One of this yr’s top-grossing faith-affirming movies, “Jesus Revolution,” is on the market on Netflix within the United States, the place a reported 75 million Americans are subscribers.
The movie tells the story of the early Nineteen Seventies evangelical Christian revival that swept the nation and had 1000’s of younger adults baptized into the religion. One of them was Greg Laurie, then a confused teen searching for solutions in life. He is as we speak pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, the place his sermons are aired on radio and tv.
In a phone interview Thursday, Mr. Laurie mentioned the movie was “already trending” on Netflix, which he mentioned was encouraging.
“At this moment in time, it’s number five of all Netflix movies,” he mentioned. “That’s pretty significant.”
Unlike another faith-based movies, “Jesus Revolution” is as a lot a narrative as a testomony. While a number of characters within the movie share a gospel message — together with middle-aged pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) and hippie avenue preacher Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie) — the movie is advised very a lot by way of the eyes of Mr. Laurie, whose dwelling life was chaotic.
The end result, he mentioned, was a “multigenerational” movie that “opens” viewers to the Christian message.
“People just want a good story,” Mr. Laurie mentioned. “They want to be inspired. This film disarms people, because it is entertaining. It is funny. It’s dramatic.”
The movie arrived earlier this yr as a wave of Christian revival erupted throughout the nation. A Feb. 8 prayer assembly at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, was two weeks of continuous worship periods, and related occasions have been reported elsewhere within the U.S.
In July, Mr. Laurie and his Harvest Church associates held a mass baptism for some 4,500 individuals on the similar Pirate’s Cove inlet in Newport Beach, California, the place he was baptized many years earlier — an occasion portrayed within the film.
Along with its debut on Netflix, “Jesus Revolution” is shifting abroad. Mr. Laurie mentioned. The movie has opened in theaters in England, Scotland, New Zealand and Australia, and can be enjoying in Latin America.
He mentioned India and Malaysia are subsequent for abroad distribution.
“It’s made its way all around the world,” he mentioned. “It’s really, really having a great appeal.”
He mentioned there are discussions of an “episodic” collection that will air on Netflix or one other streaming service to proceed the story.
While Mr. Laurie — within the film and in actual life — discovered salvation and happiness, the evangelist mentioned the constructive outcomes didn’t cease there. He mentioned he was capable of pray with each his mom and his estranged father as every acquired Jesus as savior, and that Jeanette Smith — whose character within the movie had a disaster of religion — “loves” the film and has “been walking with the Lord very closely for many years.”
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