JESUS PEOPLE USA, THE CHRISTIAN WOODSTOCK, AND CONFLICTING
WORLDS: POLITICAL, THEOLOGICAL, AND MUSICAL EVOLUTION, 1972-2010
By
Shawn David Young

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
American Studies
2011

ABSTRACT
JESUS PEOPLE USA, THE CHRISTIAN WOODSTOCK, AND CONFLICTING WORLDS:
POLITICAL, THEOLOGICAL, AND MUSICAL EVOLUTION, 1972-2010
By
Shawn David Young
This study is an analysis of an evangelical commune located in Chicago's inner city. Selfdescribed as an "intentional community," Jesus People USA (JPUSA) is one of the remaining
collective expressions of the Jesus Movement, an American revival that occurred during the
1960s and 1970s. After considering the reasons for this commune's longevity, I make three core
arguments. First, the study of communes in American history shows that in most cases,
American communes are often short-lived. JPUSA has continued beyond its 1972 genesis due to
various structural mechanisms and an ability to engage and evolve with American culture. The
fact that JPUSA has survived to the present can be attributed to what sociologist Rosabeth Moss
Kanter refers to as “commitment mechanisms.” However, an analysis of commitment levels
among second-generation communards demonstrates that these mechanisms are often
problematic. Moreover, longevity will be determined by how the commune is perceived by the
evangelical subculture as the commune evolves ideologically. Second, musical subgenres such
as Christian heavy metal and punk rock would not have grown in influence if not for the
Cornerstone Festival. Furthermore, JPUSA and their festival have challenged mainstream
contemporary Christian music (CCM) and redefined the way evangelical popular music is
commonly understood. In a sense, the commune and the festival have ruptured conventional
understandings of “sacred” and “secular.” Third, JPUSA’s evolution demonstrates how a group
committed to certain ideologies can change as a result of pluralism. Thus this community serves

as one case-study in how American evangelical groups must reinvent their collective ethos and
re-categorize their cultural products if they are to remain relevant. In so doing, JPUSA’s
presence challenges “establishment evangelicalism” and problematizes conventional
understandings of the classifier “evangelical.” JPUSA’s commitment to social justice and
emphasis on humanizing the Christian gospel (without fully redefining conventional
understandings of human salvation) places them in a category best understood as “Evangelical
Left.”

Copyright by
Shawn David Young
2011

For Martha, Wesley, and Camden Young

v

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the following whose mentorship and advice helped me reach this point in my
academic career: James Noblitt, Mark Abbott, Rick McPeak, Richard Huston, Rich Beans, Jeff
Wilson, Norm and Carol Swanson, Karen Longman, Tom Stampfli, Michael and Ani Johnson,
Jim Reinhardt, and Gary Crites. A special thanks to my faculty mentor and advisor, David W.
Stowe, who offered constant encouragement, kindness, and challenged me to produce better
research. Your work has been an inspiration. Brief as they were, our jam sessions were
enjoyable! Thank you to Ann Larabee and Amy DeRogatis, who pushed me to become a better
writer, highlighting various historical and theoretical points which needed greater clarity; to Jeff
Charnley who guided me through the process of conducting oral history; and to Arthur Versluis,
and Malcolm Magee who took the time to offer instructive commentary which has, I trust,
pushed me to present a concise history of a countercultural community deserving of an accurate
oral history. I am grateful to Leonora Smith and Julie Linquist for their mentorship in WRAC.
Special thanks to Linda Gross, Matt Helm, and David Sheridan, without whose help I could not
have effectively navigated my career search. I owe gratitude to those with whom scholarship,
writing strategies, and humor were often shared: Yuya Kiuchi and LaToya Faulk; and to
Anthony Kolenic—I will refrain from including our oft-shared comedic salutation! Thanks to
Jim Jabara for including me in the documentary (and for the free food!). I would also like to
thank other scholars who, along with my committee, helped me achieve certain clarity and
organization: Benjamin Pollock, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Mark Abbott, and Brian McLaren.
I am also grateful for the advice, encouragement, and inspiration provided by notable scholars
such as Larry Eskridge, Mark Allan Powell, Randall Balmer, Heather Hendershot, Anthony

vi

Campolo, Jay R. Howard, Tricia Rose, George Marsden, Melani McAlister, Christian Smith,
Jason Bivens, Lauren Sandler, Jon Pahl, and Matthew Grow. Special thanks to the Communal
Studies Association for a generous research fellowship. I would like to extend my gratitude to
the wonderful folks at Jesus People USA for opening their homes and their hearts to my project.
I am particularly grateful to the following who offered their time, resources, and encouragement:
Glenn Kaiser, Wendi Kaiser (great meatloaf!), John Herrin, and Jon Trott. I owe gratitude to all
members of my family, without whom I could not have accomplished this: to my mother and
father, for their support and encouragement; to Shirley and Jerry—thanks for the great
conversations, Jerry!; to Patty Turner for allowing her daughter to marry someone like me; to my
two precious boys, Wesley and Camden who, for some reason, occasionally referred to me as
“professor daddy.” Like your mother, you have sacrificed so much. Thanks for understanding
when daddy was not always available. Finally, thank you to my dearest Martha. Yes, I said
dearest. Without you and our boys, none of this would have been possible. Thank you for
weaning me off The Andy Griffith Show and inspiring me to read! Thank you for giving up your
dreams to help me realize mine, and for working jobs that were quite undesirable while still
(somehow) maintaining a sense of what was needed for our family—for your realism in the
midst of my idealism. Thank you for introducing me to the world of Jesus People USA and
Cornerstone. And most importantly, thank you for simply putting up with me. Because of you, I
was able to achieve what I never thought possible.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures .................................................................................................................... xi
Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................1
Origins......................................................................................................................1
The Jesus Movement: A Continued “Spirit” ...........................................................1
Evangelical Progression ...........................................................................................3
Progression and Accommodation ............................................................................7
Jesus Movement Legacy ..........................................................................................8
Organization ...........................................................................................................11
The Evangelical Left ..............................................................................................20
Chapter 2: Jesus People USA: History ..............................................................................24
Introduction ............................................................................................................24
Communalism ........................................................................................................28
The Birth of Jesus People USA: Brady Street Hippies ..........................................32
Settling in Chicago .................................................................................................38
The Search for Home .............................................................................................43
Conclusion .............................................................................................................53
Chapter 3: Observing Community Life:
A Continued Enclave of Resistance/Assistance? ...............................................................57
Introduction ............................................................................................................57
First Impressions ....................................................................................................58
The Draw of Community .......................................................................................64
Individual Stories ...................................................................................................67
Community Businesses ..........................................................................................74
Community Ministries ...........................................................................................79
The Necessities of Life: Basic Needs and Commitment to Community ...............84
Education ...............................................................................................................92
Controversy:
Ronald Enroth, and Perceptions of Community Government ...............................94
Sustainability........................................................................................................104
Conclusion ...........................................................................................................114
Chapter 4: Big Shoulders, Big History: Why Chicago? ..................................................117
Introduction ..........................................................................................................117
Revivalism, Social Reform, and Evangelicalism: Historical Context .................118
Conservative Evangelicalism in Chicago ............................................................120
Daley and Conflict ...............................................................................................122
Social Justice and New Left Similarities .............................................................123
Location and Situation .........................................................................................134
Conclusion ...........................................................................................................143
viii

Chapter 5: Theology, Politics, and Culture......................................................................145
Introduction ..........................................................................................................145
Placing JPUSA within Evangelicalism: Modern to Postmodern .........................146
Reconnecting Youth to…Something ...................................................................152
Practical Differences ............................................................................................154
Jesus Freaks: The Waiting ...................................................................................156
More Shifts toward the Practical..........................................................................161
The Power of Pluralism .......................................................................................163
The Divine Call to Culture: Right or Left? ..........................................................166
Communal Identity ..............................................................................................172
Nationalism and Identity ......................................................................................175
Culture and Society ..............................................................................................179
A New Politics of the End: Implications .............................................................183
Soteriology ...........................................................................................................185
Conclusion ...........................................................................................................189
Chapter 6: The Christian Woodstock:
Vernacular Religion, Influence, and Conflicting Worlds ................................................191
Introduction ..........................................................................................................191
Evangelicals and Popular Culture ........................................................................191
Festivals ...............................................................................................................198
In the Beginning ...................................................................................................200
Impressions ..........................................................................................................200
Ideas and Representation: Influence on Individuals and Culture ........................205
The Result of Influence ........................................................................................209
The Future of Evangelical Music .........................................................................213
Grassroots and Change ........................................................................................218
Rock Bands with Christians or Christian Rock?: New Industry Models.............221
Diversity, Community, and Representation:
Countercultural Evangelicalism? .........................................................................226
Conclusion ..........................................................................................................234
Chapter 7: The Future: Ex-Members, Second Generation, and Social Dynamics...........239
Introduction ..........................................................................................................239
The Second Generation: Growing Up in Community .........................................240
Founding Members and Second Generation: Differences ...................................244
Second-Generation Commitment.........................................................................250
Former Members: Perceptions of Structure and Authority..................................255
Perceptions of JPUSA Mission and Future ..........................................................266
Ideological Change and Future Projections .........................................................269
Conclusion ...........................................................................................................274
Chapter 8: Conclusion......................................................................................................277

ix

Appendices .......................................................................................................................287
Appendix A. End Notes ........................................................................................288
Appendix B. Consent Form ..................................................................................340
Bibliography ....................................................................................................................345

x

List of Figures
Figure 1: Commune members performing in froth of the “Jesus bus.”
(c) 2010 Cornerstone Press/Jesus People USA Evangelical Covenant Church;
All rights reserved. For interpretation of the references to color in
this and all other figures, the reader is referred to the electronic
version of this dissertation. ................................................................................................35
Figure 2: JPUSA, circa late 70s down near Montrose Beach at Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL.
(c) 2010 Cornerstone Press/Jesus People USA
Evangelical Covenant Church; All rights reserved ............................................................42
Figure 3: A community gathering in the basement of the house on Paulina Street.
(c) 2010 Cornerstone Press/Jesus People USA
Evangelical Covenant Church; All rights reserved ............................................................44
Figure 4: JPUSA’s current home, Friendly Towers...........................................................59
Figure 5: JPUSA communards eating a late-night snack...................................................62
Figure 6: Resurrection Band’s Awaiting Your Reply (1978) ...........................................196
Figure 7: Images of Cornerstone festival-goers.
(c) 2010 Cornerstone Press/Jesus People USA Evangelical Covenant Church;
All rights reserved ............................................................................................................202
Figure 8: A generator stage. (c) 2010 Cornerstone Press/Jesus People USA Evangelical
Covenant Church; All rights reserved..............................................................................220
Figure 9: Cornerstone festival side-stage under a tent.
(c) 2010 Cornerstone Press / Jesus People USA Evangelical Covenant Church; All rights
reserved ............................................................................................................................223

xi

Chapter 1
Introduction

Origins
Evangelical Christianity has become a powerful force in American popular media, youth
culture, and the political arena. The reason for evangelicalism‘s rise to prominence has been
widely researched. Contemporary manifestations of popular evangelicalism remain connected to
a mythology that can be traced to one of many expressions commonly associated with the
American counterculture of the 1960s, specifically a revival of conservative Christianity among
American youth.
The Jesus Movement was a significant American revival that changed the way many youth
experienced Christianity. Disenchanted with mainline Christianity, the hippie movement, and
the New Left, ―Jesus freaks‖ sought ontological stability. As a result, various conservative
denominations adopted the cultural vernacular of both the counterculture and American popular
culture as a whole. Jesus-freak fascinations with spiritualism peaked hippie interest while their
enthusiasm for conservative interpretations of the Bible appeased traditionalists. Ultimately,
conservative reclamation of popular culture was intended to rescue those caught in cultural
declination. Thus, evangelicalism became a powerful force, making its mark on publishing, film,
television, festivals, and music. The historical lineage of American evangelicalism has
continued as a dominant, complex, growing expression of Christianity.
The Jesus Movement: A Continued “Spirit”
While the Jesus Movement made its mark on conservative American Christianity during
the 1970s, the effects of the movement can still be seen in contemporary Christian aesthetics,

1

―new paradigm‖ churches, surviving Jesus Movement communes, and new versions of the
1

Evangelical Left. Though the topic of American evangelicalism is well represented by a
paucity of studies from multiple disciplines, there are few works that cogently breach the topics
of the Jesus Movement, ―Jesus freak‖ communes, or the Evangelical Left. Historian Larry
Eskridge has noted that in Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America
(1984), historian Martin Marty considered the Jesus Movement, but only as an ―extended
colourful anecdote‖ for his ―larger legitimate point about the endurance and resurgence of
evangelical Protestantism in American life in the ‗60s and ‗70s….‖ Marty concluded that ―the
2

only Jesus Movement that mattered was made up of middle-class young people.‖ Naturally
Eskridge, a contemporary authority on the Jesus Movement, laments the limited importance
placed on its larger impact. Marty ventured that ―the movement‘s impact ended in and of itself,
arguing that the mantle of evangelical relevance to youth had been taken up by groups like Inter3

Varsity, Campus Crusade and the Navigators.‖ Unbeknownst to scholars like Marty, the
movement would eventually influence evangelical popular culture and the core ideals would be
preserved in Jesus Movement communes and celebrated at some Christian music festivals.
This study is an analysis of Jesus People USA (JPUSA—pronounced jah-POO-zah), a
post-Jesus Movement community in Chicago's inner city. Housed in the neighborhood of
Uptown, this ―intentional community‖ is one of the remaining collective expressions of the Jesus
Movement. Living based on the model provided in the New Testament, members of JPUSA
relinquish personal monies and possessions and are supported by various ―mission businesses‖
and a financial model based on a common purse agreement, providing to every communard
according to their need.

2

The community has diverged from the sense of evangelical urgency that characterized
early ―Jesus freaks‖ and the innumerable communal experiments birthed during the revival.
Still, JPUSA holds to the core principles of the original movement as it combines lived religion
(in its model of community), the evangelical impulse for activism and crucicentrism (more
4

specifically Christocentrism), and the hippie aesthetic. Their ideals have become part of a
larger conversation at the Cornerstone Music Festival, an annual event created by JPUSA in
1984 (the same year as Marty‘s publication). Consequently, the festival has evolved into a
gathering where shared discourse serves to create new understandings of what evangelical
Christianity and faith-based music is or could become.

Evangelical Progression
JPUSA demonstrates how evangelicalism is continually reinvented as adherents work to
reconcile pluralism with traditional Christianity and what I will call ―establishment
evangelicalism.‖ Thus, an examination of this community sheds light on fundamental cultural
problems related to pluralism. This is demonstrated at Cornerstone as new music groups change
perceptions of artistry and ideology. Analyses of these groups (and the tensions between
establishment evangelicalism and various countercultural Christian expressions) problematize—
or nuance—current views pertaining to new emerging forms of religious commitment and
fanaticism.
Using Cornerstone as a case-study, this project will consider how social discourse affects
religious and political belief as members of the community connect with an ideologically diverse
population at the festival and negotiate ideology through dialectical processes. Thus, this study
emphasizes "lived religion" as contemporary Christianity continues to evolve, exemplifying both
reactions to and sympathies with pluralism. The result is an annual gathering that experiences
3

liminal moments where festival-goers are encouraged to reevaluate long-held beliefs and
challenge paradigmatic constructions of establishment evangelicalism and the contemporary
Christian music industry.
Using oral history, ethnography, and secondary sources this study will include an analysis
of how JPUSA and Cornerstone both experience ideological change. In the end, the study will
demonstrate the reasons for JPUSA‘s longevity, how JPUSA impacts Cornerstone, how
Cornerstone contributes to shifts within the Christian music industry, and how the spirit of the
Jesus Movement is maintained in JPUSA and expressed at Cornerstone. As such, JPUSA and
Cornerstone both demonstrate that conservative (establishment) evangelicalism is being
challenged as both the veterans and inheritors of the theologically (and mostly politically)
conservative Jesus Movement are intersecting in unique ways with the Evangelical Left.
To some extent, Cornerstone maintains the spirit of the original Jesus Movement, nursing
earlier dreams of simple ―tribal‖ faith, now complicated by the rapid growth of individualism,
the compressing of evangelicalism and nationalism into one signifier, and the commercialization
of popular evangelical music. As a counterpoint to mainstream evangelical festivals,
Cornerstone offers an outlet for musicians who would otherwise have been marginalized by the
church. The festival has provided a space where burgeoning faith-based artists can experiment
beyond the boundaries of the Gospel Music Association‘s gatekeepers. Cornerstone has nurtured
up-and-coming musicians who simply do not conform to what has been traditionally expected
from contemporary Christian music. As such, JPUSA has played part in redefining how popular
evangelical music is understood, defined, and performed. With a record industry now filled with
artists whose beginnings can be traced to the evangelical subculture, it is conceivable that
Cornerstone has radically altered how popular evangelical music is represented. But JPUSA‘s

4

cultural influence extends well beyond how musical styles and lyrics are perceived by the
church.
While the presence of an ―Evangelical Left‖ is certainly nothing new, the flow of
otherwise radical ideas has leaked into what was heretofore an unthinkable receptacle: the
largely conservative Christian music industry. Philosophies commonly associated with leftleaning politics (as well as postmodern questions pertaining to ―truth‖) now permeate modern
Christian music as artists ponder the environment, rather than spout apocalyptic rhetoric;
consider the dangers of war and nationalism, rather than proclaim Christian triumphalism; and
encourage listeners to mourn poverty, rather than glory in the heavenly streets of gold.
While the Evangelical Left often self-identifies as theologically ecumenical and the
Religious Right tends to dismiss the Left as non-evangelical, the Left‘s ecumenism still tends to
5

be Christian-specific. Despite this, evangelical youth who attend Cornerstone are challenged to
think critically—to entertain and embrace existential ambiguity. Tensions commonly associated
with pluralism and existential anxiety have resulted in JPUSA‘s reevaluation of the way meaning
is understood and presented. Thus JPUSA (and by extension, Cornerstone) have begun to
sympathize with postmodern criticism and some claims of progressive Christianity, while
avoiding what they consider radically liberal theological positions. This progressive aspect of
JPUSA and the festival demonstrates a vastly different collective experience from the typical
conservative megachurch or Christian music concert. Ironically, many who attend Cornerstone
are affiliated with conservative evangelicalism. Thus, JPUSA is an interstitial group that
connects two dichotomies.
Although there is a decided nod to postmodernism and cultural pluralism, JPUSA can be
classified as evangelical, if the classification is based on rubrics established by historians of

5

American religious history. For historian David Bebbington, evangelicalism (as a specific form
of Christianity) can be understood based on an ideological quadrilateral. He argues that
evangelical Christians have historically embraced four categories essential to the evangelical
6

identity: conversionism, biblicism, activism, and millennialism. For the most part, these
essentials are embraced by JPUSA‘s leadership, though often with ambiguity. And if these
categories are dismissed by the community, the evangelical signifier still remains relevant.
Indeed, many academics and ministers qualify the term evangelical, broadening it in such as way
as to include movements or individuals based on subjective methods of defining the term.
Historian Randall Balmer‘s approach creates an ecumenical template, whereby anyone who has
experienced a spiritual ―new birth‖ can qualify as evangelical. While theological particulars are
negotiable for JPUSA—as we shall see—the community‘s core principle involves some form of
new birth (spiritual salvation), however nuanced that understanding may be.

7

Specifically, this study is organized around three core arguments. First, historians of
communalism have demonstrated that in most cases, American communes are often short-lived.
Moreover, sociologist Noreen Cornfield‘s study on Chicago‘s 1970s urban communes
demonstrates that many agreed to disband after a certain period of time, amounting to a
8

―voluntary time limitation.‖ Cornfield‘s study revealed that many secular communes were
organized around core principles (often activism) and viewed the collective experience as a
transitional stage in their lives. As a result, many urban collectives were ephemeral. Despite
this, JPUSA has continued beyond its 1972 genesis due to various structural/organizational
mechanisms, their ability to engage and evolve with American culture, and a vision of sustained
commitment often absent from other groups. JPUSA‘s longevity (to date) is a result of what
sociologist Rosabeth Moss Kanter refers to as ―commitment mechanisms,‖ particularly the
6

commitment of second-generation members and young members who are unaffiliated with the
commune‘s founders. Second, the subgenres of Christian heavy metal and punk rock simply
would not have grown in influence if not for the Cornerstone Festival. (Eileen Luhr has aptly
noted the significance of religion and popular music in America, particularly the subcultural
versions). Moreover, JPUSA and Cornerstone have contributed to what has resulted in a
remapping of evangelically-inspired popular music. Third, JPUSA and Cornerstone sustain a
vestige of the original Jesus Movement. But despite the conservatism of the original movement,
JPUSA and Cornerstone represent the general ethos of ―emergent‖ Christianity and the
Evangelical Left, and through the festival contribute to a strengthening of new, emerging forms
of progressive Christianity.
Both the commune and the festival contribute to a growing counter-narrative to the
Religious Right as emergent Christians and others associated with the Christian Left either
reclaim what was purest about the Jesus Movement before being absorbed by the Evangelical
―establishment‖ Right, or now locate a livable space where both evangelicalism and cultural
pluralism can coexist comfortably, despite paradox and existential tension.

Progression and Accommodation
The result of pluralism (or at least an increasingly multicultural society) is that to some
extent American evangelicals often yield to popular opinion—reinventing a collective ethos and
re-categorizing cultural products in hopes of remaining both relevant and authentic. While
historian Nathan Hatch argues that the populist impulse empowers and sustains American
evangelicalism, the movement also thrives in the marketplace; it is indelibly linked to capitalism.
Historian Colleen McDannell opines how mass evangelical gatherings often demonstrate ―how a
9

commercial American mentality has invaded the inner-sanctum of religion.‖ Thus, in
7

contradistinction to fundamentalist Christianity, evangelicalism is naturally associated with
cultural engagement and accommodation.

10

This project considers how a community (birthed during what some have considered
another Great Awakening) can evolve. Despite its theological inheritance from Jesus Movement
evangelicalism, this commune now deemphasizes theological particulars long cherished by
conservative evangelicals, creating a significant difference between their community and other
Jesus-freak veterans. Moreover, JPUSA‘s communal ethic and leftism places them outside the
parameters putative to conservative ―establishment‖ evangelicalism, thus complicating the oftheld belief that the Jesus Movement was altogether a conservative movement. This community
of Jesus freaks, in fact, represents a parallel story to the largely conservative Jesus Movement on
the West Coast. Their influence today extends beyond their own walls, inspiring growth with the
emerging Evangelical Left.
My findings demonstrate that communities such as this (and their social impact) reveal
how the evangelical subculture is rapidly changing and is on the cusp of a new reformation. This
coming change has been made possible by a previously established context—a mixture of
populist evangelical cultural activism and nuances that have informed fundamentalist retreat and
embattlement.

Jesus Movement Legacy
Historians have devoted significant efforts to understand the development of American
evangelicalism and its relationship to the modern world and politics. Yet an examination of
JPUSA and the Cornerstone Festival reveals that evangelicalism goes beyond what many have
considered complex, defying assumptions about the movement from whence it sprang. In The
Jesus People: Old-Time Religion in the Age of Aquarius sociologist Ronald Enroth takes the
8

Jesus Movement to task, presenting it as adolescent and theologically unsophisticated. Written
in 1972 (the same year of JPUSA‘s genesis), the work does not fully consider the complexity of
groups such as JPUSA, nor can it pretend to document the evolution of individual converts or
innumerable expressions of the larger movement. Since the book‘s publication, Enroth has
written about JPUSA, implicating the community as authoritarian and abusive; his assessment is
largely based on allegations held by former members. The work of sociologist Anson Shupe
offers a corrective to Enroth‘s critique, pointing out Enroth‘s limited understanding of
communally-structured societies and lack of personal contact with JPUSA. Hippies of the
Religious Right by Preston Shires and Getting Saved from the Sixties: The Transformation of
Moral Meaning in American Culture by Steven M. Tipton both tend to dwell on the sectarian
nature of religion within the context of the counterculture—whether Christian or non. Neither
appears to recognize the complexity of trans-communal religious experience. Thus, each
provides a reductive view of the marriage between the counterculture and (in this particular case)
evangelical Christianity. Despite this, the work of Shires and historian Larry Eskridge
problematizes Enroth‘s original analysis, highlighting the larger cultural impact of the Jesus
Movement.
Reinventing American Protestantism by historian Donald Miller adds to the growing
consensus surrounding the movement‘s place in history. Specifically, Miller‘s treatment of the
movement‘s ecclesial legacy (―new paradigm churches‖) demonstrates how Jesus freaks
institutionalized their attempts to counter mainline liberalism‘s infectivity to deal with existential
anxiety. Moreover, his work accurately accounts for reasons behind the decline in membership
within mainline denominations and the increase in conservative evangelicalism, broaching a
scholarly analysis of Jesus-freak influence. While his work is noteworthy in its ability to

9

connect the Jesus Movement to the rise of contemporary ―hip‖ (albeit conservative) Christianity,
the study does not delve into rising challenges foisted on contemporary Christian music, the
growing presence of emergent Christianity, or the Evangelical Left.
Historian David W. Stowe offers a rich analysis of the Jesus Movement and its
relationship to specific personalities within the world of popular music, the Religious Right, and
explores connections between evangelical eschatology and political power. He accurately
captures the apocalyptic vision that affected various ―Jesus musicians,‖ as well as secular artists
who held equally powerful faith-perspectives. Stowe‘s work provides an overview of the
historical connection between American evangelicals, Christian music during the Jesus
Movement, and the general spirituality that informed the evangelical musical and political ethos.
While his work provides valuable historical connections, Stowe‘s primary focus concerns
personalities and historical developments during the 1970s.
Along with Stowe‘s work, Eileen Luhr‘s Witnessing Suburbia offers the most current
analysis of how the Jesus Movement created a national platform by which Reagan-era
conservatism generally and the Religious Right specifically grew in power, found favor with
American youth, and came to define suburban evangelicalism. Along with other forwardlooking scholars such as James Davison Hunter, Heather Hendershot, Jay R. Howard, Mark Noll,
and Colleen McDannell, Luhr considers what evangelical Christianity has become, as well as its
potential impact on American culture. Oriented around suburban expressions of establishment
evangelicalism, her work serves as a glimpse into a world that appears to be collapsing and
reorganizing into something unlike Reagan and Bush-era evangelical Christianity.
Overall, scholarship on evangelicalism has tended to either focus on how one defines the
particulars of belief by which one is labeled ―evangelical‖ (to the exclusion of radical

10

postmodern nuances of those beliefs) or has examined canonical works, theologians, evangelists,
and denominations (to the exclusion of countercultural groups such as JPUSA). The paucity of
historical and theological works that dwell on the evangelical identity has effectively
demonstrated that evangelicalism is too complex to categorize theologically or politically.
However, the ethnographic element of communal studies—foci on individual ―radical‖
communities which self-identify as evangelical—is often mentioned in passing, nestled within
larger studies on sects, communes, utopian theory, or biographical works on politically-driven
Jesus rockers. Thus, there are few demonstrative works concerning the breadth of diversity
within countercultural evangelicalism—with exceptions such as Shires, Stowe, Eskridge, and
Luhr. Moreover, the few reliable studies on countercultural Christianity, popular evangelical
media, or communalism offer little on the Cornerstone Festival or JPUSA.
While most scholars agree that evangelicalism has represented both cultural engagement
and retrenchment, few offer analyses on the larger impact of the Jesus Movement, its relationship
to the Evangelical Left, or emergent Christianity. The exceptions include evangelical presses
such as Zondervan, Baker Academic, and popular publishers such as Harper Collins. Most
works, such as Thy Kingdom Come, by Randall Balmer, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind,
by Mark Noll, and American Evangelicalism by Christian Smith, tend to focus primarily on the
historical, epistemological, and politically populist forces which inform evangelicalism. Thus
the interplay between evangelicalism and countercultural Christianity has not been thoroughly
studied.

Organization
In my attempt to analyze JPUSA‘s communal structure, I make use of communal and
organizational theories offered in sociologist Rosabeth Moss Kanter‘s classic Community and
11

Commitment: Communes and Utopias in Sociological Perspective. While her theories of
communal sustainability offer cogent reasons for JPUSA‘s continued presence since 1972, in the
end, communal structures that have contributed to JPUSA‘s continuance are counter-intuitive
when applied to second-generation communards. For the purpose of cultural analysis, the work
of theorist Lawrence Grossberg offers a relatively contemporary frame of reference by which
representations of culture and belief (popular or otherwise) can be appropriately ―read‖ against
the backdrop of both modernity and postmodernity.
The work of historian Mark Allan Powell has been seminal in its ability to historicize and
critique the Christian music industry and contemporary Christian music (CCM). The
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music provides a needed reference when analyzing
music groups affiliated with JPUSA and the world of Christian rock festivals. As an
encyclopedic work, Powell‘s book provides important cultural and historical contexts that can be
cross-referenced to other groups (complete with biographical information, song titles, and details
pertaining to album releases). Although his book is largely historical (consequently omitting
current analyses of what Christian music is now) it offers newer ways of defining what amounts
to a theologically dualistic genre. Sociologist Jay R. Howard and John M. Streck‘s Apostles of
Rock considers how CCM can be appropriately categorized. The work includes a history of
CCM and three distinct categories which define the genre: ―separational,‖ ―integrational,‖ and
―transformational.‖ Howard and Streck‘s categories offer a valuable method for understanding
how the purpose of CCM has been historically understood, produced, and consumed.
Musicians who have adopted the ―separational‖ approach have often believed it their
responsibility to remain separate from ―the world.‖ They often argue that the primary purpose of
Christian music—if not all music—was and is to glorify God and to evangelize the lost—a

12

utilitarian tool for Christian ministry. This category can be connected to what H. Richard
Niebuhr referred to as ―Christ against culture.‖ In response to the separational approach, seeking
to be culturally relevant, ―integrational‖ musicians recognize the entertainment value of music,
opting to engage the mainstream market while maintaining Christian belief. As a result, these
artists—in hopes of engaging the pop market—often lack the cutting edge (even the
countercultural, subversive element) of separational CCM. In this sense, these musicians
believe they are engaging the real world while remaining unsullied by the effects of
―worldliness,‖ thus exemplifying what Niebuhr referred to as ―Christ of culture.‖
On the surface, separational and integrational CCM are different in their nuanced
perspectives on how to define and understand which form of music is actually ―Christian.‖
Despite this difference, both are considered utilitarian. Both categories (despite the way CCM is
understood) are defined by a strict dualism and ultimately, serve the purpose of Christian
witness. The debates between these two schools, as pointed out by Howard and Streck, continue
to assume that music (or the larger category of aesthetics) can be classified as sacred and secular.
For ―transformational‖ musicians, music is simply art for art‘s sake; music is ―valuable because
it is [emphasis added], not because it necessarily accomplishes some goal.‖

11

This category

mediates the extremes of the other two categories, avoiding both separatism and overt
commercialism. In this way, the transformational category of CCM can be connected to three of
Niebuhr‘s categories: ―Christ above culture,‖ ―Christ and culture in paradox,‖ and ―Christ the
transformer of culture.‖
Chapter 2 of my study begins with an overview of the communal impulse (why some are
attracted to communal living) and briefly discusses nineteenth and twentieth-century
communalism and the connection to the hippie movement and Jesus freaks. It goes on to deliver

13

a chronological history of JPUSA, beginning with its genesis in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the
birth of the first known Christian hard rock group, the Resurrection Band (later, REZ Band).
The chapter provides a close reading of JPUSA‘s development. Initially settling in
Gainesville, Florida, the group travelled extensively, growing in size as fans of the band (as well
as spiritual seekers) followed. Originally dubbed the ―Jesus People U.S.A. Traveling Team,‖
JPUSA eventually settled in Chicago‘s inner city. After occupying a number of houses, the
commune‘s increase in membership and vision for inner-city social outreach necessitated the
search for a larger home, one suited to the needs of a group that essentially adopted a conscious
understanding of the communal ethic years after its inception.
Chapter 3 details the economic, organizational, and structural elements of life in JPUSA
and demonstrates how this commune has succeeded in outliving many of its progenitors. This
chapter outlines a day in the life of JPUSA communards and demonstrates how commitment is
often short-lived due to perceptions of democracy, control, or negative publicity about the
commune; JPUSA was castigated publicly, creating a maelstrom concerning leadership structure
and the now discontinued practice of ―adult spanking.‖
Using Kanter‘s theory of ―retreat communes,‖ I argue that tight boundaries serve to
reinforce collective and individual commitment (if even to the detriment of individual
maturation) to the communal ethic. Using her theories, I contend that JPUSA has outlived its
progenitors due to five fundamental commitment mechanisms: mission businesses, a plurality of
leadership, a divine calling that transcends work or ideological particulars, external
accountability to a denomination, and maintenance of individual identity within a collectivist
scenario. In the end, these elements are part of a core purpose connected to what Noreen

14

Cornfield considers ―norms of high involvement,‖ activities made possible by JPUSA‘s
12

location.

In considering Chicago generally and the neighborhood of Uptown specifically, Chapter
4 analyzes both the history and landscape (both geographical and ideological) that has
contributed to JPUSA‘s longevity to date. When juxtaposed against various expressions of the
New Left and Catholic models of social justice, Uptown‘s legacy of immigrant struggle and
poverty demonstrates that the neighborhood continues to be an area in need of organizations
willing to offer aid. JPUSA‘s form of evangelical Christianity (despite the impact of groups such
as the Salvation Army) is unique, if not wholly counter to establishment evangelicalism.
Given Uptown‘s history of poverty, JPUSA‘s choice to live communally in Chicago was
a reaction to problems associated with inner-city, urban life—though the initial thrust was a
desire to mirror the book of Acts. The decision to remain an urban, activist group has, I argue,
contributed to JPUSA‘s survival and their continuation as an ―intentional community.‖ Put
another way, the difference between rural communes, suburban communes, and urban
communes has to do with a particular location‘s ability to influence communards, who then
marshal heightened levels of commitment and resources in service to social activism. Urban
environments provide more interaction with society (as opposed to rural, separatist communes)
and a greater sense of urgency (as opposed to suburban communes, which do not encounter
problems associated with homelessness on a daily basis).
Ultimately, JPUSA‘s location reinforces a series of psychological processes connected to
sustained levels of individual commitment to the commune and the neighborhood of Uptown.
These processes are realized by what Kanter refers to as ―disassociation‖ (a process that severs
competing obligations) and ―association‖ (a process that creates symbiotic relationships between

15

communard and commune). In the end, the chapter argues that JPUSA‘s political philosophy
and the way they engage culture may prove inconvenient for establishment evangelicalism.
Their presence, cultural influence, and urban activism all challenge the belief that the Jesus
Movement was merely a faddish youth movement with little hope of impacting culture.

13

Chapter 5 explores ideologies held by most members of JPUSA, including personal
accounts of ever-changing (if often ambiguous) political and theological positions. After
providing an overview of the eschatology that informed much of the Jesus Movement
(specifically, premillennial dispensationalism), JPUSA‘s position in relation to this doctrine is
considered.

14

While the commune has always, to some extent, diverged from establishment

evangelicalism, the two paths aligned during the 1980s as JPUSA (as a corrective to the ―hyperspiritualism‖ of the Jesus Movement) embraced rigorous models of apologetics. At the close of
the century, in response to higher criticism, the commune grew suspicious of what they
perceived as modernistic, propositional arguments for faith that, for them, were speculative and
counter-intuitive to faith. As a result, JPUSA entered the postmodern arena as the leadership
embraced higher biblical/literary criticisms while maintaining a high view of scripture.
Though vocal about what might be perceived as fiscally and theologically liberal, JPUSA
exhibits what amounts to a reaction to both the Right and the Left. Though centrist in many
ways, the commune‘s fiscal and organizational structure (inspired by a commitment to aid to the
poor) is, according to the leadership council, leftist. Communards use the idea of socialism and
the New Testament‘s model of community interchangeably. When considering JPUSA‘s
political position, categorization becomes difficult, given the complexity of the evangelical
rhetorical lexicon, one which includes distinct signifiers. As a result, the commune is an

16

interstitial expression of evangelical Christianity, offering a counterpoint to both mainline
liberalism and establishment evangelicalism.
As a means of vernacular outreach, JPUSA founded a festival intended to mimic the edgy
ethos of the countercultural tour de force, Woodstock. A relatively new kind of Christian
festival, Cornerstone would eventually challenge the mainstream Christian music industry in art
and ideas. Chapter 6 demonstrates how JPUSA has maintained the evangelical heritage of
cultural engagement, embracing popular culture as a means of social outreach. A product of
both the Jesus Movement and contemporary Christian music (CCM), Christian rock festivals are
vestiges of the original movement‘s intent to reach the lost using the tools of culture (both
popular and counter). Yet, the Cornerstone Festival works to challenge an industry that bears
little resemblance to early Jesus freaks, let alone the counterculture. Historian Eileen Luhr has
pointed out that public space and consumer culture reveals how evangelicals‘ identities often
converge.

15

In response to what Luhr refers to as the ―suburbanization of evangelical

Christianity,‖

16

JPUSA‘s Cornerstone Festival reestablishes the subversive impulse that inspired

Jesus-freak aesthetics and notions of community, while simultaneously rupturing lines of
delineation (socio-cultural, theological, and political) which often characterize establishment
evangelicalism.
Music groups showcased at the event are at times incompatible with mainstream CCM.
For example, popular Christian music has become a respectable artistic niche genre, now
enjoying moderate market success. Moreover, CCM artists often use celebrity status in service
to humanitarian causes, often bundled as part of the larger category of Christian mission work.
Consequently, these artists often play part in what historian Melani McAlister refers to as
―enchanted internationalism,‖ an impulse that drives evangelical youth (and evangelical cultural
17

agents) to engage the global village for the purpose of ―missions.‖

17

In so doing, youth take part

in a rite of passage that (perhaps) allows the missionary to experience the exotic Other,
comforted in the fact that they will return to the safety of the West or the global North. But
while her claim is certainly instantiated by groups within CCM proper, many at Cornerstone part
with establishment evangelicalism, particularly when considering the fragile distinction between
evangelical missions and cultural imperialism. Over the years, Cornerstone has played a role in
redefining how popular Christian music is commonly understood. As a result, evangelical
musicians now enjoy a presence in the general market without the signifier ―Christian band,‖ a
significant development given the rising cultural capital held by evangelicals.
The chapter ends by demonstrating how former members of JPUSA view Cornerstone‘s
evolution over the years—musical and theological—and argues that the festival broadcasts an
ideology often perceived as incompatible with establishment evangelicalism. Yet, as
Cornerstone counters establishment evangelicalism and the mainstream Christian music industry,
it continues to garner support from festival-goers and music groups coded conservative,
establishment, and evangelical. Cornerstone and JPUSA are thus unclassifiable in the strictest
sense, demonstrating what anthropologist Victor Turner refers to as liminality. However, this in
no way absolves us of attempting to locate core principles of JPUSA as related to larger
movements or classifications. Avoiding what historian Jason Bivens refers to as ―illegibility‖
allows classification (if only loosely) and, perhaps, makes necessary a kind of rubric that can be
applied to JPUSA when attempting to locate the commune within the larger evangelical
subculture.

18

Chapter 7 explores JPUSA‘s future. In considering the impact of rising generations
within the commune, I note how communal structure and the future are perceived by second18

generation communards and members who have joined as young adults. Individual stories of
disgruntled members (current and former) provide a tapestry of ideas that, ostensibly,
demonstrate both the fluidity of individual perception and the fragility of the commune. I
consider how the council maintains what Kanter refers to as ―affirmative boundaries‖ in the face
of cultural engagement, negative press, and perceptions of democracy. Both Noreen Cornfield
and Hugh Gardner venture that American communards (due to the American premium placed on
personal space) often expect a certain amount of privacy and individuality, despite their choice
to live in scenarios structured around shared property and experience.

19

The chapter highlights

this tension and postulates that commitment mechanisms can work in reverse, creating impetus
for declining commitment in rising generations.
The testimonies of individuals share a common thread, one that affirms a consistent
heritage of communal evolution. While some believe the commune has shifted from evangelical
roots, others applaud JPUSA‘s efforts to remain true to their calling. However, various former
communards venture that JPUSA leaders have actually strayed from their original mission. Put
another way, some believe JPUSA‘s choice to self-identify as an intentional community has
actually undermined their original missionary impulse. As they have self-consciously adopted
the model of ―intentional community,‖ JPUSA has instituted a communal ethic that, on one
hand, has served it well (in Kanter‘s sense), affording it long life thus far. On the other hand, the
American appeal to the individual has influenced other members, many of whom make up the
future foundation of the commune.
While my findings confirm that Kanter‘s theory of commitment mechanisms are valuable
for calculating communal longevity, in the end I argue that these mechanisms are relative to time
and culture. Second-generation perceptions of communal living actually undermine the purpose

19

of boundaries necessary for communal dedication and longevity. Along with chapters 2 and 4,
this chapter demonstrates that commitment mechanisms that account for JPUSA‘s ability to
outlive other communes birthed during the Jesus Movement have contributed to disenchantment
among the second generation, as well as communards who have joined as adults. The result
creates a question: Who will lead the commune in the coming years?

The Evangelical Left
This study concludes in chapter 8 by arguing that JPUSA represents a significant
expression of the American Evangelical Left. The commune was founded as a Jesus freak
community oriented around principles often associated with rightist, parachurch movements such
as the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, and the Religious Right. Understandably, JPUSA
has been read as conservative by journalistic studies such as that of Lauren Sandler. What
follows, however, is a study that proves otherwise on some accounts. While JPUSA can be
understood as both conservative and evangelical in many regards, their affiliations and overall
ethic defies ideas commonly associated with rightist, evangelical conversionist groups and (in
some ways) mainline liberalism. JPUSA remains committed to a social ethic quite similar to
ideals commonly associated with the New Left, a movement founded by visionaries whose goals
bore similarities to the evangelical paradigm. In this fashion, the existence (and influence) of
groups such as JPUSA ruptures the way religionists of any stripe are often coded.
A common mistake among historians of religion is to locate possible categorical rubrics
for a given group based on preexisting (established) categories. This redundancy serves only to
reinforce what we already know and does little to shed light on newer expressions of preexisting
phenomena. If we consider JPUSA to be merely part of the broad swath of the American

20

evangelical experience, we risk a totalizing view of the whole movement, without regard for
nuance or dissent. In like manner, if we particularize this group as solely unique to the extent
that they can no longer be categorized as evangelical, we must reinvent a new category entirely.
While in many ways they remain uncategorizable, this cannot dissuade us from locating traces of
multiple traditions within the particular.
This work assumes certain causality as it connects multiplicity (as represented at the
Cornerstone Festival) to JPUSA and vice versa. Put another way, ideological symbiosis, as it
were, holds the two experiences in an orbit, one always feeding off the other. The result is fourfold: 1) JPUSA maintains the original spirit of the Jesus Movement in ways quite dissimilar from
other forms of baby-boom evangelicalism, and injects this ethos into the festival. Similarly, the
festival refreshes JPUSA by keeping the group culturally and ideologically engaged with a world
disassociated from their inner-city sanctum. 2) Given their desire to challenge the mainstream
Christian music industry‘s tendency to maintain a strict dichotomy between what can be
considered sacred and secular, JPUSA aligns itself with a music movement largely independent
of gospel music gatekeepers. 3) Given their ethic of social justice, various radical associations,
and an evolving ideology inspired by existential anxiety, JPUSA is best classified as part of the
contemporary Evangelical Left. 4) Given their interest in postmodern theology, a growing
suspicion of Christian apologetics, and ambiguous positions on socio-cultural values, JPUSA
challenges establishment evangelicalism, thus remapping (albeit both incrementally and on a
small scale) the meaning of the term evangelical.
Throughout this study, I use the word ―postmodern‖ as it is used by members of the
JPUSA commune. The term is intended to communicate a reaction to modernism. For the sake
of this study, the term ―modernism‖ will be understood not as a temporal distinction or as a

21

valuation of human progress, i.e., ―modernization.‖ Rather, it serves as a reference to the
Enlightenment‘s emphasis on humanity‘s ability to fully ascertain certainty on matters pertaining
to science, religion, philosophy, psychology, economic systems, cultural systems, and various
subjects related to human ontology. As a reaction to modernism, postmodern philosophy, when
applied to JPUSA and the so-called ―emergent‖ church, accomplishes the following: First, it
recognizes that competing truth-claims are part of a pluralistic society; Second, it challenges
totalizing metanarratives and assumptions about universal truth; Third, it challenges (or at least
reconsiders) truth-claims linked to ―received‖ authority—whether written, oral, experienced, or
tested; Fourth, it attempts to reconcile Christianity with the aforementioned.
The term ―establishment evangelicalism‖ is intended to convey the presence of an
officially sanctioned version of evangelical Christianity.

20

I do not intend to suggest that

evangelicalism is a monolith. Indeed, as a movement or an ideology evangelical Christianity is
part of a complex historical development which is tremendously diverse. However, despite its
many expressions there remains a ―core‖ to what many Americans perceive as ―evangelical,‖
regardless of debates offered by theologians and historians. Thus the term ―establishment
evangelicalism,‖ for this study, is intended to convey what is most commonly associated with
evangelical Christianity.
Emergent Christianity represents a ―conversation‖ among evangelicals who are
disenchanted with traditional, conservative evangelicalism and the Religious Right. More
significantly, emergent represents an attempt by evangelicals to engage postmodernity, cultural
pluralism, and literary deconstruction, while retaining Christian belief—even orthodoxy—albeit
defined differently. Some emergent Christians describe themselves as ―post-evangelical.‖ More
often they are considered to be, in some fashion or another, connected to (or at least sympathetic

22

to) the Evangelical Left, an expression of evangelical Christianity which (while retaining
theological positions commonly understood as ―evangelical‖) parts ways with conservatives on
various socio-political and cultural matters, depending on the individual or group.

23

Chapter 2
Jesus People USA: A History

Introduction

During the late 1960s, there was a revival of conservative, evangelical Christianity
among youth in the U.S. While this included youth from a number of backgrounds and
traditions, hippie Christians entranced media to the point of making headlines with major
publications such as Time and Life. Commonly referred to as the Jesus Movement, the revival
challenged traditional Christian aesthetics while embracing a conservative understanding of the
Bible. Dubbed ―Jesus freaks,‖ hippie converts represented a group of Christians who displayed
similar qualities endemic to converts during the Great Awakenings. Historian Donald E. Miller
has considered the impact of the Jesus Movement, arguing that it had the makings of a second
Reformation: ―Many of the principles of the Reformation were reborn as ordinary people
1

discovered the priesthood of all believers, without ever reading Martin Luther.‖ Similarly,
Jesus freaks questioned the authority of the church and reinstated biblical authority, but retained
a countercultural aesthetic, often sporting the hippie image while using popular music for
Christian proselytizing.
The reverend Billy Graham made the Jesus Movement viable, offering a bridge for
2

countercultural youth to return to evangelical Christianity. For youth, evangelism
(proselytizing) surfaced in mediums such as publishing, film, television, festivals, and music,
and became a powerful force within American popular culture. This continued the historical
lineage of American evangelicalism, affirming what historians such as David Bebbington and

24

3

Nathan Hatch consider to be a complex, growing movement. But in the midst of the
theologically and socially conservative Jesus Movement, a parallel story developed.
Jesus People USA (JPUSA) is an inner-city commune of post-Jesus Movement ―Jesus
freaks‖ located in Uptown Chicago. In many ways, this community is emblematic of the original
Jesus Movement. In other ways, they diverge. Founded in 1972, JPUSA has continued to grow
and thrive due to ideological flexibility and a model of government based on what the commune
refers to as a "plurality of leadership." Their survival can also be attributed to various
commitment mechanisms that result in continued dedication from communards. Simply put,
JPUSA has continued since 1972 as a result of two factors: collective commitment and
individual agency. Moreover, commitment to higher purpose (grounded in models of social
justice) has allowed communards to adapt to a series of events that would have otherwise
dissolved the group. Collective commitment to purpose does not, however, undermine
individuality—communards are able to retain a sense of self within the context of collective
purpose. I also argue that for the community to survive beyond founding members, the mantle of
leadership must be passed along while preserving similar commitment mechanisms. Though
JPUSA has proven successful over the years, the commune‘s future will be determined by the
leadership‘s ability to maintain its current form of government, remain fiscally vibrant, and
retain members—particularly the second generation.
Inspired by the biblical Book of Acts, JPUSA communards have successfully created a
unique communal environment.

4

Housing an average of four hundred members, including old

hippies, young punk rockers, and ―straights,‖ the group embraces a modest form of socialism—
all earnings generated by JPUSA businesses are relinquished and placed in a common purse.
The total population of the commune can be broken down into three categories: individual
25

members attached to ―nuclear families;‖ young, single, transient persons; and individuals living
in the commune‘s low-income senior housing. Historian Timothy Miller refers to JPUSA as
―one of the largest single-site communes in the United States.‖

5

All individual residents of the community are considered part of an extended family,
functioning within a larger structure that operates several ministries and businesses throughout
Chicago and abroad. The most visible include Lake Front Roofing Supply, Cornerstone
Community Outreach (a homeless shelter), Tone Zone (a recording studio), Grrr records (a
record label), and an internationally-known music festival—an event reminiscent of Woodstock.
The Cornerstone Festival is held on the community-owned six hundred acre Cornerstone Farm
outside of the rural Bushnell, Illinois. The fact that such as large post-Jesus Movement
commune is still around necessitates an analysis of the community and a brief foray into the
historical context from which it arose.
Although Jesus Movement communes such as JPUSA were founded on the basis of
evangelical Christianity, this particular group remains conflicted over their religious identity.
While moderately evangelical, the community does not identify with the Religious Right, nor
does it fully identify with liberalism. Their political affiliation places them outside of what has
largely defined mainline evangelicalism since the late 1970s. And yet, the group not only
continues as a ―Jesus freak‖ intentional community—it continues with the approval of its parent
denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) and various evangelical publications
such as Christianity Today.
JPUSA has enjoyed success in the wider culture due to the Cornerstone Festival,
Cornerstone magazine (a publication that gained notoriety as a cutting-edge evangelical
publication), and social outreach. However, as second-generation communards have reached

26

adulthood, attended college, married, and had children of their own, the possibility for communal
longevity remains uncertain, given instabilities associated with increased disenchantment among
would-be future leadership. How long, therefore, will this community last beyond its founding
generation? Moreover, do American evangelicals influence JPUSA‘s ability to navigate both
communal and societal pressures that affect their potential for sustainability?
This is not a work of sociology (I am not a sociologist), nor is it a work of anthropology.
Rather, this is a socio-cultural history that seeks to understand this community‘s sustainability,
its potential for longevity, and its relationship to evangelical Christianity using personal
testimonies, historical data, and the work of sociologist Rosabeth Moss Kanter as a theoretical
anchor. In her classic Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in Sociological
Perspective, Kanter has argued that two types of communes exist. ―Retreat‖ communes isolate
themselves from society while ―service‖ communes exist for the sole purpose of engaging
society to bring about some sort of greater good. While both types embrace a larger purpose,
service-based groups work to create sustainable organizations able to meet the needs of persons
unaffiliated with communal groups. Kanter argues that for a service commune to remain vibrant,
various ―commitment mechanisms‖ must be established. These mechanisms are
specific ways of ordering and defining the existence of a group. Every aspect of group life
has implications for commitment, including property, work, boundaries, recruitment,
intimate relationships, group contact, leadership, and ideology. These pieces of social
organization can be arranged so as to promote collective unity, provide a sense of belonging
and meaning, or they can have no value for commitment….Abstract ideals of brotherhood
and harmony, of love and union, must be translated into concrete social practices [emphasis
6
added].

Commitment mechanisms function to create a symbiotic relationship between the individual and
the community, strengthening a collective ethos that inspires both the individual and the
community to realize (concretely) a larger purpose. It comes as no surprise that communes in
27

the U.S. have often been met with skepticism due to communitarian dalliance with socialism or
millenarianism. And it comes as no surprise that communes in the U.S. have often been
associated with rogue, wild-eyed leaders who would lead their followers to early graves.

Communalism
Historian Doug Rossinow‘s work highlights the existential crisis of meaning that inspired
many countercultural activists during the 1960s, arguing that some young existentialists
―concluded that the way out of anxiety was through disruptive, challenging political activism.‖
Countering the merely cerebral, various youth sought practical answers in hopes of yielding
concrete results. For Rossinow, ―The sense of anxiety and the need to comfort it, the preference
for the concrete over the abstract, the importance of decision and personal responsibility, the
attractiveness of situational ethics, the desire for a sense of vital life, and, above all, the search
for a life of authenticity in touch with the ‗really real,‘‖ peppered American campuses and rallied
7

youth to action. In some cases, intentional communities (or, we shall simply say communes)
provided solace for those who sought escape from a meaningless, materialistic world. In other
cases they provided a template for a form of social activism that, for them, only existed in the
minds of the Old Left or in the rhetoric of Christian preachers whose doctrine often trumped the
needs of the poor. Communes provided a quick fix for those whose earnest desire for change
was never fully met.

8

Communitiarianism has been widely practiced in American culture (particularly during
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries) and continues to fascinate sociologists, historians of
American religious history, and the American Studies community. Collectivist experiments built
on seeking the divine tend to reveal something about the American quest for purpose within the
context of a shared experience, despite rugged individualism. Studies on American
28

communalism often highlight struggles associated with collectivist experiments—tensions
common to organizational structures which combine democracy, individualism, and community.
There appears to be something about the very idea of community (or a communal ethos)
that attracts adherents. The concept of community often refers to local expressions of citizens
who gather, share particular occasions (church, dinners, celebrations), and reaffirm social myths
and values. At times, however, some are attracted to living in an intentional community,
agreeing to share resources and live modestly in service to some higher purpose. This sort of
group (whether referred to as a commune, collective, co-op, etc.) is defined as a ―relatively small
group of people who have created a whole way of life for the attainment of certain goals,‖
9

according to Barry Shenker‘s study on intentional communities. Sociologist Anson Shupe has
observed that humans seek a deeper experience in life, and often do so in community:
Monasteries, religious retreats, and communes are perceived by many as exotic or
antisocial. After all, they reject many of mainstream society‘s norms. Yet the existence
of such groups suggests that for some persons, a communal imperative exists. They have
a desire to reach beyond ―normal‖ society for something deeper and more spiritually
10
rewarding.
Despite any so-called ―communal imperative,‖ studies on communes demonstrate that
collectivist experiments often dissolve, though many have continued, remaining relatively
interstitial, marginal to the wider culture. These enjoy little socio-cultural relevance or simply
fail to offer any sort of ―lighthouse effect‖

11

for the larger culture. While communities such as

the Shakers and Oneida Perfectionists left their mark on American culture, they did not last, nor
did their presence affect the way the majority of Americans actually live.

12

Thus few

communities have enjoyed consistency, longevity, or significant social influence. While the
more notable examples such as the Mennonite and Amish (those which are communal) continue,
defining their groups against the dominant culture, they remain cozy leftovers of a bygone era,
29

are anachronistic, and are products of older expressions of Protestant Christianity. However,
these examples (while interesting when considering notions of Christian communalism) cannot
be appropriately analyzed for their longevity in the face of pluralism in contemporary U.S.
society.
Arguably, the more intriguing examples of twentieth-century communes have been those
founded on the basis of a countercultural ethic established during the 1960s. While these groups
were ubiquitous and often garnered media attention (if only for curious rubberneckers) most
were ephemeral. Although most countercultural communes were short-lived,
that the thousands of communes

14

13

it is indisputable

which developed during the ―era‖ of the Sixties (1960-1975)

became a bit of a maelstrom for cultural theorists—a ―watershed moment in American
communal history,‖ according to historian Timothy Miller.

15

But despite the demise of so many

communes, many have either survived or reorganized, attempting to recapture the zeitgeist of the
―the Sixties,‖ often functioning as ―arks‖ (retreating from a doomed society) or ―lighthouses‖
(exemplifying how society should live).

16

Offshoots of ―hippiedom,‖ Jesus Movement communes retained the hippie aesthetic and
adopted conservative evangelical theology. Miller has observed that ―so many of them erupted
that the Jesus movement communes may have been, in terms of shear numbers of communes and
of members, the largest identifiable communal type during the 1960s era.‖

17

Few remained

successful.
While it is difficult to pinpoint the reasons so many communes failed, recognizing the
initial draw of communal living might provide insight into the reasons for failure. But success is
―self-defining,‖ argues sociologist Barry Shenker. While some communes completed their
purpose, disbanded, then self-defined their experiment as ―successful,‖ others attempted to meet
30

long-term goals.

18

Regardless of the criteria used to determine communal success, the

overarching goal remained the same—communes during the 1960s represented a core human
desire for community, engagement, and dependence.

19

In the beginning, various Jesus freak communes were sponsored by local denominations
such as Calvary Chapel of Orange County, California. Others spawned larger networks, the
largest and most notable being the now defunct Shiloh Youth Revival Centers.

20

As these urban

service-based communes developed, they were often met with challenges such as zoning laws
pertaining to multiple-occupancy-status. However, some found favor with the authorities as they
were granted the status of ―legal family.‖

21

As one of the largest and most significant communal groups to emerge out of the hippie
movement, throughout the 1970s Shiloh was ―a remarkable example of the manner in which the
Jesus People movement had grown and prospered,‖ writes historian Larry Eskridge, becoming
―one of the largest communal groups to emerge out of the hippie counterculture, much less the
Jesus movement.‖ By 1977, the group had over one thousand adult members in their
headquarters near Eugene, Oregon, managing a network of nearly fifty communal houses across
the U.S. Along with multiple properties (to include farms and apartment buildings), Shiloh
sponsored travelling ministry teams, published a monthly journal, operated a credit union and
medical clinic, and owned a two-engine airplane. ―Shiloh had a net worth of probably more than
$2 million dollars,‖ writes Eskridge, ―and was running an annual budget of more than $3 million
dollars.‖

22

Despite its ubiquity and apparent force within the Jesus Movement, Shiloh did not last
beyond the 1980s. In the midst of high turnover in membership, the community ―remained
viable by changing its programmatic emphases in response to altered circumstances,‖ notes
31

sociologist Marion S. Goldman. However, board members became increasingly disappointed
with how founder and leader John Higgins handled business. By 1989, the group officially
disincorporated.

23

Kanter has provided a model from which other historians of communitarianism have
gleaned knowledge. She offers a clear thesis of how and why communes succeed and fail. As a
service commune, JPUSA is a case-study that supports Kanter‘s thesis of sustainability. Along
with the numerous businesses and ministries operated by JPUSA, the series of events which led
to their current residence have contributed to reinforcing high levels of commitment from
individual communards. The community balances an inward focus (bolstering individual
identities) and an outward focus (providing rescue services to persons in their neighborhood). In
keeping with their vision of activism, communal structure is such that the symbiotic relationships
between individual communards, the commune, and the neighborhood of Uptown strengthen
communal solidarity. JPUSA‘s genesis set the stage for their raison d'être.

The Birth of Jesus People USA: Brady Street Hippies
Just as the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California, is commonly associated
with hippies, Brady Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is considered ground zero for one of the
most significant Jesus freak communes of the Jesus Movement. JPUSA formed out of a larger
group located in Milwaukee, headed by Jesus Movement evangelist Jim Palosaari. Along with
wife Sue Cowper, Palosaari assisted Linda Meissner to form the Jesus People Army (JPA) in
Seattle, Washington.

24

Meissner later joined forces with the controversial Children of God,

leaving Palosaari to form a counterpart to JPA. Jesus People Milwaukee (later renamed Christ is
the Answer, under the direction of evangelist Bill Lowrey) formed in 1971 after a ―Jesus march‖
32

in the city, culminating in the founding of The Jesus Christ Power House, a coffee house in the
countercultural neighborhood of Brady Street. John Herrin Sr., formerly affiliated with the
Advent Christian Church, Assemblies of God, and the Methodist church, and Dawn Herrin (now
Dawn Mortimer) were profoundly attracted to Jesus People Milwaukee. Then on February 18,
1972, at the age of seventeen, John Herrin Sr.‘s son, John Herrin joined the Milwaukee group.
The Palosaari‘s then founded Jesus People Europe, which spawned the community‘s first band,
The Sheep.

25

Jesus People USA (JPUSA) began in 1972 as a traveling ―Jesus music‖ group. Jedidiah
Abdul Muhib Palosaari, son of Jim Palosaari, recalls that his dad wanted to ―spread the wealth
and John Herrin [Sr.] wanted to leave with a group of people and start his own thing with
JePUSA [sic].‖ Jim Palosaari ―decided to just go ahead and bless that, and send them out.‖

26

(From here on, when referring to John Herrin Sr. I will include the suffix. His son will be
referred to as John Herrin or simply Herrin—the son has never used the suffix.)
The Jesus People U.S.A. Traveling Team began touring with approximately sixteen
members, travelling the United States in a painted school bus with the word ―Jesus‖ painted on
the side, holding ―ad hoc revivals in small towns‖

27

referred to as ―Jesus rallies.‖

28

Glenn

Kaiser (who joined in 1971), Herrin, and the Jesus music band Charity (later the Resurrection
Band, then REZ), eventually developed its own identity and purpose.

29

The group ended up in

Gainesville, Florida, seeking to evangelize, using a combination of rock music and street
witnessing. Their first ―home‖ was merely the beginning of a series of temporary houses. The
first was ―located at 2032 NE Terrace,…a large, ramshackle house which had previously been
owned by the Vietnam Veterans against the War.‖ After this, the small group relocated to 216

33

SW Second Street, a house previously owned by the Hare Krishnas. Community member Jon
Trott has recorded the changes undertaken by the young group and perceptions held by outsiders:
With the house also came an old synagogue next door which served us as a coffeehouse; in
addition, we briefly ran the one-night-a-week "Harvest House" coffeehouse located in the
basement of Rawlings Hall dormitory on the University of Florida campus. Meanwhile, the
30
church folks had a hard time relating to us Northern hippies.
The band picked up various followers (between twenty and twenty-five)

31

who felt

―transformed‖ by what they heard and experienced. The music group continued touring and,
after extensive travel, was forced to consider the future. Longtime member Tom Cameron
recalls events that inspired the community‘s decision to relocate: ―They [the band] never
expected to be gone as long as they were gone, so they lost their lease on the place…so the first
six months I was with them we lived in the big red Jesus bus driving around the upper-peninsula
32

of Michigan doing concerts.‖

John Herrin‘s account of the journey provides an account of

travelers whose purpose shifted:
So we ended up kind of retracing some of our steps of where we had been earlier in the
year and doing some concerts. And then when we got up to Duluth, MN. We kept
getting more and more invites to come across the upper peninsula of Michigan. So we
spent that whole winter [of 1972] just going from little town to town across Michigan and
it was a great time. I mean you know everybody just had a little simple bedroll. Matter
fact we‘d left…pretty much everything we owned (which wasn‘t much)…in Florida,
cause we thought we were going to be back in about three weeks. But we ended up
staying up here and went from town to town, and I remember like a little town called…its
33
name is Ontonagon.
Herrin recalls rumors that the West Coast Jesus Movement was making its way to the Midwest,
creating unsettling feeling about ―Jesus freaks‖ within various small towns. Suspicion of
incredulity notwithstanding, the music group was well received in Ontonagon. Herrin notes how
their group of Jesus freaks must have, at the time, appeared to be a ―pretty raggedy looking
bunch‖ to rural, middle-American towns. However, the young JPUSA found kindred spirits in

34

each town and enjoyed favor with people up north, according to Dawn Mortimer (formerly
Dawn Herrin).

34

In February of 1973, JPUSA was ―once again in the middle of revival in Michigan. As
the weeks rolled by, the towns of Ontonagon, Houghton-Hancock, L'Anse, Baraga, Ironwood,
and Marquette experienced the Jesus movement's full power.‖

35

A local newspaper in the

Houghton-Hancock area of Michigan wrote an impressionistic entry, descriptive in the sense of
small-town exposure to something already occurring on a national scale: ―A large bus and
several cars with Jesus painted on the side roll into the Houghton-Hancock area. Thirty-six
freaky-looking kids spill out onto the streets. The girls with ankle-length dresses and long-haired
boys fortified with armloads of papers scatter and start rapping with the closest passerby....‖

36

Figure 1: Commune members performing in froth of the “Jesus bus.” (c) 2010 Cornerstone
Press/Jesus People USA Evangelical Covenant Church; All rights reserved.
For interpretation of the references to color in this and all other figures, the reader is
referred to the electronic version of this dissertation.

35

The article goes on to identify the young JPUSA as ―people from all backgrounds‖ including
college students, high-school drop-outs, and ―‘heavies‘ who have smoked, and dropped shot their
way out of reality.‖ The common denominator, the article reported, was the transformative
aspect of conversion to Jesus. The account also demonstrates how JPUSA diverged early on
from other communes that were often isolationist. The article‘s account, however, offers a
description which captures the zeitgeist of the larger Jesus Movement:
Each morning the group assembles to pray and study the word of God. Classes include
studies in Romans, Apologetics, Old Testament Survey, Life of Paul, the Study of Cults,
Christian Leadership and various leading Christian teachers. The afternoons are spent on
the streets witnessing person to person. In the evenings, the group gathers for rallies
which feature the "Resurrection" Jesus Rock Band... Their purpose is to help build up the
Christian community here. The Jesus People U.S.A. have worked with all kinds of
churches, schools, and many different Christian organizations. They are available for
programs in churches, youth groups, ladies circles, classes, and prayer groups. Jesus
People U.S.A. is a ministry totally supported by the faithful giving of people concerned
37
about the "drop out" generation.
Herrin has particularly fond memories of their time spent in Ontonagon:
And I remember we went out that afternoon passing out flyers—of course this is the dead
of winter—you know at least probably late February or something in the upperpeninsula—so cold and snowy in this little town. We‘re passing out flyers to the kids
after school and then that night we held our first rally there and I remember thinking ―you
know, I don‘t know if anybody‘s going to come to this dinky town.‖ And here we are in
the middle of nowhere and its freezing cold outside….There [were] probably about eight
hundred people showing up that night at that gymnasium. And this is a town of a
38
thousand! I‘m thinking ―holy cow where did all these people come from?‖
These experiences were formative on a different level as the band considered increasing
their own power of the countercultural vernacular. Between the late 1960s and early 1970s,
Jesus Movement music groups were either folk-based (often simply dubbed ―Jesus music‖) or
mirrored the mainstream pop music of the burgeoning (though infant) Christian music scene.
Quite distinct from the young Jesus music scene early members of JPUSA were influenced by
the rock music stylings of Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and Led Zeppelin. The following paragraph
36

provides a significant historical record of the formation of what would amount to the first official
Christian hard rock band.
We had kind of switched the band from being a little more of a folk rock kind of a
sound—almost a Crosby Stills and Nash kind of an early sound—to where Glenn‘s heart
always was [Glenn is a member of JPUSA‘s REZ Band]…a full blown rock and roll band
for the Lord. And we really switched it over and I started playing drums in the band that
fall of ‘72, and we…traded in all the acoustic instruments for electric ones and just went
for it. So we ended up travelling all through that winter and early spring, and we ended
39
up in Chicago on a break.
John Herrin‘s account of the group‘s transition from folk rock to hard rock is reminiscent of Bob
Dylan‘s shift to electric. Although early Resurrection Band history is not marked by the same
controversy as with Dylan, the shift laid a foundation which would significantly impact how
popular evangelical music would be conceived.
The band‘s decision to adopt hard rock as a genre would later prove seminal in the
history of Christian rock as they went on in 1978 and 1979 to produce ―two blistering hard rock
albums that surpassed anything the Christian music culture had produced,‖ writes Mark Allan
Powell, author of the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music.

40

Furthermore, the

change in genre represented a stylistic orientation, later inspiring the creation of JPUSA‘s
Cornerstone Festival, an alternative to festivals considered to lack the edge of the counterculture
(discussed in chapter 6).
The group remained on the road for approximately one year, wondering about their endgoal. Early JPUSA faced a crossroad as they questioned whether they were simply on an
extended mission trip or divinely inspired to remain together as what they would later come to
understand as ―intentional community.‖ Touring to perform revival concerts eventually led the
small group to Chicago.

37

Settling in Chicago

In Chicago Politics Ward by Ward (Indiana University Press) David K. Fremon provides
a history pertinent to political battles and mythologies. Chicago‘s history as an industrial city
provides a trajectory of both the rise and fall of neighborhoods and persons. A bastion of
international culture, Chicago is known for gothic structures, the University of Chicago, highrise apartment slums, Victorian houses, ghettos fraught with gangs and drugs, homelessness, and
great factory systems.

