For centuries America has endured hardships and times of trials and tribulations, but the year 1965 brought about a true test of America’s strength. An order had been given to deploy mass amounts of troops to a war torn country named Vietnam. The Vietnam War began in 1959 and lasted until April 1975. For many Americans the war was a hopeless cause, and many decided to take to the streets in mass protest. It was during this tumultuous time that American youth began to separate themselves from the traditional mores and expectations of their fathers and mothers. They sought individual freedom, and an unrestrained ability to express themselves; often in unorthodox ways. This generation of youth would become known as the “free-love” generation. A mass youth counterculture movement who’s effects would be felt for generations to come.

It was from within this movement that a unique group of young Americans began to form. However, their ideologies and moral convictions were in stark contrast to those of the counter-culture movement. These youths became known as “The Jesus Freaks” or “The Jesus People”. The impact that this group would have on American society and culture would prove to be enormous. Their influence penetrated not only the religious community, but also popular culture and political culture as well.

It is difficulty to pinpoint one main cause of the youth counter-culture in the 1960’s. Without doubt national instability, political dishonesty, and the popularization of illegal narcotics played a vital role in the movement. The movement’s main message was peace, love, and freedom. However, the means by which they brought about this message was horrifying to both their parents and most conservative Americans. One group that the counter-culture often experienced criticism from was Fundamentalist Christians. The Fundamentalist movement began in the early twentieth-century, and strongly propagated the basic tenets of the Christian faith. To most fundamentalist the idea of long hair, use of illegal drugs, promiscuous sexually activities and most forms of protest were taboo and something all American youth should abstain from.

Also, many members of the counter-culture were embracing eastern mysticism and other forms of meditation in order to find the peace, both nationally and individually, they were seeking for. Some of these practices included Zen Buddhism, Transcendental Meditation, and Hinduism. Some even followed extreme religions such as Anton Szandor LaVey’s Church of Satan which was formed in 1969. Each of these practices was strictly forbidden by fundamentalists. Thus, instead of viewing these individuals as reformers per se, Fundamentalist viewed them as a danger to American and Christian values. One of the most basic tenants of the fundamentalist movement was the fact that God exists. However, the counter-culture for the most part sought to prove that he did not exist. This is best exemplified in the 1966 “pronouncement of God’s death”.

It is important to understand this relationship between the counter-culture movement and the Fundamentalists because ultimately this relationship will play a vital role in the Jesus Movement.

While many American Youth found solace in mysticism and the use of narcotics, some, if not most, did not. Many began to seek further for answers. The number one gathering place for this new group of seekers was established in 1967. The name of this place was “The Living Room”, located in the Haight Asbury district of San Francisco. The Living room was a mission operation which sought to propagate the gospel to the hippie crowd which frequented that area. Many members of the counter-culture accepted Christ and would become the core of the Jesus Movement.

Quickly word began to spread that some people who had left the counter-culture had supposedly found an “alternative” path leading to their desired end; conversion to Christianity. However, many were cautious about this newly found faith in Christ. Most of the counter youth were skeptical of Christianity period. The idea of an organized and systematized entity was the exact model of what they were strictly against. For many the idea of becoming a Christian meant to do away with the individuality which was so precious to them, and put on a façade which in no way represented them as a person. Fundamentalism played a major part in this perception. Fundamentalist for the most part frowned upon the hippie way of life, and if one truly became a Christian they would shed the hippie lifestyle and put on a new and reformed image. However, a trend began to emerge within the newly forming Jesus People movement which allowed for both conversion to Christianity and the retention of hippie fashion style and jargon.

Perhaps the most important religious leader in this new movement was a man named Chuck Smith, pastor to a small congregation in Costa Mesa California. For the most part Smith’s message aligned with the Fundamentalist; however, his philosophy concerning cultural trends was quite different. For the first time during the conter-culture movement, a pastor sought to reach American youth, specifically the hippie youth of California, on their level. Thus, he began recruiting leadership known as “evangelical liaisons to the counterculture”. These liaisons would be in charge of going out into the street and ministering to the hippie crowds most of the time wearing hippie attire and using the jargon known to hippies. This is in stark contrast to the approach of the fundamentalists who were of the conviction that in order to spread the gospel effectively you must be of a strict conservative mind when it comes to fashion style and linguistics.

