Jesus Revolution
Jesus Revolution
Starring Joel Courtney, Kelsey Grammer, Jonathan Roumie, Anna Grace Barlow
Directed by Jon Erwin & Brent McCorkle
Starring Joel Courtney, Kelsey Grammer, Jonathan Roumie, Anna Grace Barlow
Directed by Jon Erwin & Brent McCorkle
In 1969, America was highly divided. On one end there was the conservatives who wanted to go to war, and on the other was the growing liberal Hippie movement led by the youth of America who wanted something more, but not knowing how to find it, resorting to drugs in order to achieve what they thought was a higher sense of purpose. It's in this time that the Christian church was diminishing, with the elders of the church basically being the only ones in attendance, and it looked like it was going to be the end. Then a Hippie named Lonnie Firsbee arrived in southern California at the doorstep of Calvary Chapel pastor Chuck Smith, and he offered a new idea: including the Hippies in church, giving them something real to follow. What resulted was the Jesus Revolution, the largest spiritual awakening in American history, one that's never been equaled since, even though now more than ever we need that revolution again.
In 1969, young Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) is living in a mobile home with his cynical alcoholic mother, and who wants to find some truth in an ever-growing depressive world. One day he meets Cathe (Anna Grace Barlow) and her Hippie friends who invite him to Woodstock, and he thinks he's found truth in drugs and a communal living with Cathe and her friends, but ultimately finds it as unfulfilling as everything else.
Meanwhile, Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, and his flock is diminishing. The church consists of a few elderly couples along with Chuck's wife and daughter, who's losing interest in Christianity due to Chuck's stick-in-the-mud attitude. Then one day Chuck's daughter finds Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie) wandering the street, and takes him to their home. Lonnie is a Hippie but also someone who's spreading the message of Jesus, and his inspiring words touches Chuck's heart - he realizes that his church is closed to the wandering youth, and joins with Lonnie to open the church's doors to them. This, of course, angers the elder parishioners who threaten to leave, but Chuck doesn't listen to them, and finds his church growing exponentially.
Eventually Cathe finds her way to the church after her sister almost dies from an overdose, and finds the true Jesus there. She invites Greg to join, but he's reluctant because he's worried that it's another passing thing that if he puts his whole heart into will eventually leave him like everyone and everything else he's ever believed in. After a chance encounter with Lonnie, however, Greg decides to go to church and he as well finds the real Jesus, choosing to be baptized, and turns his life around. Yet all is not rainbows and roses, as rifts begin to form that threatens to divide Chuck and Lonnie and the Jesus Revolution that they started.
The faith-based film subgenre is littered with stereotypical feel-good films like "Courageous" and "War Room" that promises a life with Jesus means no problems, no pains, and sheer perfection as long as you recite the sinner's prayer. While it's a nice thought, that's not how the real world works - even those who follow Jesus still face daily hardships, and there's nowhere in the Bible that mentions that life will be a cake-walk after you accept Him. "Jesus Revolution" started to follow that line of reasoning, but thankfully it also pulled away the curtain to show the turmoil that happened behind the scenes (even though in real life it was much more tumultuous), and we see that the Christian walk is not an easy one, nor does it guarantee a carefree life, but it does come with the real reward of eternal life in heaven with Jesus. As a Christian myself, I adhere to such beliefs, and while I'm no longer an avid church-goer (more on that later), I can appreciate "Jesus Revolution" for not being all sunshine and lollipops.
Still, the real story behind the Jesus Revolution is much darker than the film makes it out to be, with the main victim being Lonnie Frisbee himself. Lonnie was a Hippie who helped start the Revolution, but he also succumbed to his own hubris at moments (which is showcased in the film), but even more than that he was pretty much shunned from the community he once started because he revealed that he was a homosexual which, according to the church, is the ultimate sin. Gossiping, slander, fighting, adultery, murder - those sins can be easily forgiven, but not homosexuality. It's the ultimate sin, and because of that Lonnie was excommunicated and his legacy tarnished for that, despite leading thousands of people to Christ. Of course none of that is shown in the film (in fact in the film he has a wife), because it would taint the feel-good feel of the film. If you look more deeply into the people involved in the Jesus Revolution, you'll see that they're deeply flawed people (Chuck Smith himself once falsely prophesied that the world would end in 1981, and that the World Trade Center attack was the result of America being judged for abortions), but even then God's glory shines through, because even in the Bible God manages to use people of ill-repute (such as Paul, who was once a persecutor of Christians who, after an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, converted and served as one of Christ's most powerful apostles) to tell His message to a hurting world, and that's the main thrust of "Jesus Revolution."
