Ministry Update: Lonnie Frisbee and the Jesus People Revival as well as 2022 In Review

Lonnie Frisbee has been in the news recently with the release of The Jesus Revolution movie. We’ve updated and revised an article we did on him. Our ole buddy John Ruttkay said: “This is one of the best articles on Lonnie and the Jesus People Revival I’ve ever read.” Check it out! 

Lonnie Frisbee and the Jesus People Revival: 

.pdf version of article

https://www.graceworldmission.org/Jesus_ppl_revival.html

With all that has been going on with the release of the movie The Jesus Revolution we got a little delayed with our online version of our 2022 Year in Review, so have a look at that as well!

Year in Review – 2022

We were blessed to minister in various places this last year as things began opening up more after the last few crazy years with so much being shut down. 

Amongst the highlights were some places we haven’t traveled to, nor ministered at in a while, like: Colorado Springs, Colorado. We were blessed to visit with some old friends that we had not seen in a few years as well as minister at their church. We experienced an awesome visitation of the Lord’s presence that was just phenomenal and many of us ended up overwhelmed and floored by the amazing grace and presence of the Lord! 

 

We had similar experiences up in Salinas in Northern California where we caught up with old friends as we ministered at the Vineyard up there with our friend Dave who we connected with years back when he prayed for him, and he got filled with the Holy Spirit. We experienced a powerful outpouring in Salinas that carried on until late in the evening as the Holy Spirit touched most of those who had come to the service. 

We were blessed to get back up to Canada after a few years of not being up that way, after they finally opened up their border. We ministered in some different places throughout Vancouver Island including various places in the city of Victoria, as well as in the towns of Port Alberni and Port Hardy—where we experienced a visitation that overwhelmed the whole church and flooded the place with the Lord’s presence so powerfully that nobody could even hardly move! It was a blessing to see the Holy Spirit ministering in power and filling, healing and setting people free, in each service as well as a having few people receive Christ along the way, including a First Nations lady who got saved and delivered in a powerful way! 

We were also thankful to get up to Mammoth Mountain in the California Sierras, where we ministered at the church in town up there after a series of divine leadings and encounters connected to another meeting down on the coast where we led worship when our friend Lauren was visiting. Lauren’s friend, whose house we had been ministering at down on the coast happened to be up in Mammoth and came to the meeting and got powerfully ministered to, along with a few others there too, it was a blessed time! 

We also had some powerful ministry in various places in Orange County including when we ministered at Centro Cristiano Esperanza and experienced the Lord’s presence in an awesome way with so many at the congregation receiving from the Lord in an amazing way, as well as a few who received Christ and others who rededicated their lives to the Lord. We were blessed to have our son Patrick and his girlfriend Emily, as well as our friend Dave, help pray for people, which led to many getting ministered to. Later on at lunch that day, we prayed for the pastor’s granddaughter who got powerfully touched at a restaurant! 

We had other powerful ministry in various places as well: We ministered in Los Angeles at an old friend’s church where some people received Christ and many got filled with the Holy Spirit as we ministered, as well as in other places in Orange County, which included sharing about The Jesus People Revival at Chuck Smith’s original church in OC, and other ministry along the southern border, where we continued experiencing the Kingdom of God in power each step along the way. 

On the Home Front 

We were blessed to be able to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in 2022 and thank the Lord for His grace to us over the years. We took some time up in Canada, aside from ministering up there, to travel out to Jasper National Park and the Columbia Icefields which was a refreshing time together! 

Our son Patrick got engaged to be married and we are happy to have had the Lord connect him to Emily, a Spirit-filled young lady from a missionary family! 

My (Bryan) stepfather passed away, who was in his 90’s. We were thankful to be able to minister to others in the family along the way in the final days of his illness, as well as conduct the memorial where we shared the Gospel. Along the way, we led a relative in prayer to receive Christ, and prayed for others as well, including my mom who we led to Christ a few years ago. We had some spiritual warfare in the midst of it all and got hit by a distracted driver on his cell phone right after doing the memorial. The insurance is looking to total our car—you don’t get a lot for a 17-year-old vehicle—which is our main car. So we appreciate your prayers and any contribution the Lord may lay on your heart for this need! 

We thank the Lord for each and every one of you and always really appreciate all your prayers and support. 

Blessings to you in Jesus’ Name! 

Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux

https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission

Ministry Update - Fall 2022

 

Ministry and scenes from Victoria with
a little time with friends like the
Brasset's and Pastor Dan & Julie.

                                                                                    

30 Years of Marriage 

 

We have been blessed to celebrate thirty years of marriage this year! Wow, that is actually quite the milestone!

