Dave Harvey, “Lessons on Church Planting from the Prince of Preachers” Crossway (August 19, 2015).

Jim Harries, “Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism are NOT ‘religions’” LinkedIn.com Pulse (September 22, 2015).

In this new article, missionary-scholar Jim Harries challenges the idea of what “religion” is. A brief study in otherness.

Chad Graham, “What I Got Wrong About Being Pentecostal: Learning about God through daily devotions, not just revival experiences” Vital (September 23, 2015).

“As a Pentecostal, I desire to see the movement grow wide and very deep.”

“Negative Spiritual Beliefs Associated with More Pain and Worse Physical, Mental Health” Mizzou News (September 23, 2015).

“…when people firmly believe God loves and forgives them despite their shortcomings, they had significantly better mental health.”

Brandon Showalter, “Two Years After Strange Fire” Patheos (October 7, 2015).

“It is heartbreaking to be misunderstood, especially when you try to talk about the things of the Spirit.”

Marc Cortez, “Toward a Pentecostal Hermeneutics” MarcCortez.com (April 23, 2014).

Rick Wadholm Jr. writes: “A great summary article by Marc Cortez covering Kevin Vanhoozer’s paper at last year’s Wheaton Theology Conference: Toward a Pentecostal Hermeneutics.”

Karl Vaters, “Six Church-Insider Issues I Don’t Care About Any More: I used to waste a lot of time arguing over these issues. Now? Meh. On some things, apathy is the best policy” Pivot (October 14, 2015).

Karl Vaters, “Six Church-and-Culture Issues I Don’t Care About Any More: The church needs to build bridges to the culture if we hope to reach it. But there are some bridges I won’t cross any more” Pivot (October 21, 2015).

Joel J. Miller, “Oprah and the trouble with our DIY spirituality” Ancient Faith (October 21, 2015).

Ben Myers, “A tweet for every volume of Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics” Faith and Theology (October 23, 2015).

Need a super-quick introduction to Barth? “[T]weet-summaries of Barth’s Church Dogmatics.”

Jerry Scott, “Five Steps to Reading and Understanding the Bible: Getting the most out of the Scripture is no easy task” Vital (November 2, 2015).

Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner, “How Christians Can Flourish in a Same-Sex-Marriage World: By many accounts, orthodox Christians have lost the culture wars. How they can live well—not vanish—in a time of retreat” Christianity Today (November 2015).

Gerson and Wehner call American Christians back from the brink of despair and bitterness and offer a way forward. A panel of three respondents fills out the November 2015 cover story:

Gabriel Salguero: “Why Settle for the ‘Wilberforce Option’ When We Have Dr. King?: There is a model for cultural engagement that doesn’t depend on power and privilege.”

Rod Dreher: “Coming to Terms with a Post-Christian World: Our culture is radically rejecting Christian faith; our response must be radical, too.”

Shirley Hoogstra: “Faithfulness and Bridge-Building Go Together: Our cultural influence begins with faithfulness to the Cross and Resurrection of Christ.”

Roger Olson, “Is the Bible ‘Inerrant’ or ‘Infallible’?” Patheos (November 5, 2015).

Professor Olson briefly summarizes the contrast between the two terms and discusses how differences over inerrancy have become a battleground for evangelical scholars.

Eddie L. Hyatt, “Joy to the World: Compelling Historical Evidence for the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ” Global Christian Awakening (November 29, 2015).

Dr. Hyatt briefly takes a look at five claims: the virgin birth was documented by a physician and world-class historian, affirmed by modern archaeology, an agnostic professor of mythology is convinced, predicted centuries in advance by Old Testament prophets, and believed universally by the earliest Christians.

Cletus Hull, “The Task of the Cross in the Life of a Pastor and Scholar” Biblical Life Institute (December 1, 2015).

Cletus Hull writes, “My blog as professor of New Testament at Biblical Life Institute in Freeport, Pennsylvania.”

Frank Viola, “3 ingredients for having an amazing 2016” Frank Viola Unfiltered (December 3, 2015).

Martin Mittelstadt “Is God’s Will Simpler Than You Thought?: If you want to find God’s plan for your life, quit overthinking” Vital (October 27, 2015).

We had 4 ½ days of our Revival Chinese Training Conference with 500-900 in attendance. More came in the evening after they got off work, as they were local people. Over 200 were Chinese pastors and leaders from all over Europe.  Most of the rest were from my church and other Chinese churches in Paris. We have a church of several hundred and today are our 10^th anniversary meetings.

