Pastor John Higgins, Who Led Calvary Chapel Tri City in Tempe, Arizona, for Nearly 40 Years, Dies

John Higgins, pastor of Calvary Chapel Tri City in Tempe, Arizona, died on June 3, 2026, according to Calvary Chapel Magazine, which published a profile of his life and ministry on June 10. The article was written by Christmas Beeler. Higgins pastored the Tempe congregation for nearly 40 years.

The magazine says Higgins grew up as a skeptical atheist in Greenwich Village, New York, and traveled to California to pursue drugs and enlightenment in the counter-culture hippie movement. He accepted Christ in 1965. According to the account, he then helped start and lead many Christian houses for college-age hippies, from the House of Miracles in Southern California to the Shiloh Youth Revival Centers in Oregon. He also helped plant more than a dozen churches in Arizona.

The article describes how Higgins came to faith. In a hotel room in 1965, a friend who was under the influence of LSD asked him to read the Bible aloud. Higgins said he had never read it except to mock it, and that the friend threatened him unless he complied. Higgins read through the four Gospels and was struck by the opening verses of John. He later knelt in the hotel and prayed, and he said he was born again that day.

In 1967, Higgins visited Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, California, which then met in a small chapel on Sunflower Avenue. He asked the pastor, Chuck Smith, and the elders to lay hands on him and pray for the Holy Spirit. The article reports that he received the gift of tongues the day after he was prayed for. Higgins then began evangelizing on streets and beaches and served in early house ministries alongside Lonnie Frisbee. In the 1970s he helped establish Christian houses in Oregon, and he married Shauna in 1977. He was called to plant a church in Arizona in 1978.

Family members describe Higgins as bold in sharing his faith. His son Jeremy, also a pastor, said his father was as comfortable witnessing on the street or in a Waffle House as in the pulpit. Jeremy recalled a funeral in south Scottsdale, arranged on short notice, where most attendees were members of a motorcycle club. He said his father addressed the crowd, spoke about the Bible’s warnings, and that about 40 people responded by coming forward. Jeremy’s wife, Brooke, said her father-in-law was direct about the truth and taught her to fear the Lord above any person. Higgins also traveled to other countries to share the Gospel and made repeated trips to Israel, where he brought other pastors and believers to visit biblical sites.

In a radio interview after the release of the 2023 film *Jesus Revolution*, Higgins said the Jesus Movement was not the work of any one person. He said God did it and that the movement was about Jesus. The magazine also quotes a 1977 statement he gave to the *Eugene Register-Guard* as a Shiloh elder, in which he said the group was fundamentalist but not “Bible thumpers,” and that he wanted people to think for themselves. Jeremy Higgins’s account of his father’s example, and his continuing work as a pastor, reflect the kind of faith transmission the magazine describes (Psalm 78:4).

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