It is especially so since we both grew up in backgrounds with broken homes and divorce. However--in Christ there is that blessed “however”—the Lord has, by His grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit, helped us overcome the odds that psychologists say have been stacked against those married couples who both grow up in homes that had divorced parents.

We are thankful, as the Lord has done so much healing, inner healing, restoration, freeing, and on and on, by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives over the years, to establish us on the Rock of Christ in our union together.

We know so many people who have gotten separated or divorced, unfortunately many Christians among them. But for the grace of God, we could be among them as well! “However” we just humbly thank the Lord—with no pride about it—as we know it is all a gift of grace from above! 

We rejoice that the Holy Spirit continues to work in our lives to heal, and bring health, to our marriage union. We feel blessed to be celebrating this 30-year marriage milestone this year and give praise to the Lord for all His blessings!

 

Canada Mission Trip

 

We recently returned from a month-long trip ministering in British Columbia, Canada, as well as taking a little time to visit some unique and scenic places up there in celebration of our wedding anniversary.

We ministered in various meetings and churches on Vancouver Island, from the south to the north as well as in the middle of the island, ministering in the city of Victoria and in the towns of Port Alberni, and Port Hardy. 

We first ministered on the south end of the island in the city of Victoria, which is the capital of British Columbia.

We did a number of meetings while in Victoria, ministering at a couple of different church services on different weekends, as well as during the week at Bible study Prayer Meetings and a Men’s Prayer Breakfast.

Ministry and scenes from Port Hardy Christian Fellowship and some time hanging out
with Lance and Sarah and friends, we were blessed to check out  
some awesome wildlife and get in a bit of surf while out in Tofino.

    We were stoked to have the presence of the Lord moving and working, all the way through in every meeting! Many were experiencing the filling, freeing, and healing power of the Holy Spirit, along with those who were baptized in the Holy Spirit.

We received some powerful testimonies of some who were healed including a woman who was set free from chest pain! Others experienced inner healing and deliverance, and there was an empowering happening with a release of spiritual gifts and empowering for evangelism that was taking place as we ministered that many who received testified to! Hallelujah! 

A couple of people testified publicly, and on social media, how they felt the fire and power of the Holy Spirit, baptizing as well as re-baptizing some, in such a way with fire and Holy Ghost power as to overwhelm them, and in the process bringing healing, freedom and deliverance in their lives.

We went out with a van full of people to minister in Port Alberni where the Holy Spirit brought forth some powerful healing and deliverance to a number of people there.

After ministering in Victoria at the southern end, we did a series of meetings in a row up in Port Hardy at the northern end of the island, so we were literally at the ends of the earth on the island.

The Holy Spirit was moving powerfully as we ministered and we received testimonies of people set free, some receiving healings:  A guy testified to being healed of acid reflux and another to being healed of arthritis. We also had a couple people who received the Lord! One woman who opened her heart to Christ had a First Nations’ background as well as coming from a rough set of circumstances, we witnessed a complete visible change come over her after receiving Christ. She spent the next couple of days just reading the Bible, praying, and then came to a service where she publicly shared a song the Lord had just given her! 

At the last meeting in Port Hardy, after ministering every day for a few days, the overwhelming presence of the Lord just swept through, and nobody could even move for quite a while…complete silence … and then waves of weeping and then laughter… repentance … glory! The visitation of the Lord’s presence was so powerful that we were all overwhelmed…just turned into abiding in His presence for quite a while…and then praying and ministering to one another! Something historic revivals have experienced! Glory!!

We just met some people who have ministered in Canada in the past themselves who shared how they were so glad to hear about us going on mission trips and ministering there. They said it is a place that needs the ministry of the Holy Spirit and empowering of the Kingdom of God in a major way, and they feel it is actually overlooked as a mission and ministry destination.

 

    Luther and The Reformation

 

Scenes from when we visited Wittenberg, Germany and the Reformation Celebration a few years ago where a quarter million people flooded the little town of Wittenberg to celebrate the Reformation. We have an important article on the Reformation you can read here.

    We were sharing at a morning breakfast meeting right after a long night, having gone to a BBQ and then a dinner meeting. We were pressed for time in the morning, rushing to the meeting. After we arrived and began eating breakfast, someone had left on a worship program on the TV. Out of nowhere they began playing “A Mighty Fortresses is our God” from Martin Luther, a song not part of the normal worship set at most contemporary churches. 