41

Given its cultural climate and political history, it is little wonder that a

group of Jesus freaks chose to commune in the city of big shoulders.
For some founding members, the choice to settle in the city was unexpected. John Herrin
is a bearded, earthy sort with long hair. His demeanor is disarming, indicating his familiarity
with being interviewed (and his abilities as a leader). His gravelly voice only accentuates one
who has weathered storms, though unjaded. Herrin‘s persona is more like that of a ranch-hand
than one who has spent his life with a ground-breaking hard rock band based in a major U.S.
city. A lover of backpacking, his rough exterior is perhaps a byproduct of inner-city community
life as well as frequent visits to JPUSA‘s property in Bushnell, Illinois—Herrin likes to hunt on
the Cornerstone Farm. This veteran and founding member cherishes his life at JPUSA, noting
the simplicity of life lived without collared shirts or slacks, and a job that places him at the pulse
of the music industry as he directs one of Christian music‘s more noteworthy festivals. For
Herrin, JPUSA‘s journey has been both tumultuous and rewarding.
Although stopping in Chicago proved serendipitous, the group‘s original intention did not
include an urban setting. Herrin recalls thinking ―if we are going to find some place to put down
roots we [want] to live in the country where our kids [can] run around barefoot in the grass
42

and…do whatever young hippies do.‖

But the pastoral ideal of communalism did not come to
38

fruition for JPUSA, at least in the conventional sense. While they chose to live in Chicago, the
commune was able to secure land in a rural area. Around 1977 a reader of JPUSA‘s publication,
Cornerstone magazine, offered 230 acres of land near Doniphan, Missouri, to be operated as a
―retreat center and farm." Veteran member Jon Trott writes: "What old hippie, saved or not, had
never dreamed of having his own cabin snuggled in the woods? We accepted the offer and soon
reported in C-stone [Cornerstone magazine] that we'd begun constructing a massive log
lodge.‖

43

For years the community used the center for vacations and communal retreat

functions. In recent years, the caretaker of the land became ill. Moreover, in 1991 JPUSA
purchased land in Bushnell, Illinois, to host their annual Cornerstone Festival (discussed later).
The timing was right—JPUSA sold the retreat center circa 2005.
While they have had ample opportunity to enjoy country living (albeit intermittently),
JPUSA‘s home has, since the beginning, been oriented around offering outreach within an urban
environment. Originally part of their travels, Chicago was simply considered another event—but
the community needed a base from which to work and plan the future.

44

Originally, JPUSA

planned a brief stay, but remained for about two weeks in an ―old converted‖ building which was
at one time a ―gambling house of some sort,‖ recalls Herrin. The council was approached by the
head of the Chicago Full Gospel Businessmen‘s Association who offered the group modest
living space in a local church on Chicago‘s north side (the basement of Faith Tabernacle). The
group compared life on the road (offering rock concerts and Bible studies to teenagers) with the
problems besetting the inner city. After talking with ―all kind of folks with a lot of different
problems,‖ members of the travelling team considered divine guidance: ―Maybe God wanted us
to stay in Chicago, maybe that‘s why we came here….‖

39

45

JPUSA felt Chicago provided a supportive environment for what they sought to
accomplish. The city has a history of various social movements and, according to Herrin, some
city officials exhibited a ―Catholic understanding‖ of intentional community, social justice, and
offered a supportive environment for JPUSA‘s choice to live communally. But why would a
commune feel less supported in another city? The Jesus Movement had essentially been
endorsed by the Reverend Billy Graham and the idea of Christian communalism was hardly
groundbreaking. But the idea of a Jesus-freak commune still appeared anathema to many in the
mainstream. In light of this, Chicago appeared welcoming. JPUSA‘s Cornerstone magazine
captured public sentiment:
To the public mind a commune is either a group of drug subculture freaks, or radicals
who have copped out on reality, living in cloistered protection. Most people rarely think
of the possibility of a community living by Christian standards.... [They] are probably
repelled at the idea of having to share their lives with so many other people. However, we
46
have found it highly rewarding as well as demanding.
Despite perceptions, JPUSA adopted a communal model and continued an identity in
keeping with Jesus People Milwaukee‘s original vision: a ―discipleship school, streetwitnessing, and rallies with the band.‖

47

Having been an elder with Jim Palosaari‘s Jesus People

Milwaukee, John Herrin Sr. (originally referred to as ―Papa John‖) assumed the leadership role
of Jesus People USA from the beginning. Herrin Sr.‘s ―Papa John‖ designation hinted at the
authoritarianism often associated with communal life. Although Herrin Sr. was considered the
primary elder, JPUSA maintained the council model previously established in Milwaukee,
including deacons and deaconesses: Dawn Herrin (now Mortimer), Richard Murphy, Glenn
Kaiser, Karen Fitzgerald, Mark Schornstein, Janet Wheeler, and Denny Cadieux. However, it
was clear the bulk of responsibility fell on one man—the death-knell of many communes.

40

Finding himself attracted to another communard‘s wife, Herrin Sr. fell into disrepute with
the community after refusing to repent. Encouraged to seek help, Herrin Sr. was asked to leave
the community on March 18, 1974. This led to a change in the community‘s leadership
structure. The council had been active under Herrin, Sr. However, after the elder‘s departure,
the council carried a new sense of power as the idea of a plurality of leadership emerged, later
proving pivotal in JPUSA‘s success as a community. JPUSA decided they would never operate
under a singular leader again. Richard Murphy and Glenn Kaiser became the new leaders and
the council carried a renewed sense of authority.

48

Finding a tenable organizational structure proved challenging as JPUSA entered a new
chapter in their history. Along with Glenn Kaiser and Richard Murphy, the council would later
grow to include John Herrin, Denny Cadieux, Victor Williams, Tom Cameron, Neil Taylor, and
Dawn (Herrin) Mortimer. Jon Trott, former writer and contributor for JPUSA‘s now defunct
Cornerstone magazine, has considered the difficulties faced by the group during the early years:
The older members of the community searched the Scriptures for answers to what had taken
place. It wasn't as though there were plenty of people to ask. Christian community among
evangelicals is almost unheard of, and was even more so in the mid-seventies. The Book of
Acts, which had provided a sort of blueprint for living in community for the Jesus People,
49
painted plurality of leadership as a norm.‖
Glenn Kaiser and Richard Murphy relied on the Book of Acts and their own sense of collective
need. The community was, argues Kaiser, people who simply needed one-another to live the
Christian life effectively.
Although the fall of a singular leader often signals a community‘s downward spiral,
JPUSA regrouped, seeking to avoid the pitfalls of what they considered isolation and extremism.
Moreover, they began to experience ―sociological detritus,‖ notes Trott, as the community began

41

to evolve from a group of single hippies to married couples having children, becoming ―settlers
rather than pioneers‖ as they chose to live in houses rather than a bus.

50

Figure 2: JPUSA, circa late 70s down near Montrose Beach at Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL.
(c) 2010 Cornerstone Press/Jesus People USA Evangelical Covenant Church; All rights
reserved.

For a commune that developed during the Jesus Movement, the idea of settling down
was, in many ways, at odds with the millennial thrust held by many Jesus freaks. According to
research conducted on JPUSA between 1974 and 1975, the community exhibited a sense of
balance largely absent in the Jesus Movement. David Frederick Gordon argued that balance was
a major theme in JPUSA‘s theology and lifestyle: ―structure and spontaneity, submission and
love, criticism and praise, teaching and worship, and recreation and work.‖

42

51

Gordon‘s findings

note the oft-held belief that early Jesus People (the larger movement) were often ―presented as
proof-texters who quote Bible passages out of context, accept every word of scripture as literal
truth, and generally have a simple-minded approach to the Bible.‖ Challenging this, Gordon
found that those in the JPUSA community actually recognized that ―the Bible is ambiguous and
requires interpretation, that context is crucial to understanding passages, that the Bible does not
contain all answers (although it does contain all necessary answers), and that careful study of the
Bible and commentaries is necessary for full understanding….‖

52

Even in its early stages JPUSA demonstrated a measure of flexibility crucial to their
survival, particularly in the milieu of innumerable failed communal experiments. Having chosen
Chicago as home, JPUSA had to identify lodging suited to their long-term goals. Faith
Tabernacle‘s basement served immediate needs, allowing them to grow as the search for a
permanent home began.

The Search for Home
After their inception on Brady Street, JPUSA engaged a world already experiencing a
groundswell of countercultural ethics and ―spiritualism.‖ For this young community any sense
of ―home‖ was associated with temporary scenarios structured around countercultural
evangelism—life on the road in a ―Jesus bus‖ and a lengthy stay in the basement of a church.
After growing out of Faith Tabernacle, JPUSA landed in a house on Paulina Street in the
Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago. The quarters were cramped. Lacking space, the
community had to rent a number of storefront offices to run their burgeoning businesses.

43

53

Figure 3: A community gathering in the basement of the house on Paulina Street. (c) 2010
Cornerstone Press/Jesus People USA Evangelical Covenant Church; All rights reserved.

By 1977, the growing community needed more space and purchased a two-story house
across the street—a new dwelling quaintly dubbed ―the Yellow House.‖ While these living
conditions did not appear optimal they were, after all, part of a shared experience encountered by
other Jesus communes and houses. That is, although living conditions might have appeared
anathema to even the American petite bourgeoisie, those who entered this world did so freely,
viewing it as their only hope.

54

Life was not lived in a bubble. JPUSA‘s impact was felt in

other neighborhoods, creating an awareness of other like-minded communities.
The leadership had been developing a relationship with another intentional community on
Chicago‘s south side. New Life was an African-American-based community that saw in JPUSA
a vision similar to their own. Cognizant that the Jesus Movement was largely white, JPUSA

44

longed for an interracial community, though careful not to co-opt an existing body. In 1978 New
Life elder Ron Brown, his community, and the leaders of JPUSA decided to merge.

55

Even in the early years, JPUSA‘s modus operandi was one which included flexibility and
adaptability. In his research on JPUSA (1978), sociologist David Gordon advanced an argument
that the community‘s ability to value both the individual and the communal contributed to
balance:
One reason that this particular Christian identity is so compelling is that it simultaneously
locates the individual at each of these various levels [a hierarchy involving God, Jesus,
and various Christian expressions]. Each identity focus gains reinforcement and
legitimation from the others. The search for personal identity becomes intertwined with
56
God's will and with the fate of the world.
As will become evident later in this work, communities succeed when there is a higher purpose
that inspires and motivates communards. But having a purpose is not enough, as Kanter has
demonstrated.
The successful commune must maintain structures (Kanter calls them ―mechanisms‖) that
collapse both higher purpose and personal identity into one holistic being. That is, when the
goals of the community and the ―reinforcement and legitimization‖ of the individual become
synonymous, both communard and community become indelibly linked, thus driving
commitment to the extent that leaving the community seems unthinkable. Gordon‘s observation
is revealing. Although JPUSA has evolved over the years, his findings suggest an early
commitment to affirmation of individuals within a communitarian context.

57

In this case,

individuals were affirmed in their own unique expressions (such as unconventional aesthetics)
and were provided a grand mission with which they indentified and to which they committed.

45

It became evident that Uptown would become JPUSA‘s mission field. Considering the
diversity of the neighborhood, JPUSA‘s Cornerstone magazine offered a depiction of the area,
highlighting Uptown‘s historic multicultural milieu:
Uptown truly is unique. It is the home of the most complex culture of people anywhere.
Carlos Plazas, Ph.D., Executive Director of Edgewater Mental Health Center, states, "For
many years Uptown has been considered a kind of port of entry for people who are
coming from different areas of the country and even different countries of the
world….For example, at this moment there is a 40% white population, 30% Latin
American, 20% from different countries in Asia, about 18% are blacks, and 8% native
58
American people."
Based on David Fremon‘s analysis, Chicago is ―the most segregated major city in the
nation.‖ There are ―two Chicagos—one black, one white.‖

59

And yet, those from disparate

backgrounds live within walking distance. Overall, the wards appear to be largely organized
around community need, business, class, race, and ethnicity. Considering the demographics of
Uptown, Fremon writes: ―The rich and the poor live here, and it is uncertain which group will
dominate the area over the next decade.‖ Gentrification has been ―given a boost.‖ Charges have
been made that ―historic district status was being used as a tool to force low-income people out
th

of the area.‖ It is no surprise that ―poor people abound in uptown.‖ The 46 Ward has been ―a
port of entry and home for transients ever since the first apartment hotels appeared in the
60

1920s.‖

th

Thus, given the cultural and political climate of the 46 Ward, it is little wonder that

JPUSA‘s fledgling REZ Band considered the needs of Uptown when seeking a permanent home
base.
By 1979 the community relocated again to 4707 North Malden, a move that marked a
new chapter in their epoch. The local paper, Uptown News, commented on JPUSA‘s purchase:
A Christian missionary group has purchased the Chapman hotel, a former halfway house
at 4707-4711 N. Malden, and says it plans to help Uptown's poor and needy. The
46

religious order, which calls itself Jesus People, U.S.A., bought the hotel complex at an
undisclosed price [it was approximately $300,000] from the owners of the Traemour and
Stratford nursing homes--two institutions which have been in and out of hot water with
state officials because of building code and health code violations. The Chapman also
61
has a history of housing code violations.
As the 1980s unfolded, JPUSA discovered new, increasing needs in Uptown. The poor
had already been a concern. However, the sense of urgency increased as the homeless
population in Uptown reached critical levels. Writes Jon Trott:
As "Reaganomics" took hold in the early 1980s, homelessness suddenly became one of
Uptown's most noticeable features. Entire families had nowhere to go. The total number
of those we provided dinner for grew (to between two hundred and three hundred a day),
and the complexion of those eating with us changed as well, from predominantly single
men to entire families. The vast government cuts in housing programs also created a
tremendous demand for temporary shelter of any kind. It was obvious that housing had
become Uptown's most pressing problem, and we were compelled toward finding
62
solutions.
The 1980s proved difficult for JPUSA, as will become evident later in this work.
President Reagan‘s policies were ―immediately visible on the street here. Whole families were
homeless‖ due to the Reagan administration‘s ―chopping‖ of the welfare system, argues Trott.

63

The rising population of homeless persons and the dispossessed seeking aid made the search for
real estate ongoing. And yet, the politics of the day crystallized the community‘s purpose as they
undertook what amounted to swaths of social justice crusades via protest and critical journalism
in their publication, Cornerstone magazine. Their recognition of social inequity went beyond
ivory tower musings over class-struggle, resembling the practical activism of the New Left.
Along with considering (and often challenging) economic policies supported by fiscal
conservatism, in grassroots fashion the community became publicly vocal, resulting in a growing
influx of homeless families seeking refuge in JPUSA‘s lobby.

47

In 1980 the community moved yet again. As is the case with communes experiencing
growth and mission (particularly urban-based groups), appropriate real estate—space—is always
problematic. Much like the ―blessing and curse‖ scenario of churches no longer able to
efficiently accommodate their congregations, successful communes

64

must also reckon with

problems associated with growth: local expansion or the creation of satellite groups. JPUSA
chose the former.
Once again, JPUSA packed and moved, relocating from the house on Malden Street to
4626 N. Magnolia, only one block away. ―Though the building's front facade rose in beautiful
castle-like minarets,‖ writes Jon Trott, ―its rooms were studies in squalor, infested with both rats
and cockroaches.‖

65

The community made their new home livable within two weeks. But this

new home was dependent on the community‘s ability to negotiate with the socio-economic
culture emerging around them. In 1984, JPUSA delivered a ―mail-out‖ that referred to the rising
housing crisis, stating, ―A mother losing her welfare check needs us to watch her five kids for
three months, another mother having to move out of a bad living situation has to have a place for
her two children until she can move. We continue to feed 200<->250 people from the streets
each day; also many additional food baskets go out….The need for emergency housing seems to
be on the upswing with people coming nightly for a place to sleep. We will be helping with the
overnight shelter when it opens again this winter.‖ According to Jon Trott, by 1985 ―nearly
fifteen-thousand units of low-income housing vanished in Uptown.‖

66

The outcome of gentrification was felt by JPUSA as they attempted to clean up the mess
67

created by urban renewal initiatives.

The needs of low-income persons in Uptown began to

reach critical mass. Recognizing the dire situation, communards noted: ―Winter is nipping at our

48

heels; it may be discomforting for us now and then, but for others their very existence is at stake.
This is one of the reasons we, as a community and church, provide emergency housing.‖

68

By the end of 1985 a developer purchased a number of buildings with the hope of turning
Uptown into an ―upscale neighborhood,‖ providing a ―20 percent tax break‖ to the developer.
By 1986, housing occupied by ―nearly forty Laotian and Cambodian families‖

69

had been

marked for gentrification. Protests began, but with little affect, notes Jon Trott. He writes:
This was the first any of the families had heard about being evicted. Fearful but determined,
they told us about their plan to stage a march on the developer's offices. On August 16,
1986, we stood at the end of Malden and watched as a determined band of refugees holding
signs came toward us. We added 150 JPUSAs to their number, armed with our own signs:
"Uptown NOT Yuptown," said one. Seeing us, one of the march leaders burst into tears.
"Many of us were afraid to come. The police in our country…" He didn't need to say
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more.
The march did little but yield a gesture of recompense—one thousand dollars relocation
money offered by the developer in an attempt to sell a cleaner political image. The Chicago SunTimes highlighted what was felt by the displaced, quoting a member of Uptown's Lao
Association: "We have started rebuilding our lives here….Sometimes I start feeling: What is the
promise of America if hard work doesn't mean anything, if someone with more money can come
and push you out."

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Rent was doubled and poorer residents were forced out.

As the problem escalated, JPUSA joined forces with various religious and social service
organizations to form the Uptown Task Force on Displacement and Housing Development.

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The community began discussions with former SDSer (Students for a Democratic Society) and
Black Panther supporter Helen Shiller, choosing to align (as a community) with her campaign for
Alderwoman—a close race ending in Shiller‘s victory, which was attributed to JPUSA‘s
collective vote. David Freemon has noted that ―[i]n the end, it might have been an unusual
constituency which decided the election. Jesus People U.S.A., a religious group with many
49

members living in the ward, supported [Jerry] Orbach throughout his career. They suddenly
switched to Helen Shiller in the run-off. Orbach supporters charged that a city official had
offered the Jesus People's construction firm city contracts if Shiller was elected—a charge the
group denies.‖

73

JPUSA would later feel the effects of their decision to support Shiller as other
evangelicals voiced dissatisfaction over the community‘s socialist leanings, now made quite
public.

74

But despite evangelical dissention toward JPUSA, communards believed the socialist

position to be in line with Christian teachings, particularly when distinguishing between
candidates whose positions on class-struggle only reinforced what communities like JPUSA had
already suspected. Those on the evangelical Right often belied their affirmation of ―Protestant
uplift,‖ more fearful of would-be-Trotskyites than empathetic toward classes who lived on the
receiving end of unchecked corporate power. Orbach argued that ―every vacant building in his
ward either was renovated or scheduled for rehabilitation.‖ Shiller countered, arguing that
―Orbach was attempting to drive out low-income people and senior citizens,‖ and that his
funding came from ―large developers.‖

75

For members of JPUSA, this proved serendipitous.

The politics of gentrification forced JPUSA onto a path that inspired grassroots activism,
eventually leading to their current home and well-managed shelter for the homeless. But the
journey was far from over.
Two worlds came into conflict as the neighborhood‘s new, upscale residents found the
lines of dinner guests and homeless persons ―unsightly.‖ In 1987, JPUSA pastors sought new
solutions, locating a new site (a two-story 21,000 sq. ft. industrial building) that operated as a
meeting place for Sunday services and their hot meal program.

50

76

The beginning of 1988 marked

the occupation of a building at 939 Wilson, which housed the Crisis Pregnancy Center (which
included free screening and alternatives to abortion) and the offices for Cornerstone magazine.

77

On October 8, 1988, JPUSA, the Chicago Union of the Homeless, and the Heart of
Uptown Coalition constructed a tent city, hoping to create a public stir and raise awareness over
the concerns of housing and gentrification. Complete with pup tents and houses constructed out
of wood scraps and cardboard, the make-shift town included outdoor grills and fire barrels. The
tent city became a social outcry as lean-tos sported messages, one amounting to a written
gesticulation against the virulence of city developers: ―We refuse to freeze to death quietly.‖

78

The last evening of the tent city brought with it the presidential debate between George
Bush and Michael Dukakis. Chris Ramsey, co-manager of JPUSA‘s homeless shelter, notes
community-perception as the debate was watched on a portable television in the make-shift
town: ―The sheer irony of sitting outside in October, temperature in the fourties [sic], watching
our Presidential candidates talk about what is important to them would have been laughable if it
wasn't such a serious matter." Jon Trott notes that ―[n]either candidate mentioned
homelessness.‖

79

Helen Shiller and Jon Trott were both arrested and the problems were not resolved,
despite news coverage provided by Channel 9 (WGN). As Ramsey began patrolling the
evenings, looking for homeless persons in need of rescue, JPUSA‘s 4707 N. Malden location
(the first-floor lobby) housed fifty to seventy men and, by summer of 1989, ninety women and
their children. As the house became overcrowded, their own faith and commitment was tested:
―How long would we love our neighbor when he smelled like urine and liquor, cursed at us, or
80

defecated on the floor?‖

Trott recalls that despite the difficulties, the homeless became real—

they had names, personhood. Now JPUSA simply needed more room.
51

In late 1989 an old hotel (formerly the Chelsea), located on 920 West Wilson Avenue,
was placed on the market. John Herrin recalls the events that led to JPUSA‘s acquisition of the
property, stating that the previous owner was the ―classic slumlord,‖ who operated a building
which violated city codes. Unwilling to deal with the city‘s expectations, the former owner left,
creating a situation where the building had no official owner on record, resulting in bankruptcy.
A violation of safety protocols, the old hotel was occupied by a large number of low-income
senior citizens; the city stepped in, drawing media attention to what amounted to gross
negligence on the part previous owners. According to Herrin, JPUSA approached the city in an
effort to place a bid on the property. Given the multiple liens, city officials decided on a public
auction, seeking to award the building to the highest bidder. JPUSA feared what could have
been potentially competitive. Herrin expected local developers to enter the picture. And they
did.

81

We got approached twice by a big named developer in the area [asking us] to go away. I
got a call one day and a guy wanted to know if he could meet with us. And…I didn‘t
know who he was. And I said ―well sure, come on over.‖ And we met and he basically
made an offer saying ―…we know that you guys are interested in this building too, and
all your going to do is drive the price up, and you‘re going to hurt us all. But there‘s no
way you‘re going to buy it, because we have deep, deep pockets.‖ So he basically
wanted to know how much money it would take for us to go away. He was trying to buy
us off and we were like, ―whoa dude, whoa hey, you‘ve got to leave….We were here
praying, ―Maybe God will provide this building for us.‖ And I don‘t think what you‘re
82
doing is legal and I think you need to go. So, please don‘t call.‖
After being confronted by the developer on more than one occasion, Herrin believed
JPUSA was in a battle with big money. Although thought to be a lost cause, the community
decided to appear in court. Herrin recalls the moment vividly: ―There were people standing all
the way around the edges. I thought, ‗Oh brother, there‘s like two hundred people here to bid on
this building. We‘re sunk, you know, we‘re sunk.‘ But of course, there had been so much media
attention….‖ A $100,000 cashier‘s check was required to register as a bidder, which JPUSA
52

had. An attorney (who represented a buyer) requested that the judge postpone the proceeding for
thirty days. The judge denied the request, opening the bid at $250,000, which was cheaper than
what JPUSA had originally offered. JPUSA accepted the offer, no one raised the amount, and
920 West Wilson Avenue became the community‘s new home. They moved in 1990.

83

Now settled and able to bring what would be titled ―Friendly Towers‖ up-to-code,
JPUSA could realize its larger goals as a community. The question of JPUSA‘s success is
partially linked to location, one which is the product of a lengthy journey in the quasi-romantic
sense of pilgrimage. It is easy to see how communards (at least the founders) are profoundly
connected to a home they discovered after years of struggle—a promised land, as it were. Both
the new building and the inner city provide JPUSA with a sense of purpose. But JPUSA‘s
struggle is not unique. The Midwest has a history of revivalism and social reform, making
JPUSA part of a larger story.

Conclusion
Although JPUSA was essentially founded by the Herrin family, the council structure is
one which now allows shared leadership. Moreover, the mantle of leadership is handed down.
And although JPUSA‘s primary critic, sociologist Ronald Enroth, has intimated at a sort of
family business controlled by the founders, I find JPUSA to be a collective in the sense of shared
responsibility. This is not to suggest that veterans do not enjoy benefits. Egalitarian in its
attempts, remnants of class creep in, as with any group. Newcomers must prove they are serious
about committing to the community before enjoying special privileges, while veteran members
(those who have weathered JPUSA‘s epoch) take vacations to visit family or hunt wild game on
the Cornerstone Farm. However, there is no difference between the living quarters of new

53

members and veterans. For the most part, each is small and modest, though filled with more than
is typically found in a convent or monastery.
Why does a community birthed during the Jesus Movement continue to succeed while
seeking to maintain the ethos of the original movement? Has JPUSA‘s genesis and journey
provided clues to their strength? Does their location contribute to member retention? Given
what has transpired in Chicago‘s Uptown over the years, a space has been created—one which
welcomes a community attempting to make a difference. The community was created by
members dedicated to locating a final home, and in so doing, sought and found a sense of
purpose in Chicago‘s inner city.
The reasons for JPUSA‘s choice to live in Chicago and perceptions of communal life
within the context of Uptown are varied. For Herrin and Trott, Chicago‘s Catholicism and its
openness to religious groups (even communally-based) provided comfort and resources—and
they believe it was divine guidance. For Glenn Kaiser, the strength of JPUSA is the result of
historical context and an ability to coexist with ―disparate subcultures;‖ all pray, worship,
question, eat, and live together in a tight-knit group. Their community is based on ―the old
country church model,‖ argues Kaiser. His depiction of daily life in the commune suggests that
some are drawn to the authenticity of community often lacking in postindustrial society. He
argues that JPUSA works because it is built around individuals who care about one-another,
enjoy cooking together, mourn when someone dies, and rejoice when a baby is born. Kaiser
likens relational dedication to a small town ―barn-raising.‖

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JPUSA has been able to remain an active force of neighborhood rescue in Chicago‘s
inner city while maintaining influence on spectators and musicians at their festival (discussed
later). While categorizing the community remains challenging it is, in my estimation, possible to

54

locate their core impulse—one best exemplified in the Evangelical Left, a socially liberal branch
of evangelical Christianity. The following quote best captures the connection JPUSA has to the
―spirit‖ of social movements such as the New Left. Social theorist Howard Zinn has suggested
that the New Left tried ―to create constellations of power outside the state, to pressure it into
humane actions, to resist its inhumane actions, and to replace it in many functions by voluntary
small groups seeking to maintain both individuality and co-operation.‖

85

An enclave of

resistance to establishment economic positions on capitalism, JPUSA‘s alignment with Jesus
Movement Christianity nuances how evangelicals are commonly understood. The community is
dedicated to avoiding the status quo of the evangelical subculture, challenges corporate greed,
and interpositions where government leaders and programs prove incapable or unwilling to
provide assistance to ―the least of these.‖

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The group equally affirms the individuality of

communards and absorbs unique qualities brought by newcomers. This is accomplished by
assimilating new cultural and ideological trends, allowing the commune to remain socially and
culturally relevant. But how does the community‘s desire to serve as a counter-narrative to
mainstream, establishment evangelicalism actually work?
While JPUSA considers itself to be socialist, they only remain self-sustaining due to an
agreement with industry—a connection to the capitalistic model. Put simply, JPUSA businesses
thrive as a result of the free-market. The primary difference is in the allocation of wealth within
the commune; all assets earned by individuals are relinquished to the community. As will
become clear, the various businesses and ministries of this community fulfill a yearning that
began in the hearts of those converted in Gainesville, Florida, at Resurrection Band concerts.
Over the years, the group has grown in number and ambition, allowing for its social mission to

55

transcend mere rock concerts or street evangelism. Thus, a kind of überdedication defines the
community‘s core impulse. But how can it continue?
Kanter‘s theory of commitment mechanisms aids us in determining what accounts for
communal success. The two primary types of communes (retreat/isolationist and service-based)
provide a means by which we can assess the efficiency of communal experiments. The latter
version enjoys greater longevity due to increased levels of individual dedication and communal
relationships to mainstream culture. Many communes birthed during the Jesus Movement have
folded. The communes still in existence operate differently, franchising into smaller house
cooperatives—a model which JPUSA does not seek. Kanter‘s thesis of sustainability offers
cogent reasons for JPUSA‘s current success, possibilities for longevity, and dangers which might
befall the community. The next chapter explores life within JPUSA‘s commune. I consider how
the community is structured, how it might be categorized by other evangelicals, and how
JPUSA‘s form of socialism appears to work.

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Chapter 3
Observing Community Life: A Continued Enclave of Resistance/Assistance?

Introduction
When one considers the hippie commune, images of rural farms spring to mind. In the
case of JPUSA, urban collectivism is a more accurate description. While older members of
JPUSA—many of them veterans of the Jesus Movement—continue to provide leadership, the
commune‘s urban location contributes to the retention of members and serves to attract new
members eager to find a sense of purpose. In this case, a sense of purpose can be found in
th

measures concerning outreach to homeless persons in the neighborhood of the 46 Ward. As a
result, JPUSA‘s location contributes to communal sustainability.
th

Chicago‘s 46 Ward is what David K. Fremon describes as an area which invokes
images of ―derelicts, flophouses, vacant lots, storefront day-labor agencies, resale shops, and
1

taverns, with a social worker on every corner.‖ This hardly squares with the staid, romantic
2

sentiments of communes often associated with Walden Two. The ten-story Friendly Towers is
located at 920 West Wilson Avenue, a neighborhood which has improved over the years, though
still considered dangerous.
In this chapter, we explore daily life in JPUSA and consider reasons communards have
been attracted to communal life, the importance of JPUSA businesses, and strengths and
weaknesses of the community‘s governmental structure. We will also consider communal life as
perceived by the founders, second-generation members, and former members, allowing
individuals to tell their stories, each providing both historical and impressionistic (at times

57

anecdotal) accounts of community life. We end by returning to the question of sustainability and
longevity, thus exploring possible reasons for this group‘s survival since 1972.

First Impressions
The front of Friendly Towers is relatively unassuming when one considers that this is the
location of one of the more significant vestiges of the Jesus Movement, and is home to the first
known Christian hard rock band. Sporting a blue awning with white lettering that simply reads
3

―Friendly Towers,‖ JPUSA‘s building conveys a welcoming message in subcultural form,
complete with planned graffiti on the walls and psychedelic images in the windows. While some
individuals standing near the entrance often seek spare change, veterans of JPUSA recall the
early days when homeless individuals camped on the doorstep of the community. The front door
opens to a hallway covered by an ornate ceiling—a relic of what was once a hotel—ending at a
locked door; people are buzzed in by those holding post at the front desk. Regardless of the time
of day one can expect to see a gaggle of activity involving a mix of old hippies, young punk
rockers, ―goths,‖ and senior citizens making their way to the senior‘s dining room or back to
their ninth-floor apartment room. At times, one notices persons whose social interactions carry
the unmistakable signs of mental illness. While an outsider might write the scene off as chaotic,
it is readily apparent that all are members of a tight-knit community dedicated to shouldering the
burdens of one-another, many displaying a certain sanguinity one might expect from utopian
hopefuls.

58

Figure 4: JPUSA’s current home, Friendly Towers

With the exception of senior citizens (discussed later), all communards live rent-free in
small, modest apartments. Unlike commercial apartments and motels, multiple persons who
walk the halls of Friendly Towers are treated in ways reminiscent of family members interacting
early in the morning or late at night. Put another way, communards often exhibit a kind of
familiarity with one-another in such a way that constant greetings or common civilities are not
needed. As I observed children run down the halls I was struck by how parents and grandparents
trusted fellow communards. It is always possible that there is a transient sort, like myself or a
drifter-seeker, who does not warrant such trust. This was clear as I approached communards. I
have known various members for years—particularly those in leadership—and enjoy friendship
with them. However, various communards appeared wary of my presence. Initially friendly, the
unfamiliar seemed glad to see me and were generally inquisitive. As each conversation wore on,
59

and they realized I was conducting research, I sensed a wall of suspicion develop—or at the very
least careful rhetorical editing. This is understandable, given the history of how JPUSA has been
represented in journalistic accounts and scholarly research (discussed later in this chapter).
At first blush, each floor of the building functions as its own ―neighborhood‖ and appears
to be structured based on a kind of necessary stratification. JPUSA veterans and leaders occupy
their own floors, allowing comfortable interaction between families and children who have lived
and grown up together for many years. However, after further investigation it becomes evident
that the only floors truly defined by occupant status are those which house the founders. This is
simply a byproduct of time in residence—newcomers are, understandably, housed in rooms
unmarked by years of committed inhabitants who have added all the flavors of home, such as
various expressions of personal décor.
Individual apartments often reflect the personality of the tenant. Communards decorate
dwellings (small as they may be) with images familiar to both the cultural mainstream and
subcultures: bookshelves constructed to accommodate limited space; mounted deer heads
temporarily displace minds conscious of the inner city; guitars and pictures of religious icons
share flat, vertical spaces; wooden frames combine the utilitarian and the romantic in bunk-bed,
kitchenette combinations; apartment entries display artwork depicting music groups, hippie
sentimentalities, political affiliations, biblical references, and gothic iconography reminiscent of
a mausoleum, complete with plaster of Paris tombstone hinting at fascinations with the macabre.
Indeed, while JPUSA shares money, food, and space, individuality is prized as a countercultural
badge of honor.
While JPUSA living quarters demonstrate in part the depth and breadth of this commune,
conversations with individual communards reveal levels of interpersonal relationships that

60

contribute to the familial environment. Late one night I was able to interview Otto Jensen, a
young man who had recently moved to JPUSA with his wife. Our pre-interview conversation
allowed a connection to occur, one built on reciprocity as we discussed ideas pertaining to music,
the church, and theology. The exchange was cut short; our discussion took place in front of an
apartment whose occupant rightly requested that we take our rather loud conversation elsewhere;
he had to wake up early. This gentleman voiced interest in our topic—apparently hearing every
word from inside his room—and reminded us of his work schedule.

4

This exchange differentiates JPUSA from other Jesus Movement communes of the 1960s
and 1970s. Earlier communities stayed up late to discuss religion, attended rock concerts, and
5

often slept until the afternoon. Although some members of JPUSA keep late hours to talk
politics or religion, the organization maintains a consistent work ethic. In this case,
responsibility and structure appear to be the byproduct of age and maturity. Unlike early Jesusfreak communal experiments, JPUSA no longer focuses on full-time street evangelism. Instead,
communards focus on responsibilities to various businesses (domestic and foreign) that sustain
the community. Indeed, there are other post-Jesus Movement groups that engage the wider
culture. Among all of the Jesus Movement experiments, the Children of God (now the Family
International) has become ubiquitous, displaying a website that carries all the familiar attributes
of mainstream evangelicalism. With the exception of James D. Chancellor‘s observations in Life
in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God, they remain somewhat ambiguous when
answering questions pertaining to daily life and practice, taking care to avoid rhetoric that might
implicate the group in practices already deemed unseemly by media depictions.
In contradistinction to early Jesus freak communes or other contemporary groups such as
the Children of God, daily life in JPUSA is for the most part mundane and without incident.
61

Meals are prepared in a central kitchen and are served in a central dining hall; those who live in
senior housing have a separate dining room. Communards can choose to have meals in the main
dining area or, as is the case with many veteran communards, retreat to individual apartments
after going through the food line. Along with the primary kitchen and communal dining room,
each floor of the building has its own common area (sofas and chairs) and a small kitchen,
complete with a table and chairs. Aside from meals prepared for the commune, individuals are
free to prepare additional meals. If newcomers miss a meal and do not have a supply of their
own, peanut butter and bread are always available in the main kitchen facility.

Figure 5: JPUSA communards eating a late-night snack

62

The urban environment of Uptown Chicago contributes to JPUSA‘s service-based
orientation. Given their mission, it would be difficult for the community to adopt a retreat or
isolationist model. However, retreat has never been the organizing principle of JPUSA.
JPUSA‘s choice to settle in one location and to focus on communal sustainability differentiates
the group from the Children of God, as well as other groups birthed during the original
movement. Sociologist of religion Steven Tipton has considered communal experiments that
engaged society. Unlike 1960s isolationist communes, groups studied by Tipton were engaged
with the broader culture, yet remained interstitial. Much like JPUSA, communards analyzed by
Tipton often worked among non-communal persons, though their purpose was not wholly related
to idealized notions of social uplift.

6

JPUSA‘s overall purpose (as will become clear) differentiates the group from early
communes defined by isolationism. This places them outside of a common mythology, one
associated with Calvary Chapel, Vineyard, and Shiloh Houses, evangelical fellowships which
sympathized with the Jesus Movement. While these organizations had both communal and noncommunal members, each asserted an ethic common to the period: revivalism linked to
apocalyptic urgency. Although many early members of Calvary Chapel lived in communes, the
denomination has become one of the models of establishment non-denominational
evangelicalism. These three flagship organizations of the Jesus Movement all exemplified a near
sectarian revivalism during the 1970s and 1980s, later becoming part of establishment
evangelicalism. When compared, JPUSA occupies a very different space, one somewhere
between the isolationist impulse of groups such as the Children of God and Tony Alamo‘s
7

Alamo Christian Foundation, and the middle-American establishment evangelicalism of
Calvary Chapel and Vineyard.
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Despite their own unique subcultural existence, JPUSA remains open to the public,
offering Sunday services to the local neighborhood. Moreover, services at Friendly Towers are
frequently attended by those who are not members of the community, to include visitors from
colleges such as Moody Bible Institute. Thus JPUSA has an ability to locate a middle-ground,
while still retaining the spirit of the Jesus Movement.
The neighborhood of Uptown Chicago has changed over the years. Many of the
homeless have been relocated due to gentrification and gang activity is in decline. However, my
th

own impressions concur with Fremon‘s description of the 46 Ward. As I walked down an alley
to visit Cornerstone Community Outreach (JPUSA‘s shelter program) I was struck by how
dilapidated the area still appeared to be. The signs of poverty were unmistakable, as were the
signs of mental illness and general hopelessness. My effort to photograph the shelter‘s sign was
met with obscenities from a man who joined the line for the evening dinner. The scene inside
the shelter was little different from the one on the street. Single mothers, children, and a few
men, filled the dining room waiting to eat. Middle-class volunteers received instructions from a
JPUSA communard who co-manages the shelter with his wife. As I tried to return to Friendly
Towers before nightfall (hoping not to brave the streets alone), I considered the commitment it
must take to keep JPUSA communards engaged in such a massive effort. The decision to
commit one‘s self to such extremes involves an attraction to a way of life which antedates the
attraction of any particular group.

The Draw of Community
Members of JPUSA are attracted to a life of service and communal living. But given the
nature of collective living, what is the attraction? Why do people (especially Americans) remain
fascinated by communal living while simultaneously valuing individualism? This answer is, I
64

maintain, connected to the way communalism is commonly understood. Following the logic of
historian Timothy Miller, how does one determine the communal ethic? Does this include street
gangs, tribal villages, and terrorist cells? Does it include apartment communities? Miller has
observed that while Americans remain unflinchingly individualistic, the communal ethic
continues to attract interest. Americans continue to consume books and documentaries that
depict communal life, maintains Miller. Yet there remains a conflict between communalism and
individualism. Indeed, the communal way of life still captures the imagination, but does so in
the shadow of negative media depictions of collectivist ―cults.‖

8

While the communal ethic continues to fascinate many, popular understandings of
communal living tend to be overly reductive, linking collectivist efforts to cultish hippie
experiments or obscure nineteenth-century millenarian sects. When considering the reasons for
attraction or revulsion to the communal ethic, we must consider the way in which communes can
be appropriately understood. Kanter has observed that contemporary North American
communes can be placed into two categories: ―retreat‖ (defined by negative boundaries) and
―service‖ (defined by affirmative boundaries). The former seeks to retreat from the evils of the
world, are peopled by isolationists, and often lack the proper commitment for sustainability. The
latter engage society, are mission-minded, operate based on shared values, and often prove more
9

successful than retreat communes. A twenty-first century example of a service commune,
JPUSA‘s structure is inspired by the writings of Jean Vanier, Catholic founder of L‘Arche
communities, an outreach that provides a home for disabled persons. Vanier‘s Community and
Growth (1979) has been a seminal document in the community‘s organizing principles and
sustains commitment mechanisms. Their public statement demonstrates commitment to those in
need and indicates religious inclusiveness:
65

L‘Arche enables people with and without disabilities to share their lives in communities
of faith and friendship. Community members are transformed through relationships of
mutuality, respect, and companionship as they live, work, pray, and play together. In
these ways, L‘Arche USA gives witness to the vision that people of differing intellectual
capacity, religion, and culture can come together in unity, faithfulness and reconciliation.
While some of our communities were founded in the Roman Catholic Church tradition,
today L‘Arche USA communities are ecumenical and welcome people of all faiths.‖

10

While JPUSA draws organizational inspiration from L‘Arche, they maintain stricter
boundaries of religious distinction. Vanier remarks that “the secret of L'Arche is relationship:
meeting people, not through the filters of certitudes, ideologies, idealism or judgments, but heart
to heart; listening to people with their pain, their joy, their hope, their history, listening to their
heart beats.‖

11

JPUSA, however, adopts a modest ecumenism. While theirs is not as far-

reaching as L‘Arche, they uphold the spirit demonstrated in Vanier‘s work. Members of JPUSA
are drawn to a life of service toward those less fortunate, though their service is not solely toward
the disabled. Moreover, while they differ from L‘Arche on pluralism, they also differ from
other, like-minded urban co-opts.
In 1957, Reba Place was founded as a Christian communal house. Initially, the group
included three people who shared in all aspects of life and possessions. After occupying one
house just north of Chicago, Reba Place has grown into ―several communities and many
ministries,‖ according to their online statement. Members currently live in an ―urban village" in
Evanston, IL. This community has ―a mix of apartment buildings, single family houses, and
commercial buildings sheltering a variety of cooperative ventures,‖ seeking to share life and to
live simply together in households.

12

The difference between Reba Place and JPUSA concerns

location and purpose. While both groups seek cohabitation and simplicity, JPUSA‘s location
warrants specialized outreach to the homeless. Although Reba Place shares JPUSA‘s vision of

66

collective living and social justice, the location of Uptown forces JPUSA to engage their local
neighborhood and society in ways communes such as Reba Place cannot. Thus, Kanter‘s thesis
of ―commitment mechanisms‖ applies to the particularity of JPUSA.
Geographical location, persons in need (many of whom wander in and around Friendly
Towers), and a sense of practical urgency (as opposed to the abstract millenarian urgency
embraced by early Jesus Movement communes) all reinforce a concrete sense of purpose for
JPUSA. Simply put, JPUSA is what Kanter refers to as a ―service commune.‖ ―The orientation
of this group of communes,‖ writes Kanter, ―is toward service to a special population; they have
13

a mission.‖

But this does not suggest that Reba Place is not a service commune. Citing the

Georgia-based Koinonia (founded in 1942) and Reba Place, Kanter argues that these
communities have adopted a model of affirmation rather than negation, defining themselves by a
set of values and belief-systems, insisting that ―all members share them.‖

14

Service communes often control information across their boundaries as part and parcel of
their mission to serve. They incorporate new information from the outside that will
further the group‘s ability to perform its service. Rather than finding the continual
intrusion of communication from American society to be threatening, a service commune
may consider it useful ―data.‖

15

Although both JPUSA and Reba Place share many commonalities, their respective locations
create different impetuses for activism and different levels of social engagement. Later in this
study, the way in which JPUSA has incorporated the tools of society to realize its most
immediate goal of helping the poor will become evident.

Individual Stories
Members of JPUSA maintain that life in the commune amounts to divine calling, one
which includes a crucible of sorts. Their stories often combine recollections of quaint memories
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of family life and the truculence associated with inner-city poverty and shared living. Nathan
Cameron, a second-generation member and son to founding member Tom Cameron, appears to
be correct in his own assessment of what attracts new communards. The most significant
attraction JPUSA offers is that it conveys an interstitial lifestyle, attracting curious nomadic
―travelers.‖ They hear about it from friends, states Cameron, and though people do not always
come as a result of JPUSA‘s Cornerstone Festival, they often show up to get a meal after the
event and, at times, choose to remain, if only for a brief stay.

16

The stories of older community members highlight JPUSA‘s connection to the Jesus
Movement. Curtis Mortimer, now sixty-six, is married to Dawn (formerly Dawn Herrin).
Pleased to learn of a continued presence of ―Jesus People‖ he joined JPUSA in 1992. During the
original Jesus Movement Mortimer was a student at Saint Paul Bible College in St. Paul, MN,
with the Christian Missionary Alliance, where he trained to be a minister. He became
disappointed early on with what he viewed as a false image often put forth by clergy, but also
believed the Jesus Movement was a passing fancy, a fad for that time. Every generation, he
recalls, had young people who were disenchanted with the church—dropouts and
antiestablishment types seeking meaning. For Mortimer, the concern was with plastic pastorparishioner relationships, where authenticity was never fully realized.
Mortimer discovered a group of Jesus People sometime between 1970 and 1971 in a
country farm house, where he became the ―expos facto teacher.‖ Following the teachings of
theologian Watchman Nee (also known as Nee Shu-tsu and Henry Nee),

17

Mortimer gained a

background in the concept of community and multiple eldership. Since Nee taught against the
proliferation of denominations, Mortimer‘s first Jesus People group avoided becoming a new
church, hoping to live as part of a larger order.
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His discovery of JPUSA proved beneficial for both the commune and Mortimer. Now
having lived with JPUSA for a number of years, Mortimer notes that the leadership council
exhibits an ability to interpret communal rules based on individual need—an important
distinction from other collectives oriented around one leader with a single mission. (discussed at
length later the study). For Mortimer, this is the primary factor that contributes to JPUSA‘s
sustainability—individualism within collectivism. Many who are drawn to JPUSA, he
maintains, are persons who are disillusioned, seeking acceptance. Mortimer acknowledges that
first contact is often made when seekers attend JPUSA‘s Cornerstone Festival.

18

Crisis and quest are themes that appear in many stories told by communards. At fiftyfour, Dorena‘s 4 ½ years with the commune has met a deep need. Wounds of the past, she
argues, are resolved within the context of group acceptance. Her gothic attire contributes to the
subcultural aesthetic which is ubiquitous throughout the community. The daughter of an
itinerant preacher, Dorena rebelled and dabbled in the occult. Though she lived in a large home
in California, she notes that her life felt empty. This led to her eventual conversion to
Christianity. But despite her newfound faith, she felt estranged from God. A history of cancer in
her family, Dorena received her diagnoses a few years back, was healed, and believes it was a
miracle. After an abusive marriage and a number of family deaths, she considered joining
JPUSA, a decision which would reunite her with her daughter who had already joined the
commune. Aware of sociologist Ronald Enroth‘s critique of the community (discussed later) she
was compelled to examine life in JPUSA before forming an opinion. After a few visits, Dorena
joined, believing communal living to be a model established by God, in contradistinction to the
materialism of her former home in Orange County, California. JPUSA‘s mission is an important

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one, according to Dorena, as the community attracts suicidal addicts who are seeking healing and
a sense of belonging.

19

Now twenty-three, Raye Clemente has been a member for 3 ½ years, though she moved
out and returned six months later. During her spiritual quest, she considered Buddhism and
Unitarianism, ending her search with Jesus. While Clemente accepted Christianity, she remained
conflicted, hoping for an expression that was not, in her words, greedy and Republican. Though
struggling with how her faith was traditionally represented in the mainstream evangelical world,
she did not want to let go of her faith in Jesus. JPUSA offered an environment that met needs
establishment evangelicalism could not. This initial kindred spirit was felt at the Cornerstone
Festival. For her, work with the homeless is part of her personal mission, even if she chooses to
leave the community. As one who has struggled with depression, Clemente finds a sense of
purpose in social outreach, allowing her to have more love for herself, the universe, and God.

20

Like Clemente, co-pastor Neil Taylor viewed life as unfulfilling until his conversion to
Christianity in a ―Jesus house‖ in Jacksonville, FL. For him, the concept of community was
attractive. And like others, he was attracted to JPUSA because of the REZ Band. Although his
father accused him of throwing his life away after joining in 1972, Taylor believed that he had
―narrowly escaped Hell.‖ Most early communards, notes Taylor, were broken people.

21

A need for training inspired the community to seek extra-biblical texts for theological
guidance, unlike many Jesus Movement isolationist communes marked by anti-intellectual
experientialism. The early days of JPUSA involved listening to various teachings and recordings
in an attempt to gain an ideological foundation, in hopes of avoiding what communard Jon Trott
refers to as a ―super experiential‖ ethos common among other Jesus Movement communes.
Training was mixed with practical application as members spent hours sharing their faith and
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meeting the needs of various persons outside of their immediate community. Stories provided by
the founders demonstrate how the initial draw of community life involved a crisis moment, some
sort of epiphany, then a sense of divine directive leading to full commitment, one which
provided a strong familial base often lacking in pre-communal life. Taylor is now one of the
22

lead pastors in JPUSA.

Tom Cameron was a ―directionless college student‖ who needed to dedicate himself to
some sort of spiritual vocation. After joining in 1972 as a ―roadie‖ for the REZ Band (as was
the case for most early members) Cameron and other early communards assisted the band with
the heavy lifting associated with touring concerts. His account reveals how JPUSA‘s journey
was marked by changes oriented around the music group. For the first six months, Cameron
simply travelled. The community was, in his estimation, simply on an extended mission trip into
the upper-peninsula of Michigan. After losing their lease in Gainesville, Florida, JPUSA
remained nomadic, living in a big red Jesus bus, driving around and doing concerts.

23

Cameron is now a community pastor, as well as producer and director for JPUSA‘s Grrr
Records, a record label originally designed solely to produce musicians living in the community,
though that has changed in recent years. A graduate of Northwestern University Law School,
Cameron serves as in-house counsel for the community and typifies JPUSA‘s ability to balance
community need with individual circumstance.

24

Most members of JPUSA are attracted to environments defined by a sense of community
and purpose. To that end, individuals have constructed their lives around serving others. Hoping
to live with like-minded persons, Lyda Jackson joined the community in 1975 when it was still
located in the basement of Faith Tabernacle, an evangelical church in Chicago. Feeling that life
―in community‖ was both a religious and vocational conviction, she began her life in JPUSA by
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serving in the kitchen, mending clothes and taking in part in street evangelism. Now fifty-three
years old, Jackson coordinates volunteers at Cornerstone Community Outreach, JPUSA‘s
homeless shelter. As a member of the board of directors for the Communal Studies Association,
she is quite aware of the pitfalls with which intentional communities struggle. But for her, the
attraction of community—particularly JPUSA—is rooted in both the divine and the practical.

25

A native of Modesto, California, Joshua Davenport has always been restless, seeking life
on the road. He has been in and out of JPUSA since he was nineteen. Davenport came to a
place in his life where he was ―angry with organized religion.‖ Feeling stagnant and trapped in a
system adopted by his family (one which he did not fully understand), Davenport sought
something new—an unfamiliar place where God could be found—if God was real to begin with!
Now thirty-one, Davenport considers stability a viable option, hoping to remain settled in
JPUSA. He and his wife are attracted to the way the commune supports their ministry, their
marriage, and their music, amounting to an ―overwhelming sense of family.‖ Simply put,
JPUSA is a place where they feel safe.

26

Susan (her real name has been withheld) was drawn to JPUSA as a result of having been
involved with a communal experiment on the south side of Chicago. Although this largely
African American group was not linked to the Jesus Movement, they wanted to live out a life of
faith in a communal context. In 1976, New Life Fellowship secured a house and tried to ―live
out the Bible.‖ Despite all efforts, their small size made the attempt difficult; they felt they were
ineffective. After meeting JPUSA, members of New Life Fellowship found similarities, visited
the community, and later combined efforts by joining JPUSA in 1978.

27

Living between two uniquely American dichotomies can be challenging for anyone,
particularly if your leftist heart has been nursed by the Religious Right. Colleen Davick is from
72

Dallas, TX. She converted to Christianity at the age of eight and attended Bible College. In the
aftermath of college she experienced a ―wandering period,‖ attempting to decide on a place
where she could serve a purpose—a job that ―meant something.‖ After a period of self-analysis,
Davick was drawn to community-living: ―I wanted a deeper way of living besides…the typical
American—live in your house in the suburbs, do a job—I wanted something, a deeper
experience than that. I figured after coming to visit here, that…I would find that deeper
experience here.‖

28

Aware that JPUSA‘s community had something to do with REZ Band,

Cornerstone Magazine, and Cornerstone Festival she viewed JPUSA as a ―cool place to go,‖ one
offering a deeper way of life. Davick joined in 1992 and notes that JPUSA fulfilled a personal
need and continues to represent a divine call for her. She has never seriously considered
leaving.

29

Many communards join while they are relatively young and find they must balance their
commitment to two different families. While some parents of young communards may remain
suspicious of a group that chooses to raise children in abject poverty, others are actually
sympathetic to expressions associated with the Jesus Movement. Aaron Tharp is twenty-two.
His parents—affiliated with the Vineyard church—had no conflict and simply asked him to
research the community before joining. Tharp moved to JPUSA in 2008.
According to Tharp‘s estimation, one-fourth to one-third of JPUSA communards are in
their twenties. Many are homeless by choice, wanderers, choosing to join for a variety of
reasons. Tharp works on the ―home crew‖ (where many newcomers begin) washing dishes,
sweeping and mopping floors, doing the laundry, and cleaning restrooms. (Newcomer women
assist seniors and prepare food—although there are male members who are in food preparation.)

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Tharp argues that although he does not make a paycheck, his inspiration is simply to give his
friends a nice clean home.

30

The stories of individual communards demonstrate that the attraction to life in JPUSA is
a result of many factors that motivate some to adopt such a radical way of life. As these stories
have demonstrated, those who live in JPUSA all share common experiences. Although not all
revealed struggles with depression or other elements of crisis, all who were interviewed indicated
that JPUSA offered something which non-communal life could not. For these communards, a
life built on shared property (in hopes of realizing a larger purpose) highlights the differences
between their version of Christianity and establishment evangelicalism. Put another way,
travelers and those living on the margins of society are attracted to JPUSA precisely because the
commune reestablishes the subversive element of social activism (as well as spiritual longing)
that attracted many converts during the original Jesus Movement. But while the spirit of the
movement is sought after and celebrated, JPUSA‘s structure is such that it has afforded the
commune the ability to survive longer than their progenitors.

Community Businesses
JPUSA is good at assimilating culture, adapting to its environment, and remaining
flexible enough to alter its approach when warranted. The fact that JPUSA has undertaken
numerous business enterprises and ministries over the years (some successful and some not)
reveals a desire to try new methods of producing income and engaging society through various
outreaches. Some leaders have self-identified as socialist and communist. Yet there remains a
commitment to engage the free-enterprise system for the financial good of the immediate
th

community (JPUSA) and the broader community (the homeless population in the 46 Ward).

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Many seem to revel in the idea that they remain virulent socialistic anti-capitalists while
simultaneously enjoying the fruits of the free-market. While this dichotomy appears either
contradictory or simply pollyannaish, this ―agreement‖ with capitalism can simply be attributed
to the way American society is already structured. JPUSA‘s choice to live in an urban area (thus
unable to live off the land) necessitates a relationship with industry. How then can they be
considered socialist?
It is possible to reconcile the two systems simply by considering their economic structure
on the micro level. That is, although the community must engage industry to generate income
(since the government will not provide all needs), their common purse arrangement places them
in a different category. Essentially, when considering matters pertaining to daily life in JPUSA,
the council acts as the government, deciding how monies are distributed and to whom. Granted,
this still amounts to a church-funded scenario (a conservative business-friendly thrust) with little
acquiescence to the State. But in the absence of socialism on the national level, JPUSA leaders
have chosen to employ socialism within their own community, maintaining a system of
government based on the New Testament. Thus, the community is able to operate mission
businesses (much like the tent-making venture of the apostle Paul) while meting out monies
according to individual need.
The most notable JPUSA businesses include Lakefront Roofing and Siding Supply, Belly
Acres (a t-shirt printing company), Friendly Towers low-income housing for senior citizens, Grrr
Records ( a record production and promotion company), and Tone Zone recording studio.

31

Tone Zone is a commercial recording studio managed by Stu Heiss‘ younger brother, Roger.
The studio accepts outside business and does not discriminate based on religion, though they are
careful not to record musician who engage in illicit activities. The studio avoids artists who use

75

misogynistic lyrics and other material deemed offensive, arguing it is not in the interest of the
client to offend the recording engineer, though secular or non-Christian lyrics are generally
acceptable.

32

Grrr Records signs a number of artists, earning most profits from revenue

generated by the Resurrection Band and the Glenn Kaiser band. With the exceptions of Tone
Zone, Grrr, and Lake Front Roofing, the other primary ventures either profit very little or are
considered forms of ministry.
Lake Front Roofing Supply began in 1985 and is considered JPUSA‘s primary source of
income. (The company advertises its religious affiliation). The company has dedicated clients
but must deal with competition; advertising is largely accomplished through word of mouth,
signage, and radio stations. Ads mostly target the ―user,‖ not the contractor, creating ―leads‖ and
relationships, generating work for customers. This has been successful, maintains Chris Spicer,
a leader in the company who joined JPUSA in 1983. Lakefront currently has five locations:
three in Chicago, one in Schereville, IN, and one in Waukegan, IL. The company also operates a
business in Romania. Nehemiah American Romania Company (NARCOM) is a distribution
center that deals in roofing supplies and other products. NARCOM functions as a ―mission
business,‖ allowing JPUSA to maintain a location that partners with Osana Foundation, an
orphanage which cares for various children with AIDS. Given Lakefront‘s multiple locations,
many employees are not members of JPUSA and are paid a salary. JPUSA employees are paid a
―virtual payroll,‖ which goes back into the community purse.
The company will often refer customers to contractors, stating that they ―know the good
guys,‖ who are defined as ―an insured, professional and licensed contractor that agrees to our
Contractor requirements.‖ Lakefront's Contractor Referral Program is a free service intended to

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satisfy home and building owners.

33

The web advertisement reassures the potential customer

that they are ethical and will offer free advice:
"We Know the Good Guys!" is a free Chicagoland roofing referral service sponsored by
Lakefront Roofing & Siding Supply. Everyone benefits- Homeowners and Building
Owners, Contractors, and Lakefront! Re-roofing your home or building doesn't happen
every day. It usually only occurs once every 15-20 years. We work hard to help
homeowners and building owners with free advice. In return, the business is usually
34
placed with us, through the contractor.
JPUSA continues to expand its borders, trying new ventures considered culturally relevant to
their overall mission or potentially lucrative for the community. Other current companies
include Lakefront Self-Storage and a skateboard shop, scheduled to open in the near future.
Over the years, JPUSA has attempted a wide array of business ventures. The list of
―experiments‖ is at least a tell-tale sign that this community seeks every possible method to
remain fiscally responsible. At the most, this list is a veritable tribute to a community dedicated
to succeeding. The variety of businesses is both diverse and interesting: typesetting, a boutique
store, carpentry, painting, moving, masonry, tree planting, hog farming, insect extermination,
carpet cleaning, roofing, saw sharpening, electric, clothing design, sheet metal, window repair,
human resources, cabinets and office furniture, printing, Guatemalan window products, selfstorage, a skate board shop, and candy sales. Throughout successes and failures, members have
garnered skills important to the vitality of maintaining their own dwelling. While it is true that
members are required to work for JPUSA-owned companies, and while there is a common purse
that dictates an individual‘s ability or inability to function outside of communally-established
structures—lodging, food, healthcare, etc.—JPUSA‘s emphasis on individualism within
communitarianism creates a certain measure of freedom.

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Communards are allowed to take modest ―side jobs‖ (within certain limits) to earn extra
money for a trip or a television by agreeing to complete a fellow communard‘s kitchen duties,
haul equipment at a local bar, perform carpentry, or other minor tasks.
However, they are not permitted a full-time career in a non-JPUSA business, unless it serves the
community.

35

For example, some communards who are certified nurses work in local health

establishments and relinquish their salary to the community purse, with the exception of a
modest food allowance. If a position offers benefits, the member may accept coverage. And
while JPUSA businesses only offer health coverage to non-community employees (such as
Lakefront satellites) communards who work at the Cornerstone Community Outreach shelter are
required by the city to carry medical coverage.

36

All JPUSA businesses exist to support the commune‘s larger purpose, one which
communards believe to be humanitarian service. ―Employees‖ of those businesses who are
members of the community understand that their work will not yield cash rewards to them as
individuals. And yet, all subjects interviewed have affirmed a sense of dedication. Higher
purpose notwithstanding, one wonders how a worker‘s dedication can remain unfettered when
confronted by American materialism. Kanter has recently considered the future of corporations,
suggesting there are emerging ―vanguard companies‖ operating on a level that exceeds merely
maintaining the bottom-line, seeking to instill certain values and hoping to contribute to
changing the world for the better. Thus some Americans, particularly the younger generation,
often demonstrate what amounts to a growing commitment to social justice, even at the expense
of material gain.

37

Kanter implies that the same social convictions which inspire communities like JPUSA
(purpose that transcends materialism) might become more prevalent throughout corporations.
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But while this research implies the possibility of a ―mission-minded‖ future where corporations
might consider the needs of society over monetary gain, what is more intriguing about Kanter‘s
research (for this study) is that it reaffirms that longevity (whether in business or community) is
determined by values that transcend the immediate goals of a particular business or community.
This forms strata of values-based commitments that hold units (large and small) to standards
defined by the needs of the collective over and above the individual, while simultaneously
affirming the validity and importance of individual need and circumstance. Financial stability
makes it possible for the commune to help individual members overcome their own personal
struggles (at times breaking community restrictions to consider needs on a case-by-case basis),
th

thus freeing them to look outward to the extended community of the 46 Ward.

Community Ministries
Although JPUSA can be largely understood as a social outreach mission, their initial
mission has always concerned their version of Christian evangelism. But their understanding of
evangelism is broader than other evangelical mission groups, particularly those formed during
the Jesus Movement. After touring the country, JPUSA extended its idea of Christian outreach
to include social justice in Chicago‘s inner city. The various ministries indicate a commitment to
both Christian evangelism and caring for practical human needs. The following list of ministries
is as diverse as JPUSA business ventures: discipleship training to community members, care for
the elderly, street witnessing, housing for the homeless, soup kitchen, low-income senior
housing, Big Brother/Big Sister (Mentoring), outreach to Mexico, Cambodian Outreach, Bosnian
Outreach, Romania Outreach (Business supporting missions in Romania), Guatemalan Outreach,
Pro-life Action Counsel, Crisis Pregnancy Center, new women‘s shelter building for homeless
women, host for youth groups, a boy scout troop, Imagine DAT Model hobby building with kids,
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Cornerstone Festival, Grr Record company, and Cornerstone magazine, an edgy publication
(1971-2003) that offered analyses of music, film, and articles pertaining to theology, philosophy,
culture, sexuality, global events, and various controversial topics often not found in other
evangelical publications. Various music groups include styles such as rock, heavy metal, punk,
rap, black gospel, Celtic, and goth: Resurrection Band (REZ), the Glenn Kaiser Band (GKB), the
Grace and Glory gospel choir, The Crossing, Cauzin Efekt, Crashdog, Brothers & Sisters United,
Seeds, Sheesh, Ballydowse, Scientific, Leper, The Blamed, and Aracely.

38

These ministries are

all important to individual communards. However, with the exception of the Resurrection Band,
Cornerstone magazine, and the Cornerstone Festival, none serve as the primary motivation for
life in JPUSA.
Just as Lakefront Roofing Supply is the primary source of income for JPUSA, their
shelter program, Cornerstone Community Outreach (CCO), is the motivating mission for JPUSA
communards. Functioning as a primary commitment mechanism, the shelter program inspires
communards to persevere in community life as they work for the communal paradigm,
shouldering the responsibility of caring for those who need food and shelter. Obtained in 1989,
CCO (a non-profit organization) seeks ―to raise the quality of life for low-income residents of the
United States and the rest of the world through social, educational and economic development
programs that include: development & preservation of decent & affordable housing for the poor,
job training & creation, educational & social programs, and feeding & sheltering the
homeless.‖

39

CCO offers housing for single women and men, single mothers and their children, other
family units, and women who have been abused. (Note that CCO‘s housing for single mothers is
not considered a battered women‘s shelter). However, it has become "Uptown's own version of
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the Salvation Army," according to former Alderman Jerome Orbach.

40

There are two large

buildings under the umbrella of CCO. One operates as the cafeteria and houses women and
children while the second houses families, functioning as a daytime ―drop in center‖ for single
men. A twenty-four hour shelter, CCO‘s buildings house between three hundred and four
hundred persons, serves three meals per day, and averages one hundred twenty-five persons for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

41

A member of JPUSA since 1976, Sandy Ramsey manages the shelter program along with
her husband Chris and cites the Bible as inspiration for what is viewed as a divine mandate to
feed the poor. According to Sandy Ramsey, the free-market social policies known as
―Reaganomics‖ created a dangerous scenario, resulting in an increase in Chicago‘s homeless
population during the 1980s. Ramsey and Trott have both argued with clarity that many
individuals and families who experienced homelessness in Uptown during this time could not be
categorized by stereotypes often associated with homelessness or urban poverty. Substance
abuse, addiction, and mental illness were not the causes of poverty or homelessness for those
affected by Reaganomics. Families who became homeless once held jobs, but could only afford
low-income housing.
According to Ramsey and Trott, Reagan‘s policies displaced a number of persons largely
atypical of those living on the streets of Chicago. As a result, JPUSA began to house a growing
population of homeless persons in 1987. In an effort to increase public awareness, JPUSA and
th

their alderman held a ―tent city‖ in the 46 Ward as a sign of protest; the local alderman and Jon
Trott were arrested. Once the tent city ended, homeless families remained, finding their way into
JPUSA‘s lobby and their living rooms. The Department of Human Services (now, the Chicago
Department of Child and Family Services) started ―dropping people off unofficially.‖ The
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community struck critical mass when the need outweighed what JPUSA was able to provide.
Approximately fifty men huddled in JPUSA‘s lobby and one hundred women and children were
fed nightly, sleeping on floor mats in the community dining room and various couches. This was
further complicated by the lack of funding. In 1989, elder Neal Taylor spoke with the
commissioner of Chicago‘s Department of Human Services, indicating the difficulty. The result
was a grant of $75,000.00. The shelter was a natural outgrowth of human need as JPUSA‘s
community became overwhelmed with individuals seeking shelter on their ―doorstep,‖ in their
cafeteria, and at times, their apartments.

42

JPUSA‘s commitment to provide practical assistance to persons in need is evidenced in
their assisted living program. Along with outreach to homeless persons, care for the elderly also
distinguishes JPUSA from Kanter‗s ―retreat‖ communes. It differentiates the community from
earlier Jesus Movement communities in its concern for long-term care for every individual, thus
distancing JPUSA further from the evangelical millenarian preoccupation with cosmic
immediacy (the salvation of souls in preparation for the end of time). Simply put, JPUSA‘s care
for the elderly demonstrates their ability to suspend musings over the end of time. Those in
leadership have adopted a holistic understanding of the Christian mission, one which includes
multiple areas of social justice.
When JPUSA purchased Friendly Towers they agreed to take on the responsibility of
senior housing units already part of the building. In so doing, the leadership council inherited a
number of structural problems which, in the interest of low-income seniors, had to be resolved
with expediency. Now up-to-code, the building houses approximately one hundred senior
citizens. JPUSA staff members are responsible for cooking meals and cleaning the rooms.
According to David Baumgartner, the manager of senior housing, residents are expected to pay

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$430.00 for rent and $25.00 for food allowance per month. Fifty-one units, writes Baumgartner,
―receive subsidies from the low income housing trust fund, 4 are subsidized by the Chronic
Homeless Initiative Grant (HUD & low income housing)‖ and ―1 unit is a CHAC Section 8
voucher.‖

43

Seniors are not expected to attend JPUSA events. Many do not attend events planned for
senior citizens, choosing to remain in their individual rooms. Eileen Freed is sixty-eight and has
lived in a senior unit for four and a half years. She moved to the community needing an
inexpensive place to live. Freed is on Medicaid and notes that a physician and psychiatrist both
visit the community, tending the needs of seniors. As one who desires excitement and personal
connections, Freed‘s favorite part about living in JPUSA is the activities. For her, other living
situations would prove boring. Life in JPUSA offers her a number of community events, to
include JPUSA‘s church, theatrical plays, and rock concerts. Since she does not have family of
her own, JPUSA‘s community fills a need.
JPUSA businesses and ministries all provide a backdrop for a community seeking and
finding purpose. Although Kanter establishes a difference between retreat and service
communes, it should be understood that all communes are founded with purpose in mind, as
historian of religion Timothy Miller has demonstrated. One difference between JPUSA and the
many communes once peppered throughout the U.S. is the way in which higher purpose is
finally realized. Often, communes have fizzled because they were simply unable to move
beyond the bottom level of the Maslowian pyramid. The psychologist, Abraham Maslow,
believed that humans could not proceed to higher levels of need (such as fulfilling existential
questions or finding purpose) unless the basics of human need were met first.

