we need a Jesus Revolution

…Then in answer to the cries of  parents and churches who were losing their kids. The great God of our Lord Jesus Christ unleashed a love revolution of  His own, The Jesus Revolution. Greg Laurie in his book, the Jesus Revolution, describes this  wonderful and powerful earth shaking movement that swirled around Southern California and touched the world. Thousands of young people, hippies, outcasts who would never step into a church heard the Love Song of Jesus and were saved and turned to Him. They disrupted the religious status quo and shifted the staid, stoic and satisfied  church culture of the day  through their dress, music,  purity, simplicity of devotion and the mighty baptism of the Spirit.

In my favorite movie, Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) says to Terrance Mann (James Earl Jones), “There comes a time when all the cosmic tumblers click into place and the universe opens up for a few seconds to show you what is possible.”  Mann responds back vehemently, “You’re from the sixties! Go back to the sixties. There’s no place in the future for you here! Go back while you still can!”

I DO want to go back to the sixties and seventies while we still can, but not in retreat or to return to a nostalgic fantasy era. No! It’s because there, in that history, we are shown what is possible and what our future can be.

You see, the sixties were a time of great turmoil and madness. The cultural and sexual revolution, along with the Vietnam War and student protests, upended the cultural, family and religious values of America that had remained unchallenged in two centuries. A young, idealistic generation were caught up into the dream of the dawning of a new age, the Age of Aquarius. Tens of thousands of kids flocked to the iconic worship service at Woodstock, celebrating the freedom of meeting a new god by a new staircase to heaven, drugs and free sex. They heard the sirens of “Are you going to San Francisco” luring them to the Summer of Love. In the city of Saint Francis, which means “free man,” they plunged headlong into a moral morass of poverty, STDs, and addictions. The social heroes of the day, President Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., were assassinated. New gods fell to the earth and crashed in the violence and death of the Altamont Music Festival of ‘69. The field of dreams became the field of nightmares. The Flower Children began singing, “Where have all the flowers gone?”

Then, in answer to the cries of parents and churches who were losing their kids, the great God of our Lord Jesus Christ unleashed a love revolution of His own: the Jesus revolution. Greg Laurie, in his book Jesus Revolution, describes this wonderful and powerful earth-shaking movement that swirled around Southern California and touched the world. Thousands of young people, hippies, and outcasts, who would never step into a church, heard the “Love Song” of Jesus and were saved. They disrupted the religious status quo and shifted the church culture of the day through their dress, music, simplicity of devotion and the mighty baptism of the Spirit. 

Three main characters are highlighted in Laurie’s book: Chuck Smith, pastor of the flagship church of the movement, Costa Mesa Calvary Chapel; Lonnie Frisbee, the deeply broken young man who experienced a powerful conversion, became a friend of the Holy Spirit, and was used by God in extraordinary signs and wonders; and Greg Laurie, who became a nationally known pastor in Calvary Chapel and an extraordinary evangelist. 

Now, on Feb 22, the movie Jesus Revolution (based on the book) is taking us back to the 60’s and 70’s to show what is possible in our future. The film is being shown in 3000 theaters across America with the belief that thousands will come to Jesus, and a new Jesus Movement will be catalyzed. Here and now the heavenly tumblers are clicking into place. On February 22nd, the same day the movie will be previewed by groups across America, Hope California is calling 40 days of prayer and fasting up through Palm Sunday. On the last day, April 2nd, worship and evangelistic gatherings will be held simultaneously in 10 arenas across California, declaring,”Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” 

Several years ago, I dreamed I was walking through a dark and oppressive city. I was carrying a huge weight on my shoulder. Overwhelmed with oppression I suddenly lifted my eyes and saw a Calvary Chapel Church in the distance. In the dream, the overwhelming love of God erupted out of that church and exploded in my heart. I began weeping in the dream, overcome with the love and mercy of Jesus. When I awoke, I knew there was coming a new Jesus revolution. 

Last year, my prophet friend dreamed of hundreds of frisbees flying up and down the beaches of California and spreading to Mexico and Canada. In the dream he heard the words “Who will believe that a highway of holiness and love can come from a street called Haight?” Haight Street in San Francisco, was the iconic place where the 60’s cultural revolution was centered. It was from there that Lonnie Frisbee launched out to Southern California and helped ignite the fires of love and salvation that became a full-blown Jesus revolution. We believe God is about to raise up hundreds of anointed Frisbees across America. Those who will demonstrate the love and power of Jesus to a new generation that has been immersed in a dark, political, cultural and sexual revolution that reaches way beyond the 60’s in its depravity and apostasy. 

Are the cosmic tumblers, God’s timepieces, clicking into place and showing us what is now possible? Jesus fasted 40 days and came out of the wilderness in the power of the spirit. What if thousands across America, along with Hope California, fasted and prayed for 40 days, beginning on 2/22, synchronizing with the launching of the Jesus Revolution movie. The timing is crazy! What if we would pray for pastors like Chuck Smith to open their doors to the broken generation that will certainly be coming to Christ? What if an army of power evangelists like Lonnie Frisbee was raised up? What if great leaders like Greg Laurie will see stadiums filled with people being saved? What if the LGBTQ community will be to this awakening what the hippies were to the Jesus Movement? A great prophet had an encounter with The Lord where he saw a forerunning wave of 100,000 LGBTQ coming to Jesus and being filled with the love of God.

Again In the movie Field of Dreams, Doc Graham says to Kinsella,”We just don’t recognize life’s most significant moments. Back then I thought, ’There will be other days.’ I didn’t recognize that that was the only day.” Twenty-two years ago, at the first Call DC, our message was, “We’ve taught our children to feast and play, but the times demand they fast and pray.”  Today, far more than then, these collapsing times demand we fast and pray. I don’t want to miss the moment when the cosmic tumblers are falling into place.