JESUS REVOLUTION Inspiration Reveals Question That Sparked Conversion
By Movieguide® Contributor
Pastor Greg Laurie recalled the day he came to faith and how considering a new possibility caused him to commit his life to Jesus.
“I was like many people in my generation; we believed the lie that drugs would expand our consciousness and make us more aware,” Laurie told Kirk Cameron. “In one sense they did make us more aware — about how miserable we were. So, I started smoking marijuana every day, taking LSD. And that probably went on for about a year and a half.”
Laurie’s relationship with drugs, however, would change when he had a bad trip and ended up running down the street because a voice in his head told him he was going to die. When he looked in the mirror, he would see graphic images that scared him.
This experience caused him to reconsider the path he was going down and ultimately caused Laurie to transfer high schools. The new school he chose was erupting with the Jesus Movement of the late ’60s and ’70s, and many kids at the school were converting to faith.
“So, I sat down close enough so I could eavesdrop on their conversation but not be a part of their group, and I watched them sing songs about God,” Laurie said. “I was very cynical because of the life I had lived, but yet, I wanted something more. I looked at them and I thought, these people are crazy, but the problem was, I knew a couple of them, and I used to party with them, and I had seen the change that had occurred in their life, so I couldn’t dismiss them and say they’re all crazy.”
“So then a new thought occurred to me, what if they are right? What if it’s all true and what if you can have a relationship with God? I quickly dismissed it,” he recalled. “There’s no way that’s possible. The life I’d seen, the life I’d lived — [Jesus] is like a fairy tale.”
“Then I tried the thought on one more time, bam, what if it is true? And I’m sort of contemplating this, and a guy named Lonnie Frisbee… stands up and he begins to speak. He really got my attention, and it was one statement that he said, that Jesus says, you’re either for me or against me,” Laurie added.
This stood out to him because he realized that since he was not a Christian, he must be against Jesus. That was not something he was comfortable with, but he still had no plans to change anything.
“You know, I always believed in Jesus. I mean, I believed He was there somewhere. I had seen all of his movies. I admired Him as a figure. But I never thought of Him in a personal way” Laurie said.
“And then this guy Lonnie said, ‘If you want to ask Christ into your life, walk forward.’ Some kids walked forward. I thought, there’s no way I would ever do that. Next thing I know, I was standing there,” Laurie continued. “I don’t even remember getting up and walking there. Just boom, I was there. And then I prayed this prayer, and I asked Christ into my life, and that was 1970, and that was the day my life changed radically.”
Laurie has since gone on to bring millions to Christ through his massive church and his “Ben Born Again” comic tract. His story was also turned into a movie last year — JESUS REVOLUTION — which shared the Gospel even further and impacted the faith of audiences across the country.
JESUS REVOLUTION won Movieguide®’s Teddy Bear® Award this year for Best Movie for Mature Audiences.
Movieguide® previously reported:
JESUS REVOLUTION made over $50 million in gross sales and recently sailed to No. 1 on Amazon’s Best Sellers in Movies and TV chart.
JESUS REVOLUTION topped films such as ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA and THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE.
Based on a true story JESUS REVOLUTION follows Greg Laurie, Chuck Smith, and Lonnie Frisbee, who all were part of a country wide revival in the 1960s and 1970s.
“I think people are hungry in our nation spiritually,” Greg Laurie tweeted. “There are many indications of this across the board. One of them is the interest in this film about the last great spiritual awakening that swept our nation called the Jesus Movement. This story has been told in the film, JESUS REVOLUTION.”
The film opened at No. 3 and steadily remained in the Top 10 for five weeks. The film stars Jonathan Roumie from as Frisbee, Kelsey Grammer as Smith, Joel Courtney as Laurie, Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Laurie’s mother, and Anna Grace Barlow as Laurie’s girlfriend and future with.
