“Jesus Revolution” director Jon Erwin spent years studying the Jesus movement of the late 1960s and 1970s to understand what happened and why it matters before making his hit film.
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Erwin said he came to learn something important along the way about the terms “revival” and “spiritual awakening” — that the two are “different” dynamics, with one impacting believers and the other culture.
“Revival happens in the church,” he said. “When you pray for spiritual awakening, you are praying for your life to be disrupted and society to be disrupted.”
Erwin pointed back to the 1960s to note how the generation living when the Jesus movement broke out became aware of their spiritual needs and the “material quest” so many were on to get the house, car, and life of their dreams.
“That was not enough, and they just recognized their own spiritual need … and they didn’t know what to do with it,” he said. “And that led to this countercultural revolution … and much of this revolt of free love drugs, rock and roll. That was all a spiritual quest.”
In that chaos, though, many found such pursuits fruitless and turned to the Lord, as observed on the big screen in “Jesus Revolution.”
Watch Erwin explain these dynamics:
The filmmaker drew powerful parallels between what happened decades ago and what he sees happening in today’s chaotic culture.
“A lot of the chaos we’re seeing today, we should celebrate a little bit because it’s a generation waking up to the fact that, ‘Something’s missing in my life, and I don’t know what’s missing, but I gotta go find out,’” he said. “That’s gonna lead to some chaos for a minute.”
Erwin believes people will realize that much of what they’re being told will satisfy them will ultimately leave them thirsting for what’s real and authentic — and that’s where the Gospel can break through.
Find out more about “Jesus Revolution” here.
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