11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12
I’m sure by now you’ve seen the movie Jesus Revolution, plan on seeing it, or heard about it. If you haven’t seen it, I encourage you to go now, or if that’s not possible, read the interviews and reviews people are sharing on social media and watch a trailer. Without a doubt one of the most professional Christian movies I’ve seen told with raw vulnerable frankness. A true story of a generation who had tried everything from sexual promiscuity to LSD and was still searching for “truth” and fulfillment. Their desperate quest eventually led them to find truth in Christ alone.
The movie tells how Pastor Chuck Smith and Greg Laurie meet during the “Jesus freaks” movement initially led by hippie Lonnie Frisbee in the late sixties and early seventies in Orange County, California that spread across the United States and changed the world. “Jesus Revolution” graced the cover of Time Magazine five years after their cover asked, “Is God Dead?”
Pastor Chuck, as he was fondly known, was pastoring a dry failing church until he opened his heart and his church doors to a generation hungry to know Jesus. A revival and revolution blew open the doors of his church as the congregation overflowed into a tent to accommodate not just the hippies but everyone eager to hear about the saving grace of Jesus through His sacrifice for them.
A seventeen-year old Greg Laurie with an alcoholic mother married seven times but never to his father, tried escaping his painful home life in the drug culture where he meets his girlfriend Cathe. Both were searching for “truth” in all the wrong places. When they watched Cathe’s sister almost die from drugs, Cathe convinces Greg that maybe they should investigate what this Jesus movement says about truth.
When you see evangelist Pastor Greg Laurie today leading Harvest Church and Ministries you might never expect to hear the life he led before accepting Jesus as his Savior. Like so many of us with sordid backgrounds, he shares his testimony openly and honestly to give hope to others who might think they could never be forgiven for their past or used by God.
Pastor Greg says today, “I hope my story can inspire young people in difficult circumstances to know that God can intervene in their life and change their story. We don’t determine what hand we are dealt in life — but we do determine how we will react to it.”
How Dave and My Life Intersected with Pastor Chuck and Pastor Greg!
If you’ve read my book Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents, you know I had my prodigal backsliding years after divorcing my daughter’s father. For seventeen years, I was a prodigal raising a prodigal. I became a Christian after the murder of my CHP father when I was ten. I lived out my faith until I went into the world as a successful businesswoman and single mom. I continued going to church and taking my daughter, but I wasn’t living the Christian life or being a good role model for her.
When she turned sixteen, it became apparent I needed to change because she was following my wayward choices. I also told God I wouldn’t date another man I didn’t think was from Him and I joined a small group at church. There I met Dave and we started dating, but I soon broke up with him because I thought he might be too good for me.
He was persistent and kept asking me out, so finally I went to a Harvest Crusade in Anaheim Stadium with him. This was now 1992 and Pastor Greg Laurie was fulfilling the prophecy that Lennie Frisbee had made over him in the early 70’s that one day Greg would be speaking to thousands! Dave and I attended the third Harvest Crusade and Pastor Greg was indeed speaking to a stadium that holds 50,000 people when Pastor Greg asked the audience, “If you died tonight, are you ready?”
I knew I wasn’t! As Crystal Lewis sang “Come Just As You Are,” I went down with hundreds on the stadium floor rededicating my life to the Lord and telling Him this prodigal had returned. I would go where He led. I had no idea the plans the Lord had for me to become a Christian author and start a Woman to Woman Ministry that is still blessing women today. Praise God, He never gave up on me!
That night Dave and I sat in the parking lot until it emptied talking about our relationship when I heard God say to me, “You asked for this godly man and I gave him to you. Now rededicate yourself to this relationship.”
I did and we were married five months later, December 19, 1992! I had heard on the radio that Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel was hosting a Caribbean cruise and I suggested to Dave we go on the trip for our honeymoon. We had asked God to help us meet other Christian couples, and even though this wasn’t our home church, we were open to wherever the Lord led us. It was so fun because we were the “honeymooners” on the cruise!
Soon two of Dave’s kids came to live with us and we would go to the Monday night meetings at Calvary Chapel depicted in the Jesus Revolution movie that were still continuing all those years later. Dave and I also went each year to the Harvest Crusades as counsellors to those surrendering or re-surrendering their life to Christ. It was such a joy when Pastor Laurie brought Harvest Crusade to Boise, Idaho last year and our church took a bus down from our mountain community.
There’s Power in Letting God Use Your Testimony!
“Your mess can be turned into a message and your test into a testimony.” Greg Laurie
While waiting to enter the theater to see Jesus Revolution, Dave and I started chatting with a group of three women. They didn’t know anything about Pastors Chuck or Greg, so I shared some of our story with them. When I asked what church they attended locally, only one answered. When the movie was over, I saw the woman who had said she went to church on her knees in front of one of her friends who was crying. I knew she had just given her heart to Jesus because of the powerful testimonies in the movie of real-life searches for truth found only in Jesus. Salvation offered not just during a movie or revival, but available to each of us in our personal lives.
