Jeff Oliver, author of the three-volume Pentecost to the Present: The Holy Spirit’s Enduring Work in the Church, brings a challenge to church leaders: desire and operate in the gifts of the Spirit.

The greatest problem facing the church today may not be a new one, but an old one. Jesus said, “No one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the skins will burst and the wine will pour out and the skins will be destroyed. Instead they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.”

Jesus was responding to a question asked by John’s disciples, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast and your disciples do not?” He was illustrating the difference between John’s ministry and that of his own. John came to call to repentance those who were steeped in the traditions of Judaism. Jesus, however, had not come to patch up the old system or to pour new wine into an old vessel. He came to begin anew. Neither the teachings nor the works of Jesus could be contained in an old rigid legalistic system. This would require something stronger, more tender and pliable. Jesus’s gospel was the very power of God, as were his works. John himself explained the difference between the two ministries when he said, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I … He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

New Wine for New Wineskins

Yet this was only the first of many times the Holy Spirit would be poured out on Christ’s new wineskins—his church. In Acts 3, Peter said multiple “times of refreshing” would come from the presence of the Lord. This happened in Samaria (Acts 8:17) at Saul’s conversion (Acts 9:17) in Cornelius’s house (Acts 10:44) in Ephesus (Acts 19:6) Corinth (1 Cor. 2:4) Rome (Rom 12:6) Galatia (Gal 3:5) Thessalonica (1 Thess. 1:5) among a group of unnamed Hebrews (Heb. 2:4) and in countless other places and regions in the Roman Empire and beyond. On and on through history numerous times of refreshing occurred—far too many to mention here (see Pentecost to the Present: The Holy Spirit’s Enduring Work in the Church). With each occurrence, the church preserved the work of the Spirit and the work of the Spirit preserved the church.

Historian Jeff Oliver has written a three-volume series on how the gifts of the Spirit have continued all through Christian history. PneumaReview.com speaks with Jeff about his series and how we should expect God to do supernatural things through his church today.

PneumaReview.com: Tell us some of your story. What Christian traditions influenced you growing up and how did you become interested in the renewalist movement of Pentecostals and charismatics?

Jeff Oliver: I was raised in the Dutch Reformed Church in Schenectady, New York. My family moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, when I was a teenager. There we joined a Methodist Church (since there were no Reformed churches). At the Methodist Church, I was exposed to a Spirit-filled evangelist. I prayed, “Lord, whatever it is that this man has that I don’t have, I want it!” A few weeks later, a friend invited me to a downtown storefront charismatic church. I thought it was a bilingual church because one pastor spoke in a foreign language and another interpreted what he said in English. The Holy Spirit fell on me, as on the day of Pentecost, and I raised my hands and spoke in tongues. I have been a Pentecostal-charismatic ever since.

PneumaReview.com: You have written the three-volume book Pentecost to the Present. How did you become interested in writing about the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts?

Jeff Oliver: While serving as a Christian Education Director for a large independent Pentecostal church in Lakeland, Florida, the senior pastor kept teasing me saying, “Jeff, if only you were a Pentecostal, you’d be all right.” Or, “Jeff, we’re going to make a Pentecostal out of you yet!” This led me to research the nuances between Pentecostals and charismatics and the origins of Pentecostalism. But it seemed no matter how far back I went, there was always more. Finally, the Lord challenged me one day saying, “Why don’t you go back to the day of Pentecost and study church history in the order the events actually took place?” I did, and what I found was nothing short of shocking and amazing in light of an abbreviated Pentecostal history. Then I learned there was this whole pool of Pentecostal scholars who knew all this, studied and wrote books to each other about it, while the rest of the church remained largely ignorant. Someone had to tell the church.

PneumaReview.com: Briefly tell us what is contained in each volume.

Jeff Oliver: Book One: Early Prophetic and Spiritual Gifts Movements covers the period from the early church through the Middle Ages when much of Northern Eu­rope was converted through miracle-working missionary monks. Book Two: Reformations and Awakenings covers the period from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century, including the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and how they affected Christianity both in Europe and in the New World. Book Three: Worldwide Revivals and Renewal brings us up to the present day, sparked by the 1904-05 Welsh Revival and the Azusa Street Revival in 1906 followed by the charis­matic renewal and the global rise of Pentecostalism.