Lonnie Frisbee
Encyclopedia
Lonnie Frisbee 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 says he 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.
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 Frisbee became the charism
atic 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 prophet
ic 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.
home and was exposed to "sketchy, dangerous characters" as a child. Frisbee's brother claimed Frisbee 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.
, 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. Frisbee and his wife Connie joined the fledgling Calvary Chapel
congregation and Smith was struck by Frisbee'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. Frisbee 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 Frisbee 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 country was being swept with a youth movement with California being one of the epicenters. 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.
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 Frisbee'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.
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 Frisbee testified that the charism
atic gifts of the Holy Spirit took hold of the church. Frisbee 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, Frisbee had made a shift in his emphasis from evangelism to the dramatic and demonstrative manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit. After speaking Frisbee 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. While there, they performed many healings and miracles for people. As reported by many who were there, Frisbee was integral to the development of what would later become Wimber's "Signs and Wonders theology".
, 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 Frisbee'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.
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.
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.
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
and self-described "seeing prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
" and mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
in the late 1960s and 1970s. Despite, or possibly because of, his hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
appearance and being a man who says he struggled with homosexuality, he had notable success as a minister and evangelist
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
especially in the signs and wonders
Signs and Wonders
Signs and Wonders was a phrase used often by leaders of the Charismatic movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is closely associated with the ministry of John Wimber and the Vineyard Movement...
faith movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
Frisbee was a key figure in the Jesus movement
Jesus movement
The Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...
and eyewitness accounts of his ministry documented in the 2007 Emmy-nominated film Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher explain how Frisbee became the charism
Charism
In Christian theology, a charism in general denotes any good gift that flows from God's love to man. The word can also mean any of the spiritual graces and qualifications granted to every Christian to perform his or her task in the Church...
atic spark igniting the rise of Chuck Smith
Chuck Smith (pastor)
Charles Ward “Chuck” Smith, , is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and the founder of the Calvary Chapel movement...
's Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel is an evangelical association of Christian churches with over one thousand congregations worldwide. Calvary Chapel also maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs. It presents itself as a "fellowship of...
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
Power Evangelism
Power Evangelism is the title of a book by Christian charismatic leader John Wimber. The term is also applied to the movement and the process described in the book...
' comes from Frisbee's ministry. Some of his harshest critics for heavy use of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit
Spiritual gift
In Christianity, spiritual gifts are endowments given by the Holy Spirit. These are the supernatural graces which individual Christians need to fulfill the mission of the church. They are described in the New Testament, primarily in , , and . also touches on the spiritual gifts...
came from the churches he helped found. He also influenced many prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
ic evangelists including Jonathan Land, Marc Dupont, Jill Austin and others. Frisbee co-founded the House of Miracles
House of Miracles
The House of Miracles was a series of Christian communal houses established during the early Jesus Movement under the auspices of Pastor Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, CA...
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
Shiloh Youth Revival Centers
The Shiloh Youth Revival Centers movement was the largest Jesus People communal movement in the United States in the 1970s. Founded by John Higgins in 1968 as a small communal house – House of Miracles – in Costa Mesa, CA, the movement quickly grew to a very large movement catering mostly to...
, 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
Sin
In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
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
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
in 1993.
Early life and career
Frisbee was raised in a single parentSingle parent
Single parent is a term that is mostly used to suggest that one parent has most of the day to day responsibilities in the raising of the child or children, which would categorize them as the dominant caregiver...
home and was exposed to "sketchy, dangerous characters" as a child. Frisbee's brother claimed Frisbee 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
Bohemian
A Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...
" 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
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
underground
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
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
Summer of Love
The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a cultural and political rebellion...
in San Francisco in 1967. He described himself as a "nudist-vegetarian-hippie".
Frisbee's unofficial evangelism
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
career began as a part of a soul-searching LSD acid-trip as part of a regular "turn on, tune in, drop out
Turn on, tune in, drop out
"Turn on, tune in, drop out" is a counterculture phrase popularized by Timothy Leary in 1967. Leary spoke at the Human Be-In, a gathering of 30,000 hippies in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and uttered the famous phrase, "Turn on, tune in, drop out". In a 1988 interview with Neil Strauss, Leary...
