name	Association of Vineyard Churches
main classification	Protestant
orientation	Charismatic
area	Worldwide
congregations	1,500
website	www.vineyard.org
footnotes	}}

The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian denomination with over 1,500 affiliated churches worldwide.

The Vineyard Movement is rooted in the charismatic renewal and historic evangelicalism. Instead of the mainstream charismatic label, however, the movement has preferred the term ''Empowered Evangelicals'' (a term coined by Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson in their book of the same name) to reflect their roots in traditional evangelicalism as opposed to classical Pentecostalism. Members also sometimes describe themselves as the "radical middle" between evangelicals and Pentecostals, which is a reference to the book ''The Quest for the Radical Middle,'' a historical survey of the Vineyard by Bill Jackson.

It has been associated with the "Signs and Wonders" movement, the Toronto blessing, the Kansas City Prophets and a particular style of Christian worship music.

The Vineyard operates a publishing house, Vineyard International Publishing.

History

The first Vineyard Church started when Kenn Gulliksen brought together two Bible studies, both meeting at the houses of singer/songwriters: Larry Norman and Chuck Girard. In early 1975, thirteen groups met at the Beverley Hills Women's club. These Bible studies, and others like them, were attended by many popular actors/actresses and musicians including Bob Dylan. Gulliksen's Vineyard had spun off sister churches.

In 1977, John Wimber, an evangelical pastor and teacher on church growth, founded a Calvary Chapel in Yorba Linda, California. Wimber's teaching on healing and the ministry of the Holy Spirit led to conflict with Calvary Chapel. In a meeting with Calvary Chapel leaders, it was suggested that Wimber's church stop using the Calvary name and affiliate with Gulliksen's Vineyard movement. In 1982, Wimber's church changed its name to the Anaheim Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Gulliksen turned over the churches in under his oversight to Wimber, beginning his leadership of the Vineyard movement.

Beginning in 1988, Wimber established relationships with prophetic figures such as Paul Cain, Bob Jones, and Mike Bickle who pastored Kansas City Fellowship, an independent church which would come under the Vineyard banner as Metro Vineyard (see Kansas City Prophets). For a time, these men had considerable influence on Wimber and the Vineyard—according to Jackson, Wimber's son was delivered from drug addiction through a prophetic word from Jones. However, there were those in the Vineyard who were skeptical, and Wimber himself became disillusioned over the restorationist teaching and failed prophecies of these men. Around 1991, Wimber began to distance himself from the prophetic movement, leading the Vineyard back to a church-planting direction, while Bickle's church withdrew and dropped the Vineyard label.

The Vineyard Movement suffered a visible leadership vacuum after Wimber's death on November 16, 1997. However, Todd Hunter, who served as National Coordinator since February 1994 and as acting Director of the Vineyard at the time of Wimber's death, became the National Director in January 1998 and served in that capacity until he resigned in May 2000. After Hunter's resignation, the National Board of Directors named Bert Waggoner of Sugar Land, Texas, as the new National Director. As of 2007, the Association of Vineyard Churches includes over 1,500 churches around the world, and this number continues to grow due to a strong priority placed on church-planting within the Vineyard mission.

Beliefs and practices

Doctrinal statements

For most of the early life of the Vineyard Movement, Vineyard churches had no official statement of faith. This is not to be interpreted as an absence of a common belief structure; rather, the primary reasons for the absence of such a declaration were:

the demonstrative teaching of John Wimber, who effectively set the tone and doctrinal beliefs of the Movement

a desire to reflect the "low-key," "low-pressure" environment of the church that encouraged people to "come as you are"

specifically, de-emphasizing any atmosphere or actions that could be considered patently dogmatic.

According to text in the official Vineyard Statement of Faith released in 1994, an effort to create a common Statement of Faith had been underway since 1983, but took 10+ years to complete because: "On one hand, we felt obliged to set forth our biblical and historically orthodox beliefs, on the other hand, we wanted to describe the values and priorities that make the Vineyard unique within the context of Evangelicalism."

