The world needs a Jesus revolution

The film version of pastor-evangelist Greg Laurie’s memoir is released on 23 June in the UK. Years ago Woman Alive’s deputy editor Jemimah Wright met some people who experienced the Jesus Movement in real time, so she asked them what they thought of the film.

Jesus Revolution, opens with a baptism scene at Pirates Cove, the exact location where the baptisms were recorded by TIME magazine over forty years ago:

On a cul-de-sac beach at Corona del Mar, Calif., the Rev. Chuck Smith recently held another of the mass baptisms that have made his Calvary Chapel at Santa Ana famous. Under a setting sun, several hundred converts waded into the cold Pacific, patiently waiting their turn for the rite. On the cliffs above, hundreds more watched… the baptized were young, tanned and casual in cut-off blue jeans, pullovers and even an occasional bikini. A freshly dunked teenager, water streaming from her tie-dyed shirt, threw her arms around a woman and cried, “Mother, I love you!” A teen-age drug user who had been suffering from recurring unscheduled trips suddenly screamed, “My flashbacks are gone!” As the baptisms ended, the crowd slowly climbed a narrow stairway up the cliff, singing a moving Lord’s Prayer in the twilight.

The so-called Jesus Revolution was TIME magazine’s cover story and the film with the same name is based on a 2018 memoir by now pastor-evangelist Greg Laurie, whose ministry began during the Jesus People movement. It follows the true story experienced by Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie, the actor who plays Jesus in The Chosen), Rev Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) and Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney). Also joining the cast in his first major film role is author and preacher DeVon Franklin.

Jesus Revolution is a tale about love, and a story of a lost generation finding hope and faith in Jesus. From the words of Lonnie Frisbee in the film: ‘God is saving hippies, and it’s blowing everybody’s mind, because no one thought hippies could be saved…’