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| June 2002 Issue of the Pneuma Informer |  |
The June 2002 Pneuma InformerIn this issue:
What's New at www.PneumaFoundation.org
Have a website you would like linked to the Pneuma Foundation? Write to Webmaster Dave Driggs with your suggestion. Or use the on-line form to submit your suggestion: links.jsp#link. Recent Visitors: Some of the recent visitors to the Pneuma Foundation website have been from: Australia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, China, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, New Zeeland, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Brazil, Argentina, Suriname, South Africa, Togo, Nigeria, Benin, Mauritias, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Switzerland, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, Israel, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Ukraine, Greece, Croatia, Russia, and Austria. Come visit soon. Write to Member Services with any comments or questions you have about the website or the Pneuma Informer. Reports from Around the World China: Confession Leads to Release Ruth, a house church leader in China, was imprisoned for her faith and sharing Jesus. The authorities insisted that she write out a confession of her crimes. She wrote about Jesus' birth, death and resurrection and about heaven and hell. The same night she wrote her "confession" they held a "struggle" meeting against her. Four hundred prisoners and guards listened to her "crimes." The officials read aloud all thirty-seven pages of her confession and many prisoners repented in tears and received the Lord. A month later the authorities passed out ballots to release a selected inmate. They all wrote "Ruth." She walked home to her three children for whom she had been praying because they had only five catties of rice left in the house when she left a month earlier. She immediately asked them, "Is there any rice left?" Her son's beaming response was, "Mom, our rice container is overflowing!" And it really was, growing from five to over forty catties! Source: Open Doors with Brother Andrew, by way of Dave Dorpat, Renewal in Missouri. "Forgotten" First-Nations Tribal Group Receives Christ Members of a "forgotten" tribal group in a remote corner of the U.S. have come to Christ after hearing the gospel fully for the first time. Twenty people were saved when Bill Easter preached to some of those living in Supai village, on the Havasupai Indian Reservation in Arizona, near the Grand Canyon. At the second service he held, several people were healed, he told Assemblies of God (AG) News. Set in a picturesque corner, surrounded by three waterfalls and towering cliffs, Supai is accessible only by foot, horseback or helicopter. Some of the 600 or so villagers had watched religious TV programs, but knew there was more they had to experience, said Easter, an AG Home Missionary. "[They] had been praying for God to send people down to share more about Christ." After making contact, Easter held services at the local community center. Now some of the villagers want to have a permanent pastor and church, for which AG congregations in the district are helping raise money. "I'm just so conscious of the fact that we spend a great deal of money and time going overseas to reach the lost there," said Arizona district superintendent Steve Harris. "My heart is just moved, this is almost a forgotten people when it comes to reaching them for the gospel." Source: Charisma News Service 4:75. Used by permission. Netherlands: Prayer changes political landscape Calls from Dutch evangelical leaders for an intense 10 days of prayer surrounding their national elections have culminated in changes to the national political scene that has been dominated by liberals for years. Prayer leader Marc van der Woude writes, "The Christian democrat party CDA has clearly won the elections, and its leader stands for Christian values and integrity." The far-right party, List Pim Fortuyn (LPF), had been expected to win by a landslide until its leader was dramatically murdered a week before the elections. LPF had done well at local elections, but it was prophesied that another overwhelming victory would not occur. A team of 15 prayer ministers from Uganda, who came to teach and pray with evangelical leaders during May, reflected on the need for on-going prayer: "It is crucial now that the Church of Jesus, in unity, holiness and perseverance, goes on praying until she prays with authority for the realising of God's plans for the Netherlands." Source: http://www.10dagenvoornederland.nl Thoughts to Ponder "Progress in holiness can best be measured not by the length of time we spend in prayer, not by the number of times we go to church, not by the amount of money we contribute to God's work, not by the range and depth of our knowledge of the Bible, but rather by the quality of our personal relationships." —Stephen F. Winward "When we major in minors and blow insignificant trifles out of proportion, we imitate the Pharisees. When we make dancing and movies the test of spirituality, we are guilty of substituting a cheap morality for a genuine one. We do these things to obscure the deeper issues of righteousness. Anyone can avoid dancing or going to movies. These require no great effort or moral courage. What is difficult is to control the tongue, to act with integrity, to show forth the fruit of the Spirit." —R. C. Sproul "Our moral compass is not broken. The needle continues to point in the same direction. But 'south' has been mislabeled as 'north.' And for a generation, these reversed compasses have been handed to kids by parents, teachers, government officials, various advocacy groups and —yes —even some clergy. 