The Lord had us leading some worship ourselves, and afterwards we shared about Luther and the importance of the Reformation and how it set the foundation for revivals. (We have been blessed to have opportunities to share on Luther at other meetings as well.)  We had a powerful Holy Ghost morning as a result! We also just did a blog on the 505th Anniversary of the Reformation and the 500-year anniversary of Martin Luther’s New Testament Translation. You can check it out at this link:

https://gwmgracenotes.blogspot.com/2022/10/500-anniv-luthers-nt.html

 

Divine Appointments

 

We took a hike out in the Port Hardy area after ministering, where we got to have a unique National Geographic-type moment as we watched the wild bears in the area feed on the salmon coming in from the ocean to go up river! We were originally going to hike somewhere else, but I unexpectedly had a divine appointment with a couple different people who both told me about this particular area and the bears being actively feeding at the moment! It was a unique experience and a small anniversary gift from above, along with all the blessed ministry we experienced up there, as well as getting some of the best surf and weather in Canada we’ve ever gotten when we visited the coast for a couple of days.

We actually also had a divine appointment right as we landed in Canada. We ended up praying for our shuttle driver who drove us from the airport to our hotel. We got to share with him for a while and then prayed for him in the parking lot. He was a believer who needed, and received, a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit as we prayed for him.

Right before going to Canada, we had a rather lengthy divine appointment with a man from Europe as we were taking a walk one afternoon. He had grown up in a religious situation with Catholicism but had no real relationship with Christ. He heard the Gospel though, and was born again and later was empowered by the Holy Spirit. We prayed together with him to renew and revive those gifts of the Spirit in his life, and it was a blessed and powerful time that also confirmed things the Lord has been guiding us in.

The Lord has had us reaching out to fellow believers who need to be empowered and filled with the Holy Spirit, along with those who already have but are in need of a renewing touch of the Holy Spirit’s power in their lives, something that one of our old mentors Harald Bredesen was gifted in doing, glad to be carrying on that legacy.

We’ve also seen many with religious backgrounds who don’t really know the Gospel and don’t have a relationship with Christ, open up and receive Him. In fact, a family member opened their heart to pray with us and receive Christ just recently! Praise the Lord! 

Right after that, as well as witnessing to some other people with religious backgrounds while walking on a pier in Orange County,  I came home and a box fell over in the garage with an article about reaching people with nominal religious backgrounds and leading them to Christ, as well as the need to see believers filled with a fresh touch of the power of the Holy Spirit, something the Lord is highlighting in our day! Billy Graham shared about how he reached out to everyone with the Gospel, including those with religious backgrounds, and also spoke very strongly about the need for us all to be filled, as well as regularly refilled, with the power of the Holy Spirit!

 

Jesus People 

 

Scenes from the Jesus People Revival and a recent meeting.
We have an article that was picked up by an International
Renewal Publication you can read here.

    We were at a Jesus People Gathering fairly recently that had memories from the Jesus People Revival being shared. We also had some powerful divine appointments while there including praying for some people who got ministered to very, very, powerfully!  One man in fact shared how it was a life-changing encounter he had as we prayed for him! Hallelujah!

We also just shared at a meeting that took place in Chuck Smith’s original church before the Jesus People Revival started, and we spoke about Lonnie Frisbee’s role in that revival! It was a powerful time reflecting on that important move of God—that really wasn’t too long ago—and still has latent blessing for us today. There is a fresh interest brewing in how God moved in that time. The Lord indeed uses the weak things that none may boast before Him!  

Lots more has been happening, but we’ll share some more on another update. 

 

We praise God and thank you for your prayers and support! 

We are so appreciative and give thanks in Jesus’ Name!

Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux

 

Grace World Mission—Useful Links 

Email: gracewm@flash.net 

Website: www.graceworldmission.org 

Donate Online: www.graceworldmission.org/contact_us.htm 

Blog Grace Notes: gwmgracenotes.blogspot.com 

Blog Reflections from the Road: reflectionsftroad.blogspot.com 

Podcast: Grace Alone on Apple Podcasts 

Radio: Grace Alone episodes: https://www.elsitiocristiano.com/ministries/solo-por-gracia/

YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/graceworldmission 

Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/graceworldmission 

Facebook page: Grace World Mission (you can like us to get updates) 

Music on Spotify, Apple Music, and Soundcloud listed under BMarleaux

Ministry Update: Fall/Winter 2021

Praise God! Jesus said: “I have come that they may have life and that more abundantly.” John 10:10. We are thankful for the life eternal and abundant Christ has given us and that He gives us opportunity to share it with others.

 

We have been ministering down in the Southern border region recently, where we preached at a meeting at Iglesia Antioquia which is a church where we have old friends and one that we have been connected to for many years. In fact, in the past we spent 7 years there teaching and preaching and helping out on a monthly basis. We preached on how Christ has paid the full price for our sins on the cross, as well as the righteousness that He credits to us by faith along with the grace we are given in Christ. As we prayed over the congregation the power of the Holy Spirit filled and renewed those we prayed for, giving a deeper revelation and understanding of Christ’s sacrifice for us. It is amazing how the Holy Spirit brings a deepening of the revelation of the cross, and it is always refreshing when His presence moves among us.

