Ministry Update - Summer 2023

Patrick and Emily Get Married!

Celebrating the marriage of Patrick and Emily. Now aka Mr. and Mrs Marleaux

We are excited to have just experienced an amazing life event as our son Patrick got married! It was such an awesome time celebrating with friends and family as Patrick and his beautiful bride Emily came together in the union of marriage at their wedding! 

We also had such a fun-filled week leading up to the big day, getting in some surfing and beach time and other activities with them and some others as the time drew near. 

We are stoked that Emily is a strong believer and that they both are leading worship together! In fact, there is an important story behind this that is about perseverance which I think is important to share, which I also shared at the wedding: 

We were on a trip years back when Patrick had just begun his teens. We had a rental car since ours was in the shop, which had satellite radio in it. We were driving along when a long set of Gospel music and Hymns sung by Elvis came on. 

I began worshiping along which brought me into the presence of the Lord. I unexpectedly got a word of knowledge that Patrick would someday lead worship, which took me by surprise.

It caused me to remember that some years before this, Mercedes and I were leading worship at Pearl Chapel on the Central California Coast, when Patrick who was just 9 years old, spontaneously came up on the platform to the microphone and started singing with us. I knew it was something prophetic…then came this word while driving which confirmed it (you can see it in this video: https://youtu.be/MGH8Vpnp_tI)

Then the trials began! I had been teaching him guitar already. After the word came I began to try teaching him about doing worship and some worship songs. It couldn’t have gone more opposite than I expected.

Those early teens are also when some of that typical teenage rebelliousness starts flaring up. I was tempted to just forget it because he would just go, “ahh worship stuff is so boring… this is dullsville...” and he just wanted to do riffs and leads on the guitar and just ignore what I was teaching him.

I actually tried to work with his interests and incorporate riffs and leads into teaching and still slip in worship stuff but the resistance to the worship parts continued. He was quite stubborn about it and I was tempted to give up many times, but the Lord just kept showing me to persevere and that it would come to fruition…in His time.

Well, I had another word of knowledge about two years ago that Patrick was supposed to come to a meeting we were going to in Orange County with some missionary friends. He decided to come and that is where he unexpectedly met Emily.

They began going to some House Church meetings together, where he encountered some guys his age doing worship and his attitude started changing. Then, an opportunity came for him and Emily to lead worship together themselves at a small House Church … they stepped through that door and are still doing it! Patrick actually apologized later for some of that earlier teenage stubbornness, praise God!

The Lord fulfilled the word in His time…it just took some perseverance…around 7 years worth or so. I was rejoicing when I watched him show a visiting friend recently all the worship songs he has learned.

We as believers may sometimes get a word, or a vision, or something of that nature for ourselves, or something like that for a son or daughter, and maybe it’s not fulfilled right away, maybe it takes a long, long time, and even gets to a point that it seems it will never happen…however, perseverance is emphasized as a needed factor in the Kingdom of God: from Abraham all the way through to the Apostle Paul, perseverance was required to fulfill the call!

Then, sometimes when it’s fulfilled, it happens in a way we didn’t expect at all. But as we walk on in the Kingdom, we see that His grace and mercy never fades nor diminishes….even if His higher ways are sometimes mysterious and not understood right away…Praise the Lord!

Patrick and Emily got to enjoy a beautiful honeymoon and are now beginning their newly joined union and lives together. And we are catching our breath after all that activity of the last few months leading up to the wedding. It was an especially busy time as the wedding rolled up and took place while plenty of other ministry was going on as well.

Ministry Update

Here are some highlights from recent ministry:

Ministering the Baptism of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday @ CCSC

We had just been preaching up north in Salinas at the Vineyard Church there, right before Patrick and Emily’s big day. We were ministering with our friend Dave E. and were sharing and reflecting on: The Mother’s Day Outpouring at what was then called Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda. It later became The Anaheim Vineyard and we shared how Lonnie Frisbee had ministered there on Mother’s Day and the outpouring that followed when Lonnie began praying for the Holy Spirit to come over the congregation. We experienced a very powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit ourselves in Salinas as we shared about that and then ministered with many being filled, empowered, and renewed, including some who had awesome breakthroughs with being filled and touched in a fresh way by the Holy Spirit’s power! In fact, a woman who had been wanting to receive the gift of tongues for years got her breakthrough when she got prayed for! Others received healing, and testimonies came of those who were set free from depression and discouragement and others shared of important encounters and personal revelations that buoyed their faith. Hallelujah!

