Ministry Update--2017 In Review

We are thankful for all the Lord did in 2017 as we ministered in a number of different places and saw the Lord save, fill, empower, set free, and heal.

We were also blessed to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. This being quite the milestone, we headed up early before some ministry in Canada to take some time to celebrate and enjoy a little of the scenery before we ministered. We were blessed to visit Banff and Jasper National Parks taking in some of the awesome views of the glaciers on some hikes.

We ministered in Canada on Vancouver Island, where we saw the Holy Spirit move in power and do some amazing things, powerfully filling people and breaking into the lives of those who didn't have a Spirit-filled Christian background at all. In fact, one particular guy who had come to a meeting we did, who was not from a Spirit-filled background, had encountered a verse from the book of John on the Holy Spirit earlier that day. Then, when we did some worship and without knowing what he had read earlier, I felt led to play a song based on that very verse as well as share on it. He came to the realization that the Lord was preparing him and that he needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We began to pray for him and the Holy Spirit came upon him in great power for the first time in his life and he experienced the gift of tongues. He was so powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit he couldn't continue to stand and had to be held up by others, he was so touched! Another guy helping hold him up also got filled with God's power and exclaimed: "That was amazing, never in my life have I experienced something like that!" Hallelujah!

We ministered up and down the West Coast of California, down upon the Southern border region, and up along the Central Coast of California, as well as many other places where the Holy Spirit moved in power, including Isla Vista, Shell Beach, and Salinas. The Lord met us each step of the way here and overseas!

We were blessed to minister for three months in Europe in 5 different countries. The Lord did so much it would be easy to rewrite a whole account again, but rather than doing that, we'll just recap some of the highlights. You can check out our recent newsletter for a more in-depth report at: http://gwmgracenotes.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-praise-report-winter-2017.html

In England we were blessed to have some youth open their hearts to the Gospel and the message of Christ and also get powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit in a very dramatic way. The Holy Spirit came upon some of the kids in power who found themselves resting in the Spirit on the floor for some time. God touching the youth became a theme for many other places on the trip!

We were blessed in France to minister on the Reformation in preparation for a Reformation-based outreach event some friends were doing. In fact, some brothers from South Africa with a French Reformed (Huguenot) background showed up to intercede; led by the Spirit they showed up and came and prayed for the meetings. After a meeting where the Holy Spirit powerfully filled many there with the Holy Spirit with some dramatic manifestations, as well as some opening their hearts to Christ, they told us that was exactly what they'd been praying and interceding to see happen in France!

In Spain we ministered in Catalonia in the cities of Tarragona, Reus, and Barcelona, where we taught on being empowered and operating in the gifts of the Spirit. We were stoked to see the hunger there for the Holy Spirit and many were filled and empowered and moved to step out and minister. We also experienced a few being healed and coming to Christ! A divine appointment on the coast in between ministering led to a board being supplied and a chance to share the Gospel with a local Catalan surfer!

We were blessed to minister in some different regions of Sweden including Skåne and Småland. In Skåne, we preached in Hässleholm, Örkeljunga, and Trelleborg. The Lord moved in power and we got a lot of response, many shared how filled and renewed they were as we ministered. We were stoked to see the daughter of the family hosting us get powerfully filled and then join us in every meeting praying for others! Some of the leaders got powerfully filled too and were very insistent that the ministry we are doing is so needed there, and we must keep coming back. We also ministered in the region of Småland, on the East coast of Sweden, where a young lady came and told us how impacting and life changing our ministry was to her. 

We also had a couple of people open their hearts to Christ, some who had Muslim backgrounds. We spoke at a youth meeting focused on getting some of the youth filled with the Spirit, and out of nowhere, the Holy Spirit just swept in and started powerfully filling a group of them. They began to lift their hands and tears streamed down some of their faces as they prayed over one another and gave words of encouragement to each other. New believers with Muslim backgrounds joined in for the first time and began to pray for one another too, including the guy who had just accepted Christ earlier on in the meeting. The Holy Spirit continued to pour out long after many had gone home. A friend noticed the powerful change when the Holy Spirit swept in and said, "This is a miracle!" We knew it was a special moment as the Lord poured His Spirit over many who had never experienced His power like this before. 

A young guy who had been filled and touched in those meetings shared the following with us: The Lord had put such a fire in him that he had begun to share the Gospel with others, even sharing with a tough guy in town. He also was evangelizing on a bus and prayed for a lady who got healed, which opened a door to tell her about Jesus. This is a huge deal for someone in Sweden to step out like that as it is a very shy culture, but the Holy Spirit can transcend, and this is why we ourselves come to minister in God's power that others may be equipped to be His witnesses.

