God ’ s spirit swept across the country and a spiritual awakening like America has never seen in more than half a century took off like a blaze out of control .
The Birth of Jesus Music The Jesus Movement ignited a fire and a passion in millions of “ born again ” believers from the youth culture . Musicians and artists began to express their newfound faith and love through song and the movement gave birth to a new genre of music … JESUS MUSIC !
In early 1970 , four professional musicians became “ new believers ” and began writing and performing their style of Jesus Music . One fateful day they walked into Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and played a few samples of their songs for Pastor Chuck Smith . The rest , as the saying goes , is history . Calvary Chapel became the epicenter in Southern California for a supernatural move of the Holy Spirit drawing young and old to newfound faith and rebirth through a relationship with Jesus .
God would use the band LoveSong and their unique sound of Rock and Country Rock with vocal blends and arrangements that echoed
of Crosby , Stills & Nash , the Beatles , and the Beach Boys . LoveSong was among the very first to bring music and ministry together at every performance , something completely new in modern ministry and music presentation . As pastor , author , evangelist Greg Laurie of Harvest Ministries would say , “ The music of LoveSong was part of the early soundtrack of the last great American Revival .”
Gods Hand Was on Their Music Audience members would remark that their music was truly different . Jay Truax , of LoveSong recalls , “ You could literally feel the presence of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit when we sang , it was amazing to experience .” Chuck Girard recalls that many times , “ you could look out on the audience and see the spirit moving , you could see it like a ripple thru the crowd .”
Lyrical Scripture The turbulent 60s and 70s , recalled by band member Tommy Coomes , “ Was a grand experiment and there was a hunger to know God and truth .” Presenting the gospel message wrapped in a rock and roll beat was revolutionary . It was a language the youth culture understood with a message delivered as lyrical scripture . The first wave of Jesus Music and that of LoveSong specifically was very evangelistic . Their music was cutting edge technically for the fledgling genre and set the standard for others to emulate as that first wave of artists emerged . The gospel message was woven into just about everything they sang and also gave rise to the first wave of worship music .
Christian Woodstock In the summer of 1972 , with the Jesus Movement hitting mainstream America , The Jesus Revolution landed on the cover of Time Magazine and Look Magazine , two giant print publications of the era . A youth ministry organization called Campus Crusade for Christ , headed by Dr . Bill Bright and featuring evangelist , Billy Graham , would stage an event in Dallas Texas called Explo ’ 72 . The gathering would launch the single largest outreach event the nation had ever seen . LoveSong ’ s demo tape found its way to those selecting youth music groups and artists . The band was booked to perform , sight unseen , simply on the excellence of their demo and what event producers recognized as “ anointed music ”. More than 100,000 people of faith would