REFECTIONS AND CONNECTIONS

GENERAL COUNCIL:

Having just returned from the General Council I am happy to report excitement in my heart with the Assemblies of God.  Next year the movement will turn 100 years old.  Many organizations at this point in their history are in decline.  In contrast the AG continues to grow each year.  Since 1960 the AG grew 498% in the USA with growth each year over the last 23 years.  The next highest rate of growth since 1960 among major denominations was realized by our friends in the Southern Baptist convention at 66 %.  Most remained static or declined over that period of time.  With a total of 3,095,717 adherents in the USA 40% are under 25 years of age.

The AG is the largest Protestant denomination (we prefer movement) in the world with 66,383,778 adherents worldwide.  Every 25 seconds someone receives Christ through an AG church and every 39 minutes a new church is planted. 

I believe contributing factors to the overall growth and vitality of the AG are a continuing commitment to the great commission, humble reliance on God, flexibility in methods, and unwavering commitment to biblical doctrine.  I thank God for every Christ-centered, bible-believing movement and denomination, and God in His providence brought us together in this “tribe”.  May we honor Him with biblical, humble, faithful, Spirit-directed ministries, and God-honoring personal lives. 

With all the gospel work going on in the world there are still so many without Christ and so many to equip in the church.  Former AGWM Executive Director Loren Triplett said (I am paraphrasing) “We should not measure our success by what we have accomplished, but rather by what remains to be done.”  The theme of General Council was “Believe”.  The call is to believe God for greater things going forward.  May we receive this call and engage with great faith in the ministries God has assigned to each of us.

Madlyn Tombs, Pastor of New Life Christian Center, Denver, CO was given the “Female Church Planter Award of Excellence” by the Church Multiplication Network at General Council.  Madlyn and New Life Christian Center chartered four churches in the Denver area in 2012 and are poised to plant two more in September of this year.  Congratulations, Madlyn.  We are inspired by your work and appreciate all you are doing for the Lord.  So far, in 2013 we have planted or recognized six new churches in Colorado and Utah.  We thank God for this advance and pray for more.

RECENT CONNECTIONS:

On Saturday August 17^th it was my privilege to address many of our teen agers at the East Slope Campus Missionary Conference led by Youth Alive Missionary Forrest Rowell and hosted by Radiant Church in Colorado Springs.  What a remarkable group of young people who are committing themselves to minister to kids on their Middle School and High School campuses.

Sunday, August 18^th Loretta and I visited Park Fellowship in Estes Park, CO pastored by James and Ginger Carnell.  The Carnell’s have been in Estes Park for the last 12 years replanting the AG church.  The Carnell’s have done a great job raising up a fine congregation and ministering to the community.

I happened to pick a Sunday when James was resigning from the church as Lead Pastor.  In the providence of God the pastors of the community have asked James to become a city wide Youth Pastor working on behalf of all the churches.  The pastors who are from several denominations are in agreement that this will be a biblical, evangelistic ministry.  James and Ginger have established themselves in the community with an excellent reputation and are poised to reach out to the youth of the community in a united effort with all the churches in Estes Park.

As James shared the vision with the church they responded with enthusiastic support.  Not because he was resigning but because he and his family are staying in the community and engaging in this exciting opportunity to minister to the youth of Estes Park.  The plan is for their Associate Pastor, Steve Ferrante to become the new Lead Pastor and as this is put in place it is accompanied by Steve’s full support of James and Ginger remaining in Estes Park to do Youth ministry for Park Fellowship and the other churches in the community.  I shared with James and the church that this was the most unique, positive, and exciting resignation I have witnessed.  God bless you James and Ginger as you venture into a new thing the Lord is doing in Estes Park.