Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, 1998, page 23
The young man who had approached me at the mall was the son of the director of a
coffeehouse that was a part of the Jesus Movement.
I became involved with this coffeehouse and its outreach ministry in the Philadelphia area.
Our coffeehouse was modeled on the coffeehouse of Chuck Smith‘s Calvary Chapel in Costa
Mesa, California. In fact, Carl Standard, the local leader of the Philadelphia Jesus People,
was a personal friend of Chuck Smith. Moreover, the son of the director of our coffeehouse
had gone to California with Carl Standard and had first-hand exposure to the Jesus People
and their coffeehouse on the West Coast
First Exposure
As a staff member at the coffeehouse I became very close to the director and his family. In
the summer of 1972 we all went to Winona Lake Missionary Conference, a major evangelical
center in Winona Lake, Indiana. There we met Ralph, a member of The Walk. This was our
first exposure to the teachings of The Walk, which was headed by John Robert Stevens. We
knew nothing about the group prior to our meeting with Ralph.
After Winona Lake, Winnie, the coffeehouse director‘s wife, became upset because of
conflicts between her family and coffeehouse duties. During this time, Ralph invited Winnie
to California. We felt the trip to California would be a much-needed break from the stress of
her day-to-day life.
She stayed in California for two weeks and learned about The Walk. When she returned to
the coffeehouse, we were impressed with dramatic, and what we felt were positive, changes
in her personality. She was totally non-critical and emotionally positive with plenty of smiles
expressing how her experience with The Walk changed her outlook on life.
The Walk’s Teachings
Winnie introduced us to the basic teachings of The Walk. Initially, we viewed this as a
blessing because of the apparently positive impact her brief experience with The Walk had
had on her life. The Walk claimed to go beyond the Jesus Movement to the full restoration
of New Testament Christianity. The Walk‘s restoration emphasis implied a rejection of the
old and acceptance of the new. We became open to the notion that God was restoring
certain things. As part of the Jesus Movement, we had been fellowshipping with all kinds of
Christians and all kinds of denominations that were open to things we were sharing with
each other. But The Walk was very different from the Jesus Movement in that regard.
Separation was a basic part of what they were about, and it had a lot to do with their
concepts of authority.
The Walk put out a series called The First Principles. By the time one got to lesson 33 in
The First Principles, the mainstream denominations were basically being presented as
Babylon. Babylon was an all-encompassing, loaded term that was used repetitively in the
group. It was truly an us-versus-them, polarizing word. Babylon meant denominational,
man-made churches used by Satan and not by the true spirit of God. Thus, as non-Walk
churches became viewed as part of Babylon, people with whom we used to fellowship were
now seen as adversaries. Because of the counter-cultural context in which all of this was
occurring, we were very open and vulnerable to this anti-establishment call to reject
mainstream institutions.
It‘s also really interesting to me to consider the conspiracy theory of history that was having
a formative impact on many of us at that time. I‘m talking about something beyond the
John Birch Society of the 1950s and 1960s. We were hearing about Illuminati and the Tri-
Lateral Commission, and we were being deluged with all kinds of adversarial material
concerning the banking system, the Federal Reserve System, the income tax system, and
all kinds of things about history. I assure you, I was no expert about these things, and
The young man who had approached me at the mall was the son of the director of a
coffeehouse that was a part of the Jesus Movement.
I became involved with this coffeehouse and its outreach ministry in the Philadelphia area.
Our coffeehouse was modeled on the coffeehouse of Chuck Smith‘s Calvary Chapel in Costa
Mesa, California. In fact, Carl Standard, the local leader of the Philadelphia Jesus People,
was a personal friend of Chuck Smith. Moreover, the son of the director of our coffeehouse
had gone to California with Carl Standard and had first-hand exposure to the Jesus People
and their coffeehouse on the West Coast
First Exposure
As a staff member at the coffeehouse I became very close to the director and his family. In
the summer of 1972 we all went to Winona Lake Missionary Conference, a major evangelical
center in Winona Lake, Indiana. There we met Ralph, a member of The Walk. This was our
first exposure to the teachings of The Walk, which was headed by John Robert Stevens. We
knew nothing about the group prior to our meeting with Ralph.
After Winona Lake, Winnie, the coffeehouse director‘s wife, became upset because of
conflicts between her family and coffeehouse duties. During this time, Ralph invited Winnie
to California. We felt the trip to California would be a much-needed break from the stress of
her day-to-day life.
She stayed in California for two weeks and learned about The Walk. When she returned to
the coffeehouse, we were impressed with dramatic, and what we felt were positive, changes
in her personality. She was totally non-critical and emotionally positive with plenty of smiles
expressing how her experience with The Walk changed her outlook on life.
The Walk’s Teachings
Winnie introduced us to the basic teachings of The Walk. Initially, we viewed this as a
blessing because of the apparently positive impact her brief experience with The Walk had
had on her life. The Walk claimed to go beyond the Jesus Movement to the full restoration
of New Testament Christianity. The Walk‘s restoration emphasis implied a rejection of the
old and acceptance of the new. We became open to the notion that God was restoring
certain things. As part of the Jesus Movement, we had been fellowshipping with all kinds of
Christians and all kinds of denominations that were open to things we were sharing with
each other. But The Walk was very different from the Jesus Movement in that regard.
Separation was a basic part of what they were about, and it had a lot to do with their
concepts of authority.
The Walk put out a series called The First Principles. By the time one got to lesson 33 in
The First Principles, the mainstream denominations were basically being presented as
Babylon. Babylon was an all-encompassing, loaded term that was used repetitively in the
group. It was truly an us-versus-them, polarizing word. Babylon meant denominational,
man-made churches used by Satan and not by the true spirit of God. Thus, as non-Walk
churches became viewed as part of Babylon, people with whom we used to fellowship were
now seen as adversaries. Because of the counter-cultural context in which all of this was
occurring, we were very open and vulnerable to this anti-establishment call to reject
mainstream institutions.
It‘s also really interesting to me to consider the conspiracy theory of history that was having
a formative impact on many of us at that time. I‘m talking about something beyond the
John Birch Society of the 1950s and 1960s. We were hearing about Illuminati and the Tri-
Lateral Commission, and we were being deluged with all kinds of adversarial material
concerning the banking system, the Federal Reserve System, the income tax system, and
all kinds of things about history. I assure you, I was no expert about these things, and
