Thousands Baptized at 5Oth Anniversary of “The Jesus Movement”

June 12, 2023228 views0

Thousands Baptized at 5Oth Anniversary of “The Jesus Movement”

2023-06-12T09:35:31+01:00

By Church News

Over 4,000 souls got baptized at an historic event in California recently which commemorates the 50th anniversary of “The Jesus Movement”.The event which was recorded as the largest water baptism brought about the awakening of young Christians from the early 60s and 70s.More than 280 churches and 8,000 attendees watched as 4,166 people fled to the shore of Pirates Cove to declare their new life in Christ.Worship leader Lindy Cofer said, “The Church is alive! What a beautiful sight in Southern California yesterday!!! On the 50th anniversary of the Jesus people movement.”

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This was celebrated earlier this year with the release of the hit movie Jesus Revolution, which chronicled prominent pastor Greg Laurie’s coming to faith.Jesus Revolution is a 2023 American Christian drama film directed by Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle.Based on the autobiographical book of the same name co-written by Greg Laurie, the film follows Laurie (Joel Courtney), Christian hippie Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), and pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) as they take part in the Jesus movement in California during the late 1960s. Anna Grace Barlow and Kimberly Williams-Paisley also star.In 1968, a stern yet respected Southern California pastor, Chuck Smith, finds that his church is slowly dying and that he is unable to connect with the younger, live-free generation of hippies.One day, his daughter, Janette, gives a ride to a colourful hippie hitchhiker named Lonnie Frisbee, who says he is travelling around and telling people about the ministry of Jesus. Smith, at first suspicious of Frisbee, eventually warms up to him and welcomes other hippies to his house.Lonnie introduces Chuck to a band called Love Song, who proceed to perform a song in his living room. They join forces and start a successful movement to evangelize hippies and others.Meanwhile, high-school student Greg Laurie runs away from his Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps class and joins a girl named Cathe who “turns him on” to a Janis Joplin concert, with Timothy Leary preaching the value of drugs for self-discovery.However, Greg sees that various hippies are dangerously irresponsible; Cathe’s sister gets sick from a drug overdose. When watching a movie, Cathe gets angry at Greg for not caring about how dangerous drugs are and breaks their friendship.At the hippie campus, Cathe is listening to Lonnie preach; Greg then comes over and they reconcile, ending with Cathe telling him she found a church and he should come to visit. Greg and Cathe find solace at Smith and Frisbee’s ministry, though Cathe’s uptight parents are not enthusiastic about Greg.The ministry explodes in popularity, being seen as a “Jesus Revolution” or “Jesus freaks”, and even sparking a Time magazine cover in 1971.ALSO READ: Chris Tomlin Raises Over $12 Million At 2nd Annual Troubadour