We ministered in Norway, in the town of Mandal. From the very first meeting, the Lord poured out His Spirit in a very powerful and remarkable way. In one of the youth meetings, late in the evening, the Holy Spirit just descended all of a sudden in power on a group of young teen girls, and the Lord touched them so deeply for such a long time that a puddle of tears gathered around their feet, and the Youth Group leader pointed out that it looked like pearls that had fallen down from heaven! You know it is significant when young people ignore a waiting pizza and flow with the Holy Spirit instead! We were stoked to be able to preach on Martin Luther and the Reformation at their Sunday services, two days before the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Many of the older generation were very thankful to hear the story and were touched and refreshed, but many young people had never heard the story at all and were blessed by it as well. We closed by sharing about how Martin Luther emphasized the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and prayed for many to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

We were also blessed to get to go to Wittenberg, Germany, for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. October 31st, Reformation Day, was a pretty extraordinary day to be right there where the Reformation all began! The little town was packed with people from all over the world coming to celebrate this momentous event. Since it was so crowded, we rented and rode bikes into the town center, and as we were getting closer, a huge group of black cars and police with a helicopter hovering overhead passed by us. We hadn't known that the Chancellor of Germany would coming for a special service at the Castle Church. We had lots of divine appointments throughout the day with different people whom we shared with and prayed for as we were equipped with quotes from Luther and the Bible about the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit! 

There were many special events going on, including museum exhibitions as well as a sound and light show. There was also a musical about Luther in Berlin which was broadcast live all over the nation, and actually quoted many Bible verses. It was quite a unique moment for sure and we believe the Lord was using this occasion to plant many seeds in people's lives about the Gospel as well as draw many to Himself!

We truly appreciate all your prayers and support.
Many blessings to you!
Bryan, Mercedes, and Patrick Marleaux

P.S. We had a bit of a rough return coming back from Europe with the recent wildfires that hit the Southern California region. To read about our own experience during the wildfires in San Diego, click here.

The Praise Report: Winter 2017

Euro Mission 2017

We recently returned from a 3-month extended mission trip to Europe where we ministered in England, France, Spain, Sweden and Norway! We experienced the Holy Spirit meeting us at every turn and were stoked to see people opening their hearts to receive Christ in the different places where we preached.

London 

We ministered at a weekend outreach in London, England, where people responded and made decisions and re-dedications for Christ, and where there was also a very powerful visitation of the presence of God. 

In fact, there were many who were filled with the Holy Spirit in a significant way, including some young kids who had also responded to the Gospel message we had shared. When they opened their hearts they were overcome with the Holy Spirit as the Lord poured out His power on them and some fell to the ground as the Lord flooded them with His presence. Some even laid on the floor inundated by God’s power, and were there receiving after being overcome by the Spirit for quite a long time. Young kids’ attention spans are always rather short, thus clearly God’s power took over as He filled them!

Saving and equipping the younger generation was a theme the Holy Spirit divinely brought up unexpectedly right from the beginning of this trip, and carried through in many other places. In fact, a taxicab that was supposed to come and get us did not show up. We called the company to find out they had somehow set up in their computer. So we contacted an Uber driver at the last minute. We were able to talk and connect with the Uber driver on the way, and as we shared with him, he began to point out how the younger generation in Europe especially needed the message of Christ. I felt what he was saying was prophetic for the service we were about to do. Then the pastor unexpectedly opened the meeting by talking about the importance of reaching the youth, as did Mercedes when she shared as we began to preach!

Like in many places today, secular humanism dominates in European public institutions that claim to be teaching but are instead indoctrinating. Also, there are clearly not enough vital, alive, gospel-communicating fellowships throughout Europe; this leaves a void in many young people’s lives. That void gets filled instead often by drugs, promiscuity, wanton living, cults, and on and on. A friend over there who goes to an upper-class, private, rather posh, private school, described the insanity of the rampant drug use, and wanton living, that goes on even there. Thus, it is imperative that the Gospel of the Kingdom be preached, shared, and communicated in all ways possible. The future generations must be reached if we want to have a future. 

Both of us preaching and sharing at an evangelistic outreach at Ark of God Church
in London, Patrick also got to share some too!