" session of getting high. He would often read the Bible while tripping. On one pilgrimage with friends to Tahquitz Canyon
Tahquitz
Tahquitz is a granite rock formation located on the high western slope of the San Jacinto mountain range in Riverside County, Southern California, United States, above the mountain town of Idyllwild...
outside Palm Springs
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
instead of finding meaning again in mysticism and the occult Frisbee started reading the Gospel of John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
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
Academy of Art University
The Academy of Art University , a for-profit university owned by the Stephens Institute, was founded in San Francisco, California in 1929 by Richard S. Stephens...
. He soon met members of Haight-Ashbury's Living Room mission. At the time, he talked about UFOs
Unidentified flying object
A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
and practiced hypnotism and spoke about dabbling in occult and mysticism. When Christian missionaries first met him, they said he was talking about "Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
and flying saucers". Frisbee converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, and joined the first street Christian community, The Living Room, a storefront coffeehouse commune
Commune
Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
of four couples in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco started in 1967. He quit the art academy and moved to Novato, California
Novato, California
Novato is a city located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, in northern Marin County. Novato is located about north-northwest of San Rafael, at an elevation of 30 feet above sea level . The 2010 U.S. Census estimated the city population to be about 51,904. Novato is about ...
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
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
. 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 AnaSanta Ana, California
Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....
, near Costa Mesa
Costa Mesa, California
Costa Mesa is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 109,960 at the 2010 census. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to a primarily suburban and "edge" city with an economy based on retail, commerce, and light...
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. Frisbee and his wife Connie joined the fledgling Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel is an evangelical association of Christian churches with over one thousand congregations worldwide. Calvary Chapel also maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs. It presents itself as a "fellowship of...
congregation and Smith was struck by Frisbee'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
Drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...
house called "The House of Miracles
House of Miracles
The House of Miracles was a series of Christian communal houses established during the early Jesus Movement under the auspices of Pastor Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, CA...
" 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. Frisbee 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
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
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 Frisbee believed that the youth culture would play a prominent role in the Christian movement in the United States. He cited Joel
Joel (prophet)
Joel was a prophet of ancient Israel, the second of the twelve minor prophets and the author of the Book of Joel. He is mentioned by name only once in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, in the introduction to his own brief book, as the son of Pethuel...
the prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
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 country was being swept with a youth movement with California being one of the epicenters. 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
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
to form Shiloh Youth Revival Centers
Shiloh Youth Revival Centers
The Shiloh Youth Revival Centers movement was the largest Jesus People communal movement in the United States in the 1970s. Founded by John Higgins in 1968 as a small communal house – House of Miracles – in Costa Mesa, CA, the movement quickly grew to a very large movement catering mostly to...
, 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
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. This may have been the largest Christian communal group in US history.
From 1968 - 1971 Frisbee was a leader in the Jesus movement
Jesus movement
The Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...
bringing in thousands of new converts and his influence over Calvary Chapel leaders including Mike MacIntosh
Mike MacIntosh
Mike MacIntosh is the senior pastor of Horizon Christian Fellowship in San Diego, California, and is a Protestant leader in the United States....
and Greg Laurie
Greg Laurie
Greg Laurie serves as the Senior Pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California.-Ministry:Laurie, who was born in Long Beach, California, became a Christian under the ministry of Pentecostal evangelist Lonnie Frisbee...
, whom he mentored.
Fame
"Jesus Freaks", or "Jesus People" as they were often called, were documented in media including the Kathryn KuhlmanKathryn Kuhlman
Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman was an American faith healer and evangelist.-Early life:Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman was born in Concordia, Missouri, to German-American parents...
I Believe In Miracles show where Frisbee was a featured guest talking about Jesus, prophets and quoting scripture. By 1971, the Jesus Movement
Jesus movement
The Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...
had broken in the media with major media outlets such as Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
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
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
was the greatest manifestation of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
while Frisbee was strongly involved in theology centering on spiritual gifts and New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
occurrences. Frisbee announced that he would leave California altogether and go to a movement in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
led by Derek Prince
Derek Prince
Peter Derek Vaughan Prince was an international Bible teacher whose daily radio programme Derek Prince Legacy Radio broadcasts to half the population of the world in various languages...
and Bob Mumford which taught a pyramid shepherding style of leadership and was later coined as the Shepherding Movement
Shepherding Movement
The Shepherding Movement was an influential and controversial movement within some British and American charismatic churches, emerging in the 1970s and early 1980s...