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44

The Necessities of Life: Basic Needs and Commitment to Community
The success of communes is often determined by ideological commitment or the way
government is structured. Often the way a commune is structured and governed will determine
success or failure of daily operations, and thus the success or failure of the group. JPUSA‘s
leadership structure and businesses have provided administrative elements which make sustained
living possible. The result of successful businesses and shared property is a community that is
not impoverished, though they live modestly.
Members of JPUSA are all assigned to a family, creating a structure of multiple extended
families within the larger community. For example, each council member will have ten to
fifteen couples and single persons assigned. Extended families serve to maintain accountability
for individuals who would otherwise become somewhat anonymous in a community of four
hundred members. For JPUSA, this is detrimental to spiritual protection and development. New
members are particularly dependent on their assigned families to learn about their respective
roles in the community, as well as guidance on matters pertaining to communal life. However,
some communards have noted that this level of familiarity (particularly when it involves persons
with whom one is unfamiliar) can amount to uncomfortable erasures of personal space. In some
cases, adult members of extended families have, according to some second-generation members,
overstepped their boundaries, assuming the role of parent—even when a child has sought out
their own parent.

45

The extended family will often meet for dinners, celebrate holidays, picnics, and take
vacations together. While this may appear to be, in some sense, a replacement for an
individual‘s real family, it should be noted that communards often visit their biological families,
if they have the money. Thus, finding money or gaining approval from the council to be given

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money is to some extent one of the only ways a communard can venture outside of Uptown. But
individuals can retain a modest fiscal independence. While members do not make a salary, one
is able to earn pocket change for things such as travel or eating at restaurants. Jobs outside the
community often pay a modest allowance for lunch money. Some members use this food
allowance to pay others to do in-house chores such as kitchen duty. And if a member needs to
purchase a costly item, they go to the coordinator‘s office which handles the money, seeking
approval for the purchase. Although potential members who are in debt are often discouraged
from joining, there are exceptions where one can take a job.
Nevertheless, there is a mentor-mentee relationship established to guide new
communards or simply offer general emotional support to older members. Guidance and support
also extends to the extent that one‘s personal life is directed by assigned families. For example,
if couples wish to marry, those individuals must seek permission from family heads, who then
seek permission from the leadership council. As with mainstream society, young couples date
and consider marriage. However, young couples must consult the elders before proceeding
further. While couples hoping to marry may also seek guidance from biological parents,
JPUSA‘s requirement for communal approval functions as a safe-guard, since the effects of
individual actions may impact the larger community on some level. As Kanter has
demonstrated, tight boundaries ensure stability and guard against organizational disorder.
While authoritarian, the community‘s context necessities a certain austerity. Newcomers
often exhibit elements of dysfunction or, at the very least, are in need of guidance. In many
cases newcomers are vocal about their own reason for joining JPUSA—to find healing through
reorienting their lives under the guidelines of communal living. Thus, expectations pertaining to
intimate relationships are in line with the boundaries which often define Christian communes.

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JPUSA leadership allows freedom while also ensuring the cohesive nature of a
community dedicated to rehabilitating those otherwise considered social outcasts. In considering
the testimonies of former members, the rules concerning relationships (while often perceived as
stifling) were originally intended to avoid potential mishaps from allowing ―damaged‖ persons to
form close bonds before they were fully prepared. However, as with other policies this one is
gradually changing. JPUSA leadership often considers each circumstance and individual
separately.
In many regards, there is a continued sense of inter-relational attachment within the
community, one which emphasizes how every communard impacts the community on some
level. But given society‘s premium placed on materialism and individuality, why would one be
attracted to a situation that requires giving up one‘s sense of a guarded self? For JPUSA,
communal living deemphasizes material possessions and personal agenda in hopes of
indentifying with the poor. Moreover, while individual needs are considered (everyone is
allotted items or money according to their need), the overarching goal is to realize the larger
goals of the community (helping the poor), which amounts to an emphasis on the community
over the individual. Perhaps this is precisely the attraction. Young communards have noted that
mainstream society‘s pursuit of individuality merely serves to bolster an ideology of selfreliance. The result, according to JPUSA, is a society that has an inward focus rather than
outward, a position which encourages social apathy.
While there are rules in place designed to govern what is expected of communards, each
situation dictates a different response as JPUSA leaders nuance the rules based on individual
need, handling each situation one person at a time.

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But the general mission remains a

commitment to identifying with the poor. One‘s choice to adopt this life is not taken lightly.

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The JPUSA Covenant (written in 1986 and revised in 1989) outlines the community‘s financial
expectations and functions as an official document, noting a communard‘s responsibility to the
community:
JPUSA is taxed as a large partnership according to the Internal Revenue Code, section
510(d). Each provisional member becomes a partner upon signing this covenant. All
income goes toward food, housing, utilities, and maintenance costs, as well as our stated
community purposes of evangelism, helping the poor, and discipling believers, all of
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which are paid for by our financial department.
While members of JPUSA do not equate their way of life with model Christianity or best
possible practices, they maintain that their method of social activism simply exemplifies an
impulse found in Jesus specifically and humanitarianism generally. Founding member Dawn
(Herrin) Mortimer believes the church has misunderstood the totality of the Christian mission.
The mainstream evangelical church often evangelizes, she argues, without regard for the poor.
When considering whether the concept of evangelism includes social justice, Mortimer replies
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with shock: ―how can it not mean that?‖

While JPUSA communards indeed recognize the

presence of other socially active communes and churches, the general feeling is that many
Christian churches often define evangelism as a spiritual endeavor, to the exclusion of social
justice, an equally ―spiritual‖ practice.
Mortimer argues that if ―secular‖ society considered sharing resources (doing with just a
bit less) they could better contribute to eradicating poverty.

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But given what is essentially a

vow of poverty for JPUSA communards (though members enjoy the basic necessities of life),
matters such as healthcare prove challenging. Attempting to identify with the poor, members are
expected to use the free medical services offered by Cook County Hospital. New members are
informed that they need to either take care of themselves or go to Cook County Hospital, though
some retain coverage from their parents. Since many are merely passing through, the community
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cannot afford to take on every health issue. If a newcomer has a need which warrants a
procedure not offered by Cook County Hospital, they may discuss options with an elder after
having lived in the community for one year.

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The community faces challenges when considering medical treatment, problems best
resolved with universal healthcare, argues Dawn Mortimer. When asked which presidential
candidate she favored, she noted President Barack Obama stating ―Is there any other?‖
Mortimer argues that identification with the poor is an essential part to life in JPUSA. For her,
the act of becoming poor helps communards to understand how the homeless are often treated.

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Noting that JPUSA lives based on the ideal—―everyone according to their need‖—
Mortimer recalled a situation where it was suggested that money ought to be divided up
according to needs of the Crisis Pregnancy Center. The response of one worker (it is unclear
whether this was a member of JPUSA or a volunteer) caught Mortimer off guard as they shouted
―That is Communism!‖ Mortimer was, in her words, ―dumbfounded.‖ For her, this was simply a
biblical principle, one which is organic, ―lived,‖ as outlined in The JPUSA Covenant.

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Pastor

Neil Taylor has explained that while the letter of the covenant is not absolute in its authority, the
―spirit‖ of the document informs communal commitment:
The two week stay is still suggested for any visitor, especially if they are thinking of
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staying long term. At this point, we do offer P-12 [a training program] as a 10 month
internship with JPUSA. The term commitment document was an attempt to say to those
who have lived long term in the community that we should all continue to assess our
commitments to life in community. The document became lifeless or ineffective as
something we could manage and/or keep up with, but the heart of the document is still
very much alive in that all members of our community are encouraged to stay in touch
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with their commitment to life here.
The spirit of The JPUSA Covenant is explicit, according to Taylor. He states: ―We have
seen many ‗covenant communities‘ draw up a detailed covenant, then attempt to live that
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covenant out, resulting in either outright failure or (what's worse) sterile religious legalism. For
ourselves, we find a covenant more an outgrowth of relationships than their cause.‖

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While the

covenant is binding in terms of relationship, the council does not dictate lifetime commitments.
Every few years individuals read and sign term commitments but are not required to commit for
life. If someone breaks a term commitment, the breach of contract is handled on a case-by-case
basis. Moreover, if someone wants to return to JPUSA after breaking their term commitment,
leaders proceed cautiously as they consider the request.
Term commitments serve as part of the glue that encourages members to give serious
consideration to communal life and all responsibilities attached to that life. Simply put, the
community counts on every person to contribute to jobs that keep JPUSA functioning. Term
commitments serve as a covenant—built on tight-knit relationships—intended to ensure that
communards are fully aware of the cost associated with breaking the commitment.

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When one chooses to leave the community, even if a term commitment has not been
broken, the loss is felt as the larger extended family views the break much like a marriage ending
in divorce. Kevin Frank left JPUSA in 1998. For him, members who leave the community often
experience emotional trauma and create pain for a community essentially operating as family.
He writes:
…in a way it was like being married to 500 people (there were about 500 members when
I joined). And the understanding was that you would stay there for the rest of your life.
That wasn't always preached in so many words, but it was clearly the subtext. And to
leave was to break your commitment to your brothers and sisters, like a giant divorce. At
the time I first joined, (1982) the people who left did so in the middle of the night. And it
was never addressed. A person, or family, would be gone and you would hear whispers of
"so-and so split the ministry." It was a big deal, but very hush-hush…no one in
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leadership said "So-and so left to sin" but that was the subtext.

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For Frank, living communally was about dedication to one‘s ―brothers and sisters.‖ He
recalls that during the 1980s and 1990s, sermons in JPUSA were often preached about
commitment to the cause (a directive received from the Lord to live in this unique way), without
looking back. ―To answer that call,‖ writes Frank, ―meant a sort of vow to living your life
together.‖ Many communards tend be ephemeral. However, if one wishes to ―move beyond
visitor status‖ one has to ―pledge to devote your life to ‗the ministry.‘" Frank states that while
official oaths are not taken, voicing a sense of divine calling amounts to a serious commitment.

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Some former members recall acerbic responses from those in leadership and continue to
struggle with what amounts to a difficult separation. However, even Frank has recognized the
change in the community over the years. In recent years, communards leave under better terms.
―Like a divorce,‖ he writes, ―it could be amicable and it could even be for the best, but it was
always messy and never easy. Through the years I was on both sides of the divide. When
members would leave, I would feel hurt and abandoned….And then when we left, we made
people feel abandoned.‖ Frank recalls that his own departure was met with a party, involving
story-telling, the sharing of memories, and the signing of a big book. The community has, in
Frank‘s words, come a long way from the "splitting in the middle of the night" years.

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It is evident that life in JPUSA—how the commune treats those who decide to leave—has
changed over the years. Stephen (his real name is not revealed) left JPUSA in 2002 to pursue a
Ph.D. He is now an atheist. For both Stephen and his wife, the separation was amicable: ―[I]
spoke with Pastor Neil the day I told the community we were leaving. I told him first. I asked
about how we could raise money to leave and they gave me all the opportunity necessary for us
to get enough money to move. I never felt judged. People were still as kind as ever. I think it
was a very healthy departure.‖

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Unlike many other communes, as an ―intentional community‖ JPUSA emphasizes
personal choice to join or leave. Officially, The JPUSA Covenant makes allowance for anyone
to leave and suggests a level of assistance from the community:
Any individual member may end his or her membership and leave the community at any
time. We encourage anyone wishing to do so to communicate with older members of the
community as to his or her reasons, not so we can "convince" him or her to stay, but so
that we can together pray over God's continuing will. As that person's Christian family,
and as friends who have lived and learned together, we want to be honest and open even
in a time that may be taking us different directions. A person who has come for
"rehabilitation" purposes and decides to leave or give up their faith in Jesus Christ often
finds it hard to face fellow believers and tell them the truth. Nonetheless, we would
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rather have their departure be with good wishes and our prayers.
Kevin Frank‘s recollection implies that there have been two types of commitment:
explicit, official term commitments and implicit expectations from the community. Kanter has
argued that these multilayered mechanisms are key components which contribute to the
longevity of organizations. Along with Kanter, historian Timothy Miller maintains that
communities organized around high-commitment and authoritarian structures (of varying
degrees) might contribute more to the longevity of communes, particularly religious ones.

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However, in Children of Prosperity Hugh Gardner takes issue with this thesis, arguing that lessstructured communes actually enjoy greater longevity.

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But while his argument concerns

overall communal longevity, his argument may have merit when considering JPUSA‘s particular
situation.
The ways in which JPUSA maintains boundaries, then changes those boundaries, may
contribute to a pattern of disenchantment, or at least, a lack of complete dedication. In the early
years greater pressure was placed on commitment both in public sermons and in The JPUSA
Covenant. But as evidenced by former members and Pastor Neil Taylor, expectations have
softened. Various JPUSA communards have felt tension when choosing to leave. And, many
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have noted the family-like nature of JPUSA, the emotions associated with separation (inasmuch
as it feels like a divorce), and attendant feelings of angst. Thus while the power of commitment
often inspires founding members to remain dedicated, rules associated with commitment have
not always worked for those who join as adults or for second-generation communards (discussed
further in chapter 7). Put another way, the expectation of commitment or ―covenant‖ (though to
some extent now softened) does not work in the same manner as with early Jesus freaks who
were part of a larger movement already considered marginal. These early members did not
perceive communal commitment as confining as those who joined during the 1980s, a period
when communes were viewed with suspicion, given cold-war fear. Kanter‘s theory accounts for
JPUSA‘s success since 1972. However, it is here where Gardner‘s counter-thesis may prove
true, accounting for why non-founders often bristle at notions such as lifelong commitment and
covenant contracts.

Education
One mark of a healthy commune is in its ability to procreate, with the hope of continuing
the ethos of the group through successive generations. Although JPUSA is not retreat-based,
they have chosen to educate their children within the community, using Christian curricula such
as the A Beka Book and Pace systems. In recent years more youth have begun to leave the
community to attend college. When Tiana Coleman was growing up, families often found it
difficult to accept the emerging second generation‘s desire to seek higher education, struggling to
understand why youth would opt to leave JPUSA‘s ministry to go to college, when parents chose
to focus on ministry exclusively. Over the years founding members have shifted their views,
encouraging their children to seek God‘s will, whatever that might be. Founder John Herrin has
pointed out that young members are often asked to give serious consideration to their future, thus
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preparing them to make informed decisions while they are still young. A practical man, Herrin is
cognizant of the financial hurdles one must face in the ―outside world‖ without having
established a proper credit history, something the average JPUSA communard will not have upon
leaving the community. Thus, elders encourage rising adults to decide whether community life
is truly for them, earlier rather than later; decisions to leave often involve higher education.

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If a communard decides on higher education, tuition is up to the individual. Many
receive scholarships or decide to take out student loans. This often implies they will not return to
the community as it would be difficult (if not impossible) to fulfill financial commitments to loan
institutions while living a life of voluntary poverty and shared property. If one chooses higher
education, the expectation is that one will leave the community after graduation, though some
have applied for FAFSA loans and have returned, as with Tiana Coleman.

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Higher education is

encouraged, though its effects are felt within the community. While some choose to attend
college while living in the community, many leave, opting to experience college away from
JPUSA. Over half do not return.

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Over the years many communards have decided to leave JPUSA, either in response to
how they perceive covenant membership or simply out of a desire for higher education. Others
have grown disenchanted with JPUSA‘s general leadership structure and governmental policies.
But these perceptions have also been reinforced (negatively) by lengthy battles with which
JPUSA has had to contend. As with any community, problems with personnel and negative
press are inevitable. In JPUSA‘s case, negative press is often a result of disgruntled former
members.

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Controversy: Ronald Enroth, and Perceptions of Community Government
As with many communes, JPUSA‘s epoch also includes a number of controversial
episodes resulting from testimonies made by former members. The word commune often carries
a pejorative connotation. Americans who have been raised on the concept of rugged
individualism often struggle with the idea of shared property, particularly within a religious
context. In the case of JPUSA, dissent from disgruntled ex-communards and various
publications have been the cause of conflict for the commune over the years. Like most
organizations, JPUSA has its own history of dissent, allegations of abuse, and media
sensationalism.
JPUSA‘s public castigation is in part a result of negative publicity created by publications
by an academic and a journalist. Sociologist Ronald Enroth‘s Recovering from Churches That
Abuse contained allegations from former members who note incidents of abusive situations that
happened in JPUSA‘s past. Enroth‘s work was later scrutinized by sociologist Anson Shupe,
who argued that Enroth‘s methods were unsound as he affiliated with the victims and never
visited JPUSA to observe the community first-hand. Thus, Enroth‘s findings, according to
Shupe, did not conform to acceptable sociological methodologies. However, Enroth still holds
that his work concerned persons abused by churches, thus necessitating a different
methodological approach.
Other publications surfaced that sensationalized life in JPUSA and focused on allegations
held by disgruntled former communards. On April 1 and 2 of 2001, journalist Kirsten
Scharnberg published a two-part article in the Chicago Tribune. Scharnberg‘s account of JPUSA
included testimonies provided by former members who shared their perspective on what
amounted to excessive control by JPUSA‘s leadership. Moreover, the journalist questioned the

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community‘s business practices. She concluded the article by highlighting Enroth‘s book,
musing over decline in JPUSA‘s membership, particularly as it applies to older members who
have chosen to leave the community. While Scharnberg notes that Ruth Tucker, a professor at
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Il., defended JPUSA, her account also included
oppositional statements by Paul Martin, director of Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center, who
allegedly received requests from former JPUSA members in need of treatment. Martin argued
that JPUSA ―displays virtually every sign that I watch for in overly authoritarian and totalistic
groups."

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Critiques of the community created a veritable firestorm. Furthermore, Enroth‘s
assessment of JPUSA, albeit intended to bring forth the stories of former members, was met with
other suspicions. Paul Larsen, former president of the Evangelical Covenant Church, argued
that Enroth‘s study was based on a bias which was a ―middle-class one, aimed squarely at a
group of people living as a countercultural community….‖

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The publications by both Enroth and Scharnberg affected the community in a number of
ways, disaffecting current and former members and sparking suspicion among counter-cult
organizations. Disgruntled former members have included references to both Enroth and
Scharnberg on various websites. However, JPUSA has had an equal share of supporters. Letters
were written in response to the Chicago Tribune articles, intended to educate the public (as well
as Enroth) on how communes are structured and why some forms of communal government are
often misunderstood. Historian Timothy Miller, an expert on American communal history,
wrote an official response to the Chicago Tribune, as did other academics, church leaders, and
members of JPUSA. ―Most Americans, young and old,‖ writes Miller, ―are devoutly unwilling
to give up their personal possessions and privileges in favor of living from a rather threadbare
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common purse.‖ After establishing a disconnect between the lifestyles of many American clergy
and those in need, Miller (while admitting that JPUSA is not perfect) exonerates the community,
stating that
by any rational standard there is little public evidence of major wrongdoing in the
organization. Members are free to join and free to leave; the poverty in which they live is
pretty much shared equally; the vast wealth that the organization is accused of amassing
is greatly less, on a per-capita basis, than that of the average American family. $2 million
per year is hardly a luxurious income for 500 persons [which includes monies funneled
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into aid for the homeless].
Various academics representing the Communal Studies Association also submitted a
letter to the Chicago Tribune, pointing out that former members of any group are frequently
bitter, particularly if their lives were defined by total immersion into the community in question.
What is most telling about the Communal Studies Association‘s letter is that it challenges one of
the more frequent accusations presented by former members of JPUSA. Most former
communards have noted their struggle with the authoritarian nature of JPUSA—its undemocratic
governance and their unelected leadership council. In defense of JPUSA (and communal
experiments generally) the Communal Studies Association makes two arguments that desensationalizes JPUSA‘s form of government. In contradistinction to what some Americans may
believe, ―religion and democracy are not co-terminous,‖ and ―[c]lergy in some major
denominations are not democratically chosen.‖

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But for many ex-members of JPUSA, the

absence of democracy (within religious contexts) is tantamount to cultism.
While these arguments appear to exonerate JPUSA, they do not fully engage the
underlying thrust of ex-communard discontent. The way in which these former members
perceive structure has (at least in their words) indicated that they are measuring communal life
against the norms of life in the U.S. (discussed later). When those norms are breached by
authority figures, members of communes or other religious groups are considered to have been
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―victimized.‖ But this consideration is rooted in the mind-control paradigm, largely held by
organizations such as the Cult Awareness Network and the American Family Foundation.

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JPUSA communard Jon Trott has commented on this in the edited volume Bad Pastors: Clergy
Misconduct in Modern America (2000). In considering the mind-control debate as related to new
religious movements, observes Trott, psychiatrist Robert Lifton has been a key figure for both
the school of mind control and how cults are generally understood. In considering Lifton‘s
concept of the protean self, Trott challenges both Lifton (and to a certain extent, Enroth‘s
application of Lifton), noting that mind-control theories which suggest hegemonic power are
founded on principles associated with individualism. He writes:
What Lifton, in all his articulate (one might say romantic) longing, seems to be saying is
that the human self is not a reality grounded in any absolute truth, but rather a selfdefined entity. The problem (among others) with this is that one ends up with the self
defining the self. Further, as a self defines itself, it inescapably begins defining all
selves. Lifton does not escape this tendency. And in spite of discussing his protean
model for an entire book, he is unable to formulate how human beings find selfdefinition. This view is profoundly individualistic, and nowhere in Protean Self does
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Lifton explain just how such men build a family, church, or society together.
Despite Trott‘s challenge to the mind-control paradigm, the perceptions of former
members of any organization are often widely varied and held in wide regard by counter-cult
groups. A quick internet search will reveal the number of sites dedicated to ex-JPUSA, one of
which concerns ―JPUSA diaspora.‖ The reasons for anger and disappointment are varied. Some
register concerns over how leadership roles are decided. Some have quipped over JPUSA‘s
fiscal policies. Others have struggled with the lack of privacy which accompanies communal
life. One dispute arose over different visions for the community‘s future endeavors, where many
were disappointed with the leadership‘s decision to rule against a suggestion to form JPUSA‘s
church into one similar to Willow Creek.

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The council viewed the idea as incompatible with

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their vision; a megachurch format would have undermined their ethos of maintaining an open
door to various subcultures. For members of the council, the megachurch model sends a
message to the neighborhood which is simply counterintuitive to what JPUSA is about. These
decisions created divisions within the rank-and-file members.

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But disputes over the future of

the community proved less damning than the alleged testimonies of former members who felt
abused.

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Disputes over leadership and power resulted in the public airing of grievances.

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One

website offers statements made by former members of JPUSA. One has argued that there are
hidden items in the JPUSA Bylaws and Constitution which are not made public. According to
this person, ―Power is concentrated in such a way that one‘s landlord, pastor, CEO, one-purse
manager, community leader—even (for some) marital counselor—are found in the same 8
members.‖ Leaders control romance and marriage, according to the website, and the finances
are under strict governance. This former member writes:
Financially, the community is represented to outsiders as living out of ―one purse.‖ What
is not mentioned is the reality that the purse-strings are held by those same eight leaders
(who hold perpetual terms of office). What would have been an individual‘s bank
account, salary, pension, unemployment compensation, and the payments that would
have been made into Social Security—as in any other para-church or missionary
organization—are all combined into that purse. Leaders have no financial accountability
to the members who earn the money that goes in to their purse….The leaders‘
unquestioning faith in their ―plurality of leadership‖ has made them accountable only to
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themselves.
Indeed, many have argued that the community uses excessive control and secrecy. In
response to the above statement, Trott argues that communal life and the American life are not
always synonymous. He writes: ―What the paragraph really wants to do is to transform JPUSA
from a uniquely surviving communal group which is an alternative to the American Dream into a
standard congregationally-governed church. [This] isn‘t what most of us want. If we HAD
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wanted it, we could at almost any time simply rise up and take it…it seems obvious to me that a
Christian communal life in America is threatened most by the same forces threatening
Evangelicalism itself.‖

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The paragraph to which Trott refers also argues that JPUSA has not been forthcoming.
Contrary to those who argue that the leadership structure is not made public, the bylaws are
defined in The JPUSA Covenant. In a section containing information on finances, the document
outlines the commune‘s tax status. The document states that while JPUSA is tax exempt as a
community (with the exception of the businesses), individual workers within the community
(since they produce profit) are not. Thus, each communard is allotted an equal share, and the
taxes on that share are paid by those in leadership. However, if that share reaches a certain
threshold, the communard is responsible for paying taxes. The document clearly explains the
communard‘s relationship to the community and to income:
While members are allocated a share of the JPUSA net income every year they do not
receive this amount in the form of salary. Most of this income goes toward food,
housing, utilities, insurance and maintenance costs, as well as our stated community
purposes of evangelism, helping the poor, and discipling believers, all of which are paid
for at the community-wide level by our financial department. In addition, members may
individually requisition money for entertainment or specialized needs from the money
office as funds are available. Members do not need to separately report these
discretionary monies on their tax return as these amounts are included in the pro-rata
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member's share of JPUSA income.
Regardless of particular arguments brought by former members (especially those
concerning statements made by Enroth and Scharnberg), most critiques of JPUSA have been
rooted in understandings of community governance and boundaries, the very things which
account for longevity. The same forces that threaten communal living, argues Trott, also
threaten evangelicalism; he identifies those forces as materialism and the Christian Right. For
Trott, those influenced by these forces live based on the myth of a lost Christian America and
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often preach that the nation must return to that myth. In so doing, rightists secure military and
monetary safety, securities which communes do not offer. The result, argues Trott, will be
churches governed by leaders who appear more like ―CEOs running corporations.‖ In short,
Trott contends (along with historian Timothy Miller) that those who have complained about
JPUSA‘s style of government, their financial structure, or their lack of privacy and property,
simply do not understand communal living. Thus, these individuals are ill-equipped to forego
the safety-net offered by the forces of American materialism.

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Trott‘s argument notwithstanding, disagreements that led to dissent are connected to how
power is perceived within JPUSA. Council member Neil Taylor admits that JPUSA does not
adhere to congressional polity. But the sense of openness and flexibility, he argues, comes from
working in a plurality of leadership. In 1974 the council had to start listening to each other,
taking part in multiple meetings marked by compromise, often ending in tabling an issue or
coming to a decision by consensus.

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Like Taylor, most current members view this structure of

government (rarified as it might be) as good for the community. Moreover, other former
members recall positive experiences and have observed that negative perceptions are merely the
result of living in a community defined by voluntary poverty, shared property, and service to the
poor, all of which require various levels of sacrifice.
When measured against what is considered normative by American culture, maintains
Jon Trott, it becomes easy for communards to perceive their experience and growth as stunted.
Trott argues that many within JPUSA have assumed that democracy might lead to a better
community. He goes on to note that history proves otherwise, proving that pastors and elders
feel that ―politicking‖ will lead to ill-conceived leadership, products of a popularity contest.

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Ironically, one ex-member site points out that Jean Vanier has written about healthy
leadership structures in Community and Growth, a formative document in the life of JPUSA:
Structures call for mandates and accountability; they define how leaders are voted or
nominated and for how long. They set out how major decisions are to be made and by
whom. They define the limits of power and the areas of responsibility. They define also
the relationship between the leader and the community council. Such structures can
sometimes appear heavy, but they are necessary for a healthy community life. If each
and every person is called to be responsible for the community, then all must know how
decisions are made, even if not all can participate in the process of decision-making
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[emphasis added].
Vanier‘s position on power and structure is intended to create a salubrious environment, in his
estimation. The ex-member website interprets Vanier‘s guide as a means to limit the terms of
those in leadership, i.e., ―they define the limits of power.‖ But given the totality of the
paragraph, it would appear that Vanier affirms a governmental structure similar to that of
JPUSA.
While their communal government has been perceived as problematic (resulting in
disgruntled members) other ghosts haunt JPUSA. And while communes indeed function counter
to the American mainstream, those which have engaged in radical practices often garner greater
attention from would-be naysayers.
One of the more controversial chapters in JPUSA‘s history involves the practice of adult
spanking. When the community was in its youth, they sought leadership in the wake of John
Herrin, Sr.‘s departure. Jon Trott writes: ―One thing we had preached, and then had the
unfortunate opportunity to practice, was the direct and honest confrontation with sin. The
confrontation with J. W. Herrin

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had reinforced our belief that forcefully confronting sin,

whether in ourselves or others, was a necessity.‖ In 1974 Jack Winters, pastor to a suburban

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charismatic community Daystar, attempted to fill the void left by Herrin, Sr.

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Trott has written

an account pertaining to why and how the practice of ―adult spanking‖ came about:
Jack Winters' weekly class, which usually dealt with counseling, healing, and
deliverance, eventually wandered into some pretty interesting territory. His teaching,
according to those who were there, went something like this: This is a rebellious
generation--young, rebellious people who didn't grow up having any discipline or love
from their parents. Sometimes, they need to go back and experience discipline to deal
with that rebellion in their lives. You need to go back and walk through those steps,
receiving parental discipline to heal the rebellious adult. In short, what Winters was
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talking about was giving spankings to "rebellious" adults!
According to communard Curtis Mortimer, this practice came about during a time when
psychological theories such as regression therapy—where one regresses into infancy then
matures—were in vogue. For JPUSA, the practice of adult spanking was viewed as a method of
ensuring humility before God. It was also chance for adult communards to submit to the
authority of senior leadership and to purge sin. But spankings were not only reserved for the
rank-and-file. On one occasion, two JPUSA pastors drove to Daystar to request discipline.
Against spanking children, Dawn Mortimer blames herself, recalling that she viewed the practice
with suspicion but was concerned about the community‘s need for concrete leadership and
teaching in the wake of her former husband‘s departure—members trusted Winters.

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Trott

notes that in the years that followed, the practice waned to the point that members did not avail
themselves to the ―discipline‖ nor was the practice widely discussed. In 1978 Trott noted:
Glenn Kaiser announced to the fellowship that Winters' teaching had been in error and
that we were discontinuing the practice. His rationale was that (1) the teaching was
outside the evangelical mainstream, that no one else we knew of (besides Winters) was
practicing this teaching, and that JPUSA didn't want to be involved with anything which
would bring reproach to Christ; and that (2) that people were using "getting the rod" as a
cheap alternative to serious repentance, which ought to be about stopping wrong behavior
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and pursuing righteous behavior.

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Complaints by ex-members notwithstanding, the structures and practices of JPUSA are
not dissimilar from Catholic monasteries, convents, or nineteenth-century Protestant
communities that required complete devotion from adherents through corporal punishment.
Given that their purpose was not defined by American democratic practice, these religious
enclaves chose to install leaders based on criteria established by ecclesiastical mandates. The
call to complete devotion, the concentrated power on a few non-elected council members
(installed based on character and spiritual maturity rather than democratic vote), member term
commitments, and positions of power held in perpetuity, are part of a larger tradition which
defines intentional community. But while some practices continue (in the spirit of communal
living) and some practices have been discontinued, there remains a disconnect between some
former and current members, each asserting that some practices were never part of JPUSA‘s
structure or practice.
In the end, many of the controversies (particularly allegations of abuse) are based on
perceptions of breached boundaries. Kanter‘s work on successful communes reveals that
boundaries must remain in place and a level of communal ―strictness‖ must be observed.
Whereas retreat communes impose no limits, service communes that work effectively
tend to impose many limits. The model of discipline and direction is an appropriate one.
Service communes define behavior that is acceptable; they make coherent choices of life
style and expect them to be adopted; they do not shy away from making demands,
developing organization, and creating rules—though not all the rules may be formalized.
The group has work to be done. Whether decisions are participated in by a whole group
or by single individuals acting for the group, it is important that decisions be made. Even
helping individuals with their own growth is interpreted as requiring the imposition of
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limits, the acceptance of order from the group.
Despite arguments against these levels of boundaries made by of Enroth and sociologist Hugh
Gardner, structural and ideological boundaries and high-commitment values are often necessary
for a commune to survive, at least when considering the founding generation.

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Sustainability
Kanter has argued that what determines a commune‘s ability to sustain itself is ―how
strongly they build commitment.‖ She writes: ―The primary issue with which a utopian
community must cope in order to have the strength and solidarity to endure is human
organization: how people arrange to do the work that the community needs to survive as a group,
and how the group in turn manages to satisfy and involve its members over a long period of
time…commitment thus refers to the willingness of people to do what will help maintain the
group because it provides what they need.‖ She goes on to suggest that these commitments are
realized when the individual expresses or fulfills something that is fundamentally part of their
core selves (in JPUSA‘s case, an allowance of individual aesthetic expressions), while still
developing commitments to the extent that communards can no longer meet their deeper needs
elsewhere. For Kanter, ―Through commitment, person and group are inextricably linked.‖

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This should not, however, lead the reader to assume a lack of agency on the part of JPUSA
communards. JPUSA‘s choice of the signifier ―intentional community‖ is intended to
distinguish the commune from isolationist groups; those who remain, do so voluntarily. Those
who choose to leave are now encouraged to develop life-skills which will serve them outside of
communal structure.
In considering long-term sustainability for JPUSA, there has been resounding agreement
among leaders and rank-and-file communards. The commune‘s relevance is connected to their
overall mission. Communities generally need ―a general and specific mission,‖ notes Taylor.
He recalls Jean Vanier‘s assertion that each community must have a general and a specific
mission, providing examples such as Mother Teresa‘s mission to the lonely and the dying in
Kolkata (Calcutta) and Benedictine communities whose general mission concerns prayer. For
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JPUSA, the general mission has been about offering an open door and an open heart to anyone.
While JPUSA maintains general rules, they apply them based on the individual, often allowing
nuanced interpretations of community guidelines.
Many communards have noted that JPUSA‘s longevity can be attributed to its flexibility
and ability to accommodate culture. Although it is widely held that communes often disband
because they are built solely around single charismatic leaders, Taylor believes that the
communes often fold due to ideological inflexibility, arguing that JPUSA has always been able
to adapt to culture. He has observed that the community‘s flexibility contributes to its strength
and cultural relevance, though his examples of tolerance are largely oriented around aesthetics
rather than politics or religion. Over the past forty years, every decade brings a new generation
for the commune. With each one brings new stylistic expressions, such as spiked or green hair,
body piercings, tattoos, and those who avoid bathing in an attempt to identify with those who do
not have running water.

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However, communard Susan argues that increasing flexibility (when

manifested as greater freedoms for youth) might have contributed to a decrease in membership
among second-generation members. Simply put, they leave hoping to enjoy what has been
denied.

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Aesthetic freedom notwithstanding, the immediate concerns of Uptown tend to generate
sustained commitment that accounts for JPUSA‘s continuance over recent years. But in the early
days there was a different kind of immediacy, recalled Lyda Jackson. Ready for the rapture, she
fully anticipated that she would not die. This is what fueled the early Jesus Movement.
However, JPUSA‘s vision changed as they attracted persons who needed practical assistance.
The doctrine of the rapture remained, but was not formative in daily purpose; the mission to the
local community transcended doctrinal particulars such as millenarianism. Thus, JPUSA differs
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from other earlier communes in that the needs of the neighborhood made it necessary to move
beyond esoteric musings about the end of time. Instead, the community focused their attention
on the homeless, a decision which inspired the creation of their multiple businesses and
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ministries.

One communard has stated that those who remain in JPUSA all feel the same

desire to serve the homeless in their neighborhood, exemplifying commitment to both God and
location. For communard Raye Clemente, a community is strengthened when it looks outside of
itself, focuses on external needs, and develops rescue scenarios such as JPUSA‘s primary
mission to the homeless shelter.

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Nathan Cameron feels his life is interwoven with others in the community. As a result,
he remains committed, recognizing the integral connection between all members. Like a link
within a larger chain he believes his absence would affect others. If Cameron ignores his
responsibilities or if he leaves the community, a ripple effect would occur. That is, everyone‘s
place in the community fits into a larger whole. When one leaves, the loss is felt by all and
duties and businesses must adjust to compensate for the loss. This is why term commitments are
valued as leaders count on communards to be there when needed.

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This sense of inter-

connectivity is precisely what makes leaving JPUSA a daunting possibility for those who derive
a sense of identity from the overall mission.
For Neil Taylor, the focus on evangelism has been central in retaining members who are
committed to one cause—but he qualifies how he defines evangelism. Unlike other Jesus
Movement communes, Taylor does not define evangelism in the narrow sense of ministering to
the soul. While part of JPUSA‘s goal is to lead individuals to Jesus, leaders view the concept of
mission work as holistic. Unlike premillennialist evangelicals (particularly those during the
Jesus movement), Taylor also defines evangelism as the ability to maintain an open door to new
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people, young mothers, prostitutes with children, etc. This was distinguished early on, notes
Taylor. ―Back in those early seventies…we were learning about how to…live out the gospel,
how to visit the widows or the shut-ins, and continue to care for them.‖ He credits Dawn
Mortimer—who had twenty years of life-experience on the rest—as the leader who provided the
community early on with a sense of ideological balance, imbuing the commune with a sense of
urgency to engage matters concerning social justice.

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Commitment to social justice has inspired the community to continue their efforts to
identify with the poor. But as some boundaries erode, various luxuries have found their way into
Friendly Towers; large flat screen televisions are now enjoyed in many JPUSA apartments.
Communard Ami Moss is concerned that materialism might cause the community to become less
concerned with what is going on in the outside world. She noted that Jean Vanier (JPUSA‘s
primary influence) warned the community that materialism might prove to be their downfall.

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Aside from any potential materialism that might emerge within the community, there remains a
sense of dedication to one-another that attracts those seeking a sense of community. While many
come and go, older members appear to be bound to those whom they consider to be family.
This family has some of the dynamics of a small town, where communards help those
who might experience crisis. People rally around members who are in need, a scenario similar to
an ―old-fashioned barn-raising,‖ according to various members. This aspect of community is
undergirded by a sense of continuity of communal vision. Put another way, communards
collectively share in goals outlined earlier in this chapter. But mission by itself is not enough.
Along with Neil Taylor, communard Tom Cameron notes that cultural adaptability has greatly
contributed to JPUSA‘s ability to sustain an ongoing commitment serving God and the
neighborhood of Uptown. According to Cameron, the attraction to JPUSA is the commune‘s
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persistent attempts to provide a place where persons can live life in service to God. But how this
is expressed has changed over the years.
Although many who come to live in JPUSA are largely transient persons whose stay may
range from one month to one year, the commune is able to remain healthy while meeting the
needs of individual travelers. Leaders are able to adjust to what amounts to a community in a
constant state of flux, simply because the core members remain committed to a life of service.
Moreover, transient persons, to some extent, provide JPUSA with new lifeblood (culturally) as
well as a work force for communal businesses.
Cameron‘s assessment of communal strength is largely sentimental, though apparently
accurate. Two cultural worlds inform JPUSA‘s modus operandi. The first (discussed at length
in chapter 6) concern‘s Neil Taylor‘s assessment of JPUSA‘s evolving ethos of aesthetics; the
community has for many years accepted all manners of sub and countercultural expressions. The
second concerns JPUSA‘s sentimentalities for simple living, where identities are not continually
fragmented by post-industrial scenarios such as suburban living—a model which for JPUSA,
isolates the self and ruptures community. Cameron describes their vision in a manner
reminiscent of a bygone era:
In some sense, this has some of the dynamics of a small town fifty years ago. If your
husband or your wife comes down with a serious disease or something, [there are] half a
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dozen people at your door ready to help you with whatever things you need help with.
While the combination of subcultural aesthetics and 1960s rurality might appear anachronistic,
the mix seems to work.
Freedom to express individual aesthetic taste, familial ethics, and the small-town feel
have all contributed to and strengthened JPUSA‘s larger mission. That is, these aspects of the
commune made bearable what has otherwise been a threadbare existence. But ultimately, their

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ability to sustain this existence has been reliant on those in leadership, as well as how that
leadership is understood. As former members have argued, the leadership‘s overly authoritarian
hand hastened the departure of many communards and exacerbated the already ticklish situation
created by Ronald Enroth and the Chicago Tribune. Despite this, the majority of current and
former members, as well as innumerable studies on North American communes, demonstrate the
significance of a plurality of leadership. This is evidenced by any organizational scenario where
the sole purpose or mission is built around the dream of one powerful individual.
As noted earlier, JPUSA‘s original patriarch, John Herrin, Sr. (―Papa John‖), fell into
disfavor with the community, forcing the community to reconsider their leadership structure.
Both Neil Taylor and Curtis Mortimer (husband to matriarch Dawn Mortimer) note that the
move from a single-leader model to a plurality of leadership (nine co-equal council
members/pastors) was an important move, one resulting in consensus-based decision making,
rather than majority-rule democratic vote.
Mortimer maintains that a number of factors have contributed to JPUSA‘s survival thus
far, and has identified what he believes to be five core reasons (foundations) for JPUSA‘s
continued existence and their potential for longevity:
1. Mission-businesses solved the problem of finances, eliminating the need to solicit
donations.
2. The shift from a single-leader model of governance to a model of multiple eldership—
nine members (other communards feel they are well represented as the council is
occupied by men and women, each coming from different backgrounds).
3. The community operates based on individual need. The person with the most needs gets
the most resources (everyone according to their need) not on the basis of ―we each get
equal.‖ All accept this, with compassion for those who need extra resources. This also
includes an emphasis on personal decision-making (choice to remain or leave).
4. A shared sense of calling and purpose—ministry, not just a paycheck. For example, the
Cornerstone magazine went out of print, reallocating the magazine budget so JPUSA
could purchase a new building for the shelter.
5. External accountability (affiliation with the Evangelical Covenant Church).

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Mortimer has observed the direct relationship between the mission businesses and the
shelter, one which reinforces a collectively agreed upon purpose. Put another way, the
relationship between mission businesses, social outreach, and the authority granted to the
council, is predicated on a higher purpose which transcends the mundane. That is, the mundane
is necessary to carry out God‘s plan to rescue persons in need. Mortimer recognizes that at
times, communards seriously consider the reasons for their modest lives and common purse
arrangement. He notes that ―if they have that sense of commitment and that sense of ministry,
that‘s when they‘re happy to go to work…they have that sense of ministry that their work is
definitely supporting our work at the shelter.‖ For Mortimer, the shelter is the life-blood of
JPUSA, encouraging commitment which makes communards healthy and happy. Moreover, the
shelter attracts outsiders seeking to engage in social justice measures. JPUSA takes advantage of
this by offering training programs such as Project 12, a new undertaking that prepares youth for
inner-city service and educates outsiders on life in JPUSA.

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The two pillars that appear to provide a practical foundation for JPUSA—purpose and the
plurality of leadership—is a reoccurring theme throughout the community. Glen van Alkemade
runs the sheet metal department of Lake Front Roofing Supply. Before joining JPUSA, van
Alkemade was a civil engineer with Illinois Department of Transportation. After reading the
Bible on a dare, he found it persuasive, reached a personal crisis, then took a leap of faith and
began attending Methodist churches. Finding his career wanting (diverging from the values
learned in his discipleship group), he sought change. Van Alkemade agrees with what appears to
be a consensus among members. Basing his understanding of community structure on JPUSA‘s
oral history, he considers the shift from a single strong leader model to a plurality of leadership
model as the ―make it or break it moment‖ the community. For van Alkemade, JPUSA is a
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―large, motley, rag-tag, unruly, difficult-to-lead group‖ which needs to be led by a council
defined by the same set of descriptors. The dynamics which define the leaders and the rank-andfile members matches well, according to van Alkemade.

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Van Alkemade believes that group decision (consensus) often ranks closer to optimal
survival ability. This model ends with better decisions, though reaching consensus often takes
longer. If consensus is not reached, the topic is tabled. At times the result is years of
deliberation with no decision in the foreseeable future. Van Alkemade does not view JPUSA as
a democracy and believes their brand of government contributes to strength and sustainability,
pointing out that communism only works when group need and individual need are balanced
(individualism within collectivism). He clarifies, however, that this only works with smaller
groups.

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Timothy Miller has provided accounts of communes that grew weary of decision by

consensus, but reminds us of the Quaker-founded Alpha Farm, a consensus-based group which
began in the early seventies and remains vibrant.

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Regardless of the manner in which decisions are made, commitment remains a matter of
choices made by those who feel connected to others who hold all things in common—
particularly the overarching goals of the collective order. But how communards perceive and
interact with one-another has always been both a strength and weakness for any commune.
Veteran communard Chris Spicer emphasizes that JPUSA‘s foci on humanity and Jesus—two
core organizing principles—are unwavering. However, he notes the paradox of community in an
oft-stated aphorism: ―the joy of community is all the people and the curse of community is all the
people.‖ Spicer argued that the primary reason for failure in other communes is that they
changed the focus.

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Ironically, others in JPUSA maintain that the ability to change is a major contributing
factor to sustainability. Second-generation communard Tamzen Trott has argued that JPUSA
always seems to be open to what is new—what the younger generation is about—holding to
what they believe Jesus requires. For example, the Cornerstone magazine (1971-2003) was one
of the more significant reasons JPUSA remained culturally relevant for so many years. Part of
its purpose was to push boundaries and challenge ecclesial comfort-zones held by establishment
evangelicals, encouraging them to re-examine their own paradigmatic assumptions.
Like many others who have lived for years in the community, Stu Heiss (former guitarist
for REZ Band) argues that God‘s grace caused JPUSA‘s success, leading the community down a
path which resulted in a sustainable structure. The community has always been about
discipleship and evangelism, impulses which remain, according to Heiss, ―important grounding
points for the community‖ that keep them from ―withdrawing into [their] own world and
becoming cut off from the larger community.‖

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Communities err when they withdraw from

the world, observed Heiss. He is aware of the failings of earlier Jesus Movement communes, as
well as millenarian tendencies which undermined planning for the future. When considering the
doctrine of the Rapture,

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Heiss appeared forward-looking, and yet withheld any sense of

finality with regard to the end of time: ―As God has revealed himself and as history is played out
and cultures changed, I think that JPUSA has adapted, and that‘s part of the reason why that
there‘s still vitality.‖ He argues that the beginning of the death of any social group is attempting
to ―stop history,‖ seeking to maintain a particular way of living without regard to the larger
culture.

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Founding member Wendi Kaiser echoes this sentiment. Considering JPUSA to be
―world Christians,‖ she notes that flexibility is key, but within a broader understanding of culture
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and Christianity, one connected to the larger tradition. Her opinion of American Christianity
hints at JPUSA‘s aversion to narrowly defined boundaries: ―One of the things that really
distressed us is confusing patriotism with Christianity and confusing the American-ManifestDestiny-we are-the-second-Israel type of mentality into Christianity, and we just can‘t go there.
We just can‘t go there at all.‖

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Cultural engagement and relevance notwithstanding, this community has sustained itself
due to multiple variables. The five foundations provided by Curtis Mortimer might account for
JPUSA‘s survival thus far. If so, these reinforce communal purpose and dedication. Financial
stability, a council marked by diversity, respect for individual need, and the immediate sense of
purpose, all contribute to the commitment mechanisms necessary for a healthy, sustainable
commune. While Mortimer provides five reasons for success, the concept of a plurality of
leadership has been noted several times as part of JPUSA‘s vitality. But Kevin Frank feels
differently.
Frank left JPUSA in 1998 and views their structure as overly controlling. Early JPUSA
was grass-roots, without clarity of planning or structure. Trial and error marked JPSUA‘s early
processes, according to Frank. While he concedes that leaders have done their best, he maintains
that what emerged was a government with too much power:
To be fair, I think the leaders did the best they could, under the circumstances (being
untrained and learning on the job), but of course, mistakes were made. In hindsight, I
think it was not a good idea for a small group of leaders to make all the decisions for
everyone else. The same few people decided where you lived, where you worked, how
much spending cash you could (or couldn't) get, when (if) you could date, or marry, or
have kids. Basically your boss was also your landlord, your counselor, your pastor—
everything. That was just too much power for one brother to hold over another (or
another several hundred.) I'm amazed that it worked as well as it did, truth be told. A
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testimony to the grace of God.

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Frank has voiced what other disgruntled former members have—the desire for privacy
and allegations of excessive pastoral control. While history demonstrates the effectiveness of
authoritarian structure (such as convents and monasteries), Frank does not link communal
government to success, arguing that JPUSA‘s location and spiritual focus accounts for their
longevity. Indeed, the fact that the commune is urban-based allows members to come and go
freely. Location also forces the community to maintain an outward focus on the poor, thus
avoiding insularity or self-preservation. His assessment concurs in part with others: location and
a focus on the needs of those outside the community contribute to sustainability. Furthermore,
location attracts drifters in ways rural communes do not.

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The fact that there has been high turnover—that membership has been in constant motion
over the years—has been observed by current members who note that a large percentage of
communards are represented by ―travelers‖ or ―nomads‖ often seeking purpose. But location is
not the sole reason, though their location proves more accessible. Many travelers, according to
most of my interviewees, have heard about JPUSA over the years through REZ Band,
Cornerstone magazine, or Cornerstone Festival. But while location in-and-of itself might not
serve to attract members, it clearly serves to retain many of them. The revolving door of
travelers provides fresh workers to occupy positions paramount to JPUSA‘s survival. As
newcomers arrive, they take post on kitchen and house duty, freeing other members to expand
into other parts of JPUSA interests. Thus, Uptown‘s location indeed contributes to an
organicism which nurtures the community‘s lifeline.

Conclusion
In their unique, atavistic manner, JPUSA has succeeded in maintaining the zeitgeist of
the Jesus Movement. The compelling thing about this group is that they have managed to
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maintain something which has long expired. Original Jesus freaks were absorbed by the Right.
Yet, this community has, in some ways, revitalized (if only partially) the dreams of the New
Left. But they have outlived other groups which attempted similar endeavors.
Kanter has demonstrated that retreat communes often fail to build ―enduring groups‖ due
their inability to ―institute many commitment mechanisms‖ and because they establish ―negative
boundaries that tend to disperse whatever commitment members initially bring to the group.‖

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Furthermore, groups without structure or a core organizing principle have often relied on one
immovable and unchallengeable person or idea. Or they eliminate all boundaries, resulting in
communities deemed unsanitary and financially bankrupt. Retreat communes become easily
dichotomized, either adopting an inflexible dogma or rupturing boundary distinctions altogether.
Both extremes have undermined the ability for this type of commune to continue.
JPUSA has survived since 1972 largely due to one core organizing value—commitment
to Jesus—and subsequent commitment mechanisms. These mechanisms are necessary for the
sustainability of service communes generally and are paramount for the continued success of
JPUSA specifically. With a few exceptions, JPUSA communards have argued that their
dedication to the community and its survival are intertwined with each member‘s relationship to
five fundamental mechanisms: mission businesses; the plurality of leadership; individualism
within collectivism; a divine calling that transcends work or ideological particulars; and external
accountability to a denomination. Although some have (understandably) argued that ultimately
JPUSA‘s success is a result of divine favor, examples of divine favor were concretized with a list
of the aforementioned commitment mechanisms.
JPUSA‘s location has played a significant role in maintaining sustainability and
reinforces the five commitment mechanisms in the following ways: First, as argued in chapter

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one, Chicago provides an environment marked by social justice and is friendly to communal
groups; Second, the inner city creates a sense of calling and purpose which transcends both work
and ideology; Third, JPUSA‘s decision to come under the umbrella of a denomination helped
them avoid cultural or social isolationism. The Evangelical Covenant Church‘s flagship
university and seminary, North Park, is located within a mile of JPUSA. Thus, the proximity of
JPUSA‘s ―parent‖ helps the community remain committed to its own values and to the values of
the larger church culture.
An analysis of JPUSA‘s organizational structure, their many social enterprises, and the
stories of individual communards, accounts for why this particular community has survived since
its 1972 genesis. But more than this, glimpsing the inner-life of the group illuminates a
communal ethic which has extended beyond the original Jesus Movement. Moreover, this ethic
(as encapsulated in JPUSA‘s earlier years) portended decline of the establishment version of
Jesus Movement evangelicalism (its association with the Religious Right), creating a path for the
continuance of the Evangelical Left in postmodern Christian expressions such as ―emergent‖
Christianity.

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As an example of the Evangelical Left, JPUSA‘s social ethic bears similarities

to the activism of the New Left. The next chapter will consider how the community‘s location
has contributed to their position on social justice, continues to galvanize commitment from
members, and inspires an ongoing ideological evolution.

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Chapter 4
Big Shoulders, Big History: Why Chicago?
Introduction
The city of Chicago has provided an environment that has sustained JPUSA and
contributes to their longevity. After traveling throughout the Midwest, performing rock concerts
and evangelizing, JPUSA‘s decision to settle in one location allowed the community to grow in
number and to expand its concept of ministry. Specifically, the location of Chicago‘s Uptown
neighborhood has influenced the community‘s development and ethos.
As an urban commune, JPUSA has been able to locate itself within a particular context
often unrealized in rural-based groups. As noted in chapter 2, this community experienced a
number of residential scenarios before securing their current location. Despite initial instability,
JPUSA stabilized as they purchased their current residence, Friendly Towers. During the 1980s,
JPUSA‘s location exposed them to low-income families in need of housing. The result was an
early recognition of practical human need.
JPUSA‘s urban location has also played a role in securing a denominational affiliation.
Given that many Jesus Movement communes were disconnected from the institutional church,
this was a needed connection, serving to garner favor with the evangelical subculture as JPUSA
would later seek to establish a relationship with the larger evangelical community. This
relationship was necessary as both the Cornerstone magazine and the Cornerstone Festival
primarily advertised to the institutional church, albeit subcultural expressions of it.

1

Chicago provides a welcoming place for communities such as JPUSA. The city‘s history
of radicalism and reform efforts provide a unique and welcoming context for experimental
groups. Moreover, the significant Catholic presence in the city offers sympathy for collectivist
2

groups seeking to live based on models of shared living and social justice. The history of
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Chicago sets the stage for a place marked by a legacy of radical politics, religious fervor, and
progressive politics. In short, geographical location has played a significant role in JPUSA‘s
various commitments and to their longevity.

Revivalism, Social Reform, and Evangelicalism: Historical Context
Historians have pointed to an impulse of religious populism that has often characterized
the American Midwest. Historian James Davison Hunter has demonstrated how geographical
location and situational scenarios play a role when considering the differences between mainline
3

and conservative Protestant denominations. But if conservative evangelicalism tends to be
more concentrated in the Midwest and the South, what is it about Chicago that provides a good
home for JPUSA, a group that essentially embraces an evangelical theological position, but is
wholly different from the politics of establishment evangelicalism? Do they see the city as a
mission field or simply a welcoming environment to live out their own ethos while serving the
poor as a consequence of their presence? Although Chicago is also home to a number of
conservative evangelical institutions (Moody Bible Institute, Willow Creek, etc.) does the
community enjoy favor with their evangelical neighbors, or are they viewed as merely another
socialist commune that has added the evangelical distinguisher? Although many members such
as Jon Trott now avoid this classification (see chapter 5), perhaps part of the reason for JPUSA‘s
ability to succeed and gain acceptance as a valid expression of Christianity in Chicago has to do
with a larger history of struggle layered over years of Midwestern radicalism and populism.
The American Midwest has often been viewed as fertile ground for Protestant revivalists,
4

Catholic relief movements, and populists both Right and Left. But as historian George Marsden
has argued, earlier attempts to make American life better were often inconsequential, despite
attempts to organize. Citing evangelists such as William Jennings Bryan, Marsden points to a
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pattern that emerged during the Progressive Era—that ―both parties [Republican and Democrat]
were preaching moral reform and each presented a vision of America as the land where God‘s
will should be done.‖ Thus, the focus remained on political rhetoric more often than socio5

political action. These similarities (at least with conservative evangelicals) continued until the
1960s. Socio-politico-economic problems continued as evangelicals disengaged from social
6

measures rooted in pure humanitarianism. During the nineteenth century, evangelicals were
engaged in social justice in ways that contributed to the liberal/conservative divide that was to
come. In the midst of rising anonymity for the individual who was lost in a sea of industry and
the changing cultural landscape due to immigration, organizations such as the YMCA and the
7

YWCA attempted to offer assistance. But evangelicals soon retreated from social matters,
leaving a space to be filled by organizations such as the New Left; evangelicals would not
reengage until the rise of the Religious Right. But the upper Midwest would soon become home
to a number activist groups.
Chicago‘s history of radicalism and social activism is fitting for a study on communes as
8

th

well as urban poverty. It is little wonder, the problems which beset the 46 Ward, let alone the
greater Chicago area. In some ways, there is no better place than Chicago for an urban religious
9

commune. In other ways, Chicago‘s dualistic soul calls for a community which splits the
difference between radical populism and establishment evangelicalism—a dichotomy which
might signify JPUSA‘s ethos and tightrope which they must navigate. There is a mixture of
business, politics, and religion that has become characteristic of Chicago‘s ideological landscape.
Marsden demonstrates how John D. Rockefeller and D .L. Moody (the Charles Finney

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10

of his

day) both contributed to a mythology pertaining to religion and political struggle in Chicago‘s
history.
Although Christians in Chicago‘s earlier years sought to Christianize (read Americanize)
society, the goal of making life better simply for its own sake ended with new theological
positions intended to counter the Social Gospel. Social reformers such as Moody (a
dispensational premillennialist) believed the world would decline before the rapture of Christians
and the millennial reign of Christ.

11

This position has been held in high regard by many

evangelicals since the doctrine was popularized by author Hal Lindsey‘s The Late Great Planet
Earth (1970) and reenergized by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins‘s Left Behind series (1990s).
JPUSA‘s social activism in Chicago has always distinguished them from other
evangelicals, particularly during the 1980s. And while JPUSA adopted a rigorous biblicism

12

during the 1980s (a position which endeared them to evangelical apologists such as Norman L.
Geisler), the community‘s political philosophy and emerging eschatological skepticism has
slowly distinguished them from the establishment evangelicalism which has come to define
Chicago.

Conservative Evangelicalism in Chicago
Between October 26 and October 28, 1978, Chicago became ground zero for the planks
of conservative evangelical Christianity. Founded in 1977, the International Council on Biblical
Inerrancy (ICBI) began a series of summits intended to clarify various theological matters.
Three hundred members met in Chicago to discuss and adopt the Chicago Statement on Biblical
Inerrancy. The papers delivered at the conference were edited and published by Norman L.
Geisler (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981). Jay Grimstead, founder and director of the Coalition

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on Revival,

13

stated that the document was a ―landmark church document‖ that was created. It

represented the
largest, broadest, group of evangelical protestant scholars that ever came together to
create a common, theological document in the 20th century. It is probably the first
systematically comprehensive, broadly based, scholarly, creed–like statement on the
14
inspiration and authority of Scripture in the history of the church."
Figures such as D. L. Moody have had an enormous influence on evangelicalism. But
this particular event continued the heritage, and in many ways connected institutional (read
―establishment‖) evangelicalism to Chicago. Summit II met between November 10 and
November 13, 1982, in Chicago ―to discuss guidelines for principles of interpreting the Bible.‖
Those in attendance adopted the Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics. Papers were
edited by Earl D. Radmacher and Robert D. Preus and published in Hermeneutics, Inerrancy,
and the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984). Summit III met between December 10 and
December 13, 1986. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Application was adopted. Papers were
edited by Kenneth S. Kantzer and published in Applying the Scriptures (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1987).

15

While Norman Geisler‘s participation in these historical documents is noteworthy, he is
an important figure when considering JPUSA‘s community and their position in the history of
evangelicalism in Chicago. Geisler has been involved with JPUSA for a number of years,
offering various lectures at Cornerstone. He also sided with the community during the Enroth
controversy (see chapter 3).

16

JPUSA‘s affiliation with Geisler and their own collective

affirmation of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy helped solidify the community‘s
position with other evangelicals.

17

However, the community‘s location continued to inspire a

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different political trajectory than other evangelicals who can be considered conservative and
establishment.

Daley and Conflict
Chicago is a city known for its history of religious reform and relief efforts. But these
waned as new models of Christian activism (salvation of the soul) replaced progressive
understandings of evangelical social justice.
movements were left to fill the gap.

19

18

As a result, government agencies and radical

After World Wars I and II, Chicago‘s social need

intensified, but the resolve was far from settled.
Post-war Chicago experienced a massive upsurge of southern immigrants, many settling
in Uptown. Between 1945 and 1959, seventy-seven percent of the homes built in Chicago were
outside the city limits.

20

Immigrant workers and other minorities remained in the inner city and

would become the backyard of Chicago‘s elegant Lake Shore drive façade. ―Uptown ranked
second among Chicago neighborhoods in population density,‖ writes historian Roger Biles.
Twenty-seven percent of the areas dwellings, according to the Census Bureau, lacked sufficient
plumbing and thirty-eight percent were considered deteriorated, making Uptown ―one of
Chicago‘s most abominable slums.‖

21

During the 1960s, years of tension over racial inequity

and poverty resulted in riots and attempts to escape the ghettos.
A city besieged by poverty and noted for a multicultural population, Chicago grew to
national notoriety as an urban nexus of poverty and prosperity, heavy-handed governance and
political malfeasance. An acclaimed big city boss, Mayor Richard J. Daley‘s rise to power
during the 1950s was both solidified and questioned during the 1960s. While his form of
government quelled the unseemly elements of Chicago‘s underworld (at least in perception),

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Daley‘s tenure in office was both celebrated and ridiculed. Unable (or unwilling) to resolve the
crisis of poverty and racial inequity, Daley‘s administration exacerbated racial tensions, ending
with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s failed public attempts to resolve mounting problems and
subsequent riots. Despite his projected liberalism, Daley‘s policies were welcomed by
conservatives. However, he outraged New Left ―yippies‖

22

who viewed his continued

affirmation of middle-class values and support of U.S. foreign policy as indicative of the
hypocrisy they sought to embattle.

23

Insurmountable problems concerning race and poverty were not fully addressed by the
Democratic machine of Daley. Consequently, Chicago‘s public image contributed to civil
disobedience, which grew on a national scale. Civil unrest ensued at the 1968 Democratic
National Convention where yippie protestors brought national attention to the New Left, ending
with the indictment of the Chicago 8 (later the Chicago 7), a group of yippie protestors found
guilty of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968. The preceding events culminated in the Days of
Rage, riots launched by the New Left‘s ―Weatherman‖ in 1969.

Social Justice and New Left Similarities
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, evangelical activism was, for the most part, confined to
a war over family values. The very idea of radical evangelical activism (of the leftist variety)
was fleeting at best. In the aftermath of decades of inner-city turmoil, JPUSA offered Uptown a
combination of radical activism, outreach measures similar to the Catholic Worker model, and
the evangelicalism of D.L. Moody. What made new forms of activism necessary was the failure
of the New Left. Todd Gitlin writes that ―The New Left, like its predecessors, failed to create
lasting political forms; when SDS [Students for a Democratic Party] was torn apart, so was the
chance for continuity.‖ Consequently, ―the New Left failed to produce the political leaders one
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might have expected of a movement so vast,‖ writes Gitlin. ―The millennial, all-or-nothing
moods of the Sixties,‖ he contends, ―proved to be poor training grounds for practical politics.‖

24

Similarly, many Jesus freaks of the Seventies were ill-prepared to organize sustained efforts
toward social justice. Furthermore, post-Jesus Movement evangelicals during the Eighties
(many of whom were part of the Jesus-freak exodus from culture) translated activism in service
of the Religious Right during the Reagan years.

25

Thus JPUSA occupies an interstitial space,

one informed by New-Left ideals and a Christian understanding of justice, which can be traced to
the Catholic worker model and nineteenth-century progressivism.
As discussed in chapters 2 and 3, JPUSA leadership began to view their calling as a firm
commitment to those living and surviving in Uptown. There vision, however, can be traced to
other luminaries—but they were not evangelical. In Chicago, The Catholic Worker and Social
Gospel organizations have arguably offered more aid to the homeless than traditional evangelical
models. Historian Randall Balmer suggests that during the nineteenth century, those who
adopted dispensational premillennialism tended to ―withdraw from campaigns of social
reform…to devote their full attention to preparations for the Second Coming of Jesus, which
entailed cultivating inner-piety and trying to convert others to the faith.‖ Balmer goes on to
highlight the exodus of evangelicals from public life and service, stating, ―In the face of
mounting social ills, evangelicals shifted their attentions from the long term to the short term—
because the time was so brief, they believed, until the return of Jesus.‖ Thus evangelicals such
as D. L. Moody (an evangelist who had tremendous influence on American evangelicalism)
viewed the world as wrecked and abandoned social reform for its own sake, focusing instead on
―individual regeneration‖—salvation of the human soul.

26

In contradistinction to a man

considered the quintessential evangelical, JPUSA adopted what one could consider an
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unabridged version of the gospel, one broadly conceived, treating salvation of individuals in a
27

holistic manner.

But their antecedents prepared the way for a social consciousness long absent

within evangelical circles.
Viewing the social reform efforts of the Old Left as flawed, those within the New Left
focused on individual persons, taking up what Todd Gitlin refers to as ―practical moralisms.‖

28

These activists viewed their forerunners as outdated and overly focused on the economics of the
proletariat, arguing that the American middle class ―seemed impersonal, bureaucratic, and
inhumane,‖ according to historian James J. Farrell. A pacifist, Marxist, and Christian Socialist,
Dorothy Day (1898-1980) was a key figure in American Catholic social justice. Farrell points to
the revolutionary publication of both Day and the French peasant intellectual Peter Maurin: ―The
Catholic Worker decried the assumption of American capitalism (and of American labor) that
work could be understood mainly as a commodity rather than as a means of fulfilling people‘s
spiritual and material needs.‖ Maurin considered Pope Pius XI‘s argument that raw materials
leave the factory ―ennobled‖ while workers come out ―degraded.‖

29

Their teaching provided a

model for hospitality houses, Christian communal living, and ethics based on the teachings of
Gandhi. Among other social outreach measures, Day founded the Chicago House, which
provided shelter for over three-hundred individuals nightly.

30

In many ways, the New Left drew

inspiration from both Day and Maurin.
Although the Left seemed largely divorced from evangelicalism during the 1960s, many
of the forerunners were grounded in the same impulse that inspires JPUSA. Alive and well at the
YMCA at the University of Texas, a leftist faction grew. Inspired by the writings of Albert
Camus, theologian Paul Tilich, Reinhold Niebuhr, H. Richard Niebuhr, and Martin Luther King,
Jr., the SDS sought to alleviate existential anxiety through finding a sense of purpose, hoping to
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realize what the Old Left could not.

31

Although the SDS community and the members of the

Christian Faith-and-Life Community at the University of Texas were influenced by Marx and
Camus, historian Doug Rossinow argues that many within the movement believed the
humanistic ethos was in line with Christian doctrine.

32

Chicago‘s homeless population benefitted from social philosophies that originated with
New Left activists and social theories taught by the Catholic Left. The problems associated with
Chicago‘s Uptown

33

have warranted action on the part of social outreach groups such as JPUSA.

The SDS established models for collective activism that were collectivist, but not totalitarian.
Rossinow notes that during the formative years of the New Left, the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the SDS encouraged the concept of a ―redemptive
community.‖ In the search for authentic examples of humanitarianism and humanness, new left
radicals believed that the search for human authenticity occurred ―in a communal context.‖

34

When the options were considered (the isolationism of a free-market system and the conformity
indicative of collectivism) a middle way was considered, one that would alleviate the crisis of
meaning by providing a sense of community without totalitarian control. JPUSA exemplifies
this as they attempt to locate a balance between the individual and the community; their location
contributes to a sense of self. A rural scenario might have undermined their sense of purpose
which is driven by the post-industrial needs of those living in Uptown, as well as their unique
balance between individual and community.
Although countercultural communes have often been rural, Chicago was one of many
urban environments which allowed the politics of the counterculture to emerge. Faced with
problems associated with the ―depersonalization‖ of individuals—which often accompanies
urban poverty and defines the landscape of Uptown—various youth during the 1960s and 1970s
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sought to pool their resources, hoping to counter a climate that came to define many parts of
Chicago and American society.