It is the Gospel of the Kingdom that is necessary in this day, the Gospel that has power to save, heal, and deliver from darkness! Those reached must also be filled with the Spirit! The power of God is a necessity with all the evil around these days. The pastor closed by stating what a blessed moment we had witnessed, as it isn’t so common to see young kids like this get so powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit. Praise God! The Lord poured out His power in a remarkable way and we had about 10 people open their hearts to Christ and many including kids get powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit as we ministered in London!

Praying for young kids in London who got
powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit.

We also had a historic moment in London, one of several on this trip. When Princess Diana died 20 years ago, we happened to walk, somehow, right into her memorial in Paris with all the activities going on. Just randomly, having taken a wrong turn, we came upon all the flowers and cards grieving her untimely passing. We just happened to be in London on this trip exactly 20 years after she died. There were many events carried out in her memory in the UK while we were there. It reminded us of how fast time goes by and how fragile and quickly life passes, whether one is a princess or a pauper, thus “we must do the work of the Kingdom while it is yet day.” (John 9:4)

France 

We then ministered in the Loire Valley of France. We spoke in Neuillé-Pont-Pierre and in Tours, at different meetings and services as well as a prayer meeting. We were speaking and teaching on the Reformation in preparation for an event the churches we worked with there were having celebrating the 500-year anniversary of the Reformation. Yes, a Reformation event in France of all places! The Reformation did touch France back in the day but serious persecution limited its impact.

With friends in France and the posters for the Reformation Event.

We shared about Martin Luther’s powerful conversion to Christ and awakening to the grace and mercy of God. Luther had run into desperation and exasperation with rituals and penance as a Catholic priest; however, revelation of Christ’s full payment for sin on the cross came to him as he read Paul’s letter to the Romans. 

The timing was strategic, especially with their upcoming event, as most there were not familiar with the story of Luther’s conversion. We communicated further how the subject can be used as a way to share the Gospel with others as a tool for evangelism, especially with those who may have a bit of religious background but don’t know Christ as their personal savior, as is common in France. The event itself was an outreach, so it was important to equip those involved with how to share the Gospel in conjunction with the event.

Speaking of evangelism, we had about 8 people altogether come to Christ in the various meetings we did while there, which also included ministering at an African church. A young guy from Kosovo, as well as a young French guy, were amongst those who opened their hearts to Christ, having been impacted by the Holy Spirit as there was a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit at some of the meetings.

In fact, there were a couple of believers from South Africa who were of French Reformed (Huguenot) background, who were there specifically to pray for the meetings. They came up all the way from South Africa to intercede in prayer. They communicated to us personally after one of the main meetings we did on Sunday morning: the way the Lord moved, bringing some to salvation, as well as pouring out His Spirit, filling and empowering and refreshing many there, was exactly what they were interceding for! One of the sisters helping lead one of the churches told us how encouraged and strengthened she was by all the Lord did!

We were glad to see the Lord move in this way in a place that needs the Gospel so much. We were talking and praying with some friends on the way out of town whose kids told us how hard it is there in France as one often feels very isolated as a believer. Praise God for the comfort and encouragement the Holy Spirit brings!

Spain 

We ministered in the region of Catalonia, Spain. It was nice to minister in Spain again since we haven’t been there for some time. We actually connected through some friends who pastor a church in Colorado where we ministered at earlier this year. The new co-pastor and his wife were previously doing mission work in Catalonia and were so blessed by our ministry—the wife got powerfully ministered to when we prayed and prophesied over her— that they invited us to come to minister in Catalonia next time we traveled to Europe.

Praying as the Holy Spirit fills people at a workshop in Barcelona, Spain.

We were blessed to experience the Holy Spirit moving in a powerful way as we first ministered in the cities of Tarragona and Reus, and then after a short break, in the famous city of Barcelona. We were teaching at several workshops on the empowering of the Holy Spirit and how to operate in the gifts of the Spirit.


There was a receptive attitude amongst those who came to all the meetings we did to what we were teaching as well as to the work of the Holy Spirit. We experienced many getting filled with the Holy Spirit and equipped as the Spirit of God was poured out as we ministered and taught with many powerful manifestations of His presence, along with about 7 people altogether in the different meetings who opened their hearts to Christ.


Preaching as Mercedes interprets in Barcelona, Spain.

We also had some who received healing, amongst them a gentleman who regained lost sensation in his hand after praying for him. The pastors and their wives also expressed how encouraged and blessed they were. One of the pastors said publicly that these meetings we did were a line of demarcation and that he saw there would be a difference in his congregation and fellowship after these meetings where the Lord had so poured out His presence!

