I always enjoy the opportunity to listen to what world-class Pentecostal scholars are producing and it is a real pleasure to reconnect with PneumaReview.com writers. This year’s convention provided many memorable meetings.

I experienced a spirit of unity during the powerful worship service that opened the 2017 convention. There is nothing like celebrating God’s goodness together with Pentecostal scholars from all over the world. You would not know from my pictures how involved this crowd of academics and professors was in dancing before the Lord, raising their hands in praise, singing, or praying in the Spirit—but it was wonderful.

I love books and was glad to browse the many offerings from the numerous publishers present for the conference. Standing at the Eerdmans table, I was able to personally thank Craig Keener for doing an interview with us about his recent book Spirit Hermeneutics. I also learned that it is Harrison House’s new imprint, Empowered Life, that is publishing Robert Graves‘ expanded and revised Praying in the Spirit (the earlier edition was reprinted in full in The Pneuma Review).

To see a list of papers and panels presented during the convention, see the SPS website. As always, there were many presentations I missed because I could not be in more than one place at a time.

I will be adding more pictures to the Pneuma Review Facebook page if you would like to connect with me there. Update: I’ve been able to add a direct link to the Facebook album on the third page of this article.

From left to right: Tony Richie, Mike Dies, Raul Mock, and Martin Mittelstadt. Lee Roy Martin.

From left to right: Craig S. Keener and Raul Mock. Raul Mock and Antipas Harris.

A report from the 2014 Anglican Diocese of the South Intercessory Prayer conference by William De Arteaga. The conference was convened at Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville, Georgia, from August 27 – 28, 2014.

I had the privilege of speaking and participating in the intercessory prayer conference sponsored by the Anglican Diocese of the South (ADOTS). This is a diocese within the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). I will describe he conference below, but need first to clarify what ACNA is and how it formed.

The ACNA is made up mostly of ex-Episcopalians who were fed up with the heresy and apostasy of the Episcopal Church. The lamentable state of the Episcopal clergy came about (as with other mainline denominations) because the seminaries accepted de-mythologizing and other liberal theologies as normative. At the same time they increasingly disdained and marginalized the views that the scriptures are true. This implied that the supernatural world pictured in the Bible, as in angels, demons, healing and exorcisms, is also mythological. As liberalism gutted the Gospels and the creeds, what remained were various fashions of psychology and philosophy which were self-labeled as “progressive” theology. This liberal cluster of non-beliefs attached to traditional forms of liturgy, vestments, feast days, etc., and passed itself off as Christianity. The steady, and now, precipitous decline the Episcopal Church and other mainline denominations is the natural result of the triumph of liberal theology over Bible orthodoxy.

But within the Episcopal Church there were many laypersons and clergy who were orthodox, read the scriptures naturally (without de-mythologizing) and who practiced an evangelical faith. This was often combined with the gifts of the Spirit which came into many Episcopal Churches via the ministry of Agnes Sanford and the Charismatic Renewal of the 1960s. The evangelical and Spirit-filled congregations battled to keep the rest of the denomination orthodox. As the 1970s turned into the 1980s it was apparent that the battle was turning against orthodoxy. The Seminaries remained stubbornly liberal and dismissed the Charismatic Renewal as a passing fancy, and continued to churn out apostate or weak-faith clergy.

The 1990s saw many Episcopal clergymen and congregations leave the church into continuing churches. That is, churches which retained the liturgy and Book of Common Prayer as the basis of their worship but separated from the Episcopal church and hierarchy.^[1] After 2003, the exodus became a torrent. At that time there was no single entity to receive these orthodox exiles.

When this author left St. Jude’s Episcopal Church in Marietta Georgia, in 2003, with about a third of the congregation, we were received for Episcopal cover by the Anglican Bishop of Bolivia, the Very Rev. Francis Lyons. He was an American missionary, orthodox and highly charismatic. He ultimately took under his wing dozens of exiled congregations. It was understood that this was a temporary and abnormal situation, waiting for a better resolution. Then ACNA was formed under the leadership of Bishop Robert Duncan, from the diocese of Pittsburgh, and the congregations under Bishop Lyons transferred to ACNA. Bishop Lyons subsequently handed over his charge to a Bolivian Anglican bishop, and joined Archbishop Duncan’s staff in Pittsburgh.