 

We got to share some Holy Ghost Stories as well as some Revival History and perform some Worship and Revival Songs together on The Art of Worship podcast with Cheryl Deborah Thomas on the Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network in OC, which appears on numerous platforms, channels, and formats. It was a blessed time of sharing together on a couple of different programs with Mercedes, Cheryl, and myself, as we spoke and sang. 

 

As we approached the 504^th anniversary of the Reformation at the end of October, we also shared on a Zoom prayer meeting, telling about Martin Luther and how the grace of Christ touched his life in such a deep way that it eventually reverberated out through Europe and then to other nations. This year is also the 410^th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible. We share about the connection between the Reformation and the King James publication in our latest video and blog which you can check out here: https://youtu.be/SVny9ov569E

 

We have also shared at Calvary Chapel in San Clemente a couple of times recently on the work and power of the Holy Spirit, in and for evangelism, and the need for the Holy Spirit to empower us to reach people with the Gospel, something the Jesus People Revival was all about. We prayed for the group of people there at the end of one of the meetings. The Lord gave me a word as we were praying for people and the Holy Spirit then fell in power as I shared it! A young woman got touched powerfully and began crying as I shared the word and the Spirit filled her and then others started getting touched and filled with the Holy Spirit, in the end everyone there got touched and ministered to, hallelujah!!

 

Outreaches 

 

We also joined up with that particular young lady who got touched at CCSC and we prayed for, going out on the weekend to do an outreach at the beach in South OC. We shared the Gospel and planted seeds with many others, as well as prayed for different people on the beach. This included a Hispanic woman who we had a divine appointment with who was deeply touched when we prayed for her right there on the beach and who then wrote us a very nice note afterwards sharing how deeply ministered to she was! We also ministered to a young Marine. I was able to share with him and also counsel and pray for him to help him move forward in his walk with God.

 

In fact, we have been participating in some other outreaches along the Coast in different areas recently as well. 

 

One of the other outreaches was down in San Diego, where we had a divine appointment with a woman we met and prayed for who got ministered to powerfully, as well as running into an old friend. We joined together and prayed for these guys and ministered to them, which included our son Patrick who was at the outreach too with a friend. The Holy Spirit swept in and fell in power, knocking a number of those we were praying with to the ground, and deeply and powerfully impacted them with Christ’s love, power, and glory, hallelujah!

 

We shared about Lonnie Frisbee and the Jesus People Revival at an outreach at Pirate’s Cove in Corona Del Mar, telling about the large baptisms that used to take place there. Lonnie was used to lead others not only water baptism, but also the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We also shared and prayed for numerous people there who we met and who were impacted by the Holy Spirit when we ministered to them!

 

More Divine Appointments…

 

We also had a divine appointment with a Hispanic lady at a coffee shop. The Lord gave me a word for her about her needing prayer when I talked with her. 

 

She asked us to wait a few minutes until she was done working to pray for her. In the meantime, a lot of spiritual warfare started happening when the manager, out of the blue, started acting rude and hostile to us. We knew it was spiritual warfare and just ignored it. We waited until she was finished, and then and then began to pray for her with some friends, who we have been ministering together with at their house church,and the Lord touched her very, very powerfully. She was a believer going through many trials and the Lord ministered to her deeply, with many tears coming down as the Holy Spirit filled her up! Glory Hallelujah!!

The Lord has been leading us into many other divine appointments as well. 

 

We went up the Northern Coast of the Pacific for a family wedding where Mercedes’ nephew was getting married. On the way up, we stopped to camp along the coast, where we encountered some hippie guys who lived there at the camp, and we ended up spending some time sharing the Gospel with them and planting the seeds of the Kingdom of God in their hearts. 

 

It is important to note that a significant part of the evangelistic process is planting seeds. A person who we led to the Lord recently had someone else sowing the seeds of the Kingdom in their life, which we got to harvest in leading them to Christ. As Jesus said: ‘One sows the seed, and another reaps the harvest…’ John 4:37.

 

We also had some divine appointments at the wedding. I met a well-known Christian author who I connected with and prayed for, and he began sharing some of his own private Holy Spirit encounter stories with me when he found out I was Spirt-filled, which led him to open up to me (he is not publicly known as Charismatic but has been having some Charismatic experiences). We also prayed for one of the cooks there at the wedding as well as witnessing to some other people we met while having a few adventures along the way!