'Broken moral compass' is a convenient but inaccurate description of the problem. Our moral compass has been altered, inverted and in fact sabotaged by those who are unwilling or unable to follow a legitimate compass, but who conceal their accountability by inducing the rest of us to go along with them. There is still time to repair our moral compass. All that's needed is to compare our compass with a genuine one and re-label the directions. The real difficulty comes in following the corrected compass. The genuine path isn't always easy. Often it leads uphill and over difficult terrain. But it is always straight, and eventually it will get us home again." —David C. Stolinsky "Hypocrisy is the respect that vice pays to virtue." —La Rochefoucauld "We felt frustrated toward the end of our journey because there are several villages that we were not allowed to enter because they are controlled by the rebels. However, we do not want to give up the area. We will continue to ask God to open the doors of these villages for us so that we can freely bring in the gospel of salvation to the people there and even to the rebels." —A Filipino missionary [from Christian Aid Mission] Special Report: The Angelus Temple 2002 Rebirth By H. Murray Hohns, May 22, 2002 The 1924 annual report for Angelus Temple in Los Angeles listed 12,000 saved, 3,000 baptized in water, 3,000 new members, 3,600 healings and thousands filled with the Holy Spirit. The Temple's early years were filled with revival, and people were touched over and over as miracles took place day after day. This revival led to the incorporation of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in 1927. The movement has grown to worldwide dimensions and is now commonly called the Foursquare church. I have been part of this family of believers since 1979 when I came to California from New Jersey. The Foursquare denomination held its 2002 annual convention and 75th Anniversary in Denver. Some 2000 pastors and their mates gathered for four days of fellowship, business and inspiration. With a few exceptions, my wife and I have attended these Foursquare conventions for 20 years. This year, there was some pre-convention tension in some conversations and in several letters to our President that had been circulated to many attendees. The concern was the recent appointment of 27-year-old Matthew Barnett as the senior pastor of Angelus Temple. Angelus Temple is close to the heart of Los Angeles. It is across the street from Echo Park, which features a lovely lake just off the Hollywood Freeway. The first service at the Temple was held on January 1, 1923, and included unveiling a plaque that dedicated the Temple to the cause of Interdenominational Worldwide Evangelism. Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the Foursquare, built this now venerable old sanctuary. Church lore describes 5300 seats that were filled over and over all week long for the first ten years of the Temple's life. The Temple reached out to help the community while daughter churches sprung up throughout southern California and beyond. During the Great Depression, 1,500,000 people were fed each year through the ministries of the Temple. The Temple impacted ten percent of the population of LA in its early years. Next door a Bible College was built and thrived, peaking in 1929 at 1,000 students. Men and women were there prepared to take the Foursquare Gospel to all corners of the globe. As the years rolled by, Angelus Temple's congregation changed from one born out of a miracle revival to an older, well-entrenched group of people who had grown up under Sister's leadership. Aimee died in 1944, and her son Rolf assumed the leadership of the denomination and the pastorate at the Temple. Rolf McPherson, or "Doc" as he is known in Foursquare circles, later appointed others to pastor the Temple while he concentrated on establishing and building the denomination. The neighborhood demographics changed over the years and the area where the Temple sits became home for many of LA's Hispanic residents. Many of them became part of the Temple, which today has a Spanish speaking congregation of 4,000. The English-speaking congregation waned to less than 500 as the Hispanic group grew to its present size. Later, the Temple was damaged in the Northridge Earthquake and required repairs that also caused the congregation to shrink even more. As the Temple came back on line after the repairs, Foursquare's newly elected president appointed a successful ministry couple from the Northwest to pastor the Temple. They had pastored a growing church in Oregon and as part of their new appointment, Foursquare agreed to upgrade the sanctuary's interior and its sound and lighting to fit the new pastorate's requirements. I was put in charge of this project shortly before construction was to commence. The new pastors regrouped and held services in nearby Pasadena. The Assemblies of God also