We had a fun time on Pentecost Sunday and their night of worship at Calvary Chapel San Clemente as they played some of that worship from back in the Jesus People Revival and I followed up by sharing about some adventures back in the Jesus People Revival and how I ended up at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Mercedes shared about the times we had learning and being organically discipled by Lonnie Frisbee. It was an awesome time of worship, sharing, and praying for others for the filling of the Holy Spirit whose presence was with us as we ministered! We have also done some Afterglows with them in recent months as well!

We were blessed to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones while ministering recently in the Santa Barbara area at Mission Isla Vista. We had a blessed time sharing and praying for people. The Holy Spirit filled, empowered, and renewed so many who were there, we also heard about some healings that happened too. We were told it was the most people they have had respond for prayer there and it was one of the most powerful times we’ve had ministering there, hallelujah! We also got to enjoy a few things in the area including a little biking and some firing waves at Rincon on the way out of town that suddenly had an unexpected late season swell just show up. An unusual encounter with a famous pro surfer from the area encouraged us to get out there even if it was a little crowded. In fact, Mercedes was stoked that she got to surf and experience the famous point break herself for the first time!

We had a powerful time ministering at Centro Cristiano Esperanza in Orange County and we were blessed to have Patrick and Emily join us to help pray for people there as well. This led to many people getting ministered to in a powerful way, many were filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit as well as a few who received Christ along with some who who rededicated their lives to the Lord! The power and glory of the Lord was amongst us as we ministered!

We’ve continued ministering in various regions including the border areas sharing the Gospel and praying for others and have also had some powerful divine appointments. As the Jesus Revolution movie came out, it has sparked fresh interest about experiences with that revival and with Lonnie Frisbee, which we have been sharing about. You can check out an article we did which was actually picked up by an International Renewal publication as well as a video we’ve done here: https://www.graceworldmission.org/Jesus_ppl_revival.html

With our friends Jeff and Jeannette and other friends at PrayerFest.

We were also blessed to do a PrayerFest out in Hemet with our friends Jeff and Jeanette. It had been a little while, due to Covid and schedule issues, that we were able to get all together. We were reminded that it was the 15-year anniversary since the first one we had done together with them, and in that time over the years, we’ve seen numerous blessings and breakthroughs including healings and people coming to Christ. In fact, we were reminded by a friend who was visiting that night and told us how his son had gotten touched and empowered by the Holy Spirit and then healed of celiac disease at one of the PrayerFest meetings, as well as a woman who had her knee healed, as well as many others who have received healings as well as the filling of the Holy Spirit, praise the Lord!

In fact, the main focus at these meetings has been leading people into “the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” We have been blessed to see many who are not necessarily Charismatic nor Pentecostal but rather have backgrounds like Baptist, Nazarene, Presbyterian, etc, come into the Fullness and Baptism of the Holy Spirit and be empowered with the gifts in these meetings in awesome ways, Praise the Lord!

We are glad to be continuing on with the legacy of our old friend and another mentor, Harald Bredesen, who was a Lutheran that got filled with the Holy Spirit and subsequently led many others in the Body of Christ who were not Charismatic/Pentecostal in background to come into the baptism of the Holy Spirit in that powerful Charismatic Renewal, which Harald helped birth and lead.

It is an important need in the Body of Christ: I recall a friend who shared how he was worshiping at one of the biggest mega churches in the country and out of nowhere he began speaking in tongues. He was subsequently escorted from his seat and shown the door, and then kicked out of the church! His story gives insight into the desperate need in the Body of Christ for clear teaching and ministry on the empowering and baptism of the Holy Spirit that is sound evangelically and taught in a way that can be received without the pitfalls of extremism. We have been blessed to minister over the years to unexpected groups which are not normally open to the empowering and baptism of the Holy Spirit and see many get filled and blessed by the fullness of the Holy Spirit! Hallelujah!