35

Sociologist Noreen Cornfield considers how during the

counterculture, Chicago‘s communes attracted dedicated adherents to what amounted to
ephemeral experiments. She writes:
During the 1970s, hundreds of young adults in the Chicago area sought to demonstrate
their moral convictions by living in secular, urban communal households. Few of these
communes survived after the end of the Vietnam War and the decline of the protest
movements of the 1960s. Although the communes were temporary, their histories
36
broaden our vision of social possibilities.
These ―moral convictions‖ concerned a recapturing of many of the same impulses that
defined the New Left. Moreover, the temporality of these communes and the exodus of urban
churches (as they retreated to the suburbs) created a space for evangelicals such as JPUSA to
experiment with leftist ideas within an evangelical framework. Thus Chicago contributed to a
context that warranted evangelical missionizing within a leftist political orientation.
In considering JPUSA‘s activism and political affiliations (as related to problems
associated with Uptown), it is possible to trace some elements of the New Left to JPUSA.
Although JPUSA adopted a theological statement that placed them firmly within the ranks of
conservative evangelicalism, the community‘s focus (even when they looked for the second
coming of Christ) had been on feeding their neighbor, both spiritually and physically. Moreover,
despite their conservative tendency to focus on spiritual salvation, JPUSA chose to adopt a more
holistic model of the gospel (discussed in chapters 3 and 5).
While there have been various attempts at resolving the problems in Uptown created by
poverty, few groups have succeeded. However, JPUSA has engaged in different forms of
activism in Uptown since the 1970s. Gentrification, states one communard, has been the cause

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of relocation for a number of homeless persons. Cornerstone magazine provides one example of
JPUSA‘s perception of the housing crisis in Uptown that warranted immediate action:
As "Reaganomics" took hold in the early 1980s, homelessness suddenly became one of
Uptown's most noticeable features. Entire families had nowhere to go. The total number
of those we provided dinner for grew (to between two hundred and three hundred a day),
and the complexion of those eating with us changed as well, from predominantly single
men to entire families. The vast government cuts in housing programs also created a
tremendous demand for temporary shelter of any kind. It was obvious that housing had
become Uptown's most pressing problem, and we were compelled toward finding
37
solutions.
Historically, Chicago‘s social outreach measures have been taken up by groups such as
the Hull House,

38

JOIN,

39

Heart of Uptown, and various denominations rooted in pietistic

traditions, such as the Salvation Army. But JPUSA‘s mixture of evangelical spiritualism and
leftist activism informed how the commune related to other city activists. As discussed in
chapters 2 and 3, JPUSA‘s direct response en-masse to the problem of homelessness in Uptown
occurred during the Eighties. Trott‘s recollection reinforces author Todd Gitlin‘s 1970 account
of Uptown,

40

demonstrating how Gitlin‘s analysis of Uptown is applicable to subsequent years.

Trott states that
[b]y the mid-eighties, homelessness had become not only a neighborhood but a national
problem. This was glaringly obvious in Uptown, where in the best of times homeless
men and women are easily visible, wandering down Wilson or Broadway streets. In the
41
wake of budget cuts, homelessness became epidemic.
While JPUSA recognized the need for action, their affiliation with other radical groups came
slowly. Trott recalls the sense of urgency that marked Uptown and various events which
inspired JPUSA to action:

Between the years of 1970 and 1985, nearly fifteen thousand units of low-income
housing vanished in Uptown. Then-radical Todd Gitlin…wrote in 1970 of his group's
efforts to stop gentrification in Uptown. He thought they had succeeded in halting the
construction of a community college which would have required the leveling of much of
128

Uptown's core low-income housing. Heart of Uptown picked up the fight that Gitlin's
group (JOIN) left behind, but by 1980, Truman College was a reality and 1,500
42
apartments were history.
The connection to such groups came later. JPUSA‘s initial perception of Heart of Uptown
created distance between the two groups. JPUSA was misguided, according Trott:
We believed the worst about Heart of Uptown without once sitting down and talking to
them, grappling with their zealous rage at what was happening to Uptown's poor.
Perhaps, like many "good" Christians, we tended to equate conservative politics with
conservative morals. And we couldn't help but react to Heart's adversarial approach to
politics. We also—and this hurts to admit— reacted to their harsh exteriors, their
43
unpolished language and angry tone. But if we had listened, we would have learned.
JPUSA learned to cooperate with different organizations that held a common goal. Over
the years, the social and political climate of Uptown has been the primary reason for JPUSA‘s
willingness to join forces with a variety of activist organizations. Groups such as JOIN and
Heart of Uptown responded to a growing crisis, both locally and nationally. ―Uptown's history‖
writes Trott, ―was not unique. Both in Chicago and elsewhere, the one-sided struggle between
the poor and building speculators has gone on for decades. Low-income neighborhoods fell into
the hands of landlords who milked poor renters but didn't keep up the buildings.‖

44

JPUSA‘s mission in Chicago is synonymous with those who sought social justice over
eschatological eagerness. Founder John Herrin recalls how the commune viewed outreach in the
early days and why they chose Chicago. ―It was just a big town and it was [a] really different
environment,‖ notes Herrin ―and most of the churches in the inner-city (at least on the north side
here) were really struggling to stay alive then.‖ As the population changed, it became more
diverse. Parishioners who had become mainstays either aged and passed away or moved to the
suburbs, Herrin recalls. Churches once peopled by a couple thousand parishioners grew sparse,

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later attracting forty in attendance on Sundays, maintains Herrin. JPUSA believed God had
bigger plans for the commune. They found themselves ―in a big mission field,‖ notes Herrin.
And it was a different mission field, you know? We weren‘t…necessarily talking to high
school kids. We were talking to all kind of folks with a lot of different problems. But we
began to feel that maybe, maybe God wanted us to stay in Chicago, maybe that‘s why we
45
came here….
For Herrin, the impetus for settling in the inner city was unresolved social issues. As the
population became more diverse, and as churches moved to the suburbs, a gap was left—and it
needed filling.
Groups like JPUSA continue to meet the needs of areas such as Uptown. However, they
often adopt a different political outlook when compared to suburban, evangelical Christianity—
particularly those associated with post-Jesus Movement, baby boom congregations.

46

Although

the Evangelical Left is not a new movement, leaders such as Trott continue to embrace a leftist
ethos and perceive the American pursuit of wealth as destructive to both workers and
th

communities such as the 46 Ward. JPUSA‘s predecessors laid the foundation which continues
in Uptown, as well as evangelicalism. Author Todd Gitlin‘s account of the 1968 Democratic
National Convention in Chicago includes an assessment of how the event still impacted
American culture in 1987 (the year of the book‘s publication). He writes: ―Two decades later,
the polarizations etched into the common consciousness that week [August 25-30, 1968] are still
working their way through American politics.‖

47

Gitlin‘s account reveals an impulse that grew

and continues to inspire social activists on the Left.
The trajectory established by the New Left galvanized those who sympathized with both
leftist activism and evangelical Christianity. Evangelical author and activist Jim Wallis decided
to combine an evangelical theological orientation with a social position commonly associated
130

with the Left. As one who felt the impact of the earlier movement, Wallis was able to enter the
evangelical conversation pertaining to social justice with a sense of authenticity. Early in his
life, Wallis became disenchanted with how Christianity was presented—a personal belief with
little social relevance. After returning to his faith, he resolved that ―God is personal, but never
private.‖

48

In God’s Politics, he writes:

The religious and political Right gets the meaning of religion mostly wrong—preferring
to focus only on sexual and cultural issues while ignoring the weightier matters of justice.
And the secular Left doesn‘t seem to get the meaning and promise of faith for politics at
49
all—mistakenly dismissing spirituality as irrelevant to social change.
It is this combination of progressive politics and suspicion for both Right and Left that
characterizes JPUSA‘s position, though like Wallis, they most often associate with the
Democratic Party. The position of Wallis and JPUSA, however, still bears more resemblance to
the Left than to contemporary liberalism. ―It is precisely because religion takes the problem of
evil so seriously,‖ writes Wallis, ―that it must always be suspicious of too much concentrated
power—politically and economically—either in totalitarian regimes or in huge multinational
corporations that now have more wealth and power than many governments.‖ But he remains
equally suspicious of religious claims, particularly when ―claims of inspiration and success
invoke theology and the name of God.‖

50

While many in the New Left were not religious, like Wallis, their lack of faith in
institutions led to an increased faith in radical activism, taking matters into their own hands. In
the case of JPUSA, this extends beyond soup kitchens and shelters. For leaders such as Trott, it
has become necessary to align with leftist forces in Chicago and to challenge the Religious
Right. During the 2004 presidential election, Christian Coalition‘s Pat Robertson (The 700 Club)
stated, ―I think George Bush is going to win in a walk. I really believe I‘m hearing from the

131

Lord it‘s going to be like a blowout election in 2004. The Lord has just blessed him….It doesn‘t
make any difference what he does, good or bad.‖

51

Trott works to inform both Christians and

non-Christians that there is an alternative to the Religious Right, the Secular Left, and mainline,
liberal Christianity.
JPUSA‘s activism includes events traditional evangelicals might find unsettling. Trott
recalls how the commune once engaged in ―protesting American arms dealers gathering at
O'Hare Airport for an ‗Arms Bazaar‘ where third world nations showed up to buy; peaceful
protests outside abortion clinics;…protests against Bush's illegal war in Iraq; counterdemonstrations against the ‗God Hates Fags‘ people (Fred Phelps);

52

with Helen Shiller once aligned with the Black Panthers and SDS.‖

and political involvement

53

A progressive alderwomen in Chicago, Shiller has been noted for her activism in the 46

th

Ward. Votes cast by JPUSA communards were ―the difference in her first being elected in
54

1987.‖

Moreover, the community‘s affiliation with Shiller has served to distinguish the

community from other conservative evangelicals.

55

This connection did not come easily.

Despite any potential alienation from the larger evangelical subculture, JPUSA has adopted their
position quite consciously, given their location and what is perceived as an immediate need.
JPUSA worked with ―Organization of the North East, a group made up of every
progressive and ethnic group in the Uptown /Rogers Park area,‖ and remained actively involved
in issues concerning housing, jobs, race, class, and gender.

56

Although the community does not

officially align with any political party, JPUSA‘s activism charts a direct path to their leftist
progenitors.

57

Historically the New Left responded to a set of crises while challenging the

132

methods of the Old Left. In like manner, JPUSA challenged the theoretical approach of the
Religious Right and establishment evangelicalism.
There are problems concerning any urban setting beset by mass influxes of people. This
along with free-market capitalism creates both a multicultural environment and economic
tension. In considering the landscape of mid-twentieth-century American religion and politics,
historian George Marsden has emphasized the importance of the liberal/conservative divide and
clarifies the primary differences—ones which have theological and political implications:
On the liberal side of the divide were those Americans who placed their strongest
emphasis on the values of openness, pluralism, diversity, and mutual tolerance of
differences. If these Americans were religious, they typically subordinated theology to
ethical concerns [emphasis added].
Various resurgent conservatives, on the other hand, tended to talk more of finding ethical
absolutes, which reflected long-standing Christian and Jewish teachings concerning the
58
family, sexuality, discipline, and the importance of moral law.
This quote emphasizes a strict dichotomy often characteristic of this period of U.S. history.
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that two champions of the divide (Moody the conservative
and Day the liberal) have had an impact on students and practitioners of evangelism and social
justice who were influential in Chicago. Although Dorothy Day can be classified as a liberal,
she is more often viewed as a leftist anarchist, believing that anarchy was a model for accepting
responsibility for both self and community, thus promoting a decreased reliance on a distant state
power. However, she advocated individual responsibility within communal contexts—that is, a
mixture of individualism and communitarianism, a model which JPUSA has embraced.

59

JPUSA‘s emphasis on balancing the needs of the individual and the community has
informed their work ethic in their many community businesses. Workers strive for excellence to
achieve a greater good (funding for the community and its social outreach programs), and in so

133

doing, find non-monetary value in the goods produced.

60

According to historian James Farrell,

the Port Huron Statement was the first manifesto of the SDS, which, among many things, ―called
for the end of the depersonalization that reduces human beings to the status of things.‖
Furthermore, it called for ―human independence‖ while warning against ―egotistic
individualism.‖ This imbued a sense of humanism into the SDS.

61

JPUSA‘s valuation of

humanity exceeds the monetary payoff often sought in mainstream society. Moreover,
communards such as Trott consistently cite American capitalism as one cause for the poverty and
depersonalization often associated with post-industrial society. While the community‘s sense of
humanitarianism is mostly informed by the Bible, it is JPUSA‘s location which has ultimately
inspired their activism (JPUSA‘s tent city and the birth of the shelter was program were
discussed in chapters 2 and 3).

Location and Situation
Chicago‘s history of radical politics, evangelical Christianity, and Catholic sympathy
toward social initiatives and communes has in many ways influenced the way JPUSA operates.
Uptown‘s history of poverty, violence, cultural and racial diversity, class struggle, and deep
religious faith has created an environment largely defined by a sense of urgency.

62

JPUSA

communards have, in their own words, chosen to adopt a life of voluntary poverty in an effort to
identify with the poor. Cornerstone magazine underscores the urgency which characterizes
Uptown Chicago:
Who is Uptown? Uptown is alcoholic. Uptown is dope addict. Uptown is
walking down the streets with your hands in your pockets. Uptown is gangs of all
shapes and sizes. Uptown is old people…living all alone. Uptown spells divorce,
63
and trying to get work at the ―daily pay‖ places.

134

The neighborhood has changed over the years, but the basic problems associated with
poverty remain. Based on my observations of the area over the past few years, I have concluded
that this part of Uptown remains entrenched in a way of life that is a result of poverty. When
arriving at 920 W. Wilson Avenue one finds JPUSA‘s Friendly Towers, an unassuming structure
when considering the social influence of Cornerstone Festival, Cornerstone magazine, and REZ
Band. My own visits have been relatively uneventful, though upon arrival it becomes clear that
the culture is very different from my native suburbia. While sitting in my rental car, I caught the
attention of a group of men standing on the sidewalk. I was clearly an outsider. While waiting
for the men to properly assess me and my car, I pretended to check messages on my cell phone,
hoping to avoid exiting the vehicle. After the men lost interest, I set about my way, only to be
greeted by others on the street hoping for spare change. Cliché as it may sound, most of my
visits have included individuals seeking whatever assistance I could offer.
Streets in the neighborhood are peppered with various apartments and stores, including a
number of ethnic restaurants and food markets. Store-front signs are mostly in the native
language of the merchant. Block after block, there is a mixture of store-fronts, old gated houses,
and alleys. The visual elements of just one street (which goes on for miles) are complimented by
the smells of fresh food and dumpsters. Motorists invite pedestrians into their sonic worlds of
oversized stereo speakers, only to be outdone by the inevitable siren of a rescue vehicle. And
pedestrians threaten motorists who are not driving with caution.
This scenario merely indicates urbanity, not poverty. However, the dilapidation is clear
when one looks at various buildings and the unending supply of metal trusses used for building
repair, measures which never quite appear to be complete. Moreover, the ever-present
population of seemingly troubled pedestrians indicates that mental illness is fairly ubiquitous

135

throughout this part of Chicago. As some individuals pass by, speaking to themselves or
mumbling incoherently, others are clearer in their intentions, albeit startling. In one case, a man
and woman were, it appeared, waiting for the bus. The cries of their child (who was no more
than five) were met with boisterous threats from the father to remain silent.
For a suburbanite, it is difficult to find any sense of equanimity within this milieu. And
perhaps years of exposure to inner-city poverty does little to quell anxiety or to emotionally
callus those who live here. The needs of this population (the tensions endemic to overcrowding
and poverty) have been in place since well before post-war migrations northward. Nevertheless,
this crisis scenario is unique in that it continues in the wake of the Daley years. As with any
third-world scenario, the neighborhood attracts those on a mission. The ever-present notion of
crisis necessitates JPUSA‘s service-based nature as a collective group. For Kanter, the
orientation of a service-based commune is toward ―a special population; they have a mission.‖

64

While mission and duty both contribute to the dedication found in individual
communards, the needs of a neighborhood cannot account for the success of an entire group.
The location of JPUSA has also afforded the community the ability to maintain a connection to
the establishment via their parent denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church, and their
international headquarters and flagship-university and seminary, North Park.
Cultural accommodation might also play a role in JPUSA‘s longevity. The community is
able to nurture longstanding convictions while holding those convictions under the microscope
of public opinion, always re-examining their assumptions, unlike other communal experiments
which began during the Jesus Movement. Jon Trott recalls how others never fully flourished:
Nationally, the Jesus movement was less and less visible. The Children of God, the Way
International, and others had made inroads into the Jesus People's [the larger movement]
ranks, yet regarding attempts at communal living, the number one result was not cultism
but eventual disintegration [emphasis added]. The widespread disappearance of nearly
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all the Jesus communes was a sign hard to interpret, many commentators suggesting that
65
such communes—along with the movement overall—had merely been a "fad."
The Children of God did not entirely disintegrate. However, the controversies

66

that drew media

attention forced the group to relocate its efforts abroad. While they continue as The Family
International, the group exhibits meager cultural influence.

67

But why were such communes

viewed as a fad? Why did they disintegrate?
The power of commitment is significant when applied to particular locations, each
representing different socio-cultural needs, warranting different forms and levels of commitment.
Success (particularly when considering the context of Uptown) is achieved when high intercommunal expectations (and the erasure of competing commitments unrelated to the commune)
are coupled with the affirmative boundary-distinction of the service-oriented commune.
JPUSA‘s urban location makes necessary this sort of Kantnerian distinction. For example,
historian Timothy Miller‘s account of rural communes portrays persons seeking detachment
from society, each group committed to constructing and maintaining a life defined against a postindustrial, mechanistic, materialistic world. In so doing, the main ―struggle‖ for purpose
involved fulfillment (thus sustainability) primarily for communards.
In the case of urban, inner-city communes, the struggle for purpose (the sacrifice of one‘s
personal agenda and privacy) surpasses therapeutic experiments for self-actualization or attempts
to realize the ideal community, an impulse often characteristic of rural collectives. Inner-city
communes such as JPUSA find fulfillment and purpose by extending the sense of struggle and
purpose to helping those living in the neighborhood (assuming the commune‘s purpose or
significance is defined by a desire to help the less fortunate).

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The significance for how a community defines purpose is indelibly linked to one‘s
relationship to a particular location. Kanter has connected two processes to sustained
commitment: disassociation and association. The process of dissociation involves an
individual‘s detachment from other competing obligations and responsibilities. The process of
association attaches an individual (and by implication, their identity) to communards and to the
overall objectives of the community, thus solidifying a symbiotic relationship—the communard
needs the community and the community needs the communard.

68

Without this relationship, the

communard might not find a sense of satisfaction (at least as they have defined satisfaction) and
the businesses and outreach programs would not function. Ultimately, the problems associated
with Uptown and JPUSA‘s mission to handle those problems is what often attracts new
members.
As demonstrated in chapter 3, new members often join the community hoping to find
emotional healing or a sense of purpose. Communard Raye Clemente notes her desire to serve
Jesus and the homeless while also maintaining a subcultural ethos, as well as a relatively liberal
69

political position.

Joshua Davenport was ―angry with organized religion.‖

been seeking a new model of church.

71

70

Otto Jensen had

Each communard has a need that has been filled. Thus

longevity may be a result of how groups negotiate the particulars of both the individualism of the
mainstream and the collectivism called for in the Book of Acts. In a 1976 issue of Cornerstone
magazine, Jon Trott cites Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who argued that Christians have a duty to be
citizens of two worlds. According to Bonhoeffer, ―The disciples of Jesus must not fondly
imagine that they can simply run away from the world and huddle together in a little band.‖

72

JPUSA‘s location is such that they are confronted daily with situations that necessitate
activism. For Trott, ―the truth of the above quotation [by Bonhoeffer] is a constant burden of
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balance to us. The balance of not becoming a sheltered cloister of Christians blessing each other,
or going the other way and getting into such a social gospel that there is no spiritual feeding or
security within ourselves.‖

73

JPUSA‘s success thus far can also be attributed to their ability to negotiate their
ideological positions. Moreover, given their location in Uptown, the community does not risk
socio-cultural isolation, a scenario that could be a luxury or a handicap depending on the goals of
the group. But is the location of Uptown (and attendant situations which determine ideology)
enough to sustain them? Can JPUSA (or any community) achieve a New Testament semiutopia? Kantner has argued that communal enclaves of ―warm, close, supportive relationships—
[do] not always occur according to scenario. Reality modifies the dream.‖ That is to say,
although JPUSA‘s ideological position occasions an on-going negotiation with the parent culture
(one which allows ideological accommodation in the interest of relevance and sustainability)
their choice of lifestyle might be in conflict with what is expected by establishment
evangelicalism. Kantner has pointed out that "the assumptions they [a community] make about
what is possible and desirable in social life challenge the assumptions made by other sectors of
American society."

74

JPUSA‘s lifestyle challenges the mainstream in that its presence is inconvenient for
establishment evangelicalism. First, the community‘s continuance as a visible, urban expression
of the Jesus freak movement serves as a reminder that the countercultural revival thought faddish
by sociologists has had an impact far-reaching and incalculable. As a result of this
miscalculation, there are relatively few studies on the larger movement. Second (and more
importantly), JPUSA‘s voluntary poverty, political position, and public presence at Cornerstone
all form an image of a type of evangelical quite atypical. The Jesus-freak impulse has survived
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(in the form of JPUSA) and remains theologically evangelical to some extent, but is wholly
structured as an alternative to the American Dream.

75

The interplay between urban rescue mission and international music festival places
JPUSA in a unique situation when considering the larger evangelical subculture as it challenges
the status quo. However, their alternative to the American Dream, radical as it may seem, could
be viewed as yet another example of faith-based relief organizations, a largely conservative
thrust. In considering President George W. Bush‘s national push for faith-based initiatives, Jon
Trott notes that to assume that this initiative is right-leaning is predicated on two assumptions.
The first assumption is that communes such as JPUSA are primarily inspired by Marxist
principles that question free-market capitalism. Trott maintains that while Karl Marx had valid
points concerning capitalist models of production and trade, JPUSA was initially inspired by the
model of living established in the Book of Acts, not Marx. At first glance this indeed suggests
that JPUSA‘s economic structure is more closely associated with rightist positions classified by
the faith-based initiative. The second assumption, however, is that the faith-based initiative
(though inclusive in its language) is conservative by virtue of its affinity for religion as an
answer to social problems rather than non-sectarian governmental measures. Trott disagrees
with the second assumption in two ways: First, he does not believe that government-funded
religious efforts undermine the separation of church and state. Second, he believes that the
measures become conservative only when they marginalize the efforts of other religious groups,
noting President Obama‘s encouragement of faith-based social programs. Thus government, in
the context of the U.S., serves a plurality of religious efforts. The matter becomes problematic,
maintains Trott, when Christianity is privileged for the purpose of government hegemony. He
writes:

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Where it would get dicey is if Evangelicals, or Catholics, or even Christians got the best
seats at the table simply because of their identity religiously speaking. That said, I was
deeply offended when, at an Evangelical Press Association convention a few years ago,
the Bush White House sent a speaker to pitch us Evangelicals. His riff was disgustingly
manipulative, consisting of a warning to us that if we didn't make sure the Republicans
kept the White House (must have been in 2003 or 2004), all that Faith-based [money]
76
would go the way of the Cuckoo Bird.
Regardless of how faith-based relief efforts are positioned on the political spectrum,
JPUSA‘s particular efforts are inconsistent with how establishment evangelicalism perceives
social aid, the allocation of wealth, and the American Dream generally. Other inner-city rescue
missions (such as Catholic agencies) do not necessarily challenge the American mainstream. In
some regards, these agencies do the ―dirty work‖ others are unwilling to engage. However,
groups such as JPUSA that highlight what the American Dream fails to do (by emphasizing
poverty and free-enterprise‘s inability to create jobs and wealth) actually challenge the myth of
the dream.
Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, Cornerstone magazine emphasized how JPUSA
perceived the American Dream. The following suggests that the United States had misguided
priorities when considering the family. ―And man said, ‗Let the laborers under the leaders be
gathered together in factories and let their children be raised in Day-Care-Centers‘; and it was
done.‖

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The magazine also emphasized the ill-attempts at resolving poverty:

78

We expected the roaches, the rats and the mice. We expected the slum landlords offering
poor plumbing and no heat, all for only $200 a month. Somehow we take it for granted.
We, the fortunate, have learned the art of x-ing out entire sections, cities, and countries
79
from our conscience. And Uptown is no exception.
Uptown has sensitized JPUSA to poverty and mobilized communards to explore causal
links (both real and assumed) between poverty and the sufferer. That is, JPUSA (particularly
Cornerstone magazine) considers all potential factors when looking at urban poverty and

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homelessness: drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, violence, cycles of inherited oppression,
racism, unemployment, urban renewal, gentrification, and failed church and government social
programs.
Location also plays a role in JPUSA‘s combination of socialism and capitalism. Indeed,
the community self-identifies as socialistic while also engaging in free enterprise. However, this
―agreement‖ with capitalism can be attributed to the way American society is already structured.
JPUSA‘s choice to live in an urban area (thus unable to live off the land) necessitates a
relationship with industry. Moreover, their choice to fund their social programs with private
monies (though some government assistance can be accounted for) is necessitated by the
government‘s inability to fully eradicate poverty. But regardless of the reasons for JPUSA‘s
free-market agreement, how can they be considered socialist?
It is possible to reconcile JPUSA‘s socialism and capitalism by considering their
economic structure on the micro level. That is, although the community must engage industry to
generate income (since the government will not provide all needs), their ―common purse‖
arrangement places them in a different category. In essence, JPUSA‘s council (which decides
how monies are distributed and to whom) acts as the government—at least when considering
matters pertaining to daily life in JPUSA.

80

Indeed, JPUSA‘s method of feeding and housing

the poor amounts to a position that in some sense actually affirms the free market‘s right-leaning
position; the community relies on self-initiative and private funding (their own) rather than statebased welfare provisions. But in this manner, JPUSA also exhibits the anarchical ideals of the
New Left; the community distrusts both corporate and governmental powers and seeks to
concentrate power and resources within their own local collective.

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Howard Zinn‘s assertion that the New Left served to ―to create constellations of power
outside the state‖ in the interest of ―voluntary small groups‖ reaffirms the Left‘s tendency to
disassociate with any version of totalitarian control.

81

In this manner, any form of collectivism

which seeks dissociation from big business or big government casts its collective vote toward
anarchy or at the very least a micro-version of a socialistic enclave. While this suggests that
JPUSA offers little allegiance to the dominant political parties in the U.S., most communards—
though often self-identifying as independent—continue to resonate with principles established by
liberal Democrats.

Conclusion
The Midwest has a strong history of evangelicalism, populist activism, and social reform.
It is, notes poet Allen Ginsberg, the vortex. Given Chicago‘s particular history it comes as no
surprise that a radical group would choose to call this city home. Impoverished neighborhoods
still exist, warranting action from groups willing to serve. Uptown has been viewed as a port of
entry for persons from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The migration of disparate
ethnic groups and the massive influx of Appalachian ―hillbillies‖ into Uptown created a
multifaceted neighborhood, one which confirms why scholars envisage the causes of urban
pluralism, poverty, and the impact of Chicago politics. However, to accept how the inhabitants
(particularly the homeless) are often portrayed does a disservice to the persons who suffer and
undermines efforts to humanize them.
The structure of JPUSA is influenced by the New Left‘s emphasis on the noble individual
and the Catholic Worker model of community. The core ethos is reinforced by the community‘s
location. Thus the communards cannot retreat into isolationism because they cannot ignore the

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poverty of Uptown. Based on Kanter‘s arguments, groups such as JPUSA continue precisely
because of their location. The environment is such that cultural accommodation and engagement
become natural results of a relationship between the group and the ―outside world.‖
As a community, JPUSA successfully survived because Chicago‘s own backyard was in
need of tending. Their ability to move with the flow of a neighborhood defined by pluralism and
socio-economic tension tested the metal of the group. The result has been a level of activism
largely absent within establishment evangelicalism. But JPUSA‘s ability to maintain their
evangelical allegiance has, in many ways, endeared them to the more conservative strands of
evangelical Christianity. Still, their decidedly radical approach to social justice and sympathies
with the Evangelical Left is a departure from mainstream ―establishment‖ evangelicalism,
begging the question: Which form of evangelical Christianity will dominate the twenty-first
century? Moreover, does JPUSA‘s affiliation with social measures and activist groups grounded
in New Left principles portend newer, more radical versions of political and theological positions
within the commune? The next chapter will explore the evolving ethos of the JPUSA
community and its possible implications for the greater evangelical subculture.

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Chapter 5
Theology, Politics, and Culture

Introduction
Religious movements in the U.S. have often influenced how persons of faith define and
understand ideas such as culture and social justice. Complicating the matter, communes
(whether religious or secular) have often exhibited limited social activism, or their levels of
1

engagement have been structured as oppositional to mainstream society. JPUSA‘s choice to
remain an activist group defies common understandings of communalism, particularly groups
identified with varying strands of millenarian belief. Moreover, JPUSA problematizes the very
idea of evangelical Christianity during a time when evangelicalism is largely bifurcated. In the
case of this community, one would think that solidarity with their parent culture (evangelicalism)
would serve to endear JPUSA to evangelicals who have historically attended the Cornerstone
Festival. While the community‘s parent denomination continues to support JPUSA in word and
conservative evangelicals continue to attend Cornerstone Festival, it is clear that neither
solidarity nor ideological consistency plays a significant role in JPUSA‘s longevity to date. In
fact, the council‘s ability to reinvent their public image has kept the community fresh, even if
controversial.
Studies on the sustainability and longevity of intentional communities have shown that in
most cases, groups structured around a charismatic leader or an inflexible ideology were often
short-lived. When the leader dies or the ideology diverges from the dominant culture, the
community either disbands or remains relatively sectarian. In contradistinction, JPUSA has
avoided these scenarios. Their activism (which has for the most part kept communards

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committed to humanitarianism) is connected to their decision to avoid the single-leader model
and a collective effort to remain culturally and ideologically relevant.
This chapter will demonstrate how eschatology, soteriology, and political affiliations
have defined evangelical social justice in the U.S., surfaced in the Jesus Movement, and came to
influence JPUSA‘s ideological evolution. I consider how the millenarian impulse influenced
evangelical approaches to society during the 1970s and 1980s. The chapter demonstrates how
this impulse was revitalized during the Jesus Movement, was celebrated in popular evangelical
music, and is now beginning to lose force as various evangelicals now question narrow
eschatological and soteriological positions. I argue that while traditional evangelical theology
defined the larger Jesus Movement, JPUSA cannot be considered normative when compared to
the parent movement. In sum, I contend that theological and political adaptability has
contributed to JPUSA‘s longevity and social impact. Moreover, JPUSA‘s strong emphasis on
social justice and democratic affiliation distinguished them from early Jesus-freaks who
preached the gospel in preparation for an imminent rapture.

Placing JPUSA within Evangelicalism: Modern to Postmodern
Broadly speaking, the Jesus Movement included four different expressions. These have
in some fashion or another contributed to remapping the landscape of American evangelicalism:
Evangelical new paradigm churches such as Calvary Chapel and Vineyard; isolationist
communes such as the Children of God and Tony and Susan Alamo‘s Christian Foundation;
mainstream communes such as Shiloh houses; and groups such as Jesus People Army (JPA) and
JPUSA‘s parent group, Jesus People Milwaukee. My findings demonstrate that JPUSA cannot
be counted among the post-Jesus Movement, new paradigm evangelical mainstream. Nor can
they be counted among communes commonly associated with doomsday isolationism. While
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isolationists constructed enclaves attempting to question a bereft culture before the advent of the
apocalypse, JPUSA (though moderately millenarian in earlier years) was more interested in
practical matters of justice. And although David Gordon argued that during the 1970s JPUSA
exhibited the same millenarian tendencies as other Jesus freaks, the community has changed.

2

JPUSA evolved into an interstitial group, one that remains simultaneously antiestablishment and connected to the wider culture. They are unimpressed by the evangelical
marketing machine (though they respect all expressions of Protestantism and Catholicism) and
view isolationism as dangerous to both the individual and the larger church culture. Simply put,
the members of JPUSA can best be understood as practical contemplatives.

3

JPUSA communards have always sought to put Christian faith into practice by serving
the poor and continue to question the Right, the Left, and their own community. Communards
maintain that they are free to discuss ideas openly, yet continue to follow biblical teachings on
community. Moreover, the affiliation with the Evangelical Covenant denomination earns the
4

community a measure of respectability. Although leaders remain committed to the tenets of
evangelical Christianity, some continue to tread lightly.
Leaders and rank-and-file members of the community often form belief based on a
combination of spiritual experience, biblical exegesis, and recollections of their own religious
past. Though an outspoken liberal, Jon Trott (wearing an Obama shirt and jokingly referring to
himself as an ―Obamagelical‖) recalled how in his youth, he was unable to resolve his own
existential crisis. Offering advice, Trott‘s pastor, a mainline liberal, suggested that ―there are
many roads to Rome,‖ and ―what matters is your sincerity,‖ whatever your belief. He responded
to his pastor with a quick retort: ―So, when you say God, you don‘t know what you mean.‖ His
pastor did not resolve the matter. ―He [the pastor] did not live on the planet of anxiety that I
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5

lived on.‖ Jon Trott exemplifies the crisis that beset various youth attempting to find a spiritual
foundation during the Sixties and Seventies.

6

Many JPUSA communards have attempted to find a space somewhere between the
ambiguity of theological liberalism and the certainty of theological conservatism. But for Trott,
conservative responses to the world also indicate a near-flawed theology. For him, early Jesus
Movement converts were sold a bill of goods. The initial humanitarianism of the Jesus
Movement, he notes, was eclipsed by theo-political powers (read Religious Right) that
7

championed visions of empire (a Christian one), fears of a New World Order, and a sense of
immediacy concerning the personal salvation as the end approached.

8

As the Religious Right

came to power, Jesus freaks were converted to a different Jesus, argues author Brian McLaren.

9

But JPUSA was able to avoid entanglement with the Right while maintaining a relatively
conservative theological position. Given their historical evolution, how can we classify the
community theologically? Does their propensity to evolve preclude any evangelical orientation?
Along with historians Mark Noll and Donald Miller, Axel R. Schaefer argues that
evangelicalism (even of the conservative sort) is too complex to categorize. The categories of
evangelicalism (fundamentalist, non-denominational, pentecostal, charismatic, orthodox,
emergent, and to a lesser extent, mainline) remain porous and conflicted, in part due to the forces
of pluralism. Given the multiple political and theological beliefs that make up those who claim
any or all of these classifications, it is difficult to understand what qualifies as ―membership‖
within each tradition. Schaefer considers the fiscal conservatism of the post-Sixties evangelical
culture and the rise of liberal evangelicals, suggesting that the New Right ―tapp[ed] into the antiliberal sentiment and moral concerns of Evangelicals‖ and that ―its embrace of laissez-faire is

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one of its weakest planks, because capitalism itself helped undermine ‗traditional values.‘‖
a result, the language of liberalism was used to co-opt Jesus freaks.

11

10

As

Baby boom evangelicalism

was initially defined by its embrace of conservative theology and its rejection of a materialism
largely associated with laissez-faire capitalism. But the anti-materialism often associated with
Jesus freaks faded with the rise of Reagan-era conservatism and the Jesus Movement‘s more
significant cultural legacy, contemporary Christian music. It is this sense of internal conflict that
makes the category of evangelicalism nebulous.
Religious and social historian D. G. Hart has argued that evangelicalism, as a movement,
does not truly exist precisely because of its amorphous nature. While the evangelical spirit of the
nineteenth century is not dismissed, Hart argues that evangelicalism is merely another form of
fundamentalism. The difference is that this form of fundamentalism (conservative
Protestantism) is culturally engaged, lacks collective agreement, has no central authority, and is
driven by popular opinion. For Hart, the qualifier ―evangelical‖ is simply an adjective used to
describe the zeal of a particular kind of Protestant Christian.

12

Historian Nathan Hatch,

however, has argued that decision by popular opinion without central authority is actually what
has strengthened evangelical Christianity and, in fact, qualifies it as a movement.

13

For JPUSA, the signifier ―evangelical‖ was paramount to their communal identity during
the 1980s. Without it, the group would have remained a fringe group with little hope of
attracting large numbers to the Cornerstone Festival. Throughout the 1980s, Cornerstone offered
lectures and workshops (scheduled by Trott) designed to train Christians in biblical apologetics
(a distinctive for both evangelicals and fundamentalists), using the works of C.S. Lewis, N.T.
Wright, Flannery O‘Conner, Francis Schaeffer, and Josh McDowell. During this era of
Cornerstone, JPUSA remained unflinchingly evangelical and theologically conservative.
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As with many nineteenth-century evangelicals, service to the poor (in this case, Uptown
Chicago) contributes to how JPUSA communards derive meaning, an ontology which extends to
their quest to connect with the divine. Moreover, while many are unconcerned with the
th

particulars of belief—content to serve the needs of those living in the 46 Ward—some fully
engage critical theory.
JPUSA‘s activism has distinguished them from establishment evangelicalism since the
community‘s genesis. With exception to minor musings over how God metes out salvation,
communards (especially the council) have historically been theologically conservative, thus
complicating our ability to locate them within a fully left-leaning ideology. However, arguments
made by Hart and Hatch notwithstanding, there is an upsurge of self-identified evangelicals who
part ways with ideas traditionally (if even stereotypically) associated with evangelical
Christianity.
Emergent Christianity is an ongoing conversation concerning postmodernity. Emergent
Christians find solace in public iterations such as www.emergentvillage.com and in leaders such
as Tony Jones and Brian McLaren.

14

In many ways, both emergent and the Evangelical Left are

similar with respect to their counter-rightist activism. Despite the growth of rightist allegiances,
groups affiliated with the Evangelical Left and emergent Christianity have delineated the
evangelical approach to culture in such a way as to allow those who adhere to various beliefs a
certain margin of error, thus inspiring humanitarianism within those who would otherwise
maintain an upward gaze colored by an imminent doomsday.
Although humanitarian efforts can be indentified in denominations such as the Salvation
Army, as well as various nineteenth-century evangelicals, the Evangelical Left is unique in that it
defines itself against mid-twentieth-century evangelicalism. Now uncertain about particulars,
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these evangelicals (and JPUSA‘s communards) live with theological ambiguity, though as we
shall see, the Eighties marked a period of theological certainty for the commune. But regardless
of the zeitgeist that defined JPUSA theologically, their impulse remained rooted in faith, one
which encouraged the communards to live as Jesus. Given their emphasis on practical human
need—and attendant beliefs that the State (along with JPUSA businesses) should finance the
general welfare in service of morality—how can we determine where an evangelical impulse
ends and a social gospel impulse begins? Put another way, can we consider JPUSA evangelical
in the traditional sense of the term?
Historian David W. Bebbington‘s classic method of determining what qualifies as
evangelical is a useful model for analyzing JPUSA‘s theological positions. For Bebbington, the
essentials of evangelical belief include a dedication to Christian conversion, biblicism (a high
view of scripture), crucicentrism (the belief that the crucifixion of Christ atoned for the sins of
15

humanity), and activism.

At least throughout the 1980s, JPUSA exemplified all four and could

be considered evangelical. But were they part of the evangelical subculture?

16

As members of the Evangelical Covenant denomination, JPUSA has enjoyed a certain
ecclesial respectability necessary for survival. While other Jesus freak communes have
continued without evangelical approval (discussed later), to a certain extent JPUSA might need
continued affirmation from an institution which represents the evangelical parent culture.
Certainly both JPUSA‘s Cornerstone Festival and their inner-city mission both provide a sense
of purpose. But their overarching purpose has been strengthened and nurtured at the festival.
Although evangelicalism may lack collective agreement (according to Hart), the
movement (if we can call it that) has gained significant cultural traction which now extends into
the cultural mainstream. This is evidenced when one considers how evangelicals during the
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1960s and 1970s viewed the more radical Jesus-freak communes which peppered the U.S
throughout the Seventies. Traditional evangelicals measured the viability of Jesus freak groups
based on ideological expectations common among self-defining evangelicals. As a result,
various Jesus freak groups found themselves affiliating with the larger parent culture, hoping for
evangelical acceptance.
In the interest of evangelical solidarity, the Cornerstone Festival has allowed JPUSA to
muster a public image for the evangelical community, thus reintegrating the commune (annually)
into the parent movement. Without the festival, JPUSA would no longer attract travelers (at
least not as many), and would lose both public affirmation and its larger socio-cultural influence.
Put another way, to continue under the umbrella of evangelicalism, JPUSA must please an
evangelical constituency which is at the very least, moderately conservative. But what accounts
for the disparity between JPUSA and their more conservative affiliates?
Reconnecting Youth to…Something
Preston Shires has argued that youth throughout the 1960s were alienated by both
Christian fundamentalism and liberal Christianity.

17

Fundamentalism was anachronistic,

judgmental, and according to historian George Marsden, culturally isolated.

18

On the other

hand, liberal Christianity did not provide answers to existential anxiety, often failing to deliver
on promises to aid the needy. Shires notes the collective effort to combine the best of two
worlds. He writes: ―The eventual unity and common purpose shared between countercultural
Christianity and evangelicalism surpassed that shared by the Beats and the Old Left…so much so
that whereas the Old Left and the New Left disagreed on the means and purpose of reaching a

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non-capitalistic manner of life, countercultural Christianity and evangelicalism eventually
became unified both in goal and practice.‖

19

The ―common purpose‖ shared by countercultural and establishment evangelicals
extended into the 1970s, climaxing to form what would later become a new movement. Shires
maintains that the inability for the Old and New Left to agree on strategy worked to evangelicals‘
advantage, particularly as the Right came to new power during the 1980s. He continues:
And even though historians speak of evangelicalism in the latter 1970s without reference
to the Jesus movement, it is the melding of these two initially somewhat distinct
movements that explains why the ―evangelicalism‖ of 1980 was radically different from
20
the ―evangelicalism‖ of 1965.
Adherents to New Evangelicalism and Bill Bright‘s para-church organization, Campus
Crusade for Christ, actively sought to recruit youth who were (in the estimation of conservatives)
equally dissatisfied with watered-down liberalism and the culturally obscure, recalcitrance of
fundamentalism.

21

In response, evangelical Christianity was given an intellectual boost.

Apologists such as Francis Schaeffer attempted to provide polemics rooted in Scottish Common
Sense Realism while remaining unrestricted by the fundamentalist bogeyman of antiintellectualism or a politic of separation.

22

Schaeffer‘s god, according to Shires, was one who

was identifiable by those disenchanted with all other human constructs, one that ―middle-class
youth could both have a feeling for and be intellectually proud of; and, not least in importance,
he was a God who opened up infinite possibilities for human creativity by liberating the
individual from naturalistic philosophy and the technocratic lifestyle naturalistic philosophy had
imposed on society.‖

23

Speaking the language of the counterculture, Schaeffer tapped a rhetorical strategy that
resonated with Jesus freaks. ―Freed from the machine and connected to the infinite,‖ writes
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Shires, ―the human experience became a never-ending adventure. This was full-fledged
expressive individualism.‖

24

JPUSA embraced this early on. Schaefferian apologetics served

JPUSA communards who, throughout the 1980s and part of the 1990s, sought intellectual
reasons in support of faith—though as we shall see, Schaefferian apologetics would later be
jettisoned.
Freedom of aesthetic expression and freedom to experience the divine became
emblematic of the early Jesus freak. This distinguished the Jesus Movement from conservative,
calvinist-based evangelicalism and mainline liberalism. But unlike JPUSA, many early Jesus
freaks were unconcerned with the need to intellectualize God. Embracing the pentecostalism
that attracted youth disenchanted with religious theoreticals and socially disengaged
parishioners, Jesus freaks on the West Coast quickly became quintessential examples of baby
boom, Jesus Movement evangelicalism. Excluding groups like JPUSA and other expressions of
the Evangelical Left, West-Coast expressions of Jesus-freak rightism became the staid
mythology of Jesus Movement lore.

Practical Differences
While during the 1980s JPUSA reengaged apologetics rooted in the Enlightenment,
others continued to find truth in spiritual experience. Historian Donald Miller notes that new
paradigm, post-Jesus Movement churches provided a middle ground between liberal Christianity
and fundamentalism. But this middle ground is different from Francis Shaeffer‘s version. In
Miller‘s estimation, most groups classified as ―new paradigm‖ offered answers to existential
crises while also encouraging pentecostal expression. As such, these groups were therapeutic,
individualistic, and anti-establishment. Furthermore, the emphasis on experience (to the
exclusion of an overly analytic model of theology) created a situation where the post-Jesus
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Movement church could be classified as both primitive and (ironically) postmodern. Miller
compares baby boom evangelicalism to enlightenment-based philosophical models that
traditionally dominated Western Christianity since the Eighteenth Century. The result, argues
Miller, has been that ―religious debates have been relegated to discussing the truth or falsity of
beliefs, making religion ‗disembodied,‘ cerebral matter.‖

25

He goes on to highlight how new

paradigm Christianity has reacted to this, arguing that
…many assumptions of Enlightenment thought have been challenged. The clay feet of
rationality have been revealed, and postmodern philosophy is questioning the
authoritarian character of any claim to a universal epistemology, or theory of knowledge.
Given this philosophical context, new paradigm churches can be viewed as cultural
pioneers of sorts. They are attempting to reintegrate bodily experience into religious
26
life.
These claims appear to establish the presence of a postmodern, evangelical criticism
which actually antedates expressions of emergent Christianity. But while Miller maintains that
new paradigm churches have somehow pioneered the now common acceptance of the so-called
―crisis of representation,‖ they were not so willing to dispense with a biblicist position on divine
authority or encounters with the Holy Spirit. The Jesus Movement emphasized hyper-spiritual
experientialism. Thus, a kind of ―course correction‖ was needed, according to Jon Trott. Unlike
their progenitors, JPUSA attempted to balance a moderate pentecostalism (emblematic of Jesus
Movement congregations) with Reformed apologetics—despite JPUSA‘s Arminian position. In
so doing, they embraced the teachings of a number of authors, apologists, and philosophers such
as Francis Schaeffer, C. S. Lewis, Blaise Pascal, A. W. Tozer, Søren Kierkegaard, Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, Walker Percy, and G. K. Chesterton. Council members have noted the wide
influence of foundationalist scholars. Indeed, Glenn Kaiser is correct that rank-and-file
communards remain disinterested in theory, but over the years JPUSA pastors have used
foundationalist apologetics to offer a sense of ideological security to seekers within the
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commune. Still, literary rootedness did not dissuade early JPUSA communards from a skyward
gaze.

Jesus Freaks: The Waiting
The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) were politically active, but many hippies
remained anti-intellectual and apolitical. Thus the hippie ethic was consistent with fledgling
Jesus Movement converts who sought experience over intellect, body over mind (or at least, a
collapse of mind-body dualism), and a soon-to-come messianic figure. Those who would have
once affiliated with New Left concerns over social immediacy redirected their attention to
otherworldly matters: transformation of the self, ecstatic religious experience, and the end of
time. This millennial urgency informed Jesus freaks‘ aversion to the ―wisdom of man‖ and
inspired an exodus from mainstream culture. Recalling H. Richard Niebuhr‘s Christ and
Culture, sociologist Ronald Enroth has argued that Jesus freaks were ―casebook examples of
Christ-against-culture approach.‖

27

The anti-cultural position of many Jesus freaks allowed a focus on ―ultimate concern‖

28

and personal encounters with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. While many were only moderately
pentecostal (particularly those associated Calvary Chapel) converts and communes inherited two
distinct impulses: the hippie movement‘s intrigue with mysticism (which translated into
pentecostal emphases on direct encounter with the divine) and the countercultural quest for a
new age (exemplified in the belief in a secret rapture

29

of Christians). The former influenced the

30

latter.

Disenchanted with staid denominationalism, early Jesus freaks were drawn to an
experience-driven form of Christianity.

31

Thus, the pentecostal connection (and attendant

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apoliticism) should not be taken lightly. Grant Wacker has argued that ―pentecostals were
ahistorical, first, in their lack of interest in the history, and second in their conceptualization of
the relation between Scripture and the cultural context in which it arose. There was, however,
still another form of ahistoricism which helped sustain and insulate pentecostals from outside
32

criticism. They were ardent millenarians. [emphasis mine]‖

This description could also be

applied to the Jesus Movement.
Jesus freaks are similar to pentecostal Christians and can be located within the larger
tradition of experience-based millenarianism. Even the more moderately pentecostal Calvary
Chapel emphasized direct contact with the Holy Spirit and an inevitable climax to human
history, a teleological position common to many forms of Protestantism. As the charismatic
movement

33

rose to significance with churches like Vineyard (offshoots of Calvary Chapel), the

larger Jesus Movement placed greater importance on the doctrine of the Rapture as new converts
awaited the second coming of Christ. The result was a focus on evangelism, relegating social
justice to subaltern status. But the precedent had been set earlier on. Wacker writes: ―It is
indisputable that pentecostals were strongly influenced by an apocalyptic eschatology drawn
indirectly from Adventist and directly from Plymouth Brethren traditions. They looked for the
imminent rapture of the saints, followed by the return of the Lord and the events described in
Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation.‖

34

Although Jesus freaks practiced an altered version of Christianity to fit the vernacular of
the counterculture, they retained the primitivism of ecstatic, embodied religion and a view of
global events often intertwined with a dispensational premillennialist

35

interpretation of the end

of time. Lonnie Frisbee was a hippie who converted to Christianity at the beginning of the Jesus
Movement. After Pastor Chuck Smith hired Frisbee to act as hippie outreach pastor for Calvary
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Chapel (ground zero for the Jesus Movement), Frisbee quickly became iconic of the West-Coast
Jesus freak. He encouraged a skyward gaze, preaching a combination of Christian spiritualism
36

(portents and futurism ), the revolutionary hippie aesthetic, and evangelical millennialism.
Dispensational premillennialism, a doctrine fleshed out by nineteenth-century minister
John Nelson Darby,

37

found a growing audience in post-1960s Jesus Movement mythology and

doctrine. Darby‘s doctrine reached beyond the nineteenth century into the twentieth as author
Hal Lindsey‘s The Late Great Planet Earth influenced both the Jesus Movement and the
emerging ―Jesus music‖ (later, Christian rock). Early Jesus freaks were concerned with
immediate conversion of souls as they prepared for the Rapture. Looking for signs of the end,
Frisbee viewed the Six-Day War between Israel and the surrounding Arab nations as evidence
38

for the imminent return of Christ.

Fascination with apocalyptic literature and global events,

while not new, developed at a rapid pace as books, movies, and music affiliated with the Jesus
Movement told the same story: the end was near.
Authors and musicians joined the foray, each offering warning of impending doom and
clues intended to help consumers decipher global events. Throughout the 1970s, Jesus rockers
such as Larry Norman sang about the Rapture while author Hal Lindsey encouraged
unconditional support of Israel, believing that Americans were expected to play a role in
unfolding prophetic events, thus ushering in the return of Christ, the reign of the anti-Christ, and
the battle of Armageddon. Historian Preston Shires notes Lindsey‘s preoccupation with the
Middle East‘s role in divine plan. For Lindsey, ―The affairs in the Middle East had foreordained
roles to play out: Israel, the Arab nations, the Soviet Union, Europe, and China were spiritopolitico entities….‖ Moreover, ―God allowed for Arab antipathy toward the Jews to escalate so
that in the near future an Arab-African confederacy headed by Egypt would attack Israel.‖
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Lindsey maintained that ―biblically grounded Christians stood against Arab nations.‖ For him,
this alliance would end in a battle involving Russia. The anti-Christ would promise peace, only
to later bring deception. ―Part of the reason countercultural Christians would move rightward in
their political orientation,‖ argues Shires, had little to do with domestic policies, but ―a great deal
to do with world affairs.‖

39

For early Jesus freaks, unconditional support for Israel was,

according to Shires, ―perhaps the first shepherding of Jesus Freaks toward a political position
40

[emphasis added].‖

Songs influenced by politics of the end were grounded in a deeper, populist response to a
chaotic world. But they also represented a particular interpretation of historic events related to
biblical prophecy. Historian David W. Stowe has argued that through the teachings of Hal
Lindsey and Calvary Chapel‘s Pastor Chuck Smith, ―the theology of Rapture and Armageddon
[became] one of the central threads in the music and belief of baby boom Christians, touching
the music of everyone from [Jesus rockers] Larry Norman and Keith Green to Bob Dylan.‖

41

Norman‘s classic ―I Wish We‘d All Been Ready‖—part of the track to the film series which
mirrored Lindsey‘s work—highlighted the sense of urgency with which evangelicals dealt; it was
the anthem of the Jesus Movement‘s rapture theology and became the earworm for
42

fundamentalists and evangelicals during the 1970s.

Stowe has observed how a sense of urgency defined evangelicals throughout the 1970s
and influenced a number of Jesus rockers, noting Lindsey‘s The Late Great Planet Earth as a
significant influence on apocalyptically-minded Jesus freaks. Having sold twenty-eight million
copies by 1998, Lindsey‘s novel, writes Stowe, ―popularized and condensed a body of thought
about the end of the world that reached back over a century.‖ Inspiring numerous imitators,
Lindsey‘s work ―shaped evangelical belief over the decade.‖
159

43

Stowe maintains that the

attraction of Lindsey‘s book was in its attempt to connect global events to one interpretation of
biblical apocalyptic literature. Considering the events which, for many, reified pre-Jesus
Movement millenarianism, he notes a series of events that inspired a generation to continue their
skyward gaze: ―All that remained to complete prophecy was a rebuilding of the Temple on its
original site in Jerusalem, where the Muslim Dome of the Rock currently stands.‖ Events
intended to set into motion history‘s end ―seemed imaginable in the late Sixties,‖ notes Stowe.
He writes: ―The rise of an Antichrist promising to bring world peace; the bodily ascent of
Christians to heaven, called the Rapture; seven years of persecution and disaster—the
tribulation—presided over by the Antichrist; a final show down between Israel and her
enemies—Armageddon—in which Jesus would return to lead Israel to final victory. Then would
come the millennium—a thousand years of peace. Lindsey‘s book was colored by his
experiences with the Jesus People….‖

44

But while the greatest impact of this teaching can be

seen in Christian media, the influence on grassroots efforts to missionize can be seen in Jesus
Movement communes and the street proselytizing of Jesus freaks, prevalent throughout the
1970s and early 1980s.
It is within this milieu that JPUSA evolved from a skyward-looking group of Jesus freaks
to a community eager to plumb the depths of biblical foundationalism, in reaction to hyperspiritualism. Although JPUSA was influenced by millenarianism in the 1970s, the community
adopted a more nuanced eschatology as the 1980s wore on. For founding member Glenn Kaiser,
JPUSA has always sought to meet the ―real on-the-ground needs of people […] not mere thought
and theory.‖

45

Although Kaiser asserts that the community has, essentially, kept their feet on the

ground, historian David Frederic Gordon‘s research on the community suggests that early
JPUSA communards exhibited the same dualism adopted by Jesus freaks on the West Coast (the
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world was evil and retreat was necessary), and they believed the Rapture was imminent. In 1978
he observed that
[t]hey [JPUSA] routinely made comments indicating the imminence of this end of the
world…Planning for the future on both the group and individual levels is kept at a
minimum. No one in this group whom I questioned on the matter had any personal plans
for the future. The group as a whole did little to support itself financially and made plans
46
for housing new members only when they became hopelessly overcrowded.
Kaiser is partially accurate that the community has always wedded a sense of practicality to what
is otherwise a skyward gaze. Gordon‘s work, however, demonstrates a similarity between
JPUSA and the Jesus-freak ethos of the Seventies. But the community has changed. As I have
argued in chapters 2 and 3, JPUSA‘s ability to engage the wider culture in grassroots fashion
distinguishes them from other Jesus freaks. This is evidenced by their commitment to the shelter
program, annual planning for the Cornerstone Festival, and dedication to community-owned and
operated mission businesses, for which self-sufficiency is a prime mover. And while they once
embraced the hyper-spiritualism of early Jesus-Movement converts, JPUSA recognized the need
for a grassroots activism inspired by theological depth.

More Shifts toward the Practical
Although JPUSA‘s community began during a revival largely associated with
conservative evangelicalism, leaders of the commune experienced a number of changes which
eventually affected their own self-definition. While JPUSA has always remained sympathetic
toward the doctrine of the Rapture, the rightist leanings of Hall Lindsey and Campus Crusade for
Christ leader Bill Bright

47

clearly delineated between JPUSA and baby boom evangelicals of the

Seventies and Eighties. Still, JPUSA communards continue to believe in the Second Coming.
What differentiates them from other rapture-minded Christians can be found in how immediacy
is defined and how levels of social engagement (activism) are understood. Like other
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evangelicals, JPUSA‘s expectations pertaining to the end of time (the date-setting) changed. The
following demonstrates how early JPUSA adopted a position of eschatological immediacy, later
becoming more flexible as communards accepted teleological ambiguity. Glenn Kaiser writes:
In the very early years we were more leaning towards classic Calvary Chapel/Jesus
48
Movement pre-trib [pre-tribulation ] rapture. And over some years, simply came to
think that He will come when He comes and we needn't fret nor accent much more in
terms of detail which seem more mystery than crystal-clear in the Bible. We're happy to
discuss various positions among the churches but it's not a major issue to us, just that He
49
is indeed returning at some point and that day "is closer than when we first believed.‖
JPUSA‘s response to anti-intellectual, Jesus-freak experientialism influenced their views on
culture and eschatology. As they sought a ―muscular intellectual world‖ rooted in Modern,
Enlightenment-based apologetics,

50

the community de-emphasized the hyper-eschatological foci

held by the followers of Hal Lindsey.
While the communards remained cautious of their forerunners who held (in their
estimation) unbalanced biblical views, the community never fully dismissed pentecostal theology
or the doctrine of the Rapture. However, their attempts to engage apologetics in defense of their
faith

51

still distinguished the group from other mainline baby boom evangelicals which emerged

out of the apocalyptically-minded, experience-oriented Jesus Movement.
JPUSA began to define urgency and human need in terrestrial rather than celestial terms,
though they have never discounted the importance of Christian conversion for the individual.
But when compared to the larger Jesus Movement—or the zeitgeist which defined much of
conservative evangelicalism during the 1970s and 1980s—JPUSA diverged, emphasizing that
eschatological ambiguity necessitates moral and social responsibility. Thus, these communards
can be understood as persons who strive to connect two worldviews, remaining both socially and
apocalyptically minded. They attempt to find a middle ground between an ethos of social

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engagement for its own sake (the homeless need to eat) and apocalyptic hope (often inspired by a
sort of ―kingdom now‖ ethic, though never fully undermining a literal post-apocalyptic
kingdom).

52

Otto Jensen and his family joined the community in January of 2008. During our

interview, Jensen revealed that it was a seminar at JPUSA‘s Cornerstone Festival that challenged
his eschatology.

53

Jensen‘s response indicated that his concern for social justice trumps

teleological theory, a belief held by most members interviewed. Musings about the Rapture in
relation to practical matters of justice now relegate the doctrine to a secondary, non-essential for
JPUSA leaders. Recent interviews confirm that the community has shifted its focus from an
apocalyptically-inspired model of outreach to a humanitarian (even if biblically-inspired) model
of social justice. The community‘s call to a sort of practical evangelism and its careful handling
of abstract assumptions concerning the end of time contributes to communal commitment and a
sense of ultimate purpose.

The Power of Pluralism
Although Calvary Chapel (the quintessential Jesus Movement church) is similar to
JPUSA on the basic doctrines of Christianity, the differences can be seen in how the two groups
have historically related to culture and society: the former evolved alongside New
Evangelicalism‘s cultural crusade while the latter chose to distance itself from the socio-cultural
―machine‖

54

created by the evangelical subculture. Whether JPUSA is truly new paradigm or

emergent remains a matter of perspective, though they can be considered, as I have argued, a
strong example of the Evangelical Left. What is clear, however, is that post-Jesus Movement
evangelicalism is changing. Some groups are reacting to and some are operating in concert with
American culture.

163

The turn of the century marked a shift as JPUSA began to question the validity of
Christian apologetics.

55

Seeds had already been planted during the 1990s as JPUSA leaders (to

include Trott) became disenchanted with what they viewed as flawed enlightenment models of
propositional truth. For leaders like Trott (who serves as a researcher for the commune),
arguments pertaining to foundational truth were no longer applicable within a world now defined
by postmodern rupture and literary deconstruction. Despite Trott‘s earlier propensity toward
Christian apologetics, he is now forthright with his own ideological struggle, well aware of the
problems commonly associated with religious certitude. While Trott still laments the ambiguity
of liberal Christianity, he remains biblically progressive, explaining his position as an attempt to
―remove my own cultural bias, unexamined assumptions (by examining them), and so on.‖

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This view is evident at Cornerstone where seminars have shifted toward emergent theology.

57

While Trott fully affirms the Apostle‘s Creed, as with emergent Christians he entertains a
postmodern understanding of the faith, stating
My biggest struggle was and in some ways still is the hiddenness of God…living
communally, I think we were tapping into elements that evangelicals at that point weren‘t
tapping into…now I think even emergent is getting passé…but obviously the church is
undergoing a shaking along with everything else under this new kind of poly-cultural
58
reality that we‘re all having to embrace, whether we like it or not. I like it.
At century‘s close, Cornerstone seminars became more reflective of the postmodern
fascination held by a growing number of evangelicals. This proved positive for JPUSA and
Cornerstone, ensuring a continued evangelical orientation (without the restrictive baggage of
conservative evangelicalism) as emergent Christianity grew. Trott was not alone in his departure
from apologetics. But this did not sit well with some. According to Trott, various counter-cult
communities and the apologetics community now feel JPUSA has ―drifted.‖

59

This observation

has also been made by JPUSA‘s fellow evangelicals. The Phantom Tollbooth is an online
164

magazine that publishes a variety of music, books, and movie reviews, as well as various
interviews and resource links. The magazine has been involved with the Cornerstone Festival
for a number of years. Shari Lloyd and Linda LaFianza, editors for the magazine, have pointed
out that although JPUSA has always been politically democratic, their theology has changed.
When the editors consider JPUSA and Cornerstone‘s theological position, they note that the
theological shift is clear.
Before the advent of emergent, JPUSA bore positions similar to those of an ―evangelical
Baptist,‖ according to the Tollbooth editors. Loyd and LaFianza have stated that this position
was reinforced by JPUSA‘s choice of lecturers. However, in February of 2010 Loyd and
LaFianza stated that ―in the last three or four years, there's been a swing into emergent church
beliefs and the seminar speakers are more theologically liberal….‖ But while emergent theology
has consistently grown in influence, ―nothing too formal was ever announced or stated.‖

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The

festival‘s original slogan was ―Cornerstone: Raw Truth.‖ While Trott admits this sounds
modernistic, he still believes the phrase captures the festival‘s core ethos—―provocateurs,‖
forcing people to ―reexamine or examine for the first time your unexamined assumptions.‖

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JPUSA‘s ideological evolution is part of a larger historical struggle involving Christianity
and social activism. Moreover, their changes (resultant reactions to and in concert with
pluralism) parallel how those within establishment evangelicalism have wrestled with notions of
culture and truth. These questions were raised during the 1960s as Christian SDSers sought
ways to put faith into practice and as Jesus freaks awaited the Rapture. As the Jesus Movement
ended, many chose to affiliate with right-wing consensus.

165

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The Divine Call to Culture: Right or Left?
Evangelical Christianity has largely been considered a conservative cultural force, despite
the rise of the Evangelical Left. Although historians such as Randall Balmer have aptly noted
the problems associated with reducing evangelicalism to political coalitions,

63

the Religious

Right (particularly evangelicals), nevertheless, accounts for a great number of those who
supported Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush. The more controversial issues
that have defined the Right have been abortion and gay marriage. While JPUSA identifies with
some rightist ideas (e.g. the abortion issue) these remain systemic—the community is not drawn
into the conservative vortex based on single issues.

64

Communes are noted for either excessive rigidity or various expressions of anarchy. In
the end, communal longevity is linked to values formative in the lives of communards (keeping
them engaged in the ethos of the community) and to the ability to shift appropriately with the
culture, even when that shift signals a differentiation from a conservative consensus on social
issues. Various communities feel JPUSA has drifted, particularly when considering their
65

position on feminism.

Jon Trott recalls how many have reacted to various changes in JPUSA

and the festival:
I know for a fact that big chunks of the counter-cult community and the old apologetics
community think we drifted. And probably where I‘ve seen that again is with the
women‘s issue. I have been fairly vilified by some people for my ideas about women,
which to me is like, ya know, I guess if anything it probably feeds my pride. It makes me
66
happy to be disliked by people that believe that way.
JPUSA ordains women and holds that gender roles are not absolute. Both men and women share
an equal voice. The community has always differed somewhat from conservative evangelicalism
on the matter of gender roles—though a true egalitarian position has evolved over time.
Regarding roles in ministry, Trott writes:
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We, I think, were influenced more by the charismatic movement…folks such as
Katherine Kuhlman…and Catherine Booth…not that we were always crystal clear on this
stuff. Things early on were often foggy. Carl Parks of Spokane's Jesus movement, for
instance, had done a book with his wife that was horrendously male-centric...and though
we didn't' buy it, neither did we react as I would…today. Keeping in mind that our
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movement was only a few years old….
JPUSA‘s views on marriage have also changed over the years. For them, messages
preached in the early days were often mixed. Around 1978 the standard teaching involved male
headship—wives were to submit to husbands. Tapes by Bible teacher Bob Mumford affirmed
this position, calling for submission to husbands ―even if the husband was asking them [wives] to
do something contrary to scripture.‖ The sin would fall on the husband. ―The reaction from
JPUSA,‖ writes Trott, ―was immediate and harshly negative.‖

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Communards noted the

teaching as ―off the wall‖ and countered that Christians ―must never violate his or her
conscience, no matter who was telling them to do this or that.‖ Trott considers how JPUSA‘s
views on gender have changed: ―I think these seeds helped move us inexorably toward rejecting
‗gender role‘ teachings in marriage as well as in the pulpit. By the mid-80s,‖ notes Trott, ―I was
consciously aware of Christian feminism, and starting to seriously interact with it. I think my
own journey helped, but wasn't definitive, in other persons' journeys here [in JPUSA].‖ During
the 1980s, JPUSA‘s Cornerstone magazine published an article on the ERA amendment, moving
the community moderately leftward. JPUSA ―recognized the validity of the feminist critique of
history as well as social structures of inequality that history contributed to. They did not support
the ERA, but stopped demonizing it, recalls Trott—a significant move for evangelicals.

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JPUSA offers seminars on gender egalitarianism and sexuality at the festival, and
partners with Christians for Biblical Equality, an organization that encourages the equality of all
women, men, ethnic groups, economic classes, and age groups. Moreover, their activism

167

extends to civil rights and social harmony as they continue to invite Dr. John Perkins, an
African-American minister and activist for racial reconciliation, to lecture at the festival.

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The move to the right or the left remains a nebulous dichotomy, a complexity which
JPUSA recognizes as inexhaustible. For example, various members of JPUSA believe that
resolving poverty and adopting a holistic view of life—which includes valuing single mothers—
71

will help limit abortions.

Unlike arch-anti-abortionists, leaders interviewed contend that there

are incidents (such as rape or the safety of the mother) which may warrant abortion.
Communards, however, remain conflicted as they seek to wed a moderate theological position to
a socially liberal conscience, a position negotiated by those in the Evangelical Left.

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Issues

such as abortion, however, have kept the community from complete alignment with any
thoroughgoing liberalism. For Trott, JPUSA has often been difficult to classify, noting that any
―historical snap shot‖ of the commune would yield conflicting assumptions about their political
allegiance. Unwilling to align fully with either major political party or philosophy, they remain
in many ways politically enigmatic. However, Trott recalls that as evangelicalism moved ―very
consciously to the right‖ as a whole ―we found ourselves moving left‖ though abortion ―was one
[issue] that probably held us from moving more rapidly to the left.‖

73

But the community began

to change yet again as many second-generation communards entertained different views on
abortion.
While many second-generation communards challenge staid understandings of cultural
issues, older members continue to combine leftist ideals of social justice with a relatively
conservative cultural ethic. Colleen Davick joined JPUSA in 1992. She was raised in a
conservative Christian home and attended a Bible college in Texas, but sought something deeper
than a suburban life defined by work and home. Inspired at the Cornerstone Festival to consider
168

a different way of life, Davick shed a world where ―if you‘re a Christian, you‘re a Republican.‖
While she agrees with the overall Democratic position of the community, Davick argues that
Jesus did not seek to change people politically, thus reasserting the Jesus-freak dichotomy of the
spiritual and the practical, highlighting particulars that have influenced and differentiated postJesus Movement ―new evangelicals‖ and communities such as JPUSA.

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In this manner,

Davick‘s position is not unlike veteran members who seek to maintain the revivalistic element of
the Jesus Movement, while simultaneously evincing a quasi social-gospel ethic.
Both the Jesus Movement and evangelicalism have wrestled with the extent to which
Christians should engage society, and to what extent the spiritual and the practical can be
appropriately balanced, though many recognize the practical is spiritual. But establishment
evangelicalism (at least during the Seventies and Eighties) continued to vilify activism related to
the Left. Any vestige of an evangelical social conscience actually served as jeremiads, calling
the nation back to its mythical roots. That is, for many conservatives, social action meant
sharing the gospel and bolstering Christian nationalism.

