Youth spend evening at Jesus Revolution

Chanute area youth and adults took part in a special prerelease showing of the faith-based drama “Jesus Revolution” Wednesday evening.

About 80 middle- and high-school students attended the showing at the B&B Roxie 4 on Ash Wednesday. The film opens today for general release and premiered Feb. 15 in Los Angeles.

The showing was organized by Chanute Youth United, an organization of students from several area churches. First United Methodist Church Youth Ministry Director Amy Hendrickson said the group represented five or six churches, plus some non-affiliated teens.

In addition, adults from Assembly of God and Ambassador Christian attended. The cinema worked with CYU in advance to organize tickets, and then opened a second screen for it. The screening was originally a one-time event, but has now been booked in Chanute for the week.

“We jumped on it,” Hendrickson said.

The young people held a discussion on the film after the showing.

“It was a unique evening,” she said.

The movie is based on the book “Jesus Revolution” by evangelical Baptist author Greg Laurie, who participated in the Jesus movement in California in the 1970s. The film stars Emmy-winning actor Kelsey Grammer as Chuck Smith, Joel Courtney as Laurie, and Jonathan Roumie as hippie-evangelist Lonnie Frisbee.

Hendrickson felt it was timely because it was set during a tumultuous time, similar to now. She thinks some of the students were inspired by it.

So far, the film has received mixed or average reviews. It is being released by Lionsgate in the US and Canada in conjunction with the film “Cocaine Bear,” loosely based on the true story of a black bear that ingested a dumped duffel bag of cocaine in 1985.