Posted on Monday, May 14, 2018

Pentecostal Women in Ministry: Ambiguity and Affirmation in the PAOC

Some Pentecostals are proud to say that Pentecostals affirm women in ministry. They might point to the leadership of the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles (one of the most influential centers of early North American Pentecostalism), where about half of the leaders were women. As Pentecostal denominations formed, some churches continued to give prominent place to women leaders. Most, however, placed restrictions on women’s ministry and leadership in some form […]

Posted on Thursday, May 3, 2018

Resources on the Meaning of Pentecost and Spirit Baptism

About a year ago, I wrote a post, “Should Pentecostals talk about the Spirit on Pentecost Sunday?” Given that Pentecost Sunday is approaching soon, I thought I would put together a list of links to some of my resources that address Pentecost specifically as well as the closely related topic of Spirit baptism. Blog posts: […]

Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2018

I need your HELP with my BOOK TITLE!

This morning I spoke with the publisher for my next book. As you might already know, the book is about experiencing the Holy Spirit. I need to figure out a book title in the next day or two. Can you help? Here are the two options the publisher has given me […]

Posted on Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Eschatology in Current Pentecostal Theology [video]

In today’s video, I interview theologian Dr. Peter Althouse from Southeastern University, Florida. I asked him about how Pentecostals have historically thought about eschatology (last days / end times) and about how Pentecostal theologians are thinking about eschatology in current […]

Posted on Tuesday, April 10, 2018

The Changing of the PAOC’s Statement of Faith … Again [with Video]

History of the PAOC Statement of Faith SOFET

The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) is in a process of again refreshing its Statement of Fundamental and Essential Truths (SOFET). The denomination has a long history of refreshing its statement of faith, even with minor revisions as recent as 2014. This time the PAOC’s Theological Study Commission has begun steps toward refreshing the whole […]

Posted on Tuesday, April 3, 2018

#MeToo and the Church

#PentecostalSistersToo

The lid began coming off last Fall: #metoo. We heard numerous, painful stories from seemingly all walks of life. We Pentecostal women waited for the response of our leaders. It seemed to me to be low-hanging fruit; I mean, how hard is it to name the sin of rape? But….crickets. […]

Posted on Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Highlights from the Society for Pentecostal Studies 2018 Annual Meeting

A few weeks ago, about 450-500 people and I traveled to Cleveland, Tennessee for the annual meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies (SPS). Cleveland is the Mecca of the Pentecostal denomination known as the “Church of God (Cleveland, TN).” The city includes both the international offices of the denomination along with its schools: Lee […]

Posted on Monday, March 19, 2018

Part 2: Strategy—How can Pentecostal Churches Overcome Generic Evangelicalism?

An Invitation to Discuss Pentecostal Spirituality

At the center of Pentecostal spirituality is the divine encounter. One can rightly argue that we cannot make an encounter with God happen in as much as we cannot control God. Nevertheless, some Scriptures make me think that this is something we can facilitate to some extent. A couple of the old strategies Pentecostals used to […]

Posted on Monday, February 26, 2018

How can Pentecostal Churches Overcome Generic Evangelicalism? (Part 1: Vision)

An Invitation to Discussion

Pentecostal Vision Generic Evangelicalism

How can Pentecostal churches move from “generic evangelicalism” to restoring historic Pentecostal spirituality? I should clarify that, for my own part, my concern is not first and foremost with encouraging churches to be “more Pentecostal”—I don’t have a preoccupation with preserving denominational distinctives simply for the sake […]

Posted on Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Book Publisher Announcement: Touched by God

After a long wait, my book Touched by God: Experiencing the Holy Spirit has found a publishing home (the final title is yet to be determined). I signed a contract with HarperCollins to publish the book with Emanate Books, a new imprint from Thomas Nelson (a division of HarperCollins). I submitted my manuscript earlier this […]