75

While dispensational eschatology influenced the social conscience of early Jesus freaks
and their megachurch offspring,

76

JPUSA‘s conscience, on the other hand, was and is

pragmatically driven. Chicago was viewed by the community as a mission-field, as we have
seen in chapter 4. Glenn Kaiser‘s mission-field—his account of a ―gospel calling‖—avoids polar
extremes seeking to feed both the body and the soul. In the end, he errs on the practical:
―JPUSA was and is about people before a particular doctrine—the core issue that Bible doctrine
guides us to [is] LOVE in ACTION and that means meeting real on-the-ground needs of people
around us, not mere thought and theory…today persons in our midst need love and practical
help…yes, the Gospel, but it's a seamless garment for Jesus…so must be for us.‖
169

77

The Seventies and Eighties were paradoxical for evangelicals. In some ways they were
culturally engaged—the Christian Coalition and the Moral Majority rose to power, marshalling a
certain amount of socio-cultural capital which empowered the Religious Right. In so doing,
many conservative evangelicals sought to engage culture on moralistic grounds as gay rights,
abortion, feminism, and school prayer served as social issues which mobilized the followers of
conservatives such as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, D. James Kennedy, and Focus on the
Family‘s James Dobson. Those on the Right remained culturally disengaged on matters
concerning social justice. Instead of emphasizing humanitarianism (with exceptions such as
Compassion International and World Vision), evangelicals offered what they believed to be an
answer to existential crises—the gospel of salvation from sin (for them, the primary cause of
social ill). This has, arguably, kept evangelical denominations relevant, though some liberal
pastors and theologians have argued that unless Christianity becomes more socially conscious, it
78

will die.

However, baby boom, ―new paradigm‖

79

churches—contemporary, culturally

engaged congregations—are actually growing, while the more socially conscious, mainline
liberal congregations struggle to retain parishioners.

80

In considering the power of the Right, JPUSA‘s greatest divergence from the original
Jesus Movement, Jesus freak communes, and modern, establishment evangelicalism, involves
their levels of and reasons for cultural engagement. For Jon Trott, the Right was incongruous
with what he viewed as biblical. ―It was sort of a watershed moment for me. And I wish I could
tell you the year….It was one of the early years of the Moral Majority,‖ notes Trott. ―The Moral
Majority had just formed in the early eighties….And we were at a meeting with the Christian
Legal Society which was really an interesting mix of lawyers...there was a significant presence
by the Moral Majority that year and Cal Thomas

81

170

actually got up and spoke…all four planks of

the platform that he said they were…these were the biblical planks of what the Moral Majority is
about.‖ Trott was surprised by what amounted to a forthright admission by the Right on matters
he considers to be anti-Christian. Trott recalls that one of the first ―biblical planks‖ asserted was
a ―strong military.‖ His response reaffirms both his and JPUSA‘s departure from official
articulations of what defines much of the Right‘s core:
Now I‘m not necessarily a pacifist. I‘m a philosophical pacifist. But operatively, I
understand the possibility anyway, or the cerebral possibility anyway, of just war. You
know, a concept of a just war….I‘ve never seen one….that said, as he [Cal Thomas]
unpacked what he meant by that (which basically indicated that America needed to be
armed to the teeth so that we could be the policemen for the world and keep evil at bay).
I felt every atom of my being going, ―this is so unbiblical, this is so unrooted in any
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Christian understanding of what reality is.‖ I check out of this. I reject this.
Trott recalls the community‘s vituperative denunciation of the Reagan administration and
maintains that JPUSA ―began to see a number of very troubling trends among the right
wing….The right wing has traditionally been…a nationalistic movement. It‘s a movement for
empire…we intuited that. We felt there was something amiss.‖

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Although many Protestants and Catholics contend that there is a biblical basis for war
(established in the Old Testament), Trott considers historical context, rejecting arguments which
apply ancient political models to contemporary U.S. society. ―In the Old Testament, Israel was a
theocracy. America is not a theocracy,‖ he maintains. ―It never has been a theocracy. It‘s a
modern democracy…yes the Puritans were in on it early in the game. But that concept very
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early on went by the wayside.‖

But despite the left-leaning positions held by Trott and

members of JPUSA, the Jesus-freak connection to the Right remains strong—the Jesus
Movement‘s connection to Christian nationalism is continually reiterated by historians.
However, though thoroughly evangelical in their theology, JPUSA has continued to differentiate

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their community from the socio-economic position of the Right as related to U.S. foreign and
domestic policy.
Along with their aversion to what is perceived as policies of empire, JPUSA‘s
differentiation with the Right, as discussed in earlier chapters, is largely based on activism
related to inner-city poverty. JPUSA noticed how President Reagan‘s policies affected lowincome families.

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Trott argues that Reagan‘s ―draconian‖ policies (welfare cuts) were

contributing factors to Chicago‘s homeless population.

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In chapters 2 and 3, I discussed

JPUSA‘s views on Reagan and the community‘s need to expand their shelter as a result of his
policies on urban renewal. Founding member John Herrin was forthcoming with his views:
To be honest with you, the Reagan era was not good for us or Chicago. There was a lot
of you know this whole trickle down…boy we weren‘t seeing any trickles here. A lot of
funding was cut for social services in this city, and we were not firm believers you
know…to us the Reagan [policies]…looked like…it looked like big business to us. And
it really kind of stunk. And really didn‘t relate to the people we dealt with. I‘m sure
Reagan, and of course George W. Bush, probably had more to do with this community
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being predominately democratic today than anything.
Over the years, JPUSA has continued to diverge on matters associated with their own parent
culture. In so doing, they have aligned with a number of positions on the political spectrum.
Thus, locating the community remains problematic. The shifting sands of pluralism
notwithstanding, their core ethos remains contrary to the evangelical mainstream.

Communal Identity
In many ways, social and cultural isolation serves the endeavors of communes seeking to
avoid materialism and nationalism, though this has often led to communal demise or social
isolation. Another Jesus Movement commune, Children of God (COG), drew quick media
attention as they established ubiquitous cells. Members wore sackcloth and ashes, held prayer

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vigils in public spaces, and called the nation to repent while spouting jeremiads involving
proclamations of doom. COG recruited new members via the controversial practice of ―flirty
fishing,‖ a method of proselytizing that incorporated sanctified prostitution into missionizing, a
tactic which also secured financial support from wealthy individuals targeted by what was
essentially COG‘s escort service.

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Along with flirty fishing, the practice of ―sharing‖ (plural

marriage) marked the group as heretical within the larger Jesus Movement.

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After allegations

of child abuse, COG relocated to other countries and continued as The Family International.
COG‘s nomadic existence (families frequently relocate) keeps the group relatively isolated and
culturally irrelevant.
Unlike groups such as COG, JPUSA‘s mission (though marked by the evangelical need
to missionize) has been to balance their understanding of the gospel with social need as they seek
to engage the world around them. But for the most part, Jesus freaks were absorbed by the
establishment. Jesus Movement groups authenticated by establishment evangelicalism were
attached to, or loosely affiliated with, socially conservative congregations like Calvary Chapel
and Vineyard.

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Responding to a growing materialism within evangelical circles, groups such as

COG became retreat-based, distancing their respective communities from official expressions of
both the Right and the Left, thus carving out a very different space within the Jesus Movement
epic.
Understandably, JPUSA has had to work for evangelical trust in the wake of groups such
as COG. But the community‘s biblicist position and moderate sympathies with the Right on
abortion and homosexuality endeared them to the larger evangelical subculture.

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Lines have

remained thin, however. These core issues no longer provide traction needed for any
longstanding affinity with the Right. Moreover, populist evangelical affinities—an attractive
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element for JPUSA—have not inured the communal council, as with other evangelical Christians
who quickly aligned their respective churches with social issues that were (quite frankly) in
vogue.

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But for JPUSA, the stakes are simply too high. In contradistinction to COG,

fundamentalist denominations, and baby boom evangelicalism, leaders in JPUSA have made
eradicating poverty and homelessness a priority. Despite David Gordon‘s assertion that the
community is relatively isolationist—that they do not encounter pluralism in the same way as
suburban, post-Jesus Movement communes—the community has evolved since initial
observations were conducted during the late 1970s.

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In 2004, the George W. Bush administration contacted the Cornerstone Festival office
and requested an audience for either Bush or Colin Powell. Uninterested in ―mixing politics and
faith,‖

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JPUSA and Cornerstone ―declined an offer to host President Bush.,‖

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notes founder

John Herrin. Disinterest in mixing faith and politics notwithstanding, JPUSA clearly exhibits
political sensibilities in a public manner at Cornerstone. Moreover, their position on the war in
the Middle East informed their discontent with President Bush and provided confirmation of
their general discontent with Republican-inspired evangelical Christianity. As a result, the
community continues to remain informed about global events, hoping to educate those who visit
the commune and attend Cornerstone, though politically-based seminars reflect multiple
perspectives. As the community has self-consciously adopted a very specific identity over the
years, their aversion to rightist allegiances has carved out a space which also affects their
perspectives on matters such as God and Country.

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Nationalism and Identity
For many evangelical Christians, organized efforts to avoid (or at the very least
minimize) social justice have often been linked to either millenarian expectancy or Christian
nationalism. Evangelicals (particularly fundamentalists) have either sought to convert people
before the end of time or to reestablish a Christian nation before the end, advocating a ―Puritan
heritage that America was a new Israel,‖ according to historian George Marsden.

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They have

often been paradoxical and deeply alienated—at once militantly anti-society (America is
Babylon) and pro-America (America is a chosen nation). These evangelicals sought to retreat
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from a corrupt, unchangeable world (premillennial dispensationalism),

while also voting on

legislation intended to create policies intended to bolster the Christian-nation myth.

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As evangelical Christianity was revived among America‘s youth throughout the 1960s
and 1970s, two competing forces defined how evangelicals would engage society. For early
Jesus freaks, social action involved rigorous evangelism as the faithful sought to convert souls
before the rapture of the church. For the burgeoning Religious Right, action often involved
restoring America to a ―Christian nation.‖

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But what sort of action did JPUSA embrace?

Although Colleen Davick stated Jesus did not come to engage politics, like others in JPUSA, she
remains committed to social justice. Her agenda, however, is not to create a Christian nation or
to hasten the second coming. Like other JPUSA communards, her vision of social justice is
nuanced—in contradistinction to the aforementioned Jesus freaks and religious rightists—
valuing practical outreach for its own sake: people need food and shelter. Davick acts out of
obedience to what she views as central to the teachings of Jesus.

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JPUSA‘s agenda has never been to create a ―lighthouse group‖ that defines itself as some
quintessential Christian expression or the ultimate model for living.

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Moreover, JPUSA

leaders view Christianity and the concept of national identity as incompatible, according to Trott.
Over the years, Cornerstone Festival has offered workshops intended to challenge Christian
nationalism, calling evangelicals to understand the complexities of foreign relations and the
convoluted nature of ferreting out decisions concerning land ownership within tribal societies. In
other words, JPUSA does not attach the same cosmic imperative to theologically-driven battles
over land, as do evangelicals whose gaze remains fixed on Jerusalem. They work to bridge the
gap and, in Trott‘s words, hope to demonstrate the complexity of evangelical Christianity—that
not all evangelicals resonate with the political agenda of rightist nationalism.

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Noting

Manifest Destiny, Trott connects the Right‘s thirst for empire to what he maintains is a
privileging of big business over environmentalism, thus reinforcing Marsden‘s analysis of the
paradoxical nature of the Right‘s desire to avoid society while simultaneously engineering it.

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While most groups affected by evangelical belief concerning the end of time or Christian
nationalism are not violent in any concrete sense, their positions concerning war and ecology
may hint at a different sort of violence—environmental destruction through inaction. Moreover,
violence can arise to serve what some believe to be a correct course of action, a phenomenon that
historian Jon Pahl refers to as ―innocent domination.‖

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A journalist with deep environmental

convictions, Trott works to protest what he believes to be destructive environmental policies held
by the Religious Right, instituted by big business.
Brian McLaren and Shane Claiborne

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Leaders within the Evangelical Left such as

(both of whom have lectured at Cornerstone) maintain

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that the ―kingdom of God‖ is both spiritual and physical. McLaren notes the consequence of
unregulated business:
I saw the devastation unleashed by insufficiently-regulated corporations, denuding and
flattening once-majestic mountains, poisoning springs and creeks, sickening people,
laying off workers, and making a few executives rich. Then a few months later I went fly
fishing in Yellowstone, awed by the powerful presence of bison and elk, the fresh scent
of grassy meadows in summer green, the shine of snowy peaks in the distance. Those
two landscapes linger in my memory—one sold short for a fast profit, one conserved for
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posterity.
Like McLaren, Trott and other JPUSA leaders believe that environmental responsibly is
part of a holistic understanding of the Christian gospel. Cornerstone Festival seminars evidence
this growing commitment within both the commune and many evangelicals attending the
festival. Moreover, in response to conservative policies on the environment and social justice
(and with hopes of reconciling evangelical Christianity with pluralism), various emergent
Christians have come to the fore. Since the increase of emergent Christianity during the 1990s
and the subsequent rise of new leaders such as Shane Claiborne (following ideas previously
established by evangelical leftists such as Jim Wallis), there has been a concerted effort by those
affiliated with the Evangelical Left (as well as some on the Right) to question environmental
policies held by Republican evangelicals. Still, these remain merely fringe expressions of
evangelical radicalism.
Leaders in the JPUSA commune and others on the Left work to undermine oft-held
assumptions that Christianity and nationalism are part of a divine plan. Cornerstone seminars
host speakers who question the war in the Middle East, neo-Zionism, and encourages an
evangelical presence that might combat the rightist positions on environmentalism, foreign
policy, war, healthcare, and feminism.

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But groups such as JPUSA and the Evangelical Left

are not the norm, holding scant representation on the national level. Certainly JPUSA enjoys
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significant social impact as Cornerstone draws thousands annually. However, it is unclear
whether JPUSA‘s ethos extends to the evangelical mainstream. Despite any perceived deaf ear
offered by evangelicalism proper, JPUSA‘s leadership continues to carry a torch, hoping to
exemplify a different version of Christianity, one difficult to categorize: anti-nationalist, anticapital punishment, pro-life (with provisions), fiscally leftist, feminist, womanist, christocentric,
inclusive, biblicist, deconstructivist, environmentalist, rapture-hopeful, yet eschatologically
cautious. In this sense, JPUSA does exhibit a ―lighthouse‖ mentality of sorts—but only insofar
as they hope to inspire other evangelicals to think critically about persons and policies so readily
lionized by republican evangelicals. The commune is not, however, seeking to model any
ultimate form of Christianity, particularly one rooted in national identity or a theologically
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influenced political determinism.

When considering the apparent ubiquity of Christians who at the very least lean toward a
patriotism bordering Christian nationalism, JPUSA remains actively opposed to rightist
nationalism on grounds that nationalistic politics amount to an anti-Christian ethic. Founding
member Wendi Kaiser is distressed over how many tend to confuse patriotism with Christianity.
She has been forthright with her feelings concerning Christian nationalism, noting her distaste
for misplaced patriotism and Manifest Destiny.

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Although it is becoming clear that JPUSA

resembles little, if any aspects of the Religious Right, the fact that JPUSA remains orthodox in
their Christianity tilts the community toward the evangelical distinguisher.

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However, their

moderate inclusiveness might undermine what is historically exclusive about conservative
evangelicalism. While the leaders allow for ambiguity on matters of Christian salvation
(discussed later) and have adopted most social causes typically affiliated with the Left, their
position on abortion and homosexuality (though tempered with nuances) reestablishes a
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conservative connection socially.

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Thus, the community cannot be counted among mainline

liberals, though second-generation communards come closer to this position than the founders.
Our only method of categorizing JPUSA, at this point, is an analysis of their position within the
wider culture.

Culture and Society
Baby boomers in the evangelical mainstream have often been confronted with the
tensions endemic to Christianity and culture.

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Are evangelicals to engage culture or

disengage? Are they to create a Christian nation or simply await the end of time? As we have
seen, during the Jesus Movement some Jesus freaks retreated to isolationist communes. Others
returned to an altered quasi postmillennialism.
Right.

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But far more became part of the Religious

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In the midst of cultural fragmentation among evangelicals, JPUSA attempted to locate a
space best suited to their vision of biblical living. They reject Christian nationalism, remain
active in social reform, and remain hopeful that there will be a rapture of some sort. There is an
historical continuity in JPUSA‘s position on culture. Put another way, a precedent for their
version of Christian living was established well before the Jesus Movement. Consider the
underlying impulse behind nineteenth-century reform efforts: liberal Christianity‘s move toward
the Social Gospel; the progressive populism and social measures of William Jennings Bryan; the
apolitcism of conservative evangelicals who followed in the tradition of evangelists D. L. Moody
and Billy Sunday.

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While JPUSA‘s philosophy does not fully resonate with any of these, each

informs what the council believes to be a holistic understating of Christianity. Their motive is
not restorationist.

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They do not seek to reconstruct society or create a Christian nation. Nor do
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they allegorize or relativize biblical passages (for fear of robbing the text of supernatural
authority) or literalize biblical passages which deal with gender constructs or end-time
cosmology. Noting Jesus‘ command to help children and the less fortunate, JPUSA‘s leaders
maintain that theirs is simply a mission to offer aid to ―the least of these.‖

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Recognizing that choosing how to interpret passages pertaining to culture and society
remains largely subjective, communal leaders hold that decisions about how scripture is read
results from a mixture of communal agreement and individual conscience. Founder Glenn
Kaiser reconciles the various positions on social matters and culture—and deals with the
problem of cultural engagement and ―tragic teleology‖

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—by adopting a practical expression of

Jesus‘ call to activism. For Kaiser, ―JPUSA simply responded to those coming to us each day
for help, help of all kinds be it spiritual, food, clothing, shelter, whatever. I would say we rather
rapidly realized the Mt. 25 [Matthew, chapter 25] list of responding to people's needs that Jesus
spoke of was central and not merely incidental to sharing a verbally credible Gospel.‖

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In the end, Kaiser collapses the Right/Left continuum, arguing that the love of God
usurps other political or theological particulars. This should not be read, however, as an antiintellectual position. First, he arrived at this position via textual analysis. Second, in grassroots
fashion Kaiser (and many other JPUSA communards) is more concerned with feeding the hungry
than with ivory-tower musings about theory. This amounts to an ironic return to the grassroots
activism of the New Left and Jesus-freak revolutionaries who were frustrated with the merely
theoretical, though quite grounded in it!
JPUSA‘s outer mission never fully takes them beyond the first level of Maslow‘s
pyramid,

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although those living within the community certainly move to higher levels. And

while many communards remain intellectually engaged, Kaiser has pointed out that those whom
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they serve (the homeless and the traveler) could care less about high theory or theologically
particulars. Thus, while those such as Kaiser and Trott fully engage political and theological
theory, in the end their greater concern (which defines the community) is social activism. But
does this define JPUSA‘s gospel message?
Nineteenth-century reformers embraced a different understanding of the Christian gospel,
one which prioritized humanitarianism and, in many cases, preached a practical, service-based
message, thus lessening previously established imperatives for individual conversion of the soul.
Advocates for the Social Gospel deemphasized focus on eternal salvation and argued that the
message of Jesus was to save the individual physically—with morality as a positive consequence
and eternal life as an incidental plus. Applying Christian ethics to social problems, advocates for
the Social Gospel adopted postmillennialism, believing that Jesus would return after the Earth
had been socially engineered via Christian teaching. Controversially, these advocates
maintained that the State (which was ostensibly Christian) had a responsibility to create
legislation, regulating programs in service of the greater good, thus realizing Christian morality
by ameliorating social ills and vice.
The aversion to the Social Gospel within some post-Jesus Movement churches is
palpable. Indeed, many evangelicals (regardless of their eschatology) are fully engaged in social
justice. Parachurch organizations such as Compassion International and World Vision continue
relief efforts to feed the poor. However, even new paradigm churches believe that government
should not fund relief efforts believed to be the church‘s responsibility.

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For these churches,

any attempt to relativize scripture (toward a Social Gospel end) robs the text of classical
atonement theology.

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For conservatives, then, the Social Gospel incorrectly dismisses (or at

least undervalues) what they maintain is the real problem: human depravity, a condition only
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solved when individuals accept personal responsibility for sin and accept Jesus as savior. But
even conservatives continue to lobby congress in hopes of gaining legislation, albeit for different
purposes.
And so, evangelicalism is riddled with a tattered history, one involving debates
concerning how social programs ought to be funded. A bit of context: Historian James Davison
Hunter notes that liberals who embraced the Social Gospel movement ―became simultaneously
sensitized to the appalling social conditions and needs generated by industrial capitalism and
aware of the church‘s failings in ameliorating those needs. Born in response was the Social
Gospel....‖

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George Marsden has provided an ample historicity of debates that defined

reactions to the Social Gospel movement and the rise of New Evangelicalism. Furthermore,
historian Donald E. Miller demonstrates how the aversion to government-funded social aid was
also present in churches spawned by the Jesus Movement. He writes: ―…new paradigm
members do not think government-funded social programs will solve the deep-seated needs of
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our times.‖

Ironically, the Religious Right has continued to produce special interest groups,

each seeking to Christianize U.S. society.
Like D. L. Moody,

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many twentieth and twenty-first century conservative evangelicals

have believed social change comes through individual conversion. But does this in any way
capture what Jesus Movement initiatives attempted to do? And more specifically, how can we
classify a group such as JPUSA which would (for the most part) object to the Social Gospel on
theological grounds?
There is a lack of social justice initiatives within some post-Jesus Movement churches.
But the ecclesial landscape is changing. While historian Duane Oldfield argues that the
Religious Right and conservative evangelical churches (those which spend greater time on
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spiritual evangelism) will continue to grow, Axel R. Schaefer demonstrates how evangelicals are
evolving into a different kind of social force, one that maintains some similarities to the Social
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Gospel but couches activism in millennial terms.

For example, emergent Christians and some

Jesus-freak veterans often engage social justice not because they dismiss the doctrine of the
Rapture, but because they are uncertain about when the end will come. This development is
relatively new, considering the number of Jesus Movement converts who followed the teachings
of Hal Lindsey. Moreover, this level of uncertainty can also be found in conservative
evangelicals who maintain that while the Rapture will happen (often noted ―in their lifetime‖),
one does not know the hour. Thus, responsible Christian living dictates that the faithful remain
good caretakers of the planet and fellow human beings.
Now often eschatologically ambiguous,

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a growing number of evangelicals note the

importance (even urgency) of demonstrating Christian faith by working to better society. Jon
Trott maintains that some sort of temporal, terrestrial grand finality will occur. And yet, while
he holds that humanity is on a downward spiral, his arminianism

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compels him to remain a

social activist as he and other members of JPUSA continue to offer aid to the homeless, protest
the sale of firearms, remain an active voice for feminism, and protest the war in the Middle East.

A New Politics of the End: Implications
Eschatology presses on the nerve-centers which inform the way religionists perceive the
universe and its destiny—and it often has practical consequences. In the words of David W.
Stowe, ―Belief in the apocalypse tends to work against active politics.‖

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But in recent years,

the eschatology of evangelicalism has become diverse, complex, and often reflective (if only
incrementally) of pluralism. For example, new emerging expressions of evangelical Christianity

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often avoid supporting war in the Middle East, recognizing the irony of engineering any potential
end of time. Left-leaning evangelicals such as Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, and Shane Claiborne
continue to challenge evangelicals who maintain that our actions have bearing on cosmic events.
For Wallis, ―Many American Christians are simply more loyal to a version of American
nationalism than they are to the body of Christ.‖

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McLaren is equally forthcoming with how

eschatology can impact evangelical political ethics. In an effort to demonstrate how an overly
deterministic eschatology can negatively impact activism he writes, ―If the world is about to
end…why care for the environment? Why worry about global climate change or peak oil? Who
gives a rip for endangered species or sustainable economies or global poverty if God is planning
to incinerate the whole planet soon anyway?‖

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McLaren‘s questions tap the core of an

evangelical belief which has for years influenced social activism. Hoping to emphasize an
obvious disconnect, he asks a series of questions:
If the Bible predicts the rebuilding of the Jewish temple (or requires that rebuilding for its
prophecies to work in a dispensationalist framework), why care about Muslim claims on
the Temple Mount real estate? Why care about justice for non-Jews in Israel at all—after
all, isn't it their own fault for being on land God predicts will be returned in full to the
Jews in the last days? If God has predetermined that the world will get worse and worse
until it ends in a cosmic megaconflict between the forces of Light (epitomized most often
in the United States) and the forces of Darkness (previously centered in communism, but
now, that devil having been vanquished, in Islam), why waste energy on peacemaking,
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diplomacy, and interreligious dialogue?
Positions held by McLaren, Wallis, and others on the Left indicate a growing trend among
evangelicals. Still, conservative Christianity has significantly impacted American politics. But
even when JPUSA fully embraced the eschatology associated with the Right, their sense of
social activism remained unfettered when so many other evangelicals exuded heavenmindedness as they read the works of Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye.

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While the political opinions expressed by Trott and Herrin have been part of JPUSA‘s
ethos since its genesis, their position is a curious one when considering their extended
community, the evangelical subculture. However, shifts in eschatology among some
evangelicals (though gradual) can be seen in various forms of humanitarianism—even federally
funded. Despite the fact that there exists a near recidivistic quality to American millennialisism
(one ever-set on doomsday scenarios), there is an ecumenical effort, a collaboration to join with
other persons of faith in hopes of realizing the end of war, hunger, AIDS, and negative
consequences to the environment. And while there was a concerted effort in the past to
demonize global humanitarian efforts as being futile at best or Antichrist at worst,

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some

premillennial evangelicals admit (unlike their evangelical forerunners) that they simply do not
know when the end will come.

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But as McLaren intimated, the power of rapture theology

remains strong for many. And it influences (if only subconsciously) political decision or
indecision.

Soteriology
In tracking changes in JPUSA I have focused on eschatology, largely because it was so
prevalent during the Jesus Movement and intensely affected how various communes chose to
engage the world around them. Further, Jesus Movement and evangelical eschatology has been
directly linked with the belief in salvation through Jesus. Despite intrigue with otherworldly
concerns, even the most isolationist communities have tended to fall within the evangelical
continuum when considering eternal salvation. Research on the most radical of Jesus Movement
communes (such as the Children of God) demonstrate how groups whose organizing premise

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(separation from tradition)
christocentric soteriology.

138

did not alter what was viewed as essential to their faith—a

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From 1972 until the 1990s JPUSA‘s position on eternal salvation for the individual
(atonement of sin through Jesus‘ death and resurrection) was clear. From 1984 until the mid-tolate 1990s, lectures at Cornerstone were designed to argue for biblical absolutism and a strict
model of evangelical-based exclusive truth-claims: Jesus was the only way to God. While
JPUSA leaders continue to affirm that Jesus is lord and savior (the only mediator between
humanity and God), since the turn-of-the-century Cornerstone seminars have revealed an
increasing tolerance of nuanced opinions pertaining to human salvation, as the editors for the
Christian publication the Phantom Tollbooth have indicated. Recognizing the fluidity of belief,
founder John Herrin admits that ―Christians can interpret [the Bible] a thousand ways if not a
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million.‖

When interviewing Jon Trott, I recalled author Brian McLaren‘s

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position on

divine judgment, an argument comparing Mahatma Ghandi to the controversial right-wing
Baptist minister Fred Phelps.

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McLaren ventures that although Ghandi was not a Christian, he

would likely be accepted by God…Fred Phelps would not. Trott agreed. The significance of
this is in the relationship between McLaren (an inclusivist)

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and JPUSA/Cornerstone.

McLaren has spoken at the festival and, for the most part, exemplifies JPUSA‘s position on
social justice, as well as emergent philosophy (though some emergent leaders part ways with his
wide ecumenism).
Although JPUSA leaders such as Glenn Kaiser do not align fully with McLaren‘s
personal edicts,

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there is a closer affiliation with his form of inclusivism

145

than is widely

espoused within establishment evangelicalism. What is more telling is Trott‘s own concept of

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salvation. He disagrees with liberal theology‘s inability to provide clear answers on the grounds
that its ambiguity offers a nebulous view of God, a largely useless idea for one who needs
certainty, if only in modest amounts. Unwilling to cede ground to either liberalism or
conservatism, Trott equally affirms a possible wide net of salvation, admitting that he does not
know who God deems worthy. This position is echoed by others in the commune. While they
see Jesus as unique and fully embrace a classical understanding of the atonement, they reserve
judgment of ―the other,‖

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recognizing (ironically in classic liberal form) that spirit-

regeneration may occur in individuals despite their religious affiliation or belief. It is this ability
to navigate both orthodoxy and pluralism that keeps the community intellectually engaged,
unlike previous Christian communes constructed around charismatic leaders and inflexible
ideologies.
This sense of ideological negotiation has been transferred to younger communards, who
in many ways have taken flexibility to greater lengths. For many of them, ideas are more
complex than realized, thus negotiable. Like the founders, Joshua Davenport, a newer
communard, notes that the sanctity of life (as one example) should include problems associated
with war and human need, seeking to avoid political orientations based on single-issue topics
such as abortion or gay marriage. But his true divergence from orthodoxy concerns his doctrine
of salvation. As with others in his generation, Davenport does not claim the title ―evangelical,‖
arguing that ―the gospels are too big to know.‖ For him, evangelicals are too quick to
systematize faith, often ignoring historic struggles concerning the question of what constitutes a
follower of Christ.
Following the lead of fellow communards and other evangelicals, Davenport believes that
only Christians go to Heaven, but notes the complexity of what makes a Christian, arguing that

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one simply cannot know a person‘s heart. For him, the possibility of a Christian who is
simultaneously Muslim or Hindu is very possible. Valuing the path of Christ over belief,
Davenport holds that conversion is a matter of whether or not the ―light has gone on.‖

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If JPUSA communards weigh their own lives and levels of commitment within the
context of pluralism, Kanter‘s theory of sacrifice (as related to communal commitment) can be
applied to their ability to effectively accommodate pluralism. That is, sacrifice may become
easier if the stakes of human physical need remain high while the pressures of pluralism
(recognized inconsistencies between specific belief and universal humanity) are incrementally
adjudicated. Put another way, pure humanitarianism (even when inspired by the teachings of
Jesus) could make sacrifice easier when one realizes that more immediate needs are pressing in.
While JPUSA in no way dismisses the practice of Christian missions designed to convert
the individual soul, the premium placed on human physical need also meets the needs of
communards who feel compelled toward human service, regardless of ideological particulars.

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Given the evolution of JPUSA‘s positions on eschatology and soteriology (the nuances), it is
necessary to consider where they fall within the evangelical continuum, if they do at all.
JPUSA is changing along with other expressions of evangelicalism, but not all.
Unconcerned with how or when the end of time will occur, they value missionizing and avoid
theorizing. The question is whether evangelicalism has changed enough to stomach the
ideological shifts which have occurred in JPUSA and Cornerstone. If not—if Cornerstone is illattended due to philosophies inconsistent with evangelicalism—the community‘s success (if
defined in terms of cultural engagement) may rely solely on their sustained effort to aid
Chicago‘s homeless. If they are unable to sustain amicable discourse with evangelicalism
proper, JPUSA may run the risk of urban isolation. Without remaining connected to a larger
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outlet such as Cornerstone (which keeps JPUSA linked to the pulse of the world), the community
will be defined via a model of self-referencing, without having to deal with the shifting sands of
pluralism in the ―outside world.‖

Conclusion
As with many religious communities living in a democratic, pluralistic society, JPUSA‘s
political and theological affiliations are a result of a myriad of social forces. The commune
managed to break from the Jesus freak mould cast by historians of American religion who have
written about the counterculture and the Jesus Movement. Although their early years were
marked by the same apocalyptic urgency as the greater Jesus Movement, JPUSA refocused
efforts toward practical matters of social justice. The community remained hopeful of the
Rapture but avoided extremes prevalent in doomsday groups, as well as establishment
evangelicals who took their cues from Hal Lindsey.
Without question, the Jesus Movement became an arm of the Religious Right, either
broadcasting scenarios of divine wrath or encouraging Christian nationalism via popular
evangelical media. This chapter has clarified the ideological evolution of JPUSA, demonstrating
that the community opted out of rightist agendas touted by many evangelicals throughout the
1970s and 1980s. Moreover, while JPUSA engaged the muscular intellectual world of biblical
apologetics during the 1980s (in reaction to Jesus-freak experientialism), the community began
to adopt more nuanced understandings of Christian belief. As such, the influence of pluralism
was unavoidable.
As will become evident, JPUSA‘s involvement with the larger world can be seen at the
Cornerstone Festival. Although they might carry what sociologist Christian Smith calls ―sacred
umbrellas,‖

149

the community cannot be easily categorized. While they enjoy a certain level of
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inter-group accountability and spiritual safety, communards are connected to society in a way
unlike former Jesus Movement communes.

150

Thus, JPUSA‘s ability to remain connected to

society—navigating issues commonly associated with both the Right and the Left—has
contributed to their viability. However, merely remaining connected is not enough to warrant a
distinct place within evangelicalism proper or validate any sense of uniqueness within the larger
study of communalism. But when comparing the community‘s identity and ethos to other
evangelicals, it becomes clear that JPUSA can best be understood as a radical example of the
Evangelical Left. As such, the community is a product of pluralism and postmodern
Christianity, a development which now necessitates the group to straddle two very different
approaches to the evangelical worldview.
The changes in JPUSA and at Cornerstone place the commune at odds with many who
attend the festival as long-held paradigms are often challenged. But while many who attend
indeed represent establishment evangelicalism, many others (particularly those in their early
twenties) have become disenchanted with new paradigm Christianity, noting its historical
connection to baby boom evangelicalism and the Religious Right.
As JPUSA‘s theology continues to mirror postmodern Christianity, one wonders how
Cornerstone and the community will fare in the future. While I argue that JPUSA‘s ability to
engage social justice and evolve ideologically has kept them alive and relevant, their success
largely depends on what evangelicalism will look like in the coming years. The next chapter will
deal with the Cornerstone Festival, its position within the larger music industry, and how it
reflects changes within JPUSA‘s community.

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Chapter 6
The Christian Woodstock: Vernacular Religion, Influence, and Conflicting Worlds

Introduction
The American counterculture of the 1960s served as a cultural flashpoint that contributed
to how youth were perceived, ideas were processed, and art was expressed. The Jesus Movement
radically remapped evangelical Christianity, creating urgency for evangelicals to focus on youth
culture, using the vernacular tools of popular culture. Although the official Jesus Movement
faded, the spirit continues to surface in various forms, redefining boundaries and reorienting the
faithful to new, emerging ways of signifying the sacred. Every year thousands of mainstream
and subcultural Christians attend JPUSA‘s Cornerstone Festival which, in many ways, is
reminiscent of the first Woodstock. Despite the festival‘s evangelical orientation, the event
challenges musical and ideological assumptions often held by the larger evangelical subculture.
This chapter will explore the origin and cultural impact of the Cornerstone Festival, JPUSA‘s
contribution to countercultural representations of evangelical Christianity, and JPUSA‘s role in
redefining the boundaries and definitions that have significantly oriented the Christian music
industry to a traditional dichotomy of sacred and secular. Through Cornerstone, JPUSA
challenges establishment evangelicalism and mainline contemporary Christian music (CCM).

Evangelicals and Popular Culture
The Jesus Movement challenged mainline, liberal Protestant positions on theological
certainty and commonly-held evangelical positions on religious (pentecostal) experience. In so
doing, Jesus freaks reaffirmed absolute commitment to literal interpretations of the Bible while
simultaneously bringing the ―primitivism‖ of pentecostal Christianity into the mainstream. But

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the movement‘s greatest contribution to U.S society was cultural: hair, clothing, music, visual
art, publishing, film, television, and festivals. Popular mediums employed contributed to the
growth of megachurches and ―new paradigm churches,‖ according to historian Donald Miller.
The freedom of expression allowed in these new evangelical gatherings cannot be
underestimated. Miller‘s recounting of parishioners donning ―pink mohawks‖ demonstrates how
a plurality of expression was accepted and encouraged (though not always extending to religious
or political tolerance).

1

As the Jesus Movement began to dissolve, the Religious Right used the tools of popular
culture to further its own cause. Post-Jesus Movement evangelicals used music, books, and film
to engage the culture war, arguing that social issues such as abortion, feminism, gay rights, and
secular humanism were all signs of a declining Christian nation. Using the work of Colleen
McDannell, historian Eileen Luhr has argued that popular culture helped young Jesus Movement
converts learn values associated with conservative Christian belief. According to her findings,
the impact of the movement increased as ―independent Christian bookstores grew from 725 to
2

1,850 between 1965 and 1975.‖ While the use of the popular vernacular was nothing new for
3

evangelicals, the Jesus Movement provided a template for cultural engagement that elevated
evangelicals to new status. Like early evangelicals and fundamentalists who hoped for a
glorious end of time marked by a secret rapture of born again believers, Jesus freaks were
accused of being a culture-retreating movement. Young converts were depicted as dour agents
of doomsday religion as international events were interpreted through a grid popularized by
apocalyptic author Hal Lindsey. But this changed as Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald
Reagan carried evangelical rhetoric to the fore. Jesus freaks followed and were absorbed into the
evangelical mainstream.
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Although it would be unfair to assume that Jesus freaks were automatically co-opted by
the Right, it is safe to assume that the new ―evangelical base‖ was a growing youth culture
whose cultural products (popularized by the counterculture) were employed in service of
newfound faith. This is nothing new. Vernacular proselytizing can be traced back to the Great
Awakening. Historian George Marsden points out that the evangelist ―Charles Finney was, in
fact, one of the progenitors of modern advertising technique….His pioneering work paved the
way for later twentieth-century radio and TV evangelists to master mass communication
4

techniques.‖ Moreover, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson‘s ability to combine the gospel
message with modern theatrics carried Finney‘s technique into the twentieth century.
American Protestant ministers have often employed various measures to attract a crowd
or appeal to the masses—often while simultaneously eschewing the culture it attempted to
imitate. Despite this, early revivalists such as Billy Sunday (1862-1935) ―turned to the
techniques of modern show business as a means of drumming up support,‖ writes Marsden.

5

Political scientist Duane Oldfield also iterates the ongoing connections between popular culture
and evangelicalism, emphasizing the ―populist, democratic character of American popular
religion.‖ He suggests that the key players have often used whatever is necessary or available—a
6

Hebdigean bricolage, of sorts. Oldfield states that American evangelists have often been
willing to
speak the language of the people, crude and sensationalistic though it may be. The
enthusiasm of the backwoods camp meeting, the theatrics of turn-of-the-century baseball
player/evangelist Billy Sunday, and the antics of televangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker
[Jimmy Swaggart and Ted Haggard are current examples] have shocked the respectable
7
but demonstrated a continuing ability to connect with a mass audience.

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As an outflow of this post-hippie revival, the Jesus Movement‘s message was artistically
communicated through multiple mediums. ―Jesus music‖ evolved, becoming Christian rock and
Contemporary Christian music (CCM). Early Jesus rockers such as Children of the Day, Love
Song, Andrae Crouch, Randy Stonehill, Barry McGuire, and Larry Norman laid the foundation
for artists who would play a role in the creation of a new industry—the ―parallel universe‖ of
popular evangelical music. Some of these singers and groups included Keith Green, Amy Grant,
Michael W. Smith, Petra, Stryper, Whitecross, dc Talk, DeGarmo & Key, and Jars of Clay.
Andrew Beaujon is a journalist who has contributed to the Washington Post, the Washington
City Paper, and Spin magazine. His assessment of the current status of the Christian music
industry in Body Piercing Saved My Life includes an interview with one the most successful
executives in Christian music. Bill Hearn, president and CEO of EMI Christian Music Group (a
branch of the mammoth EMI), argued that SoundScan reporting technology ―showed that a lot
more Christian music was being sold than the secular music industry wanted to admit,‖ writes
Beaujon. In 2006, EMI Christian Music Group accounted for ―40 percent of the resulting $700
million business,‖ and proved to be ―one of the most profitable companies in the EMI system
around the world.‖

8

The social influence of CCM is far-reaching. It has become ―a major component of the
financial underpinnings of American evangelicalism‘s mass media and bookstore infrastructure,‖
writes historian Larry Eskridge, ―as well as a significant aspect of everyday life and devotion in
the evangelical subculture, spawning radio station formats, summer festivals, websites and the
9

like.‖ Although this niche genre was once relatively inconsequential, the respectability of
contemporary Christian music (or Christians making popular music) increased as songs crossed
over from niche genres to mainstream markets, despite proclamations of evangelical faith. In
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1985, Amy Grant released Unguarded which became a commercial breakthrough on the
Billboard albums charts. ―Find a Way‖ became Grant‘s first Top 40 single, after which her duet
with Peter Cetera, ex-singer of the group Chicago, thrust Grant into the limelight. ―The Next
Time I Fall‖ rose to number one on the charts, making Grant a star ―to believers and unbelievers
alike.‖ The world of Christian music ―had long awaited such general-market validation,‖ writes
Beaujon.

10

Grant now enjoys ―six Grammys, numerous Dove Awards, [and] a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame.‖

11

However, there has been a struggle between Christian musicians, the general market, and
the local church. One of the earlier Jesus rockers, Larry Norman, was accused of being too
Christian for the general market and too rock ‗n‘ roll for the church. When the Resurrection
Band (REZ) attempted to engage the market, their topics did not endear them to either world.
Much like Norman, REZ was, according to Beaujon‘s analysis, considered ―too hard for the
Christian market and too Christian for the general market.‖

12

However, StarSong Records

signed REZ and released what became a ―classic of Christian rock.‖ Awaiting Your Reply was,
in the words of Beaujon,
one of the few albums from the movement‘s early days that was as good as anything in
the general market. But because of Rez‘s subject matter, the group remained a cult band
in the Christian scene, foreshadowing the way Christian music would treat its square pegs
in the future….And so began a subculture within a subculture, that of artists ignored by
13
―mainstream‖ Christian music, itself barely noticed by the larger pop culture.

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Figure 6: Resurrection Band’s Awaiting Your Reply (1978)
Indeed, REZ has functioned on the margins of both the general market and the world of
Christian music. But their influence reached beyond their own album sales. Awaiting Your
Reply created a template for the emergence of new ―types‖ of Christian rock, such as the general
market groups P.O.D. and Jars of Clay. Reacting to the banality of commercially-driven CCM
there emerged various emancipated evangelical musicians, seeking to push the cultural envelope.
As a result, the classifier ―CCM‖ would later fade into obscurity.
Much of the debate about CCM has been due to disagreements about how Christian
musicians should interact with ―the world.‖ In Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of
Contemporary Christian Music, sociologists Jay R. Howard and John M. Streck offer three
different approaches to CCM that categorize the genre based on how the Christian music
industry has historically dealt with tensions between faith, art, business, entertainment, and
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culture. ―Separational CCM‖ is fundamentally dualistic, exemplifies H. Richard Niebuhr‘s
concept of ―Christ against culture‖

14

and is used to glorify God and evangelize the lost. Until

recently, the Gospel Music Association modeled this in its strict definition of ―Christian‖ or
―gospel‖ music (discussed later in the chapter).

15

―Integrational‖ CCM musicians view

Separational CCM as isolationist and culturally irrelevant. An example of Niebuhr‘s ―Christ of
16

Culture,‖

these musicians often strive to cross over into the general market, defining

themselves as Christian entertainers. While they remain vocal about their faith, the primary
purpose is not to evangelize.

17

This approach can also be reconciled with the Gospel Music
18

Association‘s definition of Christian music.

On the surface, the categories of separational and

integrational are different in their perspectives on how to define Christian music. However,
despite this difference, both are considered functionally utilitarian. Musicians in both categories
(despite the way CCM is understood) tend to view the world in binaries and strive to remain a
Christian witness using entertainment. ―Transformational‖ Christian musicians view art as a
valuable means to enter the world as agents of God. These musicians avoid utilitarianism,
viewing art as valuable for its own sake. Any consequential Christian witness is merely
incidental to what they believe is a result of God‘s presence within all creation. This approach
can be connected to three of Niebuhr‘s categories: ―Christ above culture,‖ ―Christ and culture in
paradox,‖ and ―Christ the transformer of culture.‖

19

Howard and Streck‘s three categories of

CCM provide a useful model—one which will provide frames of reference from which to draw
when considering various evangelical music groups, lyrics, and, ultimately, the Cornerstone
Festival. Moreover, they are valuable when considering how groups like REZ have been
perceived and how they have contributed to a paradigm shift in popular evangelical music.

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Festivals
Historically, evangelicals have often struggled over how to accommodate culture. The
Jesus Movement, however, created a new way of engaging popular culture, despite
disagreements over issues such as rock ‗n‘ roll. This tension only increased with the rise of
Christian rock concerts and enigmatic Jesus music festivals. Although Explo‘72 (one of the first
major Jesus festivals) was a milestone in the Jesus Movement‘s quest for longevity, many other
festivals cropped up, portraying themselves as ―Jesus Woodstocks,‖ encouraging concert-goers
to find their fix or get their high on the historical Jesus of Nazareth. Early Jesus festivals were
Christian-conversionist versions of Woodstock. Modern Christian rock festivals such as
AGAPE, Ichthus, Godstock, Atlanta Fest, JesusFest, Creation, Sonshine, and Fishnet all serve
similar purposes. The difference between these and Cornerstone are aesthetic and ideological.
While Jesus festivals were widely celebrated during the 1970s and developed commercial
relationships with theme parks throughout the 1980s and 1990s, none have had the socio-cultural
impact as Cornerstone. CNN.com reported that Cornerstone ―spawned a revolution in Christian
rock, which is now selling around fifty million discs a year…ahead of jazz, new age, classical—
20

with the creative chaos of Cornerstone right in the middle.‖

Moreover, the festival influences

JPUSA, inspiring the community to remain engaged with relevant topics concerning global
affairs. The event also keeps the community engaged in an activity which transcends their own
community. That is, planning the festival provides both commitment and purpose (maintaining
what Kanter refers to as ―affirmative boundaries‖) and serves to remind JPUSA leaders that
insularity might lead to communal irrelevance.

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Staff members argue that Cornerstone is an alternative to other Christian music festivals,
a contrast to ―safe‖ music.

21

Put another way, the community felt the need to offer a venue

where Christian musicians felt free to perform music typically not accepted by the mainstream
Christian music industry (whether due to style or lyrical content) and where discussions on
politics, religion, and art mirrored (to some extent) what they believed to be both biblical and
holistic.
While other Christian festivals provide gatherings that appeal to fans of mainstream
Christian rock (what is considered normative to the parent culture), members of JPUSA argue
that Cornerstone highlights a subcultural aesthetic often absent from gatherings sponsored by the
gatekeepers of establishment evangelicalism. ―As we conceived it,‖ writes Jon Trott,
―Cornerstone Festival would be to Jesus festivals what Seven-Up© was to cola: the unfestival.‖
He continues:
No Jesus festival existed in the Midwest, and by the early eighties we began to dream
about doing one, with a distinct "JPUSA" flavor, ourselves. We knew and respected the
promoters of other Jesus festivals, but due to tremendous church resistance to rock music
and other cultural forms of expression, the promoters favored "safe," middle-of-the-road
CCM [contemporary Christian music] performers over the increasing number of
innovative Christian rock bands. In addition, festival teachers sometimes seemed to be
chosen more for their drawing power than their power to minister from the Word of
22
God.
Although JPUSA‘s shelter program keeps the community engaged in a world outside of
their own, Cornerstone connects the community to the wider evangelical subculture. While
many evangelicals consider JPUSA theologically orthodox and ―acceptable‖ by evangelical
standards, Cornerstone‘s genesis signaled yet another differentiation between JPUSA and
establishment evangelicalism.

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In the Beginning
The Cornerstone Festival began at the Chicago County Fairgrounds in Grayslake, Illinois
in 1984, a seminal year in the rise of Reagan-era evangelicalism. Influenced by the Europeanbased Greenbelt Festival, JPUSA member Henry Wong served as Cornerstone‘s director for the
first sixteen years, after which John Herrin assumed the directorship.

23

The festival was

relocated in 1991 to the six hundred acre Cornerstone Farm outside of Bushnell, Illinois. The
property was purchased by JPUSA after Chicago zoning regulations forced the festival to either
cease activities early in the evening due to noise ordinances or relocate the event. This sleepy
Midwestern agrarian town is now known internationally to festival attendees and to those who
visit the website. The rural Bushnell welcomes the annual gathering of thousands who claim
Christian affiliation, many sporting the hard core, punk rock, or ―goth‖ aesthetic. The event
boasts approximately 20,000 in attendance (during good years), and attracts an international
following. Musician Terry Scott Taylor has been a longtime staple at Cornerstone. Known for
his iconoclastic and eccentric groups such as Daniel Amos, The Lost Dogs, and the Swirling
Eddies, Taylor is considered one of the veterans of the event and exemplifies the type of artist
JPUSA seeks to highlight. For him, this yearly summer gathering is a ―homecoming.‖

24

Impressions
Although Cornerstone is the public face of JPUSA, this event offers a relatively
uncommon experience. The location and general aesthetic quality of the event has an immediate
effect when one arrives at the Cornerstone Farm. After driving through miles of cornfields one
arrives in Bushnell, Illinois, a town largely defined by agriculture. Cornerstone‘s diversity is farreaching, particularly when compared to other evangelical gatherings. The arrival of church
busses, vans, and cars sporting the ―Cornerstone or bust‖ statement, hints at certain expectancy.
200

New arrivals are easily spotted; their cars are still dust-free. When stopping to get gas one
cannot help but notice that the gas station and fast food store have been overrun by local farmers
and newcomers—―Cornerstoners,‖ often tattooed, pierced, blasting hard-core music from cars
and vans. Festival director John Herrin notes the sense of youthful disorganization Cornerstone
conveys: ―I think if you go to the typical Christian music festival, as soon as you walk in the
door, you know the adults are in charge. And I think if you walk into the door at Cornerstone, I
hope the first thing you think is that maybe nobody`s in charge.‖

25

The line of vehicles waiting to enter the farm hints at the possible size of the event.
Festival-goers are greeted by ticket-takers who are either volunteers or members of JPUSA, often
wearing the festival uniform: shorts, sandals, and the possible message-oriented T-shirt or tattoos
and clothing advertising for various subcultures or ―indie‖ (independent) bands.
While driving along the dusty road (attempting to find a space to set up camp), the senses
are overcome. Golf carts carrying ―straights‖ and ―freaks‖ are used as quick transportation
around the farm. Generator stages (one every few feet) often showcase hard-core punk rock
bands. People shout at vehicles while using their bodies and wooden signs to advertise bands
and various movements. If one dares to roll the car windows down (the temptation is too great
not to), flyers are shoved in. The aroma of waste trucks and portable toilets waft over, only to be
outdone by the smell of the shower building, mixed with the sweat of hundreds of un-showered
―headbangers‖ and the ever-present fragrance of vendor food, reminiscent of carnival life.

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Figure 7: Images of Cornerstone festival-goers. (c) 2010 Cornerstone Press/Jesus People
USA Evangelical Covenant Church; All rights reserved.

Festival routine is made evident in the official program (pamphlet), signaling to
newcomers that this is not Creation Fest.

26

That is, Cornerstone operates on the evangelical

fringe and yet attracts everyone from the typical evangelical youth group to the disenchanted
Sixties leftover seeking to recapture the magic of the hippie and Jesus Movement. Cornerstone
is an attempt at the Woodstockian approach to ―manyness.‖ But its pluralism is limited.
In spite of harkening back to the ―old time religion‖ of their forefathers, it is important to
recognize that Cornerstone (like JPUSA) is replete with both meaning and ambiguity,
acknowledging the fluidity of theology, while holding to certain fundamentals of the Christian
faith. While these fundamentals are evident, the politics of JPUSA are not as visible. As

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mentioned in chapter 4, the George W. Bush administration contacted the Cornerstone office and
requested an audience. JPUSA and Cornerstone ―declined an offer to host President Bush.‖

27

Festival attendees often tend toward fiscal conservatism and are theologically
moderate.

28

While the contemporary Christian music industry (and its fans) tend to position

themselves right of center (politically), Cornerstone is positioned left of center—and in some
cases, left of left. (Consider JPUSA‘s organizational structure.) As with JPUSA, the festival is
difficult to categorize and cannot be fully associated with the traditional model of popular
Christian music marketing. Thus, like JPUSA, Cornerstone is interstitial. While it remains a
subcultural expression of popular evangelical music, the influence of the event has been farreaching.
Lasting for approximately five days (depending on the year), Cornerstone situates the
event around the weekend of July 4, ending the event with fireworks. Some of the ―official‖
performance venues include Main Stage, the Underground Stage, the Decapolis Label Showcase,
Rock for Life, the Impromptu Stage, the Rave building, the Maloca Tent, the Gallery Stage,
Encore 1, Encore 2, the HM Magazine Stage, Late Night Worship at the Beach (a lake), and The
Asylum (a Goth tent, complete with coffins and music ranging from eerie to ―industrial‖). Tooth
& Nail Day showcases artists promoted by Tooth & Nail, a cutting-edge Christian record
company.

29

While Cornerstone is both countercultural and subcultural, many notable groups cut their
artistic teeth at the event. Groups such as P.O.D., MxPx, Saviour Machine, The 77s, Pedro the
Lion, Sixpence None the Richer, Danielson, and the Galactic Cowboys have reached either the
status of cult notoriety or popular acceptance in the general market.

30

Other well-known groups

(within Christian music circles) include The Choir, Vengeance Rising, The Chariot, Demon
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Hunter, Norma Jean, Underoath, Extol, One Bad Pig, MewithoutYou, Anberlin, The Crossing,
Busker Kibbutznik, The Lost Dogs, Our Corpse Destroyed, Reliant K, Vigilantes Of Love, REZ
Band, and Brian "Head" Welch, formerly of the popular mainstream group Korn.
While the festival was initially conceived as a music event (with a few seminars and
various added art attractions) the event has grown, now offering a wide range of activities. Since
its inception, the festival has hosted a series of lectures at JPUSA‘s ―cstoneXchange‖ (formerly
―Cornerstone University‖). Often led by noteworthy scholars, seminars include discussions on
global affairs, sexuality, music business, political theory, subcultural theory, Christian missions,
communal living, philosophy, healthcare, and technology. Along with concerts and seminars,
the festival also offers a wide range of activities intended to meet a broad range of interests: an
art exhibit; hands-on arts and crafts; a film festival; a skateboard ramp; crafts for children;
puppet shows and theater for children; the Cornerstone Games (sporting events); water activities
at the Cornerstone Farm Lake; native pow wow tribal dances (often sponsored by Wycliffe Bible
Translators); theatrical productions; and workshops on writing and poetry. Food vendors and
coffee (often Fair Trade) are available for campers who have little time to cook.
For this gathering, religious artistic expression can take many different forms. After
extensive observation, I have noticed a variety of vaudevillian-like moments over the years: a
lead singer who wears a rubber tree (at times backed by women dressed as nurses); groups
gallivanting around, sporting pirate attire with boom box and ―pirate music‖ in tow; world music
parades which form spontaneously; make-shift stages that exhibit a unique campground
(complete with homemade swimming pools and air-conditioned tents); and members of a
Norwegian ―black metal‖ music group who resemble the crew of a Viking warship (complete
with blood and spikes). These are heterodox expressions of an orthodox cosmology. JPUSA has

204

continued to structure the festival in a manner fitting their goals—to offer a broad range of
activities and remain an alternative to mainstream, establishment evangelicalism.

Ideas and Representation: Influence on Individuals and Culture
In many ways, the fact that Cornerstone‘s genesis paralleled the heyday of Reagan-era
evangelicalism should not be taken lightly. Certainly JPUSA‘s theology throughout the 1980s
mirrored baby boom conservatives. But despite the zeitgeist of the conservative Eighties,
JPUSA managed to blunt the efforts of evangelical cultural gatekeepers—at least within the
world of Christian rock. JPUSA‘s method of representing a particular counter-ethos has created
what I contend is a ripple-effect in the Christian music industry. This effect begins with
differentiation—a social comparison that cultural theorist Dick Hebdige refers to as ―significant
difference.”

31

The differentiation between this event and the mainstream can be attributed to

structure, ethos, and various pre-existing ideas held by those who attend the festival. As with
JPUSA‘s commune, Cornerstone‘s location has played a role in this differentiation. The
isolation of the property contributes to inspiring festival-goers to adopt a new way of considering
Christian music and Christianity for one week. Moreover (and ironically), this form of brief,
cultural isolation has inspired creative forces that ultimately challenge CCM, thus keeping
JPUSA culturally relevant. The event‘s relocation from Chicago to a rural location has proven
successful for the festival in much the same way the inner-city has proven successful for
JPUSA‘s community.
The power of mass agreement at the festival is evident as like-minded enthusiasts find
themselves engaging in collective responses, often affirming evangelical Christianity. While
Cornerstone offers a kind of escapism (atypical artistic expression and freedom to question one‘s
faith), each concert still carries the power of the performative. When music groups connect with
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hundreds who affirm similar aesthetic values, ideology is either relegated subaltern (rendered
inconsequential) or realigned to fit what is thematic to the festival, a particular group, visual
artist, or poet.
Most groups at the event use the rhetoric of equality in performer-fan relationships.
However, the constructed nature of performance (with the exception of generator stages)

32

remains hierarchical and elite. The typical performance stage elevates the performer to a
position higher than the audience, implying status above the fan. Technology amplifies messages
and illuminates images: corporal, rhetorical, and visceral. This positioning might privilege the
rock star in the minds of fans.
The culture of fandom, says American Studies scholar Daniel Cavicchi, is filled with
those dedicated to the moment. This is not a new revelation. Stardom is often coded with a kind
of divine status. In this context, the authority of the performer is authenticated by ecclesial and
gospel music industry consent, thus the message is often accepted as truth; the power of the
affective reaffirms belief. Cultural theorist Lawrence Grossberg has suggested there is a
―significance‖ placed on fan response. Put simply, it is easy to collectively agree on the message
when orators are positioned as divine vessels—albeit unintentionally.

33

Symbols and performative structures have the ability to encapsulate (in catchy phrases)
deeper ideas, often surpassing the surface meaning of symbols. For cultural anthropologist
Victor Turner ―[w]hat is made sensorily perceptible, in the form of a symbol…is thereby made
accessible to the purposive action of society, operating through its religious specialists‖
[emphasis added].

34

In many ways, Christian musicians are endowed (by their fans) with the

same religious authority as ministers. According to historian Larry Eskridge, today‘s CCM
artists are similar to yesteryear‘s televangelist. Thus, sense-perception is connected to action—
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particularly actions (in this case performance) carried out by evangelicals. Put another way,
Christian bands often attempt to make clear (and more importantly, culturally relevant) what
ministers may fail to do. For example, the Christian heavy metal band Bloodgood often typified
this in their stage performance of the song ―Crucify‖ as they portrayed the Passion in heavy
metal theatrical form.

35

At Cornerstone there is often a tension between artistic intention, fan

response, and festival vision; music groups at the festival often exhibit the same kind of
vernacular attempt as Bloodgood. Does this use of the vernacular, however, truly influence the
audience?
If, as Lawrence Grossberg suggests, ―popularity is less a matter of different cultural
practices than a form of articulation and effectivity‖ then the power of fan-idol relationships are
a result of structures able to influence. Consumers of popular culture are often influenced to
adopt new fashions, new ideas, or are attracted to lifestyle choices they may otherwise avoid.
But when married to religious and political ideology, the stakes are higher.

36

Considering the

transnational nature of evangelical missionary work, historian Melani McAlister explores how
evangelical youth culture encourages global activism in service of both God and humanity—
though she postulates the possibility that young missionaries are actually serving their own ends
by carrying out moral duties expected by the established order. In hopes of connecting with
those ―in need,‖ missionaries engage in an ―enchanted internationalism,‖ a sensuous perspective
which envelops the missionary in a real-yet-safe experience, and ―binds affective community,
public intimacy, and religious passion.‖

37

Put another way, these encounters (encouraged by

many evangelical music groups) provide an imagined sense of community where one does one‘s
duty, only to return to the comforts of the global North. The result, McAlister considers, is
nothing less than a soft form of imperialism:
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For US Christians, however, ―enchantment‖ inevitably indexes a complex form of
compassion, one that carries the longing for genuine community as well as a haunted
sense of othering. For Americans, the lives of global South Christians are narrated,
almost inevitably, through stories of poverty, persecution and suffering… there is the
very real possibility that displays of compassion are exactly that, performances enacted
38
for the purpose of touting one‘s own political or moral virtue….
McAlister‘s analysis is apt when applied to CCM musicians connected to establishment
evangelicalism, a movement dedicated precisely to what McAlister suggests. However, as we
shall see, music groups that frequent Cornerstone often operate contrary to evangelical
assumptions and, in many ways, challenge the very structural frame from which they arose.
Lawrence Grossberg qualifies the notion of power relations, stating that recipients of the
message are not (in all cases) culturally duped receptacles. ―People are never merely passively
subordinated,‖ argues Grossberg, and are ―never totally manipulated, never entirely incorporated.
People are engaged in struggles with, within, and sometimes against real tendential forces and
determinations in their efforts to appropriate what they are given.‖

39

In other words, given

innumerable sets of complex relations (some stable and some not) both hegemony and resistance
are equally possible. If this gathering of evangelicals serves to create belief or reinforce existing
beliefs, the power of messages (or messaging) is both negotiable and provisional. Simply put,
some are influenced while others are not. But this might appear self-evident.
While there is the tendency for message-based music to influence, there remains the
possibility for resistance. Many groups showcased at Cornerstone place an emphasis on social
unity, deemphasizing the ―pop idol‖ model encouraged by the music industry, thus undermining
the ―divine receptacle‖ status of the elevated performer. In this sense, there is constant
negotiation between how fans respond to the image of celebrity and how they respond to the
message of evangelical piety. For example, many who attend engage in drum circles that
encourage active involvement from anyone who wishes to take part. Furthermore, world music
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groups such as Busker Kibbutznik (a JPUSA music group with between twenty and thirty
members) and the Celtic band The Crossing (also comprised of JPUSA communards) blur the
lines between performers and spectators—audience members sing, dance, and play along using
tambourines. In considering traditional music styles and venues ethnomusicologist Alan P.
Merriam wrote that ―[w]hile it is true that our concert performers tend to be rather sharply
differentiated from their audience, what of contemporary folk music situations in which the
audience is encouraged to participate, or certain aspects of jazz in which the audience joins the
40

musicians fully, perhaps by dancing?‖

Along with the work of Christopher Small,

41

Merriam

attempts to value audience participation, considering how concert-goers contribute to making
music and meaning. The result amounts to ongoing negotiations between hegemony and
individual agency.

The Result of Influence
While it appears that festival-goers and JPUSA retain some form of agency, complete
autonomy remains conditional. Festival-goers are alert to what they might consider unorthodox
religious or political theory.

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However, this does not dismiss the possibility that the festival (as

a whole) is influential on some individuals and on culture as a whole. My argument does not
challenge resistance theory. Rather, I am focusing on Cornerstone as a site where discourse can
produce new ideas or reinforce existing ideas. The seminars, for example, often challenge longheld paradigms. This scenario seems more likely, given the context and space in which
Cornerstone operates. According to Grossberg:
Opposition may be constituted by living, even momentarily, within alternative practices,
structures, and spaces [emphasis added], even though they may take no notice of their
relationship to existing systems of power. In fact, when one wins some space within the
social formation, it has to be filled with something, presumably something one cares for
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passionately. The "functionalism" of the identity that is constructed here opens the
43
possibilities of positive empowerment.
Individuals at this festival are ―empowered,‖ whether through reaffirming belief in the midst of
doubt or freely entertaining doubt to challenge belief—that is, their own existing paradigm.
Thus, while collective agreement often accompanies gatherings (particularly festival worship
services), self-analysis is ever-present as those who attend are encouraged to reexamine their
own paradigmatic assumptions.

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But the power enjoyed is then transplanted as new ideas

replace the old.
Since festival-goers are not totally passive, the event also affects individual and social
perception of how Christian music is defined. For example, members of JPUSA and others have
argued that Cornerstone has served to alter how Christians perceive the role of the Christian
band. Mark Allan Powell, author of the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, has
stated that JPUSA and Cornerstone may have been influential in what editor of HM magazine

45

Doug Van Pelt considers to be a ―paradigm shift in the mid-'90s… [a] renaissance…where
believers started remembering that art was a valid vocation.‖

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JPUSA‘s Resurrection Band

(REZ) ―demonstrated that it was possible for Christians to play marketable hard rock music,‖
writes Powell ―without ‗crossing over‘ to the secular field or ‗selling out‘ to Christian music
industry,‖ though REZ actually laid a foundation which contributed to the crossover
phenomenon. Powell places the group at the fore of the shift which occurred in the CCM
industry during the Nineties:
Rez Band's music never seemed contrived. It did not come off as contrived to sell in a
way that followed fashions of the music scene or sought to fulfill the expectations of
industry-sponsored focus groups. Perhaps even more to the point, however, their music
never seemed contrived to minister: it did not come off as spiritually manipulative but as
simply and faithfully expressive of what the band wanted to say. Rez Band was "an
alternative Christian rock band" at least a decade before anyone knew that "alternative
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rock" (Christian or otherwise) existed. In the 1990s, many Christian artists (e.g., those
47
associated with Tooth & Nail ) would try to do what Rez Band had done: carve out a
niche where they could be true to themselves and to their audience in ways that
48
circumvented expectations and prioritized both artistic and spiritual integrity.
REZ Band and JPUSA contributed to this in two ways: 1) The hard rock approach of REZ was
unlike others in the earlier years of CCM, and included lyrics that dealt with controversial topics
such as poverty, drug abuse, teen pregnancy, racism, suicide, and violence. Other Christian
groups primarily sang about topics involving spiritual salvation and the second coming of Christ;
2) JPUSA envisioned Cornerstone as an outlet for non-traditional Christian groups (of all styles)
who could gain exposure. The result has been a redefining of long-held (and cherished)
boundaries of what constitutes evangelical music and performance.
While REZ‘s influence has been significant, the band still hints at the integrational model
of CCM, if not altogether separational. Although Glenn Kaiser values the potential artistry in
indie Christian music, he still believes music should be message-driven. But Jay Howard argues
that early REZ ―successfully expanded the boundaries of musical styles within CCM‖ and
addressed issues CCM tended to avoid, such as apartheid and disability. ―Over time their music
became too utilitarian,‖ he notes, ―as opposed to having value in its own right as reflection of the
creative divine image of God.‖ Despite this, Howard values the band‘s impact, stating that they
were ―important for the burgeoning of Christian hard rock.‖ Perhaps the difference between
Kaiser and those whom he has influenced can be attributed to historical baggage. Many Jesus
Movement veterans (regardless of new, emerging views of eschatology) still believe music
should carry an obvious message about Jesus. Still, the REZ Band‘s version of evangelical
popular music has redefined boundaries that once defined Christian music.
The magazine Heaven’s Metal (now HM or Hard Music) was established in 1985. Like
the magazine CCM (Contemporary Christian Music), HM is the Rolling Stone of Christian rock.
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Doug Van Pelt, founder and editor of HM, has been involved with the Cornerstone Festival for
many years and is considered a leader in the Christian music industry. He makes a strong
connection between Cornerstone and the general market, pointing out that REZ Band‘s 1978
release of Awaiting Your Reply was ―decidedly harder than anything previously released in the
small but germinating ccm industry at the time.‖ Given this, the band‘s ―utilitarian model‖ notes
Van Pelt, ―was quite necessary at the time, which built trust with parents and those of the older
generation that were somewhat suspicious of this genre of music called ‗rock.‘‖

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However,

while it appears the mission-mindedness of REZ undermines artistry (the separational model of
CCM), JPUSA‘s Cornerstone magazine (which antedates CCM magazine) played a significant
role in marketing new, alternative Christian music before magazines such as CCM or HM made
attempts.

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Moreover, groups promoted in Cornerstone magazine exemplify all three of Howard

and Streck‘ models. Although JPUSA bands like REZ were initially separational, their
groundbreaking approach to faith and art proved influential for evangelical popular musicians
who sought general market distribution.
JPUSA‘s structure thus created a ripple-effect, influencing culture through both
Cornerstone Festival and the REZ Band. The result was a music industry which would find itself
overrun by rock bands whose roots were decidedly evangelical. The now germinating world of
popularized faith-influenced rock music ruptures traditional delineations between sacred and
profane. While other evangelical rock bands enjoyed little cultural traction with scant hope of
making a dent in the mainstream, REZ charted new territory, largely because of their affiliation.
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Linda LaFianza and Shari Lloyd, editors for The Phantom Tollbooth,

argue that JPUSA‘s

communal structure allowed REZ to continue well beyond what is allowed by the general
market. General market record labels establish strict contractual agreements, which ensure
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investors will recoup as albums sell. If sales are poor, the artist is dropped from the label.
LaFianza and Lloyd argue that REZ ―did not rely on their performances or record sales to pay
the bills.‖ As members of a collective, the band was afforded significantly more time than ―freemarket bands,‖ to hone their artistry, group chemistry, and to develop a grassroots fan-base,
resulting in a reputation and ―influence among up-and-comers.‖

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Although REZ enjoyed distribution deals with Christian record labels outside of JPUSA,
communalism allowed the band a sense of time and artistic freedom absent within the context of
corporate record labels. REZ was able to experiment with new models of music and expression
since Grrr Records, JPUSA‘s record label, never functioned in the same manner as free-market
companies. As a result, both the REZ Band and Cornerstone have eroded categories that have
been relatively canonical for gospel music. The group once generated the primary financial base
for Grrr Records. After they disbanded, guitarist and singer Glenn Kaiser‘s blues-rock trio, the
Glenn Kaiser Band (GKB), filled the gap.