The Vineyard Statement of Faith is generally considered to be a biblically-based Evangelical Christian profession of faith, with no mention of any issues that are considered to be controversial or divisive. In addition to the Statement of Faith (released in 1994), the church released a statement of "Theological and Philosophical Statements" penned by Bert Waggoner in 2004 to clarify the church's position on some issues that had been unclear from the Statements of Faith, including the church's priorities as it relates to worship and Bible study. The church also has published a 10-point "Vineyard Genetic Code," taught to a session of senior leadership by John Wimber in 1992, that outlines the 10 areas of ministry considered essential to any Vineyard church. Rich Nathan has described the Vineyard movement as part of a "Third Wave of the Holy Spirit" in America.Vineyard philosophy has also played a key role in the development of the transformationalism school of Christian thought.

Worship

One of the most important aspects of the Vineyard church model is the strong emphasis on connecting with God through worship. Generally in regular gatherings, whether they are main Sunday services or small “homegroups” based in private homes, equal time is given to both worship and Bible study, and a significant amount of time is also devoted to prayer and one-on-one ministry. This focus on worship and connection with the Holy Spirit is one of the primary reasons (along with the active nature of spiritual gifts discussed previously) that John Wimber gave for breaking with the Calvary Chapel movement. Worship in the Vineyard almost always is performed in a contemporary worship format, with a multi-piece band leading worship, but is not restricted to this style.

The unique nature of this contemporary worship music (especially unique in the 70s and 80s, when most mainstream denominations limited their worship to more traditional hymns) gained a lot of interest, and led to the formation of a special music ministry, later formed into a church-supported music recording and distribution company, Vineyard Music.

Ministry and the local church

Vineyard Church pastors and ministers are officially ordained after years of church service in the role of a lay leader, rather than after seminary education as in mainline Protestant denominations. Clergy in the Vineyard, like the membership and the church as a whole, are known for their “relaxed” style. More likely than not, clergy will be seen preaching on Sunday morning in jeans and a button-down shirt, and they never wear ceremonial vestments.

Many Vineyard Churches have no official membership procedures or membership records, and such a policy is not dictated by the national Vineyard Church. Instead, a community of believers is formed by those who attend Sunday or weekend services, weekday homegroups, and participate in various church ministries.

Branches

The Vineyard has a highly decentralized organizational structure, reflecting the church's belief that local and regionally-based management, ministries and outreach are more effective. Besides the nations listed below, the Vineyard also exists in many countries across Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Far East. Most national Vineyard churches are charged with their own governance, although some smaller groups exist with the support and oversight of another nation's leadership.

United States

The national headquarters of Vineyard USA is currently located in Sugar Land, Texas. Vineyard USA is divided into eight regions, and each region has clusters of churches grouped together by relationship and location, facilitated by an Area Pastoral Care Leader (APCL). The APCL's work together with the Regional Overseer (RO) to provide leadership and encouragement to the region. The central governing body of the Vineyard in the U.S. is a 12-member National Board, made up of the eight regional overseers plus four additional leadership members, including the National Director. Currently, the President and National Director is Bert Waggoner. All major strategic decisions, including theological and doctrinal statements, are made by the National Board. In 2004, Vineyard USA had 140,000 members in 600 churches.

Canada

Canada was the first country outside the United States to be accorded its own independent National Association. The first Canadian Vineyard was established in Vancouver in January 1985. Within a year, a second Vineyard was established in the Vancouver area. More churches followed, and by the time of the release of the Association of Vineyard Churches Canada in the summer of 1995 and the appointment of Gary and Joy Best as National Directors of Canada, there had been fifty Vineyards established across the country.

United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland

The Association of Vineyard Churches UK (AVC) was released in the spring of 1996 by the international association as its own national organisation. It is governed by a Council through a number of task forces, including a Board of Trustees, which oversees the pastors of existing churches and facilitates church planting. There are more than 100 Vineyard Churches in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

Australia

In 1995, the first Vineyard churches were commenced in Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane, Australia. On 13 March 2003, the Association of Vineyard Churches, Australia was formed, with Peter and Kathy Downes commissioned as National Directors. As of June 2009, there were 33 Vineyard Churches in Australia.

In February 2009, the Association launched a School of Ministry, in conjunction with Perth Bible College.

