The Jesus Revolution: Seeing My Story on the Screen

Because I actually wrote about the film The Jesus Revolution prior to it hitting the theaters, I was surprised when a blog reader asked me if I was going to write a response to actually seeing it.

A response? My response was emotional. Even though the film was the story of evangelist and Pastor Greg Laurie, and even though the film was the story of Pastor Chuck Smith, and even though the film was the story of hippie evangelist Lonnie Frisbee … it was my story they were telling on the big screen.

I’m where I am today and do what I do because of what happened in those years in Orange County, California. I even got to meet several of the people portrayed in the movie in real life in many visits to the area, and at one point was interviewed for the job of Assistant Editor of Contemporary Christian Music magazine. To say I was immersed in all this would be serious understatement.

I’ve only experienced sensory overload a few times in my life. (For comparison purposes, one was at the New Year’s Eve fireworks at Epcot in Disney World.) But in the only thing that held me back on Saturday was an abundance of respect for the other patrons at the cinema. Otherwise, I wanted to wail. Those events shaped my life. Dang! It hit me hard!

And, I am not alone. I’m hearing this deep, gut response — or hints of it, since we’re guys, right? — from other people. Powerful. Impactful.

My wife is on staff at a local church, and lately I’ve been trying to be supportive at another nearby church in our community. I went back to the former church on Sunday for a special service they were having, and the pastor spontaneously decided to open the service with a song by the group LoveSong which is titled Two Hands, which he’d heard the day before at the theater.

It’s not the first time he’s played guitar in church. Probably closer to the thousandth if you count all the churches he has ministered in. But as I reminded him after lunch, the very fact that he was able to stand in church holding a guitar — a few Catholic folk masses notwithstanding — traces back to the revolution described in the film.

In other words, it wasn’t just the time the hippies came to church, but it was the time the guitars came to church. And it wasn’t just that, but it was also the time casual dress came to church.

And it was the time revival came to church. People turned to Christ. Which is the point, after all. The Jesus Revolution — the actual events, not the film — is considered the last great outpouring in modern church history. How could I watch that play out onscreen and not be overcome by the emotion of it all.

What would I say in more of a review sense?

They captured the times well. The addition of the reporter for TIME Magazine as a tertiary character was brilliant. The people were believable. The other components that make a film more than just ‘good’ were there in the right places. I would watch the whole thing again.

Driving back, my wife pointed out that though both the Christian and mainstream music of the day was represented, Chuck Smith’s pre-revolution church wasn’t shown as having any music at all. I’m sure there was old church piano or organ hiding somewhere, but we didn’t see or hear it. (It’s like there wasn’t any music at all in those years!)

And that is also, I believe, just the point. While people underwent spiritual transformation and became Christ followers, a pivotal part of the revolution was expressed in music, just as music was a central component earlier this month at Asbury University.

That music revolution reverberates in the capital “C” Church today in the forms of Contemporary Christian Music, and in Modern Worship.

As someone who participates regularly in both, how can I not be overwhelmed with thanks to those who led the way?

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Special heartfelt thanks to the people behind faithfilms.ca for arranging for us to see the movie. Faith Films provides marketing and publicity support for Christian productions screening in Canada and is part of Graf-Martin Communications.

A Non-Moviegoer Reviews Three Films

People think I’m kidding when I say that in 33 years of married life, we’ve been to the cinema about a dozen times. And two of those were lending some box office support to Veggie Tales.

Add to this that we don’t have cable, satellite, or a streaming service. And Blockbuster is long-closed. We’re simply not part of the movie culture common to so many including so many people who are in pastoral ministry.

So when someone offered us half-dozen unopened DVDs last month, we accepted with thanks. Add to that a title obtained a thrift store and next thing you know, we made a minor lifestyle adjustment which included a mini-NOOMA (Rob Bell) marathon on Saturday night.

I guess gathering in front of the giant screen in the evening is what normal people do, especially these days. We’re simply so busy doing other things.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

A reporter is asked to write a 300-word profile on Fred Rogers and it turns into a 10,000 cover feature. Although people think of the film as “starring” Tom Hanks, the story-line is centered around that reporter and his wife, but that is all it takes to let the character of Mr. Rogers shine.

