spacerA growing church for growing people.

Everything That's On My Mind

 Saturday, July 28, 2007

A couple weeks ago the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Thomas Trask, resigned his position with two years left on his term. Before taking office in Springfield, Rev. Trask was my pastor. I have the utmost respect for him and I pray God continues to bless him in whatever he does. At the General Council meetings next month, new leadership will be elected. I don't think it's hyperbole to say that this is a significant turning point in our fellowship. It goes without saying that we need to be in prayer regarding this decision over the next two weeks.

Some of the "young guns" (younger than me, at least chronologically) in the A/G including Brad Leach from Church of the King in Berkley have started the FutureAG blog to discuss this decision. While it's advertised as a temporary blog just for the next few weeks, I really hope it turns into something more. The interaction I've seen on this blog so far has been very positive, thoughtful, and encouraging. Case in point, yesterday's post by Paul Stewart entitled Identity Crisis and the ensuing comments. While the conversation is primarily among pastors, feel free to at least eavesdrop.

Saturday, July 28, 2007 - 08:09 PM Eastern Daylight Time    #       Comments [2]
Monday, July 30, 2007 12:23:48 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
Yes, that "Identity Crisis" post and ensuing comments was fascinating. I'm the last guy in the world who would want to forget history, but it seems to me that the people who created our history (i.e., that of the Pentecostal movement) weren't themselves interested in preserving the heritage of the various denominations they had been from. They were seeking something new from God, and as a result created a heritage that others have felt worth preserving. They also weren't primarily interested in creating or maintaining a "distinctive"; they were seeking the movement of the Holy Spirit and received the experiences they received as a byproduct. I think we're losing our power--and I do think that's a reality--because we're chasing the experiences of the past (or the methodologies of the "successful") rather than the One who gave those experiences. The question that I think is far too seldom asked is, "If we did get revival, what would we do with it?"
Monday, July 30, 2007 8:41:59 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
I wholeheartedly agree. I see no evidence in scripture or in history that a passion for a "distinctive" did anything but divide the church into factions. The key to the future (not just for the A/G but for all Christendom) is "semper reforma"*, to take the heritage of the past and seek a fresh anointing and a fresh vision of how God is at work redeeming the world we live in. The source of renewal is the same today as it was for our predecessors: hunger for God's presence, commitment to His word, and dedication to His purposes.

* Always reforming"
Name
E-mail
(will show your gravatar icon)
Home page

Comment (Some html is allowed: a@href@title, b, blockquote@cite, em, i, strike, strong, sub, sup, u) where the @ means "attribute." For example, you can use <a href="" title=""> or <blockquote cite="Scott">.  

Enter the code shown (prevents robots):

Live Comment Preview

On this page...

Search
<July 2009>
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
2829301234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930311
2345678
Blogroll
Links

Categories


The ONE Campaign!


Sign In