As depicted in the movie “Jesus Revolution,” longtime California pastor Greg Laurie came to Christ during the Jesus Movement of the late ’60s and early ’70s. The biopic also features some of his love story with Cathe, his wife of almost 50 years.
In an April 5 tweet, Laurie, senior pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship, wrote: “You’ve seen part of mine and Cathe’s story in @JesusRevMovie. Here, I let you in on everything left out of it!” He then directed readers to a blog post about the couple’s “hippie love story.”
Greg Laurie: Prioritizing Christ Solidified Our Relationship
The well-received “Jesus Revolution,” based on Greg Laurie’s book by the same title, portrays how Greg and Cathe met and how they each became Christians. After a difficult childhood, Greg came to faith as a teenager and then began leading Bible studies. Cathe was from a well-to-do family, but as a rebellious teen she embraced the counterculture, including using drugs and hitchhiking to “love-ins.”
After accepting Jesus at a Christian rock concert, Cathe started attending Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, then pastored by Chuck Smith. She and Greg began a relationship that he admits featured lots of drama and arguments at the beginning. “Perhaps the only thing we had in common back then, other than our mutual love for God, was our strong-willed personalities,” he wrote.
Laurie believes their relationship solidified and survived because Cathe was “on an unconscious search for someone who was…sure of his convictions.” Instead of being wishy-washy like her previous boyfriends, Greg was candid and clear about Jesus being his top priority. “My clarity about putting Jesus first made her feel secure,” Laurie added about Cathe, whom he married in February 1974.
In “Jesus Revolution,” actors Joel Courtney and Anna Grace Barlow portray the young Greg and Cathe. “They were especially effective in depicting the debates Cathe and I had, as we do to this very day,” wrote Greg Laurie. “I believe this love story will resonate with young people today because it is honest and real.”
Almost 50 years later, Laurie noted, “Our union remains an ongoing adventure, charted only by our enduring and deepened mutual love and respect.” About his marriage, he added, “God remains the center of it all… How groovy is that?”
Cathe Laurie: Marriage Requires Repentance, Daily Surrender
Speaking to The Christian Post in February, when “Jesus Revolution” released in theaters nationwide, Cathe Laurie admitted she was “a little terrified” to have her life and family portrayed on the big screen. She’s willing to let God use her, she said, but “at the same time, it is very personal.”
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