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February 27, 2023 A.D.
I Was Right In The Middle Of The Jesus Revolution
Jim Wagner
It was Monday evening, November 7, 2022, just a few minutes after 6 pm. I told my Monday night Security Operations students, who were all in a big semi-circle for the warm-up before starting the hand-to-hand combat portion of the class, “On Saturday night Jesus said ‘hi’ to me, and I said ‘hi’ right back. He walked right past me.”
Although they were all Christians, some of them thought I had lost my mind, while most thought I was joking.
With a big grin on my face, having given enough time for the pause to take effect, I continued, “No, not the Lord Jesus Christ, but the actor who plays the role of Jesus. The one in the series The Chosen, Jonathan Roumie.”
My warrior students didn’t know anything about the new movie that was to be released on February 24, 2023, and that’s because Pastor Greg Laurie had just announced it in my hearing on Saturday, November 5, 2022, at the SoCal Harvest Crusade (an annual evangelical event at the Angel Stadium in Southern California), and so I revealed the real reason to my curious students as to why I was in the secured private suites area of the stadium with Jonathan Roomie, “He’s playing the role of Lonnie Frisbee in the new movie Jesus Revolution, and Greg Laurie had an interview with him to announce the release.”
Although they were all Christians, some of them thought I had lost my mind, while most thought I was joking.
With a big grin on my face, having given enough time for the pause to take effect, I continued, “No, not the Lord Jesus Christ, but the actor who plays the role of Jesus. The one in the series The Chosen, Jonathan Roumie.”
My warrior students didn’t know anything about the new movie that was to be released on February 24, 2023, and that’s because Pastor Greg Laurie had just announced it in my hearing on Saturday, November 5, 2022, at the SoCal Harvest Crusade (an annual evangelical event at the Angel Stadium in Southern California), and so I revealed the real reason to my curious students as to why I was in the secured private suites area of the stadium with Jonathan Roomie, “He’s playing the role of Lonnie Frisbee in the new movie Jesus Revolution, and Greg Laurie had an interview with him to announce the release.”
The logo for the Southern California Harvest Crusade in Anaheim, California, USA
Me and one of my security partners, Gil Martinez, who had also been the Director of Security at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa
The private suites where the actors and singers stayed before going out on stage, and I made sure they were safe in this area
Every year I am asked by the organizers if I would be willing to help with security at the SoCal Harvest Crusade, and I’m always assigned backstage to keep celebrities, guest speakers, and musicians safe. Not only did I keep Jonathan Roumie safe that evening, but also actor Kelsey Grammer who plays the role of my former pastor for 35 years, Chuck Smith.
On Friday, February 24, 2023, my wife Karen, two of our friends, and I went to go see the movie Jesus Revolution in Costa Mesa, where I was once a police officer in that city for 10 years.
Of course, days before going to view this faith-based movie I had heard some criticism about the movie, that the makers of the film did not portray Chuck Smith accurately. That was a little concerning to me, but I was determined to see it for myself and make my own judgement call. After all, I served on the Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa Church Security Team for six years (2003 to 2009), and three of those years I was the Director of Security, which meant that I was Pastor Chuck Smith’s primary bodyguard. Pastor Chuck was a big supporter for security within his church, and at times it was definitely needed. One time a man tried to drive his vehicle through the church office, but he hit a cement planter that stopped the vehicle. So, having attended there since I was in high school, and serving on the security team at a time when there were virtually no church security teams at that time in history in the United States, I knew Chuck Smith fairly well.
Jesus Revolution (2023) Movie
The official movie trailer from Lionsgate Movies.
Just a few hours before we headed to the El Matador Mexican restaurant on Newport Boulevard for dinner, before crossing the street where the movie theater is located, Janette Manderson, Pastor Chuck Smith’s oldest daughter, who is also portrayed in the movie, texted my wife back. Karen had asked her earlier in the day if the movie portrayed her accurately or not. Her said the following:
It portrays me as sassy to my parents. I wasn’t.It has me being rebellious a bit, and saying I had questioned my faith. That never happened.Otherwise, I love it!I know they wanted to add drama, and that’s OK.
That text put my mind at ease. As long as everything was historically accurate, and Jan (that’s what we call her) didn’t complain about how actor Kelsey Grammer portrayed her father, then I was even more eager to see the film than before.
After seeing the movie, my opinion about Jesus Revolution is the same as Jan’s, I love it!
There are three stories paralleling throughout the film, and these stories eventually all come together in a rather dramatic way: Greg Laurie trying to find meaning to life in all the wrong places, Chuck Smith pastoring a small church with no desire to reach out to the hippies, and hippie Lonnie Frisbee who challenged Pastor Chuck to be more “Christ like” that launched the “Jesus Movement.” The movie did a great job in depicting how the Holy Spirit moved across our nation.
It portrays me as sassy to my parents. I wasn’t.It has me being rebellious a bit, and saying I had questioned my faith. That never happened.Otherwise, I love it!I know they wanted to add drama, and that’s OK.
That text put my mind at ease. As long as everything was historically accurate, and Jan (that’s what we call her) didn’t complain about how actor Kelsey Grammer portrayed her father, then I was even more eager to see the film than before.
After seeing the movie, my opinion about Jesus Revolution is the same as Jan’s, I love it!
There are three stories paralleling throughout the film, and these stories eventually all come together in a rather dramatic way: Greg Laurie trying to find meaning to life in all the wrong places, Chuck Smith pastoring a small church with no desire to reach out to the hippies, and hippie Lonnie Frisbee who challenged Pastor Chuck to be more “Christ like” that launched the “Jesus Movement.” The movie did a great job in depicting how the Holy Spirit moved across our nation.