Acts 1:5: “For John truly baptized with water, but in a few days hence you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit!

Ministering and praying for people in Santa Barbar at IVC

We greatly appreciate your prayers and support! As you may know the whole deal with us as parents that are helping pay for the Honeymoon, the Rehearsal Dinner, and for many other things Patrick needed for the wedding really add up, so we greatly appreciate any extra support you can give to help us out with that at this time, thanks so much!

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

https://linktr.ee/graceworldmission

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

Ministry Update: May 2017

We recently returned from Northern California where we ministered with the House of Prayer Salinas.

The Lord met us in power and the Holy Spirit’s presence was poured out as we ministered. We received some encouraging testimonies from our friend Dave Estrella after the meeting:

"I asked people to share about their experiences (from the night you ministered) and there was so much amazing feedback and testimonies. Most everyone said there was just such a tangible presence of the Lord, which was the biggest blessing to them. One lady, Linda, had a cool story of God healing her toe. You guys prayed for her and it was the first time she has ever experienced a physical healing and was greatly encouraged.

Jonathan and Cynthia (the Hispanic couple with the baby on the way) said they were really blessed as well…they were super encouraged. Jonathan said that what Bryan was praying over him was right on and really encouraging.

God definitely deposited something in me…[and has given me an] understanding of walking in the Spirit among other things. Last weekend opened my eyes to the fact that we really do need to be filled with the power of God. Not only that, but He wants us to be filled to overflowing. Not only that but there is no other way to truly live the Christian life than to do it from His power and not our own!!

Thank you guys for coming up. It is always such a huge blessing. Everyone at HOPS is already asking when you will be back next. Just know you have an extended family up here."

There was also a former gang member who was filled, refreshed, and renewed in his walk with the Lord. The Holy Spirit filled him and poured over him and he also began praying for others!

We have been blessed to minister over the years in some different places in that area including a Presbyterian Youth Group, a Calvary Chapel, a Foursquare Church, and various home meetings.

We actually came to minister there in Salinas via Hawaii, through a ministry trip we did some years back at Surfing The Nations (STN) in Oahu. It was while we were teaching at STN and having a ministry time and praying for different people that we ended up praying for Dave. He got filled with the Holy Spirit when we prayed for him and he experienced the love of God in a way he had never known was even possible. This is how he describes it: “Now, it’s hard for me to communicate to you what I was feeling in that moment, but I can tell you that it was the best thing ever. Nothing, absolutely nothing, no love, no feeling, no experience, no nothing ever has or ever will come close to the ecstasy and joy that I felt in that moment. It was the love of God; the love of my heavenly Father revealed through His Spirit. It was so strong that it changed me forever. I am not the same because of that one life-changing experience.”

We connected with Dave during our time ministering at STN and became good friends after that, and we’ve come up to minister in the Salinas area on a number of occasions since then.

Salinas Via Hawaii 

The story of how we ended up at Surfing the Nations (STN) is interesting itself: We were visiting at one point with Mel and Joyce Tari. Mel had been part of the Indonesian Revival and published a book about his experience called Like a Mighty Wind.

While talking on one occasion he got to thinking and said that since I liked to surf I should meet Tom Bauer who ran STN. Mel in fact called him right then on the phone to connect us.

After some introductions and a bit of conversation, Tom invited us to come and minister at STN right there on the phone. I said I liked the idea but would like to pray and get confirmation, everything had happened so fast.

After praying for a few days on the subject, I went out surfing one day. I was coming in from the water when I saw a group of people who looked Hawaiian doing a full luau right there on the beach. They had tiki torches, ukuleles, the whole deal. I’d never seen that in California—my uncle lived in Hawaii so I was familiar with some of the cultural stuff from surf trips over there.

