As the last word of the title of this book indicates Douglas Bursch is a pastor; he is affiliated with the Foursquare Church. In addition to pastoring he serves on the Doctrine Committee and Education Commission of his denomination. He has also taught theology at Life Pacific College and Life Ministry Institute.

The Community of God consists of 18 chapters. At the end of each chapter there are discussion questions to help the reader remember, and reflect on, the significant topics covered in the chapter. In the book Pastor Bursch shares some of his own experiences in ministry. However, a significant portion of the text, as the title indicates, is given to developing a theology of the church. That being the case, the book contains a considerable amount of biblical teaching. This teaching demonstrates that community is God’s idea. The author points out that the larger culture in America is moving away from the practice of community (pages 15-16). The church, however, is not to follow this trend, we are called to be a community.

Bursch points out that before creation, God existed in community (and He still does); the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit interact with one another regularly. He goes on to show that with the creation of Eve community was introduced to the human race.  He also shows that the concept of community can be found in God’s promise to Abraham (Gen. 12) and in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). We as believers in Jesus Christ are not to live individualistic lives, we are to participate in community. The author maintains that the church should place greater value on the importance of community. We, at least in the West, tend to place more emphasis on our individual needs and desires. Bursch says that in isolation “we cannot fully understand the relational nature and love of God” (page 32).

Mike Kai, The Pound for Pound Principle: Becoming All God Designed You To Be (Authentic Publishers, 2013), 192 pages, ISBN 9781780781006.

Douglas Kozub, Transparent Gratitude (Available from Kozub@hawaii.rr.com)

I need to share some background so that my two book reviews below can be read with understanding.  Both books were written by men who pastor relatively new Foursquare churches in Hawaii.  Each book is the first book by its author.  I know both authors, though I know Doug Kozub better than I know Mike Kai.

The Foursquare Gospel Church has enjoyed remarkable growth in our Hawaiian Islands.  Our 50^th state now has around 50 Foursquare Churches, and eight percent of the state’s population attended a Foursquare church on Easter weekend.  My wife and I attended the 8:00 AM Easter service at the Blaisdale Arena near downtown Honolulu, a large public venue building which was rented for the weekend by New Hope Christian Fellowship, the largest church in Hawaii.  We got there at 7:30 AM, and found 5,000 people waiting in line for the doors to open.  8,000 attended that service.  25,000 came to Easter services at that arena Easter weekend.

Foursquare started its Hawaiian outreach in the last 50 years during which it separately sent four ministers and their wives to begin churches in the islands.  The last two men that came experienced and led the success that has marked Foursquare in the Islands.  Ralph Moore was the first of these two, and he started a church under a tree on the Kailua side of the island of Oahu.  That church, Hope Chapel, has now grown to seven hundred churches all over the Pacific, Asia and beyond.  The second pastor is Wayne Cordeiro, and his New Hope churches have also spread in similar numbers throughout the Pacific, Asia and more.

Cordeiro’s Portuguese dad was in the military and married Cordeiro’s mother, a Japanese woman, when he was stationed in Hawaii.  Moore is Caucasian (or a “haole” in the local dialect) though his second in command who came with him from California is Japanese.

Moore and Cordeiro each have unusual talent for recognizing, mentoring and training men and women for the ministry.  Both have taught and written widely on Church growth and the pastoral profession.

Foursquare is a small Pentecostal Holiness US denomination that was started in the 1920’s in Los Angeles, California.  It has 1,700 churches in the US and 6,000 plus credentialed ministers.  250,000 or more attend one of its US churches each weekend.  Its largest church is Church on the Way in Van Nuys California which has the largest Hispanic congregation in North America.  I have been a staff pastor in Foursquare since 1986.  Foursquare has now established itself in about 140 countries, and in some with great success.

THE POUND FOR POUND PRINCIPLE

Mike Kai

The Pound for Pound Principle is the personal autobiography of its author, and it is a lovely warming recollection of the life of a man who started with relatively little, and has experienced a great deal of success in ministry at the age of 40.

Mike is what Hawaii calls a local.  His ethnic background includes four nationalities. He grew up in Honoka’a, a small town of 2,000 on the Island of Hawaii or the big Island.  His dad was a policeman, and his mom stayed at home to care for their children.  Mike was small in stature as a child, suffering the associated taunts while dreaming about what small kids hope for.  Mike’s religious background was Catholic; his favorite pastime was playing basketball. He was a fair student, and the nearest big city was Hilo where 25,000 people lived two hours from his home.

Douglas Jacobsen, Thinking in the Spirit: Theologies of the Early Pentecostal Movement (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2003), xvi + 418 pages, ISBN 9780253343208.

This is a book long overdue, and places us all in debt to Douglas Jacobsen, Distinguished Professor of Church History and Theology at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. While a large volume, it is nevertheless very focused and precise. On the one hand, Jacobsen limits his survey of early pentecostal theologies to those articulated during the first twenty-five years or so of the movement. On the other hand, Jacobsen is the consummate narrator and historian of theology in these pages, describing early pentecostal theologies with immaculate detail and allowing the theologians he is presenting to speak with their own voices, all the while keeping his own theological perspective effectively muted. He hopes in the concluding chapter that “this book will help contemporary pentecostal theologians and church leaders engage each other in constructive ways, reminding them that a vigorous diversity of opinion has been part of the pentecostal heritage from the very beginning of the movement” (p. 355). This work accomplishes the author’s objectives admirably, in this reviewer’s opinion. Let me mention three reasons why.

