Jesus FreaksTag Archive -

I Got Nothing Here!

July 12, 2011 in Discipleship,Jesus Movement,Radical Christianity,Spiritual Formation with 0 Comments

jesusloavesA Logistical Nightmare

When the Lord Jesus wrapped up His Galilean ministry, He took His disciples to a remote place to rest. “Yeah, right!” I’m sure the Twelve were thinking when thousands of people met them on the shore of their “getaway.” Jesus, moved with compassion, taught the crowd for hours.

About 3:00 PM, the disciples told their Master that He needed to send the crowds away. They were in the middle of nowhere, and the families were getting hungry. This was like a rock concert with no vendors or toilets. “Hurry, Jesus, before it’s too late and this crowd gets unruly.”

You Feed Them!

In His characteristic way, Jesus blows them away with His radical response. “You give them something to eat” (Mark 6:37). The Greek text highlights the power of His words by adding the plural personal pronoun: YOU, You give them something to eat!

(more…)

Jesus Movement Minute: Mercy

June 27, 2011 in Grace Works! with 2 Comments

Life on earth was a hopeless cycle of misery and pain.

Men and women were helpless to do anything about it.

Then, something happened.

God broke through the pain and misery by sending His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus called it “mercy.”

And when someone calls out to Him crying, “Have mercy on me,” He always does.

That cry for help characterized the Jesus Movement. We knew we needed mercy.

Every parable illustrating mercy in the New Testament occurs when Jesus is talking to self-righteous people. His message is consistent: Your confidence that you don’t need Me is your undoing. It’s the whores and tax-collectors who know they need Me who receive God’s mercy.

Maybe that’s why they called us “Jesus Freaks.”

Question: Do you remember the day God’s mercy broke through the pain and misery of your life?

 

Remembering the Jesus Movement: Our Burning Hearts

January 14, 2011 in Discipleship,Grace Works!,Jesus Movement,Radical Christianity with 0 Comments

images-5

It Really Happened!

I’ll never forget my first real Easter. Everything was new to me and I just couldn’t get over it. Jesus died for me, was buried, and rose again. It really happened, and it was all because He loved me.

We had been celebrating it daily since our new birth. By “we,” I mean those of us who heard about Christ on the streets during the Jesus Movement of the 60s and 70s. It was all we talked about-Jesus, His love, His death, His resurrection, our new life, hope, meaning, and destiny.

And then we figured it out that Easter was now about something more than egg hunts and spring break. It was the church’s official celebration of the resurrection event.

“Wow, what a concept,” I remember thinking. “We should go to church too,” referring to my Jesus Movement friends.

(more…)

7 Ways An Old Jesus Movement Rocker Can Stay “Cool”

January 10, 2011 in Jesus Movement,Radical Christianity with 4 Comments

If you have to ask what I mean by “cool,” you probably weren’t a part of the Jesus Movement. To me a “cool” person is someone who gets “it,” whatever “it” might be. What made the Jesus People cool was that we got Jesus. We didn’t get religion, we didn’t get the institutional church; we got Jesus. And we especially “got” how  Jesus was relevant to our culture.

If that definition of cool doesn’t push your button, then you probably shouldn’t read on. But if it does get you excited, here’s my list:

Seven Ways To Stay “Cool”

(more…)

Jesus Movement Minute: Fear

December 23, 2010 in Discipleship Minute,Jesus Movement,Radical Christianity with 0 Comments

Revival Ruiner

It inhibits spiritual growth and slams on the brakes of any revival.

It’s the bane of every revolution, especially spiritual ones.

It seeks to the status quo, caters to the comfortable, and discourages the radical.

It may be one of the tree primary reasons the church retreats behind it’s stained glass walls of irrelevancy.

Fear!

Oh, you can’t do that. It’s never been done before.

We don’t know what would happen if we tried that!

My memories of the Jesus Movement revival impress me that fear had nothing to do with it.

We were so young in Christ that our faith was still refreshingly bold and courageous.

Until the church tamed us. Then we became just as fearful as the rest of ‘em…and just as ineffective!

Fear freezes faith!

Staring Irrelevancy in the Face?

December 6, 2010 in Jesus Movement,Radical Christianity,Spiritual Formation with 2 Comments

irrelevanceOne Thing You Can ‘t Say About the Jesus Movement

When I remember the Jesus Movement, I have to admit that we had some problems. Our intensity led to excess, our boldness to brashness, and we sometimes let our immature radicalism get in our way.