Pastor Chuck Smith doing a baby dedication in the main sanctuary of
Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa
This is my view of Chuck Smith on Sunday evenings, as he preached, while I protected his wife Kay Smith and his daughter Janette
In the "Second Tent," during renovations, my two principals I protected during a revival service were Chuck Smith and Franklin Graham
The movie starts with Greg Laurie walking out of the military school he was attending, and going next to Newport Harbor High School, the same high school I went to, although several years after he did.
In the movie there are a few scenes all up and down Pacific Coast Highway, and I recognized all the locations; they’re practically in my back yard. One of the best scenes in whole the movie was where the mass baptisms take place, at Pirate’s Cove, which is where they were done in real life. In fact, it’s the same place where Chuck Smith baptized Karen (I was baptized in Lake Tahoe when I was 16 years old). In Time Magazine, the June 21, 1971 issue, with the cover stating THE JESUS REVOLUTION, the feature article mentions Chuck Smith and Pirate’s Cove.
On a cul-de-sac beach at Corona del Mar, Calif., the Rev. Chuck Smith recently held another of the mass baptisms that have made his Calvary Chapel at Santa Ana famous. Under a setting sun, several hundred converts waded into the cold Pacific, patiently waiting their turn for the rite. On the cliffs above, hundreds more watched. Most of the baptized were young, tanned and casual in cut-off blue jeans, pullovers and even an occasional bikini. A freshly dunked teenager, water streaming from her tie-dyed shirt, threw her arms around a woman and cried, "Mother, I love you!" A teen-age drug user who had been suffering from recurring unscheduled trips suddenly screamed, "My flashbacks are gone!" As the baptisms ended, the crowd slowly climbed a narrow stairway up the cliff, singing a moving Lord's Prayer in the twilight.
The Christian music in the movie were the same songs I listened to in church, and so for me it was like going back in a time machine to my past life. I started to go to Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa in 1978 when a schoolmate of mine, Dan Goglanian, invited me to attend the Youth Ministry there. After serving in the U.S. Army, I returned to Calvary Chapel and made it my home church.
Not only did I bodyguard Chuck Smith for six years, along with providing armed security (as an off duty law enforcement officer at the time) for Calvary Chapel, but I protected Greg Laurie there many times as well, since he was a regular guest pastor there (the very church he originally came from). I don’t personally know Greg Laurie, like I did “Papa Chuck,” but I know the actor portraying him (Joel Courtney) in the movie did it accurately, because Greg Laurie is the one who wrote the book Jesus Revolution, with co-author Ellen Vaughn, which is what the movie is based on.
I highly recommend you watch the movie Jesus Revolution. You’ll be blessed.
In the movie there are a few scenes all up and down Pacific Coast Highway, and I recognized all the locations; they’re practically in my back yard. One of the best scenes in whole the movie was where the mass baptisms take place, at Pirate’s Cove, which is where they were done in real life. In fact, it’s the same place where Chuck Smith baptized Karen (I was baptized in Lake Tahoe when I was 16 years old). In Time Magazine, the June 21, 1971 issue, with the cover stating THE JESUS REVOLUTION, the feature article mentions Chuck Smith and Pirate’s Cove.
On a cul-de-sac beach at Corona del Mar, Calif., the Rev. Chuck Smith recently held another of the mass baptisms that have made his Calvary Chapel at Santa Ana famous. Under a setting sun, several hundred converts waded into the cold Pacific, patiently waiting their turn for the rite. On the cliffs above, hundreds more watched. Most of the baptized were young, tanned and casual in cut-off blue jeans, pullovers and even an occasional bikini. A freshly dunked teenager, water streaming from her tie-dyed shirt, threw her arms around a woman and cried, "Mother, I love you!" A teen-age drug user who had been suffering from recurring unscheduled trips suddenly screamed, "My flashbacks are gone!" As the baptisms ended, the crowd slowly climbed a narrow stairway up the cliff, singing a moving Lord's Prayer in the twilight.
The Christian music in the movie were the same songs I listened to in church, and so for me it was like going back in a time machine to my past life. I started to go to Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa in 1978 when a schoolmate of mine, Dan Goglanian, invited me to attend the Youth Ministry there. After serving in the U.S. Army, I returned to Calvary Chapel and made it my home church.
Not only did I bodyguard Chuck Smith for six years, along with providing armed security (as an off duty law enforcement officer at the time) for Calvary Chapel, but I protected Greg Laurie there many times as well, since he was a regular guest pastor there (the very church he originally came from). I don’t personally know Greg Laurie, like I did “Papa Chuck,” but I know the actor portraying him (Joel Courtney) in the movie did it accurately, because Greg Laurie is the one who wrote the book Jesus Revolution, with co-author Ellen Vaughn, which is what the movie is based on.
I highly recommend you watch the movie Jesus Revolution. You’ll be blessed.
At the end of an Easter Sunrise Service my Executive Protection team guard Chuck and Kay Smith before they leave
My wife and I (center) went on a cruise to Mexico with Chuck and Kay Smith, Jon Courson and his wife, and the Pacinis
I'm signing a tribute poster to Pastor Chuck Smith at his Paddle Out after he went home to be with the Lord in 2013
This was my note to my Pastor at the Paddle Out
"See you in Heaven Chuck."
Since Pastor Chuck loved to surf, fellow Christian surfers paid tribute with a Paddle Out (a circle then splashing the water)
Chuck Smith's youngest daugher Cheryl Broderson with my wife Karen on the beach in Huntington Beach, California