As I stopped for a moment to take it in, the Holy Spirit began to fall on me and speak to me that we were to go to Hawaii and “a lot of your learning will be put to good use.”

After arranging the trip and flying over, we arrived to a much different setting than I expected at STN.

Surfing The Nations was full of people from different countries being trained in missions; I expected that. However, a lot of them attending were from Sweden at that particular time, which I didn't expect to find, especially so far away in Hawaii. We had done a lot of ministry in Sweden ourselves, and spent much time learning and working to introduce the power of God to this unique Scandinavian nation.

Also, Tom shared with us that most of the students at STN were not from Spirit-filled backgrounds, but were open. He added that since they were from low key Scandinavian descent I should “avoid oversell” with a lot Pentecostal language, which they may not be familiar with. Instead, he told me to just “go for it and pray for them and the Lord will minister with His Spirit.”

I responded that “I’ve become somewhat familiar with the lagom culture of Sweden and have had some experience with seeing some over there get powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit, so this could be right up our alley. I have a feeling it is going to be naturally supernatural!”

Our learning did end up being put to good use and we were right in the timing of God. There were a couple of Swedes at the school who were in fact Spirit-filled and had been seeing the need for the rest of the group to be filled with the Holy Spirit. As a result, they had been interceding and praying in recent weeks, asking God to send someone to minister in that regard and for the Holy Spirit to be poured out.

We taught the Bible in the morning sessions and then just moved right into a time where we said, “Let's do some of what we are reading,” and began to pray over them. Some were a bit stiff and quite unfamiliar in the beginning, but the Holy Spirit began to fill and empower and break through barriers.

Day after day more got filled and empowered. After a few days, we were having powerful outpourings where the Holy Spirit seemed to be just flooding us all with His presence. One of those students who got filled was Dave, who although had attended a Calvary Chapel his whole life, had never experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit. As we were ministering at one point, the Lord began to fill him.

Dave's Testimony 

Here is Dave's testimony about the Holy Spirit breaking in on his life from during that ministry time at STN. (The following is an edited and more concise version of a post we published in the past.)

I had joined a cool group of young hippie-like surfers (in Hawaii) who really loved Jesus. It was an organization called Surfing the Nations. I traveled the world with them and had many new experiences, but one experience in particular topped them all.

One day at Surfing the Nations, some missionaries named Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux came to speak to us in our daily morning meeting. What seemed to be a normal meeting turned in to something that was everything but normal! After they shared their message they began to pray for us. It was kind of a free-for-all. Everyone stood up and they went around praying for different people. Some people started to cry, some started to laugh, some started just moving around a little, shaking etc.

My eyes were closed and I was focused on God. If I had experienced an environment like that a few years earlier I would have just shut down, or left the room. But God had been slowly moving me out of my comfort zone.

All of a sudden I began to feel something. I knew exactly what it was, but I had never felt it so strong in my life. It was love, the love of God poured out by the Holy Spirit as Bryan and Mercedes ministered amongst us. I felt a warm loving embrace start to fill the air around me, and wrap around me, and fill my whole body. God himself tangibly wrapped His arms around me and spoke deep into my heart...

Now, it’s hard for me to communicate to you what I was feeling in that moment, but I can tell you that it was the best thing ever. Nothing, absolutely nothing, no love, no feeling, no experience, no nothing ever has or ever will come close to the ecstasy and joy that I felt in that moment. It was the love of God; the love of my heavenly Father revealed through His Spirit. It was so strong that it changed me forever. I am not the same because of that one life-changing experience.

Romans 5:5 tells us that God pours His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That’s what I was experiencing in that moment, and have continued to experience in moments as I just walk with Jesus.

This precious gift of experiencing God’s love is available to all believers. What’s the requirement? Just faith. You don’t have to do anything to earn it because God knows that you could never deserve it. Just stop striving, stop trying to earn God’s love through the righteous things you do and simply believe that He loves you just as you are and go to Him and ask Him to pour out His love upon you. He will not deny you!

