Jeff Oliver has taken on the ambitious task of chronicling the charismatic work of the Holy Spirit throughout church history. He has done this by writing a three volume book, Pentecost to the Present. He begins in volume one by writing about the activities of the Holy Spirit in the days of the apostolic church of the first century AD. By volume three his focus is the work of the Holy Spirit in the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Because I am interested in the more recent history of the work of the Holy Spirit I began by reading volume three.

Volume three is divided into six sections: “Pentecost … Again (c. 1901-1910),” “The Pentecostal Movement (c. 1906-1945),” “The Healing Revival (c. 1946-1960),” “The Charismatic Renewal (c. 1951-1980),” “The Charismatic Explosion (c. 1971-2000),” and “Into the Twenty-First Century (2001 and Beyond).”

The majority of the first section “Pentecost … Again (c. 1901-1910)” focuses primarily on two people, Charles Parham and William Seymour, and one mission, the Azusa Street Mission. The text contains information about the events leading up to beginning of the Azusa Street Mission and some of the things that took place there. Two of the things mentioned about the mission were the flames of fire that appeared over the building and the healings that took place inside.

The second section “The Pentecostal Movement (c. 1906-1945)” deals with the spread of Pentecostalism after the Spirit fell at the Azusa Street Mission. Some of the countries that it spread to were Argentina, South Africa, and Russia. Prominent Pentecostal figures from this time period are also discussed: Smith Wigglesworth, F. F. Bosworth, and Aimee Semple McPherson.

The third section “The Healing Revival (c. 1945-1960)” focuses on the ministries of some of the key individuals who were used by God to bringing healing to many. William Branham, Oral Roberts Jack Coe, and A. A. Allen are mentioned in this section.

Section four “The Charismatic Renewal (c. 1951-1980)” deals with outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant churches. Some of the people God touched and used in a mighty way to spread the work of the Spirit in these churches are mentioned in this section: David Du Plessis, Harald Bredesen, Dennis Bennett, Oral Roberts, and Katherine Kuhlman. The parachurch ministry Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International, which was founded by Demos Shakarian, is also mentioned for its impact in spreading the Pentecostal message.

Section five “The Charismatic Explosion (c. 1971-2000)” includes information about a number of significant individuals and ministries that were active during this time period. In this section the author writes about the controversial Shepherding Movement, The Trinity Broadcasting Network, CBN, The 700 Club, the PTL Club, Pat Roberston, Jimmy Swaggart, the Word of Faith Movement, and the Prosperity Teaching among others.

Unhealthy Youth Leaders

There is a difference between ‘busyness’ and ‘business’. When Youth Leaders are busy, they burn out. Because they spend more time in programming and gaming than they do in relationships and study. When Youth Leaders are about the business of the Church, they burn on. Because they spend more time in relationships and study than they do in programming and gaming.

An unhealthy Youth Leader will produce unhealthy students, and ultimately, an unhealthy generation who will lead the Church into an unhealthy future.

Mono-Strategy For Reaching A Diverse Student

Image: Stuart Vivier

Most Youth Ministries are able to function in 1 or 2 of these. Maybe a good youth service and a few outreach events. Or, capable small groups and weekly visits to the campus. Each Youth Leader will have a core competency in one or even two of these strategies, but, the Youth Leader who can become proficient in 2 or 3 or 4 of these models can have an opportunity to reach more students. And that requires that Youth Leaders have varied skilled and multiple gifted leaders around them.

It takes all kinds of people to reach all kinds of people. And it takes all kinds of models to reach all kinds of men.

An Unwillingness To Be Teachable

Cutting Edge 2:1 (1998)

Jeff Bailey, “Worship and Spirituality in the New World” Cutting Edge (Vol 4, No 2, Summer 2000), pages 16-18.

Jeff Bailey, co-editor of Vineyard Churches’ (USA) church planting magazine Cutting Edge, has been interviewing and conversing with a number of postmodern theologians in the last few issues. In the July 2000 issue of Cutting Edge, Bailey talks with Robert Webber about the postmodern threshold Webber sees Christianity crossing.

Webber recently took a post at Northern Baptist Seminary in Lombard, Illinois, having served as the professor of historical theology at Wheaton College for over 30 years. He is best known for extensive studies on worship including over 20 books, a monthly column in Worship Leader magazine and editing the Complete Library of Christian Worship.

Webber says that as Christianity enters post-modernism, theology must be rethought and ancient forms of worship must be reclaimed. He believes that postmoderns are looking for more visible and tangible ways of expressing faith, including symbols that touch spiritual realities. He says, “Christians in the postmodern world will succeed, not by watering down the faith, but by being a counter-cultural community that invites people to be shaped by the story of Israel and Jesus” (p. 16). However, from the excerpts given in this article, the ancient forms of worship he is suggesting reclaiming have more the flavor of early Gentile Christianity than the earliest Messianic Judaism.

Webber says that spirituality must be properly understood as turning our backs on evil and embracing Christlikeness, the essence of true humanity. One of the ways to become spiritual is then to rightly read the Bible. Too many of us have been duped into thinking that we cannot really understand what the author intended and therefore we do not read it to learn what God is saying to us. The Bible is God’s Word, it is what He intended. Therefore, we do need to do our homework on the background of the passage we are studying, but then we also need to read devotionally. For example, if we believed that out in front of where we lived was buried one billion dollars in gold, we would be making tremendous effort to locate it. We know that God’s Word is treasure, and we must go digging for the wealth it contains. Webber says, “As long as our interpretation doesn’t contradict the faith or ethics of the Church, I think we can say that we’ve heard from God” (p. 17).

Webber has some deep criticisms of modern evangelicalism. He says, “Evangelicalism is all about power: how to get it, how to use it, how to build big churches, how to have political influence … the opposite of what Jesus is all about. I often tell people, ‘Find out what church growth is telling you to do, and then do the opposite’” (p. 18). While evangelicalism may be experiencing much confusion as it transitions (or fails to transition) into a post-modern world, Webber’s definition is too biting for me. Anyone who is seeking power instead of serving in love is in the wrong. I, for one, cannot simply equate evangelicalism with power-mongering.