I started to walk by them, but the Holy Spirit prompted me to stop and give them a group hug. Then the Lord led me to make the following statement: “Because the movie takes place in Orange County California where Dave and I both lived for many years, it brought back such memories seeing all the beautiful places and beaches we knew so well.” Then I said, “This movie gives me such hope for California. If God did this once, He could do it again!” They agreed.
There’s no greater witness to God’s goodness than sharing what He’s done in your life. No one can question your testimony because it’s your personal Jesus Revolution experience. Once I was lost, but now I’m found by the saving grace of Jesus my Lord and Savior. A revival or a revolution can start with one person. The joy and peace found in Jesus is contagious.
In Forsaken God? Remembering the Goodness of God Our Culture Has Forgotten, I share two biblical testimonies of King Nebuchadnezzar from the Old Testament and the apostle Paul from the New Testament. Both of their testimonies are recorded in the Bible and they each humbly shared their story publicly to influence others to trust in God’s goodness available to all sinners.
King Nebuchadnezzar tells of his prideful attitude thinking he was greater than God in Daniel 4. Paul shares his testimony in Acts 22:1-16 that he was formerly a Jewish religious zealot persecuting Christians until he met God on the road to Damascus. King Nebuchadnezzar’s and the apostle Paul’s testimonies are examples and encouragement that God can change anyone’s heart: once I was prideful, now I am humble. Once I was blind, now I see!
As we mature spiritually, we move beyond just remembering God’s goodness for our own benefit and start retelling our testimony to help others. We all have varied testimonies in our life in addition to our salvation testimony.
I never tire of telling my story as HIStory.
You may not think you have a testimony if you’ve been a Christian most of your life and life has gone smoothly, but God has been walking beside you guiding your life every step of the way. That’s your testimony to others who worry about losing something by turning their lives over to God. You’re a living example of how good God really is!
Maybe you have a hidden past you’ve been too embarrassed to talk about, but now is the time to deal with those buried hurts and hang-ups.
Like Pastor Greg and me, God redeems your spiritual revival story by surrounding you with people who need to hear your past, so it doesn’t become their future.
It’s the opportunity to give purpose to a crisis.
God will bring people across your path and the Holy Spirit will prompt you to share, just like He did with me and the ladies in the theater.
Every day you encounter opportunities to share your Jesus Revolution testimony, and every time you tell it, you’ll remember how good God has been to you and offer hope to others!
REVEALING IS THE FIRST STEP TO HEALING.
Your story doesn’t have to have a “happy ending” for you to share it. Someone might need to hear that even though things didn’t go like you hoped, God has been faithful and He will be in their life too.
When people ask me how I’ve made it through life’s difficulties, the best answer is, “I couldn’t have done it without God.” That’s your best answer too. It opens the door to share your story . . . your testimony.
YOUR STORY BECOMES YOUR TESTIMONY WHEN THE FOCUS IS ON GOD, NOT ON YOU.
It’s not a “tell all” and it’s not a time to tell someone else’s story. Stick to details that pertain to you.
Don’t dramatize how bad you were; characterize how good God is!
When anyone tells me about an encounter with God, or a memorable circumstance in his or her life, I always ask if he or she is writing it down because God is going to use it as a life-experience revival testimony.
Pray for God to give you the opportunity to share your testimony often and authentically.
“I would hope people realize that God is still in the business of changing lives. What happened to us some 50 years ago can still happen for people today.” –Greg Laurie
But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do. —Ps. 73:28 NLT
If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment here. I’d love to hear your Jesus revolution story.
Excellent blog today. Yes, my hubby and I saw the movie, Jesus Revolution, last week and I, myself was amazed. The quality of this Christian film was so encouraging, the storyline was incredibly touching and it’s a TRUE story! During the movie I told my hubby, I would have loved to have known this was going on in the 70’s. I lived only a couple of hundred miles away and didn’t know this was happening.
Oh, how I needed Jesus during those years. For, I was a prodigal (also) that had strayed, big time! Yet, in the mid eighties the Lord picked me up, dusted me off, started healing my heart, mind, body and soul. It didn’t happen overnight. It is still an ongoing process that will continue as long as I breathe.
Loved your quote from Greg Laurie, “ Your mess can be turned into a message and your test into a testimony.” I was tested for many years and my testing turned into a living testimony for Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior, may HE receive all the glory due to HIM!
Thank you, Kathy for sharing your testimony and yes, we’re all still works in progress and praise God for grace!