The Future of Evangelical Music
Cornerstone defies typical notions of what is considered Christian music. There is a
lengthy history involving debates—associated with the Gospel Music Association (GMA)—over
how Christian music should be defined, marketed, and consumed. Traditional definitions of
what qualifies have often been oriented around the use of particular words such as ―Jesus‖ or
strict signifiers connected to worldview. The Billboard Guide to Contemporary Christian Music
is among many sources which have published the GMA‘s original definition of gospel music:
Gospel music is music in any style whose lyric is substantially based upon historically
orthodox Christian truth in or derived from the Holy Bible; and/or an expression of
worship of God or praise for his works; and/or testimony of relationship with God
53
through Christ; and/or obviously prompted and informed by a Christian worldview.

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The GMA Dove Award is the Gospel Music Association‘s equivalent to the Grammy Awards.
Songs that qualify must have distribution with SoundScan and must receive votes from official
members of the GMA. In 2009 the GMA clarified the distinctions of ―gospel music:‖
From time to time, screening judges may encounter product submissions in the Album
and Song categories that raise questions about whether or not the product‘s lyrics are
appropriate for the GMA Dove Awards. To assist the judges in their determination, the
GMA Board has authorized the following lyric criteria for use in these instances: “For
purposes of GMA Dove Award eligibility, the lyrics of all entries in the Album and Song
categories will be: based upon the historically orthodox Christian faith contained in or
derived from the Holy Bible; or apparently prompted and informed by a Christian
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worldview.”
Writers such as Jay Howard, Andrew Beaujon, and Charlie Peacock have addressed the
problems associated with both of these definitions. Does instrumental music qualify? How does
one decide what is a Christian worldview? Must a song use lyrics from the Bible? Doesn‘t the
Bible include a variety of topics to write about? For many artists and scholars, the definition
warrants further consideration.

55

Mark Allan Powell suggests that definitions are approached subjectively:
Genres of literature are audience-defined. Critics can talk about the typical
characteristics of a ―tragedy‖ or a ―horror story‖ or whatever—but ultimately, tragedies
are works that readers find tragic and horror stories are stories that readers find
56
horrifying…and sometimes this defies or transcends the author‘s intention.
Powell provides his own definition. For him, contemporary Christian music is ―music that
appeals to self-identified fans of contemporary Christian music on account of a perceived
connection to what they regard as Christianity.‖

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While not shared by all, this definition can be

applied to many groups which perform at Cornerstone regularly. Lyrics often do not reveal any
particular faith-position. Thus, the festival appears to encourage a sort of subjectivity within
socially affirmed boundaries of Christian orthodoxy. Whether by accident or design,

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Cornerstone appears to model a broader view of faith-based music. Consider a few lyrics from
the song ―Woody,‖ by the Cornerstone veteran group, The 77s:
I'm staring headlong
into the jaws of death
Big teeth, big mouth
bad, bad breath.
And I promised myself
I'd never do this again
and I don't understand it
The only reference to anything remotely Christian (or spiritual) is still ambiguous.
Help me, I'm going down again
Help me, I can't tell
none of my friends
1 2 3, struck out again
pull a sheet over me,
but don't cover my head
I wanted bliss, ended up like this
betrayed myself with
my own Judas kiss
Momma never told me
there would be days like this, no!
The song ends with what is intended (it seems) to imply that someone is seeking to be rescued.
You get what you pay for, I guess. Can I pay for this?
I been eaten up and swallowed
by what I wanted and I wanted more, more than this
Tell me, what's worth more. What you'll lie for or what you'll die for
I follow my heart and it lies and it lies. And I don't understand it
Help me, I‘m going down again. Help me, when will this ever end?
1 2 3, if I strike out again, do I lose?
Am I dead? Dead
Am I dead? Dead
Am I dead? Dead
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Am I dead? Dead
While this particular song is paradigmatic of how ideas are represented at Cornerstone, the
group‘s anthemic "The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes & The Pride of Life" reveals what is an

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ongoing trace at the festival—one which captures the Christianity of the event while
simultaneously avoiding more obvious lyrical structures and trappings of the CCM mainstream.
Even in songs such as this, there is a subtlety which hints at Christianity:
Well, I feel
Like I have to feel
Something good all of the time
With most of life I cannot deal
But a good feeling I can feel
Even though it may not be real
And if a person, place or thing can deliver
I will quiver with delight
But will it last me for all my life
Or just one more lonely night
The lust, the flesh
The eyes
And the pride of life
Drain the life
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Right out of me
JPUSA‘s initial vision has resulted in a unique expression of evangelical Christianity and
new, emerging methods of how popular evangelical music is classified and performed.
"Cornerstone had a partial impact on this emerging model of Christian music,‖ writes Doug Van
Pelt. The festival ―probably helped educate and edify this new emerging model, simply by
accepting artists on the fringe, like Tonio K, Vigilantes of Love, Sixpence [None the Richer],
POD, Flyleaf, Mark Heard than other more ‗mainstream‘ Christian fests, like Creation, who cater
more towards the family-safe Christian radio and soccer mom audience....‖

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The more

significant groups on the list in terms of mainstream distribution include Sixpence None the
Richer, P.O.D. (Payable on Death) and Switchfoot. A landmark achievement for evangelical
popular music, Sixpence None the Richer appeared on the David Letterman Show and has
enjoyed licensing deals with network television. And in scandalous form, P.O.D. shocked and

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inspired adoring fans by touring with Ozzy Osbourne‘s Ozz Fest, as well as other general market
groups. Why the scandal and shock?
During the 1980s some styles of music, such as punk rock, were often unacceptable by
standards established by mainstream CCM. Moreover, the very idea of a Christian group
performing in anything other than an officially approved (sanctified) venue was anathema to the
evangelical edict to be in the world, but not of it. That Christian music groups found it difficult
to find employment with ―secular‖ venues only exacerbated the problem, making it difficult for
subcultural, evangelically-oriented music groups to gain exposure. In response, Cornerstone
provided a venue where fringe groups were accepted. Glen van Alkemade is a member of
JPUSA, has managed a stage at Cornerstone for a number of years, and has been able to observe
the impact of the festival from the inside. Recalling how the Christian music industry often
accepts fringe styles of music only incrementally over time, van Alkemade notes that the early
1980s proved especially challenging for Christian punk bands. Unable to secure performance
dates in bars or churches, Christian punkers looked to Cornerstone and found an audience.

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Van Alkemade has argued that Cornerstone contributed to a greater acceptance of styles such as
punk. The result is a growing number of churches ―that are accepted by more conservative or
mainstream denominations as legitimate expressions of Christian faith, but they are rock ‗n‘ roll
churches and they have punk bands play in church.‖ According to van Alkemade, Cornerstone
contributed to this development.

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Cornerstone challenges traditional understandings of CCM as a genre, the CCM
marketing model, and perceptions of how evangelical popular music should relate to the secular
mainstream. The general market success of groups like Switchfoot, Sixpence None the Richer,
and P.O.D. demonstrates how the festival has redefined the idea of the ―Christian band.‖
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Acceptance of fringe styles such as punk rock (by the church) demonstrates how the festival has
redefined the boundaries traditionally used to signify what forms of popular evangelical music
are accepted within ecclesial contexts. Despite the growing number of evangelical musicians
entering the general market, CCM industry executives have enjoyed the success of crossover
groups. Bands like Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, Sixpence None the Richer, and P.O.D. have made
CCM a sellable and ―acceptable‖ subgenre for the secular mainstream. Andrew Beaujon recalls
his own analysis of Cornerstone and the impact of groups such as P.O.D.:
I knew the members of P.O.D. were born-again Christians, but their lyrics were so much
background noise to me, just more chest-beating rap-metal….I finally listened to P.O.D.
Every song, and I mean every song, referred to the band‘s spirituality. And this was no
niche act—P.O.D.‘s last record had sold three million copies, and they played concerts
with groups like Linkin Park and Korn. At the time I went out to meet them, they were
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the biggest-selling group on Atlantic Records not named Led Zeppelin.
The fact that many of these groups choose to identify with the general market creates an
interesting scenario with which CCM labels must contend. The fact that many of these groups
tend to deemphasize an obvious Christian message only underscores my argument—they can no
longer be classified as ―CCM.‖ In short, Cornerstone signals the emergence of new forms of
―message music.‖ In response, the music industry will have to either do away with CCM as a
niche genre or create new categories.

Grassroots and Change
Christian crossover success stories notwithstanding, CCM executives must now deal with
emerging marketing models which might actually challenge establishment CCM. As a venue
that allows anyone to market their music, Cornerstone undermines the efforts of CCM
gatekeepers. And as a venue that showcases fresh art that is marketable in the general market,
Cornerstone provides hope for evangelicals seeking mainstream distribution. It is the populist

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spirit of the event which contributes to this development. For Doug Van Pelt, Cornerstone not
only pushed artistic boundaries—it created a democratic venue where unknown artists could
promote their creations to groups far larger than churches and Christian coffee houses. In 1984,
the year of Cornerstone‘s founding, CNN reported on the event. Even then, the festival caught
the attention of media outlets as fringe groups often antithetical to establishment CCM were
celebrated. This provided a ―platform for artists pushing the creative envelope, writes Van pelt,
and created ―exponential, or at least strong, healthy growth in the alternative, metal and punk
tributaries of the ccm industry.‖

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The populist power of Cornerstone has contributed significantly to shifts in CCM‘s
evolution. The grassroots element is ―planned‖ only insofar as festival staffers structure the
event to allow anyone to perform and market their art. Musicians are allowed to establish
campsites and construct homemade stages (powered by generators), performing their music for
thousands who walk by the stage/campsite. This approach to democratizing music and
performance distinguishes Cornerstone from other festivals. As a result, the festival is ―probably
the largest gathering of…[faith-based] indie bands anywhere in the country,‖ according to
festival director John Herrin.

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The signifier ―independent‖ is typically used when one makes a

comparison to the corporate model of music marketing. In this case, independent music serves
to empower artists who cannot access, or care not to access, the secular or Christian mainstream.
The result is growth among indie groups that compete with corporate labels in grassroots
fashion. For Van pelt, generator stages continue to bolster independent artists ―far away from
the controlling power of the ‗gatekeepers‘ (labels) in the ccm industry.‖

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Figure 8: A generator stage. (c) 2010 Cornerstone Press/Jesus People USA Evangelical Covenant
Church; All rights reserved.

Much like JPUSA‘s structure, Cornerstone allows for individual expression and
empowerment in the midst of what is a collective attempt to retain the spirit of the Jesus
Movement and the edge of Woodstock.

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Along with lectures about living ―in community,‖ this

egalitarian approach to performance offers anyone a chance to market their music. While the
mainstream industry maintains a presence (corporate record label bands are widely showcased)
the ethos that undergirds the corporate industry is blunted as indie music is both honored and
encouraged. Thus, JPUSA has successfully transplanted various ―impulses‖ which define their
own community. "Change life! Change Society!‖ wrote sociologist and philosopher Henri
Lefebvre. These, he argued, were ideas which lose meaning ―without producing an appropriate
space.‖

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On some level, JPUSA has created spaces that inspire new ways of considering both

art and ethos.
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Rock Bands with Christians or Christian Rock?: New Industry Models
Although Cornerstone does not enjoy the same commercial appeal and high attendance as
festivals like Creation, the impact on the evangelical subculture appears to be significant.
Legendary Christian rock producer Steve Taylor argues that Cornerstone‘s social impact must be
considered: ―I don‘t think that you can overstate the importance of the Cornerstone Festival."

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Doug Van Pelt agrees, applying Taylor‘s statement to the CCM industry: ―While having a
population of roughly 25,000 in attendance each year,‖ writes Van Pelt, ―Cornerstone is a
rallying point for a worldwide scene and one that embraces new and eclectic artforms.‖ After
writing about both the Christian and mainstream industry for a number of years, Van Pelt
concludes that cornerstone ―creates a synergy that helps the industry grow.‖ For him, the way
the CCM industry operates is ―being changed and challenged by new business models and a
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drastic reduction in cd sales.‖

While the event offers an eclectic mix and challenges the

mainstream, it remains subcultural while still retaining something to which those in the
mainstream often aspire—artistry largely divorced from the power-centers of evangelical music
which often dictate what constitutes ―Christian‖ music suitable for evangelical youth. Christian
music producer Toby Mac (formerly of the successful CCM group dc Talk) has also intimated
that the festival operates on a different level than others, stating that the event is ―the serious art
festival‖ of Christian music.

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But how can this event truly be classified as serious?

Historically, art has been viewed as a means of conveying the purely cerebral, designed
to convey intricate ideas. It has also been valued for its emotional qualities, designed for
pleasure.

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While this distinction is an old argument, it is worth mentioning that Cornerstone

(and festivals like it) strive to realize what is considered ―serious‖ art—but as it is defined within
popular culture. That is, the music performed (particularly non-commercial and independent)
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achieves what both art and entertainment seek to accomplish. Music such as this strives to create
pleasure and enjoyment. However, it also seeks to inform, inspire, and in the case of early Jesus
music, convert. Thus, popular evangelical music (whether separational, integrational, or
transformational)

73

ruptures our assumptions of high and low art. Although earlier forms of this

music cannot be classified as purely entertainment or ―low‖ (if low is to imply mass
entertainment), current ―indie‖ DIY (do-it-yourself) forms have exceeded what is expected.
These combine many styles of music, are lyrically oriented around messages, and exist outside of
the corporate mainstream. Even evangelical music groups that have reached mainstream
successes often attempt to maintain an ―independent‖ appeal.
Independent music challenges the mainstream as the internet increases exposure and as
grassroots record companies and music gatherings invert notions of music industry power.
Although Cornerstone operates ―off the grid,‖

74

according to Mark Allan Powell, it remains

influential in that it ―has absolutely challenged the CCM industry,‖

75

according to Jay R.

Howard. While Cornerstone offered exposure for an unestablished genre such as punk,
according to van Alkemade, the festival also created a home for musicians and fans that had
none, according to Howard. The result has affected how other Christian festivals operate, many
now offering more cutting-edge music.

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While the festival‘s own brand of commercialism can be seen in merchandising, Howard
argues that the festival remains an ―alternative to the mainstream of CCM if not countercultural
77

to it.‖

For Linda LaFianza and Shari Lloyd, ―Cornerstone is the bedrock of the hard music

scene for Christians.‖

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Thus, the festival challenges how CCM is conceived and provides a

space where evangelicals can experiment with non-mainstream musical styles.

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Figure 9: Cornerstone festival side-stage under a tent. (c) 2010 Cornerstone Press / Jesus People
USA Evangelical Covenant Church; All rights reserved.

Cornerstone has influenced a number of artists and, as I have argued, played a role in
redefining the Christian music industry. It goes without saying that there has already been a
Christian presence in mainstream popular music. The list of rhythm & blues artists who count
gospel music among their beloved styles is too lengthy to include. However, the presence of
popular rock bands known for public declarations of faith is rare.
U2‘s 1987 release of The Joshua Tree was, in Andrew Beaujon‘s words, ―a generational
79

touch point.‖

Although the group had nothing to do with CCM or its industry, when they

became a ―world-beating phenomenon, Christian music‘s ‗legalistic‘ tendencies—the strict
adherence to what many fundamentalists consider biblical law—again emerged.‖

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Christian

radio stations often, according to Beaujon, will only play songs by U2 if performed by other
―Christian‖ bands. Despite Bono‘s humanitarianism, for many American evangelicals, the fact
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that he swears, drinks, and smokes is anathema to evangelical Christianity (at least the American
version) and thus cannot be condoned by mainstream CCM radio stations.
While Bono did not initially find favor with conservative evangelicals, the tide changed
as more evangelical youth saw a new paradigm in bands like U2. But the seeds for a wider
conception of faith-based expression had been planted earlier. Born Charles William Ashworth,
author/musician/producer Charlie Peacock is one of the most noteworthy producers in CCM, and
has produced groups that now enjoy significant crossover success, an accomplishment not
unlikely, given his own early success with general market record labels.

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Along with his widely acclaimed portfolio, Peacock has been instrumental in challenging
the sacred/secular divide upon which the Gospel Music Association and the Christian music
industry are built. He is among those who have encouraged Christian musicians to make art for
its own sake (transformational) and opposes utilitarian views which posit that music‘s sole
purpose is to edify Christians, missionize non-Christians, and serve religious worship.
Peacock questions this functional approach to Christian music, seeking to produce artists
who operate based on a holistic evangelical worldview without particularizing that worldview.
Particularization tends to oversimplify Christianity with songs containing clichés and narrowlydefined depictions of what he believes should be broader approaches to a ―biblical‖ worldview.
Thus, he is the high priest of transformational CCM, representing the totality of the human
experience.

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Genres have been redefined, the urgency of Jesus music has been reconsidered, and
business models are changing. How will CCM fare in the future? ―Young Christian babyboomers and Gen-X once in love with the music abandoned it in adulthood and have not

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returned,‖ writes Peacock. He continues, comparing the longevity of CCM to classics in the
general market:
As a result, legacy artist catalogs (ranging from Larry Norman to Amy Grant to dcTalk
and beyond) do not and will not have the staying power of their mainstream counterparts
such as The Beatles, The Eagles, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Celine Dion, James Taylor,
Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and U2. All these artists, and a hundred others, remain
popular and economically viable today. Sadly, the pattern does not hold true for what
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was contemporary Christian music.
Cornerstone was instrumental in Peacock‘s rise to fame, providing a model which
released him from the constraints of CCM proper. LaFianza and Lloyd have highlighted the
impetus behind Peacock‘s genesis. He invested ―all his money into a project, packing the van
with cassettes and heading east to C'stone [Cornerstone], where the reception was very warm.
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He went on to be a very influential producer in Nashville.‖

Peacock‘s influence on the

evolution in CCM (how it is defined, represented, and marketed) cannot be underestimated.
As a venue, Cornerstone nurtured the latent desires of artists like Peacock, consequently
creating a paradigm shift in popular evangelical music.

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As bands began to cross over into the

general market, CCM‘s status quo was challenged, according to LaFianza and Lloyd. Examples
of general market successes groomed at Cornerstone include Sixpence None the Richer, P.O.D.,
Underoath, Family Force Five, mewithoutyou, Pedro the Lion (David Bazan), Danielson Family,
Eisley, Fireflight, Pillar, MxPx, and Earthsuit, a group that later became the Grammy Award
nominated group MuteMath.

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Cornerstone works toward cultural inclusion but proceeds judiciously. Showcasing
mainstream and indie artists, the festival pushes the envelope while simultaneously operating
restraint to appease the parent culture. They proceed with caution—aware of how heterodox

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expressions might be perceived—yet have redefined foundational understandings of evangelical
music and Christian festivals. But while Cornerstone bears little resemblance to mainstream
CCM festival counterparts such as Creation, and while the festival is relatively progressive
musically, politically, and theologically, one cannot count the event among other Christian
gatherings such as Wild Goose, an interfaith festival also inspired by Greenbelt and informed by
Celtic Christianity.

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Thus, Cornerstone occupies a space somewhere between Christian

conservatism and liberalism.

Diversity, Community, and Representation: Countercultural Evangelicalism?
Despite iconoclasm, Cornerstone maintains the appeal of being a serious Christian arts
festival. Still, other evangelical Christian music festivals are structured based on the model of
opening acts and headliners, many having charted well in the CCM industry. These events do
not offer festival-goers the freedom to build make-shift stages or create serendipitous
performances. Thus, like JPUSA, ideology plays a role in both the success and appeal of
Cornerstone.
Exploring how artists are represented at Cornerstone might provide insight into both
JPUSA and postmodern evangelicalism. Does the festival (and by association, JPUSA)
somehow mirror what is happening within some sectors of evangelical Christianity? For the
purpose of cultural studies we must, according to cultural theorist Lawrence Grossberg,
understand ―what [the] referent is‖ as well as the ―status of the referent.‖

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In considering the

various positions on postmodern analyses of text, Grossberg recalls one theory—that
any interpretation…is an articulation, an active insertion of a practice into a set of
contextual relations that determines the identity and effects of both the text and the
context. Articulation is the continuous deconstruction and reconstruction of contexts.
These articulated connections are sometimes fought over, consciously or unconsciously,
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but in any case, an articulation is always accomplished…and will always have political
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consequences.
Consider the lyrics previously discussed and the evolution of Cornerstone as a ―text.‖ Rather
than deciphering meaning and representation based on encoding (production) and decoding
(consumption), we reserve final judgment on texts merely based on differentiating between
―intended or preferred meanings‖ and ―received or effective meanings,‖ arguing ―articulation‖ of
a text is an
ongoing struggle to produce the text by inserting it into a network of "naturalized"
relations. Encoding is a continuous force (e.g., producers continue to make statements),
and decoding is already active in the efforts to encode. One cannot separate the
materiality of a text from its appropriation, nor can one separate structures from
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practices.
Despite this, we are tempted to locate either the intended or received meanings of ―Christian‖
lyrics. This is what Jacques Derrida refers to as the ―tyranny of language.‖ However,
discovering what Cornerstone represents (through its performative scenarios) remains necessary.
While the process of interpreting lyrics, persons, or events may appear futile, Cornerstone
can be located within a broader tradition of evangelical expression. However, Derrida and
Grossberg sensitize this study to the fact that Cornerstone is already situated within a preexisting
reality, inspired by the same forces it resists and is a product of innumerable subjectivities. Put
another way, those who interpret Cornerstone do so within the grid of what is commonly
understood as ―Christian‖ music. Methods used to determine a song, a band, or the festival‘s
intended meanings are useful only because they are measured against the appellation of CCM
and contemporary, establishment evangelicalism.
While some might remain suspicious of how fans interpret festival meaning, in the end
the crux of meaning falls to individual struggle and discursive practices. For Grossberg, ―[t]he
postmodern reduces reality and ideology to a question of affect: whether and how particular
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ideological elements matter is not determined by their meanings but by how they can be
incorporated into particular mattering maps [emphasis added], particular affective structures.‖
However, Grossberg challenges the critics whose postmodernity ends in mere fragmentation and
purposeless nihilism. His challenge includes the need for sites of human struggle—even if the
struggle is thought to be futile. In this regard, Cornerstone is postmodern (or postEnlightenment) as it avoids strict models of totality (both musically and ideologically).

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Festival-goers often categorize music groups and the festival as both ―Christian‖ and
―evangelical‖ by virtue of historical connections and self-referential understandings of what
these terms actually mean and imply. Given this, it is possible to interpret the event based on
what is commonly understood as ―Christian festival‖ and ―evangelical.‖ Eric Pement is a former
member of JPUSA, was a contributing writer for Cornerstone magazine, and taught for
seventeen years at the festival‘s seminars. Pement notes that Cornerstone is ―an artistically
progressive, musically stimulating, and spiritually envigorating [sic] annual arts festival.‖ He
goes on to emphasize what he perceives as a distinct change in the festival‘s direction. ―There is
less emphasis on teaching seminars now than there was in the past, and the speakers and
workshop leaders are less evangelical than they were in earlier years and more oriented toward
Emergent church, contemplative spirituality, and non-evangelical forms of faith.‖ Pement notes
the significance of the festival‘s ability to provide a venue where unknown music groups can
―quickly achieve prominence.‖

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However, according to his paradigmatic understanding of what

the original mission and distinctions implied, Cornerstone‘s evangelical orientation and its
challenge to CCM have changed. For Pement, Cornerstone‘s resistance to the Christian music
industry was, at one time, more about maintaining strict moral codes for bands who wished to
perform.

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This standard has ceased. Pement‘s attempt to redefine Cornerstone‘s relationship to
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the music industry and evangelicalism reveals that both JPUSA and the festival appear to mirror
the changes and complexities within the evangelical subculture.
Christian rock has always had its share of critics from both evangelicals and
fundamentalists. In recent years, I have observed an increase in those who criticize Cornerstone,
including groups picketing the event for its ―worldly‖ entertainment and positive discussions
about Halloween.

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But while many continue to interpret the event as either an alternative to

―worldly‖ culture or a haven for a subculture within the evangelical subculture, others (Pement
and the editors for The Phantom Tollbooth) have re-categorized the festival. How then, are we to
properly position JPUSA and Cornerstone within both evangelicalism and contemporary
Christian music? Or can we?
Cornerstone‘s status as an event that counters the mainstream (while maintaining an
evangelical distinctive) is admissible only if the analysis presupposes a particular understanding
of how structures are resisted and how evangelical Christianity ought to be defined. We can
apply Grossberg‘s study, recognizing that this festival has essentially been inserted into a set of
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―contextual relations that determines the identity and effects of both the text and the context.‖

Put simply, the festival remains countercultural if CCM remains a mainstream expression. But
Cornerstone may, in the words of historian Jon Pahl, rely on the mainstream for its oppositional
identity.

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Moreover, it remains evangelical if the center of evangelicalism shifts to include

greater levels of ecumenism. However, as culture shifts—as social discourse changes the
ideological landscape—it is possible that Cornerstone will either have to be reinvented or it will
cease being countercultural. Its status as evangelical, however, remains in question.
For Cornerstone and JPUSA, the struggle to define against what is perceived as a
dominant parent culture (establishment evangelicalism and CCM) is significant. The mainstream
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and counter(sub)cultural expressions include ―different cultural practices, as well as different
popular sensibilities,‖ writes Grossberg, and are ―constantly opposing, undercutting, and
reinflecting each other within the unstable formation of every-day life.‖

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It is this sense of

ongoing opposition and reflexivity that inspires the Cornerstone staff to allow and encourage
more diversity than other evangelical festivals (though still proceeding judiciously), with the
hope of inculcating attendees with an ability to express deeply held doubts and fears within the
context of ―temporary community.‖ John Herrin states that Cornerstone is ―more open to give
people a little room to figure out who they are and what they are….‖

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While still limited in its

ecumenism, the festival demonstrates both ideological and artistic openness. It ruptures what
other Christian festivals are unwilling to squeeze.
Festivals often celebrate events and ideas, attempting to reinvent or represent how society
should or could operate. Evangelical gatherings are no different.

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For countercultural Christian

music, Cornerstone serves as a counter-narrative to society‘s ―official story,‖ according to the
former marketing director. That is, the staff attempts to offer their own version of Christian
artistic expression which counters what is viewed as ―official‖ by the Christian culture industry,
even if it undermines what is commonly understood as ―Christianly‖ music. CNN.com observed
that ―[s]taunchly conservative critics also suggest it seems nobody is very Christian here….It is
often difficult to find or at least to hear any reference to God or Jesus in songs at Cornerstone.
And many musicians want it that way.‖ This is, in part, due to Cornerstone‘s attempt to free the
artist, despite REZ Band‘s earlier propensity to adopt a separational view of CCM. When
considering the bands that perform, John Herrin notes: ―I don‘t think they would really
categorize themselves as Christian bands. They‘re really just bands that are made up of
Christians. And…maybe not all the members are Christians.‖
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While JPUSA actively seeks to offer a spiritual haven for bands which may be partially
staffed by Christians, the overarching goal (as argued by Howard and Van Pelt) has been to
create a different version of Christian music. Moreover, despite REZ Band‘s separational model
of music, other veterans of the Jesus Movement and Cornerstone such as Terry Scott Taylor have
reinforced this different version. Recalling preparations for his band‘s annual Cornerstone
performance, Taylor‘s statement ―let‘s put on a show‖ is indicative of the transformational model
of CCM.

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While the landscape of popular evangelical music has changed, Cornerstone still attracts
church youth groups who see the festival as merely a sanctified alternative to what they perceive
as a corrupt world. Thus, Cornerstone is at once multifaceted and dichotomous. It is a
multicultural event, when compared to the homogeneity of the evangelical subculture. However,
Andrew Beaujon argues that Cornerstone is largely white and middle-class, representing the
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cleanest cut kids he has ever seen at an event purported to be countercultural.

Despite Beaujon‘s perception, Herrin considers Cornerstone within the context of
Christian festivals: theirs is not ―cookie cutter.‖ Other festivals, says Herrin, present a sort of
―church camp goes to music festival.‖ He recognizes the formula necessary for a successful
festival—particularly a Christian one. However, his desire has been to offer an alternative,
something different. ―From the very beginning,‖ notes Herrin, ―Cornerstone was always
dedicated to trying to bring out more of what we felt were kind of really gifted people that didn‘t
necessarily fit into the Christian music industry.‖

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Herrin has confirmed that other Christian festivals tend to attract crowds oriented to the
Nashville-based commercial CCM industry. Cornerstone, on the other hand, offers an
alternative to both mainstream Christian festivals and to what is often expected of secular rock
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festivals. The event‘s 1984 genesis intrigued not only evangelicals, but also the media. Don
McLeese, rock critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, observed:
Woodstock idealism aside, rock festivals are usually a mess. They're often marked by
drug overdoses, alcohol overindulgences and the sort of open nudity and rampant
sexuality that one generally doesn't experience in polite society….At the Lake County
Fairgrounds this weekend, there's a rock festival that is expected to be well-attended,
well-behaved and full of purpose….Unannounced before the festival, the "surprise"
headliner of Cornerstone '84 is Kerry Livgren, formerly of Kansas, who is debuting his
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new A. D. band tomorrow night.
Ironically, as ―sanctified‖ alternatives to secular music festivals, mainstream Christian
festivals are often viewed as countercultural (despite their mainstream appeal), if the dominant
culture is considered to be secular. For JPUSA and those who attend Cornerstone, however,
mainstream evangelical festivals merely cater to the masses, lacking the edge of the
counterculture, the spirit of the Jesus Movement, and the democratizing impulse of DIY styles
such as punk rock and indie. Thus Cornerstone remains a bastion of Christian artistic eclecticism
which exemplifies an emerging evangelical tolerance. Many groups showcased at the event will
never enjoy mainstream radio play, with the exception of those whose goal is to occupy the
general market.
JPUSA and Cornerstone remain connected to the cultural mainstream, despite
iconoclasm. The festival office pays the bills by booking mainstream acts to perform on the
main stage. Concert stages make use of electricity sold by the establishment. Internet surfers are
able to view concerts via webcams. A slick website is used for advertising. However, the
festival insists on maintaining its subversive appeal. Most festivals, according to Herrin,
showcase about eighty percent of their music from the main stage. Cornerstone offers a different
model. Although many attend the event to enjoy some of the mainstream groups, it is clear the
primary focus is directed toward numerous side stages, which celebrate a diversity of musical

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styles: rock, heavy metal, punk, hard core, death metal, black metal, folk, jazz, blues, world
music, Celtic, rave, industrial, and hip hop. Thus, Cornerstone is unclassifiable. It is a
subculture within two subcultures: establishment evangelicalism and CCM.
As gatherings go, this one has various similarities to nineteenth-century revival meetings
which often functioned oppositionally. Historian Donald Miller has connected the Reformation
and the Second Great Awakening to both the Jesus Movement and baby boom, new paradigm
Christianity. Among other impulses that defined the Second Great Awakening, there was a
populism which countered what was perceived as outdated expressions; there was a lack of
vernacular connection to real persons. In considering the Second Great Awakening and new
paradigm Christianity, Miller notes that ―in both instances, establishment religion is rejected.‖

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While Jesus Movement veterans remain respectful (even ecumenical) when considering
the church universal, many have been vocal about the failings of the traditional church. JPUSA
and Christian leaders who attend Cornerstone have noted festivals that simply mirror mainstream
society—even when those festivals purport to counter mainstream society. At Cornerstone, the
net is cast wide as staff seek to include as many forms and expressions as can be managed,
including serendipitous parades and make-shift generator stages. When considering the parent
culture (evangelicalism), Cornerstone can be viewed as countercultural. But what is the festival
countering? Are participants changing society, being changed, or simply experiencing
something, if only briefly—that which they do not and cannot experience in the workaday
world? Evangelical Christianity is built on a lengthy history of experiential religion. So, what is
the festival opposing? According to sociologist Doug Rossinow, when one considers the 1960s
and 1970s, ―a counterculture was, by definition, both marginal and oppositional.‖
Cornerstone is both.

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Since its genesis, this festival has attempted to offer an experience reminiscent of both
Jesus-freak and countercultural sensibilities. Recalling Victor Turner‘s The Ritual Process:
Structure and Anti-Structure, Stephen Marini crystallizes Turner‘s position by suggesting that
people engaged in anti-structure ―experience spiritual and social realities far more fluid and
flexible than the normal.‖

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Those who attend this festival might experience what Turner refers

to as a liminal moment, one where those engaged in the process experience a sense of
communitas, thus employing an egalitarianism that may otherwise not be experienced in
everyday life. Young evangelicals are able to stage dive, avoid showers, sport tattoos and body
piercing, and even question their faith. If nothing else, Cornerstone offers those raised within
structure to engage anti-structure—to experiment (within festival guidelines) without social
consequence. These moments of respite may actually encourage and challenge festival-goers
who have been raised within firm belief-systems. More than this, festival-goers are able to
glimpse another world, one operating contrary to establishment evangelicalism and mainstream
CCM.

Conclusion
Cornerstone‘s turn toward ―the postmodern‖ has continued JPUSA‘s heritage of
evolution and has (not surprisingly) kept the festival on the fringes of evangelicalism. If
postmodernism can be reduced to style over substance and surface over depth, at first blush the
festival qualifies—if one‘s analysis is based on how audiences receive and respond to messages.
While the staff entertains postmodern critical theory, festival-goers are far more cautious of a
perceived growing liberalism. The sense of community, however, overshadows ideological
differences expressed at Cornerstone, much like in JPUSA. Historian Timothy Miller‘s account
of the hippie experience appropriately contextualizes the spiritual impulse, connecting it to
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nineteenth-century evangelical emphases on embodied religion. In like manner, Cornerstone (as
an attempt to construct a Christian Woodstock) exhibits a collective religious experience where
festival-goers underscore authenticity and seek the spirit.
Despite attempts at pluralism, the leaders of Cornerstone still hold to a thoroughgoing
Christian orthodoxy. Moreover, despite any potential polarization between liberal and
conservative attendees, the event remains largely evangelical. Yet, it levels a challenge.
Evangelicalism is not monolithic, as Donald Miller aptly points out. Rather, it is a complex
nexus of shifting views and competing opinions symptomatic of postmodernity. While
Cornerstone decidedly privileges a particular worldview, the festival remains a gathering which
seems to exemplify the evolution of American politics and religion. It is a space where social
discourse is encouraged and, to a certain extent, ultimate meaning and cherished definitions are
remapped as power-relations are ―revealed‖ via the elevation of performers and lecturers—
Dorothy discovers the wizard‘s true identity. Thus, ideas once held as ―common‖ or
―normative‖ are negotiated through perennial social processes (dialectics).
As noted earlier in this work, other communal experiments during the 1960s and 1970s
either disbanded or faded into cultural obscurity. Many expected the world to end within their
lifetime. Others hoped communal experiments might result in an eventual, radical shift in
society. The failure of communes to deliver on their predications, however, did not bode well
for communities oriented solely around apocalyptic expectancy. While other Jesus communes
focused on the end, JPUSA focused on the present, seeking to preach the gospel to persons in
need, according to Glenn Kaiser and John Herrin. JPUSA‘s concern for on-the-ground human
need has carried them successfully into the twenty-first century. Along with JPUSA‘s mission to
aid the homeless population in Uptown, the task of planning Cornerstone provides a sense of

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purpose for the community. But how can we appropriately locate JPUSA (as expressed at
Cornerstone) within the broader world of evangelical Christianity—a movement now redefined
by postmodernity?
Neither modern nor postmodern categorizations seem to effectively capture what JPUSA
and the festival represents. For Grossberg, no structure is completely stable or unstable. The
complexity of history and the human equation make any final position untenable. When
considering how JPUSA or Cornerstone might be classified, one must consider the fluidity of
both. Each classification is dependent on a number of variables. What remains consistent,
however, is JPUSA‘s ability to transfer their Jesus Movement ethos to Cornerstone. The
emphasis on community, iconoclasm, the ―spirit,‖ and populism divorced from the corporate
establishment (evidenced by generator stages) all demonstrate that JPUSA offers something very
different from the establishment. Even when attempts are made to recode establishment forms of
music and ethos to fit the cultural mainstream, efforts are blunted by side-stage presentations,
each carrying the aura of an authenticity which questions the corporate sensibilities of the main
stage.
JPUSA‘s conspicuous presence at the festival—their ubiquity—allows festival-goers to
glimpse individual representatives of a countercultural ethos. The festival has a history of
attracting seekers, occasioning within each an awareness of their own liminality. This creates a
sort of revolving-door scenario for JPUSA. Some seek healing, purpose, and a different way of
experiencing ―church.‖ The fact that young seekers are often attracted to the romance of JPUSA
might account for its longevity and success, even if seekers often remain for a brief period of
time.

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Through Cornerstone, JPUSA has engaged culture unlike many other communal
experiments. Given the festival‘s structure and ethos, JPUSA has been able to offer what they
consider to be truly countercultural, challenging the saliency of the CCM industry and
establishment evangelicalism. Their vision has resulted in an annual gathering that provides a
venue for free artistic expression, regardless of style or lyrical content. Moreover, festival
seminars have served to help festival-goers develop new understandings of what ―sacred‖ music
might be—while also challenging political and theological paradigms. Thus, Cornerstone has
successfully redefined (for evangelicals) the boundaries of what qualifies as Christian music or
what passes as a Christian band. The result has been a burgeoning subculture of musicians under
the influence of evangelical faith who rise to the challenge of performing in venues largely
disassociated from what is commonly expected of those who claim evangelical distinction.
Moreover, through their music these pioneers increasingly champion the ideals associated with
the Left, emphasizing social justice over and above simple expository preaching and
missionizing often associated with evangelical Christianity. Whether by accident or design,
Cornerstone questions the category of (or the need for) the ―Christian band.‖ JPUSA‘s influence
on culture (at least the culture of evangelical popular music) has been inestimable.
Earlier in this study, I argued that JPUSA‘s social activism has reinforced commitment
mechanisms. This has provided communards a reason for being, thus inspiring them to engage
enterprise (through their businesses) while agreeing to a life of simplicity and voluntary poverty.
While this is important for JPUSA‘s survival, Cornerstone keeps the community connected to the
larger culture (defining JPUSA by an affirmative boundary distinction) and, unlike other Jesus
communes, offers an ongoing context whereby their connection to the larger culture maintains
socio-cultural relevance. Based on my findings, two factors might pose a threat to JPUSA‘s

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continued longevity. First, if Cornerstone folds, JPUSA will lose a larger socio-cultural frame of
reference. This has the potential to impact the community negatively, creating the possibility of
insularity. Second, many of JPUSA‘s second-generation communards are leaving the
community. Those who remain will determine the direction of both the commune and the
festival. The next chapter considers the testimonies offered by current and former secondgeneration communards. The chapter ends by considering JPUSA‘s future as a vibrant,
culturally relevant community.

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Chapter 7
The Future: Ex-Members, Second Generation, and Social Dynamics

Introduction
JPUSA‘s longevity thus far can be connected to a commitment to aiding Uptown‘s
homeless population, a steady influx of new members, mission businesses, and sustained
affiliation with the parent denomination. JPUSA businesses provide the capital needed to
sustain the commune, freeing members to operate missions such as Cornerstone Community
Outreach. As argued, the shelter represents a perennial need, strengthening a collective
commitment for communards. The Cornerstone Festival attracts new members who contribute to
labor, if only briefly. The Evangelical Covenant Church keeps the commune from becoming
isolationist. The community‘s future, however, will likely be determined by rising generations.
Given the fluidity of American society, accommodation to the surrounding culture is
equally necessary for the commune‘s survival. The way JPUSA manages communal structure
and socio-cultural change determines how they are perceived by their non-communal
constituency, second-generation communards, and former members who remain outspoken about
their experiences in the commune. If JPUSA resists change, it is possible that some secondgeneration communards will leave to seek a life-experience that (for them) accurately represents
the real world. Furthermore, resistance to change might undermine the historical attraction of
Cornerstone. However, if the community continues to accommodate socio-cultural shifts
(reinventing their ethos), there is an equal risk that first-generation members will still leave the
community, as has already occurred.
While cultural evolution has, for the most part, sustained the commune in terms of
cultural relevance, an über-differentiation may only serve to deteriorate membership. Thus

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change is needed, but only incrementally. The first signs of what could be considered a tension
between tradition and progress can be seen in JPUSA‘s second generation. Throughout this study
I have relied on the testimonies of individuals. While the comments of founding members are
informative when considering JPUSA history, structure, and longevity, the stories of secondgeneration communards offer the perspective of those who did not choose communal life. This
provides greater insight into what the future might hold for JPUSA. Historian James D.
Chancellor agrees that individual testimonies are important for documenting historical accounts:
If we are to find the soul of faith, to discover the power of religious ideas, the depth and
intensity of religious moods and motivations, and the complexities of the religiously
centered life, then we must abandon an intellectual imperialism that denies faith
1
adherents the right to interpret their own experiences.
This chapter will consider JPUSA‘s future and the variables that might contribute to their
continued longevity, cultural relevance, potential irrelevance, or eventual demise. I will consider
perceptions of current members (both founders and second generation) and former members
(both founders and second generation), taking into account how changes in the community have
affected membership over the years.

The Second Generation: Growing Up in Community
While communal sustainability is indelibly linked to commitment mechanisms, the
dedication of second-generation communards will ultimately determine the continuance and
2

cultural relevance of JPUSA. Founding members commit to core principles (with exception to
those who choose to leave). Leaders must consider how mantles of leadership are to be handed
down, how the next generation will be trained, and at what age. For the JPUSA council, there is
no immediate need to determine what the emerging leadership will look like. According to John

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3

Herrin, the founders are in the prime of their lives. And for many in leadership, God is in
control.
If we are to interpret the future of the community based on commitment levels within the
second generation, it is important to understand how second-generation communards perceive
their own lives in JPUSA. Some became aware of how life was different at an early age.
Between the ages of eight and nine Scarlett Shelby (daughter to John and Tina Herrin) knew that
her life differed from other children—others did not live in houses shared by teachers and
pastors. Now twenty-two and a mother, for Shelby, communal life offers safety, despite the
inner-city location. Comparisons to the ―outside world‖ extend well beyond what is perceived as
shared or breached space. Recollections of how communal living is perceived by children are
often situated within dichotomies established by how ―normalcy‖ is constructed and
remembered, at least by adult-communards looking back on childhood with either fondness or
distaste. Recalling an early awareness of differentiation, Nathan Cameron (I will use his first
name to distinguish from his father) recalls visiting his grandparents during family gatherings:
I was about six or seven. I remember the moment very distinctly….My grandparents
lived in Wisconsin...every once in a while we would go up and visit them. My idea of
life up to that point was living this communal life. We all lived in one big building, and
all my friends were just a door away down the hall, and we all just kind of lived together
and played together and did everything together. And I would go up to my grandma's
house, and everybody had their own house, and everybody had their own car, and
everything was separate. And so I kind of thought…it was like vacation. Everybody got
out of the city to go to grandma's house, to kind of get away from it all, and then they
4
would go home.
Nathan‘s moment of differentiation came when he realized that his family and friends lived a
very different life. These other people did not return to communal houses.
So there were several kids who lived next door to my grandmother...we would all
play...but I thought that was vacation. I thought all these kids, when I left, they left too
and went back to their communities. I remember [when] I was about six or seven...I said
"oh, so what community do you live in?...where do you go when you‘re done hanging out
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here?" All of a sudden I was just like "Wait a minute. You mean you don‘t have to go
back to that? This is where you get to stay all the time?‖….It was kind of a traumatic
moment for me.... I had to go back into the city and poverty...a place where I didn‘t have
my own space, a place where I lived in a room with five other kids. We had to share
everything….I remember having a very hard time wanting to go home and it being a very
difficult thing for me....I felt…like I was trapped...and I wanted out but I couldn‘t get out
5
because I wasn‘t an adult….I didn‘t choose this life.
Although Nathan‘s childhood was a difficult one, as an adult he values life in JPUSA.
His father, Tom Cameron, earned his law degree while living in the commune. JPUSA felt he
should gain practical experience working with a law firm, thus preparing him to serve as inhouse council. While employed, Cameron and his family enjoyed various company parties held
at homes owned by lawyers who were financially successful. After seeing how financially
secure families lived, the disparity between the upper and lower classes were emphasized for
Nathan. The chasm between the wealthy and those living in Uptown served as new inspiration.
Now, Nathan values JPUSA‘s mission to the homeless.
It is not surprising that many second-generation communards differ from the founding
members. Many veteran communards came from broken backgrounds and developed a
particular expression of communal living within the broader context of the Jesus Movement.

6

Second-generation JPUSA communards do not have this framework. For founders, the goal was
a familial context—a family-like structure that offered support for new Christians who had
previously struggled with drug abuse and a lack of direction in life. With the exception of
itinerant communards (―travelers‖ or ―drifters‖), for second-generation communards raised in
JPUSA, this was not the case. Thus, the constant need for close proximity (members are
7

encouraged to remain close to one other person) is to some extent lost on the second generation.
Daughter to founding members Glenn and Wendi Kaiser, Ami Moss (twenty-eight and married)
still struggles with her lack of privacy. She grew up sharing a room with her siblings and other
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children. For Ami, matters of privacy and family often blurred when considering school and
home. Teachers for JPUSA‘s school live in the same building, are part of the same ―family,‖ and
are connected to their students in ways unlike children raised in non-communal situations.
For many communards who were not born in the community, adjusting to communal life
amounted to a trial by fire. Children born in JPUSA are often quite close relationally, creating a
challenge for newcomers seeking acceptance. The son of mother Carol Trott and Stepfather Jon
Trott, Christopher Wiitala joined between 1986 and 1987, along with his brother and mother.
Now age thirty, for Wiitala the process of adjusting to communal life was dependant on his
ability to make friends with those who had been born and raised within the context of a tight-knit
group. Unlike many, he has enjoyed touring with a band (promoted by JPUSA‘s record label,
Grrr) and is able to escape the confines of Uptown.

8

Wiitala notes that his perception of life in JPUSA tends to be different from others within
his generation. When returning from a tour with his band, he often compares communal life to
other scenarios witnessed within the ―outside world.‖ When returning, he is often confronted
with communards who assume an unbroken familial connection. That is, communards assume
they are connected to one-another. Everyone is ―family‖ simply by virtue of living in the same
9

bounded community, all experiencing the ―joy of the Lord.‖ This level of inter-group
connection signals how common living spaces are often perceived and taken for granted.
Shared space and the lack of privacy notwithstanding, life in JPUSA promises a level of
familial connections which, many argue, benefit the children. Based on my own observations
and interviews, it is clear that children are safe-guarded. As with any large family, children are
raised by a number of persons. For many, this is a positive thing. Scarlett Shelby expressed her
gratitude for growing up in a community where she feels her children always have watchful eyes.
243

However, some second-generation members feel this can be taken too far. Wiitala recalls his
frustration with how some parents simply assume that other communards will watch or discipline
children who are not their own. (The assumption is that they are all family.)
Various boundaries are breached when this ―taken-for-grantedness‖ will, at times, cause
communards to cross lines of privacy (clothes are borrowed) or assumptions are made pertaining
to childcare (children are watched by ―the community,‖ not unlike daycare).

10

Wiitala considers

some members of JPUSA presumptuous regarding the level and depth of interpersonal
connections or the trustworthiness of those designated part of ―the family‖ when providing care
for JPUSA children. However, others interviewed maintain that families in the commune
provide greater levels of childcare than Wiitala has suggested. A senior citizen who currently
lives in JPUSA‘s senior housing noted that she has, on many occasion, offered to babysit. No
one has taken her up on her offer.

11

Thus, there may be greater attention to childcare and fewer

instances of trust involving those who are part of this ―family‖ than Wiitala has indicated.
Rising generations hold quite particular perceptions of life in JPUSA that influence their
own self-identity. Each individual memory offers a glimpse into communal life through the eyes
of childhood, squaring notions of the social norm with the reality of life in Uptown. What
remains a pressing matter (one which may very well decide the commune‘s fate) is the
developing ideological chasm between founders and many second-generation communards,
differences now materializing in the glaring light of pluralism.

Founding Members and Second Generation: Differences
While cultural accommodation is often necessary for a commune to survive (particularly
urban-based groups) the values held by the second generation can create tensions which result in
either communal change or fragmentation. Many second-generation JPUSAs hold to similar
244

values as the founders, though often reflective of their own generation. However, in many cases
differentiation often forecasts what amounts to dissatisfaction as the up-and-coming generation
compares their personal worlds to that of the founders and their communal world to the
―outside.‖ This creates an ongoing struggle as this generation is part of a relationship which
Kanter argues is inevitably ―subject to continual revision in the face of changes in [the] external
environment.‖

12

The result of continual differentiation necessitates dialogue between all communards.
For example, many leaders differ on what can be considered minor issues (denominational
particulars, eschatology, and political theory) but agree on historic Christian orthodoxy. Secondgeneration perspectives on these and various social issues are of evidentiary value when
considering how this generation has been affected by exposure to the outside world and, more
specifically, pluralism. For example, many second-generation communards are flexible on
topics such as abortion and homosexuality, according to Scarlett Shelby, and consider issues
such as war and poverty to be more pressing. Tamzen Trott (I will use her first name to
distinguish her from her father, Jon Trott) argues that while JPUSA holds to the core ethos of
following Jesus, difference and flexibility contributes to both positive and negative aspects of
community structure and life. The reason for JPUSA‘s longevity, argues Tamzen, is their ability
to assimilate cultural moments deemed important by the wider youth subculture. For instance,
social mores dictating boy-girl contact was once strictly governed. Now this sort of socializing
is more freely accepted.

13

These newfound freedoms help JPUSA negotiate between structures established by their
own shared values and what has shifted in the broader culture. Flexibility retains members, but
also causes second-generation members to consider what is available to them outside of
245

communal life. Thus, cultural assimilation and accommodation simultaneously appeases
younger members while also highlighting differences between communal and non-communal
life.
While the commune has been able to change with the culture over the years, those
changes might not have come early enough. Musing over the various restrictions placed on
JPUSA youth in earlier years, Shelby recalled a time when each floor of Friendly Towers had
one community television, only used for viewing old movies or fantasy epochs such as the Dark
Crystal and Harry Potter. This strikes her as ironic, considering that many conservative
evangelicals often consider the magical world of Harry Potter antithetical to Christian teaching.
But JPUSA, she points out, finds value in fantasy, given their interest in the works of medievalist
tale spinners such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. JPUSA leaders once considered network
sitcoms (enjoyed by many evangelicals who demonize the Harry Potter series) more dangerous
than media which utilize fantasy and magic to convey ―larger truths.‖ Over the years, the
community lifted restrictions, now allowing televisions in individual apartments without strict
guidelines pertaining to content—though what children view is monitored.
Both Shelby and Tamzen argue that their perspective on some social values is shared by
JPUSA peers, demonstrating the difference between their generation and founding members.
While many of their peers agree on matters of civil and ecclesiastical polity, over half hold
different social and cultural values. For example, Tamzen and many second-generation
communards support gay marriage and believe the Bible should not be taken literally. For
others, the matter is up for debate. While Nathan does not favor gay marriage, he is conflicted,
given his friendship with some who are in same-sex relationships. While still tolerant, he argues

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that homosexuality is a sin. (Nathan recognizes the complexity of the issue, recalling gay friends
who have better relationships than many married heterosexual couples).

14

Although the council holds that gay marriage is not biblical, those who disagree on
―secondary issues‖ such as this are not asked to leave the commune unless differences lead to
conflict and breakdown in social cohesion. JPUSA‘s position on homosexuality differs little
from conservative evangelicalism. However, the primary difference between JPUSA and other
communes (as well as some conservative Christians) is that JPUSA communards seek to avoid
intolerant rhetoric and welcome open, civil dialogue regarding what they agree to be a matter
more complex than evangelicals often admit. While leaders in JPUSA view homosexuality as
sinful, they do not differentiate between this activity and others also designated ―sinful.‖ This
explains Jon Trott‘s recalcitrant reaction to radical homophobes, viewing them as inimical to the
cause of Christianity and counter to the teachings of Jesus.
For elders, one can be a gay Christian just as one can be a Christian who has told a lie.
While JPUSA founders agree that Christian conviction and sexual orientation are not mutually
exclusive, they maintain that Christians should seek healing and ―deliverance.‖

15

Tamzen, on

the other hand, argues that one can be gay, a Christian, and remain close to God without the need
for repentance, deliverance, or behavioral modification.

16

Jon Trott shared his views on gay marriage and was quick to state that he spoke as an
individual and not necessarily for the community—though it is Trott who is responsible for
lecturers at the festival. Contrary to many evangelicals, Trott considers the church‘s ―battle‖
over gay marriage to lack moral clarity, arguing that the church‘s position should remain
separate and distinct from what is largely a civil matter. Uncomfortable with foisting his views
of marriage on others, he holds that if Jesus‘ love is to be observed, choices must be respected.
247

17

While Trott‘s views on homosexuality are more tolerant of complexities often attached to
debates concerning sexual preference, other evangelicals maintain that unchecked tolerance often
leads to a slippery slope. A typical retort from the Religious Right, notes Trott. (He recalls how
some will question his position of tolerance, suggesting that tolerance becomes a slippery slope
which leads to ―child sex or murder.‖)

18

His response hints at frustration with what he views as

flawed questions to what is self-evident. He writes: ―We all know what we‘re talkin‘ about
here…two consenting adults‖ who want to be ―recognized by the state as a couple.‖ Having a
―high view of scripture‖ (despite his recognition of the failings of language) he leaves it at that.
Trott accepts civil unions and believes the church should maintain a different definition of
19

marriage, but welcomes open dialogue from both the gay and ex-gay communities.

Along with social issues, many second-generation communards diverge on matters
concerning religious belief. As demonstrated in chapter 5, JPUSA has evolved theologically.
Many ideological changes have continued with rising generations and have been reinforced by
the forces of pluralism. Skeptical about categories, Tamzen Trott does not consider herself a
Christian. But despite skepticism, she believes in and feels she has a relationship with God.
While her position might be viewed as more radical than many of her peers, she notes that some
former JPUSA communards have become atheists. Their extreme position, argues Tamzen, is a
reaction to what is perceived as the rigidities of a commune defined by religious certainty
(despite attempts at postmodern theology) and expectations of holiness.

20

Ironically, these

rigidities have not dulled the activist impulse in Tamzen. Noting an interest in pursuing a degree
in social work, she hopes to continue working with the homeless, independent of any particular
religious orientation. She considers her ―call‖ to be quite personal; from an early age, children

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raised in JPUSA are made aware of poverty and violence.

21

Though sheltered in some ways,

JPUSA children are confronted with realities with which suburban dwellers need not deal.
While many who are raised in JPUSA feel they have been nurtured in a hermitage of
sorts, in many ways Nathan Cameron‘s story demonstrates that JPUSA‘s kids are not protected
from the ―real world,‖ but are often exposed to more reality than those in suburbia. Along with
social ills associated with inner-city life, young JPUSAs inherit a paradigm of living (lifestyle)
established by elders influenced by patterns of personal crisis and redemption. Many founders
were raised in broken homes, developed broken lives, and joined the commune after struggling
with some form of addiction. Thus, leaders created rules to govern activities which, for them,
represented dysfunction. Nathan notes that while contextually necessary, extremism prevailed as
JPUSA leaders universally demonized alcohol.

22

As with sexuality, alcohol became negotiable—at least for the second generation.
Nathan‘s generation is not a product of abuse or disaffectedness. Raised in a stable, loving
home, for Nathan (and many of his peers) alcohol is not considered sinful. Furthermore, in
recent years some community leaders have softened their position on the matter after having
attended denominational events where alcohol was served. Still (and understandably) JPUSA
maintains a policy of teetotalism, given their outreach to those who struggle with many forms of
addiction. These rules, according to Christopher Wiitala, were set in place ―for the weakest
person.‖

23

Although many within JPUSA‘s second generation differ from the founders on social and
cultural values, some hold to similar versions while exhibiting a more tolerant version of the
same ethic. While the majority differs on these issues from the founding generation, most
interviewed agreed on the basic tenets of historic (albeit more tolerant) evangelical Christianity.
249

However, commitment to the same ―larger cause,‖ it seems, has not been enough to retain a
significant presence of the second generation. Indeed, many feel called to serve humanity,
though this ―calling‖ has not sufficiently translated into commitment to JPUSA.

Second-Generation Commitment
The future of JPUSA will largely be decided by who remains and how the existing
structure is maintained and enforced. However, it has been estimated that only fifteen percent of
those raised in JPUSA have actually remained in the commune.

24

The constant exposure to

Uptown‘s poverty and perceptions of an ill-equipped church culture (unmotivated to follow Jesus
in service to the poor) creates what historian James Chancellor refers to as a ―continual crisis
environment.‖

25

This crisis environment, while chiding the church by illuminating its

inadequacy, serves to keep founders engaged in their mission and mobilizes ―travelers‖

26

to

embrace a higher purpose. Committed to fully identifying with the poor, founders and travelers
dedicate themselves to Jesus by serving the homeless.

27

However, the sense of divine mandate

felt by founders and travelers is not shared by all second-generation communards. Though
dedicated to her neighbors and friends within the commune, Scarlett Shelby seeks a different
way of serving humanity. A pre-med student with hopes of becoming a physician, Shelby plans
to leave the community; as is the case with many of her peers, she does not feel called to a life of
service defined by communal living.

28

Like Shelby, many within the second generation do not share visions of outreach as
defined by the founders. Although the notion of divine calling is significant when attempting to
locate the intentions of this generation, in the end, the reoccurring sentiment has concerned the
lack of freedom within the commune, thus highlighting second-generation perceptions of
250

communalism as an organizing ethos. In most cases, second-generation communards feel
constricted by communal rules and hope to find their own identity outside of communal life. A
seasoned first-generation communard, Susan (her real name has been withheld) notes that it was
common for second-generation members to desire more freedom after high school:
I think it‘s because they‘re so close here. They see the same people from the time they
start school until they graduate—it‘s the same people in their class. We‘re just now
allowing them to have a little bit more freedom to move about in the city. Normally, it‘s
a pretty tight supervision that they‘re given, so they always want to see what is out there.
When they graduate they want to try something new. They want to watch every movie
that we didn‘t let them see. They just want more freedom. And so, they‘re trying to
29
experience everything that there is.
Indeed, when reaching adulthood, many raised in JPUSA decide to leave, as do those
who willingly chose communal life. In considering founding members and those who joined as
adults, twenty-three percent have left the community, many of whom felt a divine unction to
move on. Others simply sought more freedom, more money, or more voice in how they spent
what little money was allotted. Others were generally dissatisfied.

30

While many baby-boom communards

have left JPUSA over the years, the younger generation exhibits a greater tendency toward a different manner of living.

The difference between communal and non-communal adolescent rites of independence
and distancing is that those raised within non-communal environments can measure the bounded
existence (family life) against scenarios not defined by a daily bounded experience. That is, for
non-communal youth (with the possible exception of small, non-communitarian rural scenarios)
the lines between home, school, church, and other activities are often quite distinct. For youth
raised in communes such as JPUSA, all elements of weekly life are collapsed into one holistic
mass; lines are blurred, reaffirming that all areas of life are part of one collective experience.
This sort of deindividuation is necessary for successful communal longevity, according to

251

Kanter. Considering the most successful nineteenth-century communes, she notes that ―[t]he
most enduring communes [are] also the most centralized and the most tightly controlled.‖

31

Highly centralized communes that have operated authoritarian control (regardless of the
reasons) have indeed been more successful than many groups where organizational structure
was, at best, ephemeral. But with respect to multigenerational contexts, the effectiveness of
highly centralized authority-structures may prove indeterminate. While control mechanisms
(though part of larger concerns such as social justice and individual purpose) have served to
buttress JPUSA since 1972, concentrated power (the council) and the boundaries which
previously served to maintain commitment now repel rising generations. Some secondgeneration communards leave the community after graduating high school, only to return for a
brief stay. At fifteen Tamzen (now twenty-six) realized that she did not choose communal life.
After completing high school she left to experience life on her own; she has lived in six different
places in the United States. Tamzen notes that her desire to leave the community is shared by
over fifty percent of her peers. Although brief periods of experiencing non-communal life often
result in the decision to leave JPUSA, children of the founders are encouraged to experience life
outside the community to gain both perspective and experience; communards who return to
JPUSA do so based on their own choosing.
While many have left JPUSA, others have embraced the communal life, hoping to
maintain organic (familial) connections lost in a postindustrial world. Like many of her peers,
Tiana Coleman was able to compare her life to non-communal children at an early age, but
enjoyed the close proximity of life-long friends in JPUSA.

32

Like Coleman, Joel Williams has

fond memories and compares life in JPUSA to a small town in the middle of a big city. For
Williams and others, there is one constant which both attracts and repels—the ―blessing and
252

curse of living so close together.‖

33

JPUSA youth are like brothers and sisters working toward

the common goal of providing for the poor—a task in which they take pride, despite the lack of
anonymity.

34

In considering the fact that many second-generation JPUSAs (and those who joined as
adults) tend to leave the commune, we must consider how this decision is viewed by those in
leadership. In his critique of the community, sociologist Ronald Enroth has argued that members
of JPUSA who prepare to leave are often viewed with disdain, labeled apostate, or spiritually
remanded.

35

However, Susan holds no ill-will toward her children who have left, recognizing
36

that Christian faith extends beyond JPUSA.

While she speaks as a mother and may hold a

bias, I have found similar statements from others who recall members who have moved on.
Although some former members recall having a negative experience upon leaving the
community, others maintain that JPUSA communards wished them well. This is not to dismiss
other accounts. But these accounts, as some have indicated, are often rife with emotion.
According to some, communal life is much like marriage, warranting such commitment that
when breached, the result is the feeling of loss (a vacuum) often compared to divorce.

37

Recognizing the mass exodus of second-generation members, Susan has considered
mechanisms which might have better contributed to second-generation commitment. If leaders
had created a structure of gradual change (allowing youth certain freedoms and luxuries
incrementally), teenagers might not have felt the need to ―gorge‖ themselves with things
previously denied, resulting in dissatisfaction with life in JPUSA. Thus, authoritarian
structure—often needed in communal contexts defined by a mission to the dysfunctional—
results in a sort of encapsulated chamber. If this ―pressure valve‖ (tightly bound rules) is opened

253

slowly, notes Susan, youth may experience gradual depressurization.

38

This incremental

allowance of freedom and access to previously banned parts of culture amounts to what Kanter
refers to as ―controlled acculturation.‖

39

Regardless of the methods behind the original authoritarian structure, the reason was
primarily to guard JPUSA youth from ―worldly‖ temptations.

40

This sentiment of protection is

common for both youth and adults living in communal scenarios. According to Kanter, ―outside
society, a changing, turbulent, seductive place, poses a particular threat to the existence of
utopian communities, so that most successful communities of the past have developed sets of
insulating boundaries—rules and structural arrangements that minimized contact with the
41

outside.‖

While JPUSA adults and children are not shielded from ―outside society‖ in the

literal sense (confronted daily by inner-city life) they are able to return home and process images
and experiences with the help of emotional mediation, via the support of a community defined by
collective experience. Although the commune has become more lenient on various matters,
communards still remain connected to a structure which helps them interpret society through
JPUSA‘s paradigmatic grid. Ironically, these paradigms—tightly ordered rules of living and the
relinquishing of money and privacy—which retained founding members have often contributed
to departure among rising generations.

42

Thus controlled acculturation provides communards

with a new means of maintaining original mechanisms while acquiescing to the dominant
culture. But this might still prove problematic.
It has become clear that approximately eighty-five percent of the second generation tends
to leave JPUSA. When considering commitment levels, Scarlett Shelby makes a distinction
between the generation and the actual year a person is born, noting that many born during the
late 1970s and early 1980s tend to remain, while those born during the late 1980s and early
254

1990s tend to leave, having had more experiences outside of JPUSA. Due to lifted restrictions
on television, music, and the rise of the internet, JPUSA youth were increasingly exposed to
what they were missing.

43

The perspectives of second-generation communards are mixed, though there is a unifying
element among most. While over half choose to leave, even those who remain in the community
appear more open to the possibility of another sort of life. Thus, despite disagreements on social
or theological matters, many have considered their alternatives, always examining the difficulties
of communal life. But what of those who have left JPUSA? Perceptions of former communards
add unique perspectives when considering communal structure and JPUSA‘s potential for
longevity, even if those perceptions are often shaped by catalysts for departure or how former
communards have fared in their newfound lives.

Former Members: Perceptions of Structure and Authority
While JPUSA serves as an example of a commune that has instituted affirmative
boundaries, distinctions between the commune and the outside world create dissonance for many
who live in the community. Communards join willingly, often later finding communal life to be
incompatible with their own sense of individualism. While many former members are of the
second generation, there are those who chose to join as adults, hoping to serve both God and
community. After spending a significant amount of time in JPUSA, these members were able to
measure communal life against their own previously established understanding of community
and structure. Now forty-seven, Kevin Frank lives in rural Canada. In 1982 he had a desire to
change the world. Having been raised a Mennonite, it is perhaps not a stretch to consider that
seeds for social justice had already been planted in Frank, though his parents were ―very
44

anxious‖ about his decision to join JPUSA.

255

Frank does not pretend that communal life was easy. When considering the ―normative‖
life defined by American individualism (not to mention avarice), some who chose to leave did so
in response to their own struggle with what is fundamental to communal life. Like many current
members, for Frank the difficulties (while partly ideological) amounted to the need for privacy.
―The worst part about LIVING in community,‖ writes Frank, ―was possibly the lack of privacy.
You were always ‗on.‘ You ate breakfast with the same people, you worked with them, you
worshiped with them, shared a crowded dorm-room, and went on vacation with them.‖

45

As

chapter 3 demonstrates, many have been attracted to JPUSA (and communal living generally) in
hopes of fulfilling a desire to serve God within a scenario decidedly counter to U.S. society. But
then the individualism endemic to U.S. culture often challenges the utopian vision. Frank‘s
account of life in JPUSA reveals a disconnect between the communitarian dream and the
American premium placed on the independent, autonomous self:
During my tenure there was a strict "buddy" rule, so you were never, ever alone. Even in
the bathroom, there would be a line outside waiting to get in. Plus, as you can imagine,
sharing everything could be very inconvenient. As someone once said (a Soviet
communist, I think): "That which belongs to everyone, belongs to no-one." So
everything was dirty, broken, noisy, overcrowded, and behind schedule. Imagine sharing
a car with 500 other people. It could be vexing, to say the least. So not only were you
always "on" you were always "on" in the midst of some major, or minor inconvenience.
A great opportunity to die to oneself and become more like Christ, for certain, but no
46
picnic.
It has become clear that as with any organization, the perceptions of those who have
moved on are often varied and unique to their own experiences within the commune. ―Burn out‖
and frustrations over the lack of democracy in JPUSA resulted in Frank‘s decision to leave in
1998. He remains in contact with friends made in the commune and considers the most
memorable part of life in JPUSA to be the ―intense feeling of camaraderie,‖ recalling life at
JPUSA as a ―foretaste of heaven.‖ He continues:
256

A group of believers united in spirit, sharing everything and working towards common
goals. Absolutely some of the best times of my life were there, and shared with a score
of friends. I never laughed so much in my entire life. I don't even know what to compare
it too, but similar to a college residence building, except intergenerational with kids
47
riding bikes up and down the halls….
It appears, however, that the foretaste of Heaven is often overshadowed by eroded
personal boundaries. Elaine (not her real name) remains in touch with JPUSA, recalling that the
most significant element to communal life was the feeling of support. After having a child, she
grew increasingly aware of the lack of space and privacy. Overall, Elaine recalls her experiences
(including the choice to leave) as positive.