Yesterday the Gospel Concert featured several famous Chinese singing artists, several directly from mainland China, and in addition to my daughter another from Hong Kong.  Some were very famous and thus we drew a large crowd. We had two concerts, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Both were packed with about 1,500, mostly Chinese with a smaller number of local French people (translation was provided through the headsets).  We just ended last night and I am not sure of the total decisions for Christ, but looking at the stack of filled decision slips, I would suppose it is close to 200.

Dennis Balcombe
November 1, 2015

The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) is a time set apart to remember them.

Over the past year, thousands of Christians in the Middle East have been forced to flee as a result of the atrocities committed by the Islamic State. Elsewhere, in countries like Nigeria, scores of Christians have been killed for their faith.

“We urge the global Church to unite in prayer for the persecuted Church this November,” said Godfrey Yogarajah, the Executive Director of the Religious Liberty Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance.

The designated dates for this year’s IDOP is 1 and 8 November. In some countries, IDOP will also be observed on 15 November. We invite you to visit the IDOP website to download special resources to help you pray effectively for the persecuted.

We urge you to unite in prayer for the persecuted Church in the spirit that Christ commanded, “for, if one suffers, we all suffer.”

Remember their chains.

IDOP Video 2015 from IDOP on Vimeo.

William De Arteaga writes: “This is a very positive take on Pentecostalism from a left-leaning Christian magazine which normally disdains home-grown American Pentecostals.”

J. Lee Grady

J. Lee Grady, “Don’t Quench the Spirit in the Next Move of God” Charisma (May 28, 2015).

Josh Rice, “Pentecostal Babel” Jewish Centaur (May 26, 2015).

Reflections on speaking in tongues and preaching for Pentecost Sunday. Thanks to Tony Richie for recommending the article. Philip and Carol Zaleski, “Oxford’s Influential Inklings” The Chronicle Review (May 8, 2015).

Cletus L. Hull, III, “My Church is a Mental Hospital” Healing Line (Summer 2015).

D. Joy Allan

Deborah Joy Allan, “Rhetoric and Response: Current thoughts on depression and the church”

Pentecostal researcher Joy Allan discusses: How do we as a church respond to depression?

John Edmiston, “Digital Discipleship” [links to YouTube]

Roger Olson, “Is the ‘New Apostolic Reformation Movement’ a Cult?” Patheos (June 25, 2015).

Darren Wilson

Darren Wilson, “What I Learned From My Cessationist Church” Behind the Lens (May 18, 2015).

Preston Sprinkle, “4 Ways the Modern Church Looks Nothing Like the Early Church: There have been a few changes in the past two thousand years” Relevant (January 15, 2015).

Peter Althouse, “Prayer and the Christian” Ecclesiam (April 13, 2015).

In this blog from Southeastern’s College of Christian Ministries and Religion, PneumaReview.com writer Professor Peter Althouse writes: “When I was young my brother and I would head to my grandparents for weeklong visits. One of the things that I remember most vividly was that around bedtime my grandparents could be heard praying loudly from their bedroom. I also witnessed the kind of prayers typical in small Pentecostal churches, of people up at the front of the church at the end of the service, pacing, kneeling, standing with hands raised, striving in prayer. I did not really understand prayer back then, but my grandparents and members of my church modeled different forms of prayer that I came to see as Pentecostal. …”

Thanks to Michael Wilkinson for suggesting the link.

Michael Brown, “The Terrible Failure of the Secular Gospel” In the Line of Fire (April 20, 2015).

Michael Brown writes: “Almost 20 years ago, the journal First Things published an article by a famous German theologian named Wolfhart Pannenberg titled ‘How to Think About Secularism.’ In the article, Pannenberg outlined the nature of secularism and how it threatened the church, also explaining how the church should not respond to the challenge.”

Mark Woods, “Five pastoral errors that can kill a ministry” Christian Today (July 9, 2015).

Rick Wadholm Jr. writes, “Some great advice for pastors and pastors in training.” “When God and Science Meet: Surprising Discoveries of Agreement” National Association of Evangelicals

William De Arteaga writes: “This is a great resource for pastors and lay folks alike. It is a free booklet.”

Wyatt Fisher and Michelle Graham, “Unforgiveness: 5 Ways to Reverse It Today” ChristianCrush.com

“Have you ever seen someone try to help an injured animal? It can be a nerve-wracking experience. It’s a well-known fact that hurt animals – even the most domesticated ones – can’t be trusted. They might bite, scratch, or kick the very person trying to help out. We humans can be just like those animals; when we’re in pain, we’re more likely to hurt people around us. That’s why unforgiveness is so dangerous.

