How This Hippie Preacher’s Anointing Still Speaks Today
God-dreams have a way of conveying His heart at deeper level than our experience in the natural often affords. We sense things like divine urgency, holy hatred of sin and compassion beyond the human capacity. At times, we are gripped with a holy vision for what can be—God’s preferred future. When this happens, we are motivated to pray and take action with Him to see His dreams come to pass.
I received such a dream in February 2020, the very night I landed in Hawaii to teach at the University of the Nations at Youth With a Mission (YWAM) Kona. It was a simple dream, but it highlighted a sacred ambition in the heart of God for this generation. That ambition has gripped me in a profound way, and I’ve set my hand to the plow with God until its fulfillment.
The Dream
I was sitting down with two friends: Danny Lehmann (Danny is the dean of the University of the Nations and a seasoned evangelist who was saved in the historic Jesus Movement of the late ’60s-early ’70s). I could not see the face of the second friend who was sitting with us (I presume it was the Lord). We were discussing the life of the famous hippie preacher (and longtime friend of Lehmann), Lonnie Frisbee. The atmosphere was electric. I could tangibly feel God’s glory in our conversation and His great desire for a new Jesus Movement. Tears filled my eyes with a longing for God to do it again! Danny looked intently at me and declared, “We need that anointing in this generation!” Immediately I began to groan in prayer.
(End of dream.)
In response to that dream, I sat down with Lehmann later that week for an interview about his old friend. I wanted to capture his up-close perspective of Frisbee’s life and ministry with the hope that we could glean from Frisbee’s breakthroughs as well as his brokenness. Like everyone else, Frisbee’s life was marked by both.
If God wants to release that anointing on this generation, wouldn’t we be wise to learn from Lonnie Frisbee’s story?
It’s interesting; while Frisbee served as the powerful catalyst for various church movements, he seems to have gone unnamed or as some have said, written out of their history. Where he is mentioned, some seem only to emphasize stories of brokenness, immorality and failure.
Lehmann, however carries a more redemptive view: “I get a little frustrated when you have 95% of a guy’s personality is totally glorifying God and wonderful, and he has 5% hiccups—and I know they’re serious hiccups. … Some of the things said about him are true—he did die of AIDS. It’s not an overstatement to say, he was an anointed, Spirit-filled, godly guy with some struggles … particularly in the area of his sexuality.”
Listen to the full podcast interview with Danny Lehmann here. Perhaps Lonnie Frisbee’s story can help us prepare to better carry that anointing in this generation. {eoa}
Adam Narciso is the visionary and pioneer of Catalyst Ministries, a training and global outreach mission for the next generation. Since 2009 Adam has trained and mobilized over 40 international evangelism teams and has equipped thousands in the areas of identity, hearing God and evangelism via seminars around the world.
