COSTA MESA, CA (ANS) -- The 1960s was a time of great change in America, with protests against the Vietnam War, and the Hippie counterculture that was springing up across the United States and later around the world.

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Barry McGuire sang “Eve of Destruction” and LSD guru, Timothy Leary, told the disaffected to “turn on, tune in, drop out“, and “think for yourself and question authority.”

In 1967, the Monterey Pop Festival introduced the rock music of the counterculture to a wide audience and marked the start of the “Summer of Love” Scott McKenzie's rendition of John Phillips' song, “San Francisco“, became a hit in the United States and Europe. The lyrics, “If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair”, inspired thousands of young people from all over the world to travel to San Francisco, sometimes wearing flowers in their hair and distributing flowers to passersby, earning them the name, “Flower Children“.

Bands like the Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company (with Janis Joplin), and Jefferson Airplane) all lived in the area.

The Hippie movement then moved down the coast to Southern California and in particular to Orange County towns like Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach, and at that time, a pastor called Chuck Smith, had recently been appointed the pastor of a local church called Calvary Chapel.

His wife Kay began to tell him about the hippies and finally persuaded him to start ministering to them and, before long, his church was “invaded” by hundreds of them, and so many came that he went ahead and bought a plot of land to build a bigger church close by and as it was being constructed put up a circus tent. The “Big Tent” was packed night after night with hippies who after hearing the preaching of Smith, were giving their lives to Christ, then forming Christian bands and helping to see the birth of Contemporary Christian Music and modern-day worship music.

The church was by now the epicenter of one of the greatest spiritual revivals in American History that would later be called the “Jesus Movement.”

Now this extraordinary piece of Christian history in the United States, is examined in an excellent 105-minute documentary put together by Jurgen and Stacey Peretzki and explores the history of Calvary Chapel and its impact on Christianity as well as the life of Chuck Smith told in his own words in an in-depth interview.

Baptism at Pirate's Cove

There is also lots of archival footage, including the amazing mass baptisms at Pirate Cove, Corona del Mar, and interviews with Franklin Graham, Tim LaHaye, Raul Ries, Greg Laurie, Brian Brodersen, Jeff Johnson, Mike MacIntosh, Don Stewart, Ricky Ryan, Bob Coy, Steve Mays, Skip Heitzig, Joe Focht and many others.

The Dove Foundation has endorsed the video, and in a review said, “This is a great DVD, which glorifies God and honors his servant, Pastor Chuck Smith.”

The review continues: “In the DVD we learn that Chuck accepted all people, long hair or not, and how God brought them out of drug use and drinking, to use them in the spread of the gospel via music and preaching. It is wonderful to see some of them now, still serving God, some forty years later. They say it was always Chuck's goal to simply teach the gospel, simply.

“In the conclusion, we see how Calvary Chapel and other organizations planted churches worldwide, including churches in England, Asia, India, and Russia. We are very pleased to award this DVD our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal for ages twelve plus. Watch this one soon and be prepared to be amazed at what God did and is doing.”

The DVD has also just won “Best Documentary 2012” at The International Christian Film Festival in Irvine, California on October 6th, 2012.

Talking about his role during the Jesus People movement, Chuck Smith said, “I didn’t want to direct the Holy Spirit, I just wanted to find out how the Holy Spirit was moving and get in the boat and move with him.”

The documentary is available at: www.screensaversentertainment.com 

Dan Wooding, 71, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 49 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and he hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on the KWVE Radio Network in Southern California and which is also carried throughout the United States and around the world. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. Dan recently received two top media awards -- the “Passion for the Persecuted” award from Open Doors US, and as one of the top “Newsmakers of 2011” from Plain Truth magazine. He is the author of some 45 books, the latest of which is “Caped Crusader: Rick Wakeman in the 1970s.” To order a copy, go to: http://www.amazon.com/CAPED-CRUSADER-Rick-Wakeman-1970s/dp/1908728302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335474883&sr=1-1 .