The 2014 Black Theology and Leadership Institute

Candace Laughinghouse sent these highlights with her report of the 2014 annual Black Theology and Leadership Institute at Princeton.

From right to left: Worship in the chapel. In the midst of a great conversation within my cohort for the week. Me and Prof. Dr. John W. Kinney – Dean of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University.

From Left to right: Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas of Vanderbilt Divinity School lecturing on Social and Gender Justice. My cohort led by Pastor Dr. Leslie D. Callahan. Dr. Walter Fluker signs books at the end of class.

As a wife, mother and doctoral student, my children attend every conference with me. Here, my daughters are saying their goodbyes to Dr. Yolanda Pierce – conference host.

On Saturday afternoon, May 3^rd, 2014, Dr. Michael Brown, spoke at Christian Assembly in Somerville, Massachusetts. He spoke to pastors and ministry leaders about the charismatic work of the Holy Spirit, drawing heavily from his recent book Authentic Fire. This seminar was sponsored by the New England District (www.ifcane.org) of the International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies (www.ifcaministry.org).

The IFCA is a classical Pentecostal denomination. Those who attended this session included leaders from both inside and outside of the IFCA.

Pastor John Lathrop and his wife Cindy on either side of Dr. Michael Brown.

From left to right: Byron D. Klaus, President, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. Raul Mock and Monte Rice. Frank Macchia and Raul Mock.

From left to right: Estrelda Alexander, President of the William Seymour College. David Daniels, Henry Winters Luce Professor of World Christianity, McCormick Theological Seminary. Daniel Ramírez, Assistant Professor, North American Religious History, University of Michigan.

From left to right: Exhibits. Andrew Gabriel and Raul Mock. Panel discussion of Craig Keener’s Acts: An Exegetical Commentary: Introduction and 1:1 – 2:47.

From left to right: Matthias Wenk, InstitutPlus and Craig Keener, Asbury Theological Seminary. Discussion of “Theological Pre-Cursors for Pentecostalism.” Craig Keener and Raul Mock.

From left to right: Raul Mock and Bill Faupel. Peter Hocken. Wolfgang Vondey, Regent University.

From left to right: Raul Mock and Tony Richie. Ken Archer, Dale Coulter, and Raul Mock. David Roebuck, Lee University.

From left to right: Raul Mock and Lee Roy Martin. Raul Mock and Lois Olena. Lisa Long and Kim Alexander.

From left to right: Timothy Creemens, Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese and Grace Graduate School of Ministry. Ecumenism discussion. Raul Mock and Robert Graves.

From left to right: Exhibits. Paul King, “Come Up Higher: The Higher Life Historical and Theological Roots of the Pentecostal Movement.”  Blaine Charette, Northwest University.

From left to right: Tony Richie, Pentecostal Theological Seminary. Pentecostal ecumenism panel. Linda Miller and Raul Mock.

From left to right: Bernie Van De Walle, Ambrose Seminary, “Getting ‘Redemption Right’ Wrong: The Inconsistency of Aspects of A. B. Simpson’s Doctrine of Divine Healing with the Theology of the Fourfold Gospel.” Mark Roberts, Paul King, and Raul Mock. Ecumenism discussion.

The 41st meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies was held at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, from February 29 to March 3, 2012. The theme of the convention was “Pentecostalisms, Peacemaking, and Social Justice/Righteousness.”

As a doctoral student, I found the 2012 Society for Pentecostal Studies conference to be nothing less than exceptional. Previously, my academic conference experience has been limited to the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature meetings. I was intrigued by the inclusion of clergy within a more academically recognized conference. I had the opportunity to present a paper critiquing the precedent analysis of women in the Church of God in Christ by former president Anthea Butler. The majority of session participants were men who readily engaged in further conversation on the paradox of power within the women’s department of the Church of God in Christ raised within my presentation.