Germany, Austria and Switzerland

The first Vineyard church in Germany started in the mid-nineties near Munich. In 1999, the national association - Vineyard DACH (Deutschland, Austria, CH-Schwitzerland) - was released under the leadership of Martin and Georgia Bühlmann as National Directors. As of summer 2011, there are more than 70 Vineyard Churches in Vineyard DACH, with some of them within the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) or Roman-Catholic Church. Vineyard DACH is governed by a leadership council, supported by task forces (church planting, worship, theology, training) and active in missions in countries such as Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Cameroon, Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast,Togo, Serbia, Bosnia, Romania, Moldovia, France, Spain etc. Vineyard DACH has started an African Migration Vineyard Movement in Europe with 12 Vineyards and is also very active in reaching Roma Gypsies in different European countries.

Vineyard Music

Vineyard Music is a record label created and used by the Association of Vineyard Churches. The organisation uses it to release worship albums. A UK branch of the record label exists, called Vineyard Records. Its musicians include Kathryn Scott, Nigel Briggs, Samuel Lane, Marc James, Nigel Hemming, Casey Corum, Carl Tuttle, Brenton Brown, Brian Doerksen, David Ruis, Andy Park, Jeremy Riddle, Scott Underwood, Johanna Blanding-Koskinen, Jeff Searles, Rita Springer, Kevin Prosch and Steve Southworth.

History

Vineyard Music was developed by the Vineyard church in 1986. The church began to write its own worship songs, so John Wimber founded Mercy Records. This later became Vineyard Music.

Vineyard Music has won some industry awards, such as an award from ASCAP. ''Breathe'' was recognized in 2002 as ASCAP’s most recorded song of the year.

Discography

''Come Now Is the Time (1998)

''Hungry'' (1999)

''Surrender'' (2000)

''Fall on Me''

''Beautiful''

''Playlist: Sweetly Broken''

''Dwell''

''Holy''

''I love Your Presence'' (2001)

''You and You Alone'' (2002)

''Lord reign in Me'' (2003)

''Hold On'' (2004)

Education and training

The Vineyard operates its own 2-year leadership training program called Vineyard Leadership Institute, or VLI. VLI is housed on the campus of Vineyard Church of Columbus in Westerville, Ohio, and is directed by Steve Robbins. VLI is also offered in many Vineyard and some non-Vineyard churches through video and correspondence course curriculum. Vineyard clergy are not required to have been trained through VLI.

The Vineyard Bible Institute, a distance-learning Bible studies program, is based out of a Vineyard church in Cape Town, South Africa.

Criticism and the Toronto Blessing

During the 1990s, the Vineyard was widely criticized by conservative Christians due to events during a series of revival meetings at the then Toronto Vineyard. These meetings, dubbed the Toronto Blessing, gained notoriety due to the large crowds, lengthy meetings, and reports of unorderly manifestations of the Holy Spirit, including people laughing, crying, and shaking. Critics, such as Hank Hanegraaf in his book, "Counterfeit Revival", charged the Toronto Blessing (under Wimber's authority at the time) with promoting heresy for three main reasons: first, claiming unusual experiences of the Holy Spirit including physical responses, speaking in tongues, and prophesying; second, claiming that these experiences of spiritual revelation were equal in importance to the Bible; and third, claiming that these experiences were a sign that God was doing "something new." Hanegraaf held that the Toronto Blessing (and thus the Vineyard movement) was denying ''sola scriptura'' or the “sufficiency of Scripture”, a doctrinal tenet that Protestant churches have held to be incontrovertibly true, by suggesting that all believers should come to see what "new thing" God was doing in Toronto. To cessationist and conservative thinking, this "new thing" felt dangerous and potentially cultist, putting the inerrant word of God on equal footing with the expression of a spiritual gift or, in the Hanagraaf's position, undermining the Bible with false teachings. Ultimately, the Toronto church was released from the Vineyard movement due to the controversy of how the meetings were being handled. For a detailed treatment of this topic, refer to "The Quest For the Radical Middle" by Bill Jackson (see related books below).

Wimber consistently emphasized that clear, accurate teaching and knowledge of the scripture is critical for every Vineyard church, without expressly stating the scriptures to be the final and supreme authority in all matters of faith. These items are included in the "Vineyard Genetic Code" paper he released in 1992.

