On his deathbed in 1993, Lonnie Frisbee made a revelation to Pastor Greg Laurie that left Laurie in disbelief. It’s something Laurie says he has never told anyone publicly—until now.
Frisbee, one of the main characters in the smash hit film “Jesus Revolution,” told Laurie that God had shown Frisbee that he was going to once again preach to thousands of people. The first thing that came to Laurie’s mind was “that’s not going to happen.”
Laurie, who serves as the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California and the founder of Harvest Crusades, now humbly admits he was sorely mistaken about that.
Although Frisbee died shortly after his conversation with Laurie, Frisbee’s prophecy did indeed come true 30 years later. Laurie says Frisbee not only preached to thousands, but he has preached to millions through the “Jesus Revolution” movie, a film that has impacted the masses and brought many non-believers into the kingdom of God.
“Jesus Revolution” has broken many box office records. In early April, it was reported that the film had crossed the $50 million mark.
Laurie says he vividly remembers the day he last saw Frisbee.
“When I went to see Lonnie, I went with a friend. He (Frisbee) was in hospice care, and he was in a dark room but with a big fire in a fireplace,” Laurie said in a recent interview with Bless God Studios’ RuslanKD. “You could see his face in the reflection—he was emaciated. It was very sad.
“We knew that Lonnie was not long for this world, and that’s when Lonnie told me he would once again preach in front of thousands. Later, a friend asked me, ‘Did it ever occur to you that through this movie and this story being told that Lonnie has preached to thousands of people?’ Thousands, I asked, Perhaps millions.”
That was when Laurie thought to himself, “Was God giving him (Frisbee) a vision of his future, that his story would be redeemed and told to a whole new audience?
“There is this scene in the film where Lonnie is preaching in the church, but now he is preaching to millions of people. I’m so glad I can help to tell his story and the story of Pastor Chuck (Smith) and how God used them.
“You can say that God didn’t use them and you can dismiss the whole movie if you like, but this movement of the Holy Spirit happened around the world, not just in California. It happened in the UK, Texas, the South. Simultaneously it was a work of the Spirit that impacted the global church. You can’t deny it. And God did it through a lot of flawed people.”
At Frisbee’s memorial service, Laurie said Smith used an illustration that Frisbee was a “Sampson-like” character. In the movie, there appears a darker side to Frisbee, including a testy relationship with his wife and conflicts with Smith after the pastor corrects him about his youthful arrogance.
Charisma News columnist Lee Grady points out that Frisbee suffered from inner torment, which “plunged Frisbee into the drug scene in San Francisco as well as the gay underground” before he found Christ.
“But let’s not forget that the Spirit of God came upon Sampson even when he was sinning,” Laurie said. “But he paid the price. And Lonnie, by his own admission, paid the price for his sins. He was forgiven by God, and that’s the main part of the story.” {eoa}
Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.