48

Eric Pement joined JPUSA in 1976 at twenty-one

years of age. During his time in the community, Pement was a contributing writer and editor for
the Cornerstone magazine. He notes that life in the community provided ―a crucible for growth,
it offered the time needed for Bible study, prayer, and fulltime evangelism without having to
work a secular job.‖

49

Like other former members, the lack of privacy, mobility, and the erasure

of personal boundaries became too much to handle.
No one owned their personal car, and vehicles were corporately shared but poorly
maintained. We had no money to take public transportation as we wanted, and many
things I would have wanted to do (in ministry or outreach) were hampered by not being
50
able to travel as freely as I would have done living independently.
While many view the lack of privacy as inconvenient and the power of the council as (in
many cases) simply a matter of difference of opinion regarding governance, others note that
JPUSA leaders have overstepped their bounds. These former communards have expressed deepseated frustrations concerning the lack of voice afforded rank-and-file members, dogmatic
policies, disciplinary action if polices were not followed, and the deficiency of an environment
which did not encourage exploration of one‘s own identity and relationship with God. During
the 1970s, Barbara Pement was a journalist hired by an affiliate of ABC in Battle Creek,

257

Michigan. After visiting Chicago and meeting some JPUSA missionaries on the street, Pement
(already a Christian) considered leaving her position as Continuity Director at ABC. She joined
JPUSA in 1977 at the age of twenty-four. Pement contends that ―[l]egalistic rules in the
beginning kept us on the straight and narrow,‖ that they obeyed because they ―loved Jesus so
much and wanted to please Him.‖ Many were ―out of control‖ in their lives before joining the
commune, notes Pement. Thus they ―welcomed the reigning in.‖

51

She maintains that JPUSA

was once a very different community, one which focused more on missionizing:
In the early years serving Jesus was all about changing lives, seeing your faith become
alive and vibrant. Personal daily Bible reading increased intimacy with Christ….
Resurrection Band and Cornerstone Newspaper/Magazine, our musical and literary
voice[s] were on the front lines of effective evangelism and encouragement to believers
around the world. Bible study discussions, singing songs about God‘s love, telling
52
others about Jesus characterized the reality of our fervor.
Pement recalls that over time ―a subtle shift took place.‖ As time wore on ―[l]ife in Jesus People
became less about Jesus and more about …I don‘t know…something else.‖ She considers the
possibility that this shift was partially a result of young communards having children and
learning to question the status quo—one which did not allow children to mature spiritually. ―We
wanted our children to love Jesus too and that wasn‘t going to happen just because we had
surrounded our closed society with ultra strict rules. Rules without relationship breeds
rebellion.‖

53

JPUSA children did not experience the same fervent relationship with Jesus as the
founders, according to Pement. For both the rising generation and adults, communal law
trumped personal growth during the early years. ―In the young days of Jesus People,‖ writes
Pement, ―a person who bucked the rules or had another opinion was seen as unfit for the
purposes of remaining in Jesus People. ‗Submit or split‘ we used to say, meaning ‗just do as

258

you‘re told or leave. Back then we had no patience for people who were not serious about
obedience to God.‖

54

For Pement, this way of managing communards was intended to ―stifle resistance.‖
Given the difficulties many young communards had with authority in their pre-Christian lives,
JPUSA leadership viewed this approach as necessary. ―The rule was a good idea at the time,‖
she recalls, ―because it weeded out those who were not serious about their commitment.‖

55

This

method of management was intended to discourage laziness and provide an incentive to work.
Many communards wanted to question the structure. However, ―there could be no honesty in
raising serious discussion about certain long-held practices,‖

56

she recalls. Pement argues that

JPUSA leadership was simply immovable on communal policy:
Provoking challenges were viewed as mutiny or ―causing dissention.‖ Maintaining the
structure of the commune took precedence over the architecture of our lives. The
Foundation that had begun firmly, had changed. Was the commitment to Jesus? Or to
57
Jesus People USA? What‘s the difference?
Pement‘s testimony demonstrates that early JPUSA structure elicited mixed feelings and
produced mixed results. For her, strict guidelines were needed to maintain both holiness and
commitment to the original cause. However, she also argues that communal rules and guidelines
strengthened the commune but not the individual. Her children did not grow spiritually while in
JPUSA. After leaving the commune, her children changed. ―The difference upon exiting is as
night and day. Relatives noticed it right away, and even friends who had never lived or visited
Jesus People,‖ writes Pement. ―My children blossomed becoming more outgoing.‖

58

Though

strict boundaries served to incentivize communal commitment in the earlier years, they worked
in reverse as time wore on. Thus, if individuals are disincentivized because of overly rigid

259

boundaries, then the mechanisms no longer serve their purpose of solidifying communal
dedication.
According to former communards, strict guidelines intended to safeguard members from
worldly temptation actually created dysfunction. As previously discussed, JPUSA is a product
of the Jesus Movement and has inherited some elements of the movement‘s pentecostal spirit,
though not to its full degree. Furthermore, this study has also emphasized why boundaries
(whether perceived as good or bad) are necessary for communal longevity. Historically,
JPUSA‘s council has operated based on certain expectations of behavior and doctrine (see
chapters 2, 3, and 5). As a result, some former members have expressed frustration over how
they (as individuals) were perceived and defined by the community and how JPUSA‘s
dogmatism stunted individual growth. After his parents chose to leave the commune, Jaime
Prater (raised in JPUSA) left. He recalls the turmoil involved in making his sexual orientation
public. His forthcoming documentary, Born: Growing up in a Religious Commune, explores
some of the stories told by various persons raised in JPUSA. Prater states that life in JPUSA was
―the most amazing, wonderful, awful, fantastic, horrible, brilliant experience of my life.‖

59

The

film explores the pain felt by some former members. Communards were convinced that one
member, Michael Cadieux, was ―full of demons of homosexuality‖ and needed ―deliverance.‖
They surrounded him and prayed that demons would leave.

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This is not surprising, when

considering the commune‘s theological position and the communal imperative for collective
agreement. Other testimonies point to a structure that squelches the possibility for personal
maturation. Former communard Maurica Byntar hates herself and states, ―I don‘t know who I
am, because I was never allowed to figure out who I am.‖

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It is common for tight-knit communities to create a framework whereby one is measured.
For those in leadership, the flock‘s spiritual maturation (to some extent)

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is in their hands. As

might be expected, some have reacted in extreme measure. According to journalist Kirsten
Scharnberg, Jennifer Cadieux hated life in JPUSA. After pretending to go for a jog, Cadieux
fled in 1981, according to Scharnberg, only to discover that ―she hated life outside almost as
much.‖

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In many cases, communal authority, tightly ordered rules, and a lack of privacy have

contributed to disenchantment with JPUSA‘s form of communalism. Still, as with any secular or
religious organization, order is expected.
While rigid ideological boundaries often define communal structures, some argue that
when communards attempt to probe beyond established ideological norms, they are met with
tension from those in leadership. Allyson Jackson has suggested that the questions children ask
in the community tend to frighten leaders.

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Moreover, some former communards maintain that

JPUSA leadership has often viewed non-conformity as recalcitrant spiritual dissent.

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A tacit

gag order, according to some, quashes attempts at iconoclasm, if communal ideological
boundaries are carried to conclusion.
Despite perceived dogmatic peculiarities, these structures, I argue, have served to
reinforce a community susceptible to disintegration. Historian Malcolm Magee has visited
Uptown and notes that communes (or churches) in locations such as this must (in the interest of
survival) operate as a fortress.

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While JPUSA continues to engage culture they must

simultaneously guard against what they consider threatening to weaker members. Thus, while
JPUSA policies and beliefs (though they have liberalized over the years) might be viewed as
anathema to the mainstream, failed communal experiments consistently reaffirm that rigid
structures are needed. According to Kanter
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the function of strong norms, highly developed programs for behavior, elaborate
ideologies, and centralized authority is not only to promote total commitment but also to
provide certainty, clarity, and security for members of groups that have rejected the
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established order.
I am not arguing for or against JPUSA‘s particular structural mechanisms. Rather, I
argue that these mechanisms have been necessary to maintain communal cohesiveness to date.
This is needed for collectives defined against established models of community. But as we have
seen, these mechanisms may have contributed to individual dissent. Despite the testimony of
Barbara Pement, controlled acculturation appears to be an acceptable balance, one which
maintains a communally bounded existence while also valuing the growth of individual
communards (a balance between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft).

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But the voices of dissent,

however, represent only one side of the story.
While some former members argue that JPUSA‘s structure stunts personal growth and
robs individuals of identity and proper maturation, others maintain that the community freely
explores ideas and are open to thoughts expressed by the rank-and-file. Chitu Okoli, now thirtyfour, considers his decision to join at the age of twenty-one to be a significant life-choice. He
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sought ―to live simply in order to live a life as simple disciples [sic] of Christ.‖

Unlike other

former members who have expressed discontent with JPUSA‘s leaders, Okoli‘s perception is
quite different. For him, communards ―were not afraid to express their opinions to the leaders.
There was never a sense of intimidation or of some topics being taboo.‖ He recalls, however,
that some ―discontented members‖ had ―extended, criticizing conversations with the leaders.‖
The result of these meetings was that the discontented members were asked to move on since ―it
was obvious that they were unhappy with the way things were, and after unfruitful discussions, it
seemed best to the leaders for them to peacefully move on rather than building up pent-up

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resentments.‖

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Okoli continues, recalling a specific situation where the reasons for conflict

were openly disclosed:
I learnt about a couple of these situations involving people who were close to me, I
directly approached pastors to ask about them, and they were very open in explaining the
situation to me from their point of view; there was nothing taboo about my asking about
these sensitive situations, even though they did not directly involve me.
Misunderstandings happen, and that, unfortunately is part of our unperfected life as
Christians. However, I personally never felt in any way intimidated by the leaders at
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JPUSA.
But while Okoli insists that questions and opinions offered by the rank-and-file were valued,
Barbara Pement holds they were not, arguing that mistakes made by communards only
exacerbated the matter. Writes Pement: ―Unfortunately, a person can be labeled for life there. It
is kind of like the ‗unforgiving spouse‘ who remembers the one bad thing you did and brings it
up on a regular basis on numerous occasions whether the current issue at hand warrants it or
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not.‖

Though both Pement and Okoli have different accounts of structure and authority (one
positive and one negative), it is clear that a rigid structure once existed—and still does, to some
extent. Although Okoli decided to leave JPUSA, his assessment of the community (as a former
member) allows further extrapolation regarding perceptions of JPUSA council authority and
community sustainability.
History demonstrates that excessive control may contribute to a commune‘s demise. But
Okoli‘s argument for JPUSA‘s sustainability is based on his understanding of divine guidance
and how he differentiates their organizational structure (such as the avoidance of a single-leader
model) from other communal experiments. For him, ―[t]he practice of consensus brings in one
accord, which is a master key to the blessings in God's New Testament economy….JPUSA
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struck gold on this point.‖

He goes on to note the importance of ―commitment to practice
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oneness with the rest of the Body of Christ,‖ and observes how ecumenism has sustained
JPUSA:
Other than the spiritual blessing, seeking oneness with other believers, especially those
who are different from us in practice and specific beliefs, saves us from overstressing
things that really are not that important. It is altogether too easy for an intention[al]
community to think that that is the "proper" Christian way to live, and to thus recluse
themselves from those outside of them. However, by actively seeking fellowship with
other believers, JPUSA has been protected from the frog-in-the-well syndrome, from
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seeing only their own virtues and not those of others.
Okoli contends that JPUSA‘s decision to seek fellowship with other Christian
communities saved them from dissolution. However, it has been noted that JPUSA‘s selfconscious identification as a commune, or ―intentional community,‖

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overshadowed their

original signifier as inner-city missionaries (discussed later). Overall, the variety of perspectives
held by former members is symptomatic of an organic, changing community.
The testimonies of former members suggest that communards experienced very different
lives from each other while in JPUSA and perceived the commune quite subjectively. For Kevin
Frank, JPUSA was a ―foretaste of heaven.‖ For Barbara Pement, JPUSA became a ―spiritually
dark place.‖ Okoli ―appreciate[s] their sincerity.‖ For Prater, life in JPUSA was ―amazing,
wonderful, awful, fantastic, horrible, [and] brilliant.‖ Ultimately, the sentiment that has inspired
ex-members to form negative opinions about JPUSA‘s organizational structure is rooted in
fundamental notions about freedom and democracy.
Sociologist Anson Shupe notes that the premise on which communal societies are built
are often either misunderstood (by disgruntled communards and the outside world) or are
dismissed when the premise conflicts with personal ideas about boundaries. Shupe maintains
that one must keep in mind that communitarian lifestyles are often ―interpreted by persons
familiar only with a predominantly contractual culture.‖ Thus, ―testimonies of angry,
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disillusioned ex-members of intense covenantal groups always have to be taken with a grain of
salt….‖ Secondly, ―covenantal communities,‖ writes Shupe, ―are predicated on different
premises and assumptions than are contractual communities.‖ Consequently, ―[a]ctions that are
part of the discipline and sharing of resources in a covenantal community like JPUSA can be
made to sound abusive under the glaring light of contractual logic. Contractuals can make
covenantals seem odd, deviant, even dangerous because the natures of their social organizations
are very different.‖

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Strong opinions about JPUSA are by no means confined to ex-members, secondgeneration communards hoping to leave, or journalistic exposés. Some residents of Uptown
have made virulent remarks about the commune‘s tactics. According to some reports, JPUSA‘s
tactics (their fight on behalf of Uptown‘s impoverished families) is often perceived as arrogant
and confrontational. Along with neighborhood dissent concerning JPUSA methods of aiding
low-income families, some residents simply dislike the commune because of their affiliation
with Alderwoman Helen Shiller.

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How JPUSA is perceived is a matter of both personal

perspective and neighborhood agendas.
Clearly JPUSA‘s structure of authority has received significant attention over the years as
former communards have spoken out about their personal experiences in and with the commune.
While perceptions of matters such as personal boundaries and JPUSA council authority depend
on each individual and their particular circumstances, there remains a consistent thread of
agreement. Those who perceive JPUSA‘s authority as negative and those who perceive
JPUSA‘s authority as positive all suggest that the authority held by the council was, in some
ways, extensive. Moreover, those who had positive experiences and those who had negative
experiences contend that personal boundaries such as privacy, space, and a sense of individuality
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were somehow breached while living in JPUSA. These testimonies suggest that as with any
organization, some members will gain satisfaction while others will become disgruntled—though
there will be turnover as communards choose to leave for a variety of reasons.

Perceptions of JPUSA Mission and Future
Overall, the future of JPUSA is tied to structural mechanisms and to its commitment to
and perception of its general mission, one which at times will inspire members to leave in hopes
of transplanting JPUSA‘s social ethic to suburbia. Stu Heiss, now sixty-two, is employed by a
local church in a suburb of Chicago. He joined JPUSA in 1974 at the age of twenty-five seeking
to be ―discipled‖

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by fellow-believers in hopes of realizing a more authentic experience with

God. JPUSA offered this. Heiss attended a REZ Band show before joining the community, later
becoming the group‘s lead guitarist. After years of serving both REZ and JPUSA, Heiss came to
value the role of the local church, observing that local, suburban expressions of Christianity
should be engaged in outreach programs similar to JPUSA.
Communities like JPUSA, according to Heiss, often rise to meet challenges left unmet by
the local church.

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Like JPUSA‘s matriarch Dawn (Herrin) Mortimer, Heiss believes the

evangelical church has misunderstood the totality of the Christian mission, one which includes
social justice in service to the poor. Feeling a burden to help the local church engage social
justice as a holistic understanding of the Gospel, Heiss left JPUSA in 2002 and currently holds a
staff position with the Christian and Missionary Alliance-affiliated Lombard Bible Church.
Although his family has had to adjust to suburban living—a radical shift from life in an innercity commune—this seminary-trained suburban pastor values his new context and remains in
contact with the community, at times performing reunion shows with the REZ Band.

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There are varying degrees of opinion when considering how former communards
perceive JPUSA‘s ongoing mission. Some argue JPUSA has drifted from its original calling.
Okoli and Frank both agree that the commune‘s overall thrust remains consistent. Heiss
continues to value JPUSA‘s ministry, maintaining that the mission-mindedness of the
community must be transplanted into the local church. For him, JPUSA‘s approach to
humanitarianism is often absent in local, suburban expressions of the church. Although the
future of the commune is in many ways enslaved to the stridence of youthful indecision
(exemplified in travelers and rising generations), JPUSA‘s collective resolve is unabated, for it
represents a level of charity significant to those who seek cogent models of social activism.
Given the rapid exodus of the second generation, JPUSA must strategize about how it is
to carry out its mission in Uptown, as well as in its many businesses and outreach endeavors.
This creates the possibility for a new communal structure—one inspired by drifters who join the
community as a result of Cornerstone or word of mouth.
―festival freeloaders,‖

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Also referred to as ―crusties‖ and

these seekers bring new blood into the community, not to mention a new

labor force. But do they offer any sense of continuity in the face of second-generation exodus?
Do they provide stability?
Most communards who have been with JPUSA for more than two years have stated that
drifters often remain for no more than a few months, or at the most, one year. As with early
JPUSA, every generation has young people who are disenchanted with the church, dropouts and
antiestablishment seekers, recalls veteran communard Curtis Mortimer. For him, JPUSA offers
an experience where there are adults who understand and accept youth where they are.

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For

many of these ―dropouts,‖ JPUSA is a stop off where they can find healing. While this has
happened in some cases, others (particularly some who have been born and raised in JPUSA)
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feel as though their own self-exploration was severely hampered, as was the case with Maurica
Byntar, a former communard who was unable to locate her own identity while in JPUSA.
Indeed, dysfunction can occur in any social context, and Byntar‘s case is by no means
inconsequential when attempting to ascertain flawed mechanisms which may contribute to
organizational demise. However, new JPUSA efforts such as Project 12 may prove effective in
curtailing problems associated with identity-formation. A training program designed for both
members and non-members seeking internship opportunities, Project 12 exemplifies how the
commune now offers scenarios for youth to gain biblical training and practical application .
Young students embrace JPUSA‘s ethos of offering assistance to families in Uptown who
struggle with poverty. Project 12‘s core principle is the biblical verse Matthew 25:40: "The King
will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine,
you did for me.'‖

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As a result, programs such as this might contribute to bolstering the

identities of those raised in the commune and serve as a commitment mechanism for drifters,
inspiring them to remain in JPUSA.
As a rule, social experiments often attract seekers in search of purpose, identity, and
belonging. Every year JPUSA must deal with newcomers seeking a number of scenarios: a
community based on the New Testament model, alternative ways of experiencing church, an
outlet to serve the homeless, or simply a place to find personal healing. Whatever the case,
elements initially found attractive to new communards often repel those who find communal
rules beyond expectation. In the end, JPUSA‘s future is indelibly linked to how they choose to
handle newcomers (as the second generation leaves the commune) and how they choose to
evolve with the larger culture. Since second-generation members of a commune cannot be

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counted on to continue what founding members established, according to Kanter, there must be
an emphasis placed on recruiting new members.

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Ideological Change and Future Projections
That JPUSA has changed since 1972 accounts for why the community remains culturally
relevant—and why some veteran members have chosen to leave. Chapter 5 explored JPUSA‘s
political and theological evolution and demonstrated how diversity of opinion within the
commune has strengthened their resolve. But these differences (particularly when measured
against the evangelical subculture) may prove problematic as JPUSA continues to garner support
from the parent culture in hopes of avoiding insularity. Jon Trott has pointed out that some
evangelicals (particularly those in the counter-cult community) believe JPUSA has drifted
theologically. More specifically, according to ex-member Eric Pement, ideological change
which ―may‖ have kept JPUSA culturally relevant may have actually contributed to decline in
membership. He states that ―over time the community's complexion, goals, and orientation
started to change, and things which were minor or nonexistent in early years became increasingly
troublesome as the years progressed.‖ For Pement, the possible catalyst for JPUSA‘s
differentiation from conservative evangelicalism may be related to their decision to drop a core
belief from their public statement of faith. Between 1978 and 2003, article #1 of JPUSA‘s
statement of faith, writes Pement, ―included belief in the inerrancy of Scripture, and an
affirmation of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.‖

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He notes that the article was

removed around 2003. It now reads: ―We believe that the Bible is the uniquely inspired,
authoritative Word of God and is the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct.‖ For the

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more conservative evangelical, the omission of the word ―inerrancy‖ is tantamount to theological
liberalism.

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Pement views the theological changes in JPUSA as significant in terms of their identity.
―The JPUSA community in its earlier years,‖ he writes, was ―dedicated as an evangelistic
missionary organization, working as a Christian community.‖ The commune expected that
missionaries ―would believe in the Bible and have a high view of Scripture, and when one no
longer shared those convictions, they should probably find a different calling or occupation.‖
Communards who diverged on these matters were expected to move out. Pement goes on,
suggesting that JPUSA‘s shift in identity and purpose are connected to changes in theology (see
chapter 5). He writes:
As the community shifted from being a missionary training center and evangelistic
outreach, and developed a self-identity as an intentional community, the emphasis on
evangelism, Biblical study, mission work, and support for church planting diminished,
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permitting a greater latitude in one's views of Scripture.
For Pement, JPUSA‘s organization and self-definition in the early days was as a
missionary group. But their increased focus on a communal orientation, according to Pement,
created a scenario for a different view of scripture and an emerging ecumenism. Put another
way, Pement‘s statement suggests that JPUSA‘s decision to remove what is fundamental to some
forms of evangelicalism (what historian David Bebbington refers to as biblicism)

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is rooted in

the community‘s history of engaging pluralistic culture and subsequent ideological evolution.
His reason for leaving JPUSA, however, is unrelated to these changes:
My wife had been unhappy with living at JPUSA and we wanted better opportunities for
our children. I also felt that I had been unproductive for several years and had
"plateaued" in my outreach and I thought I could serve the Lord more effectively in
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another capacity.

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In the end, Pement‘s observation as a former member provides a unique context. As one who
joined during the 1970s, he has weathered the various critiques which have beset the commune.
As one who has raised children in both communal and non-communal contexts, he offers insight
into how authority in different contexts affect (or disaffect) youth. And as one who was a
contributing writer for JPUSA‘s Cornerstone magazine (and one who appears to embrace
JPUSA‘s original ethos), he offers a nuanced perspective on the current life of the community
and its potential future.
Pement believes that to some extent, JPUSA‘s philosophical changes have negatively
impacted attendance at the Cornerstone Festival. He argues that over the last fifteen years (since
circa 1995) attendance has dropped from its high of 24,000. But JPUSA pastor Neil Taylor
maintains that Cornerstone actually enjoyed larger numbers throughout the late 1990s until 2001.
Moreover, festival director John Herrin has noted that the festival (in his estimation) has never
reached over 19,000 (despite what many claim), noting that the higher numbers were always ―a
bit hyped.‖

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Regardless, since 2001 numbers have dropped to half of what they once were, a

decline attributed to post-9/11 fear (travel and large gatherings) and increase in gas prices.

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Pement insists that like JPUSA, the Cornerstone Festival has drifted from evangelicalism
(and indeed I have also noted that throughout the 1990s, the festival appeared more evangelical).
His attempt to connect a decline in festival attendance to ideological change is not without merit.
Herrin agrees that the festival‘s ideological shift might account for low attendance. But any
significant change in attendance, Herrin argues, should be attributed to festival-goers and not
Cornerstone. ―[H]ippies are getting older and some more conservative,‖ writes Herrin.
―Cornerstone has never marched to the beat of mainstream evangelicalism nor conservative
politics. I am sure that has alienated some folks over the years as we have drifted apart.‖
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This

bifurcation cannot be underestimated. But while baby-boom Jesus freaks appear to be becoming
more conservative, arguably they have always been conservative, now merely more attuned to
theological differences when compared to the ahistorical persuasions of the 1970s Jesus freak.
Although JPUSA and their Jesus-freak cohorts are growing apart ideologically, others (whether
baby boom or generation x) collapse the difference with the increasing influence of emergent and
progressive Christianity, albeit incrementally.
Despite his assessment of JPUSA‘s change, Pement remains sympathetic toward the
commune. Attempting to connect their divergence from the original mission, he notes what he
perceives as a decline in communal membership. Since his departure in July of 2000 JPUSA‘s
membership, he maintains, dropped from over five hundred to somewhere between three
hundred and fifty and four hundred.

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Pement makes no explicit connection between this

decline and JPUSA‘s ideological shift but argues that to suggest that JPUSA is thriving is ―too
strong a term.‖ Rather, ―the community is still active, still engaged, still functioning and
offering a supportive communal context for its members.‖

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JPUSA leaders offer a different

account. Recalling a history of steady growth, JPUSA pastor Neil Taylor holds that the numbers
are not this drastic. In 1972, the small community of thirty grew to two hundred by the end of
the 1970s. By the 1980s, membership remained around four hundred, peaking at four hundred
and twenty-five during the 1990s. Currently JPUSA membership averages four hundred,
intermittently dropping to three hundred and seventy-five, much like a local church, according to
Taylor.

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While Pement appears to at least imply some connection between JPUSA‘s change in
mission and decline in membership, others (as noted in chapter 3) hold that JPUSA‘s ability to
adapt actually contributed to longevity. They are able to nurture longstanding convictions (e.g.
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Christian orthodoxy) while also holding them under the microscope of public opinion, always
reexamining their own assumptions, unlike other Jesus Movement communal experiments.
There is no doubt the community has survived critiques from former members and others
living in Uptown. While the commune has been praised and condemned, they have outlived
many other groups which also developed under the auspices of the Book of Acts. Thus,
JPUSA‘s future is dependent on a number of variables. Despite the varied perceptions of former
communards, the commune‘s success may be a result of their attempt to find a balance between
the particulars of American individualism and the collectivism called for in the Book of Acts. In
a 1976 issue of Cornerstone magazine, JPUSA publicly voiced their attempt at balancing
individualism and collectivism by quoting Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship:
―…the disciples of Jesus must not fondly imagine that they can simply run away from the world
and huddle together in a little band.‖

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Hoping to realize Bonhoeffer's vision, JPUSA sought

balance as they avoided becoming a ―sheltered cloister‖ or advocates of a purely ―social
gospel.

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In short, JPUSA‘s success can be attributed to their ability to negotiate their ideological
positions and remain engaged with the world around them. But is it enough to sustain them? Is
there a limit to attempts at a New Testament semi-utopia? Kanter has argued that communal
enclaves of ―warm, close, supportive relationships—does not always occur according to
scenario. Reality modifies the dream.‖

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That is to say, although JPUSA‘s ideological position

occasions an on-going negotiation with the parent culture—allowing the commune to alter
themselves to remain relevant and sustainable—their choice of lifestyle conflicts with what is
expected by the establishment.

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Both American culture and perceptions held by communards change in unexpected ways,
necessitating JPUSA to reinvent their community in hopes of effectively keeping pace with any
―reality‖ which might ―modify the dream.‖ Kanter observes that "the assumptions they [the
commune] make about what is possible and desirable in social life challenge the assumptions
made by other sectors of American society."

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Therefore, it is prudent for JPUSA (or any

communal group) to recognize how they are perceived by the dominant culture and how their
challenge might threaten the established order. In so doing, they remain abreast of scenarios
which could spell organizational demise.

Conclusion
It is clear that to determine what the future holds for JPUSA (or any communal
endeavor), a number of variables must be considered. As demonstrated in this chapter, secondgeneration communards are leaving the community. JPUSA retains approximately fifteen
percent of the second generation, according to most estimations. If any viable future is to be
realized, the council will have to identify not only new leaders, but a core rank-and-file. Though
they bring fresh energy and perspective, drifters do not remain long enough to warrant receiving
any mantle of leadership—though Project 12 may change this. Kanter has observed that secondgeneration communards can rarely be counted on to continue the life of a commune. Thus,
communal leadership must focus efforts on recruitment (in JPUSA‘s case, drifters) and find a
way to retain new members.
While JPUSA leaders have demonstrated an ability to change communal ethos (in
keeping with their desire to remain relevant) public perception may create difficulties for the
commune to maintain a positive (or more specifically orthodox) image with its evangelical
constituency. Negative press brought by disgruntled former members, journalists, and Ronald
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100

Enroth certainly served to rally evangelical support for JPUSA.

However, many who can be

counted as JPUSA‘s ―public‖ (in large part, those who attend the Cornerstone Festival) have
become more conservative—they are right-leaning baby-boom evangelicals who played part in
the Jesus Movement. Decline in festival attendance, however, may prove temporary as the event
now attracts an increasing number of left-leaning emergent Christians. Simply put, the
Evangelical Left may very well gain a foothold at Cornerstone, an event once celebrated as a
bastion of subcultural expressions of theological conservatism.
The commitment of second-generation communards, negative representations advanced
by former members, and the future viability of the Cornerstone Festival are indeed relevant to
JPUSA‘s future—but they are not binding. What is most pivotal, if Kanter‘s assertions are
correct, is the role played by JPUSA‘s drifters. Comprehensive studies on communes,
instantiated by scholars such as Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Timothy Miller, reveal the instability
of groups whose structural mechanisms increase the likelihood of in-grown membership and
insularity. Put another way, fresh blood is needed.
Since second-generation members of a commune do not choose communal life, and since
they were not ―converted to believe in the community‘s ideals after weighing the alternatives,‖
they are ―not necessarily the most reliable source of committed adults to perpetuate the
community,‖ according to Kanter. Thus, recruitment of new members remains the more viable
option for continuance, though this approach is also problematic. New members (as we have
seen) can become disillusioned, resulting in communards who introduce ―discordant element[s]
into the community.‖

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Studies on communes have demonstrated the inevitability of societal pressure, competing
forces with which communal enclaves must contend. JPUSA now practices controlled
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acculturation, thus allowing youth to gradually evolve with society, and to form individual
identities while maintaining basic tenets which define the community. The longevity of any
close-knit group is often determined by an ability to approximate what is at stake, accommodate
the surroundings, and to absorb particular, carefully chosen elements into the collective.
However, it is equally important for communes to understand the value of allowing individual
communards the freedom to mature (independent of how the surrounding culture is perceived)
while still maintaining a boundary, albeit negotiable and porous. Furthermore, communities like
JPUSA must also maintain amicable relations with former members for whom life has been
altered by mechanisms originally intended to discourage dissent and departure. In so doing,
discordant opinions fade into the grey of ecumenism, a cordiality practiced at Cornerstone.
These approaches to both circumstances and environment are, I contend, admissible
evidence which account for JPUSA‘s self-conception and potential for continued longevity. But
more than this, the accounts offered by second-generation and ex-communards validate my own
suspicions. Despite their methods, JPUSA‘s journey leftward problematizes how evangelicalism
is often conceived and challenges how faith-based music is commonly understood.

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Chapter 8
Conclusion

That JPUSA has continued well beyond their 1972 genesis—particularly in the wake of
innumerable failed communal experiments—is of enormous importance. First, as interest in the
Jesus Movement waned, JPUSA‘s urban location allowed the community to attract youth who
still held countercultural values, many hoping to live communally. Second, it is clear that a
communal way of living is sustainable, if variables such as generational difference are
considered. Third, my findings have demonstrated how it is possible for communities
(susceptible to collapse) can survive longer than expected. Fourth, my findings suggest that even
communities dedicated to an unwavering principle can respond to and evolve with American
culture due to complexities commonly associated with pluralism.
At its genesis, JPUSA was evangelical in its Christianity, aesthetically countercultural,
and politically ambiguous—with exception to their particular form of communalism and leftleaning models of social activism. Indeed, JPUSA was considered evangelical by other coreligionists. Yet as the 1980s came to a close, the commune‘s ability to deemphasize the
importance of eschatology created a significant difference between their community and other
Jesus-freak veterans. Moreover, JPUSA‘s communal ethic and leftism, as I have argued, placed
the commune outside the parameters putative to establishment evangelicalism.
While the choice to share all possessions and to live out of a common purse was in
keeping with the structure established by the church in the New Testament, JPUSA‘s form of
socialism was not in keeping with the established order or with a largely right-leaning
evangelicalism or the Protestant work ethic. Rather than engage in what theorists such as
Werner Sombart and Max Weber refer to as a ―profit-based‖ economy, the commune has

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undertaken a subsistence economy. Their soul-winning efforts became part of a larger, holistic
understanding of the Christian gospel as the emerging leadership sought to meet practical needs
of Chicago‘s homeless. Thus, the purpose of ―business‖ has not been profit-seeking for its own
1

sake, nor work for its own sake (in the Weberian sense). Rather, JPUSA engages enterprise to
sustain the commune for the purpose of offering assistance to Uptown‘s low-income population.
Consequently, the burgeoning commune diverged from the premillennial dispensational
eschatology of their Jesus Movement progenitors—a position which placed a tremendous
emphasis on the doctrine of the Rapture, to the exclusion of social justice.
Uptown became JPUSA‘s mission field, one which established a perennial context for
JPUSA communards to realize a sense of purpose, transcending ideologies and leadership
structures which tend to fade. As I have argued, JPUSA‘s austere commitment mechanisms
(maintained by affirmative boundary distinctions) have served to keep these communards
th

mobilized in service to the homeless in Chicago‘s 46 Ward, an area tattered by its history, ripe
for social activism. JPUSA‘s shelter program creates a symbiotic relationship between
communards and commune, reinforcing commitment to a larger cause. Faithful members
believe their responsibilities are connected to the whole; when one fails a task, they fail their
―family‖ and, more specifically, a divinely-inspired dedication to serve those less fortunate.
Communards remain aware that their individual levels of commitment carry consequences when
considering the larger JPUSA community.
Commitment to humanity has been translated and transferred to the Cornerstone Festival.
The event has served to maintain a zeitgeist arguably extinguished in the wake of post-Jesus
Movement circumstances: the rapid growth of individualism, the compressing of evangelicalism
and nationalism into an identifiable whole, and the commercialization of popular evangelical
278

music. Cornerstone provides an alternative to mainstream evangelical festivals, offers an outlet
for independent musicians, and has played part in redefining how popular evangelical music is
defined and performed. With a record industry now filled with artists whose beginnings can be
traced to the evangelical subculture, it is conceivable that Cornerstone has contributed to a
remapping of how evangelical music is represented; the festival continues to challenge
boundaries established by the gatekeepers of gospel music.
The fact that JPUSA is interstitial—that they remain culturally relevant while
cloistered—is relevant to how communal life is understood. More specifically, that JPUSA is
service-based rather than retreat-based confirms Kanter‘s thesis: successful communes must
avoid insularity while simultaneously affirming negotiable boundaries. But while boundaries
sustained JPUSA since 1972, the negotiability of these boundaries has also contributed to an
ever-eroding commitment among younger members. While the second generation plays an
immediate and paramount role, JPUSA must also consider how communards are to interact with
the wider culture (how the commune influences and is influenced), particularly given their
contingencies: retention of members; future relations with evangelical festival-goers subjected to
postmodern Christianity; an embattled CCM industry. Put simply, Social Movement
Organizations (SMOs) ―not only mediate the effects of the environment but are partially
.2

determined by the environment,‖ writes sociologist David F. Gordon .

Although JPUSA has weathered criticism, their core purpose and mission to serve the
neighborhood of Uptown may very well stave off disillusionment within the commune or at least
keep newcomers actively engaged. Along with maintaining commitment mechanisms and an
organizational model of multiple eldership, JPUSA‘s ability to appropriately evolve with the
dominant culture will keep them culturally relevant. If they evolve too quickly—allowing too
279

many freedoms for those raised in the commune— new generations may seek another way of life
when adulthood is reached. A bounded community, JPUSA has instituted and nurtured
ideologies designed to stave off temptation. However, the very mechanisms (whether intentional
or incidental) designed to contribute to communal longevity appear to be having the opposite
effect as members continue to leave. Thus, if the council places more value on the architecture
of the commune rather than the formation of the individual (an imbalance between Gemeinschaft
3

and Gesellschaft), JPUSA may run the risk of alienating future leaders of the community.
I have argued throughout this project that Kanter‘s theory of sustainability is applicable
to JPUSA‘s survival since 1972. As a service commune, JPUSA‘s boundaries and activism have
provided communards with a grand cause that outweighs propensities to elevate individual
leaders, a scenario common for communal experiments in U.S. society. JPUSA communards
must contend with a rapidly shifting culture while remaining true to their ethos, particularly
when the problem of sustainability remains ever-present. After all, JPUSA will only remain an
active, culturally-engaged commune if they retain viable members able to work in JPUSA
businesses, assuming those businesses and ministries continue to garner support from
constituents, evangelical or otherwise. Kanter correctly argues that for communes to remain
healthy in the face of environmental change, they must ―deal with changes in the external
4

society, from choosing to ignore them to incorporating them.‖ If JPUSA remained cloistered
(rural or urban), they would have likely folded long ago.
For this group, interaction with a pluralistic world may serve to strengthen and weaken
collective commitment. But will mechanisms that allowed JPUSA to survive contribute to their
demise as rising generations refuse to acquiesce? Since second-generation members of a
commune do not choose communal life, they are an unreliable source to perpetuate a community,
280

according to Kanter. Thus, recruitment of new members (and focus on retention of drifters) is
paramount, though drifters also present new problems with which a community must deal. As
we have seen, disgruntled former members of JPUSA measured life in the commune against
what was perceived as effective structures or belief-systems, communal or otherwise.

5

Ultimately, ―courting‖ new members and maintaining a consistent ethic of acculturation
accounts not only for communal survival, but for the longevity of any organization or movement.
Noting the cultural impact of the Jesus Movement, historian Larry Eskridge underscores the
reciprocal element (religion influencing culture and vice versa) common to early Jesus freaks
who made use of and benefited from American popular culture: ―Indeed, the Jesus Person ‗style‘
continued to prosper as a distinct evangelical youth culture with concerts, coffeehouses,
6

newspapers, bumper stickers, crosses, and Bible studies….‖ In like manner, JPUSA
demonstrates how cultural connections can impact and change both a particular group and larger
movements such as American evangelicalism and evangelically-based popular music. The longterm affect remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that this commune must navigate a
precarious socio-cultural position.
JPUSA and the Cornerstone Festival both occupy a different ideological space—one
which does not conform to conservative establishment evangelicalism, Jesus-freak
millenarianism, or theologically liberal Christianity. The juxtaposition of the now tired rightleft binary offers little when attempting to ultimately ―locate‖ JPUSA within the broad swath of
U.S. religious history. Moreover, despite their somewhat interstitial enclave of resistance,
JPUSA‘s goal (as it pertains to culture and ideas) has been to use Cornerstone magazine (before
it went out of publication) and the festival as mechanisms to challenge long-held paradigms. In
Rapture Ready, journalist Daniel Radosh comes to this conclusion about Cornerstone:
281

The open-minded, intellectually adventurous spirit of Cornerstone may still be a small
force in evangelical culture, but it seems poised to become influential beyond its size.
The younger demographic that‘s drawn here will soon grow into positions of leadership
7
in the church and society.
Indeed, many within the younger demographic already occupy positions of leadership. After all,
Cornerstone has been voicing an ―open-minded, intellectually adventurous spirit‖ since its
genesis. But while the 1980s and 1990s represent a time when the event was unapologetically
evangelical and theologically conservative, the close of the century solidified Cornerstone‘s
ability to engage in a different manner of inquiry. Radosh‘s observation may be a bit late.
However, his sentiment rings true—though conservative evangelicalism maintains a cultural
foothold many fans of Cornerstone (though by no means all) continue to view rightist forms of
Christianity as dubious, controlled by politically-driven demagogues.
Evangelical Christian culture and belief have evolved as a result of dialectical processes
and the power of material culture. As products of this culture, JPUSA and Cornerstone have set
into motion a process, one which inspires musical forms (particularly of the indie brand) largely
divorced from industry gatekeepers. In so doing, they challenge the ―Christ Against Culture‖
approach to social engagement. Historian Mark Allan Powell has accurately commented on
evangelicalism‘s propensity to adopt this model of cultural interaction:
I have found one of the Achilles' heels of American evangelicalism to be its adoption of
the "Christ Against Culture" model, which Niebuhr effectively critiques. But it is an
unnecessary weakness, born of a defensive posture that evangelicalism should be able to
8
transcend.
Powell goes on to explain how curious it is that evangelicals enjoy significant social power while
simultaneously complaining ―about how marginalized they are within modern society,‖ noting
9

that this is quite evident in CCM. He concludes by addressing JPUSA‘s role in this drama:

282

My point is, evangelicals perpetuate the "Christ Against Culture" model insofar as it
helps them advance their agenda—but ultimately it is very limiting, and a number of
evangelicals are beginning to realize this. JPUSA appears to have been born as a Christ
Against Culture movement—but through Cornerstone they evolved toward adoption of a
10
more dialogical vision. This could be the future of evangelicalism in America.
Clearly both JPUSA and Cornerstone are evidence that new forms of evangelical form
and expression are emerging. Moreover, the social impact extends to evangelical popular music.
I have concluded that two forms of evangelically-inspired music have emerged: a form of CCM
which is disconnected from the CCM signifier, yet connected to establishment evangelicalism
(which is ideologically conservative) and a form rendered unrecognizable due to the forces of
pluralism. The latter form can be traced to subcultural music groups showcased at the
Cornerstone Festival, many of which teeter between a robust commitment to Christian social
justice on the one hand and theological affinities associated with evangelicalism on the other.

11

th

JPUSA‘s progeny extends well beyond Chicago‘s 46 Ward, expressing the ethos of the
commune and the festival through music groups now marketed to the general market.
As the commune‘s theology continues to mirror a postmodern ethos, one wonders how
JPUSA will fare in the future. While I argue that their ability to engage social justice and evolve
ideologically has kept them alive and relevant, their success largely depends on what
evangelicalism will look like in the coming years. As the Nineties came to a close, establishment
paradigms were questioned as Cornerstone seminars continued to entertain postmodern critical
theory. Members of JPUSA found that the dialectical approach to knowledge did not lead to
certainty, but more questions. JPUSA and members of the Evangelical Left began to avoid the
cognitive, Enlightenment-inspired religion of fundamentalism (read conservative
evangelicalism), favoring the contemplative spirit of a postmodern Christianity which (as result

283

of the theoretical) embraced ambiguity, while remaining faithful to a modified form of
evangelical Christianity.
Ironically, Jesus freaks throughout the late 1960s and 1970s also challenged
establishment paradigms. Like post-1990s JPUSA, early converts also avoided Enlightenmentinspired epistemologies—but their challenge was to the religion of mainline liberals, favoring the
experientialism of pentecostals.

While similar in many ways, each expression can be

considered different based on what is being countered. Early Jesus freaks questioned the liberal
mainline. JPUSA questions establishment evangelicalism.
As with Jesus freaks of the 1960s and 1970s, the Evangelical Left and emergent
Christianity emphasize faith over certitude, creating an ironic impulse which historian Donald
Miller refers to as ―postmodern primitivism.‖

12

This is not to suggest, however, that JPUSA and

others on the Left have entered with fundamentalists into what Miller considers a ―precritical
worldview.‖ Rather, it is ―to disavow the hegemony of the socially constructed ‗rational‘
13

mind.‖

Clearly JPUSA has located a middle ground between the mainstream and the fringe,
while retaining particular fundamentals that situate them within the evangelical paradigm. In
like manner, the Evangelical Left now negotiates a position which is not fully liberal,
conservative, or evangelical (in the socio-cultural sense). Cultural theorist Lawrence Grossberg
attempts to explain how belief is mediated in the midst of postmodernity:
It is only if we begin to recognize the complex relations between affect and ideology that
we can make sense of people's emotional life, their desiring life, and their struggles to
find the energy to survive, let alone struggle. It is only in the terms of these relations that
we can understand people's need and ability to maintain a "faith" in something beyond
their immediate existence. Such faith, which is at least part of what is involved in
political struggle, depends upon affective investments that are articulated into but not
14
constituted by structures of meaning.‖
284

JPUSA‘s postmodernism (controlled as it might be) amounts to an acceptance of the
culture as it is. They no longer base Christian belief on evidentiary polemics, but embrace the
mystery. The commune embraces pluralism while affirming that ultimate meaning undergirds
their purpose in life. For Grossberg, the balance between the postmodern crisis and a meaningful
life is in locating purpose in the midst of the crisis. ―It is not that nothing matters,‖ writes
Grossberg, ―but that it does not matter what does, as long as something does.‖

15

Put another

way, what matters is not the point, so long as we find something that matters. For JPUSA, this
―something‖ remains a dedication to the communal life in service to the less fortunate.
JPUSA occupies a nebulous, ideological space symptomatic of cultural pluralism. They
are best located in a space that combines the culture-engaging impulse of post-Jesus Movement,
establishment evangelicalism and the fringe expressions of isolationist Jesus-freak
communitarianism. Despite this liminality, JPUSA is able to retain the spirit of the Jesus
Movement. In the end, this creates new questions: 1) Given the forces of pluralism, what is the
future of evangelical popular music? Despite the growth of emergent Christianity and the
Evangelical Left, conservative forms of belief and popular expression remain quite successful.
Although conservative forms of evangelical popular culture remain strong, the Cornerstone
Festival continues to serve as a counter-weight for evangelical Christian fans, offering them
alternatives to long-held paradigms. That Cornerstone in many ways contributed to the
remapping of CCM is evident. As discussed in chapter 6, many music groups that now enjoy
success in the general market developed an initial fan-base at the festival. Given the success of
these ―secular‖ faith-based bands, will groups still considered CCM be absorbed into the secular
mainstream? It is difficult to determine any lasting effect as a result of Cornerstone‘s influence.

285

However, that evangelical Christianity and evangelical popular culture are changing in response
to pluralism is clear. 2) Is it accurate to suggest that through Cornerstone, JPUSA has
contributed to an upsurge in the Evangelical Left, or at least more interest in emergent
Christianity? Many who attend the festival are traditional evangelicals. Given their exposure to
postmodern theory in a social space defined by commonly held belief-systems, the festival
influences festival-goers and musicians in ways unlike other evangelical gatherings. Moreover,
both JPUSA and Cornerstone may prove inconvenient for establishment evangelicals. In short,
JPUSA‘s philosophy nuances the categories of ―CCM‖ and ―evangelical.‖
That the evangelical subculture has been culturally pliable is not surprising. Philip Goff
and Alan Heimert have argued that as historians reengage assumptions about the past, the ground
shifts as the discipline of religious history continues to ―shape and to be shaped by larger social
and cultural forces.‖ They go on to state that further study ―uncovers today's strange bedfellows,
evangelicals and postmodernists, who together have launched a forceful objection to longstanding historical assumptions and paradigms.‖

16

Within this new historical context, categories

and movements are in some ways compressed into manageable signifiers. In other ways, they
are broadened to include as many other categories as possible (to satisfy pluralism), thus losing
any cohesive distinctiveness. The evolution of JPUSA underscores how cultural evolution
affects the evangelical parent culture. The Religious Right (and associated cultural products)
remains influential in the U.S. However, a new generation now questions the Right, choosing to
ally with emergent and progressive forms of Christianity and the Evangelical Left. In so doing,
they signal the coming of new boundaries, new allegiances, new delineations, new definitions,
new reformations, and new forms of popular culture. The idea that pluralism has influenced
evangelical Christianity may be overplayed, but the sentiment remains strong.

286

APPENDICES

287

APPENDIX A
END NOTES

End Notes Chapter 1
1

See Donald E. Miller, Reinventing American Protestantism and David W. Stowe‘s No
Sympathy for the Devil: God, Pop, and the Transformation of Evangelicalism (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 2011).
2

Martin Marty, Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America (New
York: Penguin Books, 1984), 467-469.
3

Larry Eskridge, ―God‘s Forever Family: The Jesus People Movement in America 19661977” (Ph.D. diss., University of Stirling, 2005).
4

Historian David Bebbington has argued that evangelicalism can be understood as an
expression of Christianity that exhibits four characteristics: conversion, biblicism, crucicentrism,
and activism.
5

As one example, the late Jerry Falwell debated a leader of the Evangelical Left, Jim
Wallis, on Tavis Smiley's National Public Radio show. Read Wallis‘s reflection on the debate in
―As Evangelical as an Oak Tree.‖ Sojourners.
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=sojomail.display&issue=040714#3. Accessed, 8
November 2009.
6

See David W. Bebbington, The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of Spurgeon and
Moody (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005).
7

See Randall Balmer‘s Thy Kingdom Come (New York: Basic Books, 2006) and Mine
Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America (Oxford
University Press, 2006). The ―new birth‖ refers to the evangelical doctrine of being spiritually
―born again‖ after receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior. Some hold that this is traditionally a
protestant doctrine which antedates modern evangelicalism, extending to the Great
Awakenings—Revivalism.
8

Noreen Cornfield, ―The Success of Urban Communes,‖ Journal of Marriage and
Family 45, no. 1 (Feb., 1983): pp. 115-126.

288

9

Colleeen McDannell, Material Christianity: Religion and Popular Culture in America
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), 222-223.
10

According to historian George Marsden, fundamentalism is a distinct form of
evangelical Christianity which operates in opposition to the dominant culture and contends for
the Christian faith.
11
Jay R. Howard and John M. Streck, Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of
Contemporary Christian Music (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 144.
12
Cornfield, pp. 115-126.
13

In Witnessing Suburbia, Elieen Luhr has noted how some initially dismissed the Jesus
Movement as a youth phenomenon destined to dissolve. She concludes that the movement
ultimately created a new form of evangelical popular culture that would fuel the rise of a new
suburban conservative youth culture, portending the empowerment of the new Religious Right.
14

Developed by John Nelson Darby, this system of belief posits that history is divided
by various eras or ―dispensations.‖ For Christians who hold to this view, Jesus will return to
earth before he establishes a reign on Earth for one thousand years. These also hold that the
earth will decline, resulting in environmental destruction, war, famine, and general destruction.
Moreover, as this is part of God‘s plan, there is nothing humanity can do to better the situation.
15

Eileen Luhr, Witnessing Suburbia: Conservative and Christian Youth Culture
(University of California Press, 2009), 162.
16

Ibid.

17

Melani McAlister, ―What is Your Heart For?: Affect and Internationalism in the
Evangelical Public Sphere,‖ American Literary History 20, no. 4 (Winter 2008): 870-895.
18

Jason Bivens, Religion of Fear: The Politics of Horror in Conservative
Evangelicalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).
19

Noreen Cornfield, ―The Success of Urban Communes.‖ Journal of Marriage and
Family 45, no. 1 (Feb., 1983): pp. 115-126 and Hugh Gardner, The Children of Prosperity (New
York: St. Martin‘s Press, 1978), 229-230, 245.
20

For historian David Bebbington, evangelicalism can be understood as an expression of
Christianity that exhibits four characteristics: conversion, biblicism, crucicentrism, and activism.

289

End Notes Chapter 2
1

Donald E. Miller, Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New
Millennium (University of California Press, 1999), 11, 12.
2

Larry Eskridge, ―‘One Way‘: Billy Graham, the Jesus Generation, and the Idea of an
Evangelical Youth Culture.‖ Church History 67, no. 1 (Mar., 1998): p. 106.
3

David Bebbington has argued that that the principles of the Enlightenment made the
rise of individualistic evangelical Christianity possible. Bebbington‘s ―quadrilateral‖
(conversion, biblicism, crucicentrism, and activism) crystallizes his conception of both the
heritage of the Reformation and the growth of holiness and pietistic movements in eighteenth
and nineteenth-century American society. Bebbington provides a definition from which I can
compare others. Mark Noll prefaces his definition of ―evangelical‖ by suggesting a difference
between historical definitions and categorical definitions. The ―historical‖ simply refers to the
genealogical organic lineage of any group which can be traced back to figures such as Jonathan
Edwards, George Whitfield, or John Wesley. He considers the Reformation and Martin Luther‘s
criteria for Christianity, but uses American revivalists as catalysts for what reformed leaders
regard as a movement—evangelicalism as popular conservative Protestantism within the
American context, later diverging from reformed theology. Evangelicalism is a complex
network of bible colleges, publishers and parachurch organizations which hold to common traits.
Thus the movement (―ISM‖) is somewhat nebulous; D.G. Hart and Jon R. Stone argue that
evangelicalism is not a true movement. The ―categorical‖ refers to five categories Noll uses to
define evangelical belief: scripture (divine authority and foundation for faith and practice),
experience of God (emphasis on encounter and heart-assurance), rejection of institutions
(priesthood of all believers, personal hermeneutics), flexibility (evangelicals adjust to culture),
and discipline (piety, holiness, tenacity). Nathan Hatch positions evangelical Christianity within
the American context, arguing that both the revolutionary spirit of early America and the
democratic impulse created a form of Christianity which valued free-will (a departure from
Calvinism), anti-clerical, and populist hermeneutics. Thus, a rupture between cleric and
commoner created a populist pope, each person their own theologian.
4

Acts 2: 44-45 and 4:32-37 (King James Version) states: ―And all that believed were
together, and had all things common. And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to
all men, as every man had need. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and
of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own;
but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among
them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the
prices of the things that were sold. And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was
made unto every man according as he had need. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed
Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of
Cyprus. Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.‖

290

5

Timothy Miller, The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond (Syracuse: Syracuse
University Press, 1999), 99.
6

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in
Sociological Perspective (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972), 75.
7
Doug Rossinow, The Politics of Authenticity: Liberalism, Christianity and the New Left
in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), 53, 82, 150, 151.
8

In some cases, churches which espoused social justice did so only from the pulpit,
according to Jesus freak activists. More often, however, evangelical churches adopted a
theological position which placed a greater value on soul-winning rather than social justice
and/or activism on behalf of the poor. Their reasoning was often based on the doctrine of
dispensational Premillennialism. Ministers who represented the latter scenario would, at times,
discuss the need for outreach to the poor and other social outreach measures. However, the endgoal was a ―battle‖ for the human soul, not the body.
9

Barry Shenker, Intentional Communities: Ideology and Alienation in Communal
Societies (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986), 10.
10

Anson Shupe, ―Jesus People USA.‖ Sects, Cults, and Spiritual Communities: A
Sociological Analysis. ed. William W. Zellner and Marc Petrowsky (Westport: Praeger, 1998),
27.
11

Some communes have purposed to create what they believe to be the model or
exemplary form of living, in hopes of inspiring others to live in the same manner.
12

Robert P. Sutton, Communal Utopias and the American Experience: Religious
Communities, 1732-2000 (Westport: Praeger, 2003), 30, 31, 82, 83.
13

Miller, xx.

14

Hugh Gardner, ―Dropping into Utopia,‖ Human Behavior 7 (Mar. 1978) 43; Patrick
W. Conover, ―An Analysis of Communes and Intentional Communities with Particular Attention
to Sexual and Genderal Relations,‖ Family Coordinator 24 (Oct. 1975); 454.
15
16
17

Miller, xiii.
Miller, 241, 242, 243-246.
Miller, xxiv.

291

18

Shenker, 5, 6.

19

Philip E. Slater, The Pursuit of Loneliness: American Culture at the Breaking Point
Boston: Beacon, 1970), 5.
20
21

Miller, 95.
Miller, 148.

22

Larry Eskridge, ―God‘s Forever Family: The Jesus People Movement in America
1966-1977” (Ph.D. diss., University of Stirling, 2005), 304, 305.
23

Marion S. Goldman, ―Continuity in Collapse: Departures from Shiloh.‖ Journal for the
Scientific Study of Religion 34, no. 3 (Sep., 1995): pp. 342-353.
24

Jon Trott. ―Part I (a) Birth and Rebirth.‖ A History of Jesus People USA [online]
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1a.html. Accessed 13 March 2010.
25

http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Jim_Palosaari. Accessed 19 April 2010.

26

Jedidiah Abdul Muhib Palosaari. ―Notes.‖ October 15, 1973 http://mlin.facebook.com/notes.php?id=513198705&start=480&hash=6224177f16565d53de95d0d2a43d
331b. Accessed 13 March 2010.
27

Mark Allan Powell, The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music (Peabody:
Hendrickson Publishers, 2002), 753.
28

Jon Herrin uses this term in a DVD about the Cornerstone Festival. Cornerstone
Festival: Twenty Years and Counting, prod. and dir. John J. Thompson, Nashville: Floodgate
Records, 2002. DVD.
29

John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.

30

Jon Trott. ―Part I (a) Birth and Rebirth.‖ A History of Jesus People USA [online]
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1a.html. Accessed 13 2010.
31
32

John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.
Tom Cameron, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.

292

33
34

John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.
Dawn Mortimer, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.

35

Jon Trott. ―Part I (a) Birth and Rebirth.‖ A History of Jesus People USA [online]
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1a.html. Accessed 13 March 2010.
36

Jon Trott. ―Part I (a) Birth and Rebirth.‖ A History of Jesus People USA [online]
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1a.html. Originally printed in "Jesus People Here for Public
Rallies," from a Houghton-Hancock, Michigan, area newspaper (name and date unknown).
Accessed 13 March 2010.
37
38
39

Ibid.
John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.
Ibid.

40

Mark Allan Powell, Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music. (Peabody:
Hendrickson Publishers, 2002), 752-754.
41

David K Fremon, Chicago Politics Ward by Ward (Indiana University Press, 1988).

69.
42

John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.

43

Jon Trott, ―House and Home.‖ A History of Jesus People USA: Part 2.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons2.html. Accessed 6 December 2010.
44
45

Neil Taylor, email correspondence, 25 April 2010.
John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.

46

Jon Trott. ―Part I (a) Birth and Rebirth.‖ A History of Jesus People USA [online]
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1a.html. Accessed 21 April 2010. Originally printed in "United
We Stand," Cornerstone 3, no. 14 (1974): 6.
47

Jon Trott. ―Part I (a) Birth and Rebirth.‖ A History of Jesus People USA [online]
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1a.html. Accessed 21 April 2010.

293

48

Dawn Mortimer, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.

49

Jon Trott. ―Quest for Balance.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1b.html. Accessed 4 March 2010.
50
Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.
51

Jon Trott. ―Part I (b) Quest For Balance.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1b.html. Accessed 12 April 2010. The original text is found in
David Gordon‘s dissertation. "A Comparison of the Effects of Urban and Suburban Location on
Structure and Identity in Two Jesus People Groups" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1978),
40, 41.
52

Ibid. 40, 41.

53

Jon Trott. ―Part 2: House and Home.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons2.html. Accessed 21 April 2010.
54
55

Tom Cameron, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Jon Trott. ―Part 2: House and Home.‖

56

David Frederick Gordon, "A Comparison of the Effects of Urban and Suburban
Location on Structure and Identity in Two Jesus People Groups" (Ph.D. diss., University of
Chicago, 1978), 134. Cited in ―Accountability and the Individual,‖ A History of Jesus People
USA. http://www.jpusa.org/lessons3.html. Accessed 2010.
57

Jon Trott. ―Part 3: Accountability and the Individual.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons2.html. Accessed 21 April 2010.
58

Jon Trott. ―Part 4: Authority, Freedom and Uptown.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons4.html. Accessed 22 April 2010.
59
60

Fremon, 124.
Ibid, 303-307.

61

Jon Trott. ―Part 4: Authority, Freedom and Uptown.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons4.html. Accessed 22 April 2010. Originally printed in Lesley
Sussman, "Jesus Group Buys Hotel, Vows Rehab," Uptown News, 17 April 1979, 1.

294

62

Jon Trott. ―Part 5: Who Is My Neighbor?‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons5.html. Accessed 22 April 2010.
63

Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.

64

In Intentional Communities: Ideology and Alienation in Communal Societies, Barry
Shenker specifies the highly subjective nature of success, arguing that communal success is often
self-defining, and is dependent on a commune‘s ultimate purpose.
65

Jon Trott, ―Who is my Neighbor?‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons5.html. Accessed 2010.
66

Jon Trott. ―Part 7: Action--Social and Political, I.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons7.html. Accessed 23 April 2010. Originally printed in Newsletter,
"Note from Chicago," 1984, Jesus People USA, Chicago. Jon Trott also notes Todd Gitlin and
Nanci Hollander, Uptown: Poor Whites in Chicago (New York: Harper & Row, 1970). Trott
states that Gitlin worked in Uptown between 1965 and 1970, creating ―an indictment against
Chicago's destructive housing policy.‖ This in included in the notes section to Part 7 of Life's
Lessons: A History of Jesus People USA.
67

Jon Trott. ―Part 7: Action -- Social and Political, I.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons7.html. Accessed 23 April 2010.
68

Jon Trott. ―Part 7: Action -- Social and Political, I.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons7.html. Accessed 23 April 2010. Originally printed in Rev Rag, 4
Oct. 1987. 12. Ibid., 8 Nov. 1987.
69

Jon Trott. ―Part 7: Action -- Social and Political, I.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons7.html. Accessed 23 April 2010.
70

Jon Trott. ―Part 7: Action -- Social and Political, I.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons7.html. Accessed 23 April 2010.
71

Laurie Abraham, "Refugee Families Face Eviction by Rehabber," Chicago Sun-Times,
Aug. 1986. http://www.jpusa.org/lessons7.html. Accessed 23 April 2010.
72

Michael Loftin, "Coalition Formed to Fight Displacement," The Voice Speaks: The
Newsletter of Voice of the People in Uptown (spring 1987): 1. Voice of the People is a lowincome housing developer.
73

Fremon, 309.

295

74

Jon Trott. ―Part 7: Action -- Social and Political, I.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons7.html. Accessed 23 April 2010.
75
76

Fremon, 303-307.
"The Milwaukee Story," Cornerstone 1, no. 1 (1972): 6.

77

Jon Trott. ―Part 7: Action -- Social and Political, I.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons7.html. Accessed 23 April 2010.
78

Jon Trott. ―Part 8 Action -- Social and Political, II.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons8.html. Accessed 23 April 2010.
79
80
81
82
83
84

Ibid.
Ibid.
John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Glenn Kaiser, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.

85

Howard Zinn, ―Marxism and the New Left,‖ in Dissent: Explorations in the History of
Radicalism, ed. Alfred L. Young (DeKalb: Northern Illinois Press, 1968), 371.
86

This is a statement taken from the Bible in the book of Matthew, chapter 25, verse 40
(New International Version): ―The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one
of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.‖ The phrase ―least of these‖ is one which
inspires leaders of JPUSA to engage in social justice.

End Notes Chapter 3
1

David K. Fremon, Chicago Politics Ward by Ward (Indiana University Press, 1988),

303-307.

296

2

A novel written by B.F. Skinner which depicts a rural utopian community.

3

In this study, the use of the word ―subcultural‖ indicates interstitial cultural expression
or persons or groups which do not conform to what is considered ―normative‖ examples of living
or expression within U.S. society. This term differs from ―countercultural‖ in that the
subcultural is not an expression of conscious resistance to dominant society. It is, as theorist
Dick Hebdige argues, an expression of the self, using bits and pieces of dominant culture. It
becomes countercultural when it seeks to challenge or subvert the dominant, parent culture.
4

Elder John Herrin has suggested that the primary way to survive I community—given
the noise—is to own a fan which masks the sound of conversations and crying babies.
5

Hiley H. Ward, The Far-Out Saints of the Jesus Communes: A Firsthand Report and
Interpretation of the Jesus People Movement (New York: Association Press, 1972).
6

Steven M. Tipton, Getting Saved from the Sixties: The Transformation of Moral
Meaning in American Culture (University of California Press, 1982).
7

This was a millenarian group oriented around Tony and Susan Alamos. In some cases,
Jewish messianic converts embraced a staunch Christian Fundamentalism. Tony Alamo
(formerly Bernie Lazar Hoffman) and wife Susan were two of the more radical converts during
the Jesus movement. They were exclusivist preachers claiming that hippie evangelism began
with them in 1965, and that they were the ―true‖ catalysts of the movement. The Alamo
Christian Foundation in California earned the title ―exclusivist,‖ by working to distance
themselves from other Jesus Movement camps, adopting a hard-line position while denouncing
other Evangelical groups.
8

Timothy Miller, ―A Communitarian Conundrum: Why a World that Wants and Needs
Community Doesn‘t Get It.‖ (paper presented at the Thirty-Seventh Annual Conference of the
Communal Studies Association, , New Harmony, IN, September 30-October 2, 2010).
9

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in
Sociological Perspective (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972), 174.
10
11
12
13

http://larcheusa.org/who-we-are.html. Accessed 28 March 2010.
Jean Vanier, http://larcheusa.org/who-we-are.html. Accessed 28 March 2010.
http://www.rebaplacefellowship.org/Who_We_Are. Accessed 28 March 2010.
Kanter, Commitment and Community, 191.
297

14
15
16

Kanter, 195.
Kanter, 200.
Nathan Cameron, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 20 March 2010.

17

A Chinese Christian minister and author who died in a Chinese jail in 1972 after
having been imprisoned in 1956. See http://www.watchmannee.org/life-ministry.html.
Accessed 18 April 2010.
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

Curtis Mortimer, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Dorena Sadeghi, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 6 March 2010.
Raye Clemente, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 5 March 2010.
Neil Taylor, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 7 March 2010.
Ibid.
Tom Cameron, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Ibid.
Lyda Jackson, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 7 March 2010.
Joshua Davenport, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 6 March 2010.
―Susan‖ [pseud.], interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Colleen Davick, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL 10 March 2009.
Ibid.
Aaron Tharp, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 5 March 2010.
Tim Bock. Unless the Lord Build the House: The Story of Jesus People USA’s
nd

Mission-Business, and How I was part of It 2
Ministries, 2009). 5.

ed. (Chicago: Jesus People USA Full Gospel

298

32

Tom Cameron, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 21 March 2010.

33

http://weknowthegoodguys.com/We_Know_the_Good_Guys_FAQ.php. Accessed 2
April 2010.
34
http://weknowthegoodguys.com/We_Know_the_Good_Guys_FAQ.php. Accessed 6
April 2010.
35

A good example of this is when Tom Cameron, head of Grr Records and in-house
legal council was allowed to hold a position with a law firm after earning a law degree from
Northwestern University. JPUSA leadership believed it necessary for Cameron to gain practical
experience practicing law before he could effectively represent the community. His salary was
contributed to the community purse.
36

Dawn Mortimer, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 21 March 2010.

37

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, ―Supercorp: Book review and Author Interview.‖ News
Center. November 3, 2009. Interview. Sean Silverthorne.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/book-review/supercorp-book-reviewauthorinterview_422139-1.html. Accessed 9 April 2010.
38

Tim Bock, Unless the Lord Build the House: The Story of Jesus People USA’s
nd

Mission-Business, and How I was part of It 2
Ministries, 2009). 92, 93.

ed. (Chicago: Jesus People USA Full Gospel

39

Cornerstone Community Outreach Mission Statement.
http://www.ccolife.org/blog/cco. Accessed 10 April 2010.
40

Kirsten Scharnberg, ―Commune's Iron Grip Tests Faith of Converts,‖ Chicago
Tribune, 1 April 2001. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2001-0401/news/0104010382_1_needy-youth-commune-spiritualism. Accessed 10 April 2010.
41
42
43

Chris Ramsey, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 7 March 2010.
Sandy Ramsey, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 7 March 2010.
David Baumgartner, email correspondence, 29 March 2010.

44

The reference is to psychologist Abraham Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs. The first
level of needs includes physiological needs: breathing food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, and
excretion.
299

45

Christopher Wiitala, interview with author. Chicago, IL. 6 March 2010. In one case, a
child was being watched by an adult communard. The child‘s father, who lived in another city,
called on the telephone to speak with the child. The adult communard disallowed the
communication to take place.
46
Neil Taylor, email correspondence, 7 April 2010.
47

First published in Cornerstone, Vol. 22, Issue 102/103(1994), pp. 19-21. (Cornerstone
Communications, Inc.) http://www.cornerstonemag.com/features/iss103/covenant.htm. Accessed
5 April 2010.
48
49
50
51
52

Dawn Mortimer, interview with author, Chicago, IL. 21 March 2010.
Ibid.
Sandy Ramsey, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 7 March 2010.
Dawn Mortimer, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 21 March 2010.
Ibid.

53

Project 12 (P-12) is a training program designed for both members and non-members
seeking internships opportunities.
54

Neil Taylor, email correspondence, 7 April 2010.

55

First published in Cornerstone, Vol. 22, Issue 102/103(1994), pp. 19-21. (Cornerstone
Communications, Inc.) http://www.cornerstonemag.com/features/iss103/covenant.html.
Accessed 5 April 2010.
56

Glen van Alkemade, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 21 March

2010.
57
58
59
60

Kevin Frank, email correspondence, 13 March 2010.
Ibd.
Ibid.
―Stephen‖ [pseud.], email correspondence, 16 April 12010.
300

61

The JPUSA Covenant. originally written in 1986, slightly revised in 1989. Reprinted in
full in Cornerstone magazine 22, iss. 102/103 (1994): pp. 19-21, except for the signature
portions after the last paragraph of text.
62
Timothy Miller, The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond (Syracuse: Syracuse
University Press, 1999), 167.
63

Hugh Gardner, The Children of Prosperity: Thirteen Modern American Communes
(New York: St. Martin‘s Press, 1978).
64
65

John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 10 March 2009.
Tiana Coleman, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 7 March 2010.