Holy Ghost Surfing Divine Appointments

We had a nice little break by the warm Mediterranean, in between ministering in Barcelona and Tarragona and Reus, where we enjoyed a few days on the beach. It was a necessary break in the middle of this long trip packed with lots of ministry. 

There were actually a few small waves that looked like they could be fun for a longboard or SUP if we could rent one or something. I checked out three different beach places that normally would rent equipment like that, but they all said it was past the season and had already stored that type of equipment away elsewhere. 

I was praying on what to do when Patrick and I were taking a little stroll on the boardwalk and a woman was walking a dog in front of us. I just felt led by the Holy Spirit to talk to her, completely out of the blue. I came up and started talking to her and it turned out after a few moments speaking Spanish that she spoke good English. I asked if she knew a place that might still rent surfboards or SUP’s anywhere in the area. She said everything was past the season for renting stuff, but, she knew the one guy in the area that could possibly rig us up with something to use.

She actually called him right then, and after some conversation we arranged to pick up an SUP the next day. Even though we had only met him on the phone he just let us take the board and didn’t even ask for an ID or a credit card deposit. We were stoked to have an SUP for a couple days, which turned out to be the right thing for the small waves there.

After a couple days of refreshing in the sun and surf—it was actually the only warm weather we had the whole trip—we returned the SUP to the guy. I felt led to share with him how I had prayed and then met his friend and that him providing the board was an answer to prayer. I witnessed to him and we were stoked to be able to share Christ's love with him and plant the seeds of the Gospel to a very receptive heart, and also nice to get a little refreshing on the SUP via divine appointment!

Turbulent Times in Spain 

We were in Barcelona during the Independence Referendum, which has been much in the news this year. The Spanish government had declared the Referendum illegal, and sent in the Guardia Civil (Federal Police), as well as local police being out everywhere. We were actually preaching in the center of the city the day it was all happening, right next to all the referendum activities. In fact, the pastor happened to turn on the news that Sunday morning before we ministered. The broadcaster warned to stay away from areas where voting and protests were going on. Some violence had already broken out in different places along with many protesters out and about, chanting and picketing and stuff.

It definitely brought some concern to our hearts, but as I took a moment to pray, I felt the Holy Spirit speaking peace and saying not to worry. Lo and behold, we ministered and people got saved, healed, and filled, and we had a blessed time in spite of all the craziness going on right around us everywhere outdoors. God gave us peace and blessings in the midst of the storm at every turn all around us. In fact, we actually went out and walked 8 miles around town checking out all the sights and activity after ministering and being treated to an awesome lunch by the pastor! 

God blessed us with peace, protection, and grace by the Holy Spirit. It was a unique and historic moment to be there and we are praying whatever the outcome of all this that more openness to the Gospel will result as part of everything being so shaken up. It was actually after a significant shake up that revival broke out in Argentina years back. 

This ended up being another unique and historic moment on the trip!

Sweden

As we ministered in Sweden we experienced the Lord moving powerfully in the different places we preached. We were ministering in the region of Skåne, which is by the North Sea in the South, as well as in the region of Småland on the Baltic coast. While in Skåne in the south of Sweden, we ministered in the cities of Hässleholm, Örkeljunga, and Trelleborg.

Mercedes speaking at New Life Church in Hassleholm, Sweden.

The presence of the Lord was manifest in the meetings we did and we got a lot of response as many shared how filled and renewed they were by what the Lord did in them as we ministered. One sister shared how encouraged and renewed she was by the way the Lord touched and filled her as we ministered. We were stoked to see the daughter (who is just 15 years old) of the family hosting us in Skåne get powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit and then join us in every meeting praying for others! 

We also got a very positive response from some of the leaders. In fact there were some who got powerfully filled themselves and others who had been part of the Jesus People Revival and were very encouraged as well as touched and renewed as we shared about that topic. They were very insistent that the ministry we are doing is so needed there, and we must keep coming back. We saw many people, young and old, get filled with the Holy Spirit and there were also some who opened their hearts to Christ. 


We also ministered as well in the region of Småland, on the East coast of Sweden along the Baltic Sea, in the town of Gamleby. A young lady came and told us before we even began ministering, how impacting and life changing our ministry was to her the last time we were there when she was at one of our meetings. We also had a couple people open their hearts to Christ there as well, some who had Muslim backgrounds.

Posters for our speaking engagement at Citykyrkan in Örkeljunga,
Sweden. We didn't know they'd be all over town. We even went
for Chinese food and one was there. Lol!