Our critics have documented these problems in great detail from the day our revival started.

But one charge that will never stick is that we were irrelevant.

Living on the Edge of Faith

What kept us relevant wasn ‘t our radical edginess–our long hair, rock music, and counter-culture ways. It was our radical willingness to live on the edge of faith.

Our comfort zones were the frontier borders of Christianity–the streets and campuses of the world. We stormed the gates of hell, invading strongholds the institutional church had ignored for too long.

But What About Now?

(more…)

Remembering the Jesus Movement: Our Burning Hearts

November 24, 2010 in Bible Teaching,Jesus Movement,Radical Christianity,Spiritual Formation with 0 Comments

images-5

It Really Happened!

I’ll never forget my first real Easter. Everything was new to me and I just couldn’t get over it. Jesus died for me, was buried, and rose again. It really happened, and it was all because He loved me.

We had been celebrating it daily since our new birth. By “we,” I mean those of us who heard about Christ on the streets during the Jesus Movement of the 60s and 70s. It was all we talked about-Jesus, His love, His death, His resurrection, our new life, hope, meaning, and destiny.

And then we figured it out that Easter was now about something more than egg hunts and spring break. It was the church’s official celebration of the resurrection event.

“Wow, what a concept,” I remember thinking. “We should go to church too,” referring to my Jesus Movement friends.

Let’s Go to Church!

So we did.

But we weren’t too impressed.

(more…)

The Winning Team: 1968

November 23, 2010 in Grace Works!,Jesus Movement,Radical Christianity,Spiritual Formation with 4 Comments

Student Campus Demonstration: 1968

I was part of a very special team of revolutionaries God chose to take a culture by storm–thousands of us at the center of the last great revival of American history, the Jesus Movement.

But to understand our revival, you have to know more about us, my generation. I graduated from high school in 1968.

It was one of the most tumultuous and decisive years in American history. For twelve months America stood at the crossroads of who we always were and who we might become. The anger of the streets turned to rage in 1968.

I was right in the middle of it. Our brothers were dying in Vietnam and our sisters were burning their bras. We had no idea what we were for, but we were against just about everything. And we took to the streets with revolutionary fervor.

But we met Someone on the streets we never imagined would be there: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We were never the same. Our allegiance suddenly shifted from political leaders and causes to our Great Lord and His Kingdom.

It didn’t matter much anymore who’s political side we were on. We were on the winning team, and we knew it.

We knew little but believed much. Our impact was immediate and deep.

That’s the way it should be, don’t you think? Followers of Christ should make a difference.

Want to make a difference? That kind of difference?

If so, you’re not alone. Let’s do it again. I think it’s time for America to see another Jesus Movement.

If you want to be a part of it, either write me or subscribe to this feed, and I’ll connect you to like-minded, revival-hearted believers who are ready to go all out for Jesus.

Jesus Movement Minute: Scandalous!

November 10, 2010 in American and Christian,Discipleship Minute,Jesus Movement,Radical Christianity,Spiritual Formation with 1 Comment

In the forty years since our revival, the Jesus Movement, I’ve heard a lot of theories about so-called “separation.”

No one would argue that Christians should live separate from sin, but the solution is not to live separate from sinners.

Jesus sure didn’t do that.

He gained a reputation as a friend of sinners. He purposefully touched the unclean, hung out with the outcasts, and even entered a pagan Gentile’s home.

“Scandalous,” His critics cried. They even spread rumors that He was a glutton and a drunkard.

Did Jesus care?

Not a bit. Every time He made contact with the ones the religious culture tried to quarantine good Jews from interacting with, they were transformed.

That’s the way it was in the Jesus Movement. We didn’t separate, we penetrated. We didn’t run from sinners, we watched God run them down with His mercy and grace.

As Walter Wink put it so eloquently, “The contagion of holiness overcomes the contagion of uncleanness.”

Reborn to Be Wild!

May 26, 2010 in Grace Works!,Radical Christianity with 0 Comments

My latest book about the Jesus Movement is now available at Amazon. Here’s a taste of what it’s about:

“Too Old, Too Sick, and Too Tired” from Whitestone Media on Vimeo.