.
In 1973, the Frisbees divorced because Frisbee'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 WimberJohn Wimber
John Richard Wimber was a musician, charismatic pastor and one of the founding leaders of the Vineyard Movement, a neocharismatic Evangelical Christian denomination which began in the USA and has now spread to many countries world-wide.-Life and ministry:John Richard Wimber was the son of Basil...
was laying the groundwork for what would become the Association of Vineyard Churches
Association of Vineyard Churches
The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian denomination with over 1,500 affiliated churches worldwide....
, 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 Frisbee testified that the charism
Charism
In Christian theology, a charism in general denotes any good gift that flows from God's love to man. The word can also mean any of the spiritual graces and qualifications granted to every Christian to perform his or her task in the Church...
atic gifts of the Holy Spirit took hold of the church. Frisbee was invited by John Wimber
John Wimber
John Richard Wimber was a musician, charismatic pastor and one of the founding leaders of the Vineyard Movement, a neocharismatic Evangelical Christian denomination which began in the USA and has now spread to many countries world-wide.-Life and ministry:John Richard Wimber was the son of Basil...
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, Frisbee had made a shift in his emphasis from evangelism to the dramatic and demonstrative manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit. After speaking Frisbee invited all the young people 25 and under to come forward and invited the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
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
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
-like" look getting him instant recognition from South Africa to Denmark. While there, they performed many healings and miracles for people. As reported by many who were there, Frisbee was integral to the development of what would later become Wimber's "Signs and Wonders theology".
Sexuality revealed
Although Frisbee's homosexuality was documented as a "bit of an open secret in the church community" and that he would "party" on Saturday night then preach Sunday morning, many in the church were unaware of his "other life". 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 WeeklyOC Weekly
OC Weekly, a sister publication of both LA Weekly and The Village Voice, is a free, left-wing weekly paper distributed in Orange County, California and also in Long Beach....
, 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
Christianity Today
Christianity Today is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, Illinois. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming circulation figures of 140,000 and readership of 290,000...
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 Frisbee'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
Frisbee contracted AIDSAIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and died from complications associated with the condition. At his funeral at the Crystal Cathedral
Crystal Cathedral
The Crystal Cathedral is a Protestant Christian church building in the city of Garden Grove, in Orange County, California, United States. It is the headquarters and principal place of worship for Crystal Cathedral Ministries, a church founded in 1955 by Robert H. Schuller and affiliated with the...
, Calvary Chapel's Chuck Smith eulogized Frisbee as a Samson
Samson
Samson, Shimshon ; Shamshoun or Sampson is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Tanakh ....
-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 PalosaariJim Palosaari
James "Jim" Michael Palosaari was an evangelist and performer, one of the leaders in the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s.-Early life:...
narrated "Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher" and the documentary received an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nomination from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences or NATAS was created in 1955 to advance the arts and sciences of television. Headquartered in New York, NATAS's membership is national and the organization has local chapters around the country....
(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
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
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
Agape
Agape is one of the Greek words translated into English as love, one which became particularly appropriated in Christian theology as the love of God or Christ for mankind. In the New Testament, it refers to the fatherly love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God; the term...
, Joy
Joy (band)
Joy is an 80s Europop band from Austria, best known for their biggest hits Touch By Touch and Valerie.-History:The band Joy was formed in Bad Aussee, an Austrian town of 7500 citizens. Freddy Jaklitsch , Manfred Temmel and Andy Schweitzer were school friends, but after the graduation all three...
and Gentle Faith
Gentle Faith
Gentle Faith was a Christian country rock band in the 1970s, during the Jesus Music era, before the rise of the CCM industry. The group formed in 1974 and released one self-titled album in 1976 under the Maranatha! label....
was released in May 2007. A pre-release version of the DVD was produced that featured 21 recordings of songs by Larry Norman
Larry Norman
Larry David Norman was an American Christian musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer, who worked with Christian rock music...
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.
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
