Larry Eskridge Interviewed at Religion in American History

Over at the Religion in American History blog, Randall Stephens interviews Larry Eskridge on his new book, God's Forever Family: The Jesus People Movement in America.

Larry explains his personal interest in the Jesus People, evangelicalism's interaction with popular culture, and the importance of his study. Eskridge comments, "I think it’s fair to say that if the Jesus People hadn’t come along when they did the evangelical church would have been nowhere near as formidable a force throughout American culture come the 1980s and beyond."

While reading the book, I found the connection of the Jesus People with Calvary Chapel and Vineyard churches fascinating. In one of my past courses at UTC, I showed a documentary on Lonnie Frisbee, who was instrumental in the Jesus Movement and the success of Calvary Chapel and Vineyard churches, but whose connection was suppressed later because of his sexuality and death from AIDS in 1993.

For anyone interested in religion and 1960s and 1970s hippie culture, I highly recommend Eskridge's book and the documentary, Frisbee.

Frisbee

Today was the first day of the fall semester at UTC. For my course on "Contemporary Religious Issues," I told the class about some of the movies that I am planning on showing, one of which is the Emmy-nominated documentary, Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher. I learned about Frisbee in a course on Fundamentalism taught by George Marsden and Bill Svelmoe at a summer school session at Regent College.

Lonnie Frisbee was an incredibly interesting person. He experienced spiritual visions while tripping on acid outside of Palm Springs. Around the time that he became interested in Christianity, he met Chuck Smith and became a lightning rod for Smith's Calvary Chapel congregation at Costa Mesa, CA. Serving on the church's staff, Frisbee drew a multitude of California's hippie youth to Calvary Chapel. Later parting with Smith over theological differences, Frisbee joined forces with John Wimber to help found the Vineyard Movement. Frisbee's ministry was called into question, however, when he admitted to being a homosexual. Frisbee felt obliged to leave the Vineyard Movement and he eventually died of AIDS. This is a story not often told by the founders of Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard Movement.

The video chronicles Frisbee's life, charismatic preaching style, and contribution to the Jesus Movement. I have no doubt that the video will spark some interesting class discussions.