had a church known as Bethel Temple about a mile from Angelus Temple. Bethel had been established out of the Azusa Street revival, and while never as large as Angelus Temple was nonetheless a mighty church that ministered to well over 1,000 in its heyday. Bethel, like Angelus Temple, had fallen on bad times and its congregation dwindled to less than 50 - when the Assemblies made a decision to bring it back to its former prominence. The Assemblies assigned this project to Tommy Barnett, who pastors the Phoenix Assembly - one of our country's largest churches. Pastor Tommy visited Bethel, and then began a search for the right person to take this daunting challenge. The search was well done but Tommy could not convince any of the candidates that they were the ones to lead this now small church. Finally Tommy appointed his 20-year-old son, Matthew, to be Bethel's new senior pastor. The congregation indicated its approval by voting for Matthew as its pastor, and Matthew with much trepidation left his dad's church and home to go to inner city LA and take the leadership of Bethel and its less-than-50 members. Matthew worked hard and soon found that he had to go to the people in his neighborhood and become part of them. He openly tells of his struggles as he learned how to do this. It was not an easy road but Matthew has an anointing and training that sets him apart. Within a few years Bethel rebounded and overflowed its old building. Matthew went looking for a place to grow in the same area, and one day he found an old vacant high rise hospital near Bethel and proposed to his dad, that they buy it and convert it into a church open 24 hours a day, every day. When he first broached the idea, his dad reminded him that the Bethel congregation had about $30,000 in the bank less—than one percent of the purchase price for the derelict abandoned hospital. Matthew persisted and dad helped. Miracles happened in the financial realm. Soon, what had become the LA International Church was located in the old Queen of Angels hospital building. It was a church that reached out to the inner city and quickly enjoyed unusual success. Pastor Tommy, though still based in Phoenix, became its co-pastor and took on the responsibility of raising funds needed by the rapidly growing inner city ministry. Today this ministry is known as the Dream Center. Its success has led to 130 more Dream Centers in cities across the world. President Bush visited the Dream Center and presented it to our country as an example of the type of faith based ministry that could far out perform the government in dealing with society's problems. Every time I visit the Dream Center I find the presence of God abounds on its campus. It is filled with all sorts of enthusiastic volunteers willing to give their lives to serve and tell others of the love of Christ and His Gospel. It is truly an astonishing place. The Dream Center ministers to 30,000 people a week, and it needed an auditorium big enough to house the ever growing numbers that crowded into its on-campus meeting room. Foursquare admired the Dream Center and encouraged its work. Foursquare had no idea that Matt Barnett would frequently walk through Echo Park late at night to look at Angelus Temple and ask God to give him their founder's church. If I had known what he was doing, I would have dismissed him as a silly young man. He was part of the Assemblies, and while similar to Foursquare, the differences between the denominations made such an idea unthinkable. Besides, it was Sister Aimee's church. She had picked its location, bought the grounds, designed it, raised the funds for it and filled it over and over. Moreover, Aimee had started her evangelistic ministry in the Assemblies only to have her credentials revoked when her marriage to Harold McPherson ended in divorce. Matt was a young man pursuing folly and wasting his time. Had I known what he was doing in the park late at night, I would have thought these thoughts, and wouldn't you know, I would have been wrong again. Something amazing was about to happen. Unprecedented cooperation among denominational leaders and believers' passion to see a city changed for Jesus were leading up to some wonderful events. Matthew Barnett, his father, and Foursquare leaders began praying and considering together the possibility of joining the ministries of the Dream Center and Angelus Temple. In late fall of 2001, Matthew Barnett was named as Senior Pastor of Angelus Temple. Prior to this, Matthew and his entire staff studied Foursquare Heritage and Polity and were ordained or granted appropriate ministerial licenses by Foursquare. They had to leave the Assemblies to do this. Only Matthews's dad currently remains with the Assemblies, and he continues to co-pastor the Dream Center. This remarkable shift occurred with the cooperation of the highest leadership in both denominations. The effort to bring the two ministries together was not allowed to bog down. Instead, there was a focus on how best to seek and save the Lost. The Temple's now displaced pastoral couple was able to return to the Northwest, and begin their ministry afresh at another of Foursquare's leading churches. When repairs in the Temple are complete, the size of the congregation will immediately exceed the 3,100 seats available. This means that the Temple will again