Waves That Keep Flowing 

Patrick, our son, was also powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit when we were filming this very testimony of Dave's in Salinas. Patrick was just lying on the couch listening as we filmed this in Dave’s living room, and the power of God just suddenly came upon him and poured over him intensely. Waves of power and glory flowed over him for about an hour! He was filled and empowered with God’s love in a very awesome way! Praise the Lord!

Third Wave Anniversary

This weekend is also the 37th anniversary of the Mothers Day Outpouring when Lonnie Frisbee ministered at the then Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda and the Holy Spirit was poured out, which would later become the Anaheim Vineyard. This began what missiologist Peter Wagner calls the Third Wave Outpouring of the  Holy Spirit in the 20th Century in America (The 1st wave being the Pentecostal Revival and 2nd being the Charismatic Renewal.) We were blessed to be personally connected with two principal leaders of the 2nd and 3rd Wave Revivals, Harald Bredesen with the Charismatic Renewal and Lonnie Frisbee with the Third Wave Revival (also called the Vineyard Revival but the name can be a bit narrow as the Revival touched more than just those in the Vineyard).  The Wall Street Journal also did an article this week on how this summer will mark the 50th year anniversary of the Summer of Love when Hippies descended en masse on Haight Ashbury. Out of that wild cultural milieu was birthed the Jesus People Revival where young people all over the country began to get saved.

• We have a blog we did on the Mothers Day Outpouring.
• A Web page on Lonnie and the Revivals he was involved in.
• A video on the Jesus People Revival and Mother's Day Outpouring.

Remembering the Mother's Day Outpouring

While celebrating Mother’s Day yesterday, the significance of the day in contemporary Christian History came to mind, a history some may actually not be aware of:

It was at a Mother’s Day service a few decades back when Lonnie Frisbee gave his testimony at Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda (which met in the High School Gym at Canyon High School in Yorba Linda) and then invited the Holy Spirit to come and move amongst the congregation. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit that followed started a revival that went out to the nations.  

Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda at Canyon High School.

John Wimber leads worship at Canyon High School.

Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda experienced a full blown revival following that outpouring.  It would later became a Vineyard Church and pastor John Wimber, who had experienced his first Power Encounter on that Mother’s Day, so impacted by it all, began teaching and ministering on the power of God. The ministry and revival birthed that day would go out to the nations. 

This revival subsequently became known as “The Third Wave” a name coined by Fuller Seminary Missiologist Peter Wagner. Praise God that power and fire is still moving! I personally got baptized in the Holy Spirit back then in the Canyon High School Gym at  Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda where the outpouring of the Holy Spirit became a regular thing. 

Bryan is prayed for by Lonnie Frisbee and Jill Austin.

I wrote a piece on this outpouring and my own experience some time back and have included some links here to that article for more reading, as well as links to other articles and videos we’ve done regarding this subject.

Blessings to you!

Article from the Anniversary of the Mother’s Day Outpouring:

http://gwmgracenotes.blogspot.com/2010/05/thirty-year-anniversary-of-mothers-day.html

Jesus People Revival Video:

https://youtu.be/0OgfmU13sPI?list=PL9zt0pZyg_bP4yvJ-QVmM1zeZtvTZv5Z7

Reflections on Frisbee and the Jesus People and The Third Wave Revival:

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

Wild Encounters in the Desert:

http://reflectionsftroad.blogspot.com/2011/11/encounter-at-tahquitz.html

Thirty-Year Anniversary of Mother's Day Outpouring

Canyon High School gym where God poured

out His Spirit thirty years ago on Mother's Day

Follow this link for a video and background to the

Jesus People and Third Wave Revivals.

This Mother’s Day is the 30-year anniversary of an outpouring of the Spirit that gave birth to a very powerful revival that went out to the nations and affected many lives, including my own.

Known by a few different monikers including “The Third Wave Revival” (named thus by missiologist and Fuller Seminary Professor Peter Wagner who includes it as one of the three most important outpourings in the Twentieth Century) it has also been called the “Vineyard Revival” and, though this may be a more popular term, I prefer Wagner’s term because the roots and the reach of the outpouring went way outside the bounds of the Vineyard movement.

