Jesus Revolution Pt. II: As Modern Commentary

By Jonathan Faulkner

Author's Note: this is part 2 of 3 of an examination of Jesus Revolution and its significance for us today. You can read part 1 here.

Jesus Revolution is a film about the events of the Jesus Movement in the 60’s and 70’s that has broken box office records nationwide and even been competitive with Marvel’s latest Ant-Man and the Wasp. The movie follows the story of hippie street preacher Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) and Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) as they are used by God to bring in one of the greatest moves of God in our nation’s history. The movie has a message that is both true to its time and relevant for us today.

At the end of Part I of this article (first published in Edition 72)[1] I asked the question: “Who might be the Janis Joplin-type spiritual gurus, or Lonnie Frisbees and Greg Lauries of our world today?” That is to say, who are we listening to? Who are your influences? Are we listening to those who offer the philosophy of the age or are we listening to people who are teaching us the truth? In our society today those voices are everywhere in the world. Social media influencers and personalities, actors and actresses, Twitter blue checks and so many more want to influence you in one direction or another, all promising a way, whether to happiness or belonging or joy. Most often, they merely offer artificial light; they have invested money into offering sugar water that may make you feel good for a time, but will ultimately lead to death. The Church is largely silent, focusing on fighting culture wars instead of addressing the felt needs of those who sit in the pew or closing the door altogether to groups that are deemed “unacceptable.” In fact, I have argued in recent years that we are actually ripe for something similar to the Jesus Revolution to happen again in our nation.

Greg Laurie himself intended this, as he lays out for us the last chapter of the book which inspired the movie, a path towards another type of Jesus Revolution, or what he believes is a path. He manages to do this without rehashing the culture wars (though he is clear-eyed about the challenges the church faces today) and with an eye towards rewarding redemption and confession. What would a new Jesus Revolution look like? Laurie says:

“All we know is that it would be exhilarating, messy, passionate, and surprising. We should not pray for revival unless we are ready to be turned upside down, our heads and our pockets and our lives shaken out.”

Laurie is correct: praying for revolution is risky and it comes with consequences we are not always ready for. When the Spirit moves, it shakes up everything, and I mean everything.

This brings me to Jesus Revolution as social commentary for us today. In a lot of ways, we have come 360 degrees. We have reached a point where like Chuck Smith’s church in 1970 our doors are closed to those outside. We even have pastors on social media echoing Smith’s comment from the movie: “Show me a hippie who loves Jesus and I will let him preach in my church.” Only we can replace that with one of any number of people groups and the sentiment still stands. “Doing the work of ministry is too exhausting and messy, it requires us to be uncomfortable and we do not want to be.”[2] Or as a pastor in Iowa, part of the very generation that was converted during the Jesus Revolution, once told me: “We’ve done our work, we want to retire.” Yet, one must ask the question, if the next generation is not coming to your church, if there is no one to replace you when you die, have you really done the work? See the problem? If your “work” has been to fight culture wars (as the religious right has) instead of preaching the Gospel, have you really done the work of Christ?

But we must ask the obvious question: “Who are we closing the doors to today?” In a sense, it is the same people who were hippies in the 70’s. People looking for, longing for a family, a connection, for love and ultimately for peace. While in the 70’s that manifested itself in sex, drugs, and rock and roll, in 2023 that manifests itself in issues like gender identity and sexual orientation. However, unlike the hippie culture of the 70’s the new search for meaning is much more complicated and requires much more nuance than we are taught to have, because instead of dealing with someone feeling homeless socially, we are dealing with people questioning their very self-existence. Identity is the new belonging, it is the new hippie culture and it requires the preaching of a full Gospel, a Gospel where Jesus not only restores the spirit, but the body as well. A Gospel that only focuses on the restoration of the spirit and individual relationship with God is incomplete and leaves out the end result of Jesus’ ministry, complete and total restoration of the whole of creation both seen and unseen. Yet, for people to hear this message, one must come to where that message is meant to be proclaimed. In most churches, the doors are shut and we are closed off to this message of total restoration through Christ. Take the debate over deconstruction for example. Deconstruction as defined is the removal of beliefs once thought to be foundational in a system of thought known as foundationalism. It historically happens when one reaches an age where they start to take ownership of their own beliefs and practices and ask questions about what they believe. The hippies are actually a good example of a societal group deconstructing all at once and tearing down the society around them. Deconstruction also leads to reconstruction, where one will build a new system of beliefs. For the hippies it was whatever the gurus taught, free love and the like. For the people of the Jesus Movement it was to construct a belief system centered on Jesus Christ of the Bible.

