Original Details. Please don’t stop with this information or the trailer. Go on to understand the scope of this movement and what only God can do. After seeing this movie, it hit me that this is exactly what our country needs in order to overcome ALL the evil we are dealing with today. Although we see eliminating Election Crimes/Fraud as key to the survival of our country; that is only a very small piece of the problem. After you understand the scope, then go see the movie.
In Theaters Everywhere February 24, 2023
Trailer:
Harvest Crusades, of Harvest Ministries (part of Greg Laurie’s ministries). Note the endorsements by Billy Graham and six others in the 2nd link (bottom of the page).
See more excerpts “We Are One in The Spirit.”
Here is a recap of just one of the many Crusades: Watch the SoCal Harvest 2022 Video Recap:
A very informative, must see interview: Jonathan Roumie Talks ‘Jesus Revolution’ With Kate O’Hare (In the original YouTube video, this transitions to another video which is also very informative.) Jonathan Roumie also plays Jesus on The Chosen (going into Season 4 of eight Episodes each), another MUST SEE.
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How Chuck Smith ACTUALLY Got Greg Laurie a Church Building
Original video.
66,995 views, Premiered Feb 23, 2023
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Jesus Revolution: Fact or Fiction?
Original article.
by Greg Laurie on Mar 7, 2023
Many people have wondered how much of Jesus Revolution actually happened in real life. The truth may surprise you! While some of the events of the film were condensed, altered, or rearranged for the sake of storytelling, most of what you see on screen is based in true-to-life happenings.
The Characters in the Story
Let’s start with the characters in the story. In my opinion, each of the actors was very well cast. Of course, Joel Courtney, who plays me in the film, is more handsome than I ever was, but I’m not complaining. Here are some side-by-side photos of the characters with their real-life counterparts:
Was the Jesus Revolution a Real Christian Revival? Or Was it Hyped Up for the Big Screen?
In the film, Greg asks whether the spiritual things he was seeing and experiencing were real, afraid that they were going to dry up and leave him unsatisfied like so many other things that had let him down in life.
In both the film and in real life, the Jesus Revolution proved to be a true and lasting revival—a movement of the Holy Spirit in the lives of thousands. At the epicenter of the movement was Chuck Smith’s church, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, because Chuck was bold enough to welcome in hippies like Lonnie Frisbee and feed them God’s Word. His church, which had been dwindling in attendance, exploded with new members of all ages to the point where Chuck had to rent a giant tent to contain all of the people who were coming to hear God’s words of life. The ripple effect of lives changed traveled throughout Southern California and far beyond. Many of the young men and women who came to know Christ in those days later began their own churches and ministries, perpetuating the effects of the Jesus Movement for decades.
Did Lonnie Frisbee Really Lead Me to Faith?
Yes, he did. I was going to school at Harbor High, and one day at lunchtime, I found myself on the outskirts of an outdoor meeting of the Jesus Freaks, as people called them. The Christians at the school had gathered together to sing and talk about God. I sat and I watched them, and I had to admit they appeared pretty happy. They looked to me like they had something that was real. I knew they weren’t doing drugs because I knew a couple of them. While I was watching from a safe distance, I tried a new thought on for size. “What if these Christians are right? What if this is all true?”
Then Lonnie Frisbee stood up. He wasn’t a student. He was from off campus. And he was a hippie from head to toe. As he stood up to speak, my first impression was, “Well, this dude looks just like Jesus.” He started speaking and there was a winsomeness, a down-to-earth quality about Lonnie, and a humor that really drew me in. I was riveted by what he had to say.
One statement that he made really hit home for me. He said, “Jesus said, ‘You’re either for Me or against Me.” Then Lonnie invited kids to walk forward and pray and accept Christ. This was on the front lawn of a high school campus at lunchtime. And sure enough, a few kids got up and walked forward. I thought, “Wow, I could never do that.” But the next thing I knew, I was there. I had walked forward, and was praying a prayer with Lonnie.
That was the day that Christ came into my life. That was the day that I passed from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God.
