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There's a rich root of revival in Los Angeles—and women were a key part of it.
Assemblies of God history tells us the Azusa Street Revival brought women's ministries to the fore. Indeed, Jennie Evans Moore who married Daddy William Seymour in 1908, was a key figure. Her name is not as well known as Seymour's but she was in the revival trenches with him, along with Lucy Farrow and Julia Hutchins. These virtually nameless and faceless, yet faithful, women helped keep the fire burning.
Maria Woodworth-Etter was a mother figure in early Pentecost—John G. Lake called her "Mother Etter." Her trance-marked ministry helped pave the way for the Azusa Street outpouring and ultimately the birth of a movement that changed the world.
Bold women like Aimee Semple McPherson and Kathryn Kuhlman followed in Mother Etter's footsteps. McPherson's Angeles Temple is still standing in Los Angeles today. I stood behind her pulpit in her home, which the Foursquare denomination she started preserved for historical purposes.
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While in Los Angeles, I felt mantles being released; mantles for healing, mantles for miracles—and mantles for apostolic women. I began to prophesy these words:
The time is now, says the Lord. The time is now, says the Lord. The time is now, says the Lord, for apostolic women to arise and indeed they are arising even now. The time is now for apostolic women to arise and take their places in their church and take their places in the marketplace and take their places in their families, in their homes.
The time is now for apostolic women to release the revelation that I've shared with their hearts in the secret places. The time is now for apostolic women to arise and bring forth the revelation of days gone by. The time is now for apostolic women to build upon the revelation, to speak forth, to build, to build, to build and plant in the name of Jesus with the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ backing them; with all of heaven standing with them; with the ministering angels building and working alongside of them.
The time is now for apostolic women to arise in this city and in this region and in the nation and in the nations of the world. For many years apostolic women have sat in the background waiting for permission to prophesy, waiting for permission to take their places and their God-given roles in the body of Christ. And the time is now for apostolic women to come to the fore, working alongside apostolic men and prophetic believers and evangelists, pastors and teachers who have a heart to build, who have a heart to see awakening, who have a heart to see revival impact this land and who have a heart to see the glory of My Spirit go forth in the nations and cover the earth as the water covers the sea.
The time is now.Apostolic women, the Lord says you have permission to rise up, even own and carry the mantle of Aime Semple McPherson, and carry the mantle of Kathryn Kuhlman, and carry the mantle of Maria Woodworth-Etter, and carry the mantle of those great women from generations past who were nameless and faceless.
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Pentecostal Giant George O. Wood: Youth Are Leaving Churches That Do This
George O. Wood, right, made some bold declarations at Empowered21. (Empowered21/Facebook)
It's not that young adults are leaving churches, it's that they're abandoning denominations that are forsaking the authority of God's Word, George O. Wood says.
"We (AG USA) have 3.1 million young people in the USA and 34 percent of them are under the age of 25," The Assemblies of God overseer said at Empowered 21. "... The young people that are moving away from traditional religious structures in the U.S. typically belong to churches which have abandoned a belief in the authority of Scripture and the uniqueness and centrality, and exclusiveness of Jesus Christ."
His comments reflect the same research that says the Presbyterian Church USA is dying on the vine after coming out in full support of gay marriage.
According to Barna research, a quarter of 18-to-29-year-olds are practicing Christians.
The migration of young adults away from the church is only a glimmer into how Christianity is on the decline nationally.
However, young adults are seeking authenticity in their churches, and those that produce it reap the fruits.
"I think churches thriving are those who say they want to take a more proactive role," says Barna's Vice President of Research Clint Jenkin. "Creative churches (can) establish themselves in their community, reach people because they are able to find certain ways to transcend disagreements. If churches are in position of arguing, then you're missing big piece of how you're going to build relationships with people."
Barna research shows that in order to engage young people in congregations, one must be totally transparent.
"More than one-third say their negative perceptions are a result of moral failures in church leadership (35 percent)," according to a Barna report. "And substantial majorities of millennials who don't go to church say they see Christians as judgmental (87 percent), hypocritical (85 percent), anti-homosexual (91 percent) and insensitive to others (70 percent)."