 

We also had a Holy Ghost rendezvous on the way home with our old friend Dave from up north. We met together up north while we were traveling and experienced some refreshing waves of living water as we shared and prayed together. 

We have also been ministering in some small group settings where we have experienced the Lord ministering powerfully in healing and mercy by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

 

We thank you so much for your prayers and support which helps keep us out there ministering the Kingdom of God and the love of Christ to others. 

Blessings to you!

Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux

40th Anniversary of the Mother’s Day Outpouring

Introduction

Worship service at Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda
held at the Canyon High School gym.

Although I have written other pieces on this topic, this one has a little more background on some of the events surrounding and leading up to my own experience with being filled with the Holy Spirit, which took place at what was called then Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda. Some of what happened with me is covered in Roger Sachs’ recent books on Lonnie Frisbee. I am giving a little more in-depth personal account from my own perspective:

The Mother’s Day Outpouring of the Holy Spirit that took place when Lonnie Frisbee shared his testimony and ministered at Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda, turned into a full-blown revival.

Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda, which held its services in the Canyon High School gymnasium in Yorba Linda, was pastored by John Wimber. It was some years later when it changed its name to Anaheim Vineyard. Wimber had invited Lonnie Frisbee to share his testimony, which turned out to be on Mother’s Day. Lonnie had been one of the main early evangelists in the Jesus People Revival and he preached regularly at evangelistic services held at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa for years, where many people were saved, and back in the day, also often included people being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Sometime along Lonnie’s second stint at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, he met and connected with John Wimber. Lonnie had left some time ago to Florida to try and mend his marriage, and then came back later and was on staff again at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa for a second time. Wimber and Frisbee met at a Calvary Chapel conference in Lake Arrowhead and he later invited Lonnie to share his testimony at Calvary Chapel church in Yorba Linda.

Mother’s Day

Lonnie shared his humorous testimony laden with stories of the Jesus People days and anecdotes of himself learning to operate in the Holy Spirit. This included some of his missteps like trying to heal a guy with a neck brace in a restaurant bathroom who ran out screaming, as well as how he had a deerskin cape with a picture of Jesus on it that he would throw on top of people when they got slain in the Spirit. When he finished, he invited the Holy Spirit to come and a very powerful outpouring of the Spirit ensued. Many people fell over, some on top of one another, some began speaking in tongues, including some of those who didn’t even believe in tongues.

The Spirit of God was poured out in radical and raw power and knocked some over to the ground, a dogpile of young people fell near the front inundated by the power of the Spirit, and one of them ended up on top of a microphone crying out in tongues over the amplification system, which seemed to cause a reverberation of the Spirit’s power throughout the meeting. An all-out radical outpouring of the Holy Ghost took over. Wimber, who had no idea what was happening, was completely perplexed and in his own words “fit to be tied.”

After such a wild service, Wimber was at first angry, but as he began to pray and examine the Bible that night, he came to the conclusion that, Lord, maybe this is from you. In the middle of the night he received a call from Tom Stipe, a fellow Calvary Pastor who had a word from God for him. Stipe called him and told Wimber that he had been kept awake all night long with this word from God for him: “John, the Lord says ‘This is of Me.’ ” When John then explained to him what happened in the service that Sunday, Tom told him this activity was common in the Jesus People Revival.

With the word from God confirming this was of the Lord and a fresh examination of the Scriptures, Wimber had what in the lingua of Fuller Theological Seminary is called “a complete paradigm shift.” Basically, an ability to see things he had overlooked or ignored before, in a completely new and fresh way. He saw that the Scriptures were laden with the power of God moving from Jesus’ whole ministry to the Book of Acts and on and on. John Wimber, to his credit, decided to move forward with what God had just done. He wouldn’t just allow, or tolerate, the occasional work of the Holy Spirit. He saw that the Scriptures actually commanded God’s people to be filled and the gifts to be in operation.

A Continued Outpouring

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit continued on from that point as a regular thing at Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda and many were filled and baptized with God’s power. That Mother’s Day outpouring sparked a revival that continued on at full throttle. The church in Yorba Linda tripled in size over that next year and many, many people began to get saved, filled, healed, delivered as well as experiencing the outpouring and fullness of the Spirit in their own lives.

I also got baptized in the Holy Spirit in this revival season that followed sometime after the Mother’s Day Outpouring. My own experience, and what led up to getting baptized in the Holy Spirit at Canyon High School back in that time, follows.

Events in My Life Leading Up to Being Filled

I was occasionally attending some Bible studies at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, as well as in the Newport Beach area that were linked with Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, around this time.

