Lessons From The Jesus Movement



Jesus Movement baptism at Corona del Mar, CA beach - Calvary Chapel Church



"It only takes a spark to get a fire going,
And soon all those around can warm up in it's glowing,
That's how it is with God's love - once you've experienced it,
You spread His love to everyone - you want to pass it on..."

If you know these words, you might be a Jesus Person! The words above, written by Kurt Kaiser, are the lyrics to a song that became immensely popular near the head of the Jesus Movement in the early 1970's. The Jesus Movement or Jesus Revolution as some preferred to call it was a phenomenon that arose out of a stoic period in US church history - a period which was severely affected by the hippie and drug/thug counter-cultures. Hippie rebellion, drug proliferation and gang membership was flourishing among the youth culture and the local church had turned the other way, wanting little to do with a group of people whom they deemed to be "undesirable".

One-on-One Street Evangelism

God, however, did want something to do with them and in the late
1960's, street ministries targeting the hippie subculture exploded - literally simultaneously - up and down the west coast of the United States. As the movement began to spread and produce new born-again converts, local churches began to swell with an influx of these curious "undesirables" - most who were invited by hippie friends who had recently become new Christians. Whether the churches wanted it or not, an immense ready-made mission field had literally materialized in their own back yards.

Some churches embraced the Jesus people - others refused. One church that chose to open its doors and actively minister to and disciple these young seekers was Calvary Chapel under the leadership of Pastor Chuck Smith. Pastor Chuck wanted very much to minister to these people and did so by enlisting an "on fire" hippie convert named Lonnie Frisbee as Youth Pastor. The resulting response was phenomenal as the following testimony from the book "The Jesus People" by Ronald Enroth illustrates:

"An older member of the church told us that as many as 150 converts are added to the church weekly. Pastor Smith told a TV audience that upward of five hundred young people a month are baptized in services held at nearby Corona del Mar beach.

Sunday morning services are held in triplicate, with Smith speaking at all three. Attendance at the first two services is four or five hundred. the eleven o'clock service regularly overflows into an adjoining outside patio. To get a seat inside the building on Sunday night, the would-be worshiper is advised to bring his supper in a sack and stake out his sanctuary spot well in advance of the 7:00 p.m. starting time. The seating capacity of the main sanctuary is approximately 425, and on Sunday night the overflow patio crowd of several hundred sit on backless benches under the open sky or stand around the edges of the assemblage.

The midweek Bible studies are a fire marshal's nightmare and a Jesus Freak's dream. Not only are the pews packed with the faithful, both the aisles and any other available spaces are filled with young bodies, many of whom sit cramped for an hour or more before the service begins reading their Bibles..."

The short (and very rare) video below is news footage of part of an actual Calvary Chapel service being led by Youth Pastor Lonnie Frisbee:

Another notable "hip church" example was Bethel Tabernacle in North Redondo Beach, CA.  Bethel's Jesus Movement experience started when recently-born-again hippie Breck Stevens visited the church, liked what he heard and asked the pastor, Bro. Lyle Steenis if he could bring some hippies to the church to hear the gospel.  The following is the result:

"He brought twenty-one long-hairs the next week, and at the end of the service all of them came forward to receive Christ. This marked the beginning of a new era for this old-time Pentecostal church and was a turning point in Steenis' twenty-five-year ministry. Hippie types started to stream into the little white church, but the adult congregation did not rise up and call them blessed. In fact, some of the members went out into the parking lot and tried to run them off. The pastor sided with the hippies ("I'll whip the next guy who tries to run them out") and announced to his congregation:  "Those doors swing both ways. If you don't like what's going on here, you can leave the church." More than two hundred adults did just that. As Stevens tells it, they were "gospel-hardened" and didn't have a "burden for souls." Not hippie souls, in any event.

The young people kept coming, twenty-five to a hundred per night. In a few years' time thousands have encountered the ministry of Bethel Tabernacle. Between five and thirty youth are converted at every service..."

Because Christians in numerous locations acted upon a Spirit-inspired burden for wayward youth - literally hundreds of thousands of people from all over the US and Canada made professions of faith in Jesus Christ - all of this over a quite short period of years.  The fruit from this spiritual awakening has now most certainly reached numbers in the millions.

Our Kevin and Nancy LP

So, who is our current hippie sub-culture? Do we have a Spirit-given burden for them? Would today's churches be willing to risk losing "non-burdened" members to add new members to the body of Christ? In our hyper-busy lives, will we allow time for a current-day Jesus Movement?  The Jesus Movement had time for me and my brother, as we are born-again products of the ministry of a hip young couple of traveling Jesus People named Kevin and Nancy. They worked with our church youth over the course of a weekend - preaching, singing and playing guitar, flute and Hammond organ... all toward the goal of seeing souls transformed - lives changed.  My brother and I have a signed "Kevin and Nancy" vinyl record complete with our born-again birth-date from that transformational night in 1979.  I am forever grateful that that a couple of selfless, born-again hipsters took time to minister to us.  The Lordship of Jesus has made all the difference in my life and in the lives of my wife and children - and we would like for others to experience what we have.

