This week is my Pentecostal week.
I can only do one week a year without getting in trouble or at least getting empowered. Grin.
When you tell Pentecostals that it can't be done, they go ahead and do it. It bugs me.
I wish everyone had their passion... particuarly for church planting.
Here is a graph of where Pentecostals are primarily concentrated in the U.S. Click here to blow up to full size:
For example...
Assemblies of God
When Steve Pike, national director of church planting for the Assemblies of God asked me if I could spend a day with his national church planting team this week, I declined. I was already speaking too many places this week and could not travel anymore.
Well, Pentecostals get things done... so he brought his team to Nashville. So, if you need me today (Wednesday), I will be unavailable and talking church planting with Pentecostals in Nashville with a friend of mine, Danny Sanchez. The A.G. leadership will be meeting and strategizing today and tomorrow.
In preparation for the meeting, I received a new book by George Wood. George is the new President of the Assemblies of God (taking Thomas Trask's place).
Accoring to his new book, he will lead the Assemblies to five key values:
Passionate Proclamation
Strategic Investment
Vigorous Planting
Skillful Resourcing
Fervent Prayer
Don't miss this-- one of the top five stated A.G. values is church planting! Nice. Pentecostals get things done.
I thought about guessing where my denomination would put church planting on it "value" list... and then discretion won out. Grin.. But, we ALL need to elevate it to the top level of church and denominational life.
Church of God
So, I thought I had enough time with the Pentecostals this week. But, a few months ago, the Church of God folks called. They asked me to speak at a conference for Pentecostal innovative leaders. Well, I could not come because I was doing a missional church conference in Oklahoma until Friday morning.
Well, as I said, Pentecostals get things done. So, the Church of God is sending a plane to fetch me. I wish I could say it was a fancy plane, but it has propellers and not jets... and my wife is none too happy that I am flying on a plane with propellers.
So, I will be at the Engage 21 Conference with my Church of God friends. (It will be especially good to catch up with Paul Walker, former pastor of Mount Paran Church of God in Atlanta and now a denominational big-wig with the Church of God.)
Here is a Church of God fun fact for you: the denomination existed BEFORE the Azuza Street experience and was NOT a Pentecostal group (really, no one was Pentecostal before Azuza street or at least before Topeka). They were actually a holiness denomination and then became Pentecostal. You can read their history here (and, if you are so inclined, don't miss my fun facts about the Assemblies of God... I have been told they were passed around the AG leadership.)
But, I like to "give a little extra" on the blog, so check out the Wikipedia history:
Elder Richard Spurling (1810-1891), an ordained Baptist minister, rejected some of the views of the Baptists in his area as not being in accord with New Testament Christianity. In August of 1886, he and seven members from the Holly Springs and Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Churches in Monroe County, Tennessee and Cherokee County, North Carolina organized the "Christian Union". They agreed to free themselves from man-made creeds and unite upon the principles of the New Testament....
A. J. Tomlinson, a former Quaker, united with the church at Camp Creek in 1903, after climbing what is now known as "Prayer Mountain" (located in the Fields of the Wood park that is run by the Church of God of Prophecy in Murphy, NC) and reportedly being divinely assured that this fledgling church was indeed God's reestablishment of the New Testament church upon earth. Tomlinson was selected to pastor the congregation, and his drive and vision brought about efforts that resulted in other churches being organized in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee...
The name Church of God was adopted in 1907. In 1909, Tomlinson was elected General Overseer. The Church of God was known as a "holiness" church more than a Pentecostal one during these early years, though some had experienced the "Pentecostal Blessing" of being "baptized in the Holy Ghost". In fact, Tomlinson himself did not believe he received the "baptism of the Holy Ghost" until some time later, when the church had moved to Cleveland, TN, when a special meeting was held by the church. At that revival the guest speaker was an individual who visited the Azusa Street revival, and during those services Tomlinson finally experienced this signature blessing. Thereafter, the Church of God began to place additional emphasis on the Pentecostal aspect of the church.
According to the aritcle, they started by rejecting "some of the views of the Baptists." Sigh.
By the way, uberblogger Travis Johnson is part of the Church of God and will be at the conference.
I am not a Pentecostal, but I do appreciate their passion for planting and their global missions emphasis. I look forward to a good week with my Pentecostal brothers and sisters in Christ.
In case you are wondering, here are the growth rates by "types" of Christians according to a site that gathers and summarizes such research:
-Pentecostals: 8.1%
-Evangelicals: 5.4%;
-All Protestants: 3.3%
-Roman Catholics and Others: 1.3%
Evangelicals could learn something about passion for planting from Pentecostals.
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So, in case you want to track me this week:
Monday, Cedarville University Evangelism Conference
Tuesday, Georgia Evangelism Conference
Wednesday, Assemblies of God Church Planting Leadership
Thursday, Oklahoma Missional Church Conference
Friday, Church of God Engage 21 Conference
This marks the last week of too many trips in one week. My new plan: one conference per week. Really. I promise. Really.
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