Tag Archives: John Wimber Collection

Celebrating John Wimber’s Legacy

John Wimber (1934-1997) was a principal founder of the Vineyard church movement. Before his radical conversion to Christ in 1963, he was a rock musician with the Righteous Brothers. His ministry brought new expression to the work of the Holy Spirit as witnessed in the more than 1,500 Vineyard churches that exist today worldwide. The Library’s Wimber Collection includes journals, conference materials, course syllabi, Vineyard publications, brochures, newspaper articles, correspondence, and memorabilia.

On Monday, March 12, the Library will host a special event to celebrate the legacy of this man of God. The featured speaker will be the Rev. Christy Wimber, daughter-in-law of John Wimber. The event will take place at 2:00 in the Library auditorium, followed by refreshments on the Library Balcony and an exhibition in Special Collections.
For more information, including a list of speakers and a link to RSVP, see the Wimber Collection Event homepage.

What is Special Collections?

What is Special Collections? (And why is it locked up?)

by Jason Stuart, Reference Librarian

In 2013, Special Collections hosted the Living Word exhibition of ancient Biblical manuscripts. In 2013, Special Collections hosted the Living Word exhibition of ancient Biblical manuscripts.

The University Library’s Special Collections & Archives are a treasure trove of unique primary source materials and artifacts. Researchers have travelled from all over the United States and Great Britain to unlock the secrets of our vault.

Although the Library’s Special Collections is becoming an important destination for 20th Century Christian history research, the 2014 Customer Satisfaction Survey suggests that most students are unaware of Special Collections. Here are two of the comments we received:

Visiting scholar researches in Library Special Collections

On January 30th the Library hosted a visiting scholar from Duke Divinity School. Dr. Lester Ruth came to the Library to examine documents in the John Wimber Collection for two research projects. The first is a book he is writing with fellow-scholars Andy Park and Cindy Rethmeier, Loving God Intimately: Worship with John Wimber at Anaheim Vineyard Fellowship. The second project is a broad history of contemporary worship. The Library is pleased to have been able to assist Dr. Ruth in his research.

Librarian Bob Sivigny publishes article and bibliography in Society for Pentecostal Studies Newsletter

The recently published spring issue of the Society for Pentecostal Studies Newsletter includes two contributions by Regent librarian Bob Sivigny. The first, an article in the Research Opportunities section, focuses on the Library’s acquisition of two significant collections: the John Wimber Collection and the J. Rodman Williams Collection. The John Wimber Collection consists of twenty-six boxes of teaching materials, brochures, correspondence, journal articles, photos, DVDs, CDs, cassette tapes, catalogs, books and Vineyard publications such as Equipping the Saints and Voice of the Vineyard. The J. Rodman Williams Collection includes topical office files with articles and correspondence regarding Williams’ travels in Europe with Rev. David du Plessis, his involvement with the CatholicPentecostal dialogue movement of the 1970s, his association with the European Charismatic Leaders Conferences, and his involvement with the Charismatic Communion of Presbyterian Ministers, among other interests.

The second item is an eleven-page bibliography of dissertations and theses on the topics of Pentecostalism, healing, Holy Spirit, and other issues of PentecostalCharismatic studies. These are works completed by North American graduate students who have submitted their dissertations or theses to the ProQuestUMI Dissertations & Theses database. The entire spring issue of the Society for Pentecostal Studies Newsletter can be viewed in PDF by clicking here.

Visiting scholar researches John Wimber in Library’s Special Collections

Written by Robert Sivigny, Special Collections Librarian

With a dissertation to write on the distinctiveness of John Wimber’s signs and wonders theology, Dr. Joseph Zichterman knew he had to use Regent University Library’s John Wimber Collection to complete his work. The Wimber Collection, donated by the Wimber family for the purpose of scholarly research, is filled with articles by and about Vineyard founder and pastor, John Wimber, who died in 1997.

Dr. Zichterman is a professor of Biblical studies at Multnomah University in Portland, Oregon, and is completing his second doctorate degree. About his visit to Regent Library, he remarked, “the Special Collections at Regent are an outstanding aid for scholars to tap into primary resources. The staff went above and beyond the call of duty to assist me in my research regarding the personal collection of John Wimber.” Dr. Zichterman also singled out for special thanks Library volunteer Fran McGowan and the InterLibrary Loan department for their assistance with scanning documents.

The Library prays God’s blessing on Dr. Zichterman as he completes his dissertation and hopes that his work will be an important contribution to scholarship about this significant Church leader of the late twentieth century.