Throughout the early years of the Vineyard (1970s to 1992), Wimber avoided publicly responding to his critics. Instead, he invited his critics to meet with him personally to talk through their charges in accordance with his understanding of Scripture (Mat 18:15–17, Gal 6:1, 1 Tim 5:1). However, as the influence of the Vineyard broadened and certain misunderstandings were repeated from different sources, both outside the church and within, Wimber made the decision to respond publicly. The decision is detailed in Vineyard Position Paper #1 entitled "Why I respond to criticism" authored by John Wimber.

This was followed by a number of other position papers from various sources within the national Vineyard leadership which sought to address the most serious and widespread of the criticisms leveled against the movement.

See also

John White (Christian author)

Lonnie Frisbee

References

Further reading

''The Quest for the Radical Middle: A History of the Vineyard'' by Bill Jackson ISBN 0-620-24319-8 – A look at the history of the Vineyard through 1999.

''The Way It Was'' by Carol Wimber ISBN 0-340-73539-2 – A biography of John & Carol Wimber's life before and during their time in the Vineyard.

''Power Healing'' by John Wimber ISBN 0-340-39090-5 – John Wimber's teachings regarding healing

''Power Evangelism'' by John Wimber ISBN 0-340-56127-0 – John Wimber's teachings regarding evangelism

''Empowered Evangelicals'' by Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson ISBN 0-89283-929-5

''Who Is My Enemy'' by Rich Nathan ISBN 0-310-23882-X

''Jesus Brand Spirituality'' by Ken Wilson ISBN 0-8499-2053-1

''Saving God's Green Earth: Rediscovering the Church's Responsibility to Environmental Stewardship'' by Tri Robinson ISBN 0-9748825-8-5

''Small Footprint, Big Handprint: How to Live Simply and Love Extravagantly'' by Tri Robinson ISBN 0-9786394-8-0

''Naturally Supernatural'' by Gary Best ISBN 0-620-34814-3

''Conspiracy of Kindness'' by Steve Sjogren ISBN 978-0-8307-4572-2 – Detailing the practice of "Servant Evangelism" embraced and employed by many of the churches within the Vineyard Movement in early 1990s to present as well as a large portion of evangelical churches outside the movement.

''Not The Religious Type'' by Dave Schmelzer ISBN 1-4143-1583-X – A perspective on faith in Jesus from a former atheist-turned-Vineyard pastor.

''Breakthrough'' by Dr. Derek Morphew, international director of Vineyard Bible Institute. A perspective of the Gospel as a proclamation of the Kingdom of God. ISBN 1-86823-039-2

The John Wimber Collection at Regent University – Journal articles by and about John Wimber, conference materials, course syllabi, Vineyard publications, brochures, newspaper articles, correspondence and memorabilia.

John Wimber Teachings Available for sale at www.vineyardresources.com – Buy John Wimber DVDs, Audio CDs, and MP3s.

External links

Vineyard International Consortium

Vineyard Churches Aotearoa New Zealand

Vineyard Churches Australia

Vineyard/ Churches Canada

Vineyard Churches UK

Vineyard Norden

Vineyard USA

Vineyard Costa Rica

Category:Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity Category:Evangelical denominations in North America Category:Christian new religious movements Category:Vineyard Churches

de:Vineyard fr:Vineyard nl:Vineyardbeweging no:Vineyard-bevegelsen pt:Vineyard sv:Vineyard

name	Lonnie Frisbee
birth name	Lonnie Frisbee
birth date	June 06, 1949
birth place	Costa Mesa, California, United States
nationality	American
death date	March 12, 1993
death place	Orange County, California
years active	1966-1991 (25 years)
style	Power evangelism, gifts of the Spirit
influenced	Calvary Chapel, Jesus Movement, Vineyard Movement, House of Miracles, Chuck Smith, John Wimber, Mike MacIntosh, and Greg Laurie
religion	Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity
occupation	Pentecostal evangelist and minister
spouse	Connie (divorced in 1973) }}

Lonnie Frisbee (June 6, 1949 – March 12, 1993) was an American Pentecostal evangelist and self-described "seeing prophet" and mystic in the late 1960s and 1970s. Despite, or possibly because of, his hippie appearance and being a man who struggled with homosexuality, he had notable success as a minister and evangelist especially in the signs and wonders faith movement of the 1970s and 1980s.