Thirty years ago John Wimber, pastor of the then called Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda, had Lonnie Frisbee come share his testimony for a service which happened to be on Mother’s Day. Frisbee had previously been the instrumental evangelist in the Jesus People Revival, a movement which had given rise to the growth of Calvary Chapel churches—as well as being the leading evangelist at Calvary Costa Mesa, Frisbee had also actually led now well-known evangelist Greg Laurie to the Lord, discipled him, and started his church out in Riverside, now known as the mega church Harvest Christian Fellowship—though Frisbee never received much credit for all God did through him (follow this link for more on the Jesus People Revival and the Third Wave Revival.)

What ensued on that Mother’s Day has been the subject of multiple books (1), articles, research, documentaries, and even seminary discussions. Frisbee basically just shared his testimony, which was nothing unusual. What happened afterwards was what turned things on their head. Straight after his testimony, as Frisbee began to invite the Holy Spirit to move on this pretty straight-laced evangelical group, the Spirit of God began to be poured out in radical power. People who didn’t even believe in speaking in tongues began to speak in tongues; in fact as the Spirit moved on people and knocked some over to the ground, a dog pile 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 he was at first angry, but as he began to pray and examine the Bible, 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 knew nothing of what had happened that day and had a word from God for him. Calling in the literal middle of the night Stipe 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.’ ” 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, where he had previously taught, was now his very own experience, a complete paradigm shift, and went forward full force with what God had just done.

That Mother’s Day outpouring sparked a revival that continued on at full throttle. The church in Yorba Linda tripled in size over that very 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.

In time a team was assembled from the Yorba Linda church that went out to different nations with Wimber and Frisbee doing conferences on the subject of “The Power of God,” further spreading and widening the acclaim of this move of God.

This outpouring was made even more prominent by Wimber’s subsequent course at Fuller Seminary entitled “MC510 – Signs, Wonders, and Church Growth” which became the most popular course in the mainline evangelical seminary’s history.

Some people just don’t know a good thing when they have it, as Fuller eventually caved to those whining about people getting healed on campus, like when Prof. Peter Wagner got healed of high blood pressure during a class by Wimber. The view that prevailed was that a seminary should be a place for mere extracted thought and not practice and so Wimber was pushed out, but not without having had a huge impact on the place and those attending.

I was blessed to attend one of the last classes Wimber taught there with Wagner, which had been synthesized with some other issues to keep the basic course and idea going titled “Spiritual Issues and Church Growth.” The Signs and Wonders name was just too potent for some, so the name was dumbed down a bit, but the basic premise was the same: the Power of God as seen in the Bible is integral to the spread of God’s Kingdom on earth—why such a clearly biblical topic should be so difficult for some to stomach is still hard to figure out.

Like Dr. John White says in his book When the Spirit Comes with Power (another book that recorded these events): When one steps out to radically follow God he is usually met with scorn by those who hold to the status quo, later on however he is often given an honorary doctorate—usually posthumously—by those who finally realize the contribution he has made to the community of believers. Such is the case with figures like William Seymour who is only now, a century later, being recognized by publications like Christianity Today as one of the top ten most important Christian leaders in the Twentieth Century. Previous to this, Seymour received mostly the obligatory scorn from the larger Christian community for founding the Pentecostal Revival. Surely the same pattern is already starting to emerge for Frisbee and Wimber as even many who had no connection to this revival are looking back, documenting its events, and seeing the major contribution to the Body of Christ of these two as well as other players who played pivotal roles.

Political correctness ruling the day, Wimber’s Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda was eventually given the left foot of fellowship and asked to find itself a new name, not one with “Calvary Chapel” in it and so joined up with another former Calvary Chapel leader named Ken Gulliksen and his small group of churches called “The Vineyard.” Folk singer Bob Dylan was hanging around these fellowships back then and radical things continued to happen and spread as the Vineyard movement with Wimber taking the helm became a major force for renewal and revival over time.