We spoke at a youth meeting where we shared some Holy Ghost stories in hopes of getting some of the youth filled with the Spirit. It started a little slow as they just kind of stood there staring off when we first started praying for them, but then after some time, out of nowhere, the Holy Spirit just swept in and started powerfully filling a group of them. They began to lift their hands and tears streamed down some of their faces as they prayed over one another and gave words of encouragement over each other. Some new believers with Muslim backgrounds who just recently came to Christ, joined in for the first time and began to pray for one another too, including the guy who had just accepted Christ earlier on in the meeting. 

The Holy Spirit continued to pour out for at least another hour, long after many had gone home. An old friend named Jan who had been radically saved in the Jesus People days, noting the powerful change in the atmosphere in the room that had taken place when the Holy Spirit swept in, looked up in the middle of it all and said, “This is a miracle!” We knew it was a special moment as the Lord poured His Spirit over many who had never experienced His power like this before!

A young guy who had been filled and touched in those meetings shared: How, as a result of the Lord empowering him, he had begun to share the Gospel with others. In fact, he began sharing with a rather tough guy in town who was way more open than he suspected he would be, and would continue to reach out to him. He also was evangelizing on a bus and prayed for a lady who got healed which opened a door to tell her about Jesus.  This is huge deal for someone in Sweden to step out like that as it is a very shy culture, but the Holy Spirit can transcend, and this is why we ourselves come to minister in God’s power that others may be equipped to be witnesses!


Denmark is just across the border from Sweden and we had a few free days before heading on. So we hopped over the border and saw a few sights in Denmark and even got a few cold water waves. Wow, surfing in Denmark was pretty unique; in fact some Scandinavian surfer friends had just gone to the exact same spot right before us and it was completely flat without a wave to be seen. So the Lord gave us another little miracle to provide a little refreshing before moving on to even more ministry in Scandinavia!

Norway

We ministered in Norway, in the south of the country, in the town of Mandal, as well as doing a youth meeting in the city of Kristiansand. Norway has beautiful scenery at every turn and we also had great fellowship with old friends. We had some very blessed meetings with the presence of the Lord moving powerfully amongst us.

Preaching to the youth in Familiekirken Mandal in Norway,
showing them the old Jesus People "One way" sign.

In fact, right from the very first meeting, which was a special midweek meeting they set up, the Lord poured out His Spirit in a very powerful and remarkable way. That first night went quite long as the Lord poured out His power long into night with powerful manifestations of His presence!

In one of the youth meetings in Mandal, the Holy Spirit then swept in with surprising power, late in the meeting. We had shared and prayed for people and even had a couple people open their hearts to Christ. But then late in the meeting when everything was seemingly wrapping up, the Holy Spirit just descended all of a sudden in power on a group of young teen girls, who began just praying and hugging each other and giving prophetic words to one another. 

The Lord touched them so deeply for such a long time that a puddle of tears gathered around their feet, the Youth Group leader pointed out that it looked like pearls that had fallen down from heaven! You know how significant it is what God was doing when young people ignore a tasty pizza waiting for them that had been prepared, and instead keep basking under the waterfall of the Holy Spirit for a good hour instead, all while the pizza gets eaten by others and gets cold! Hallelujah!!!

Holy Ghost afterglow in Norway. The Spirit of God came upon these girls
at the end of the meeting and extended things another glorious hour!

e were blessed to do a service with an Eritrean immigrant church in Mandal, where we saw a powerful move of the Spirit, which led to some getting radically filled with the Holy Spirit and also some getting deliverance as well!

We were stoked to be able to preach on Martin Luther and the Reformation on their Sunday services, two days before the 500-year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, while there are in Mandal, Norway. Many of the older generation were very thankful to hear the story and were touched by it and refreshed, and many young people had never heard the story at all and were blessed by it as well. We closed by sharing about how Martin Luther emphasized the importance of being filled the Holy Spirit, and prayed for many that were filled with the Holy Spirit that day. It was an awesome time in Norway!

Germany and the Anniversary of the Reformation

We flew to Germany just in time for the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

October 31st, Reformation Day, was a pretty extraordinary day to be right there where it all began, in Wittenberg, Germany! 

The little town ended up being packed with people from all over the world for the celebration of this very momentous event. We ended up having to stay in another town because everything had been booked up far in advance with all the people visiting for the big event.

Scenes from the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation in Wittenberg, Germany,
including the leader of Germany who showed up to pay homage to the country's
indebtedness to Martin Luther and the Protest Reformation.

We were stoked to find out the place we were staying had bikes to rent at a very reasonable price. We figured the 35 mi (56 km) round trip adventure would be good exercise after so many planes, trains, and automobiles on this trip. 