“Without forgiveness, we can never achieve true intimacy. …”

Stephen Phifer, “Pentecost Sunday Worship and the Day of Pentecost” Creator Magazine (April 23, 2015).

Monte Lee Rice pointed out this quote: “Pentecost is repeatable.”

“Gordon Anderson on Eschatology” Rick Wadholm Jr. (July 26, 2015).

Rick Wadholm Jr. writes: “I have just uploaded an hour long teaching from Dr. Gordon Anderson (president of North Central University) on Pentecostal eschatology that is well worth listening to for his survey and critique of dispensationalism and his instruction toward how eschatology ought to be preached in our Pentecostal churches.”

In a time of great pressure, and great responsibility, every leader needs time away for restoration, refreshing, and reminders.

I will join Conference Host & Keynote Speaker Bishop Donald Hilliard, Jr., along with several other speakers, including Keynote Speaker and lecturer Dr. Cynthia James, Bishop George Searight, Sr., Pastor Phyllis Hilliard, Pastor Mary Searight, and Dr. Deniece Reid for a time of empowerment and sharing of practical ideas and support for leaders.

At Safe Harbor, I will be sharing on the following:

Frequent Rest for Unstoppable Success
This seminar considers biblical theology of rest as pivot for holistic success. It examines biblical teachings and theological discourse to empower the leader for the journey of success as a human being and in ministry. Success becomes the embodiment of the journey rather than the end of it. Theological indeed; yet, this seminar offers a discussion on practical suggestions for pastors and leaders to consider or to reconsider amidst weighty decisions and an abundance of personal and ministry responsibilities.

Come and be encouraged… “A ‘Safe Harbor’ awaits you!”

Be our guest at this important time together and bring along another pastor or leader with you. See the flyer below and go to  www.safeharborretreat.com for more information; Register Today!

Grace & peace,
Dr. Antipas L. Harris

Pastor Cletus Hull tells us about the International Society of Biblical Literature meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Puente de la Mujer (“Women’s Bridge”) rotating footbridge in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

I am back from my trip to Argentina and I had a great experience.

The Meeting was held from July 19-26, 2015 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The paper was titled “The Pneumatology of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 Grounded with his Christology in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.”

Presenting my paper on the cross and the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 1and 2.

About the paper: The cross of Christ crucified symbolized the central theme of Paul’s ministry. In his letter to the Corinthians, the apostle commenced his correspondence with “the message about the cross” and “power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18, NRSV). The proposal for this paper utilizes the method analogia scripturae. Set within the wisdom motif of the Greco-Roman world, this study is dedicated to the examination of the apostle’s Christology in the context of 1 Cor. 1:18-25 and the Pneumatology in 1 Cor. 2:9-16 as both pericopes are juxtaposed in his epistle. Essentially, the thesis concerns the grounding of the Pneumatology of Paul with his Christology in 1 Corinthians. The Corinthian church required clarification and pastoral wisdom with their pneumatic experiences; thus, Paul recognized that a strong theology of the cross complemented their encounters with the Spirit. The question for biblical studies involves a lively tension of the Pneumatology of the Spirit with a robust Christology. Because the power of God throughout this passage has the cross as its paradigm, the structure of the paper leads to the significance of the apostle’s pneumatological contribution of the cross and Christ crucified (1 Cor. 1:18; 2:2). For this reason, a strong Christology must ground the Pneumatology of the Pauline corpus. This study in biblical literature commences a new discussion in ecumenical dialogue between pneumatic experiences in the church and christological issues in scripture.

Rev. Dr. Cletus Luther Hull, III  D.Min.
PhD Student, Biblical Studies
Regent University
www.cletushull.com
July 29, 2015

The Society of Biblical Literature, according to their website, was founded in 1880 to foster biblical scholarship. The 2016 annual meeting will be held in Seoul, South Korea from July 3-7, 2016. For more information about their annual international meetings, see: https://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/internationalmeeting.aspx

View of David’s Citadel from Hinnom Valley, Jerusalem.
Image: Gilabrand / Wikimedia Commons.

It was stated that this was probably the largest gathering of Spirit baptized Christians gathered in Jerusalem to honor the Holy Spirit since the Day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2. Like that important day that we are all linked to, this conference had people from most nations in the world, the majority being what we term “Third-World Nations”. Probably over 1,000 were from Asian nations, with huge delegations from China and Indonesia.

