The beach boys

1968: How a middle-aged pastor and some ex-hippies spoke life to a generation declaring God Is Dead | Lynn Vincent

COSTA MESA, Calif.--It was a Monday evening in southern California, 1968. Calvary Chapel pastor Chuck Smith invited everyone who wanted to be baptized to come down to the tiny 19th Street Beach near the church. About 50 kids made the trek, and Smith waded into the Pacific in his street clothes to baptize a French exchange student. "She was going back to France and wanted to be baptized," Smith recalled. When she emerged from the water, he said, "there was this bright light from heaven shining down on us."

The beam came from a police helicopter. Smith, now 81, chuckles at the memory: Someone had noticed all the hippies congregating surfside and called the cops.

By then, though, area law enforcement had heard something special was going on at Calvary Chapel. "Judges had these problem kids and saw these changes. Police saw the changes, schoolteachers saw the changes and came down to the church to see what was going on," said Smith. "These kids were on drugs, all messed up, and their parents didn't know what to do with them. Now, suddenly they're carrying around their Bibles and talking about Jesus. So the parents are wondering, just what are they getting into? They came and they heard the word of God, and realized we weren't a bunch of weirdos. We were just leading these kids into a better life."