Frisbee’s impact on both Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard has been mostly understated and underreported. His impact, however, in both these movements is huge and instrumental. (Click here for more info on Calvary Chapel history)

Wimber’s first ever “Power Encounter” took place when Frisbee ministered on that Mother’s Day service, according to Wimber’s own words in his book Power Evangelism. The fact that his four books Power Evangelism, Power Healing, Power Points, and Power Encounters as well as his conferences on “The Power of God” are all based and flow out of that seminal encounter, clearly demonstrates the enormous impact of Frisbee’s influence on Wimber’s subsequent thought and practice, thought and practice that had a huge impact on the body of Christ.

Nothing ever happens in a vacuum and the Third Wave/Vineyard Revival itself was actually rooted in the Jesus People Revival, which interestingly enough, has itself roots that tie back to the Pentecostals—both Lonnie Frisbee and Chuck Smith were originally in the Pentecostal movement. Chuck Smith was originally a Foursquare Pentecostal Preacher and Frisbee originally came to Christ as a youth at a Pentecostal camp. John Wimber’s own spiritual roots are from the Quakers, itself an early radical revival movement that sprung up in England and the American Colonies but which later became mainstream, seemingly being led back to his true roots unaware.

Furthermore, one of the most interesting things I’ve noticed is how much the Third Wave/ Vineyard Revival as well as the Pentecostal Revival so closely resemble powerful historical revivals of the past: The Great Awakening as well as the Camp Meetings along with the English Revivals all experienced similar outpourings and manifestations which were duly noted by some of their leaders and participants, something I’ll expand on more at another time.

My Own Experience in Context

Bryan Marleaux in the tube.  (Photo © Surfshot)

Quiksilver Ad: Bryan Marleaux (2nd from right) and Mark "Smerk" Mangan (far right).

The unexpected outpouring of the Spirit way back on Mother’s Day in the high school gym where Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda (later to become Vineyard Anaheim) held its services, turned life upside down in a good way for many people, myself included.

I was dragged to one of its services by others, hoping to receive healing for an injured knee that was putting the brakes on my surfing/life-guarding/modeling career. I had been surfing the amateur circuits for years where contemporaries like Tom Curren and eventually Kelly Slater were making their mark, it was a wild time to be involved in such a sport (find out more about this time and experience by clicking here) definitely a season of great change in many aspects of society. I had been influenced to turn pro by my sponsor Quiksilver and shortly after I did, I had a massive knee injury while surfing, 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 that I went to this odd church up in Yorba Linda with the goal 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.

Like being thrown into a raging river, I entered into this weird gym with people holding their hands up in the air and singing what seemed like songs that never ended, all just connecting together 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 as some were singing with hands raised, others were crying or laughing, and some had even fallen over or off their seats, while still others seemed to be muttering strange languages. All I could equate it with was a Shriners Circus I’d been to as a kid where my friend and I were the only ones without a disability and where I spent more time looking at everyone around me than at the performance itself.

Here I was in this church that met in a school gym sweating every ounce of fluid out of my body, listening to all this singing and mesmerized by people crying and laughing for no reason whatsoever.

Finally after all this endless singing the speaker John Wimber, did his best to ramble on in the unbearable heat for a while and finally wiped his sweaty face and said, “ You know, it’s really hot in here, let’s move on to some ministry.” And then got down to the reason I came and sent all those who wanted prayer for healing to a back room.

I was expecting some kind of mini miracle service in that back room but instead found a completely disorganized mess with what seemed like just regular people praying for one another. I was expecting someone in a three-piece suit to be throwing crutches in the air and proclaiming people healed but nothing really significant seemed to be happening here.

Bryan being prayed over by Lonnie Frisbee and Jill Austin.

Then a crazy hippie guy seemed to take charge of things—I remembered having seen him before at the Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa church as well as at a small group one time where I also happened to be dragged to by some other people.

This small group I had gone to before had been another endless singing escapade, singing and singing all night long. I got bored at one point and started singing too rather than just looking around the room, just to make the time pass faster. All of a sudden something happened when I started singing, that same crazy hippie guy, who I later found out was Lonnie Frisbee from Calvary Chapel, came up behind me and placed his hands on me. Immediately something happened where I felt the warmth and love of God come over me just momentarily. I’d never experienced that before.