66

Tiana Coleman, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 7 March 2010,
―Susan‖ [pseudo.], interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 21 March 2010, and
Scarlett Shelby, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL 7 March 2010.
67

―Commune's Iron Grip Tests Faith Of Converts.‖ By Kirsten Scharnberg. Chicago
Tribune April 1, 2001. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2001-0401/news/0104010382_1_needy-youth-commune-spiritualism. Accessed 15 October 2010.
68

Anson Shupe, William A. Stacey, and Susan E. Darnel, eds. Bad Pastors: Clergy
Misconduct in Modern America (New York: New York University Press, 2000). 163.
69

Timothy Miller, Response from Timothy Miller, Professor of Religious Studies,
University of Kansas. JPUSA archived letters provided by communard Lyda Jackson, September
2010.
70

Response for Scholars at the Communal Studies Association. JPUSA archived letters
provided by communard Lyda Jackson, September 2010.
71

Jon Trott, ―Is Abuse about Truth or Story…or Both?: One Intentional Community‘s
Painful Experiences with False Accusations.‖ Bad Pastors: Clergy Misconduct in Modern
America. eds. Anson Shupe, William A Stacey, and Susan E. Darnell (New York: New York
University press, 2000). 173.
72
73

Jon Trott, ―Is Abuse about Truth or Story…or Both?: 174.
A popular evangelical megachurch.

301

74

Dawn and Curtis Mortimer, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 21
March 2010.
75

Jon Trott has argued that many of these allegations are weak due to Ronald Enroth
inability or unwillingness to specify the nature of abuse. Furthermore, Trott and Shupe have
argued that Enroth‘s method is unsound because he only identified with the ―victims‖ and he
created ―narrative accounts‖ as ―literal history.‖ Trott points out that Enroth admitted to
combining stories to ―make a more compelling narrative,‖ thus calling into question the validity
of individual charges. See Anson Shupe, William A. Stacey, and Susan E. Darnel, eds. Bad
Pastors: Clergy Misconduct in Modern America (New York: New York University Press, 2000).
170.
76

See ―CT Classic: Conflict Divides Countercult Leaders‖ in Christianity Today
magazine (1994). Additional information can be found in various sociological works such as
Ronald M. Enroth‘s Churches That Abuse; Bad Pastors: Clergy Misconduct in Modern America,
edited by Anson Shupe, William A. Stacey, and Susan E. Darnell; William Backus, ―Who‘s
Abusing Who?‖ Cornerstone 22, issue 102/103, (1994): 35.; and in ―Book Reviews: Recovering
from Churches that Abuse,‖ James T. Richardson, Cornerstone 23, issue 105 (1994): 20.
77

http://www.angelfire.com/zine/jpusainfo/constitution_intro.html. Accessed 10 April

2010.
78
79
80
81
82
83
84

Jon Trott, email correspondence, 11 April 2010.
―Work and Taxes.‖ http://www.jpusa.org/covenant.html. Accessed 12 April 2010.
Jon Trott, email correspondence, 11 April 2010.
Neil Taylor, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 7 March 2010.
Jon Trott, email correspondence, 11 April 2010.
Jean Vanier, Community and Growth. Rev. ed. (New York: Paulist Press, 1996). 222.
JPUSA‘s original patriarch who fell into disfavor and left the community.

85

Jon Trott. ―Part I (b) Quest For Balance.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1b.html. Accessed 12 April 2010.
86

Ibid.

302

87

Dawn and Curtis Mortimer, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 21
March 2010.
88
Jon Trott. ―Part I (b) Quest For Balance.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1b.html. Accessed 12 April 2010?
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98

Kanter, Commitment and Community, 201.
Ibid, 64-66.
Neil Taylor, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 7 March 2010.
―Susan‖ [pseud.], interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 21 March 2010.
Lyda Jackson, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 7 March 7 2010.
Raye Clemente, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 5 March 2010.
Nathan Cameron, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 20 March 2010.
Neil Taylor, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 7 March 2010.
Ami Moss, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 7 March 2010.
Tom Cameron, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 21 March 2010.

99

Dawn and Curtis Mortimer, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 21
March 2010.
100

Glen van Alkemade, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 21 March

2010.
101

Ibid.

102

Timothy Miller, The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond (Syracuse: Syracuse
University Press, 1999).
103
104

Chris Spicer, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, Ill., 7 March 2010.
Stu Heiss, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 20 March 2010.
303

105
106
107
108
109
110

Christians are spirited away to Heaven during the second coming of Christ.
Stu Heiss, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 20 March 2010.
Wendi Kaiser, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL, 7 March 2010.
Kevin Frank, email correspondence, 13 March 2010.
Ibid.
Kanter, Commitment and Commitment,188.

111

―Emergent‖ Christianity represents an attempt (by evangelicals) to reconcile
traditional Christianity with postmodern theoretical criticism.

End Notes Chapter 4
1

Although JPUSA‘‘s audience for the magazine and the festival has often been those
who self-identify as countercultural or subcultural, they have been, for the most part, connected
to the evangelical community.
2

John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.

3

James Davidson Hunter, Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation (University of
Chicago Press, 1993).
4

Certainly Revivalism was initially associated with the Burned Over District. However,
I am distinguishing the Midwest for its own history of religious and political populism.
5

George M. Marsden, Religion and American Culture. (Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2001), 116.
6

See Randall Balmer, Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical’s Lament: How the Religious
Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America (New York: Basic Books, 2006).
7

See also Doug Rossinow, The Politics of Authenticity: Liberalism, Christianity and the
New Left in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998).

304

8

Ibid.

9

See David Frederick Gordon, ―A Comparison of the Effects of Urban and Suburban
Location on Structure and Identity in two Jesus People Groups‖ (Ph.D. Diss., The University of
Chicago, 1978).
10

A popular evangelist during the Great Awakenings.

11

According to this position, history is divided into various dispensations, thus one is
able to determine an approximate time for the End of Days. Moody assisted in the founding of
Bible institutes which trained young ministers in this doctrine, bolstering young evangelists to
weather the storm of Modernity‘s critique of biblical literalism. The Moody Bible Institute in
Chicago is one of the more notable examples. These were training grounds for ministry of the
soul. While social activism was valued, programs to provide aid for the poor were viewed as
secondary to salvation of the human soul.
12

A high regard for scripture, to include the doctrine of inerrancy.

13

The founder and director of the Coalition on Revival, and was a personal friend and
co-laborer with the late apologist, Dr. Francis Schaeffer.
14

Jay Grimstead, ―How the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy Began.‖
http://65.175.91.69/Reformation_net/Pages/ICBI_Background.htm. Accessed 20 May 2010.
15

―Records of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy.‖
http://library.dts.edu/Pages/TL/Special/ICBI.shtml. Accessed 20 May 2010.
16

Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, IL. 11 March 2009.

17

This has been affirmed by Jon Trott and Glenn Kaiser. It has also been evident in the
seminars provided by Norman Geisler over the years at the Cornerstone Festival.
18

The Social Gospel and other social reform efforts were replaced as evangelicals
viewed salvation of the human soul to be of greater concern. Many believed that individual
conversion would result in Protestant uplift and the eradication poverty for individuals. As each
lived a pious life, they would be rewarded with success.
19

See Todd Gitlin and Nanci Hollander, Uptown: Poor Whites in Chicago (New York:
Harper & Row, 1970).
20

Roger Biles, Richard J. Daley: Politics, Race, and Governing Chicago (DeKalb:
Northern Illinois University Press, 1995), 4.
305

21
22

Biles, 7.
Members of the New Left known for civil disobedience and politically radical

activism.
23

Biles, 150.

24

Todd Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage (New York: Bantam Books,
1993), 436, 437.
25

Evidence of this can be found in Randall Balmer, Thy Kingdom Come: An
Evangelical’s Lament: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America. (New
York: Basic Books, 2006), Larry Eskridge, Dissertation. God’s Forever Family: The Jesus
People Movement in America 1966-1977. 2005, and David W. Stowe, No Sympathy for the
Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 2011).
26

Randall Balmer, Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical’s Lament: How the Religious
Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America. (New York: Basic Books, 2006), 147.
27

Glenn Kaiser, interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009 and
Glenn Kaiser, email correspondence, 22 February 2010.
28

Gitlin, 84.

29

James J. Farrell, The Spirit of the Sixties: The Making of Postwar Radicalism (New
York: Routledge, 1997), 28.
30

Robert P. Sutton, Communal Utopias and the American Experience: Religious
Communities, 1732-2000 (Westport: Praeger, 2003), 152.
31

See Doug Rossinow, The Politics of Authenticity: Liberalism, Christianity and the
New Left in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998).
32

Rossinow. pp. 61, 68, 69, 94, 95.

33

See Todd Gitlin and Nanci Hollander, Uptown: Poor Whites in Chicago (New York:
Harper & Row, 1970).

306

34

Doug Rossinow, The Politics of Authenticity: Liberalism, Christianity and the New Left
in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), 302.
35
See Todd Gitlin and Nanci Hollander, Uptown: Poor Whites in Chicago (New York:
Harper & Row, 1970).
36

Noreen Cornfield, ―The Success of Urban Communes,‖ Journal of Marriage and
Family 45, no. 1 (Feb., 1983): pp. 115-126.
37

―Life's Lessons: A History of Jesus People USA: Part Five: Who is my Neighbor?"
Cornerstone 24. Iss. 107. pg. 45.
38

One of Chicago‘s social and human service agencies founded in 1889 by Jane
Addams. See http://www.hullhouse.org/aboutus/history.html. Accessed 21 May 2010.
39

Jobs or Income Now was formed as a community organizing initiative by the Students
for a Democratic Society.
40

See Todd Gitlin and Nanci Hollander, Uptown: Poor Whites in Chicago (New York:
Harper & Row, 1970).
41

―Part 7 Action—Social and Political, I.‖ Life's Little Lessons
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons7.html. Accessed 20 May 2010.
42
43
44
45
46

Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, IL.,10 March 2009.
See Donald E. Miller, Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New
st

Millennium, 1 ed. (University of California Press, 1999).
47

Gitlin, Todd, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage (New York: Bantam Books,
1987), 326.
48

Jim Wallis, God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It
(New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 34.

307

49
50
51

Wallis, 3.
Wallis, 5.
Wallis, xxiii.

52

A controversial Baptist minister who hosts an anti-gay website titled
www.godhatesfags.com.
53
54
55
56

Jon Trott, email correspondence, 15 January 2010.
Ibid.
Jon Trott, email correspondence, 20 May 2010.
Jon Trott, email correspondence, 15 January 2010.

57

See Jim Wallis, God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get
It (New York: HarperCollins, 2005) and Doug Rossinow, The Politics of Authenticity:
Liberalism, Christianity and the New Left in America (New York: Columbia University Press,
1998).
58

George M. Marsden, Religion and American Culture (Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2001), 248, 249.
59

Farrell, 35. See also Jim Forest. ―Reflections on Dorothy Day and the Catholic
Worker Movement.‖ Houston Catholic Worker XXVIII, No. 4, (July-August 2008).
http://www.cjd.org/paper/forest.html. Accessed 21 May 2010 and William Lawrence. Smith.
Dissertation. Urban Communitarianism in the 1980’s” Seven Religious Communes in Chicago
(University of Notre Dame, 1984). 144.
60

Chris Spicer, interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, IL., 7 March 2010.

61

Port Huron Statement, Students for a Democratic Society, 15 June 1962.
http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111hur.html. Accessed 13 January 2011.
62

Todd Gitlin and Nanci Hollander, Uptown: Poor Whites in Chicago (New York:
Harper & Row, 1970).
63

―Uptown.‖ Cornerstone 6. Iss. 40. pg. 4.
308

64

Kanter. Commitment and Community, 191.

65

Jon Trott. ―House and Home.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1b.html. Accessed 4 March 2010.
66

Sanctified protestation known as ―flirty fishing,‖ plural marriage known ―sharing,‖
and allegations of pedophilia. Discussed in chapter four.
67

See James D. Chancellor, Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God
(New York: Syracuse University Press, 2000).
68

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in
Sociological Perspective (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972.) 70 and Hugh Gardner,
The Children of Prosperity: Thirteen Modern American Communes (New York: St. Martin‘s
Press, 1978), 24.
69
70
71
72

Raye Clemente, interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, IL., 5 March 2010.
Joshua Davenport, interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, IL., 6 March 2010.
Otto Jensen, interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1959).

191.
73

Jon Trott, Quotes this in ―House and Home.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1b.html. Accessed 4 March 2010. The quote can be found in
"Citizens of Two Worlds," Cornerstone 5, Iss. 30, p. 4,5.
74
75
76
77

Kantner, 213.
Jon Trott, email correspondence, 11 April 2010.
Jon Trott, email correspondence, 21 June 2010.
―In the End…Man Created Chicago.‖ Cornerstone, Iss. 22. pg. 8.

78

Over the years, many articles in Cornerstone magazine have dealt with unresolved
poverty. See Mike Hertenstein and Chris Ramsey. ―Want in the Land of Plenty.‖ Cornerstone
12, Iss. 69. pg. 6-9, ―That American Way.‖ Cornerstone 6, Iss. 41. pg. 15, ―Behind the Velvet
309

Curtain-Suburbia.‖ Cornerstone 7, Iss. 42. pg. 15, Larry Bishop. ―The American Myth.‖
Cornerstone 9, Iss. 53. pg. 16-18, Larry Bishop. ―The Delusion of Desire.‖ Cornerstone 10, no.
58 (Jan/Feb): pg. 30-32, Jon Trott, ―Progress & Poverty.‖ Cornerstone, Iss. 59 (March/April):
pg. 58-60.
79

―Uptown.‖ Cornerstone 6, Iss. 40. pg. 4.

80

See the sections on businesses and structure in chapter three. Thanks to my wife,
Martha Young, who helped me flesh out this idea.
81

Howard Zinn, ―Marxism and the New Left,‖ in Dissent: Explorations in the History of
Radicalism, ed. Alfred L. Young (DeKalb: Northern Illinois Press, 1968), 371.

End Notes Chapter 5
1

Timothy Miller‘s The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond provides an extensive
overview of various successes and failure of American communes.
2

David Frederick Gordon, ―A Comparison of the Effects of Urban and Suburban
Location on Structure and Identity in two Jesus People Groups‖ (Ph.D. diss., The University of
Chicago, 1978).
3

I use this term in an attempt to explain how JPUSA balances social outreach to the poor
with an equal appreciation for spiritual mindedness.
4

Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009, and
Glenn Kaiser, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.
5

Ibid.

6

For more on this, see Timothy Miller, The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond
(Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1999) and Doug Rossinow, The Politics of Authenticity:
Liberalism, Christianity and the New Left in America (New York: Columbia University Press,
1998).
7

Conservative evangelicals who hold to premillennial dispensational Millenarianism
believe that the Antichrist will rule via a New World Order.
8

Jon Trott has expressed this during multiple conversations, to include my interview
with him on 11 March 2009.
310

9

Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional + evangelical +
post/protestant + liberal/conservative + mystical/poetic + biblical + charismatic/contemplative
+ fundamentalist/calvinist + anabaptist/anglican + methodist + catholic + green +
incarnational + depressed-yet-hopeful + emergent + unfinished CHRISTIAN (Grand Rapids.
Zondervan, 2004). 45. Note that McLaren also believes that other forces played a role in the coopting of the Jesus Movement: Pentecostalism, contemporary Christian music, parachurch
Christianity, the Religious Right, and the religious marketing machine.
10

Alex R. Schaefer, ―Evangelicalism, Social reform and the US Welfare State, 19701996,‖ Religious and Secular Reform in America: Ideas, Beliefs and Social Change, eds. Adams,
David K. and Cornelis A. Van Minnen (New York: New York University Press, 1999), 254.
11

Susan Harding argues that rhetoric is often a key component in gathering followers.
The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics (Princeton University Press,
2001).
12

D. G. Hart, Deconstructing Evangelicalism: Conservative Protestantism in the Age of
Billy Graham (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005).
13

Nathan O. Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1989).
14

Emergent Christianity represents a ―conversation‖ among evangelicals who are
disenchanted with traditional, conservative evangelicalism and the Religious Right. More
significantly, emergent represents an attempt by evangelicals to engage postmodernity, cultural
pluralism, and literary deconstruction, while retaining Christian belief—even orthodoxy—albeit
defined differently. Some describe themselves as ―post-evangelical.‖ See works by Brian
McLaren, Tony Jones, Phyllis Tickle, Marcus Borg, Mark Driscoll, Robert Webber, and Jenell
Williams Paris.
15

David W. Bebbington, The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of Spurgeon and
Moody (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005).
16

Jon Trott began to distance himself from evangelicalism after George W. Bush came
into office.
17

Preston Shires, Hippies of the Religious Right (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2007).

18

nd

George Marsden, Religion and American Culture. 2
Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2001).

311

ed. (Belmont, CA:

19
20

Shires, 113.
Ibid.

21

A parallel universe also formed amongst Christian in the New Left as member of the
YMCA at the University of Texas at Austin read the works of Albert Camus, Paul Tillich, and
Martin Luther King, Jr. See Doug Rossinow, The Politics of Authenticity: Liberalism,
Christianity and the New Left in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998).
22

A philosophical reaction to skepticism. Philosophers such as Francis Bacon argued
that truth was ascertained by means of common understanding, even if it appeared nonsensical.
23
24
25

Shires, 51.
Ibid.
Donald E. Miller, Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New
st

Millennium, 1 ed (University of California Press, 1999), 22.
26

Miller, 22, 23.

27

Ronald M. Enroth, The Jesus People: Old-Time Religion in the Age of Aquarius
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 168. The term was originally used by H. Richard Niebuhr in
Christ and Culture (New York: Harper & Row, 1956).
28

A reference to Paul Tillich‘s definition of religion.

29

Preston Shires has documented the traditional eschatology of the Jesus Movement and
how many, despite a certain apoliticism, adopted a pro-Israel position in response to Hal
Lindsey‘s Late Great Planet Earth. See page 155 of Preston‘s work. See also Melani
McAlister, ―Prophecy, Politics and the Popular: The Left Behind Series and Christian
Fundamentalism‘s New World Order‖ The South Atlantic Quarterly 102.4 (2003): 773-98 and a
dissertation by David Frederick Gordon titled ―A Comparison of the Effects of Urban and
Suburban Location on Structure and Identity in two Jesus People Groups‖ (Ph.D. diss., The
University of Chicago, 1978). 85.
30

See Preston Shires, Hippies of the Religious Right and Lowell D. Streiker‘s Jesus Trip:
Advent of Jesus Freaks (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2007), Ronald M. Enroth, The Jesus
People: Old-Time Religion in the Age of Aquarius (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Press, 1972), and
Donald E. Miller, Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium
(University of California Press; 1 edition, 1999).

312

31

See Preston Shires, Hippies of the Religious Right and Lowell D. Streiker‘s Jesus Trip:
Advent of Jesus Freaks (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2007).
32

Grant Wacker, ―The Functions of Faith in Primitive Pentecostalism.‖ The Harvard
Theological Review 77, no. 3/4 (Jul. - Oct., 1984): 368.
33
34

A form of pentecostal Christianity made popular during the 1970s.
Wacker, 369.

35

History is set up as eras or ―dispensations‖ ordained by God. The world will grow
increasingly worse until the return of Christ. Jesus will return before the rule of the anti-Christ,
carry Christians to Heaven, return for the battle of Armageddon, and then establish his millennial
reign.
36

I use the term ―futurism‖ here to describe the teleological position that terrestrial
events are linked to the celestial and, in some way, indicate an historical apocalypse of some
kind.
37

A nineteenth-century Anglo-Irish evangelist commonly viewed as the father of
modern dispensationalism.
38

See Enroth and Streiker. See also David W. Stowe, No Sympathy for the Devil:
Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 2011).
39

Preston Shires, Hippies of the Religious Right (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2007).
153, 154, 155.
40

Shires, 108.

41

David W. Stowe, No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the
Transformation of American Evangelicalism (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
2011). 71.
42
http://www.jesus21.com/content/movies/rapture2.html. Accessed 30 January 2010.
43
44

Stowe. 69, 71.
Stowe. 70.

313

45

Glenn Kaiser, email correspondence, 22 February 2010.

46

David Frederick Gordon, ―A Comparison of the Effects of Urban and Suburban
Location on Structure and Identity in two Jesus People Groups‖ (Ph.D. diss., The University of
Chicago, 1978), 85.
47

See Stowe. 70-74.

48

It is believed that the tribulation will be a time of great suffering caused by the antiChrist. Some believe Christians will be raptured before while others believe they will be
raptured after.
49
50

Glenn Kaiser, email correspondence, 22 February 2010.
Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.

51

The tradition of contemporary biblical apologetics in American culture can be traced
to Princeton University‘s battle with Modernism and higher criticism. The goal was to defend
matters such as biblical inerrancy and to counter the theory of evolution and Secular Humanism.
On the whole, biblical apologetics was embraced by Reformed theologians.
52

The ―kingdom now‖ ethic appears in both postmillennial groups. It also appears in
premillennial, evangelical groups which believe that regardless of an imminent rapture,
Christians are duty-bound to care for the poor and for the environment. While many in JPUSA
believe the rapture will occur, the uncertainty of the date allows communards to interpret the
teaching of Jesus as both spiritual and practical.
53

Otto Jensen, interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 10 March 2009.
George Marsden classifies this ―kingdom now‖ thinking as a liberal position in Reforming
Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1987), 81.
54

This socio-cultural machine is part of the neo-conservative project of cultural
influence. This is not suggesting a Frankfurt School model of causality (after all, JPUSA
represents resistance). However, contemporary evangelical churches work to populate
institutions (business, academia, media, etc.) with evangelical Christians.
55

Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009. In this
conversation, Trott affirmed that the apologetics community felt that JPUSA drifted. Based on
my own observation while visiting the festival over the years since the nineties, it has become
clear that apologetics are not valued as highly as they once were.
314

56

Jon Trott. Bluechristian.blogspot.com. 14 January 2008. Accessed 13 May 2010.

57

Emergent theology is best understood as an evangelical attempt to retain elements of
orthodox Christianity while also accepting postmodern critical theory and cultural pluralism. For
more on this, see Brian McLaren‘s A Generous Orthodoxy, or John R. Franke‘s Manifold
Witness: The Plurality of Truth.
58
59
60
61

Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.
Ibid.
Shari Lloyd and Linda LaFianza, email correspondence, 18 February 2010.
Jon Trott, email correspondence, 15 January 2010.

62

See David W. Stowe, No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the
Transformation of American Evangelicalism (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
2011), Preston Shires, Hippies of the Religious Right. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2007,
Randall Balmer, Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical’s Lament: How the Religious Right
Distorts the Faith and Threatens America. New York: Basic Books, 2006), and Duane Murray
Oldfield, The Right and the Righteous: The Christian Right Confronts the Republican Party
(Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1996).
63

See Randall Balmer, Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical’s Lament: How the
Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America (New York: Basic Books, 2006). This
work demonstrates that the Right has essentially co-opted evangelicalism, creating a caricature
of the evangelical Christian. This distortion causes non-evangelicals to associate evangelicalism
with political coalitions rather than historically defined evangelical Christianity which has been
more concerned with individual conversion rather than nationalistic power-structures seeking to
create a mythic ―Christian nation.‖
64

For example, some JPUSA communards argue that abortion can be resolved by
adopting a leftist orientation. Jon Trott encapsulates what many in JPUSA believe regarding this
issue in a blog titled ―President Obama, Health Care, Abortion, and the Right's Credibility Gap.‖
Blue Christian on a Red Background. September 10, 2009. http://bluechristian.blogspot.com.
Accessed 16 May 2010. Trott has also explained this position in an email correspondence with
me on May 16, 2010. This combination of leftist politics and an anti-abortion position is not
unprecedented. The Farm, headed by countercultural icon Stephen Gaskin, is a commune near
Summertown, Tennessee and was anti-abortion, offering a home for single, pregnant mothers in
an attempt to offer assistance. See Timothy Miller, The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond.
(Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1999). 120.

315

65
66
67
68
69

Jon Trott, email correspondence. 15 January 2010.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.

70

Dr. John Perkins is also the president of the John M. Perkins Foundation for
Reconciliation and Development. Perkins began his relationship with JPUSA when the Rez
Band was on the road and now, though aged, continues to lecture at the festival.
71

Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009. Trott
also discusses this topic frequently on his blog, bluechristian.blogspot.com and on
Facebook.com.
72

See Jon Trott. Part 7 Action –Social and Political, I, A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1b.html. Accessed 15 May 2010, and email correspondence, 24
October, 2009. Trott has also expressed this on other occasions during my visits to the
community.
73
74

Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.
Colleen Davick, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.

75

Like other conservative evangelical Christians, many early Jesus freaks (though not
all) believed that the United States was intended to be a Christian nation, one which needed to
return to God. Many converts became part of Baby Boomer evangelical Christianity, much of
which believed the nation had become high-jacked by secular humanism. Ironically, those on
the Left, such as Jim Wallis, Anthony Campolo, and Randall Balmer believe the Religious Right
high-jacked Christianity.
76

For an understanding of the relationship between Christian eschatology in American
society and social reform, see David S. Katz and Richard H. Popkin, Messianic Revolution:
Radical Religious Politics to the End of the Second Millennium (New York: Hill & Wang, 1999),
Preston Shires, Hippies of the Religious Right (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2007), Randall
Balmer, Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical’s Lament: How the Religious Right Distorts the
Faith and Threatens America (New York: Basic Books, 2006), and Duane Murray Oldfield, The

316

Right and the Righteous: The Christian Right Confronts the Republican Party (Lanham, Md.:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1996).
77
78

Glenn Kaiser, email correspondence, 22 February 2010.
Bishop John Shelby Spong.

79

New paradigm churches are contemporary, post-Jesus Movement churches. Some are
considered ―house churches,‖ while others have been magachurches. Donald E. Miller provides
an extensive overview of new paradigm congregations in Reinventing American Protestantism:
Christianity in the New Millennium (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997).
80

Bishop John Shelby Spong has argued that unless Christianity changes its approach to
culture, it will die. Donald Miller argues the opposite, pointing to the massive growth in new
paradigm evangelicalism.
81
82
83
84
85
86
87

A conservative American syndicated columnist.
Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.
Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.
John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.

88

Members of the Children of God (mostly women, thought not only) were encouraged
to engage in prostitution for the purpose of missionizing. The practice, referencing the biblical
call to becoming ―fishers of men,‖ attracted new members. While many in COG (now the
Family International) still view the doctrine as sound, the practice is no longer used. See James
D. Chancellor. Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (New York: Syracuse
University Press, 2000), 9-11, 16, 17, 22, 23, 116, 119-127, 128-130.
89

Chancellor, 11, 17, 101-103, 106-107, 140-142, 150, 282.

90

See Donald E. Miller, Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New
Millennium (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997).
317

91

See James D. Chancellor, Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God
(New York: Syracuse University Press, 2000) and John W. Drakeford, Children of Doom: A
Sobering Look at the Commune Movement (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972).
92

Before the Religious Right came to power, notable conservative ministers (particularly
Southern Baptists) were actually pro-choice, due their acceptance of the separation of church and
state. Historian Randall Balmer has demonstrated that social issues such as abortion were
popularized merely to mobilize conservative voters in service to the culture war. Contrary to
other histories pertaining to the Religious Right, the movement formed in response to Bob Jones
University‘s policies which amounted to de facto racial segregation. Roe V. Wade merely
served as a convenient (and less controversial) issue around which to rally conservatives. See
Randall Balmer, Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical’s Lament: How the Religious Right
Distorts the Faith and Threatens America (New York: Basic Books, 2006).
93

David Frederick Gordon, ―A Comparison of the Effects of Urban and Suburban
Location on Structure and Identity in two Jesus People Groups‖ (Ph.D. diss., The University of
Chicago, 1978), 51, 52.
94
95

John Herrin, email correspondence, 15 November 2010.
Glen van Alkemade, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March

2010.
96

nd

George Marsden, Religion and American Culture. 2
Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2001), 276.

ed. (Belmont, CA:

97

The belief that history is structured based on various ―dispensations‖ or eras by which
God has planned events for a larger purpose. The world is on a downward spiral and cannot be
reformed. In short, the world must grow increasingly dire before the kingdom of God is fully
realized.
98

nd

George Marsden, Religion and American Culture. 2 ed. (Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2001). 276. Marsden also deals with the matter of evangelical
and fundamentalist Christianity‘s relationship to culture and society in Fundamentalism and
American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism, 1870-1925. Second ed.
(Oxford, 2006) and Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New
Evangelicalism.(Eerdmans, 1987).
99

See Randall Balmer, Thy Kingdom Come, page 195. See also D. Michael Lindsay‘s
Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2007).
318

100

Colleen Davick, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.

101

The work of Timothy Miller and Barry Shenker explores the communal impulse to
create the model society, with the hope that the larger culture will follow.
102

Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009 and
email correspondence, 11 April 2010.
103

Ibid.

104

Jon Pahl, Empire of Sacrifice: The Religious Origins of American Violence (New
York: NYU Press, 2010).
105

Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.

106

Shane Claiborne is a leader within what is known as the ―New Monasticism‖ and
founded The Simple Way, a communal expression in Philadelphia, PA.
107

Brian McLaren, ―Why I'm Voting for Barack Obama ... and I hope you will too:
Reason 4: The Environment,‖ http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/why-im-voting-forbarack-obama-a-2.html. Accessed 14 November 2010. See also Brian McLaren, A Generous
Orthodoxy (Grand Rapids. Zondervan, 2004).
108
109
110

Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.
Ibid.
Wendi Kaiser, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 7 March 2010.

111

JPUSA‘s commitment to conversion, biblicism, crucicentrism, and activism satisfies
what historian David W. Bebbington has considered to accurately define evangelical
Christianity. Even if JPUSA simply emphasized conversion broadly defined, they would,
according to Randall Balmer, meet fall under the category of ―evangelical.‖
112

Many leaders of the Evangelical Left, such as Randall Balmer, Jim Wallis, Tony
Jones, and to lesser degrees, Anthony Campolo and Brian McLaren, have gone further in their
acceptance of situations where abortion might be the only alternative (with varying degrees, as
does JPUSA). What is more distinct is the difference in opinion over gay marriage and how
homosexuality is generally considered. Although some leaders and many second generations
members of JPUSA have more tolerant views on same-sex unions (when compared to

319

conservative evangelicals) the Evangelical Left often extends tolerance to the acceptance of gay
marriage and discount the oft-held belief that homosexuality represents a ―struggle‖ or ―sin.‖
113

See H. Richard Niebuhr‘s Christ and Culture (New York: Harper & Row, 1956).

114

By this I intend to suggest that some evangelicals during the Jesus Movement
(particularly those during the rise of the Religious Right) engaged social issues with an agenda
which was largely Restorationist. While many remained premillenialists, they also attempted to
engineer the kingdom of God by building coalitions meant to create legislation which would
satisfy special interest groups on the Right. The goal was to restore the nation to its mythical
roots of a Christian nation, re-engage social activism, albeit a different kind (when compared to
nineteenth-century progressives), while also affirming millenarianism.
115

For detailed examples of Christian isolationists, see James D. Chancellor, Life in the
Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2007) and
John W. Drakeford, Children of Doom: A Sobering Look at the Commune Movement (Nashville:
Broadman Press, 1972). Donald E. Miller notes the differences between ―new paradigm‖ and
megachurch rightists and the social liberalism of the mainline in Reinventing American
Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1997). A good source for understanding the rapid rise to power within the ranks of
evangelicalism, see Michael D. Lindsay‘s Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined
the American Elite (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).
116

D. L. Moody (nineteenth-century) and Billy Sunday (early twentieth-century) were
both popular American evangelists. George Marsden provides a compressive history pertaining
to the struggles between liberal and conservative Christianity in Fundamentalism and American
Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism, 1870-1925. Second ed. Oxford,
2006 and Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987).
117

An attempt to restore the form and structure of the early church, suggesting that all
subsequent expressions of Christianity have been corrupted.
118

This is a statement taken from the Bible in the book of Matthew, chapter 25, verse 40
(New International Version): ―The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one
of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.‖ The phrase ―least of these‖ is one which
inspires leaders of JPUSA to engage in social justice.
119

I use the word ―tragic‖ in the sense that history will come to a close (because of the
Fall of Humanity), ending in a final battle between good and evil, resulting in final divine
judgment. The word can also be used in the Niebuhrian sense of world events and human nature.
120

Glenn Kaiser, email correspondence, 22 February 2010.
320

121

The reference is to psychologist Abraham Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs. The first
level of needs includes physiological needs: breathing food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, and
excretion.
122

Donald E. Miller, Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New
Millennium (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 109, 114.
123

Classical atonement theory suggests that the gospel is more spiritual than physical.
Humanity is sinful. Jesus Christ died to atone for the sins of humanity. Theories of the
atonement, however, are varied. Some believe that Jesus‘ death was a substitutionary, appeasing
the wrath of God (Jesus took our place). Others, like Charles Finney, taught that the atonement
was a demonstration of God‘s love. Given this, some believe that the atonement appeased the
wrath of Satan, thereby releasing humanity from Satan‘s grip.
124

James Davidson Hunter, Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation (University Of
Chicago Press, 1993), 41.
125

Miller, 109.

126

For more on this, see Randall Balmer, Thy Kingdom Come, page 195. See also D.
Michael Lindsay, Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2007) and Eileen Luhr, Witnessing Suburbia: Conservative
and Christian Youth Culture (University of California Press, 2009).
127

Historians such as Mark Noll, George Marsden, and Susan Harding have done
exceptional work on how rightist politics influenced evangelical Christianity. The works of
Noll and Marsden provide a thorough history which details figures such as Moody. Harding
discusses the language and rhetoric of the Religious Right as applied to politics and religious
belief.
128

Alex R. Schaefer, ―Evangelicalism, Social Reform and the US Welfare State, 19701996.‖ Ed. Adams, David K. and Cornelis A. Van Minnen, eds. Religious and Secular Reform in
America: Ideas, Beliefs and Social Change (New York: New York University Press, 1999).
129

This is corroborated by works written by emergent leaders such as Brian McLaren
and Tony Jones and my interviews with the leaders of JPUSA.
130
131

A theology of free-will and anti-deterministic (to a point).
Stowe, 77.

321

132

Jim Wallis, ―The Global Church and America‘s War.‖ 13 September 2001.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-wallis/the-global-church-and-ame_b_64326.html. Accessed
15 November 2010.
133

Brian McLaren, ―Needed: Christians Thinking Differently About the Future.‖ 3 June
2010. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-d-mclaren/christian-eschatology_b_598868.html.
Accessed 15 November 2010.
134

Ibid.

135

Hal Lindsey‘s Late Great Planet Earth and Tim LaHaye‘s Left Behind series have
sold countless books, spawning movies and have reinforced the doctrine of the rapture. See also
Melani McAlister, ―Prophecy, Politics and the Popular: The Left Behind Series and Christian
Fundamentalism‘s New World Order‖ The South Atlantic Quarterly 102.4 (2003): 773-98.
136

There is a history of apathy toward social justice, as well as a suspicion of those who
preach doctrines of social reform rather than individual reform. This, of course, predates Jesus
freaks. Some of the most immediate predecessors are Moody, Darby, Spurgeon, and the
Puritans. Those who have often been skeptical of global efforts toward peace and justice have
cited 1 Thessalonians 5:3: ―While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come
on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.‖ (NIV).
137

Many members of JPUSA believe that the rapture will occur before the millennial
kingdom. Unlike those who follow the work of Lindsey and LaHaye, these communards do not
feel the end is imminent. For them, the rapture will happen ―when it happens.‖ Information on
the changing nature of evangelical ideology can also be found in Brian McLaren‘s A Generous
Orthodoxy and Mark Noll‘s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind.
138

Mainstream society and the institutional church were often viewed as anti-Christ or
Babylon. For more on this, see John W. Drakeford, Children of Doom: A Sobering Look at the
Commune Movement (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972), Ronald M. Enroth, The Jesus People:
Old-Time Religion in the Age of Aquarius (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), and James
Chancellor, Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (Syracuse: Syracuse
University Press, 2000).
139

This refers to the doctrine of salvation through exclusive faith in Jesus. However,
some emergent and postmodern Christians hold to a nuanced position, suggesting that in many
cases, one is ―saved‖ by Jesus despite their beliefs or practices. This position posits that God
offers grace based on the human heart, without regard to cultural context, thus ―crediting‖ the
individual based on what they might do, if confronted with the possibility of Christian salvation.
140

John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.
322

141

Along with Tony Jones, Brian McLaren is a leader in emergent Christianity and has
authored a number of books which attempt to reconcile Christianity, postmodern critical theory,
and cultural pluralism. A controversial figure, he often accused of liberalism, Universalism, and
an advocate for the Social Gospel, though he argues that these categories are adequate
descriptors of him or emergent.
142

Fred Phelps is a controversial Baptist minister in Kansas who has been vocal about
his position against homosexuality. His public protest and website, ―God Hates Fags,‖ has
garnered media attention as Phelps continues to use a language of hate, potentially encouraging
violent actions toward the gay community.
143

The belief that some persons will enter Heaven without having converted to
Christianity. This is not, however, Universalism, which posits that all will be saved.
144

Glenn Kaiser, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009. I
have also discussed this matter at length with Glenn Kaiser during various visits to the
community.
145

It has been pointed out by McLaren, as well as leaders in JPUSA, that inclusivism,
while not widely accepted amongst restrictivist evangelicals, was held by C .S. Lewis, an author
held in high esteem by many evangelical Christians.
146
147

Persons not recognized as Christian.
Joshua Davenport, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 6 March

2010.
148

Communards such as Raye Clemente and Tamzen Trott have expressed a desire to
help the homeless. The desire to serve is independent of any religious belief or impulse.
149

Christian Smith, American Evangelicalism Embattled and Thriving (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1998), 106, 107. Smith alters Peter Berger‘s concept of plausibility
structures of religious belief as related to ―sacred canopies‖ (See The Sacred Canopy. New York:
Anchor, 1967) to argue that the metaphor of a ―sacred umbrella‖ is more useful in describing
religious belief within the context of Modernity. Smith argues that rather belief is sustainable
and manageable not by evaluating practices and worldviews in relation to ―everyone
conceivable,‖ but merely to ―members of their own reference group[.] Although JPUSA engages
the ―real world‖ their ―sacred umbrellas‖ provide a mobile mechanism which reminds them of
their community of support which validates religious belief…unlike other persons of faith who
must negotiate Modernity without an ever-present ideological anchor—one which governs one‘s
entire existence. That is, communal living provides ongoing reinforcement of belief.
323

150

Preston Shires and Ronald Enroth provide evidence which suggests that early Jesus
Movement converts engaged society for the purpose of securing converts before the rapture.
JPUSA, on the other hand, engages society with the hope of bettering society.

End Notes Chapter 6
1

Donald Miller, Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New
Millennium (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997), 67.
2

Eileen Luhr, Witnessing Suburbia: Conservative and Christian Youth Culture
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009), 71.
3

Early evangelists such as Billy Sunday and D. L. Moody used popular culture to further
the cause of the Christian message. For one of the more recent works on this, see Larry
Eskridge. Dissertation. God’s Forever Family: The Jesus People Movement in America 19661977. 2005. Pages 35 and 36 provide the most pertinent information.
4

nd

George Marsden, Religion and American Culture, 2
Thomson/Wadsworth, 2001), 68.
5

ed. (Belmont:

Ibid, 189.

6

Cultural critic Dick Hebdige uses the word bricolage to describe how various disparate
things (whatever is available at the time) can come together to express something new, to
challenge, 5to resist, or to convince.
7

Duane Oldfield, The Right and the Righteous: The Christian Right Confronts the
Republican Party (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1996), 49-50.
8

Andrew Beaujon, Body Piercing Saved my Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian
Rock (Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2006), 179, 181.
9

Larry Eskridge, ―God‘s Forever Family: The Jesus People Movement in America 19661977” (Ph.D. diss., University of Stirling, 2005), 20.
10
11

Beaujon, 34.
http://www.amygrant.com/music. Accessed 9 June 2010.
324

12
13
14

Beaujon, 31.
Beaujon, 32.
H. Richard Niebuhr. Christ and Culture (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1951).

15

Jay R. Howard, Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian
Music (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 49.
16

Niebuhr. Christ and Culture.

17

Howard, 111. The term ―Christ of culture‖ refers to H. Richard Niebuhr classic book
Christ & Culture (Harper & Row, 1951).
18
19

Howard, 78-81.
Niebuhr, Christ and Culture.

20

―`Family Guy` and Terror; Stars and Addiction; `Holy Hollywood`; Interview With
Actor Stephen Baldwin.‖ SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Transcripts. Show Aired October 2, 2006.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/02/sbt.01.html. Accessed 2 April 2010.
21

During the seventies and eighties, the contemporary Christian music industry and the
Gospel Music Association produced music which put forth an obvious Christian message, often
mentioning the word ―Jesus‖ as often as possible. Musicians who sought to compose songs
using metaphor and ambiguity were typically not labeled ―Christian‖ when considering
categories and marketing. During the nineties, more Christian musicians felt freer to compose
songs which dealt with a number of topics. Cornerstone antedates this.
22

Jon Trott, ―A History of Jesus People USA: Part 6: Cornerstone Festival.‖
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons6.html. Accessed 2 June 2010.
23

John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.

24

Cornerstone Festival: Twenty Years and Counting, prod and dir John J. Thompson,
Nashville: Floodgate Records, 2002, DVD.
25

―`Family Guy` and Terror; Stars and Addiction; `Holy Hollywood`; Interview With
Actor Stephen Baldwin.‖ SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Transcripts. Show Aired October 2, 2006.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/02/sbt.01.html. Accessed 2 April 2010.
325

26

Creation Fest is a Christian festival which does not carry the same ―subcultural‖
appeal as Cornerstone. Moreover, Creation Fest is known for showcasing mainstream Christian
groups, whereas Cornerstone (while hosting some mainstream groups on the mains stage) is
known for ―indie‖ music and side stages, which showcase ―underground‖ subcultural bands.
27
Glen van Alkemade, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March
2010.
28

John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.

29

Industrial is a form of heavy music which incorporates mechanistic, factory-like

sounds.
30

See Cornerstone Festival: Twenty Years and Counting, prod. and dir. John J.
Thompson, Nashville: Floodgate Records, 2002., DVD and Mark Allan Powell, The
Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2002).
31

Dick Hebdige. Subculture: The Meaning of Style (New York: Routledge, 2002), 102.

32

Hard core music groups rupture the performer-fan relationship by inviting fans on
stage. Hard core concerts involved a stage filled with fans who share the same spot light,
implying there is no distinction between the band and the fan. In like manner, punk bands during
the seventies often spat at the audience, thus erasing lines of distinction.
33

Lawrence Grossberg, 1992a. ―The Affective Sensibility of Fandom,‖ The Adoring
Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, Lisa Lewis, ed. Lisa A, Lewis (New York:
Routledge), 1992. p. 308.
34

Victor Turner, The Ritual Process (Hawthorne: Aldine De Gruyter, 1995), 25.

35

Bloodgood, ―Crucify,‖ Shakin’ the World: Live Volume Two. 1990 (Intense Records).

36

Lawrence Grossberg, 1992a. ―The Affective Sensibility of Fandom,‖ The Adoring
Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, Lisa Lewis, ed. Lisa A, Lewis (New York:
Routledge), 1992. p. 308.
37

Melani McAlister, ―What is Your Heart For?: Affect and Internationalism in the
Evangelical Public Sphere,‖ American Literary History 20, no 4, (Winter 2008): 883.
38

McAlister, 883, 884.

326

39

Lawrence Grossberg, ―Putting the Pop Back into Postmodernism.‖ Social Text, no. 21,
Universal Abandon? The Politics of Postmodernism (1989), Duke University Press), 169.
40

Alan P. Merriam, The Anthropology of Music (Evanston: Northwestern University
Press, 1964), 213.
41
See Christopher Small, Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening
(Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1998).
42

One musical example is Pedro the Lion, known for heterodoxy, leftist politics, and
language often deemed unacceptable within the context of teenagers. Conservative festivalgoers have stated that they were amazed that the group was allowed to perform on the main
stage, a venue often peopled by church youth groups. The more visible examples apply to the
seminars. A number of theologically, philosophical, and political opinions are represented at
seminars. While some who attend are challenged in their own paradigms, other have often
engaged in robust debates.
43

Lawrence Grossberg, ―Putting the Pop Back into Postmodernism.‖ Social Text, no. 21,
Universal Abandon? The Politics of Postmodernism (1989), Duke University Press). 169.
44

Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009, Jon
Trott, email correspondence, 20 May 2010, and Jon Trott. Bluechristian.blogspot.com. 14
January 2008. Accessed 13 May 2010.
45

HM magazine was established in 1985 as Heaven’s Metal and is now titled HM or
Hard Music. HM is the Rolling Stone of Christian rock.
46

Doug Van Pelt, email correspondence, 30 May 2010.

47

Tooth & Nail records formed as a result of Cornerstone and paved the way for a new
generation of evangelical rock musicians seeking to break out of the previously cast CCM
mould. See Cornerstone Festival: Twenty Years and Counting, prod. and dir. John J. Thompson,
Nashville: Floodgate Records, 2002, DVD.
48
49
50
51

Mark Allan Powell, email correspondence, 1 June 2010.
Doug Van Pelt, email correspondence, 29 May 2010.
Jay R. Howard, email correspondence, 4 June 2010.
An online magazine that publishes reviews of albums, movies, and interviews.

327

52

Linda LaFianza and Shari Lloyd, email correspondence, 4 June 2010.

53

Barry Alfonso, The Billboard Guide to Contemporary Christian Music (New York:
Billboard Books, 2002), 30.
54
―Award Eligibility: C.‖ GMA Dove Awards 2009-2010 Policy & Procedures Manual
for GMA Professional, Associate, and Student Members. 2
http://www.doveawardsvoting.com/2009_Policy_Procedures_Manual.pdf. Accessed 9 June
2010.
55

Christian music producer and author Charlie Peacock has discussed the state of the
Christian music industry and the debates over what qualifies as ―Christian‖ music in At The
Crossroads: Inside the Past, Present, and Future of Contemporary Christian Music. Revised and
Expanded Edition. With Molly Nicholas. (Colorado Springs: Shaw at Waterbrook Press/Random
House, 2004).
56

Mark Allan Powell, email correspondence, 24 October 2006.

57

Mark Allan Powell, The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music (Peabody:
Hendrickson Publishers, 2002), 13.
58

―Woody,‖ Pray Naked (a.k.a. The Seventy Sevens) Brainstorm Artists, Intl., 1992.

59

"The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes & The Pride of Life.‖ The 77s Exit/Island Records,

1987.
60
61

Doug Van Pelt, email correspondance, 3 June 2010.
Glen van Alkemade, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March

2010.
62

Ibid.

63

Andrew Beaujon, Body Piercing Saved my Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian
Rock (Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2006), 3.
64
65
66

Doug Van Pelt, email correspondence, 30 May 2010.
John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.
Doug Van Pelt, email correspondence, 30 May 2010.
328

67

Staff members have indicated their desire to relive the Jesus Movement at the festival
and to offer Christians a kind of Woodstock feel. See also Cornerstone Festival: Twenty Years
and Counting, prod. and dir. John J. Thompson, Nashville: Floodgate Records, 2002, DVD.
68
Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991), 59.
69

Bleed Into One, prod. and dir. Steve Taylor, Imperial Pictures, forthcoming,
documentary.
70

Doug Van Pelt, email correspondence, 30 May 2010.

71

Cornerstone Festival: Twenty Years and Counting, prod. and dir. John J. Thompson,
Nashville: Floodgate Records, 2002, DVD.
72

See Richard Dyer, Only Entertainment (New York: Routledge, 1992), 4, 5 and works
by Theodore Adorno.
73

These are categories of CCM which have been defined by Jay R. Howard. Apostles of
Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music (Lexington: University Press of
Kentucky, 1999).
74
75
76
77
78
79
80

Mark Allan Powell, email correspondence, 24 October 2006.
Jay R. Howard, email correspondence, 4 June 2010.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Linda LaFianza and Shari Lloyd, email correspondance, 4 June 2010.
Beaujon, 35.
Beaujon, 36.

81

Charlie Peacock is a Grammy award-winning, multi-format songwriter and record
producer. Production and songwriting credits include Switchfoot, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe,
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Béla Fleck, Leigh Nash, Al Green, Tommy and the Whale, Warren
Barfield, Maeve, Sam & Ruby, Savannah, Amy Grant, Sixpence None The Richer, Sara Groves,

329

Nikki Williams, Anna Owens, Audio Adrenaline, Sarah Masen, David Crowder Band, Avalon,
Philip Bailey, dcTalk, Margaret Becker, Out of the Grey, Twila Paris, and CeCe Winans.
82

Jay R. Howard, Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian
Music (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 134-145.
83
Charlie Peacock, ―The Future of Christian Music: Peacock‘s Prognostication.‖
CCMmagazine.com.http://www.ccmmagazine.com/news/stories/11571162/. Accessed 14 June
2010.
84

Linda LaFianza and Shari Lloyd, email correspondence4 June 2010.

85

Charlie Peacock offers a complete analysis as an insider in At the Crossroads: Inside
the Past, Present, and Future of Contemporary Christian Music (Colorado Springs:
Shaw/WaterBrook/Random House, 2004).
86

Ibid.

87

According to this festival‘s website, the name ―Wild Goose‖ can be attributed to the
festival staff members‘ understanding of Celtic Christianity: ―In the spirit of vibrant, categorydefying Celtic Christianity, we saw our desire embodied in the Celtic Church‘s way of speaking
about the enigmatic Holy Spirit: The Wild Goose, who wanders where she will. Who can tame
her? No one. Far better it is to embark on a Wild Goose Chase, and see the terrain of our faith be
transformed.‖ Wild Goose Festival. http://www.wildgoosefestival.org/about-2/getting-intouch/. Accessed 8 October 2010.
88

Lawrence Grossberg, ―A Prisoner of the Modern?‖ Culture Machine
http://culturemachine.tees.ac.uk/Cmach/Backissues/j001/articles/art_gros.html. Accessed 2 June
2010.
89

Lawrence Grossberg, ―Putting the Pop Back into Postmodernism.‖ Social Text, no. 21,
Universal Abandon? The Politics of Postmodernism (1989), Duke University Press. 168, 169.
90
91
92
93

Grossberg, 169.
Grossberg, 181.
Eric Pement, email correspondence, 15 June 2010.
Ibid.

330

94

Many evangelical Christians either do not celebrate Halloween (viewing it as evil) or
offer alternatives.
95

Grossberg, 168.

96

Jon Pahl was the respondent to my presentation on JPUSA and Cornerstone at the
American Historical Association. His response was titled ―Alternatives to What? New Religions
and Intentional Communities in Recent American History.‖ Paper presented at the Annual
Conference of the American Historical Association, Boston, MA, January 6, 2011.
97
98
99

Grossberg, 179.
John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.
A ―secular‖ example of festivals which attempts social inversion is the Burning Man

festival.
100

―`Family Guy` and Terror; Stars and Addiction; `Holy Hollywood`; Interview With
Actor Stephen Baldwin.‖ SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Transcripts. Show Aired October 2, 2006.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/02/sbt.01.html. Accessed 2 April 2010.
101

Terry Scott Taylor states this in the DVD about Cornerstone when recalling how his
band, Daniel Amos, would often prepare for the festival. See Cornerstone Festival: Twenty
Years and Counting, prod. and dir. John J. Thompson, Nashville: Floodgate Records, 2002,
DVD.
102

Andrew Beaujon, Body Piercing Saved my Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian
Rock (Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2006), 12.
103

John Herrin, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 10 March 2009.

104

Jon Trott, ―Part 6: Cornerstone Festival: A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons7.html. Accessed May 14, 2010, 2010. Originally printed by Don
McLeese in "Praising Jesus with Heavy-Metal Beat," Chicago Sun-Times, 29 June 1984.
105

Donald Miller, Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New
Millennium (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997), 11, 12, 13, 67, 180-185.
106

Doug Rossinow, The Politics of Authenticity: Liberalism, Christianity, and the New
Left in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), 251.

331

107

Doug Van Pelt, email correspondence, 30 May 2010, Jay R. Howard, email
correspondence. 4 June 2010, Mark Allan Powell. Email correspondence. 1 June 2010, and
Linda LaFianza and Shari Lloyd, email correspondence, 4 June 2010.
108

Stephen A. Marini, Sacred Song in America: Religion, Music, and Public Culture
(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003), 30.

End Notes Chapter 7
1

James D. Chancellor, Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (New
York: Syracuse University Press, 2000), xxi.
2

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in
Sociological Perspective (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972), 139.
3
4
5

John Herrin communicated this to me during a late-night conversation.
Nathan Cameron, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 20 March 2010.
Ibid.

6

The Jesus Movement spawned a number of controversial groups such as The Children
of God, The Way International, the Tony and Susan Alamo Christian Foundation, and Jim
Jones‘s People Temple. These created media hype and kept evangelicals engaged in cult
awareness. JPUSA has to define itself against these groups to gain favor with establishment
evangelicalism.
7

In earlier years, all JPUSA communards were assigned a ―buddy.‖ Everyone has to
have their buddy with them at all times.
8
9

It is important to note that since all communards must share vans, mobility is limited.
Christopher Wiitala, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 6 March

2010.
10

While he recognizes that part of communal life includes shared property, Christopher
Wiitala expressed frustration with how often privacy is breached and how it is merely assumed
that a child is being watched, or that anyone asked will agree to babysit. Christopher Wiitala,
interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 6 March 2010.
332

11
12
13
14

Eileen Freed, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Kanter, 144.
Tamzen Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Nathan Cameron, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 20 March 2010.

15

Tamzen Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010 and
Scarlett Shelby, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 7 March 2010. This has
also been expressed in the trailer of a forthcoming documentary about kids who have been born
and raised in JPUSA. Born: Growing Up in a Religious Commune, prod. and dir. Jaime Prater,
www.bornthefilm.com. Accessed 17 June 2010.
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

Tamzen Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Jon Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2010.
Ibid.
Ibid.
I use the term ―Holiness‖ as a descriptor for the theology held by many JPUSA elders.
Tamzen Trott, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Nathan Cameron, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 20 March 2010.

23

Christopher Wiitala, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 6 March
2010. Other rules included a ban on various forms of secular music. The ban was later lifted.
24
25

Amy Moss, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 7 March 2010.
Chancellor, 90.

26

Persons who join JPUSA and remain for a few months. These join for a number of
reasons: free admission to the Cornerstone Festival, inspired to join as a result of Cornerstone
Festival, or simply seekers hoping to find purpose or healing.

333

27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34

Dawn Mortimer, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Scarlett Shelby, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 7 March 2010.
―Susan‖ [pseud.], interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Ibid.
Kanter, 129.
Tiana Coleman, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 7 March 2010.
Joel Williams, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Tiana Coleman, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 7 March 2010.

35

Ronald M. Enroth, Recovering from Churches that Abuse (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1994), 125-128.
36

―Susan‖ [pseud.], interview with author, Chicago, IL. 21 March 2010.

37

Kevin Frank, email correspondence. 1 April 2010. See also Anson Shupe, ―Jesus
People USA,‖ Sects, Cults, and Spiritual Communities: A Sociological Analysis (Eds. William
W. Zellner and Marc Petrowsky. Westport: Praeger, 1998), 37.
38
39
40

―Susan‖ [pseud.], interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Kanter, 143.
Christopher Wiitala, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 6 March

2010.
41
42
43
44

Kanter, 83.
―Susan‖ [pseud.], interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Scarlett Shelby, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 7 March 2010.
Kevin Frank, email correspondence, 13 March 2010.

334

45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58

Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
―Elaine‖ [pseud.], email correspondence, 12 March 2010.
Eric Pement, email correspondence, 15 June 2010.
Ibid.
Barbara Pement, email correspondence, 28 June 2010.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Barbara Pement, email correspondence, 29 June 2010.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.

59

Born: Growing up in a Religious Commune, prod. and dir. Jaime Prater, forthcoming.
http://www.bornthefilm.com. Accessed 23 June 2010.
60
61
62

Ibid.
Ibid.
Leaders would also affirm that spiritual maturation is also the result of the Holy Spirit.

63

Kirsten Scharnberg, ―Exodus From Commune Ignites Battle for Souls: Second of Two
Parts.‖ Chicago Tribune, April 2, 2001.

335

64

Born: Growing up in a Religious Commune, prod. and dir. Jaime Prater, forthcoming.
http://www.bornthefilm.com. Accessed 23 June 2010.
65

See both Born: Growing up in a Religious Commune, prod. and dir. Jaime Prater,
forthcoming. http://www.bornthefilm.com, Accessed 23 June 2010 and Ronald M. Enroth,
Recovering from Churches that Abuse (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994).
66
67

Malcolm Magee, personal correspondence, 2010.
Kanter, 130.

68

Gemeinschaft emphasizes individual emotions, needs, and sentiments, and connects
those to larger relationships, such as the family. Gesellschaft emphasizes detachment, favoring
organizational structure over commonalities held by members of the organization: overly
rational.
69
70
71
72
73
74

Chitu Okoli, email correspondence, 9 March 2010.
Chitu Okoli, email correspondence, 9 March 2010.
Ibid.
Barbara Pement, email correspondence, 28 June 2010.
Chitu Okoli, email correspondence, 9 March 2010.
Ibid.

75

A minor distinction which emphasizes the choice to join or to leave. This also is a term
used to disarm negative views associated with the word ―commune.‖
76

Anson Shupe, ―Jesus People USA,‖ Sects, Cults, and Spiritual Communities: A
Sociological Analysis (Eds. William W. Zellner and Marc Petrowsky. Westport: Praeger, 1998),
37.
77

See ―Two Sides of Jesus People USA.‖ Eight Forty-Eight July 3, 2008.
http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=26320. Accessed 24 June 2010.
78

Instructed in the ways of Christianity and held accountable during the process of

training.
336

79
80

Stu Heiss, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 20 March 2010.
Ibid.

81

This term has been used to describe persons who join the community a few weeks
before the Cornerstone Festival for the purpose of gaining free admission to the event. Some
choose to remain in the community while others leave.
82
83
84
85

Curtis Mortimer, interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 21 March 2010.
Holy Bible. ―Matthew 25:40.‖
Kanter, 146.
Eric Pement, email correspondence, 15 June 2010.

86

Our Statement of Faith. ―Jesus People USA Evangelical Covenant Church.‖
http://www.jpusa.org/faith.html. Accessed 10 January 2011.
87

Eric Pement, email correspondence, 15 June 2010.

88

David W. Bebbington, The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of Spurgeon and
Moody (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005).
89
90
91
92
93
94
95

Eric Pement, email correspondence, 15 June 2010.
John Herrin, email correspondence, 2 December 2010.
Neil Taylor, email correspondence, 2 December 2010.
John Herrin, email correspondence, 2 December 2010.
Eric Pement, email correspondence, 15 June 2010.
Ibid.
Neil Taylor, email correspondence, 28 July 2010.

337

96

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1959),

191
97

Jon Trott quotes this in ―House and Home.‖ A History of Jesus People USA.
http://www.jpusa.org/lessons1b.html. Accessed 4 March 2010. The quote can be found in
"Citizens of Two Worlds," Cornerstone 5, Iss. 30, p. 4, 5.
98
99

Kanter, 213.
Ibid.

100

Ruth Tucker, ―JPUSA Is Family: Observations by Ruth Tucker.‖ Cornerstone 22, Iss.
102/103 (1994): p. 41. Cornerstone Communications, Inc., William Backus, ―Who's Abusing
Who? A Letter to JPUSA From Psychologist and Author William Backus on Dr. Ronald Enroth's
Methodology.‖ Cornerstone 22, Iss. 102/103 (1994): pp. 35-36. Cornerstone Communications,
Inc., Jon Trott, ―Is Abuse About Truth or Story: Or Both? One Intentional Community's Painful
Experience with False Accusations.‖ Cornerstone online.
http://www.cornerstonemag.com/features/web01/truthorstory01.html. Accessed 27 June 2010.
101

Kanter, 146.

End Notes Chapter 8
1

Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism (New York: Penguin,
2002), 19.
2

David F. Gordon, ―The Role of the Local Social Context in Social Movement
Accommodation: A Case Study of Two Jesus People Groups.‖ Journal for the Scientific Study of
Religion 23, no. 4 (Dec., 1984): p. 394.
3

Gemeinschaft emphasizes individual emotions, needs, and sentiments, and connects
those to larger relationships, such as the family. Gesellschaft emphasizes detachment, favoring
organizational structure over commonalities held by members of the organization: overly
rational.
4

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in
Sociological Perspective (Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1972), 142.
5

Kanter, 146.

338

6

Larry Eskridge, ―‘One Way‘: Billy Graham, the Jesus Generation, and the Idea of an
Evangelical Youth Culture.‖ Church History 67, no. 1 (Mar., 1998): p. 104.
7
Daniel Radosh, Rapture Ready: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop
Culture (New York: Scribner, 2008), 188.
8
9

Mark Allan Powell, email correspondence, 2 January 2011.
Ibid.

10

Ibid.

11

Music groups such as Pedro the Lion represent a nebulous form of evangelical
Christianity which both affirms a certain exclusivity about Jesus while also remaining skeptical
about evangelical expressions which too quickly judge the validity of other truth-claims. Thus,
groups like this (and others at Cornerstone) typify a gentler form of evangelical Christianity.
12

Donald E. Miller, Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New
Millennium (University of California Press; 1 edition, 1999), 87.
13

Miller, 122.

14

Lawrence Grossberg, ―Putting the Pop Back into Postmodernism.‖ Social Text, No.
21, Universal Abandon? The Politics of Postmodernism (1989), Duke University Press. 179.
15

Grossberg, 180.

16

Philip Goff and Alan Heimert, ―Revivals and Revolution: Historiographic Turns since
Alan Heimert's ‗Religion and the American Mind.‘‖ Church History 67, no. 4 (Dec., 1998): 695,
696.

339

APPENDIX B
CONSENT FORM
This dissertation conforms to the guidelines established by the Oral History Association. The
following release form was used in obtaining permissions from those interviewed. Original
consent forms remain the property of the author of this work. Release forms, transcripts, and
recorded interviews are available upon request.

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Research Participant Information and Consent Form
You are being asked to participate in a research project. Researchers are required to provide a
consent form to inform you about the study, to convey that participation is voluntary, to explain
risks and benefits of participation, and to empower you to make an informed decision. You
should feel free to ask the researchers any questions you may have.
Study Title: Jesus People USA and the Cornerstone Festival
Researchers and Title: Professor Jeff Charnley and Shawn David Young, MSU Ph.D. candidate
Department and Institution: Writing, Rhetoric and Culture/American Studies, Michigan State
University
Address and Contact Information:
Michigan State University
235 Bessey Hall
East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1033
1. PURPOSE OF RESEARCH:
 You are being asked to participate in a research study of the Jesus People USA
community and its annual Cornerstone Festival.
 You have been selected as a possible participant in this study because you are either a
current member of this community, or you have at some point been a member of this
community, or you have attended the Cornerstone Festival for more than five years and
are able to comment on both the festival and its sponsor, Jesus People USA.
 From this study, the researchers hope to learn how Jesus People USA and the Cornerstone
Festival have changed over the years. Furthermore, the researchers hope to learn if the
community and the festival can serve as an example of the changes occurring in the
American evangelical Christian church.
 Your participation in this study will take approximately twenty minutes.
 You must be between the ages of 21 years to 75 to participate in the study.
2. WHAT YOU WILL DO:
 You will be asked to take part in a discussion about the history of Jesus People USA, its
annual festival, Cornerstone, your involvement with the community and the festival, your
opinions about political and theological changes within the community, and how you feel
they represent the larger evangelical culture. You will be recorded by an audio tape
recorder. Your statements will be taken from the recording and written down, and will
possibly be published.
 You will be asked to provide a time most convenient for you to take part in the interview.
During the interview, you will be asked to discuss your involvement with the community
and your opinions about its impact on the larger culture.
o The study you are taking part is part of a larger work, which will become part of a
doctoral dissertation. It is possible this research will be published in book form.
 You will be provided with a copy of my finding, should you so desire.

341

3. POTENTIAL BENEFITS:
 The potential benefits to you for taking part in this study are that you may gain a deeper
understanding of the political and religious changes occurring within American society
and culture, how Jesus People and Cornerstone have either contributed to these changes
or somehow serve as one example of these changes, and how you might, or continue to,
play a role in these cultural changes.
4. POTENTIAL RISKS:
 The potential risks of participating in this study are…
o Employment (if your statements are unpopular with your employer),
psychological (if reliving these memories are emotionally painful) social (if your
opinions are misinterpreted or misunderstood by your peers and community
members), economic (if your statements are viewed as heretical by church
employers), reputation (if your statements are misunderstood or misinterpreted by
friends, family, employers, fellow community members, etc.).
o Other risks may include distress or discomfort as you recall particular events of
your history and involvement with Jesus People or Cornerstone Festival
o There is a risk of reporting illegal or compromising activities (e.g. sexual
behavior).
 If you find yourself emotionally troubled by recalling this history, you are advised to seek
local counseling.
5. PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY:
 The results of this study may be published or presented at professional meetings. All
research subjects will be identified in research reports and documents, unless they choose
to remain anonymous.
 If you agree be identified, specific permission for identification must be obtained.
o I agree to allow my identity to be disclosed in reports and presentations.
Yes
No
Initials____________
 You are being audiotaped. This is required to be in the project.
o I agree to allow audiotaping/videotaping of the interview.
Yes
No
Initials____________
o The tapes will be labeled, stored, and kept in my possession.
 If you are taking part in an email interview, your name will be indentified in the email,
and will therefore be identified in the research document.
o I will not collect or store Internet addresses. I will only store email addresses for
the duration of the research. This allows me to contact you, should I require
further information.
6. YOUR RIGHTS TO PARTICIPATE, SAY NO, OR WITHDRAW
 Participation in this research project is completely voluntary. You have the right to say
no.
 You may change your mind at any time and withdraw.
o There are no consequences of withdrawal or incomplete participation.
 You may choose not to answer specific questions or to stop participating at any time.

342





Choosing not to participate or withdrawing from this study will not make any difference
in
o benefits to which you are otherwise entitled (new knowledge, results of the
research, etc.).
You will be told of any significant findings that develop during the course of the study
that may influence your willingness to continue to participate in the research.

7. COSTS AND COMPENSATION FOR BEING IN THE STUDY:
 You will not receive money or any other form of compensation for participating in this
study.
8. CONFLICT OF INTEREST


Keep in mind that I have been affiliated with both Jesus People USA and Cornerstone
Festival for a number of years. This does not mean you are obligated to take part in the
study out of any sense of duty, obligation or friendship. You are free to say no to the
research project.

9. CONTACT INFORMATION FOR QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS
If you have concerns or questions about this study, such as scientific issues, how to do any part of
it, or to report an injury, please contact the researchers:
Professor Jeff Charnley and Shawn David Young
Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures/American Studies
235 Bessey Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1033
Jeff Charnely, charnle2@msu.edu, (517) 432-2566
Shawn David Young, youngs21@msu.edu or shwn.young@gmail.com
If you have questions or concerns about your role and rights as a research participant, would like
to obtain information or offer input, or would like to register a complaint about this study, you
may contact, anonymously if you wish, the Michigan State University’s Human Research
Protection Program at 517-355-2180, Fax 517-432-4503, or e-mail irb@msu.edu or regular mail
at 202 Olds Hall, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824.
10. DOCUMENTATION OF INFORMED CONSENT.
Your signature below means that you voluntarily agree to participate in this research study.
________________________________________
Signature

_____________________________
Date

________________________________________
Signature of Assenting Child (13-17; if appropriate)

_____________________________
Date

343

You will be given a copy of this form to keep.
A signature is a required element of consent – if not included, a waiver of documentation
must be applied for.

344

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345

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Recorded Interviews: (in possession of author)

Cameron, Thomas. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 21 March 2010.
Cameron, Nathan. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 20 March 2010.
Clemente, Raye. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 5 March 2010.
Coleman, Tiana. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 7 March 2010.
Davenport, Josh. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 6 March 2010.
Davick, Colleen. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 10 March 2009.
Freed, Eileen, Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 21 March 2010.
Griffin, Micki. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 21 March 2010.
Heiss, Stu. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 20 March 2010.
Herrin, John. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 9 March 2009.

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Jackson, Lyda. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 7 March 2010.
Jensen, Otto. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 10 March 2009.
Kaiser, Glenn. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 11 March 2009.
Kaiser, Wendi. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 7 March 2010.
Moss, Ami. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 7 March 2010.
Mortimer, Curtis. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 21 March 2010.
Mortimer, Dawn. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 21 March 2010.
Ramsey, Chris. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 7 March 2010.
Ramsey, Sandy. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 7 March 2010.
Sadeghi, Dorena. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 6 March 2010.
Shelby, Scarlett. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 7 March 2010.
Spicer, Chris. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 7 March 2010.
Taylor, Neil. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 7 March 2010.
__________. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., date unspecified, 2010.
Tharp, Aaron. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 5 March 2010.
Trott, Jon. Interview by author, digital recording. Chicago, IL., 11 March 2009.
Trott, Tamzon. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 21 March 2010.
Van Alkemade, Glen. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 21 March 2010.
Wiitala, Christopher. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 6 March 2010.
Williams, Joel. Interview by author, digital recording, Chicago, Ill., 21 March 2008.

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