‘Jesus Revolution’ is based on the autobiographical book of the same name by Greg Laurie and Ellen Santilli Vaughn and is set in the 1960s. It tells the true tale of the Jesus movement, which began in Southern California and spread throughout the world. The plot primarily follows Lonnie Frisbee, Chuck Smith, and Greg Laurie as they search for a home for themselves and their ideals. Their paths eventually cross in the course of the novel.
The story starts with Lonnie and Janette, Chuck’s daughter, running into each other by accident. She introduces Lonnie to her father Chuck after picking up the hitchhiking hippy, who turns out to be Lonnie, in the movie. Their combined efforts spark a movement that transforms Christianity and has an ongoing impact. We have all the information you need if you want to learn more about Janette Smith and her present whereabouts.
Where is Janette Smith Now?
Janette Smith, one of Kay and Chuck Smith’s four children, was born on June 30, 1945. She wed Gregory Manderson in 1974; he died in 2005 after a protracted fight with brain cancer. Caitlyn, Camberlyn, Brittany, and Cameron are their four children. Janette Smith Manderson, who is currently in her late 70s, resides in Costa Mesa, California, and is taking use of her retirement.
Even though her parents believe that hippies are drug-using youth who have turned away from the Lord, Janette in the film is accepting of them. She picks up Lonnie when she runs across him along the road, thinking it’s a sign her father was looking for. The truth is that Janette met Lonnie through her ex-boyfriend. By that time, Lonnie had already begun discussing his views on Christianity and his devotion to Jesus. Especially her mother, who was curious to meet a hippy and learn more about them, Janette thought it would be amusing to introduce him to her parents.
Janette said that they were looking for something that would give their life more significance and provide them with the answers they were looking for while she was discussing the movement and how it changed people’s perceptions of the hippies. “They simply stated that it was a search for fulfilment. “Peace and love” was what they desired. They had that as a major motto (and chant),” she stated. She believed her father had provided them with such solutions. She is thankful that she spent her childhood in a home where she “already had peace in [her] heart, being with the Lord since [she] was a little girl.”
Janette, like her father, rose to prominence in the movement and carried on its activities after his death. She led a mostly quiet and serene existence, but when she stood up for her father, she was forced to make a decision that put her family in the spotlight and the church under fire. She claimed in a complaint she filed in 2014 that her brother-in-law, Brian Brodersen, and the church board “hastened the pastor’s death, took control of the Costa Mesa-based ministry, and cheated Smith’s wife and family out of money they were owed.”
Janette said that the board and Brodersen were in responsible of her father’s in-home care, and that the nurse declined to summon the paramedics on his final day of care. They were contacted hours later and felt that if they had been contacted sooner, they could have been able to save her father. “It still shocks me. I find it difficult to process. She expressed her disappointment with the situation by asking, “Why didn’t they help my dad? She continued by saying that because she was out of town on that particular day, she was unaware of his failing condition and how near he was to passing away.
When it comes to the Jesus movement, Janette holds her parents in the highest regard and credits them with helping to transform many lives. She recommended that people view the film, even though it alters some details for dramatic effect, if they “want to see what it was like 50 years ago, what the culture was like, what the young people were looking for, and why they were so lost.” Janette reflected on those times and claimed that the hippies went through “a complete transformation of what God wanted to do inside them.”
They didn’t need to change into new clothes, she continued. Although they could have continued to live on the streets, once they were adopted by the Lord, He began to change them. It was incredibly gratifying for those of us who follow Christ to witness shattered lives improved. Even after all these years, she thinks the film does a remarkable job of bringing that truth to life on screen.