When the small group meeting ended I told some people outside what had happened, and their response to me was: “Don’t you know anything about the Holy Spirit? That was the Holy Spirit starting to come on you.”

I told them that the guy over there had prayed over me without even asking me or anything. Someone said, “Hey, that’s Lonnie Frisbee. Everywhere he goes radical things happen!”

Now, here a little later on, as I was in that back room of the gym at Calvary Yorba Linda just kind of looking around and thinking, “This is a big disappointment. This thing isn’t even organized.” And suddenly out of nowhere something began to happen to me, this heavy feeling of God’s presence just began to come over me. I suddenly began to feel an incredible sense of God’s presence multiplied exponentially a thousand times over, God and His glory were right there with and upon me. All at once I began to be overwhelmed by God’s manifest glory, and like those people I had watched mesmerized whom I thought were disabled and/or strange out in the gym, I was starting to cry and then laugh and then cry and then laugh and on and on for no visible reason whatsoever. His love and grace began to be downloaded from my head into my heart at light speed and it was overwhelming me. Waves of something like liquid love began to wash over and over me, again and again.

Next, Lonnie Frisbee, while standing on some wrestling mats, started pointing at me and praying over me and saying stuff 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 some people sat me down on some rolled up wrestling mats where they prayed for me as I continued to get hammered, being baptized in the Holy Spirit for the next three and a half to four hours at least.

When I finally opened my eyes from what seemed like an altered state of consciousness, the place that had been full was now almost empty. Without a doubt I had been in the presence of God in a major way. It was an encounter with God that would change my life forever.

Much like the people Paul encountered on the way to Ephesus (Acts 19:1-7) who believed in Jesus but knew nothing of the Holy Spirit or His power, I had been in that same boat. Paul had immediately prayed for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit though they had limited knowledge, likewise God didn’t wait for me to take a course on the Holy Spirit before he filled me to overflowing. The gift came without any knowledge, effort, study or merit on my part whatsoever. Just like the Bible teaches, “You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, and to your children, to…all who have been called by the Lord our God.” (Acts 2:38-39.) In my limited knowledge, I had the same experience as those Ephesians Paul prayed for, getting filled unaware and even speaking in tongues later while praying at home after this.

This was a life-changing event, my life was completely transformed at this point as I began to pray and read the Bible regularly, something I never had done much of before, and I also began to realize that God had a higher purpose and calling for me regarding serving Him and ministry versus just doing and pursuing my own thing.

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 and the reality of His call and purpose for my life, which soon began to be played out as I began to witness to others and even lead others to Christ and eventually even starting a Bible Study with those I’d led to Christ where we had our own Holy Ghost times. And so it was that I was led into ministry and became a witness of God’s grace, love, and power by God’s Spirit soon after being filled with the Holy Spirit just like Jesus says will happen. (Acts 1:8.)

God brought healing to my knee, though I still had to suffer through that cast and doing some weights to get rid of the atrophy for a while. It was a break in time that took me away from just going after my own pursuits. 

I was brought into the reality of God’s presence and love and grace in a way that I had never heard nor knew could happen and then was directed into God’s call and ministry all through the work and power of His Spirit.

Mine is just one of countless testimonies of so many whose lives were changed and impacted for good in this revival.

We were blessed to connect with Lonnie Frisbee later and as good friends learned many important lessons in that discipleship time.

The Third Wave/Vineyard Revival went on to spread out to many different parts of the country and different nations, bringing renewal and reviving many.

This is just one of many of God’s great outpourings throughout the centuries that traces itself all the way back to the Day of Pentecost recorded in the Book of Acts where Jesus’ words were fulfilled: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Video of Jesus People
Video of Bryan's Testimony

Footnotes:
(1) When the Spirit Comes With Power by John White; Power Evangelism by John Wimber; The Quest for the Radical Middle by Bill Jackson.