was trying to pull him off of this other dog. Bob Eckhart came over and helped me.

Some Hollywood movies have dogs helping guys and gals to “meet cute,” but this is the first dog evangelism story I’ve heard. What happened after you met Eckhart?

He gave me a Bible. I started reading it. I got to Matthew 11 where Jesus said, “Come to me, you who labor and are heavy laden. I’ll give you rest for your soul.” I got down on my knees and said, “If You can give me this peace and this rest, you can have my life for good. I’ll give you 30 days.”

Non-negotiable demand …

That was the worst salvation prayer probably in history, but God moved into my life in a massive way. Bob Eckhart said to me, “You gotta get out of this town. Your drinking and doping buddies are here.” I hitchhiked around the country with my dog for six months, came to Washington because I had a friend who lived here, and ran into some seminary students who told me, “We learn Greek, we learn Hebrew, we learn theology.” I said, “That sounds so cool!” So I started going to Capitol Seminary.

You graduated, then taught there, and served as an assistant pastor at McLean Bible Church, and in 1980, at age 32, became senior pastor. The church grew, and so did your family. I understand your hardest test began in 1992 when Jill was born.

She was a surprise. We already had three boys, and we were all playing whiffle ball in the front yard when Brenda came out and said, “Lon. Guess what? I’m pregnant.” She was 40, I was 44.

Were you at bat? Did you swing and miss?

It was all a blur. I was like, “What?” But we had our little girl and were so excited. Everything at first seemed to be great, but then she started having seizures, and more seizures, six, eight, 10 a day.

For more on what Lon Solomon learned from his daughter, and the eventual formation of Jill’s House, see “Lon Solomon: From burden to blessing.”