Another group who formed during the early Jesus People movement was a group called “Campus Crusade for Christ.” This group sought to reach college kids on college campuses with the gospel. Dr. Jack Sparks, a leader of the University of California Berkley Campus Crusade branch felt the need to form a specific and strategic evangelization program specifically designed for counter-culture or radical youth on the campus. This project became known as “Christian Liberation World Front” or CLWF for short. Many counter youth began to notice that these newly formed Christian organizations not only did not frown upon their choice of clothing and talk, but allowed for the retention of it after conversion. Thus, many of the slogans such as “Turn or Burn” promoted by Fundamentalist were replaced with “Jesus is my bag” and “One Way His Way”. As more and more youth began to notice that individual freedom was not denied upon becoming a Christian, more and more began to convert. Thus, the Jesus Movement began to gain some attention from the broader counter-culture movement.

It was clear that the ideas and convictions of the newly forming Jesus Movement were not inline with the Fundamentalists. As the movement grew the need for a place of assembly became obvious. However, to congregate with in the walls of a church building was to succumb to formalization which was to be avoided at all cost. Thus, many began to congregate on street allies, beaches, and new formed coffee shops. While in reality the principle of congregating as a church was supported and practiced by the movement, meeting at places like the beach provided the individuality and freedom which was so vital.

Also for many members of the movement, fundamentalism was dry and unspiritual. Thus, the majority attached to Pentecostal ideas, such as speaking in tongues and divine healing. This supernatural manifestation proved number one that God did exist despite the 1966 proclamation, and he was actively working in people. Unlike Fundamentalists who tended to avoid the subject of speaking in tongues, Pentecostalism advocated it and often made it a requisite of true conversion. “Thus, the majority of Jesus People meetings consisted of speaking in tongues, healing the sick among them, and the freedom to come in hippie attire. Also once a person became a believer their duties were simple “Read the Bible, pray, tell others about Jesus, join a Jesus Group, avoid sinning.”¹

Another peculiar aspect of the new movement was its music. Music in the majority of conservative churches mostly consisted of traditional hymns with very little modern alteration. The Jesus People also found this to be boring. Instead they wanted to incorporate the new hippie style of electric guitar, bass, and driving drum rhythms. In order to propagate this new style of Christian Music, several “Jesus Freaks” record labels and publishing companies began to form. These companies would be responsible for the recording and distribution of the new music. This is one area where the Jesus People transcended Christian culture and society and penetrated main stream culture as well. This can perhaps be seen best in such works as “Spirit in the Sky” performed by Norman Greenbaum. Greenbaum’s lyrics include such lines as “I’ve got a friend in Jesus”, “I’m going up to the spirit in the sky, that’s where I’m going to go when I die” which certainly aligns with some of the sayings of the Jesus Movement. This song gained so much popularity that secular artists including Elton John covered the song. In some ways this is evidence of how the Jesus Movement became somewhat of a fad among American Youth. Other example of the Jesus Movement influence is in theatrical plays such as “Godspell”. The popularity of the movement became so big, that “Ocean baptismal services, exuberant prayer meetings, long-haired evangelists, and Jesus rock musicians were portrayed throughout national magazines like Time, Newsweek, Life, Rolling Stone, and U.S. News & World Report.”²

While to some the movement was a cultural fad, some reports suggested that a true conversion or personal reformation took place. One account in the Hollywood Free Paper suggests that many attributed conversion to breaking drug addiction. “I was on ‘speed’ for a little over a year – you know, a tab once in a while just to keep awake. But then I started doing it heavily. I was dropping between 8 and 12 tabs each time which sometimes was a couple of times an hour.”³ Thus, most of the Jesus People came into the movement with prior drug addictions. Many had tried eastern religion to no avail. As one member of the movement states “I had gone the whole route ‘cures,’ been to the USPS Station in Forth Worth, Texas, to reformatories and prison a number of times, seen psychiatrists, medical doctors, tried Zen, YOGA, and spiritualists…needless for me to say – all of the foregoing was to no avail.”⁴ However, upon conversion “in the year 1968, my Lord Jesus the Christ released me from the bonds of addiction to narcotic drugs that had me in enslavement for more than 10 years.”⁵ Research done during the movement suggested that while many of the hippie ways of life were retained, the majority of negative aspects had been abandoned. One study reported that “of 88 members interviewed in one Jesus Movement group, 85% claimed to have drunk alcohol before joining, while 67% smoked tobacco and 90% used drugs. However, the incidence of these behaviors was practically zero at the time of the study.”⁶ Drugs and alcohol were not the only areas of reformation. “It was also found in this study that, whereas 91% of respondents approved of premarital sex prior to conversion, only 6% approved at the time of the study.”⁷