So we got up early on the 31st and started biking towards Wittenberg. We passed through some quaint little German towns and farms and enjoyed taking in the sights; however, it seemed like every last store and place of business we passed was closed. We found out later that October 31st had been declared a national holiday for all of Germany for the first time in its history.

Then, as we were getting closer to Wittenberg, a huge group of black cars and police with a helicopter hovering overhead, passed by us. We hadn’t known that the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, would be heading into the Reformation City for a special service. Because we were on bikes we got a unique view of all this as we rode in.

It was a blessed time to be there and we had lots of divine appointments with many different people whom we shared with and prayed for as we were equipped to share quotes from Luther and the Bible about the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit! 

There were many special events going on, including many special museum exhibitions, as well as a sound and light show, and a huge panorama exhibition on Luther and the town of Wittenberg by a well-known artist. There was also a big musical play about Luther in Berlin which was broadcast nationwide and actually quoted many Bible verses throughout!  

It was quite a unique moment for sure and we believe the Lord was using this occasion to plant many seeds in people’s lives about the Gospel as well as draw many to Himself!

Luther is often called the "accidental revolutionary" because of the amazing chain of events that were set in motion by this then unknown monk in a little insignificant town who was touched by the Holy Spirit as he read the truth of the Gospel in the Scriptures. That truth reverberated throughout the land and even crossed the sea with those early Pilgrims coming to the New World, a place that would later be called the United States of America!

Being in Wittenberg was a blessing capstone to an already very blessed trip. We praise God for everything he did on this journey!!!  Read more on Grace Notes.

Thanksgiving 

We hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving! We have a blog that we just put out on Thanksgiving, the early colonies, and the Reformation. If you would like to read it you can find it at http://gwmgracenotes.blogspot.com/2017/11/thanksgiving-blessings.html.

Thank You

We praise God for your prayers and support! It helps us to be out there on the road, preaching the Gospel and bringing the Kingdom into emerging mission fields like Europe!

Many blessings!

Bryan, Mercedes 

and Patrick Marleaux

Personal Encounter: Lonnie's Lasting Impact Overseas

The impact of Lonnie Frisbee's ministry goes much further than a lot of people realize. There are to this day reverberations still going on from the impact of his ministry. In fact, Ken Fish, a minister who comes out of the early Vineyard, said in a comment to the recent post I wrote on Lonnie Frisbee: “This is an article that anyone who is interested in the origins of the modern "move of the Spirit" should read. Virtually everything that is going on right now in the Revival Alliance, Partners in Harvest, Bethel [Bill Johnson, Redding, Ca], Global Awakening, Iris Ministries [Heidi Baker], and more, has its roots somewhere and somehow in the move of God that began on Mother's Day that Bryan Marleaux writes about here.” (If you didn't get a chance to read this post, click here)

Overseas Impact

The Lord also used Lonnie extensively overseas, in various places such as England, South Africa, and Brazil, where there were those who experienced a powerful impact of the work of the Holy Spirit.

Scandinavia was another one of those places where the Lord used Lonnie. Some significant moves of God took place in both Sweden and Denmark through Lonnie’s ministry that saved and revived many people. We, through a divine appointment on our last trip to Scandinavia, encountered first-hand someone whose life was changed and completely turned around by the way Christ worked through the Frizz.

Prophetic Correspondence

Right before we left on our last ministry trip to Europe, our friend David Sloane, a prophetic minister who has been used by God many times to bless and encourage our lives, sent us a recording of our late friend Lonnie Frisbee. The recording was from when Lonnie was ministering in Sweden back in the day. We didn't know that we would encounter someone in Sweden shortly after listening to that recording, who got caught in the line of fire and whose life was never the same: turned around for good by the power of God.

A Little Background on Lonnie Frisbee

For those who may be unaware, Lonnie was used by the Lord as one of the pioneers of the Jesus People Revival. After ministering in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district where this move originated, he later teamed up, through a divine appointment, with Chuck Smith at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.

He was instrumental in getting things off the ground there, and as the main evangelist for some of the crucial early years, he also led some notable figures to the Lord including Mike Macintosh (pastor of one San Diego’s largest churches), Tommy Coomes (became a prominent worship leader with the Billy Graham organization) as well as Greg Laurie (pastor of Harvest Churches and evangelist of Harvest Crusades). Laurie was also discipled by Frisbee for roughly a 5-year period. Lonnie also started Laurie’s church in Riverside, California with Fred Waugh. Frisbee, in fact, was used by God as the preacher and evangelist out there in Riverside for about a year and a half, before Greg Laurie ever came in and that was after Lonnie left to do other things. Greg Laurie took over as pastor after Lonnie had departed and Laurie changed the name to Harvest.

