In July 1967, the Glass Menagerie group disbanded after touring the Midwest and Larry McClurg, Jack Bond and Norris Lytton returned to Morgantown where they were all all students at West Virginia University. Jim Straub, drummer, left for parts unknown. John Fisher, lead guitar, joined the Shadows of Knight as a bass player from 1967-1971. At the University, Larry, Norris and Jack met John Vaughan, Ted Smith and the fiery, young, controversial and imaginative campus minister, Reverend Michael Paine. Soon a new, as yet unnamed band was formed. Reverend Paine's wife, Tori, named the band the Mind Garage. Not limiting themselves to one kind of music they remained a secular band also covering songs by the Stones, the Beatles, the Animals and Jefferson Airplane.

In 1967, at the suggestion of Reverend Paine and in the tradition of Bach who used popular tavern songs in his music, the psychedelic, hard-rock band began writing rock music for church in Reverend Paine's attic. With a serious intent to get the message across, they took Rock 'n Roll into churches, playing an actual Mass with communion. The music they created was named the Electric Liturgy and subtitled A Festival of Feeling, The Electric Mass. The premier performance, originally scheduled on West Virginia University property was cancelled when university administrators backed out of the previous arrangement with Reverend Paine and declared the performance unconstitutional. Reverend Paine then bargained with the First Presbyterian church to use their parking lot. In the mounting tension the church elders refused to allow the band to use the church facilities when the local paper ran a photo of the Mind Garage in a tree with Reverend Paine and friends standing about. At the last moment Reverend Jennings Fast of Wesley Methodist Church provided a place for the service.  

By July 1968, the term "theo-rock" was coined in the Village Voice in reference to The Mind Garage music. By the end of 1968, the Mind Garage had performed the "Electric Liturgy" live more than a dozen times in Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist churches, each time with people dancing in the aisles. Each time the services were attended by Christians and non Christians alike in a communal celebration of life.