Prior to conversion the majority of hippies defined themselves as “liberal or apathetic”⁸ concerning politics. Not only did conversion bring about a moral reformation, but it also brought about a political one. After conversion most “simply defined political action as ineffective and thus was a waste of time.”⁹ For the members of the movement the political system of America was in no way a solution to the problems American’s faced. The answer was simple: “All Power thru Jesus”.

The evidence of conversion was evident to all who were among the Jesus People. Drug use had declined, sexually immorality had almost disappeared, and the movement was begging to gel into something much larger than it was in the beginning. Studies and media reports of the time period suggest that the number of Jesus People had risen to 300,000 by 1971.¹⁰ While individual reformation was obvious in many circumstances, the Jesus People continued to retain their hippie style and lingo. Despite their unorthodox dress and jargon, would Fundamentalist ever accept them based on their profession of faith and life change? The answer to this in some ways is yes.

The most popular Fundamentalist during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s was Billy Graham. Billy Graham was known internationally for his strong adherence and propagation of the basic fundamentals of Christianity. He was out spoken concerning sin, and the need for America to repent of sin and accept Christ. Billy Graham was also greatly at odds with the counter-culture hippies. Despite his conservative Christian stance, his popularity did not falter. This was best illustrated “on New Year’s day 1971 in Pasadena California, when over a million people lined the route for the annual Tournament of Roses Parade. That year’s grand marshal was America’s ‘Protestant Pope’ evangelist Billy Graham.”¹¹ Not only was he the grand marshal of one of the most popular parades in America, he was also “consistently voted among America’s most admired men and a highly visible spiritual counselor and friend of Richard Nixon.”¹² During the parade procession Graham noticed a group of young individuals holding sings with slogans such as “Have a nice Forever”, “Jesus like a bridge over troubled water”, “Smile God loves you”, “Get it together in Jesus”, and “Jesus People Unite”. When Graham saw these signs and other Christian groups lined along the parade route he “was made dramatically aware that a brand-new spiritual awakening was on the way.”¹³ During the parade “Street Christians”, as some Jesus People liked to be called, “handed out nearly 200,000 copies of the Hollywood Free Paper.”¹⁴

To Graham the organization of the Jesus Movement was not just some haphazard occurrence. To him it was evidence of miraculous spiritual revival. “This seemingly miraculous revival with in the counterculture evoked the possibility of a vast spiritual awakening among American youth that supplemented the impressive growth of organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ, and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which targeted ‘straight’ middle-class youth.”¹⁵

For the first time since the Jesus Movement, a Fundamentalist, of mass popularity, began to take a positive notice of the “Jesus Freaks”. To Graham these people were not to be taken lightly, for despite their choice of dress and lack luster jargon the message they proclaimed was in accord with Fundamentalism. “Graham saw in the Jesus Movement a cadre of young prodigals who – rejecting the counterculture – had metaphorically come home to their parents’ America via the bridge of an old American tradition: evangelical religion.”¹⁶ The toleration which Graham displayed spoke magnitudes to the general Christian population. This was the first major step in incorporating the Jesus Movement into a broader Fundamentalist picture.

Since the discovery of the Jesus Movement by Billy Graham many aspects of the movement have survived in modern fundamentalist churches. One such example is the use of electric guitars in praise groups and the formation of Christian coffee houses. It has been suggested by some that the movement simply disappeared; however, it appears more likely that the movement integrated into fundamentalist churches versus simply vanish from the scene. It is with out doubt that the movement has played a vital role in the formation of modern American culture.