Frisbee was also instrumental in what would become the Vineyard movement (as I shared previously) introducing it to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the famed Mother's Day service where the outpouring first took place. Lonnie modeled and exemplified early on the ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit.

John Wimber states in his book Power Evangelism that the Mother's Day service was the first power encounter of his life. Wimber synthesized and theologized much of what he experienced about operating in the power of God as Lonnie ministered in those seminal early days in what developed into the Vineyard.

John Wimber then taught on the Power of God in a systematic, palatable form that many in the body of Christ could readily digest through his conferences, seminars, tapes, and books.

It should be needless to say, but isn't, that Lonnie Frisbee’s impact on these movements: Jesus People, Calvary, Harvest, and the Vineyard, was hugely instrumental and influential.

For many years, Chuck Smith had pastored only a small church he couldn’t get to grow before teaming up with Frisbee. He couldn’t get past what Peter Wagner loosely refers to as a small church barrier. That was until Frisbee showed up and things began to move into what eventually became a revival amongst the youth and hippies.

Greg Laurie’s impact as an evangelist came from those seminal early times witnessing Frisbee as the leading Jesus People evangelist in those early days and being discipled by him.

One should also consider John Wimber’s statement that his first ever encounter with the power of God was at the Mother’s Day service (1) where Frisbee ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit and also that Wimber’s four subsequent books in his life are based on the power of God : Power Evangelism, Power Healing, Power Encounters, and Power Points, to see the impact. Wimber had written nothing of this sort nor had any experience in this area prior to this.

Back to the Story about Sweden

When David Sloane sent that recording to us before we left to Europe, it turned out to be more prophetic than either of us anticipated. While ministering in Småland, Sweden, we ended up having a powerful and unexpected divine appointment with a man who was radically saved and filled with the Holy Spirit through Lonnie back on one of those trips Frisbee had made to Europe:

We had just finished ministering in a small town in Småland and we were stoked at how the Lord really touched, filled and saved some of the youth. We were now trying to figure out how we were going to get to the main train station the next day, since it was quite a distance (about an hour and a half away) and our friends that we were staying with weren't available to take us.

We were glad when a man from one of the churches we had ministered at told our friends he could give us a lift since he would be heading there the next day.

The next morning, he showed up with a roomy station wagon, which was really cool already, as it meant we wouldn't have to be all crammed in with our luggage. It is common in Europe to drive tiny cars that get quite cramped if you stick a few people plus luggage in them.

As we got going we were just chitchatting about different things, when he nonchalantly began to tell us how he came to know the Lord.

He began to share that he had gotten saved and radically filled with the Holy Spirit when a guy named Lonnie Frisbee came to minister in Sweden years back around the time of the Jesus People Revival. Our ears perked up and we listened closely as he told us what happened:

He had been raised in a traditional church in Sweden, but the extreme liberal bent of the state churches and traditional fellowships there, left him, like it has with many others, without the saving message of the Gospel and steeped in unbelief. He said he actually had no faith at all, dead religion just doesn't get the lost saved!

But then a hippie preacher came to town.

He went to a meeting that this hippie preacher Lonnie was doing. Jan showed up drunk and only went there out of some kind of feeling of obligation.

However, his brother was there too, and he had a severe knee injury and wasn't able to walk unassisted. Lonnie called his brother forward in the meeting to pray for him after he gave his message.

Frisbee laid hands on him and began to speak forth healing to the injured knee, and his brother began experiencing the power of God. He could feel something was going on in his knee. After some prayer he just got up and started walking and than began to run around the room.

Knowing the severity of his brother’s injury and that unless God had touched him he couldn't move and run like this, Jan was confronted with the reality of the Kingdom of God.

He was shaken out of his drunken state by what was happening. In a state of awakening, confronted by the Kingdom of God, he came forward and he and his brother received Christ and got saved.

After they accepted Jesus Lonnie then began to pray for them to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit began to fill him with the Father’s love, power, and grace. He had never experienced anything like this before in his life. The Spirit of God filled him, and filled him, and filled him with His presence and he was there receiving for like 3 or 4 hours under the power of God. He experienced a radical baptism in the Holy Spirit. It was a life changing moment that reset his life's course.

He gave his life to the Lord that day and has walked with Christ ever since. He is still actively serving the Lord to this day and walking in the Spirit. He regularly does mission trips to different places and ministers himself.

