Greg Laurie
It was around three years ago that one of the pastors on our staff, John Collins, told me it would be a good idea to meet a young filmmaker named Jon Erwin, who wanted to spend some time with me, as he had a lot of questions about a period of time I happened to live through.
Jon was in his early thirties at the time; he’s made a number of outstanding films including October Baby, Mom’s Night Out, Woodlawn, and I Can Only Imagine.
Woodlawn was the story of how the last great American revival, the Jesus Revolution, affected a school in Alabama, helping them to encounter God and, among other things, overcome their racism.
Jon was, in his words, “obsessed” with the Jesus Movement ever since he came across the Time magazine cover with the pop-art image of Christ and the words “The Jesus Revolution.” He wanted to meet someone who was actually there to see it up close and personal.
I was.
As I saw Jon’s interest in the smallest of details, and his thirst for seeing this kind of spiritual awakening for his generation, I got excited. When you’re older, as I am now, you are sometimes reluctant to just tell stories from “the good old days.”
But as I rehearsed what God had done fifty years ago, it reminded me that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8), and that God could indeed bring revival again.
The Jesus Revolution changed American and church history. An entire generation of young people who had believed the lies of the hippie utopia found what they were looking for, not in drugs, mysticism, or free sex, but in the pages of the Bible.
Out of this movement came many of the great leaders in the church today.
In these crazy times in which we are living, with mass shootings of innocent people, terrorism, the threat of nuclear war, and rampant racism, it seems to me that we are ripe for another spiritual awakening in America and around the world.
In short, we need another Jesus Revolution.
Out of my initial conversations with Jon Erwin came this book, and a feature film that will be shot in 2018.
I hope this book causes you to cry out to the Lord in prayer and say, “Lord, do it again!”
Prayerfully, He will.
“Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” (Ps. 85:6).
Greg Laurie Irvine, California November 2017
This book was written during an unprecedentedly difficult time of unexpected challenges and pain in my personal life. It was excellent to be able to delve into such strange and wonderful subject matter as the Jesus Revolution, and to have the luxury of writing—and reminding myself—of God’s sovereignty and abiding love in times of chaos!
I am so grateful for the many faithful friends who prayed for me over recent months; the fact that this project was somehow completed in the midst of the crisis is a testimony to your kind support. Thank you, and much love, to: Patti Bryce, Carey Keefe, amazing heroes Mark and Norma Roessler, Mary Ann Bell, Babs and Rob Bickhart, Gloria Hawley, Gail Harwood, Norma Vaughn, Andi Brindley, Carole Schryber, Ellen Leitch, Janice Allen, Jamie Longo, Mariam Bell, Joanne Kemp and Friday Class, Jennifer Andrews, Shannon Davis, Lisa Catlett, Carmen Tamayo, Nicole Atkins, Laurie Hall Badwey, Paula Coe Corder, Michael and Diana Schick, Nancy Croker, Lisa Lampman, Sue Langlie, Rika Clark, Jane Daniel, Dale Sutherland, George and Connie Stewart, Bill and Miriam Shook, Arlita Winston, Valerie Elliot Shepard, Robert and Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, the board, staff, and friends of International Cooperating Ministries, McLean Bible Church, Mama Maggie Gobran and other dear friends in Egypt. Thank you, ye olde friends from Supper Club: Jim and Laura Warren, Scott and Sharon Hubbard, Tom and Tracey Pilsch, Susan Dawson, Rich and Lisa Hannibal, and Jeff and Nancy LeSourd. Thank you, Sunday night small group: Susie and Chris Knepper, Kelly and Erik Olafsson, Connie and Sam Shabshab, Kathleen and Armen Clark, Jen and Allen Herzberg, Amy and Jim Ellis, Kathy and Steve Matson. Thank you, CHEEKS—Connie again, Helen Link, Holly Leachman, Ellie Lofaro, and Kelly Stuckey. Thank you, HSM: Lou Sabatier, Jenna Mead, Sheila McGee, Sue Moye, Wendy Fotopolous, Janice Voth, Marcie Peck, Krisi Monsiviaz, and Joy Zorn. Everyone, your prayers carried us through many daunting challenges, and I am forever grateful.
Thank you, also, to the many friends and random people who told me their Jesus Movement stories. I wish that this had been the venue to include such tales, as they were all testimonies of God’s great grace, sense of humor, and power at work in human lives.
Thank you to Jim Warren, Carole Schryber, Brad Ormonde, Leah Case, and Mary Ann Bell for reading and giving feedback on the manuscript. Thank you, John Schryber, for your insights about the 1967 Six-Day War, which were greatly consolidated in this book. Thank you, Chuck Fromm, for sharing your eloquent doctoral thesis about the Jesus Movement. Thank you to Robert, Andrew, and Erik Wolgemuth for your literary representation and for shepherding this project, and thank you to our friends at Baker Publishing Group for bringing this book to market.
Thank you to Greg and Cathe Laurie for your hospitality—and for feeding me—in many different settings, though I am secretly peeved that we did not have a chance to labor on this book somewhere near your church in Hawaii. Thanks for your insights, stories, and vulnerability, your odd and eccentric humor (Greg), and your lovely and compassionate spirit (Cathe). You guys have been dear friends for a long time, and I am so grateful for you and for your faithful hearts for Jesus. Thank you so much to all the Harvest staff who answered questions, made interviews possible, and eased my way into various venues.
Thank you to Emily, Haley, and Walker for your solidarity and support, as always. And thank you, Lee Vaughn, for your faithful encouragement and for putting up with me for multiple decades! You are such a patient, wonderful, and godly man.
Most of all, I am overwhelmed and grateful to God for the way He so graciously rescues us, right in the midst of our mess. That’s the story of the Jesus Revolution, and I hope that He might somehow use this humble book to refresh readers with the reality of His love and power—for His glory—in these desperate times.
Ellen Vaughn Reston, Virginia Thanksgiving 2017