The speakers included most of the present well-known leaders in the Pentecostal movement speaking in the main sessions, as well as both famous and not so famous speakers in dozen of workshops covering virtually every subject dealing with the church and ministry to the Lord and the world. Most Christian gatherings in Jerusalem focus mostly on praise, worship, prayer and reconciliation between different peoples groups. This had all that, but was also packed with solid Biblical teaching. If we have learned anything in the past 109 years of this movement, it is that Holy Spirit led and anointed ministry will only produce lasting fruit when it is based on solid Biblical teaching. The total audio library of both general sessions and workshop teachings (over 175 talks), can be ordered on-line at http://jerusalem2015audio.com

The Hall of Names at Yad Vashem. “Yad Vashem” comes from Isaiah 56:5, giving “a place and a name” to the millions of Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.
Image: David Shankbone / Wikimedia Commons.

Most of those who participated in the conference also visited many historical Biblical sites in Israel before or after the meetings. The fact of the return of the Jews to their land after being in dispersion for close to 2,000 years, and the restoration of the State of Israel itself is a proof of the Bible, and a miracle you can see with your own eyes. Those who visited Yad Vashem (The Holocaust History Museum) were deeply moved, many to tears. Throughout history the powers of darkness have used every conceivable method to destroy and exterminate God’s chosen people, the Jews, culminating in the Nazi holocaust with the murder of six million Jews living in Europe. We learned behind this was a devilish doctrine of ‘replacement theology’ that is sadly still believed by some misguided Christians.

The restoration of God’s chosen people to their ancient land, as miraculous and important as it is, reminded us of the Biblical promises of the restoration of the church and the world-wide preaching of the Kingdom of God (Acts 3:19-21, Matthew 24:14, Eph. 5:26-27, etc.) In Empowered 21 we were reminded how the Pentecostal Gospel has been preached with signs, wonders, miraculous healing and gifts of the Holy Spirit to the whole world during the past 100 years resulting in the salvation of hundreds of millions and the transformation of lives and whole societies.

However, we were also reminded that many are backsliding from the Pentecostal message that focuses on the Cross of Christ, the Word of God and the working of the Holy Spirit to a compromising man-pleasing Gospel (Jude 3). I for one heard a clear call from many of the speakers to return to this Pentecostal faith that impacted the whole world. I heard many warn of the dangerous trend in Charismatic circles to accept and preach the hyper-grace message which has admittedly been the reason for the success of many mega churches claiming to be part of this Pentecostal movement. There was a strong call to repentance, fasting and prayer, the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire resulting in holiness in the lives of believers and the preaching of the Full Gospel to the whole world.

The worship leading was done mainly by young people, many from Oral Roberts University and Australia. On the last day, the leaders of this generation of youth shared the Word and ministered to everyone. The Pentecostal vision truly has been maintained and spread throughout the whole world during the past century, and now the baton has been given to this generation of young people. They very possibly will be alive to usher in the return of Christ.

Dennis Balcombe
Hong Kong

Dale M. Coulter, “Pentecostalism and the Question of Culture” First Things (November 13, 2014).

Andrew Wilson, “God Always Heals: Good news for our bodies—in this life and the next” Christianity Today (November 25, 2014).

The pastor of a large charismatic church in England and the father of children with debilitating diseases speaks about healing that is no mere theory. William De Arteaga writes: “A good article for a home group or Bible study to tackle the issue of healing.”

Peter Berger, “Is Atheism a Specifically Western Phenomenon?” The American Interest (November 26, 2014).

The lead-in to the article reads: “We know atheism in its Jewish or Christian context, as a rejection of the Biblical God. What would atheism mean in a Muslim, or Hindu, or Buddhist context?” William De Arteaga writes: “This is a very useful article in understanding atheism. It is by an ex-Catholic and centers of the classical problem of evil vs. a good God. Note that the author never experienced healing nor the gifts of the Spirit in his years as a Catholic. I believe demonstrating the power of the gospel is the key to evangelizing atheists.”

Craig S. Keener, “Rumors of Miracles” Good News (December 30, 2014).

Craig S. Keener writes: “The United Methodist renewal magazine, Good News recently published an article that they titled, ‘Rumors of miracles.’ Other articles in the same issue, such as Wendy Deichmann’s excellent ‘Lessons from Mozambique,’ are also well-worth reading.”

Bob Caldwell, “You Are Already a Theologian (You Just Need to Be a Better One)” Enrichment Journal (Winter 2015).

Traci Humphrey and Phillip Humphrey, “A Theology of Play: Encountering the Other Through Online Gaming” Presented at the 44^th Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies.

Roger E. Olson, “Remembering an All-But-Forgotten, Extremely Influential Theologian: Christoph Blumhardt” Patheos (March 29, 2015).

Darrin Rodgers, “Prominent Novelist Sven Lidman Shocked Sweden by 1921 Conversion to Pentecostalism” Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (March 16, 2015).