Similar Experiences

I noticed how we both shared similar experiences: I shared with Jan how I also had been baptized in the Holy Spirit for like 3 or 4 hours when I first got filled with the Holy Spirit through Lonnie’s ministry back in the day (link to story.) I told him what a life-changing thing it was for me as well.

It was quite the experience to meet someone halfway around the world who experienced the same thing through the same evangelist, Lonnie Frisbee. We felt the presence of God filling the atmosphere inside the car as we talked and drove along.

Youth Touched in Meeting

We also shared with Jan about how the Lord blessed and impacted a number of people and filled them with the Spirit when we just ministered there in Småland:

I shared how we had done some meetings where the adults were being ministered to, but we wanted to find a way to see some of the youth impacted as well.

Our friendsä son named Daniel came up with an idea: let’s take them out on a boat ride before coming over for a special meeting as a way to stir some fun and interest into the mix to get the youth in the area interested in coming out.

A good-sized group of about ten to twelve kids responded and showed up, so we had them out for a short sailboat ride and then had them come up afterwards for some dessert and to share a bit.

After dessert, Mercedes and I began to share some Holy Ghost Surf Stories (link) and some adventures we’ve had serving the Lord in different places in the world. This got their attention as it wasn't a churchy type of message but more of adventures we’ve had in the Lord. Some of the kids were unchurched and others went to church but some were quite nominal (the state of things in Europe today).

We could feel the Holy Spirit starting to break through the walls and barriers there. We then had our friends’ son Lucas share how he had been ministered to by the Holy Spirit when we prayed for him earlier that very day.

The Spirit of God had come upon Lucas powerfully earlier when we were just talking to him and eating lunch with him. The presence of God began to overwhelm him as tears just filled his eyes. We began praying for him and the presence of God filled him in a powerful way. He could barely eat his sandwich afterwards it got drenched by his tears.

As Lucas shared with the group what happened at lunch we began to transition as we were feeling the leading of the Spirit to begin minister to some of them there.

The Lord began to touch and fill some of the young people as we ministered.

As we continued, I felt drawn to go talk to two girls who were hanging in the back of the group and being quite shy. With our friend Maisi, I inquired if they had ever received Jesus as their Savior.

They told us that they had not. So we ended up sharing and explaining the Gospel with them while Mercedes, Lucas, and some others continued praying over the other youth.

After explaining how Jesus had died for our sins and rose to give us eternal life, we asked if they wanted to receive Christ. They responded affirmatively so we led them in prayer to receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

We saw that the Holy Spirit was at work so we said, “Let's also pray for you guys to be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

The Spirit of God began to slowly and gently come upon them, just lightly touching them at first. Then, after a bit, the power of God began to radically increase upon them. Then tears began to stream down their faces. It just became more and more powerful as we prayed for them, and they collapsed down onto the couch as the Lord filled them and they gave each other a big, long, bear hug, and then surprisingly these two who had just gotten saved began to pray for one another and minister to each other.

They had been very shy and reserved and quiet, sitting in the back not involved just prior to this. Now the Lord had taken hold of them and they were being transformed before our eyes.

After praying for one another for a while they began to lay hands on others there and get words for them. This was blowing my mind as nobody told them to do this or even encouraged them. But God was immediately using them as they let the Holy Spirit work in them.

The presence of God just kept being poured out and the meeting went long into the night. In fact, our hosts got so tired they finally went to bed. But not these newly saved and filled young ladies. They were so filled with joy after all the Lord did, they seemed ready to stay up all night, and in fact didn't leave until about three in the morning.

They all showed up at the next church service we did and brought other friends with them. The Holy Spirit was poured out especially on the whole of the youth that night and they stayed long after the meeting was over praying and ministering to one another.

The mother of one of these two young ladies who got saved at that special youth meeting came up to us. She told us how thankful she was that her daughter had finally been saved, explaining to us how she had been praying for her for many years.

God heard her prayers even though His answer to that prayer did tarry for a long time. He also uses unexpected vessels sometimes to answer and do His will!

Vessels indeed: he used a sailboat ride to get them out to a meeting they normally wouldn't go to on a Friday night and some American surfer sharing Holy Ghost Stories to bring them into the kingdom. The Lord used a Hippie preacher to save Jan and many, many others, as well as to impact a large segment of the Body of Christ. He’ll use any vessel that will surrender to His will and follow Him.

Footnotes

(1) Wimber, John with Kevin Springer. Power Evangelism (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986) 23-26.