My John Wimber Story…
While I never met John Wimber, no other Christian leader has made a bigger impact on my life. Here is why…
I grew up in the Vineyard and obviously knew about Wimber from an early age. I saw and heard stories of people attending Vineyard conferences and then moving all over the world to plant churches… but I was a kid and it didn’t really mean much to me.
After high school I went and studied theology for nine million years (or maybe that’s just how long it felt). During one of my summers off, I was given some tapes of a John Wimber conference and I decided to listen to them while I mowed my lawn.
The conference was from 1991 and was essentially John Wimber’s attempt to bring correction and teaching to Mike Bickle and his church. There had been a LOT of controversy and debate and concerns about Mike Bickle and his church, Kansas City Fellowship (which later became the Metro Vineyard Christian Fellowship.
In The Quest for the Radical Middle , Bill Jackson wrote the following about this conference:
“As the controversy wound down, Wimber said that God had told him that the way he dealt with Mike would set a precedent for disciplining leaders in the future.”
You can read a lot more about the issues related to that situation in Jackson’s book. For my story, what mattered was those tapes. Though it was over a decade after that conference, they made a huge impact on my life. I was a young man trying to figure out Church stuff and as I listened to them, I heard John Wimber address a bunch of different controversies, including:
The nature of prophecy;
The authority of prophecy;
Local church government;
Spiritual gifts;
Revival;
Worship; etc.
I actually remember being brought to tears as I listened and mowed the lawn because it was so obvious to me that John Wimber was full of gentleness, wisdom, kindness, generosity, truth, and love. He did not shy away from addressing specific abuses and yet did so in a way that MADE me want to do better as a potential leader and I remember feeling love for the Church and had an increasing desire to work for the good of local churches.
To this day I will never forget the impact those tapes made on my life. I don’t think I had ever heard anything like it… a church leader being authentic and honest avoids charismatic abuses in a way that empowered and encouraged people to “do the stuff” with humility and compassion. It was like I had finally been given a vision for what the Church COULD BE if she would walk in the power of the Spirit with the fruit of the Spirit at work.
Fast forward the next 25+ years and I have read dozens upon dozens of books and articles by or on John Wimber and listened to many of his talks… and my value for him only continues to grow.
Wimber was light years ahead of his time. His genius cannot be fully appreciated and that is why there are thousands upon thousands of churches that were impacted by him as well as thousands upon thousands of leaders who were marked by his teachings.
Was he perfect? No. Did he make mistakes? Absolutely. But he consistently pointed us to the one whom is Perfect, namely Jesus.
I should also add that I was impacted by the humility of Mike Bickle when he received correction and though I wish he would have remembered many if Wimber’s corrections later in life, he has always struck me as a humble man who loves Jesus despite holding some bad theological impulses and lacking pastoral sensitivities in certain areas.
It’s 2023 now and I’m increasingly convinced that today’s church needs as much of Wimber as she can get. Many of today’s challenges would do well to be addressed by his thinking as we also follow his advice and “take the best and go.”
What’s your Wimber story?
About the Author
Luke Geraty is a pastor-theologian in northern California. With a few theology degrees and nearly twenty years of pastoral leadership, Luke loves the Bible, theology, fly fishing, coffee, and books. All opinions are his own and not the views of any other organizations he’s affiliated with. You can follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe to his YouTube.
John Wimber and Mike Bickle are both great! Two of my heroes.
My Wimber story doesn’t start at the beginning when I first met John (1982), but it starts a couple of years after John went home to be with Jesus (1997).
One night, I had a vivid dream that I can see as clearly today (2023) as when I woke up from it. In the dream, I was standing at the bottom of a small slope or hill. The hill was bare dirt and was covered all around with fruit trees. At the top of the hill was a small house. In the dream, I knew it was John Wimber’s house. Suddenly, I found myself in the house, sitting across from John. John didn’t look well at all; he seemed very depressed. I asked him, “John, what is wrong?” He replied, “It has been so long since I felt the Holy Spirit.” In the dream, I leaned forward, lightly touched him, and said, “Come, Holy Spirit.” Instantly I was back outside at the bottom of the hill looking up at his house through the fruit trees, only now the ground around the trees wasn’t bare dirt; it was covered with a vast multitude of children running in every direction playing war. Then I woke up.
For twenty-plus years I’ve carried a conviction that another wave of the Holy Spirit would come to a new generation, and John’s conviction that in the Kingdom, “everyone gets to play” would be taken up with zeal, faith, and great effectiveness worldwide again. John planted a vast orchard of fruit-bearing churches around the world, some with the label “Vineyard” but many with different labels, but they all grew from seeds Jesus gave to John to sow in our hearts and minds.
May those of us who have walked a while in this orchard renew our zeal and redouble our efforts to equip and support a new generation that is already beginning to hear Jesus’ call to come and follow him, just like we did so many years ago. They need us to recognize them and encourage and support them as they come in to take their place in the work of the Kingdom. They will carry the weight for the next season, but we need to pass along to them everything we have (at least, the good stuff) with our blessing and encouragement.
Come, Holy Spirit