It makes you wonder how much of our lives are reflected in the people we’ve helped and served or perhaps even formally mentored.

Fred Rogers — both on the small screen and in real life — had a great influence on people from so many different walks of life and so many generations. That someone would even make this film speaks volumes about his life.

Overcomer

This is one of a seemingly endless series of movies from the producers of Courageous and Facing the Giants and Fireproof.

I have to give the producers credit that the sub-plot — or perhaps it was the major plot — about the family life of the young cross-country runner with asthma wasn’t included in the previews, which focused instead on the girl trying to better her running times to represent her school in a major competition.

In other words, you had an idea where the story was going, but then it introduced another element entirely. For that reason, I enjoyed that this had more than a one-dimensional storyline. The characters were stereotypical, but that goes with the genre.

Unplanned

The story of (now) anti-abortion crusader Abby Johnson was one I watched alone. To that end, my wife was right, it was rather gory; perhaps 20% more bloody than it needed to be. But this of course helps the film to make its point.

Unlike the two movies above, this one followed a somewhat predictable trajectory, especially as it is based on a true and well-documented story.  Johnson’s husband, while not supportive of his wife’s career, bides his time for many years waiting for her cathartic moment to occur. When it does, it’s presented realistically and vividly.

It’s evident early on why pro-choice advocates didn’t want this film to succeed. This would be painful to watch if someone has an abortion in their history, but for all others –including teenagers — it’s a cautionary tale.

 

Christian Media and Publishing: Who is Hurting – A Top Three

The Creators of the film, I Still Believe

The first faith-focused movie ever produced for IMAX couldn’t have had a more unfortunate release date. With glowing advance reviews, if it had released a week earlier, it would have enjoyed a solid week of box office sales on entering wide release. If it had been scheduled for a week later, its release would have been put back to whenever it is this summer that the motion picture industry will play catch-up. Instead, the creators acted quickly and decisively and rush-released the Netflix premiere. Later, many who missed both options will pursue the DVD release.

Vacation Bible School (VBS)

Make no mistake, VBS is a multi-million dollar business in the United States alone. Where I live, primary and junior school grades run to the end of June, so VBS is a July/August thing, but now it’s already in doubt in some places. In the U.S. it’s not unheard of to have a VBS week in late May, so many cancellations are possibly already kicking in, perhaps with some opting for postponement. This of course is part of the larger vulnerability of seasonal product, and there are also publishers of material for Easter and Mother’s Day who are experiencing unforeseen losses right now. An example with Mother’s Day might be Dayspring Cards, whose wares are sold through Christian bookstores many of which are either forced to close (see next item) or are in areas where people are being more diligent about social distancing.

ChristianBook.com

The place that everyone would turn to if shopping at the local Christian bookstore isn’t an option, Christianbook.com (aka Christian Book Distributors, formerly CBD) has been handed an order by the State of Massachusetts forcing it to close from April 7th to May 3rd, with only orders for digital product releasing. (See story.) The problem compounds for people hoping to get physical Christian books and music online because Amazon is prioritizing food and essential product orders, delaying some book shipments by up to two weeks.

Bad Christian Movies

With all the successes Christian filmmakers have had at the mainstream box office in the past few years, it’s easy to overlook that there are still Christian movies of dubious quality being cranked out on a monthly basis.

The plot of one had me curious so we decided to give it a look. I’ll spare the company the name mention but during the course of 125 minutes, we watched,

• Horrible lighting and/or film processing right from the very first scene
• Mismatched shots; items in the background in one scene and not there the next and then seconds later, back again (continuity)
  
• Dialog overdubs with mismatched background noise; not sure which were the originals and which were done later
• Introduction of a key character at the beginning who never returned
• Over-the-top acting (though some was well-done)
  
• Implausible abrupt changes in characters
• Doctrinal propaganda
• Screenplay trying to take on too many faith issues at once
• Incomplete portrayal of the rites involved in another faith

These are just the few I remember days later.

The subject matter did stay with us, and we had several discussions about it afterwards, but I’m thinking that the production and script liabilities outweighed the benefits.

The movie released in 2014, so the aforementioned box office successes were only just beginning to happen. Hopefully an awareness of what can be done will raise (or has already raised) the bar for the rest of the Christian direct-to-video film industry.

