Kent Allan Philpott

In Memoirs of a Jesus Freak, Kent Philpott tells of going to the hippies in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco in early 1967 and the unusual outpouring of the Holy Spirit with signs and wonders that was the Jesus People Movement. The 1967 Summer of Love gave way to the 1968 summer of hell, invaded by hard drugs and predators, and no one wore flowers in their hair anymore. Yet this was when the flames of the awakening burned most brightly. Perhaps the awakening's first convert was David Hoyt, fresh out of federal prison. Philpott ran with Hoyt out of a burning Hare Krishna Temple on Fredrick Street where Hoyt had been the chief devotee. The two then spent endless hours on the streets of the City, reaching out to youth who were in search of love, sex, enlightenment, and rock and roll. Satanic cults, TM, and Eastern religions, along with a renaissance of occult arts clashed harshly with the old time religion of Jesus Christ and the Bible. In the ensuing intense spiritual warfare, battles were won and lost, yet a form of Christianity took hold with a likeness to the primitive days of the first century Christian Church. New music and new evangelistic techniques invaded local churches, and everyone was talking about Jesus. Contents include 45 chapters, 36 biographies, and 66 photos - a primary source document for researchers on the Jesus People Movement, an American awakening from 1967 to 1972.