The Jesus Revolution film sort of portrays the day of my baptism as the time when I made my decision, and that was certainly an important event for me spiritually, but that day on my high school campus was the day that Christ came to take residence in my heart and life. And it was through a preacher named Lonnie Frisbee.
Was Chuck Smith Really Against Hippies at One Time?
Yes. Chuck really didn’t want anything to do with them because he thought, “These kids need to get a job. They need to get a haircut.” Or as Kelsey Grammer says in the film, “What they need is a bath.” But Chuck’s wife, Kay, had a heart for these kids and wanted to see them reached with the gospel.
In fact, I didn’t realize this until much later, but Kay used to pray for a group of kids that would walk in front of her house every day. As it turns out, I was one of those kids. We used to go over to my friend’s house, who lived right around the corner from where Chuck and Kay lived. I was not aware of the Smiths at the time, but it turns out Kay was praying for me before we ever even met.
Just like in the film, Chuck and Kay’s daughter brought home a hippie. It wasn’t Lonnie Frisbee, like in the movie. It was a man named John Higgins. But John introduced the Smiths to Lonnie, and Chuck’s perspective about hippies quickly changed as a result.
Did Cathe and I Have a Big Argument, Like in the Movie?
Absolutely. In fact, we had several major disagreements. We broke up and got back together three different times in our dating days, saying things like, “I never want to talk to you again.” I’ve written all the details of our relationship in this post: Greg & Cathe: A Hippie Love Story.
Did Chuck Smith and Lonnie Frisbee Really Part Ways?
Yes, just as depicted in the film, Lonnie went to Florida after his time at Calvary Chapel, while Chuck stayed and continued his study and proclamation of the Bible. I’ve written all about Lonnie’s life here: The Long Strange Trip of Lonnie Frisbee.
Do You Really Think That a Similar Jesus Revolution Could Happen Again?
I really do think it’s time for another Jesus Revolution. Not long before Chuck Smith passed away in 2013, I was able to sit down with him and talk about some things. One of the questions I asked him was whether he thought we would ever see another Jesus Movement.
“I don’t know, Greg,” he said. “I don’t know if we are desperate enough.”
Like the Prodigal Son who had to hit rock bottom before realizing his sin and turning back to his father, a sense of desperation is often the catalyst that is needed for repentance. When we’ve tried everything else and nothing satisfies, we finally become open to listening to what God has to say. And that’s when He can really get to work.
In the almost 10 years that have elapsed since I asked Chuck that question, I would say that the desperation level of our nation—and the world—has increased dramatically. The similarities between the hippie generation of yesterday and lost generations of today are many. I am praying that we will experience at least one more great awakening before the return of Christ.
What Else You Should Know
The Jon Erwin/Brent McCorkle directed film was created to encourage a lost world to turn to Christ, using the story of a true movement.
It tells of a young Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) being raised by his struggling mother, Charlene (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) in the 1970s. Laurie and a sea of young people descend on sunny Southern California to redefine truth through all means of liberation. Inadvertently, Laurie meets Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), a charismatic hippie-street-preacher, and Pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), who have thrown open the doors of Smith’s languishing church to a stream of wandering youth.
Now playing at a theater near you!
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Get tickets to see JESUS REVOLUTION
Subscribe to the Greg Laurie Podcast
Topics
- CATHE LAURIE
- CATHERINE MARTIN
- CHUCK SMITH
- JESUS REVOLUTION
- LONNIE FRISBEE
- PERSONAL REVIVAL
- REVIVAL
- SPIRITUAL REVIVAL
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What Happened After ‘Jesus Revolution’? Greg Laurie Tells Stunning, Miraculous Story About His Adoptive Dad
Original article.
03-07-2023 Benjamin Gill
SPOILER ALERT: This story reveals a few important details about the plot in ‘Jesus Revolution’.
If you’ve seen the movie “Jesus Revolution,” you may have left the theater feeling that some very big storylines were unresolved. Well, now Pastor Greg Laurie is revealing a stunning and miraculous testimony about how he eventually found his adoptive dad and what happened next.