First, as Jacobsen notes, is the very important reminder regarding the diversity of pentecostal theologies even among the earliest thinkers of the movement. The six chapters present twelve theologians: the “original visions” of Charles Fox Parham and Richard Spurling (later influential in the Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee); the Azusa Street era theologies of William J. Seymour, George Floyd Taylor (later of the Pentecostal Holiness Church), and David Wesley Myland (a convert to pentecostalism from the Christian Missionary Alliance); the Finished-Work theology of William H. Durham and the Holiness Pentecostal theology of Joseph Hillery King; the Oneness theologies of Garfield T. Haywood and Andrew David Urshan; the Afrocentric and anti-racist theology of Robert Clarence Lawson; and the “boundary” theologies of independent evangelist Fred Francis Bosworth and mystical thinker Esek William Kenyon. The plurality of early pentecostal theologies should be evident simply given this listing. Jacobsen’s gift to contemporary pentecostal theologians and church leaders is to provide a coherent narrative demonstrating the interconnectedness of these various ideas and systems of thought without compromising their distinctive contributions and perspectives. Here, as in the day of Pentecost, we have a plurality of voices giving testimony to the wondrous workings of the Spirit of God.

Elmer Towns and Douglas Porter, The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever: From Pentecost to the Present (Destiny Image Publishers, 2000), 231 pages.

I like history and I like revival history most of all. For this reason, I found this book enjoyable. It is an easy-to-read presentation of ten revivals that the authors selected as the greatest to have occurred since the Church began. The revivals were put in the order of importance based upon the opinions of 17 of the best-known preachers in the world.

The greatest revival is cited as the 1904 revival that began in Wales, touched Korea and Manchuria, and ended at Azuza Street. If you are a Pentecostal, you will not be content with the scope accorded the greatest revival for you will not read it culminating in 600,000,000 full gospel adherents across the globe. Indeed, to my viewpoint, the book suffers from its lack of a Pentecostal perspective.

Putting aside my preference, Towns and Porter list the first Great Awakening from 1727 to 1750 with Zinzendorf, Wesley, Whitefield, and Edwards as the second greatest revival. The third greatest was the post independence revival from 1780 to Cane Ridge in the early 1800’s. Then we go to Finney and the Hawaiian Revival lead by Titus Coan in the first half of the 19^th century. The book also cites the Layman’s pre-civil war prayer revival, the Second World War revival, the Jesus people/baby boomers of the 1960’s and 70’s, the pre-reformation Lollards and Savronarola, the 16^th Century reformation and the original revival of Acts 2 called Pentecost.

Dr. Elmer Towns is a college and seminary professor and an author of popular and scholarly works. He co-founded Liberty University with Jerry Falwell in 1971.

I found much new material in the book, including little told stories of people and places that added to my overall knowledge of this fascinating subject. I also found the insights of the authors to be provoking and valuable. My own treatment of the history of revival starting in 1300 AD is a continuum of a loving God calling people who for some reason were compelled to initially seek or to offer to others His blessing into periods of visitation that changed much of the community forever and builds ever more upon what has passed.

Treating revivals as unrelated and uncommon incidents as this book does, in my view, takes away from the purposes of God in his never ending efforts to bring man to salvation. Revivals are wonderful periods in the life of believers. They also are demanding and exhausting periods and—as with any move of God—bring all sorts of controversy and scorn to the fore for discussion and absorption. Revivals mean lack of sleep, time for everyday things and all sorts of consequences.

May the Lord revive us all again and again.

Reviewed by H. Murray Hohns

Read an excerpt from Elmer Towns’ website: http://elmertowns.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/10_Greatest_Revivals_EverETowns.pdf

Zeb Bradford Long and Douglas McMurray, Receiving the Power: Preparing the Way for The Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids: Chosen Books, 1996), 251 pages.

The authors of the book The Collapse of the Brass Heaven have teamed up again to write about finding power to do what Jesus did. Coming from a Third Wave or what they call a neo-evangelical viewpoint, they introduce readers to the biblical concept of empowerment for ministry and offer practical explanation of how to receive this power from God.

This book appears to be written to those who have been somehow wounded or ostracized by Pentecostal and charismatic churches but who know there must be more of God’s power available to the believer than what they are presently experiencing. Nevertheless, even for Pentecostals and charismatics this is an excellent introduction to the thought of the Third Wave. This book also represents a revival of the theology and renewal experience of R. A. Torrey.

Although many outside of the charismatic movement see virtually no difference between the Third Wave and other charismatics, Brad Long and Doug McMurray make it clear what the basic difference is: initial evidence. They believe that this teaching that tongues (glossolalia) is the evidence of being “Spirit-filled” has prevented Pentecostals and charismatics from further reaching the world because of the division that they say this teaching brings. They state, “The present activity of the Holy Spirit around the world requires us to find some other way of interpreting twentieth-century outpourings than by means that exclude everyone but tongues-speakers” (p. 30).

Zeb Bradford Long

It is true that many among the Pentecostals teach that not only is tongues the normal initial evidence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit, they teach that it is the only evidence of being Spirit filled. However, it is a leap for the two authors to maintain that classical Pentecostals are trapped and are without a theological basis for initial evidence (see pp.136-137). The trap they claim that has been set is that if “you must speak in tongues to be Spirit-filled”, then logically, you must not be saved if you cannot speak in tongues.

What can be said about this? This review is not sufficient to answer the “initial evidence debate.” It is obvious that the simplistic explanations given of what charismatics and especially Pentecostals teach regarding this issue do not truly represent either of these “waves” as a whole. Disturbingly, the authors do not seems to be aware of anyone from the Pentecostal or charismatic movements that believes tongues to be, yes, the normal initial evidence but necessarily the only evidence of being Spirit filled.