For Wood, though, it's about showing young adults that church is place where they can experience God, and showing them their value and roles within the church.
Hundreds of Nepalese Christians died as their churches crashed down upon them when last week's devastating earthquake hit during their weekly worship services.
In Nepal, Christians worship on Saturday because it's a day off, while Sunday is a work day. Most services last until 12:30 in the afternoon meaning most were still in service when the quake hit at 11:56 AM.
"Many Christians were buried while they were worshiping on Sabbath and died," the president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nepal, Umesh Pokharel said, according to an article by Christianity Today. (The article cited several sources, including: Adventist Review, AsiaNews, Global Mission Nepal, the Brethren in Christ Church, Mission Network News, the Assemblies of God, the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Christian Aid, and the Nepal Church of Christ.)
The CT article cites a Facebook post by a Brethren in Christ Church worker: "Although unclear some have reported 100 believers in a church in Kathmandu were worshipping on the 7th floor rented building was completely collapsed, some 40 bodies were taken out whereas others still missing."
About 80 people died when the Nepali Evangelical Church in Kapan oustide Kathmandu collapsed.
Seventeen bodies were discovered in the rubble of a rural church that was struck just as the service was ending, according to the IMB. The pastor reporteldy lost three family members in the tragedy.
Assemblies of God World Missions reports that three of its churches are totally destroyed and several lives lost.
Christian Aid said several churches had just let out ahead of the quake, including one in Kathmandu.
"Ten minutes earlier and everyone would still have been inside," said Christian Aid's South Asia director. "There would have certainly been many injuries, if not deaths."
Overall, approximately 500 Christians are feared dead.
In 1985, Charisma ran a cover story about Karl Strader with the headline: "This man stepped out in faith and built a 10,000-seat church in a city of 58,000."
Now, only 30 years later, the Carpenter's Home Church building, which cost $9 million to erect, is being torn down and the property will be converted into a retirement facility.
When we covered this story, I knew the church and its history well. I grew up in Lakeland and was a teenager at that church—then called First Assembly of God—when Karl Strader became pastor in 1966. I saw the church grow during the heyday of the charismatic movement and Jesus movement. Back in that era, it was one of the largest and most respected churches in the Assemblies of God.
So I was sad when a relative emailed the online article from The Ledger newspaper (where I interned as a reporter) saying a developer had decided to tear down the massive worship center.
Although it's the end of an era, the story is not all negative. Maybe it shows that overbuilding is never wise, and no matter how successful a church is today, there is no way to know what the future holds. Meanwhile, several thriving congregations grew out of what was once Karl Strader's congregation.
After having outgrown two previous sanctuaries, in 1982 the church bought 488 acres on the north edge of Lakeland for $7.8 million from the Carpenters' Union, locally called The Carpenters' Home—hence the name of the church. The church quickly sold off 300 acres along a major highway that today is full of shopping centers and car dealerships, and started construction on the 10,000-seat auditorium. It sold its original location to Family Worship Center, pastored by Reggie Scarborough, which today has 3,500 members.
Never afraid of controversy, Strader brought some flamboyant speakers in his pulpit in the 1970s and 1980s like Oral Roberts, Rex Humbard, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and T.D. Jakes, all who drew huge crowds. The church was also venue for huge Christian concerts for singers such as Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman.
When Strader was featured on the cover of Charismamagazine we reported that the total project cost $12 million. That was a lot of money back then. It was interesting for me to pull out that article and reread it.
"Although it sometimes has immersed him and his church in unwanted controversy, Karl Strader never has been afraid to step out in faith and befriend the unwanted, welcome the outcast, dream the impossible or stand up for what is right. In the process, he's built an enormous church on the grounds of an old carpenter's home retirement center in a small city almost in the shadow of Walt Disney World," the article reported.
Then in 1989, the church had a well-publicized split over Strader's leadership and reports surfaced that some members objected to charismatic elements in services. Another church—Victory Assembly, pastored by Wayne Blackburn—started only a few miles away. Today, that church's membership has reached 3,000, according to Wikipedia. Following the split, Carpenter's Home attendance dropped to about 1,800, and the church never seemed to recover.