The film is taken from Greg Laurie's book, and focuses on how the Hippie movement and Christianity came together in the most wholesome, wonderful way - by blending the sacred and the sinner in a way that opened the doors of the church to accepting new ideas and concepts, and giving birth to the modern-day Christian rock music. It's a film filled with emotional moments and ones that'll make your spirit soar, even for this hardened Christian church skeptic. It gives startling parallels to today's world and how we need a movement like this now more than ever. Again, more on that later, but for now know that the film will touch your heart in a way that's not saccharine, but wholesome, because it doesn't promise an easy life nor does it showcase the Christians as holier-than-thou, but as broken, imperfect people. Lonnie is the Hippie face for the movement, but he allows his pride to take control and cause strife within the church. Chuck was at one point a hardened skeptic of the Hippie movement, but even after opening his heart to them and allowing them entry, struggled with some of their unorthodox practices. Greg dives all into the movement, but finds himself disillusioned when Lonnie decides to split, fracturing another family dynamic that Greg sorely needed. Again, "Jesus Revolution" does a great job at showcasing the imperfect preaching the perfect, and allowing the perfect to change the imperfect, even though in the end we're all left with imperfect parts since we're only humans.
This leads me to my own story, in a sense. I was an avid chruch-goer from my junior year of high school all through college when I attended a Bible college in hopes of being in the church for the rest of my life. However, during school and after, I saw how imperfect people were destroying the message of God and misconstruing the Bible to their own devices, which led me to eventually leave the church altogether. Things have only gotten worse as now the Christian church has been overrun by the Evangelical right-wing who wants to force their beliefs on all Americans by passing laws prohibiting basic rights in favor of their own ideologies, and converts are never made through force. They spend their time bashing the LGBTQ community, condemning people to hell, and insulting any left-leaning or liberal person with unashamed abandon. Much like the church in 1969, the church in 2023 is shut off from those who are seeking real truth because the congregants and leaders are condemning them without giving them a chance. Again, it seems that the church is destined to diminish unless another Jesus Revolution comes, and, as Revelation 22:20 says, "Come, Lord Jesus!"
The Score: A
In 1969, young Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) is living in a mobile home with his cynical alcoholic mother, and who wants to find some truth in an ever-growing depressive world. One day he meets Cathe (Anna Grace Barlow) and her Hippie friends who invite him to Woodstock, and he thinks he's found truth in drugs and a communal living with Cathe and her friends, but ultimately finds it as unfulfilling as everything else.
Meanwhile, Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, and his flock is diminishing. The church consists of a few elderly couples along with Chuck's wife and daughter, who's losing interest in Christianity due to Chuck's stick-in-the-mud attitude. Then one day Chuck's daughter finds Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie) wandering the street, and takes him to their home. Lonnie is a Hippie but also someone who's spreading the message of Jesus, and his inspiring words touches Chuck's heart - he realizes that his church is closed to the wandering youth, and joins with Lonnie to open the church's doors to them. This, of course, angers the elder parishioners who threaten to leave, but Chuck doesn't listen to them, and finds his church growing exponentially.
Eventually Cathe finds her way to the church after her sister almost dies from an overdose, and finds the true Jesus there. She invites Greg to join, but he's reluctant because he's worried that it's another passing thing that if he puts his whole heart into will eventually leave him like everyone and everything else he's ever believed in. After a chance encounter with Lonnie, however, Greg decides to go to church and he as well finds the real Jesus, choosing to be baptized, and turns his life around. Yet all is not rainbows and roses, as rifts begin to form that threatens to divide Chuck and Lonnie and the Jesus Revolution that they started.