Contemporary accounts attributed his accomplishments to his incredible anointing of the Holy Spirit. Frisbee was a key figure in the Jesus movement and eyewitness accounts of his ministry documented in the 2007 Emmy-nominated film ''Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher'' explain how Lonnie became the charismatic spark igniting the rise of Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard Movement, two worldwide denominations and among the largest evangelical denominations to emerge in the last thirty years. It was said that he was not one of the hippie preachers, "there was one." The term 'power evangelism' comes from Frisbee's ministry. Some of his harshest critics for heavy use of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit came from the churches he helped found. He also influenced many prophetic evangelists including Jonathan Land, Marc Dupont, Jill Austin and others. Frisbee co-founded the House of Miracles commune and was its main architect, converting many. The House of Miracles grew into a series of nineteen communal houses that later migrated to Oregon to form Shiloh Youth Revival Centers, the largest and one of the longest-lasting of the Jesus People communal groups.

Frisbee functioned both as an evangelical preacher also privately socialized as a gay man before and during his evangelism career. This is held in tension with the fact that he said in interviews that he never believed homosexuality was anything other than a sin in the eyes of God and both denominations prohibited gay sexual behavior. Both churches later disowned him because of his active sexual life, removing him first from leadership positions, then ultimately, firing him. He was shunned and "written out of the official histories." As part of his ostracism from his former churches his work was maligned but he forgave those who tried to discredit him before his death from AIDS in 1993.

Early life and career

Frisbee was raised in a single parent home and was exposed to "sketchy, dangerous characters" as a child. Frisbee's brother claimed Lonnie was raped at the age of eight and documentarian David di Sabatino postulated that an incident of that nature "fragments your identity." His father ran off with another woman and his mother tracked down and married the jilted husband. He showed great interest in the arts and cooking. He won awards for his paintings and even appeared as a featured dancer on ''Shebang''. He exhibited a "bohemian" streak and regularly ran away from home. As a teen he became part of the drug culture, as part of a spiritual quest, and at fifteen he entered Laguna Beach's gay underground scene with a friend. His "spotty" high school education left him barely able to read and write. At 18 he joined thousands of other flower children and hippies for the Summer of Love in San Francisco in 1967. He described himself as a "nudist-vegetarian-hippie".

Frisbee's unofficial evangelism career began as a part of a soul-searching LSD acid-trip as part of a regular "turn on, tune in, drop out" session of getting high. He would often read the Bible while tripping. On one pilgrimage with friends to Tahquitz Canyon outside Palm Springs instead of finding meaning again in mysticism and the occult Frisbee started reading the Gospel of John to the group and eventually led the group to Tahquitz Falls and baptized them. A later acid-trip in the same area produced "a vision of a vast sea of people crying out to the Lord for salvation, with Frisbee in front preaching the gospel." His "grand vision of spreading Christianity to the masses" alienated his family and friends. Frisbee left for San Francisco where he had won a fellowship to the San Francisco Art Academy. He soon met members of Haight-Ashbury's Living Room mission. At the time, he talked about UFOs and practiced hypnotism and spoke about dabbling in occult and mysticism. When Christian missionaries first met him, they said he was talking about "Jesus and flying saucers". Frisbee converted to Christianity, and joined the first street Christian community, The Living Room, a storefront coffeehouse commune of four couples in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco started in 1967. He quit the art academy and moved to Novato, California to set up a commune and later reconnected with his former girlfriend Connie whom he then married. The community was soon dubbed The House of Acts after the community of early Christians in the Acts of the Apostles. Frisbee designed a sign to put outside the house, but was informed that if he gave it an official name, it would no longer be considered a mere guest house and would be subject to renovations. The community took the sign down to avoid the financial obligation. Frisbee continued painting detailed oils including of missions.

