Leader of the Early Calvary Chapel Houses for Hippies, Pastor John Higgins Passes
“We’re fundamentalists,” Shiloh elder John Higgins said in the March 19, 1977, edition of the Eugene Register-Guard. “But we’re not Bible thumpers—we want people to think for themselves. … If they accept Jesus, they’ll get a foundation to stand against all storms.”
Pastor John Higgins
Long time Calvary Chapel pastor John Higgins has sadly passed away. John had been instrumental in the connection between Calvary Chapel founder Pastor Chuck Smith and Lonnie Frisbee, who was featured in the recent movie, Jesus Revolution, along with Pastor Greg Laurie. In reality, it was John Higgins who picked up Lonnie Frisbee hitchhiking and brought him to meet Pastor Chuck and Kay for the very first time. When Lonnie got in John’s car, both young men asked each other if they knew Jesus at the same time and started to laugh. Realizing they were kindred spirits, John knew he finally had the hippy that Kay Smith wanted to meet and drove directly to the Smith household for a meeting used by God.
John was instrumental in what the Lord was going to do in the Jesus Movement and his role was extremely important.
John led one of the early church homes called House of Miracles, a place where the recently “saved” hippies who had given their lives to Christ could find refuge in an environment without drugs and alcohol. John later moved to Arizona and pastored what became known as Calvary Chapel Tri-City in the Tempe–Phoenix area. He ministered there for decades and remained one of the last few active pastors who had firsthand involvement in the original Calvary Chapel revival that began in 1968.
According to Pastor Mike MacIntosh, John started the Shiloh ministries, which was a national network of Christian communes and farms that put hippies to work while discipling them. Please pray for John’s family as they mourn their great loss.
Above: Pastor John was interviewed in 2023 after the release of the Jesus Revolution movie and asked to share his memories of the early days of the Jesus Movement.
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