At the time, the Assemblies of God denomination conducted an investigation into complaints and news reports about "spontaneous dancing, singing and an emphasis on prophecy," The Ledger reported. The denomination took 18 months to investigate and found nothing to be out of line.
Meanwhile, Strader's family suffered tragedy when the youngest son, Danny, was convicted of a white collar crime after a highly publicized trial, and he is still in prison. During that era, the church continued to decline. Even with 1,800 members, the 10,000-seat sanctuary looked empty when I'd visit, as I often did.
By 2005, the church was not able to pay its bills because it did not have enough members in the congregation to sustain a 10,000-seat auditorium, and so Carpenter's Home Church was sold to Without Walls Church in Tampa, pastored then by Randy and Paula White.
The Whites renamed the church Without Walls Central Church. Meanwhile, the existing Carpenter's Home Church membership split into two churches—Ignited Church and Auburndale Life Church.
Later, amid mounting debts and other problems, Without Walls Central Church closed and the 10,000-seat facility became "an abandoned building" until the recent sale.
"We're disappointed that the building and the property has been lost to the kingdom of God and that it's not going to be used for spiritual purposes or kingdom purposes," says Karl's son, Stephen Strader, who today pastors Ignited Church in north Lakeland.
"I hate to see the building torn down, but the building is not the church," Karl Strader, 85, told Charisma. "The people are the church, and they are in about 12 different churches in Lakeland now. It's painful to see the building torn down, of course, but I'm not groveling on the ground because of it or putting ashes on my head. I just thank God for being involved in it for (nearly) 40 years."
The church and its successors have also been associated with several revivals, including the Howard-Brownes' extended meetings in the 1990s and the "Florida Outpouring" (or Lakeland Revival as it is also known) in 2008 with Evangelist Todd Bentley.
"When I wrote the book The Lakeland Outpouring in 2008, we did the research and discovered there had been 12 major moves of God that had either been birthed at the First Assembly of God and Carpenter's Home Church under my dad's ministry or were amplified through my dad's ministry," says Stephen Strader.
"As examples, the prophetic movement, the worship movement—both received a national boost when it began to happen at Carpenter's Home Church. Rodney Howard-Browne had three or four years of revival across the U.S., but when he came to Carpenter's Home Church it just blew up globally. You can go back through 12 different movements from the Word of Faith to the healing movement with Benny Hinn. Benny Hinn was coming to Carpenter's before he (became well-known)."
Stephen Strader estimates hundreds of thousands of people came to know Jesus directly or indirectly through the ministry of Carpenter's Home Church. I can testify that my life was impacted and my view of the charismatic renewal of that era was shaped by what I saw and learned from Karl Strader.
Looking back on his years of ministry, Strader, who now lives in The Estates near the church he pastored for four decades, says he's thankful for all that God did.
"We were part of the Jesus movement and the charismatic movement from 1966 on," Strader says. "We had people coming to the church from under the bridges where the homeless lived and people driving down from Tampa and from Sarasota. We ended up on national TV for several years. So God had a wonderful impact. I just tried to yield to God so I give Him all the credit for anything that was accomplished."
When the church was built, "I'm sure no one foresaw the problems that resulted in the church split or the dwindling membership.
Time has shown the church building was too big for a town the size of Lakeland. Even back in the early 1980s, the church was growing so much the leadership must have thought it would continue forever. But it didn't. In fact, I doubt the 10,000 seats were ever filled. Other large churches need to learn from this and not overbuild.
For all his amazing leadership abilities, Karl Strader often was at odds with his own denomination and other churches in town. He wasn't intimidated and I'm sure he felt he could survive all the problems, many of which weren't his fault. Yet some of these problems have come home to roost. Leaders must know they can't go it alone in the body of Christ.
So, a great church closes its doors. Yet other great churches exist in Lakeland as a result. It was probably inevitable that such a massive church structure would eventually be impossible to fill.
Yet through it all, Strader had been a man of impeccable character who has never seemed to waiver in his love for the Lord. And in the end, isn't that what's important?