"That's how it is with God's love... once you've experienced it.  You spread His love to everyone.  You want to pass it on." 

Do you have a Jesus Movement story or testimony?  Who do you think our main mission field is now?

His,
Mark

The Born-Again Psychopath

Typically, we associate the term "psychopath" with the term "serial killer" - and rightly so as many serial killers are indeed, psychopaths. Lesser known is the fact that psychopaths are far more common in society than one would expect. It's true. As a matter of fact, it is estimated that approximately one percent of the US population is psychopathic, indicating the presence of some three million "moral monsters" among "normal" United States citizens.

Since some of the dominant personality traits indicating psychopathy (pronounced sai-KOP-uh-thee) are grandiose sense of self-worth, ruthlessness, superficial charm, lack of remorse and the manipulation of others - it is easy to begin to understand that this is not a rare malady (think corporate CEOs, domineering world leaders, celebrities, etc.).  In truth, some corporate banking firms actually seek out upper management candidates who demonstrate psychopathic behavior in hopes that these aggressive attributes will give their banking business a competitive edge (and now, in the wake of the corporate banking crisis, the wisdom of hiring managers that generally don't care about what happens to others is being revisited).

It is noteworthy that psychopathy should not be confused with psychosis, which is mental illness that can be successfully treated to varying degrees. There is no known cure for psychopathic behavior traits as they are physically hardwired within the brain. Characterized by a profound lack of empathy for anyone or anything - psychopathy is perhaps best described by Robert Hare, global expert and psychologist as "emotional deafness". This is why psychopathic killers are especially dangerous, being wholly incapable of relating to the feelings of their victims.

So, how would one assess whether a person is psychopathic or not? Why, there is a test! Created by the previously mentioned Dr. Robert Hare, the PCL-R (Psychopathy Checklist, Revised) has become the gold standard for diagnosing psychopathic behavior.  Assessing this behavior obviously involves evaluation extending well beyond the Psychopathy Checklist - but here it is:

Facet 1 - Interpersonal

• Glibness/Superficial charm
• Grandiose sense of self-worth
• Pathological lying
• Cunning/Manipulative

Facet 2 - Affective

• Lack of remorse or guilt
• Emotionally shallow
• Callous/Lack of empathy
• Failure to accept responsibility for own actions

Facet 3 - Lifestyle

• Need for stimulation/Proneness to boredom
• Parasitic lifestyle
• Lack of realistic, long-term goals
• Impulsiveness
• Irresponsibility

Facet 4 - Antisocial

• Poor behavioral controls
• Juvenile delinquency
• Revocation of conditional release (Huh?)
• Criminal versatility

 Other Indicators

• Highly manipulative
• Many short-term marital relationships
• Promiscuous behavior          

Hmmm... So, there it is. Whom do the above characteristics describe? Do you know this person?  Are you this person? Is it your boss, your college professor, your pastor (not that I suspect my pastor), or perhaps that grumpy guy behind the counter at the post office?  It's interesting to think about. And, who knew there was a checklist?

Some postulate that the Apostle Paul may have been a psychopath. Before Paul had a life- changing experience in the presence of Christ, he operated under his given name, Saul (of Tarsus). Paul was obsessed with the practice of seeking out and capturing Christians under authority of the Jewish high priest for the pupose of imprisonment and/or sentence of death. This was a task that Paul (then Saul) performed with particular zeal. He was absolutely consumed in the pursuit of rooting out and destroying Christianity wherever it could be uncovered.

We are introduced to Paul in the biblical account of the stoning of Stephen (which Paul approved). Acts 8:3 states "... Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison." Also, consider Acts 9:1&2; "Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters (search warrants) to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way (Christianity), whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem." But, after an encounter with Jesus Christ, Paul the now born-again "psychopath" became radically changed, causing people to exclaim in astonishment, "Isn't this the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name (Jesus). And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" Then it continues; "Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ".

So, seriously - was Paul a psychopath? Obviously we can never know this and though it is doubtful, we just don't have enough information concerning the pre-conversion Paul. However, what we do know is that a relentless persecutor of Christians was transformed in an instance into one of the most committed, respected and influential leaders in ancient Christianity - a "new man" who experienced a complete 180-degree turnaround. In modern society, we witness millions of people with profoundly negative social attributes - people filled with hatred, hostility, anger, despair, resentment, disrespect and deep apathy... We also witness millions of this very same group of people who have experienced an astonishing metamorphosis through the acceptance of the Lordship of Jesus Christ - and like Paul, have become miraculously transformed.

Such is the saving power of Christ.

Do you have an inspirational story of transformation through the Lordship of Jesus Christ?  Anyone may comment below!

Best,
Mark