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For a reminder of what’s been great lately, especially in 2018, check out these articles here at Thinking out Loud:

• Paul, Apostle of Christ
• God’s Not Dead 3: A Light in Darkness
• I Can Only Imagine

The “I Can Only Imagine Story” Still Evokes Emotion

Having seen the movie in a theater, I’m not a prime candidate to own the DVD or Blu-Ray for the movie I Can Only Imagine, which ended up becoming the 4th highest-grossing inspirational film of all time.

However, I got to see the nearly 2 hours of bonus features last night and found it very difficult to fight back the [whatever it is guys do, because the word isn’t tears.]

This is a powerful story. There’s no denying this.

And it’s a powerful song. Over the years, the band MercyMe has been flooded with letters from fans describing their own “moment” connecting with the song.

Even if you, like us, saw the film on the big screen, I’d encourage you to get your hands on this; or maybe find some fellow theater-goers who saw it as we did, and split the cost of the disc. I doubt the ‘extras’ are available for streaming.

…If you missed it, here’s my article from March, and then my reflections after actually seeing the film after it had taken off at the box office.

Review: God’s Not Dead 3: A Light in Darkness

Three movies later, God’s still not dead, and The Newsboys are still singing the same song.

It would be so easy to be cynical and say that this movie franchise went back to the well one time too often, but in fact, I didn’t really mind the movie at all. Heck, if they can keep it at this level, they can make a 4th one, too.

God’s Not Dead 3: A Light in Darkness releases today on DVD and Digital. The film was part of an avalanche of major Christian movies this winter which included Paul, Apostle of Christ and I Can Only Imagine.

The plot is as fresh as the daily news, with the church-and-state issue concerning a parish which helped found the university on whose property it still sits, only to face that the college has evolved into something completely secular and can no longer, in good conscience be perceived as giving preference to one particular religious worldview. That the church has been destroyed by fire makes the situation more complicated.

There were also some surprising storyline developments, but to enlarge on those here wanders into spoiler territory which I’ve chosen to avoid. Generally speaking, the film kept my interest, a few overused Christian clichés notwithstanding.

Apologetic cinema like this seems to fall into two categories. There are the fast-action scripts involving multiple plot-lines intended to educate and entertain (Do You Believe), and there are the more cerebral films which are intended only to provoke thought (The Case for Christ). In God’s Not Dead 3, the only chase scene is a foot chase lasting about ten seconds. It’s about the characters and more important, about the ideas.

Speaking of characters Shane Harper is back as Josh Wheaton from the first (2014) movie. There’s a passing reference, but having seen the other film isn’t a prerequisite. Also, David A.R. White, a major force behind the camera (mostly) in so many Christian movies — he’s a co-founder of PureFlix — steps front and center in this picture…

…This is a movie about holding various positions in tension, and right to the end, it delivers that. Again, without providing spoilers, I know that some viewers will be unsettled by the direction the battle between the church and the university moves, but then that’s just more fuel for post-movie discussion.

 

 

Weekend Link List

Happy Saturday. And Sunday. Again, some things you may or may not have seen elsewhere.

