Two Streams

The Jesus Movement was a nationwide, if not worldwide phenomenon which reached the youth/hippie/drug counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

That time period was a tumultuous era. We had seen a president assassinated, the widening Viet-Nam war and the rise of a popular youth counter-culture fueled by rock music and drugs. Many American young people were disillusioned with the American lifestyle and our involvement in Viet-Nam. Eastern religions were gaining a stronghold among young people and a large proportion of us experimented with drugs.

To many people's surprise, in the midst of this there was birthed a true spiritual awakening which was ingnored and missed by most mainline, evangelical and fundamental churches in America. Those few churches which recognized and encouraged the movement such as Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel (Smith's roots were from Aimee Semple McPherson's Foursquare Gospel Denomination), reaped a huge harvest. In many places the fledgling movement was left on it's own, with young often immature leadership, trying to find their way toward stability without become the religious institutions they had seen as they grew up.

The Calvary Chapel Association of Churches owes it's existence to Chuck Smith's embracing of the Jesus Movement and his providing oversite and leadership to many emerging leaders. The Vineyard Association of Churches was also deeply affected by the Jesus Movement. Lonnie Frisbee (www.lonniefrisbee.com) a young hippie preacher in California helped bring thousands of kids to the Calvary Chapel movement. Later, Frisbee worked with John Wimber as the Vineyard Fellowship of churches was begun. Today, all across the United States and the world there are many leaders who trace their spiritual heritage back to a coffee shop. house meeting or some other manifestation of this awakening.

Several major cults were born during this period and populated by kids form the Jesus Movement. The Children of God cult, founded and led by David Berg was/is the most notorious, and following them was the group simply called "The Way" based out of central Ohio. Many smaller cults and aberrant Christian groups sprang up also. Young people, often without the benefit of their own maturity and lacking any real spiritual parents fell into the trap of these cults and for some it was a devastating occurrence.

In Anderson Indiana the Jesus Movement manifested itself in two parallel streams among the regions youth (this is a broad generalization). The first stream was birthed out of the Anderson Revival. It drew many of it's adherents from young people in local churches and students of Anderson college. It was centered around the ministry at Solomon's Porch and later "Teen Hill", more commonly called simply "The Hill".

The second stream of the Jesus Movement was centered around a home and a man and his mother on East 53rd Street. in the summer of 1971 Jerry Street and his mother Myrtle Street open their home for young people to gather, listen to Jerry teach and sing, hear speakers from Indianapolis, Muncie and other places and come under the influence of the power of God.

Jerry Street's ministry was not conventional and many religious leaders were wary of him. He was deeply influenced by the 1950's Healing Revival and the fringes of the Latter Rain movement, both of which were known for wild excesses and sometimes bizarre teachings. At times Jerry taught some very unconventional and controversial doctrines. However those who stayed with and knew Jerry in the early 1970's would agree that he was a man of personal integrity. He was not motivated by money, position or power. He genuinely loved the young people he gathered around him and despite some glaring issues he loved God with all his heart. He never manipulated those who followed him and a number of people found Christ during those days in 1971-72.

As we turned from our teens into our early and mid twenties the Jesus Movement began to fade. Our culture was changing, we were growing up, getting jobs and beginning families. The hippie, counter-cultural lifestyle was no longer as relevant and the movement began to morph as we needed new forms to meet our changing needs. The Jesus movement in Anderson gave birth to The Fellowship of Christian Believers, a non-church church which for it's time was, growing, dynamic and innovative. Many of us who had survived the turbulent days of the Jesus Movement became a part of this new fellowship.

Our next post is the story of Randy Hornbeck. Randy was a young man who was seeking peace and meaning and was following the usual path of the late 1960s early 1970s. He came to Jerry's almost by "accident" and found the Lord who had been drawing him all along.