Speak the words.  Do the works.  See the wonders.  ~ John Wimber

A Really Good Read

History - HIS (Jesus') STORY - will judge us all one day.  The fruit will be inspected, the words and the works will be weighed, the chaff will be separated from the wheat, foundations will either crumble or stand, the gold and silver will be found pure or corrupted with baser metals, and the holy will be separated from the profane.

I believe with all my heart that John Wimber's life story will be judged a best seller in eternity.

Now you may be asking, "Who is John Wimber?" 

• singer, musician, songwriter (Righteous Brothers)
• preacher, teacher, evangelist
• equipper of the saints
• founder of the Vineyard Movement and Vineyard Music
• prayed for healing and deliverance for who knows how many thousands of people
• intercessor
• writer, speaker
• church growth specialist and church planter worldwide
• theologian, reformer
• husband, father, grandfather, friend, mentor
• lover of the church and of Jesus and of all mankind
• minister to the poor and oppressed
• "just a fat man trying to get to heaven"

Out of this list, I feel that perhaps his most important role was a church reformer.  His worship, teaching, friendship, and theology definitely changed me.

I will never forget sitting in the auditorium in Anaheim, California, in 1984 eagerly awaiting the beginning of the MC510 conference.  I thought I knew what to expect, but I really had no clue. 

When the band began to play and the multitude began to sing and worship, I began to cry.  Yes, I am a crier.  When God is recognizably present, I cry.  I kept thinking, "I'm home.  I'm home."

I've been a Christian 50plus years.  I was raised in the church.  I've been reading my Bible as long as I have been able to read.  I 've been singing in church since I was about four or five years old.  For all but a few years, the church and my relationship with God and music have been my number one priority.  None of this could compare to what I experienced during that conference and what I have experienced from being part of a Vineyard Fellowship over the last thirty-something years. 

Wimber was one of the wisest men I have ever known.  I know that I write from time to time about people who have been "mentors" to me, people I never met, people who were dead long before I was born.  I feel like I really know them.  However, I was fortunate enough to meet John and to actually have conversation with him a couple of times.  He actually asked me to pray for him at a New Orleans conference because he wasn't well.   He is real to me.

Martin Luther, a 16th century priest and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, Germany, was a leader in the Protestant Reformation.  He taught that salvation and eternity in heaven are not earned by good deeds but are received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin.  This theology challenged the authority of the priests and the Pope and invited the common man into the priesthood of the believer.

I believe that John Wimber's basic teaching on the kingdom of God in the twentieth century will soon be seen as comparable with Luther's priesthood of believers.  Both invite and empower all believers to partner with God to bring His kingdom rule.  Both Luther and Wimber were visionaries who changed, or reformed, the church existent in His day.

Wimber was an excellent speaker/preacher/teacher.   Often, his theology was conveyed through witty tidbits that were easily remembered.  Marty Boller, who has served in pastoral ministry within the Association of Vineyard Churches and has worked alongside Francis Frangipane and has been a field rep for Promise Keepers, has penned The Wisdom of Wimber As I See It.   If you are a lover of Jesus or of the Vineyard or of John or of the church of Jesus, please read this book.  Thank you, Marty, for the refreshing memories and for writing this book. 

I leave you with a few of my favorite Wimberisms.

Everybody gets to play.

 

Let me grow up before I grow old.

 

Jesus wants His church back.

 

I'm a fool for Christ.  Whose fool are you?

 

Doin' the stuff

 

As leaders, we're not in the people keeping business.

We're in the people processing business.

 

We get to give to get to give again and again.

 

How do you spell commitment?

Time, energy, and money

 

Live simply - Love extravagantly

 

It's not enough to be biblically literate;

we must also be biblically obedient.

 

You'll reproduce in kind.

 

The church - A family, a hospital, an army

 

The first and foremost question isn't, "What's in it for me and my family?"

but rather,

"What's in it for Jesus?  What is He going to get out of this?"

After all, it's His church.

 

The Lord of the harvest adds to our numbers those who are being saved . . .

those whom He chooses."

 

We're given power for a purpose.

 

Commitment to Christ is commitment to Christ's body.

We must love what Jesus loves. 

 

 

 

Other recommended Wimber reads:

• Everyone Gets to Play
• The Way in Is the Way On
• Power Healing