Leah Payne

Andy Butcher, “Leah Payne: Sent to Higher Education” Foursquare.org (March 24, 2015).

The subtitle of the article says: “Foursquare pastor’s wife, Leah Payne, brings the worlds of faith and academia together as [she] serves her church and teaches theology at George Fox Evangelical Seminary.”

“The Church Needs to Stop Pandering to Trends: Rachel Held Evans discusses what millennials are really looking for in a church experience” Relevant (April 14, 2015).

Eddie Kaufholz interviews Rachel Held Evans about her new book, Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving and Finding the Church. PneumaReview.com writer Monte Lee Rice selected this quote: “I think when you look at the people who Jesus surrounded Himself with, that’s what our churches are supposed to look like. They’re supposed to be filled with super uncool people. Folks from the margins of society, and folks who are misfits and oddballs and sick and hungry and homeless, outcasts, the people who are typically despised by the religious.”  

Craig S. Keener talks about the origin and meaning of Pentecost in the book of Acts by highlighting these seven points: the Promise of Pentecost, the Preparation for Pentecost, the Proofs of Pentecost, the Peoples of Pentecost, the Prophecy of Pentecost, the Preaching of Pentecost, and the Power of Pentecost.

Tony Richie, “An Affirmative Pentecostal Theology of the Miraculous“

“The Pentecostal/Charismatic movements have been raised up by God in manifestation of the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit through the Lord Jesus Christ.”

William De Arteaga, “A Charismatic Looks at the Birth of Pentecostalism“

“The Pentecostal revival ushered what is perhaps the greatest move of the Spirit since Apostolic times.”

The Duration of Prophecy by Wayne Grudem

How long did God expect prophecy to function in the church?

Vinson Synan, “The Origins of the Pentecostal Movement“

“By the time of the Pentecostal outbreak in America in 1901, there had been at least a century of movements emphasizing a second blessing called the ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’ with various interpretations concerning the content and results of the experience.”

Other articles:

Read “Preaching Pentecost to the ‘Nones’” by Cheryl Johns from Journal for Preachers (2013).

Image: ruperthenn

Candy Gunther Brown speaking during the plenary session.

Meeting highlights

Pentecostal/charismatic scholars in worship.

This year’s meeting was themed, “Global Spirit: Pentecostals and the World.” Via plenary sessions, symposiums, panel discussions, and paper deliveries through the varied Interest Group sessions, I with more than 350 people from across the USA, Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, and Canada, were gathered to explore, dialogue, and address relations between globalization, Pentecostalism worldwide, and the missional movements of the Holy Spirit throughout the global Church and world today. In doing so, we thus identified and conceptualized theological frameworks most conducive for both assessing the present transformation of world Christianity through global renewal movements, and envisioning directions of worldwide renewal over the coming decades.

SPS co-founder, Vinson Synan, and Ken Archer.

Founded in 1970, the Society for Pentecostal Studies (SPS) has grown into an international scholarly community comprising 500-plus members, who represent more than 60 theologically diverse church traditions and denominations and 190 institutions. Hence, while centered on Pentecostal and Charismatic studies, SPS has evolved into an effective ecumenical forum, which has enabled Pentecostals to participate in theological dialogues within or with other bodies such as the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches (USA), the Wesleyan Theological Society, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, as well as with the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions.

The 2015 Latino delegation.

This year’s conference was graced by four plenary speakers whose respective deliveries provided complementary reflection on the themes of global Pentecostalism, globalization, and the transformation of world Christianity through charismatic renewal worldwide. First to note was Dr. Ivan Satyavrata’s opening plenary address titled, “‘The Wind Blows Where It Wills’: Celebrating the Spirit’s Free Movement in a World without Borders.” Dr Satyavrata leads the Assemblies of God church and its ministry networks in Kolkata, India, much of which was founded by the late Mark Buntain. Speaking for the Friday morning plenary session was Dr. Candy Gunther Brown, Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University, USA, whose address was titled, “Healing and the Growth of Global Pentecostalism.”

The 2015 Women’s caucus.

The keynote conference speaker was Dr Allan Anderson, Professor of Mission and Pentecostal Studies at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. His address was titled, The Transformation of World Christianity: Challenges and Opportunities for Pentecostalism.” Anderson argued that the globalizing power of Pentecostalism is fuelled by an inherent tension it comprises, between a global charismatic, media-driven “meta-culture,” and a countervailing localization impulse that coupled with its supernatural worldview, makes Pentecostal spirituality naturally contextual with the common Majority Word holistic worldview, which perceives daily life as thoroughly pervaded with spiritual forces and realities.