Jesus movement, Calvary Chapel

Chuck Smith, meanwhile, had been making plans to build a chapel out of a surplus school building in the City of Santa Ana, near Costa Mesa when he met Frisbee. Smith's daughter's boyfriend John was a former addict who had turned to Christianity and when Smith wanted to meet a hippie John brought home Frisbee who was hitch-hiking so he could meet people to tell about Jesus and salvation. Lonnie and his wife Connie joined the fledgling Calvary Chapel congregation and Smith was struck by Lonnie's charisma, "I was not at all prepared for the love that this young man would radiate." Frisbee became one of the most important ministers in the church when on 17 May 1968 Smith put the young couple in charge of the Costa Mesa rehab house called "The House of Miracles" with John Higgins and his wife Jackie, within a week it had 35 new converts. Bunk beds were built in the garage to house all the new converts. Lonnie led the Wednesday night Bible study which soon became the central night for the church attracting thousands. Frisbee's attachment to the charismatic Pentecostal style caused some disagreement within the church since he seemed focused more on gaining converts and experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit than on teaching newer converts Biblical doctrine. Chuck Smith, however, took up that job and welcomed Frisbee into his church. Frisbee's appearance helped appeal to hippies and those interested in youth culture, and Lonnie believed that the youth culture would play a prominent role in the Christian movement in the United States. He cited Joel the prophet and remained upbeat despite what the young couple saw as unbalanced treatment as Frisbee was never paid for his work yet another person was hired full-time as Smith's assistant. The counterculture of hippies and surfers hung around the beaches and music and the resulting dancing was the main form of communication. Frisbee would walk the beaches during the day and convert the young people and bring them back to the church for the nightly services.

The House of Miracles grew into a series of nineteen communal houses that later migrated to Oregon to form Shiloh Youth Revival Centers, the largest and one of the longest lasting of the Jesus People communal groups which had 100,000 members and 175 communal houses spread across North America. This may have been the largest Christian communal group in US history.

From 1968 - 1971 Frisbee was a leader in the Jesus movement bringing in thousands of new converts and his influence over Calvary Chapel leaders including Mike MacIntosh and Greg Laurie, whom he mentored.

Fame

"Jesus Freaks", or "Jesus People" as they were often called, were documented in media including the Kathryn Kuhlman ''I Believe In Miracles'' show where Frisbee was a featured guest talking about Jesus, prophets and quoting scripture. By 1971, the Jesus Movement had broken in the media with major media outlets such as ''Life'', ''Newsweek'' and ''Rolling Stone'' covering it. Frisbee, due to his prominence in the movement, was frequently photographed and interviewed. It was also in 1971 that Frisbee and Smith parted ways because their ideological differences had become too great. Smith discounted Pentecostalism, maintaining that love was the greatest manifestation of the Holy Spirit while Frisbee was strongly involved in theology centering on spiritual gifts and New Testament occurrences. Frisbee announced that he would leave California altogether and go to a movement in Florida led by Derek Prince and Bob Mumford which taught a pyramid shepherding style of leadership and was later coined as the Shepherding Movement.

In 1973, the Frisbees divorced because Lonnie's pastor had an affair with his wife. Frisbee mentions this in a sermon he gave at the Vineyard Church in Denver, Colorado, a few years before he died. Connie later re-married. Lonnie left the organization.

Vineyard Movement

Meanwhile, in May 1977 John Wimber was laying the groundwork for what would become the Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, he had witnessed the explosive growth of Calvary Chapel and sought to build a church that embraced the healings and miracles that he had previously been taught were no longer a part of Christian life. He began teaching and preaching about spiritual gifts and healings which did occur but it wasn't until May 1980 when Lonnie testified that the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit took hold of the church. Lonnie was invited by John Wimber to go to what was then a Yorba Linda branch of the Calvary Chapel movement, to preach. Since his early days at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, Lonnie had made a shift in his emphasis from evangelism to the dramatic and demonstrative manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit. After speaking Lonnie invited all the young people 25 and under to come forward and invited the Holy Spirit to bring God's power into their lives. Witnesses say it looked like a battlefield as young people fell and began to shake and speak in tongues. The young kids, many in Junior High and High School, were so "filled with the Spirit" that they soon started baptizing friends in hot tubs and swimming pools around town. The church catapulted in growth over the next few months and the event is credited with launching the Vineyard Movement. After this time, Frisbee and Wimber began traveling the world, visiting South Africa and Europe. Frisbee was a much sought-after preacher with his "Jesus-like" look getting him instant recognition from South Africa to Denmark. Eventually some church officials felt that his inability to overcome what the church considers sexual immorality became too big a hindrance to his ability to minister. An article in ''The Orange County Weekly'', headlined "The First Jesus Freak," chronicles Frisbee's life, in which Matt Coker writes, "Chuck Smith Jr. says he was having lunch with Wimber one day when he asked how the pastor reconciled working with a known homosexual like Frisbee. Wimber asked how the younger Smith knew this. Smith said he’d received a call from a pastor who’d just heard a young man confess to having been in a six-month relationship with Frisbee. Wimber called Smith the next day to say he’d confronted Frisbee, who openly admitted to the affair and agreed to leave."

