Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in California recently recounted what led to him becoming a Christian and placing his faith in Jesus Christ. The 2023 film “Jesus Revolution” is based on Laurie’s experience as a young man in the late 1960s who sought to spread the Christian message.
However, Laurie wasn’t always walking on a path with Christ. “I was like many people in my generation; we believed the lie that drugs would expand our consciousness and make us more aware,” Laurie said in an interview with Kirk Cameron. “In one sense they did make us more aware — about how miserable we were. So, I started smoking marijuana every day, taking LSD. And that probably went on for about a year and a half.”
Laurie noted what initially piqued his curiosity in God, stating, “So, I sat down close enough so I could eavesdrop on their conversation but not be a part of their group, and I watched them sing songs about God. I was very cynical because of the life I had lived, but yet, I wanted something more. I looked at them and I thought, these people are crazy, but the problem was, I knew a couple of them, and I used to party with them, and I had seen the change that had occurred in their life, so I couldn’t dismiss them and say they’re all crazy.”
“So then a new thought occurred to me, what if they are right? What if it’s all true and what if you can have a relationship with God? I quickly dismissed it. There’s no way that’s possible. The life I’d seen, the life I’d lived — [Jesus] is like a fairy tale,” he continued.
Laurie recalled an influential figure who made a definitive statement about Christ. “Then I tried the thought on one more time, bam, what if it is true? And I’m sort of contemplating this, and a guy named Lonnie Frisbee… stands up and he begins to speak. He really got my attention, and it was one statement that he said, that Jesus says, you’re either for me or against me,” Laurie added.
This incident fundamentally changed the way Laurie thought about Jesus Christ. “You know, I always believed in Jesus. I mean, I believed He was there somewhere. I had seen all of his movies. I admired Him as a figure. But I never thought of Him in a personal way” Laurie said.
The pastor recounted the exact moment in 1970 when he invited Jesus into his life, a move that would radically change him forever. “And then this guy Lonnie said, ‘If you want to ask Christ into your life, walk forward.’ Some kids walked forward. I thought, there’s no way I would ever do that. Next thing I know, I was standing there. I don’t even remember getting up and walking there. Just boom, I was there. And then I prayed this prayer, and I asked Christ into my life, and that was 1970, and that was the day my life changed radically.”
Featured image credit: Joshua Initiative on YouTube, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greg_Laurie,_2019_(gAs7GBjo6-o).jpg