be filled over and over each week. For many years prophecies have rung out about the restoration of this great old church to its beginnings. Now we stand at the threshold and will soon see them fulfilled. As I write this article, the refurbishing of Angelus Temple still needs several months before her new pastor can stand on her reconstructed platform and call his congregation to worship in the main auditorium. Hopes, dreams and visions in many hearts already abound as the reality of a rejuvenated Temple approaches. That reality will require confronting known and unknown problems and the enemy of our souls in realms that we cannot anticipate. This is the first time that such change has taken place at this scale in either denomination. When Foursquare's convention in Denver came together, there was the tension I described earlier. Many unanswered questions were being asked, "Couldn't you find someone in Foursquare to pastor the Temple? Why have we done this?" Most of the attendees live far from LA, and thus knew little if anything about the Dream Center. Foursquare leadership asked Pastor Matthew to address the convention body on the second night. Pastor Matt shared his vision and his struggles and breakthroughs over the past eight years - since he had left Phoenix for the inner city of Los Angeles. When he was done, all contention and its questions had disappeared. The only questions left were "How can I help?" and "Can my church come out to LA and learn how to do inner city ministry like you do?" I have continually sensed the Spirit of God hovering throughout the Angelus Temple complex on all the visits I have made to the site for the past 15 months. I mentioned earlier that the same Spirit is ever present each time I go to the Dream Center. This same Spirit hovered over the waters before God said "Let there be light" and His so-great creation followed. All of us connected with Angelus Temple and the Dream Center believe that God is poised to light up Los Angeles and beyond as our newly rebuilt church and its new pastor come on line. Exciting days of ministry are ahead. Souls beyond number will be saved, people will be baptized in water, healed, lives restored and many will be filled with the Holy Spirit. Surrounding and far-off communities will be impacted and invaded by the glory of God, and you and I will soon be asking "What can I do to help? Can I come and learn how to do what you are doing?" And won't that be marvelous for all of us! H. Murray Hohns is a retired civil engineer and technical writer. He is an ordained Foursquare minister, an instructor at Pacific Rim Bible College in Hawaii, and a regular contributor to the publications of the Pneuma Foundation. Murray serves on his denomination's financial council and is presently overseeing restoration of Angelus Temple in Los Angelus, California. Excerpts from the Pneuma Review Excerpts from the Summer 2002 issue of the Pneuma Review will appear in the next issue of the Pneuma Informer. The Pneuma Review is a quarterly printed journal of ministry resources and theology for Pentecostal and charismatic ministries and leaders. For more information, please see the Pneuma Review How to Subscribe page. Contents of the Summer 2002 (Vol 5, No 3) issue of the Pneuma Review "The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Dimensions" By J. Rodman Williams The second chapter of Professor Williams' book about the greatest reality of the twenty-first century, reprinted in the Pneuma Review. "Workmen Or Captives: Avoiding the Snare of Subjectivity" By David Harvey Pastor Harvey takes a serious look at how we interpret God's Word and cautions us to avoid the trap of subjective impressions. "How Much Does God Control?" Graham Old continues the discussion on God's control and man's freedom with his presentation of Charismatic Calvinism. Also includes Editor's Notes and a special edition of the Increase Your Theological Vocabulary department. "The Secret Codes in Matthew: Examining Israel's Messiah" Part 6: Matthew 5:21-7:29, By Kevin M. Williams Journey through the Gospel to the Hebrews with Kevin Williams as he unveils rich Hebraisms and prophetic Messianic insights. Part of the Messianic Foundations series. "20 Good Steps When Planting and Growing a Church" By Paul Paino Practical advice about church planting from a seasoned leader. "Something to Think About: State of the Church 2002" Statistics and questions about the search for meaning and the Church in the USA. Book and Periodical Reviews Two Views on Women in Ministry edited by James Beck and Craig Blomberg. Zondervan (2001). Reviewed by Kevin M. Williams. The Century of the Holy Spirit Vinson Synan, ed. Thomas Nelson Publishers (2000). Reviewed by H. Murray Hohns. "'As For Prophecies, They Will Come to an End': 2 Peter, Paul and Plutarch on 'The Obsolescence of Oracles'" by Gene L. Green. Journal for the Study of the New Testament 82 (2001). Reviewed by Raul Mock. Other Significant Articles Prayer Requests
Praise Reports
Condolences to the V. Alex Bills family on the occasion of his Homegoing on May 14, 2002. Professor Bills, of South Texas Bible Institute, was the founder and director of the Charles F. Parham Center for Pentecostal-Charismatic Studies and a friend of the ministry of the Pneuma Foundation. | |
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