The Watermelon Gospel

A Young Hippie's Ride to the Shores of Surrender

Having been compared to Blue Like Jazz, The Watermelon Gospel traces the adventures of Bill Blomquist, a young hippie wanna-be growing up in the 60’s on the infamous beaches of the “space coast,” Cape Canaveral, Florida. Lost in a haze of mind-numbing agents, cult and occult dabbling, numerous relationships, and wild addictive behavior, Bill does everything possible to avoid the insistent interruptions of a God who loves and rescues him time and time again.

This fast-paced, snapshot-like biography is filled with laugh out loud uncanny scenarios and and soberingly poignant moments. Written in free-form, endearing style, Bill shares his life candidly, oftentimes in a raw earthy manner which does all the more to make The Watermelon Gospel a compelling read.

At first it was the appearance of an ice-cold watermelon in the middle of nowhere on I95N. Then it was the mysterious visitor who’s eyes flooded peace into his heart in the midst the fire surrounding him in a burning van. His continuous hell-bent behavior eventually leads him onto a deserted beach, struggling for his life, where he surrenders himself to a God he’s not sure he even believes in, and into a lifestyle he’s not sure he fits into, nor even desires - but one he knows he needs.

The rest of the Gospel is filled with a continuation of the adventure - including sharing his new-found Faith with a porn producer, a supernatural healing from hepatitis, and a powerful reconciliation from his estranged father. Later in his life, a significant moral failure tears his family apart. He again wanders in uncertainty, his life wrapping around the that hippie of old, who again wonders if there is a God, and if he really even exists. God hears his cry for peace and, once again, surprises him with another unexplainable gift from heaven.A confession, a witness, a season of one man’s life … The Watermelon Gospel is written to bring encouragement to those struggling on the road to reality and hope to those parents of wayward sons or daughters.Today the Rev. Bill Blomquist is a worship leader, congregational songwriter, preacher and teacher of those same mysterious ways of God he fought so adamantly to avoid. He and his wife, Cinnamon, still have hearts for “that young hippie” (and others like him) and are reaching into their culture with the authenticity of the good news of Jesus Christ. Both serve as Anglican Priests in the Anglican Diocese of New England.