While the film tells the remarkable true story of Pastor Chuck Smith, ex-hippie Lonnie Frisbee, and the Jesus Movement of the 1970s, in many ways it’s a biopic about Greg Laurie.
When he was just a young boy, Laurie was stunned when his mom walked out on his dad and moved him cross-country to California. That was one of the events in his life that left him feeling lost and made him vulnerable to the hippie drug culture.
But Greg Laurie was a truth-seeker, and Jesus Christ redeemed his life forever during that time, as the movie shows. He went on to become a highly effective evangelist, and five decades later he still pastors Harvest Christian Fellowship, a 15,000-member church.
Greg Finds His Father
The movie has so many powerful moments, but it left lingering questions about Greg Laurie’s family, especially about his adoptive father who was ripped out of his life during his childhood. Well, many years later, he was able to track down Oscar Laurie, the man who had been the one true earthly father to him.
In a new video, Greg Laurie explains the stunning tale of what happened next. He was traveling to New York and had just discovered that Oscar Laurie lived in New Jersey, so he made contact and then they made plans to meet up.
Oscar invited Greg and his wife Cathe to come visit with him and his new family. As they ate dinner together, Greg shared about the gospel. His father, a lawyer and an intellectual, listened intently but said little at that moment. He simply said, “Greg, will you go walking with me tomorrow morning?”
It turns out Oscar had experienced a heart attack two weeks earlier and had almost died. Part of his new health regimen was to go walking early in the morning, so the two men went for an early walk at 6 a.m.
That’s when Oscar suddenly said, “Greg, I listened very carefully to what you said last night about Jesus.” Greg recounts, “And he said, ‘I want to accept Jesus Christ into my life right now.'”
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Greg was stunned. “I said, ‘Dad, let me go over it one more time,'” he recalls.
After he explained the gospel again, Oscar continued, “Yes, I want to accept Jesus Christ right now. What do I need to do?”
When Greg said they should pray together, Oscar immediately dropped to his knees, right in the middle of the park. So he joined him on his knees too and led him in a prayer of salvation. “It was incredible, one of the most amazing conversions I’ve ever seen!” Greg says.
A Miraculous Healing
But that wasn’t the end of their amazing moment together. Oscar asked Greg to pray that God would heal his physical heart too.
“I said, ‘I don’t know if God will heal your heart, but we can pray,'” Greg recalls.
After he prayed, Oscar, full of faith, said, “Greg my doctor’s not far from here, his office is right over there. Let’s go see him, I want to tell him my heart is healed.”
Greg says, “I said, ‘Dad, we don’t know if your heart’s healed.’ He said, ‘Well let’s go see my doctor.'”
He recalls Oscar then told the doctor, “This is my son Greg from California. He’s a preacher and I just prayed and asked Jesus to come into my life and my heart is healed!”
The doctor was doubtful about a physical healing, but he ran tests on his father and the heart condition was indeed miraculously gone! Oscar’s heart was truly healed.
Greg was able to have a relationship with his father for 15 more years. Oscar grew in his faith, becoming a Bible-distributing Gideon and an elder in his church.
“Just one of the most amazing things I ever have seen,” Greg recalls. “In the movie, you just see Greg longing for his father, but in real life, Greg found his father.”
WATCH Greg Laurie Tell the Whole Story:
Greg Laurie’s Mother
In a separate video, Laurie also shares that his mother Charlene, his only family for much of his life, eventually did commit her life to Christ as well. It came when she didn’t have much time left on this earth.
He explains that she struggled in many ways and was married seven times. Plus, the movie Jesus Revolution depicts her as an alcoholic. But in the end, she turned her life over to Jesus.
“She chased after all of the empty promises of this world, and sadly saw the emptiness of all of it,” says Laurie. “But thankfully she came back to her faith and returned to it one month before she entered eternity.”
“She did become a believer eventually,” Laurie says, “which just shows there is hope for anyone, no matter what you’ve done, no matter what mistakes you’ve made, no matter what sins you’ve committed. We serve a God of second chances, and third chances, and fourth chances.”
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