I had been around Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa for some years now, after ending up there through a divine appointment and would go to stuff mostly when I had time as well as transportation that worked. Transportation was an ongoing issue for me back then. I had traded a surfboard for my first beater of a car, which was before I was even old enough to have a license. My parents had gotten divorced and I had to fend for myself and needed transportation. That crazy car had these dysfunctional broken seats that swiveled around like an office chair. It didn’t take long to fall apart and a small crash finally finished that thing off and it was out of commission.

I saved up some money from various jobs like working at a car wash and washing dishes at a restaurant. I eventually bought a Volkswagen Squareback, which was cool because it was like a little station wagon and I could put my surfboard in the back. This Volkswagen had its own problems too. Sometimes it wouldn’t start and had to be push started and other times the lights wouldn’t go on. Being a young teen, I was willing to take some risks, so after driving to the beach from the inland tracts, I would sometimes have to round up some other surfers to help me push start that car to get it going again.

So, after getting out of the water from a surf session, if I had time, and the car would cooperate, I would occasionally go to an evening service during the week at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa or a Bible Study in Newport at a home connected with Calvary, depending on what night it was.

I preferred the home studies because they had food a lot of the times and there wasn’t much food at home ever since my parents divorced. I would also occasionally check out these Afterglow meetings at Calvary. (An afterglow was a meeting after the Bible Studies where people could have time to share a word, or a revelation, or get prayed for, etc.) I would go sometimes just out of curiosity to see what was happening, people would pray out loud in strange languages that I thought were like some kind of African language or something—I didn’t know why they did this since there were no Africans there—I didn’t realize back then that people were speaking in tongues. These afterglows are where I first encountered Lonnie Frisbee; I would see him around Calvary Costa Mesa at other things as well.

An Introduction to the Holy Spirit

I got an introduction and taste of the power of the Holy Spirit at a separate meeting one evening up in the city of Orange. A friend just happened to bring me to this meeting, which was quite unusual. The chairs were all facing each other in a circle and someone dimmed the lights before we began. That’s weird, I thought, how are we gonna see to read the Bible? Then they started this seemingly endless singing…forever. I was used to like three or four songs at Calvary Chapel Bible studies…this was going on forever and I was getting bored. Out of boredom I finally joined in with the singing, thinking it would help pass the time, but inside I was praying it would just end soon….please!!! I usually just waited out the singing part at Calvary.

I was hoping this endless singing would soon be over and was just waiting things out when I saw that hippie dude from the afterglows at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, Lonnie Frisbee, come into the meeting. He was floating around the back of the room and walked around behind a few people, placed his hands on them and prayed for them. He then came up behind me and laid his hands on my head and started praying over me. I suddenly felt a heavenly warmth come flowing through my body, in a very unique and unusual way. I had never experienced anything like this before! I did feel the love of Jesus from time to time after I got saved, but this now was on a whole different level. I spent the rest of the time in the meeting just thinking about what had just happened.

When we were finished and hanging around outside, I told this girl I knew: “Hey, something wild just happened in there. I felt a strange warmth come over me. It happened when that hippie guy who came into the meeting late came over and prayed for me.” She laughed at me saying, “Don’t you know anything about the Holy Spirit, where have you been?” Then she added, “Yeah, and that’s Lonnie Frisbee. Everywhere he goes radical things seem to happen!” I was definitely intrigued by it all.

Shortly after this, I was at a Bible study in Newport Beach. After the study, we were all hanging out in the kitchen eating some food, when I heard some of the older adults talking over in a corner. They all had looks of concern on their faces as they discussed the recent going ons up at Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda. One guy’s voice was getting louder as he exclaimed, “I heard Lonnie Frisbee is getting out of control up there. He was in the back room of the Canyon High School gym, standing on top of the wrestling mats waving his arms around like a wild man and people were falling over in piles on top of each other. It’s completely out of control up there!” The guy talking then realized that everyone else had stopped talking and eating and everyone was just listening to what he was saying. He looked over a bit embarrassed that he had gotten so loud and he then warned everyone: “Stay away from there! Don’t go up there, it is not safe!” Immediately, it had the opposite effect on most there, including myself. I wanted to go up there and check out whatever it was that was happening. The more some people  criticized what was going on up at Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda, the more it seemed to draw people there.

Many were hungry for the power and impact of the early Jesus People days when the power of God was moving in raw form with people getting supernaturally saved, and filled, and healed, in radical ways. 

In fact I would regularly see a lot of the same people from Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, including leaders, coming up to Yorba Linda for the Sunday evening services and joining in with the worship and ministry.

Things similar to the early Jesus People Revival were now happening up at Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda after the Mother’s Day outpouring. In fact, it was like a second wave of the Jesus People Revival. But this time, it was a lot of different types of people, including skaters, surfers, rockabillies, punk rockers, etc, all kinds of cultural outliers, that were getting saved and touched through what was happening in the revival there.