In a 2005 interview by ''Christianity Today'' film reviewer Peter Chattaway with David Di Sabatino, the documentary director of ''Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher'', the two spoke about addressing Lonnie's homosexuality with his family. Said Di Sabatino, "I brought to light some things that not a lot of people knew. I've been in rooms with his family where I've had to tell them that he defined himself as gay, way back. Nobody knew that. There's a lot of hubris in that, to come to people who loved him and prayed for him, and to stand there and say, "You didn't really know this, but..." In the same interview Di Sabatino also stated, "His early testimony at Calvary Chapel was that he had come out of the homosexual lifestyle, but he felt like a leper because a lot of people turned away from him after that, so he took it out of his testimony—and I think that's an indictment of the church." Di Sabatino commented on Frisbee's homosexuality as a flaw and stated that Frisbee's brother claimed Frisbee was raped at the age of 8 years old and postulated that an incident of that nature "fragments your identity, and now I can't say that I'm surprised at all." In other research Di Sabatino revealed that Frisbee had come from a broken home and entered into Laguna Beach's gay underground scene with a friend when he was fifteen.

Death

Lonnie Frisbee contracted AIDS and died from complications associated with the condition. At his funeral at the Crystal Cathedral, Calvary Chapel's Chuck Smith eulogized Frisbee as a Samson-like figure; that being a man through whom God did many great works, but was the victim of his own struggles and temptations. Some saw this as further maligning Frisbee's work and an inappropriate characterization at a funeral service. Others, such as Frisbee friend John Ruttkay, saw the Samson analogy as spot on, and said so at his funeral. Frisbee was interred in the Crystal Cathedral Memorial Gardens.

''Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher''

Jim Palosaari narrated ''"Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher"'' and the documentary received an Emmy Award nomination from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (San Francisco/NorCal chapter).

Finished in March 2005, ''Frisbee'' was first accepted to the Newport Beach Film Festival where it sold out the Lido Theater not far from where in the late 1960s the Frisbees ran the Blue Top commune, a Christian community of young hippie believers. The documentary was also accepted to the Mill Valley (2005), Reel Heart (2005), Ragamuffin (2005), San Francisco International Independent (2006), New York Underground (2006) and Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian (2006) film festivals. The edited movie showed on San Francisco's KQED in November 2006, and was released in DVD form in January 2007.

A soundtrack featuring the music of The All Saved Freak Band, Agape, Joy and Gentle Faith was released in May 2007. A pre-release version of the DVD was produced that featured 21 recordings of songs by Larry Norman alone, as well as others by Randy Stonehill, Love Song, Fred Caban, Mark Heard, and Stonewood Cross. However, due to licensing issues most of the music was changed for the final release.

See also

Duane Pederson

Jesus music

Mel White

Troy D. Perry

References

External links

''Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher'', official site

Lonnie Frisbee's testimony (preaching) on Mother's Day at Pastor John Wimber's Church, May 11, 1988, part 2; audio only with extensive photo slideshow. It is believed by some that this very meeting inspired the Vineyard Church movement (trailer on video gives date of 5-11-88, however vineyardusa.org states that this occurred in 1980).

Lonnie Frisbee ministering at Tom Stipe’s Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Denver, Colorado

Lonnie Frisbee related videos on YouTube

photo of Frisbee

Category:1949 births Category:1993 deaths Category:American Christian clergy Category:American evangelicals Category:American Pentecostals Category:Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity Category:Christian evangelicalism Category:Christian ministers Category:Jesus movement Category:Hippie films Category:LGBT Christians Category:LGBT clergy Category:LGBT people from the United States Category:Religious scandals Category:Christian mystics

hu:Lonnie Frisbee