John Wimber

John Richard Wimber was an American pastor, evangelist, teacher, musician, and songwriter who became the principal leader of the Vineyard movement. Born in Kirksville, Missouri, in 1934, he worked professionally as a musician and producer before his Christian conversion in 1963. Vineyard sources connect his early music career with the group that developed into the Righteous Brothers. After conversion, Wimber became active in a Friends congregation in Yorba Linda, California, and joined its ministerial staff in 1970. He later worked in church-growth ministry and taught at Fuller Theological Seminary.

In 1977 Wimber began leading a Calvary Chapel congregation in Yorba Linda. His growing emphasis on the present work of the Holy Spirit, healing, and spiritual gifts eventually contributed to the congregation’s separation from Calvary Chapel in 1982 and its identification with the Vineyard movement. Wimber then became the movement’s best-known international leader, teacher, and author; he coauthored books including “Power Evangelism” and “Power Healing.”

Wimber wrote both words and music of “Spirit Song” in 1979, before his congregation formally became part of the Vineyard. The song reflects his concern for intimate worship, prayer, surrender, and ministry in the Holy Spirit and remains his most widely represented song in denominational hymnals.