John Wimber talks about how they were baptizing people in his and other people’s swimming pools regularly. It was similar, but in a different setting than the baptisms at Corona Del Mar in the first wave of the Jesus People. This wave of evangelism had started right after the Mother’s Day outpouring. I had personally been baptized in Corona Del Mar myself back in the day. It is a little more picturesque and romantic at the beach than a swimming pool, but a new wave of evangelism had started up at Yorba Linda just the same.

There was also a deliberate focus in this second wave on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the filling of the Holy Spirit as seen in the Book of Acts and talked about by John the Baptist and Jesus:

John the Baptist said of Jesus: “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16)

Jesus in Acts: “He ordered them…to wait for the promise of the Father...’you heard from me that John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’” (Acts 1:4-5) Jesus said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses….” (Acts 1:7-8)

Rather than the work of the Spirit being an occasional part of things that was passively allowed to happen, Wimber had experienced a paradigm shift and saw that in the Scriptures it was central and furthermore endorsed and commanded in the Bible. So, Wimber went forward from that point with the attitude that he wasn’t going to just passively allow it, but rather endorse it and actively encourage it as the Bible and Christ had done.

I had experienced a foretaste of this Holy Spirit filling and power through that meeting in Orange. I was intrigued but didn’t really understand it all yet and still had my mind elsewhere, though I was curious. Nevertheless, God was about to give me the full download!

The Filling of the Holy Spirit

Bryan getting prayed for by Lonnie Frisbee and Jill Austin.

Paul talks about how the Holy Spirit indwells us when we get saved and I understood the Holy Spirit’s indwelling from the teaching of Paul in the New Testament. The Bible also speaks of the empowering of the Holy Spirit. I had experienced only a taste of that in that meeting in Orange. And then God arranged the circumstances to get me filled in an unusual way:

I was out surfing when I did a really hard backside turn. While I came down from the lip of the wave, I got upside down and inverted and fell over my knee, twisting it badly. I felt a sharp pain shoot through my knee. I tried to ignore what I had just felt and tried to get out and get another wave, but I immediately fell as my knee gave out.

I eventually had to face the music and go to the doctor. He said I had a ligament tear and “most doctors would send you straight to surgery, which in reality often turns into multiple surgeries. We are going to try and dodge a bullet here, I don’t wanna have to cut you open if we don’t need to, you are young so we are going to see if we can maybe, just maybe, avoid surgery. It’s worth a try, but no promises,” and then he stuck a big cast on my leg. (It is worth noting that back then knee surgery was much more invasive and involved making a huge incision.)

It was summertime and hot and I hated that gigantic cast. I was completely shut down and stuck doing nothing with that thing. Someone volunteered to take me to one of the services up at Calvary chapel Yorba Linda that I’d been warned to stay away from. They said they were having a revival; I didn’t really understand what they were talking about. My curiosity had been piqued by that warning at the Bible Study in Newport though, and I wanted to check what was going on up there. I was also hoping to receive healing for my injured knee. This stupid cast was putting the brakes on my activities like surfing and lifeguarding, and I was also starting to do a little modeling.

Mostly though, I had been surfing competitively in the amateur circuits where contemporaries like Tom Curren and a young Kelly Slater were making their mark. It was a wild time to be involved in such a sport. It was a new decade and definitely a season of great change in many aspects of surfing and larger society as a whole.

Bryan getting a tube ride! Photo by Surfshot

Bryan in a Quiksilver ad.

I had been influenced to turn pro by my sponsor Quiksilver, and shortly after I had the knee injury, which brought my new venture to a complete halt. Having appeared recently in an advertisement in Surfing Magazine for Quiksilver, the pressure was on to get healed up and get back on track with things. And so it was with that mindset that I went to this unusual church up in Yorba Linda meeting at the local high school gym, with the hope of getting my knee healed and moving on with my life, having no idea of the whitewater rapids I was about to be thrown into.

I entered into this hot gym with people holding their hands up in the air and singing what seemed like songs that never ended. Here we go again with more of this endless singing. It seemed like one song all connected together going on for what seemed like…forever.

Due to the lack of windows and air conditioning in the gym, the place was about as hot as a Swedish sauna. I looked around, some were singing with hands raised, others were crying or laughing, and some had even fallen over and off their seats, while still others seemed to be muttering in strange languages. I literally thought I had come to a church that was full of people who were  emotionally and mentally challenged, so many were crying, others laughing. I had been to a Shriners Circus for challenged kids when I was younger and just tripped out on the whole thing and watched the wild overly emotional kids as much as the circus. Sitting there in the high school gym I felt like I was back at that circus tripping out on this church full of emotionally challenged people. I didn’t yet understand that these people at Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda were just experiencing the love of God in a powerful way and were overcome by His presence.