• If your church ever had Koinonia Groups, you would certainly know how to spell the word, right? For Karthik Nemmani, described as “a soft-spoken eighth-grader from McKinney, Texas,” the word was worth $40,000 in the Scripps Spelling Bee.
• God Chose Donald Trump: The Movie  “Liberty University students and faculty are making The Trump Prophecy. Students at Jerry Falwell’s evangelical Liberty University are helping produce a film that argues Trump’s presidency was divinely foretold.
• Traditionally, God’s people prayed to… well… God. So in the Christian era, when did prayer to Jesus originate? “…[I]n early Christian baptism, one called upon Jesus, invoking him over the baptized person. Indeed, in 1 Cor. 1:2 Paul refers to fellow believers simply as those who everywhere ‘call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Perhaps our earliest reference, however, is 1 Thess. 3:11-13, where God and Jesus are jointly called upon to enable Paul to re-visit the Thessalonian church.”
• Tony Campolo’s issues with modern worship include the question of tense “I think it’s wonderful that it’s captured the music that young people can relate to and they get into it with great love and emotion. But compare ‘My God reigns’ with the old hymns which say: ‘Jesus shall reign’ – it’s future tense, not present tense… The Hallelujah Chorus never says: ‘God is in control’. It says: ‘The kingdoms of this world will (when the second coming occurs) become the kingdoms of our God and he shall reign forever and ever hallelujah’.”
• A candidate for President of the Southern Baptist Convention offers a four-part strategy for revitalizing the denomination. One of those is planting new churches; “…[W]e must continue to plant churches of every style and variety in every context possible. In 2016 we recorded the lowest number of churches added to our convention since 1988—732 new church starts and 232 new affiliates for a total of 964. It is not a matter of church planting or revitalization but a matter of both/and.“
• Mixed Message: An article on how the brothers can encourage the sisters in ministry is nonetheless set in a complementarian mindset. I mean, I applaud the effort, but it doesn’t really change anything. 
• Finally, it’s apparent that Kevin Sorbo has a lock on Christian film casting assignments. He’s due to appear in The Pastor at some point this year. “In a forgotten part of town, overrun by a ruthless gang; a community struggles with its faith, as they see their neighborhoods torn-apart and their youth targeted for gang recruitment.”
  

Please note the revision to our privacy policy:

“For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.

Luke 8:17 | NASB

— Church Curmudgeon (@ChrchCurmudgeon) May 25, 2018

Same Kind of Different as Me: An Illustration of the Hands and Feet of Christ

Based on the book of the same name which is based on a true story, Same Kind of Different as Me is the unlikely story of the intersection of two worlds between an international dealer in expensive fine art and a homeless man who spent much of his life working overtime as a slave. Ron Hall is living the good life that involves interacting with high society when his wife Deborah drags him to reluctantly serve at the Union Gospel Mission. The 2007 book from Thomas Nelson later gave way to a small group curriculum as it raises many issues.

I had only minimal familiarity with the book — I knew it had sold well in some areas, which can be hard for a biographical work even if it reads better than some fiction — when invited to see the movie which, as you read this, is at the end of its second week in North America.

My wife and I were quite impressed. She even paid it the ultimate compliment (for her) by saying something as we left the theater, “It wasn’t a Christian movie;” by which she meant there wasn’t an overt gospel message leading toward key characters getting saved at the end. Indeed, this is actually the ideal Christian movie, where things are shown instead of told, and where Christian values are being lived out, rather than simply taught. Truly this is the Christian film you view with that unchurched neighbor, coworker or relative.

But it takes more than just a great screenplay to make a great picture. The additional points would go for some very plausible casting — I felt like I already know Ron and Deborah — and some rather breathtaking scenery, not to mention the visual image of the place in the woods where the homeless of that community spend the night.

The movie raises the possibility of much discussion about the type of activity which truly helps the homeless and gives them dignity and how, at the end of the day, we’re not all that different.

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Thanks to Tim at Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. for the tix.

 

Weekend Link List

Every once in awhile I have to work a weekend shift, but at least it’s not as busy.

Welcome to the Weekend: A bonus feature for the faithful committed readers who don’t just turn up on Wednesdays. Drew Dyck didn’t say where he found this baby baptism pic, but the comments (click to read) were as much fun as the photo.

• The rainbow, an icon of the LGBTQ movement keeps turning up on the Wheaton College campus. It’s not exactly on objective report, though…
• …Meanwhile the Ashers Bakery case — concerning one of the world’s most famous gay wedding cakes — will now be heard by the UK Supreme Court.
• Epic-length Essay of the Weekend: Can Hank Hanegraaff have his Orthodox cake and eat it, too? This writer sees some serious incompatibilities. (And with this we now have the term Hankadox.)
  
• Church — Then and Now: Thom Rainer sees eight major differences occurring in the last decade.
  
