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Frisbee:The
Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher
(Jester Media, unrated at this writing, 100 minutes) Lonnie Frisbee had a hand in the growth of two of America's most prominent Pentecostal denominations. That fact doesn't much come through in their official histories, however. The reason for that is likely the shame and confusion resulting from not knowing what to do when a man used by God dies in a manner deemed at odds with godliness. After a dramatic Christian conversion at age 17 involving LSD, nudity and a canyon, Frisbee continued to struggle with homosexuality. That struggle eventually lead to Frisbee's death by AIDS in his early 40s in 1993. Frisbee:The Life and Death of a Hippie Peacher, the documentary debut of noted Jesus movement scholar David DiSabatino, deals forthrightly with the torn nature of a young man sincerely changed by whatever kind of number the Lord had laid on him. In the process, DiSabatino touches upon the growth of the movement that brought slews of long-haired flower children salvifically to their Maker. From there, Frisbee, and a significant number of the movement's converts, came to embrace some of the extremes of Charismatic/Pentecostal faith expression. At its heart, though, Frisbee is as much a recollection of a bustling, controversial phase in the history of American Christianity as it is about a boy in search of a father. Just as he found his Heavenly Father in an unorthodox manner, so his earthly parents led an unorthodox relationship. Frisbee's birth mother and father divorced, remarried each half of another divorced couple, and both new couples lived under one roof. Compounding whatever youthful gender misidentification he may have been feeling was molestation by his baby sitter, starting when he was eight and lasting several years. The free spirit born of pain and confusion found outlets before or around his experimentations with gay sexuality and drugs. He would paint his face half-white and dance on SheBang, radio DJ Casey Kasem's Los Angeles American Bandstand knock-off. It gave Frisbee some name recognition after he became a most Jesus-looking hippie. Not long after coming to Christ, Frisbee gravitated to the original Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. He assisted its pastor, Chuck Smith, in making it a church synonymous with the new breed of Jesus freaks and their mass ocean side baptisms. Between a broken marriage and moves to Florida and Northern Califoirnia, Frisbee's move back to Calvary Costa Mesa resulted in a parting of ways. As Frisbee was becoming more extreme in his preaching and use of Holy Ghost gifts, Smith wasn't having it. Another father figure lost. Not much later, Frisbee fell in with John Wimber's Calvary spin-off movement/denomination (eventually), the Vineyard Church. Frisbee was freer to preach and follow more radical manifestations of the Spirit (and some perhaps more doubtful). A revelation of a same-sex affair between Frisbee and an attendee of the Laguna Beach Calvary Chapel precipitated the end of his association with Wimber and Vineyard. From there, it was independent missionary work and support for Frisbee. He had already trimmed his beard and locks considerably from the peak of his looking like a Prince of Peace impersonator. Sometimes it would only be a moustache. As years passed, his more conservative look was accompanied by a more sallow, gaunt look to his face. But that's what AIDS can do. What Calvary Chapels' and Vineyards' didn't have to do was virtually erase any mention of Ffrisbee by name in their records. Frisbee's sexual struggles vis-a-vis the Kingdom good he did (Neo-Pentecostal excesses and all) formed the more obvious tension driving Frisbee's sad tale. The under riding tension was Frisbee's search for an earthly father figure who wouldn't screw him literally, by molestation, nor figuratively, by using him for his spiritual gifts and discarding him as a person. Footage of Frisbee traces his path from idealistic hippie, some taken from previous Jesus Movement documentaries including The Son Worshippers and The Devout Young, to his later, more Charismatica years. The family, friends (both hetero- and homosexual), professional associates and spokespeople for a gay Christian viewpoint DiSabatino interviews draw no easy conclusions about such a singular and fallible man. That DiSabatino deems Frisbee "a Bible story" in the closing credits points to how God's use of servants not fully sanctified servants throughout the scriptural narrative to accomplish His ends. DiSabnatino's recounting of Frisbee's singular story holds the proper parties' feet to justified fire while showing the film's subject mercy that doesn't necessarily absolve him, either . The perplexing, heart-wrenching receives even-handed treatment. Should Frisbee become a film festival circuit hit (it's already garnered general market press kudos in Southern California), its soundtrack's inclusion of vintage Jesus rock by revered acts such as Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, Love Song, et al (buttressed by a little U2) could likewise spark interest in some fine music today's church has largely forgotten. To what degree the Church
chooses to forget or embrace this incisive documentary and renew a dialogue
concerning its compelling, conflicted hero should be fascinating. (for
more information regarding Frisbee, log on to<http://www.lonniefrisbee.com>.m
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