So I just endured the endless singing escapade, sitting there sweating, befuddled at what was going on with these people all around me. Finally the speaker, John Wimber, got on with the message but just seemed to ramble for a while. He just seemed weighed down by the heat and kind of wandering through what he was saying.

Wimber finally wiped his sweaty face and said, “You know, it’s really hot in here, let’s just move on to some ministry.” He invited all those who wanted prayer, be it for healing or to be filled with the Holy Spirit, or whatever else your need was, to go to the back room. It seemed like half the church stampeded back there immediately. This must be where things are happening, I thought.

I was far behind the stampeding crowd, having to hobble along very slowly with these crutches and cast on my leg, and I got there way after everyone else. I entered in just barely through the door and was just standing there looking around. It felt like the train had left the station, there were just some regular people praying for one another. I’d seen a bit of TV preachers and was expecting some kind of mini miracle service in that back room. I was expecting someone to be throwing crutches in the air and proclaiming people healed, maybe piles of people on top of each other everywhere from what I’d heard at the Bible study, but nothing really significant seemed to be happening here. People were just praying for one another. To be honest, I felt kind of gipped.

However, as I was standing there just looking around, something started happening to me. All of a sudden, I felt God’s presence come down upon me in an awesome way and start flowing all over me! The love and power of Christ began to flood me and I started getting filled with God’s presence more and more as I stood there with no one even praying for me.

I began to be overwhelmed by God’s manifest glory, and like those people I had watched mesmerized, whom I thought had emotional issues or were strange out in the gym that evening, I was starting to cry and then laugh and then cry and then laugh and on and on for no visible reason whatsoever. God’s love and grace began washing over me like glorious waves! His love began to be downloaded from my head into my heart at light speed and it was overwhelming me. Waves of like liquid love began to wash over me, again and again.

Next, Lonnie Frisbee appeared while standing on top of some wrestling mats, he started pointing over at me, then he came over and put his hands on me and started praying over me. I didn’t know at that time that he was speaking prophetic words over me. He started yelling that the Spirit of God was moving powerfully now on this young guy here as he prayed over me. It was like being thrown into an ocean of God’s presence and suddenly, gloriously, drowning in His tangible mercy and grace. I became so overwhelmed I couldn’t stand up anymore and started falling and stumbling backwards like I was struck by some powerful force. Some people gathered around me and held me from falling and then sat me down on some rolled up wrestling mats where they prayed for me. I continued to get hammered, being baptized in the Holy Spirit, for the next three and a half to four hours at the very least.

When I finally opened my eyes, the place, which had been packed before, was almost completely empty. Just three people remained, myself and a guy who was still sitting with me and praying for me, and a janitor sweeping the floor who seemed very tired and looked like he was wondering when this was going to be done so he could go home.

It was an awesome and amazing filling of the Holy Spirit, a life-changing event. My life was completely transformed at this point, and I began to pray and read the Bible on my own regularly, something I never had done much of before. I also began to realize that God had a higher purpose for me regarding serving Him.

Being baptized with the Holy Spirit like this brought a complete paradigm shift in my thinking regarding the reality of God’s love and presence. I began to witness to others after this, and even lead others to Christ. I eventually even started a Bible study with those I’d reached as well as led to Christ, where we had our own Holy Ghost times. It was that filling of the Spirit which led into ministry and becoming a witness of God’s grace, love, and power, just like Jesus says will happen. (Acts 1:8.)

I went back to the doctor hoping to get the cast removed but he wouldn’t let me take the cast off early, in fact he scoffed at the idea. However, when I finally finished my stint with the cast and he took it off, he was blown away and stoked on how it had turned out better than expected and was in great shape: no surgery needed! I still had to do some weights to get rid of the atrophy from being in a cast. It was a break in time that God used to bring some reflection and redirection in my life.

I was brought into the reality of God’s presence and love and grace in a way that I had never heard of before nor knew could happen! Hallelujah! 

Mine is just one of countless testimonies of so many whose lives were changed and impacted for good in this revival that started on that Mother’s Day forty years ago. Me and my wife Mercedes were also blessed to connect with Lonnie Frisbee some years later, becoming good friends and being discipled by him, learning many important lessons during that time that would prove invaluable in our lives and ministry.

As you read and reflect on this outpouring of the Spirit, I encourage you to open your heart and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you afresh, He is more than willing to bless you with that heavenly love and power. Ask and you shall receive!


Link for further info:

• Video on Lonnie Frisbee and the Jesus People Revival