Pentecostal Ecumenism? – Dispatches from Converge21/SPS (Part One)

May 26, 2012 By rccrosby Leave a Comment

Who said “revivals” all have to lead to the creation of new “movements” or even denominations? It just may be that the best revivals are those that bring people back, back home, back to their roots, back to their senses (cf. Lk. 15:17), and in some cases even back to the churches of their youth or even to breaking bread with the same.

I recently attended Converge21 (C21), an event that brought together a selected group of leaders, pastors, educators and next-geners to collaborate on “the future direction of the Spirit-empowered (a.k.a. – Pentecostal or Charismatic) movement in the United States”. On February 29th – March 3rd over 700 Pentecostal and Charismatic influencers attended the event held at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It was jointly sponsored by the Society of Pentecostal Studies (SPS) and Empowered21 (E21). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Change, Charismatic, Church, Community, Ecumenism, Evangelism, Faith, Generations, Holy Spirit, leadership, Pentecostal, Pentecostalism, Pneumatology, Revival, Spirit Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

A Pentecostal Growth Explosion – Over A-Fourth of Christendom

May 24, 2012 By rccrosby Leave a Comment

The Pentecostal movement itself continues to grow at a rapid rate. It is arguably the fastest-growing component of Christendom today. Johnson, Director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (located at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) gave a new report on the status of Spirit-Empowered churches. The Center has recently adopted the term “Renewalists” to represent the three key sectors of this movement, including Classical Pentecostals, Main-line Denominational Charismatics and Independent Charismatics. At present, it is estimated that these groups combined make up 584 million worldwide, or 26 percent of all Christians. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bible, Charismatic, Church, Holy Spirit, Pentecostalism, Pneumatology, Spirit, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , Leave a Comment

A.W. Tozer on The Holy Spirit & Today’s Church

May 23, 2012 By rccrosby Leave a Comment

The late Dr. A. W. Tozer, author and pastor, said, “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.”

Filed Under: Bible, Church, Holy Spirit, Pentecostalism, Pneumatology, Spirit Tagged With: , , , , , Leave a Comment

Same-Sex Marriage: Does Obama’s Decision Alienate Black Pastors/Leaders?

May 16, 2012 By rccrosby Leave a Comment

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Bishop Harry Jackson, an African-American pastor and board member of the National Association of Evangelicals, expresses the awkward position he finds himself in following President Obama’s decision to publicly endorse same-sex marriage. Apparently, he is not alone. Will Obama’s decision frustrate some of his key constituents? And, was it really an announcement he wanted to make BEFORE the election? What do you think?

 

Filed Under: Belief, Change, Democrat, Homosexuality, Marriage, Politics, Presidents, Republican, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , Leave a Comment

A LifeWord: Off the Pages & Into Your Heart

May 15, 2012 By rccrosby Leave a Comment

“The life is in the speaking words.”

A.W. Tozer

God wants to breathe a word into your soul and over your life.  Did you know that? It happened to people in the Bible. It has happened to people throughout history. It has even happened to me and it is a moment not to be missed. It can also happen to you. As a matter of fact, God wants it to.

Of course, you may already know that God has written his words in a book, but the fact is. . .he also wants to write one on your heart. He has done so throughout the centuries in the lives of countless followers and you’re no different. God wants to write his word within you.

When God highlights a passage of Scripture someone’s life, it marks a specific moment with a specific insight from his heart to theirs. Once it has happened, you will never be the same. Such moments are transforming and alive. And such moments are deeply needed by my heart and yours. As a matter of fact, Jesus taught us that “man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).”

There is a great difference between casually reading a Bible passage and truly sensing that God is speaking that word directly to your soul. The fact is that God has left us with words, many of them, words to encourage and inspire us, to guide and correct, to heal and to help. And God not only wants our eyes to read and our minds to study the words he has left for us, there are times when he wants to breathe one of them upon our souls. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Belief, Bible, Communication, Encouragement, Faith, Following, Hope, Journey, Lifeword, Religion, Salvation Tagged With: , , , , , Leave a Comment
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