Lonnie Frisbee

File:Lonnie Frisbee.jpg

Lonnie Frisbee baptizes in the Bible's New testament tradition while hundreds watch

Lonnie Frisbee (Costa Mesa, California)(1949 - March 12, 1993) was an American hippie Pentecostal evangelist and self-described "seeing prophet" in the late 1960s and 1970s who despite his appearance (traditional hippie long hair and full beard) had great success as a minister and evangelist. Contemporary accounts attributed his success 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 two worldwide denominations (Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel & the Vineyard Movement) it was stated that it wasn't that he was one of the hippie preachers, "there was one." Both of these churches later disowned him because of his homosexuality. Frisbee, who functioned as an evangelical preacher also supposedly privately socialized as a gay man both 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 homosexuality was not seen as acceptable in the churches at that time. 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.

Life

Frisbee was a student at the San Francisco Art Academy when he met members of the 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 soon converted to Christianity and quit the art academy to move to the Christian community Living Room house in Novato, California, and later reconnected with his former girlfriend Connie whom he soon married. The community was soon dubbed The House of Acts (named 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 small community could hardly afford this, so the sign came down.

Jesus movement, Calvary Chapel

Frisbee and his wife had left the commune of the House of Acts to go to Southern California. 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 Lonnie Frisbee. 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's attachment to the Pentecostal/Holy Spirit style, caused some disagreement within the church, since he was focused more on gaining converts than on helping them learn sound 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 he believed that the youth culture would play a prominent role in the Christian movement in the United States. He cited Joel the prophet. Under Lonnie Frisbee's ministry his most visible convert was evangelist Greg Laurie.

Frisbee became one the most important ministers in the church when soon after Smith put the young couple in charge of the rehab house called "The House of Miracles" with John Higgins and his wife Jackie, within a week it had 35 new converts. Lonnie led the Wednesday night Bible study which soon became the central night for the church attracting thousands.

Fame

"Jesus Freaks" as they were often called, were documented in media including the Kathryn Kuhlman show where Lonnie Frisbee was a featured guest talking about Jesus, prophets and quoting scripture.

By 1971, the Jesus Movement had broken in the media, and major media outlets such as Life Magazine, Newsweek and Rolling Stone Magazine were covering it. Frisbee, due to his prominence in the movement, was frequently photographed and interviewed in the magazines.

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 also strongly involved in theology centering on spiritual gifts. 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".

Divorce

In 1973, the Frisbees divorced due to his being focussed mainly on the ministry. Connie later remarried. Lonnie left the organization.

Vineyard Movement

Meanwhile, in May of 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 of 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 Jacuzzis 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, going to such places as South Africa and Europe. While there, they claimed to have performed many healings and miracles for people. As reported by many who were there, Frisbee was integral to the development of what would become Wimber's "Signs and Wonders theology".

Homosexuality Revealed

Although Lonnie's homosexuality was a "bit of an open secret in the church community" and he would "party" on Saturday night then preach Sunday morning there was no doubt that his work spoke for itself. However, as time went on, certain church officials felt that they could not tolerate any homosexual behavior which led to the end of his career.

To Church Officials

In The Orange County Weekly article "The First Jesus Freak," which chronicles Frisbee's life, 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."

To Calvary Chapel

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."

Death

Frisbee contracted AIDS and he died on 12 March 1993 from complications. At his funeral Chuck Smith controversially compared him to Samson.

External links and References

• "The First Jesus Freak" by Matt Coker, OC Weekly, March 3, 2005.
• Video of Lonnie Frisbee at Tom Stipe's church. Lonnie Frisbee ministering at Vineyard Church in Denver, CO; Senior Pastor Tom Stipe

Movie Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher

The documentary received an Emmy Award nomination from the National Television Academy of 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 historic Lido Theater not far from where in the late 1960s Lonnie and Connie Frisbee 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.

A soundtrack featuring the music of The All Saved Freak Band, Agape, Joy and Gentle Faith is scheduled for release in May 2007.

• Official site
• Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher at IMDB