I attended the meeting with a little knee injury that prevented me from attending some of the morning sessions. But the networking at an SPS event is invaluable. The level of scholarship amidst the conference attendees is comparable to any academic conference in the world. The conference was not without a myriad of valuable representations from publishers, archivists, universities, and software technology for today’s scholar.

For more information about past meetings of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, visit www.sps-usa.org.

Atlanta, Georgia
Image: Brett Weinstein / Wikimedia Commons

The 62nd Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society convened November 17-19, 2010, at the Atlanta Hilton in Atlanta, GA. The conference, attended by over 2600 persons from around the globe, had “Justification by Faith” as its major concern. N.T.. Wright, from the University of St. Andrews, and Bishop of Durham in the U.K. spoke on “Justification Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” at the plenary session on the morning of the 19th. From the morning of the 17th through the 19th, every hour from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. were filled with parallel sessions which included Study Group programs on Bioethics, Global Christianity, Christian Ethics, Spiritual Formation, and “Other Voices of Biblical Interpretation,” to name a few. Affiliated Societies, as the Near Eastern Archaeological Society, the Adventist Theological Society, and the Evangelical Philosophical Society were also present and held their sessions. In one way or another, justification by faith was dealt with in one way of another: how it appears in the New Testament, in the preaching of St. Paul, in the preaching of the early Church Fathers, its contrast to the “theology” of other religions, justification’s appearance in the Prophets, the Synoptic Gospels, 17th century preaching, and how it relates to the practice of pastoral care, just to name a few. Since I am part of the “Other Voices of Biblical Interpretation”, my focus was on “The Nickels Mine Massacre (2006) and the Amish Understanding of the Atonement and Discipleship.” I, naturally, touched on justification as it is part and parcel of the Cross of Christ, and how it effects the extension of forgiveness. Forgiveness was my principle theme as I drew from the forgiveness extended by the parents of the slain and injured children of the Nickels Mine Amish School to their killer’s family. I spent a year reading in Menno Simons’ works (16th century) and the works of Mennonite and Amish writers into the late 19th and 20th centuries to be thoroughly knowledgeable of Anabaptist theology touching upon the atonement, justification by faith, and forgiveness. It was interesting to me that the “forgiveness” motif appeared in other sessions of the ETS meeting in Atlanta. I attended a session on Spiritual Formation led by John Auxier from Talbot School of Theology in which forgiveness was the major concern. He raised the incident of the Nickels Mine Massacre in his talk and referred also to Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower in which the Jewish author related his experience at the bedside of a dying Nazi soldier. I, too, in my presentation, made reference to Wiesenthal.

That was not the only session where forgiveness and justification was more than hinted at as interrelated with each other. Needless to say I found this ETS meeting exhilarating, not only because of the program[s] but also because of the mix of the people present, old friends and new, and the variety of Christian experience. There were others with the Assemblies of God besides me. There were men from Central Bible College in Springfield, MO, and Southwestern Assemblies of God University at Waxahachie, TX. But to mingle with the Mennonites, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, Baptists of different affiliations, Adventists, Anglicans, Brethren in Christ, Lutherans, and whoever else has always been helpful to me. I am somewhat a “High Church Pentecostal.” What is most interesting to me is the extent to which the Holy Spirit affects the entire spectrum of the Christian experience irrespective of denominational membership. For myself, I was with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for many years as a minister before crossing over to the Assemblies of God. My baccalaureate was gained from Texas Christian University. My Seminary training was at Duke Divinity School. My doctorate came from O.R.U. I have preached in predominantly African-American Churches, Baptist and AME, and a Church of the Brethren. On the Walton side are Adventists; on mother’s side are Brethren and Mennonites. I serve “a Kingdom without Borders,” to borrow a phrase from writer Miriam Adeney.

First Nations leader Richard Twiss reports on a powerful Urbana conference he was part of in December.

Urbana is the largest missions conference in the world. It is convened every three years in Urbana, IL, on the campus of University of Illinois. It is a ministry of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. This past December, at Urbana 03, 19,000 mostly college aged, people attended.

