In memory of Carol Wimber (1937-2025)
The matriarch
Today, the Vineyard family gathered with the Wimber kin to remember Carol Wimber, who along with her husband John helped found the Anaheim Vineyard back in 1977. As we worshiped together, I was struck by how Carol really was the matriarch of not only her own clan, but this greater family within the Body of Christ. I looked across this room filled with cherished friends, many of whom I’ve known since the early 1990s: people with whom I’ve prayed, laughed, grieved, celebrated, hoped, and grown old. Without John and Carol’s faithfulness, would I have ever met any of them?
The role model
I only ever knew Carol from a distance, but even so, she had a profound impact on me. As a teen, I watched her grieve the loss of her husband and oldest son, clinging to her faith and praising God in the midst of her pain. Over the decades to follow, I observed as she continued to serve the poor and the broken, never for show or to be celebrated by men, but quietly and faithfully. Today as I listened to her children and grandchildren share stories, what I heard over and over was that Carol was the kind of mother and grandmother that I hope to be, who leaves her cherished ones in no doubt of how deep her love for them runs.
The legacy
One of her grandsons reminded us today that this is not “the end of an era.” Carol helped plant seeds that have grown, multiplied, and scattered across the globe. There was so much LIFE in that sanctuary today. Assembled in the sanctuary of the Friends church (which played a special role in the story of the Anaheim Vineyard) rather than that of our own home, worshiping to a song written by one of those who played a part in us losing that home, Carol’s memorial celebration testified to the steadfast love of God for His people, of the grace, forgiveness, and love that should be the foremost characteristics of the Church. We will certainly miss her, but what greater testimony to Carol’s legacy than the hundreds gathered to celebrate what she has passed onto us, eager to go out and continue the work of the Kingdom.
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! (Job 19:25-17)
