Jim Palosaari
| Jim Palosaari | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 12, 1939 Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | May 25, 2011 (aged 72) Oconomowoc, WI, U.S. |
| Partner(s) |
Joyce Warner (m. 1962–67) (divorced) Jeanette Donahue Susan Cowper (m. 1970–92) (divorced) Susan Mattson (m. 1997–2008) (her death) Jo Sappenfield (m. 2011–11) (his death) |
James "Jim" Michael Palosaari (1939–2011) was an evangelist and performer, one of the leaders in the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s.
Palosaari was a first generation Finn whose father emigrated through Ellis Island, New York, born to John Palosaari and Sara Bishop/LaVeck, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Palosaari grew up on a goat farm near Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, where he attended Oconomowoc High School.
Palosaari became a Christian in Seattle, Washington during the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s. Trained in the faith by Linda Meissner, Palosaari and his wife Sue helped to form the nucleus of the Jesus People Army, establishing outposts in Yakima and Spokane, Washington, Boise, Idaho, and Vancouver B.C. with Russell Griggs.
In Milwaukee, the Palosaaris began a coffeehouse, "The Jesus Christ Power House," Sue started a newspaper, "Street Level," Jim developed a new band, "Sheep," and they began a communal school called "Jesus People Discipleship Training Center" which grew to 200 members. At this time Meissner and Griggs joined the Jesus People Army to the Children of God, later called the Family International, although Palosaari unsuccessfully tried to dissuade them. In 1972, 60 members were sent to join Bill Lowery's tent ministry, "Christ is the Answer" (CITA), and a team of 30, including the band Charity, were sent out, later to reemerge in Chicago as Jesus People USA and "Rez Band". Earlier revivals in Racine, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota, now became autonomous communes.
The Palosaaris and thirty members flew to Sweden as guests of the Full Gospel Business Men, in order to provide a foil for the Children of God in England. Upon arrival, the group spent substantial time in Finland, where Palosaari preached in Temppeliaukion Kirkko, the Stone Church in Helsinki. Sheep produced its first record, "Karitsat Jeesus-rock", in Helsinki, Finland, sung partly in Finnish. From there the group toured for the next six months through Western Europe, including Germany and the Netherlands. The Jesus People entered Great Britain in the fall of 1972 to participate with Russell Griggs and David Hoyt in an expose of the Children of God, at the invitation of financier Kenneth Frampton. With Frampton's backing Palosaari, Hoyt and the group now calling itself the "Jesus Family", enlarged by half, created the rock musical, "Lonesome Stone," a musical history of the early "Jesus Freaks." The musical opened at London's Rainbow Theatre, eventually touring American air force bases throughout Germany, Great Britain, Canada, and the American Midwest, before closing four years later. While in England, Palosaari, Kenneth Frampton and British national, James Holloway, started what was for many years the largest Christian music festival in the world, Greenbelt.
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