The faith-based film subgenre is littered with stereotypical feel-good films like "Courageous" and "War Room" that promises a life with Jesus means no problems, no pains, and sheer perfection as long as you recite the sinner's prayer. While it's a nice thought, that's not how the real world works - even those who follow Jesus still face daily hardships, and there's nowhere in the Bible that mentions that life will be a cake-walk after you accept Him. "Jesus Revolution" started to follow that line of reasoning, but thankfully it also pulled away the curtain to show the turmoil that happened behind the scenes (even though in real life it was much more tumultuous), and we see that the Christian walk is not an easy one, nor does it guarantee a carefree life, but it does come with the real reward of eternal life in heaven with Jesus. As a Christian myself, I adhere to such beliefs, and while I'm no longer an avid church-goer (more on that later), I can appreciate "Jesus Revolution" for not being all sunshine and lollipops.
Still, the real story behind the Jesus Revolution is much darker than the film makes it out to be, with the main victim being Lonnie Frisbee himself. Lonnie was a Hippie who helped start the Revolution, but he also succumbed to his own hubris at moments (which is showcased in the film), but even more than that he was pretty much shunned from the community he once started because he revealed that he was a homosexual which, according to the church, is the ultimate sin. Gossiping, slander, fighting, adultery, murder - those sins can be easily forgiven, but not homosexuality. It's the ultimate sin, and because of that Lonnie was excommunicated and his legacy tarnished for that, despite leading thousands of people to Christ. Of course none of that is shown in the film (in fact in the film he has a wife), because it would taint the feel-good feel of the film. If you look more deeply into the people involved in the Jesus Revolution, you'll see that they're deeply flawed people (Chuck Smith himself once falsely prophesied that the world would end in 1981, and that the World Trade Center attack was the result of America being judged for abortions), but even then God's glory shines through, because even in the Bible God manages to use people of ill-repute (such as Paul, who was once a persecutor of Christians who, after an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, converted and served as one of Christ's most powerful apostles) to tell His message to a hurting world, and that's the main thrust of "Jesus Revolution."
The film is taken from Greg Laurie's book, and focuses on how the Hippie movement and Christianity came together in the most wholesome, wonderful way - by blending the sacred and the sinner in a way that opened the doors of the church to accepting new ideas and concepts, and giving birth to the modern-day Christian rock music. It's a film filled with emotional moments and ones that'll make your spirit soar, even for this hardened Christian church skeptic. It gives startling parallels to today's world and how we need a movement like this now more than ever. Again, more on that later, but for now know that the film will touch your heart in a way that's not saccharine, but wholesome, because it doesn't promise an easy life nor does it showcase the Christians as holier-than-thou, but as broken, imperfect people. Lonnie is the Hippie face for the movement, but he allows his pride to take control and cause strife within the church. Chuck was at one point a hardened skeptic of the Hippie movement, but even after opening his heart to them and allowing them entry, struggled with some of their unorthodox practices. Greg dives all into the movement, but finds himself disillusioned when Lonnie decides to split, fracturing another family dynamic that Greg sorely needed. Again, "Jesus Revolution" does a great job at showcasing the imperfect preaching the perfect, and allowing the perfect to change the imperfect, even though in the end we're all left with imperfect parts since we're only humans.
This leads me to my own story, in a sense. I was an avid chruch-goer from my junior year of high school all through college when I attended a Bible college in hopes of being in the church for the rest of my life. However, during school and after, I saw how imperfect people were destroying the message of God and misconstruing the Bible to their own devices, which led me to eventually leave the church altogether. Things have only gotten worse as now the Christian church has been overrun by the Evangelical right-wing who wants to force their beliefs on all Americans by passing laws prohibiting basic rights in favor of their own ideologies, and converts are never made through force. They spend their time bashing the LGBTQ community, condemning people to hell, and insulting any left-leaning or liberal person with unashamed abandon. Much like the church in 1969, the church in 2023 is shut off from those who are seeking real truth because the congregants and leaders are condemning them without giving them a chance. Again, it seems that the church is destined to diminish unless another Jesus Revolution comes, and, as Revelation 22:20 says, "Come, Lord Jesus!"
The Score: A
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