The message by Ray Aldred, Cree pastor and ministry leader, was one of the most impacting I have ever heard. Likewise, the presence of the Lord that accompanied Mohawk musician, Jonathon Maracle and Broken Walls, as they led an hour of worship, joined by myself and eleven other dancers in full regalia on stage was amazing. (These can be seen and heard at www.urbana.org).

There were 1800 small groups that met every day. Lindsay Olesberg, the Urbana 03 Small Group Manager, sent me the following comments and testimonies of both small group leaders and students, in response to the First Nations presentation at Urbana.

“This was a powerful evening where God gave us an amazing gift through Ray Aldred and Jonathon Miracle. I appreciated the blessing that was given by the Native American community. Thank you for your risk and forgiveness of the church of North America.”

“This is my third Urbana, and there always seems to be one pivotal talk through which God speaks a prophetic word. I believe that Ray Aldred’s preaching was that prophetic word. As an educated white man, I’ve grown up with the lies of power and self–sufficiency. I’ve been taught and trained to view my culture as having everything of value that needs to be shared with all other ‘less fortunate’ people. The Holy Spirit spoke powerfully through Ray and reminded me that I am just as much in need of salvation (conversion) as every other person. Praise God!”

Several white and Asian–American students were struck by the idea of “white man’s gospel.” They said it made sense but that they had never realized that this was happening.

A young man from Minnesota shared that he was from a town that was surrounded by three Native American reservations. He said that racism was prevalent and he had seen misunderstandings, anger, and bitterness prevail between the races in that area. He shared that he was deeply moved by the experience of the Native American worship leader extending a welcome from First Nations people to the rest of the people groups at Urbana.

“I’m a white female staff worker who grew up in Southwestern Colorado, near the Navajo Reservation. I’ve begun to struggle through my own racism, and to understand the magnitude of the genocide committed against Native Americans. It was an inspiration to me as I struggle through racial reconciliation.”

The EPTA meeting in 2014.

The conference theme, “Pentecostal Education in the 21st. century: Promises and Challenges”, was initiated by special guest speaker Dr. Allan H. Anderson from Birmingham University. His paper, on “Pentecostal-Charismatic Spirituality and Theological Education in Europe from a Global Perspective”, was, as he himself noted, “an extensively modified version of his keynote paper given at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma, March 2001, and published as “The Fury and Wonder ? Pentecostal-Charismatic Spirituality in Theological Education”, Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies 23:2, Fall 2001, 287-302. Two quotations from Dr. Anderson’s excellent paper follows:

A serious and extensive revision of Pentecostal history needs to be done, in which the enormous contributions of the as yet unnamed indigenous pioneers is properly recognized, so that US American classical Pentecostals in particular shed their often-heard assumption that Pentecostalism is a made-in-the-USA product that has been exported to the world.Western theological educators should themselves be given thorough exposure to the contexts in which they work, in which the agenda is set by local people. They should first and foremost be learners, where they can listen to local concerns before presuming to teach. This probably means that before educators or missionaries from North America and Europe in other continents begin their work, they should first be apprenticed to local ministers and be thoroughly exposed to the local context. Through serving people in humility over an extended period of time, intercultural workers will learn many vital lessons that several years in theological seminaries back home did not teach, and this will be much more effective.

The next paper, on “Would Jesus have sent his disciples to Bible College today?” was presented by JEPTA (the Journal of the Evangelical Pentecostal Theological Association) editor Dr. Keith Warrington of Regents Theological College, UK. Additional papers included:

• “Decentralised, practical training vs. centralised, traditional Bible College” by Dr. Neil Hudson
• “Do we need a distinct Pentecostal approach to education in Europe” by Dr. Matthias Wenk
• “The early Church and the axis of history in Pentecostalism facing the 21st. century: Some Reflections” by Marc Turnage
• “Training for Missions – Anthropological Insights” by Dr. Jan-‘ke Alvarsson
• “Training national Leaders with English Text books” by Tanja Petrova

The European Pentecostal Theological Association is an inter-denominational academic and theological society. For more information about the EPTA, visit the EPTA website at: www.eptaonline.com/.