Deconstruction tends to happen after a catalytic event in one’s life. In Jesus Revolution, for Greg’s girlfriend it was seeing her sister almost die of a drug overdose. For Greg it was a drive down a highway in a van with a drugged-out driver who almost got everyone killed. These events caused these two to deconstruct the belief systems of the hippies and seek something different which led them to Chuck Smith, Lonnie Frisbee and Calvary Chapel. By the time they both join the movement, the doors of Calvary Chapel are wide open (literally, in the movie’s amazing use of imagery) and they both find the love and family they were looking for.

But to those deconstructing today, the church doors are closed both to those who are deconstructing faith and those who are deconstructing secular worldviews.[3] They are closed by the culture wars and by the attitudes we take towards people who are different from us; they are closed to those who are questioning everything and to those who want to find peace and belonging. They are closed in the thoughts and the hearts of the people who would rather not feel any discomfort on Sunday morning. And if those doors are closed, then those questioning faith are going to go somewhere else and there are people who have invested money into helping people deconstruct their faith and find their peace in secular worldviews. The people who are selling artificial light instead of the real life of Christ. If the church won’t disciple people into a deep and lasting faith, the social media influencers will disciple them into some other belief system.[4]

This does not mean that we are totally without hope. There are those who are willing and working hard to minister to the felt needs of the next generation. David Kinnaman has given us actual data points in his book You Lost Me[5] that can help us minister to those who have left the Church. Nick Hall, a traveling evangelist who has spoken at Winter Jam, evangelistic conferences and most recently the Asbury Revival is proclaiming the word of God in the manner of the late Billy Graham. Laurie himself is willing and working to reach a new generation. But the most common way young people come to and remain in the faith is by being taken in and discipled into the deep water of Christianity by a person who has invested in them on a deep level that has generated a feeling of love and belonging. As Rosaria Butterfield has pointed out, “Discipleship happens within the context of hospitality.” The table provides a place to ask and answer questions about everything from faith to life itself. It provides a place for conversation, for deep questions.

But we have to be open to the questions that our kids are asking about faith and life. We have to be willing to answer questions about God’s love. And we cannot put restrictions on who God loves. If everyone we meet is made in the image of God and worthy of dignity, then we have to treat everyone how Christ would have us treat them, without asking if they are deserving of love. Jesus invited you and me to come as we were and be transformed; we must allow others to do the same. This is the message at the heart of the movie: stop closing the doors to those who need it most, stop being afraid of others and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. Fling wide open the church doors and let every lost, hurt, and broken body and soul come in and know the life-giving community of Jesus. Introduce them to the real Jesus, the one who is living and active today as He was in the Scriptures, the one who is restoring all things in creation. That is the only way a fresh Jesus Revolution comes to us anew.

Resources

[1] https://www.projectarctos.com/archive/72/jesus-revolution-the-message-pt-1

[2] The Jesus Revolution. Directed by Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle, Kelsey Grammer, Lionsgate, 2023.

[3] Should Christians Deconstruct Their Faith: Alise Childers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvT87LHHylc

[4] Joshua Harris Deconstruction: https://www.newsweek.com/josh-harris-launches-course-deconstructing-faithsome-theologians-question-his-motives-1619263

[5] Kinnaman, D., & Hawkins, A. (2016). You lost me: Why young Christians are leaving church and rethinking faith.

Rev. Jonathan David Faulkner is a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary holding Masters in Divinity and Church History, a pastor, musician and writer. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Education & Administration with a concentration in Urban Ministry. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Spokane, Washington.