Frisbee: Time to Toss it Back

This is supposed to be a SynchroBlog on the subject of Christianity and Film. (For info on SynchroBlogs see The Original SynchroBlog Post from back in December.) I know the original idea of this SynchroBlog probably was to discover places where heaven met the secular silver screen, or to challenge the idea that it does, but I thought that I would write something about a good Christian flick, because finding one is a miracle in itself.

The movie is Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher. Our church owns the film. Of course, we also own Marjoe, which I believe every preacher ought to see.

Okay I've spent two paragraphs saying nothing about Frisbee, so here we finally go.

It is a documentary about Lonnie Frisbee. Most people today have never heard of Lonnie. I saw him preach in 1981, and he was quite a celebrity in certain circles. Those circles were Calvary Chapel, and Vineyard Churches. He was a little hippie dude, who by 1981 looked less the hippie, and held services in which people experienced lots of radical charismatic God things - you know, speaking in tongues, healings etc.

I did not know at that time that he was responsible for the early miraculous growth of both the Calvary Chapel and Vineyard movements. Later the historical connection between the church movements and Lonnie would be kept quite silent in most circles. Why? Because Lonnie contracted AIDS through homosexual relationships which he had over the same years he was in ministry, and died in 1993.

Two movements had their genesis, and thrived under his passion, and his impetus. Yet today few people in those movements know his name. He has been tossed out as an unclean leper, and his legacy is forgotten. Perhaps it is time to toss his name back into the discussion, and work through the questions his life challenges us with.

At our recent church conference God: For People Who Hate Church we showed the movie, and followed it up for a discussion. Perhaps you should consider buying the DVD, and creating a discussion group around it as well. Thanks to David Di Sabatino for putting this postmodern Bible story together for us.

A Letter from a Witch's Friend

The following letter was written by a friend of my friend Shawn, who died last month. It speaks for itself, and says something about the problems Christians sometimes create through judgmentalism, and fear of being defiled by "the unbelieving," and those who do not live up to our lifestyle expectations.

"Phil,

You don't know me and I have never been to your church. I knew Shawn Poirier since we were teenagers and I remember his zeal for church. I used to sleep over his house and we would pray all night. I remember earnestly studying the Bible with him, going on retreats, worshiping together in church.

I also remember the way church people judged Shawn and his family, spread lies about him, talked behind his back and accused him of things that were not true. I remember walking into a church with Shawn and watching as the minister stopped his sermon and then announced that "a spirit of homosexuality" had just walked into the room. Shawn was crushed. I remember watching him try again and again to find community, acceptance and love in church....all to no avail. The church really poured on the fire after he became a witch but I made it a point to publicly give him a hug and tell him that he would always be my friend. This would freak out my family but I felt that it was important that Shawn know that not every church person was judging him. I attended Shawn's wake but had to leave early. I was sad not to see church people there, but I tried to brush off my feelings. Imagine my shock when that Sunday I heard a pastor publicly preach that Shawn was in hell and standing naked before an angry god. This was coming from one of the churches that had hurt Shawn. I was furious and distraught. I watched Shawn get publicly rebuked in life...I was not about to watch it happen in death, when his family was in pain. I made sure to write a letter to the pastor right then and there and I handed it to him and told him to read it before he preached his next sermon. (It was at Christian (name of church)... in New Bedford at the first of what are 3 morning services)

I wrote to Christian Day expressing my deep hurt that Shawn had died, my anger that Shawn's name was being mentioned publicly and requesting his family's decision as to how I should handle this. In my mind a public response was necessary. But Christian Day....showing incredible tolerance, grace and maturity suggested that I let it roll off of me and not let it take up my energy. He gave me the link to your church and told me shortly how you were of great assistance during this time. I wanted to therefore send you a note of thanks, that a pastor, instead of judging actually stood up and was a blessing during this time.

I can't thank you enough. You don't know me but I wanted to tell you that I appreciated your response after Shawn's death and I know that God is pleased. May God enlarge your voice so that others can hear the words of Jesus instead of the taunts of the Pharisees.

Sincerely,

Steven Thorne"

Like Stephen I wanted to fully publish the name of the church, but for the sake of exhibiting God's grace I have not. Stephen, thank you for having been a long time friend of my friend.