The Jesus Movement

It was a tug-of-war between the Jesus People and the New Age Movement.

Alex Absalom uncovers the roots of what would grow into a church planting movement by pulling stories from Ralph Moore.

Dispelling Doubt and Disillusionment

The story starts with doubt and disillusionment as our country turned away from the church as much as it does today. Secularism rose quickly, and so did interest in Eastern religions. Young people followed the Beatles and other rockers into drugs and new-age thought.

A book called New Testament Fire in the Philippines opened a young man’s mind to new paradigms of disciplemaking and even church growth in otherwise dark days.

The interview delves into young people experiencing radical prayer miracles—even demon deliverance and many stories of faith-induced escape from hard drugs. The supernatural was the power driving the movement. As thousands found Christ, disciplemaking followed, often through Navigator-inspired Bible studies.

Faith, Youth Groups and Church Growth

There is the story of a young student deciding to follow Christ while simultaneously following Fidel Castro and similar role models. Snared into disciplemaking sessions at the beach, she blossomed into a singer, effective evangelist and disciplemaker. Her converts evangelized, and a small church youth group grew into a forceful Jesus People entity. Leading that youth group laid a foundation for a later disciplemaking movement in Moore’s first church plant.

Church Planting, Spiritual Transformation and Demonic Influence

The first Hope Chapel was born of just a dozen people meeting in a closed church building.

The Spirit moved in a tiny congregation heavily influenced by Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel. Fun-filled, simple Bible teaching in the pulpit and a heavy reliance on the works of the Spirit in the hippy years differentiated the church to the point of ridicule by local pastors.

One radically saved young man demanded that another “get in the truck because Jesus told me to give you a ride wherever you’re going.” The guy was going less than 300 feet from where he was picked up. However, the pickup drive left him with a cartoon tract about Jesus, which he only read after hitchhiking 1,200 miles to Washington State. Back in Hermosa Beach months later, he showed up at the door of the church stoned, drunk and demonized.

He left clean and on fire for Jesus. Months later, he confessed to having burglarized the church months before his encounter with the pickup-driving evangelist.

Disciplemaking And Leadership Development In A Church Setting

At this point, disciplemaking centered on fill-in-the-blanks Bible study tools and a strong pulpit emphasis on the Word. The goal was to use the church as an equipping center. Teaching the Bible from a modern translation was still considered radical and a hippy thing. Sunday mornings became a lightweight version of class in a Bible college.

The resulting combination produced solid young leaders ready to assume pastorates in dead or dying congregations. All that morphed into a church-planting movement when one home group decided to become an autonomous church led by Ralph’s closest friend, Richard Agozino.

It was a tug-of-war between the Jesus People and the New Age Movement.

Alex Absalom Alex Absalom uncovers the roots of what would grow into a church planting movement by pulling stories from Ralph Moore.

Dispelling Doubt and Disillusionment

The story starts with doubt and disillusionment as our country turned away from the church as much as it does today. Secularism rose quickly, and so did interest in Eastern religions. Young people followed the Beatles and other rockers into drugs and new-age thought.

A book called New Testament Fire in the Philippines opened a young man’s mind to new paradigms of disciplemaking and even church growth in otherwise dark days.

The interview delves into young people experiencing radical prayer miracles—even demon deliverance and many stories of faith-induced escape from hard drugs. The supernatural was the power driving the movement. As thousands found Christ, disciplemaking followed, often through Navigator-inspired Bible studies.

Faith, Youth Groups and Church Growth

There is the story of a young student deciding to follow Christ while simultaneously following Fidel Castro and similar role models. Snared into disciplemaking sessions at the beach, she blossomed into a singer, effective evangelist and disciplemaker. Her converts evangelized, and a small church youth group grew into a forceful Jesus People entity. Leading that youth group laid a foundation for a later disciplemaking movement in Moore’s first church plant.

Church Planting, Spiritual Transformation and Demonic Influence

The first Hope Chapel was born of just a dozen people meeting in a closed church building.

The Spirit moved in a tiny congregation heavily influenced by Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel. Fun-filled, simple Bible teaching in the pulpit and a heavy reliance on the works of the Spirit in the hippy years differentiated the church to the point of ridicule by local pastors.

One radically saved young man demanded that another “get in the truck because Jesus told me to give you a ride wherever you’re going.” The guy was going less than 300 feet from where he was picked up. However, the pickup drive left him with a cartoon tract about Jesus, which he only read after hitchhiking 1,200 miles to Washington State. Back in Hermosa Beach months later, he showed up at the door of the church stoned, drunk and demonized.

He left clean and on fire for Jesus. Months later, he confessed to having burglarized the church months before his encounter with the pickup-driving evangelist.

Disciplemaking And Leadership Development In A Church Setting

At this point, disciplemaking centered on fill-in-the-blanks Bible study tools and a strong pulpit emphasis on the Word. The goal was to use the church as an equipping center. Teaching the Bible from a modern translation was still considered radical and a hippy thing. Sunday mornings became a lightweight version of class in a Bible college.

The resulting combination produced solid young leaders ready to assume pastorates in dead or dying congregations. All that morphed into a church-planting movement when one home group decided to become an autonomous church led by Ralph’s closest friend, Richard Agozino.