• The documentary In Our Hands will play Tuesday, May 23rd in 600 select theaters in the U.S. It tells the story of the Six Day War in Israel and is being promoted by Gordon Robertson, CEO of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). The film “focuses on the commitment and sacrifice of the soldiers who brought Jerusalem back under Israeli control. Israel still celebrates Jerusalem Day every year in remembrance of these historic events known as the Reunification of Jerusalem.”
• The power of a word: Did God create the world or did he arrange the world?  A different way of looking at Genesis 1.
• Parenting Place:
  “‘Can you please take me someplace I’ve never been and let me find my own way home on the subway?’
  That was our nine-year-old son Izzy’s odd request. In the end it changed him, it changed me, and it just may change America.
  That’s because after talking it over with my husband, we decided to let the boy do it.”
• The Golden Rule is often said to be common to every major faith. But often what you see is The Silver Rule. Furthermore, Christians are called to live The Platinum Rule.
• In the winter months I become a bit of sitcom junkie. And I’ve enjoyed six years of Last Man Standing on Friday nights at ABC-TV. So is the show’s Christianity-friendly, politically conservative writing the reason the network canceled it this week? 
• You don’t want to be chasing Pokemon inside a Russian cathedral lest you be found guilty of insulting the faith of worshipers.
  
• Pass the Bucket on the Left Hand Side: Four ways churches fail when asking for money.
  
• Canada Corner: As the nation gets ready to celebrate its 150th Anniversary on July 1st, a new book looks at religious freedom in the country. 
• Finally, if you need a lift this weekend, this particular Brant Hansen Oddcast should do it.
  

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And now, to complete our weekly public service requirement, we bring you The Cycle of Fear:

Case for Christ Movie is a Must-See on Two Different Levels

You really do need to see this film.

In a world where a proliferation of Christian movies has meant some of us spend as much time at the local theater as we do at church, this one is a cut above.

After getting to see a preview, I took a first-time step of watching it all over again the very next night, finding the second view equally satisfying and engaging as the first. I think the reason was that for me the various elements of the movie worked; that is to say all the pieces of what makes up cinematography that we might not even notice played together here to create a movie that was simply believable. There were few of those caricature or stereotype moments that sometimes mar faith-focused films.

It’s no spoiler to say that this is the real-life story of Lee Strobel, a top investigative reporter with the Chicago Tribune, who also happens to hold a law degree, and has a history of taking on some big challenges, including the Ford Pinto scandal. (You can read a 1980 sample in the Trib’s archives.) He’s just been promoted out of street-beat reporting but is about to be called upon to cover a cop shooting, a story that he feels is really beneath him. That story has some interesting parallels to another, second investigation he’s about to launch on his own time.

That side project begins when his wife converts to Christianity through the ministry of an early incarnation — still meeting in a theater at that point — of Willow Creek Community Church. He feels he’s losing her but is confident he can win her back by simply bringing all his investigative skills to bear on proving Christianity in general, and the resurrection of Jesus in particular, to be a complete and utter hoax. While philosophy and theology isn’t his normal beat, he is relentless in his pursuit of credible experts who can handle his checklist of factors in the Christ story that need to be negated. The rest is the apologetics substance of the film.

It was the unexpected relational substance of the film that caught me off-guard. What happens in a marriage when one spouse is a believer and one is not? (It’s around this point that I remembered reading that Zondervan was re-releasing one of Strobel’s few non-apologetic titles, Surviving a Spiritual Mismatch in Marriage coauthored with wife Leslie.) The portrayal of Leslie Strobel — by an actress whose appearance and mannerisms reminded me so much of Bill Hybels’ daughter Shauna Niequist — is what caused one reviewer to comment as to the authenticity of the portrayal of this neophyte Christ follower; the believability I mentioned earlier.

The rest you need to see. Strobel does not lay down his guns halfway through and commence the ministry with which many of us are familiar. We know him today as the author of other titles in the Case for… series such as The Case for Faith, The Case for a Creator, The Case for the Real Jesus and the recent The Case for Grace; but throughout most of the film his life is not headed on that trajectory at all. Disproving Christianity is a fight he truly believes he can win.

This isn’t really a film for the whole family, though teens who face challenges to their faith from fellow students could benefit significantly. Taking a friend, relative, neighbor or coworker who hasn’t yet crossed the line of faith is highly recommended, because when it comes to what Christians believe, at the end of the day, the buck stops with the resurrection.

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An opportunity to the preview the movie has been provided courtesy of Pure Flix Entertainment and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Stills above were posted on Twitter by people associated with the production.