History of Explo ‘72: The Apex of the Jesus Movement, 50 Years Ago.

Bill Petro
6 min readJun 15, 2022

History of Explo ’72: The Apex of the Jesus Movement, 50 Years Ago

Fifty years ago, Explo ’72 was held in Dallas, Texas, from June 12 to June 17, 1972. It was the most conspicuous event of the Jesus Movement, at least in the media. Sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ, it was initially called the “International Student Congress on Evangelism,” but it was billed as Explo ’72 and became the largest youth evangelism training conference in church history.

What was the historical and cultural context in which this event developed, where did it go, and how was I involved?

New York Times article on Explo ’72

The Jesus Movement preceding Explo ’72

I came to the University of California at Berkeley, “Cal,” in 1971 amid the Jesus Movement. In historical terms, the Jesus Movement, or the Jesus Revolution, was considered the sixth American Revival and the first post-modern one. Growing up in California, I had seen the Jesus Revival in 1969 at Hollywood Presbyterian’s “Salt & Light” ministry and in…

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Bill Petro

Writer, historian, technologist. Former Silicon Valley tech exec. Author of fascinating articles on history, tech, pop culture, & travel. https://billpetro.com