Final note: This report began with us reporting nationally what The Ledger reported in Lakeland about the decision to tear down the sanctuary building and to turn the 1920's era "Carpenters Home" (which had been remodeled into a school) back to retirement villas. I know there is more to the story than what I had the space to include here. I also know there are "two sides" to every story. So I reached out to my longtime friend Stephen Strader (who I've known since I was in junior high) to read over my report to be sure all the facts were right. His reply was so interesting I decided to include it as a link for any readers who would like more behind-the-scene information from the Strader family's point of view.
Steve Strangis the founding editor and publisher of Charisma. Follow him on Twitter@sstrang or Facebook (stephenestrang).
Troy Anderson, executive editor of Charisma, and Bob Cruz contributed to this report.
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Christian charity World Vision has reversed its policy change on hiring applicants in same-sex marriage, just days after announcing they would accept them.
Organization board leaders said in a letter to supporters Wednesday that they had made a mistake by changing its policy.
"We are brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our friends who saw this decision as a reversal of our strong commitment to biblical authority," the board said in the letter.
Church leaders were quick to denounce the charity's decision to hire applicants in same-sex marriages. World Vision President Richard Stearns had said the move was not "symbolic not of compromise but of [Christian] unity."
But faith leaders like Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, dismissed Stearn's reasoning.
"World Vision maintains their decision is based on unifying the church -- which I find offensive -- as if supporting sin and sinful behavior can unite the Church," Franklin wrote on his Facebook page.
In addition, the Assemblies of God had called for its members to shift their support to other charities.
Stearns said the board of the non-profit had been praying about the decision for years. But in the letter to supporters Wednesday leaders admitted they had not sought enough counsel from their Christian partners.
"As a result, we made a change to our conduct policy that was not consistent with our Statement of Faith and our commitment to the sanctity of marriage," they said.
"While World Vision U.S. stands firmly on the biblical view of marriage, we strongly affirm that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, are created by God and are to be loved and treated with dignity and respect," they said.
A fifth of the World Vision funding comes from the federal government.
Church leaders are denouncing a decision by World Vision, one of the country's top Christian charities, to hire applicants in same-sex marriages.
The organization's president, Richard Stearns, announced the new policy in a letter to staff on Monday.
He said the move was not "symbolic not of compromise but of [Christian] unity," adding that the new policy defers to the authority of local churches on the issue.
"This is not an endorsement of same-sex marriage," Newsmax quoted Stearns. "We have decided we are not going to get into that debate. Nor is this a rejection of traditional marriage, which we affirm and support."
But faith leaders like Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, dismissed Stearn's claims.
"World Vision maintains their decision is based on unifying the church -- which I find offensive -- as if supporting sin and sinful behavior can unite the Church," Franklin wrote on his Facebook page.
In addition, the Assemblies of God is calling for its members to shift their support to other charities.
Even so, Stearns said the board of the non-profit had been praying about the decision for years, and they hoped the change would keep the focus on their outreach to the poor and avoid controversy.
A fifth of the World Vision funding comes from the federal government.
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Secularism Sucking the Pneuma Out of Spirit-Filled Christianity
When Pentecostals don’t speak in tongues and Baptists aren’t getting baptized, it signals a deeper issue of faith. (Ashley Campbell/Flickr/Creative Commons)
Fewer Pentecostals are speaking tongues. Fewer Baptists are getting baptized. Wait, what? Yes, you read that correctly. But what are we to make of the decline of baptisms in water and in the Spirit? I’ll get to that in a minute.
A couple of months ago, I wrote a column entitled, “Are We Pentecostals Losing Our Religion by Holding Our Tongue-Talking?.” In it I referenced an AP report about a small Assemblies of God congregation that looks just like every other Pentecostal church service—except nobody is speaking in tongues.
What I didn’t include are the stats from the Assemblies of God, the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world with 66 million members. At the General Council meeting in August, the AG talked about the decline baptisms in the Spirit.
According to the denomination’s statistics, tongue talking decreased by about 3 percent to less than 82,000. That’s the lowest rate since 1995. How is that even possible, given that Pentecostalism is one of the fastest growing sectors of Christianity? The Pew Research Center reports that at least 25% of the 2 billion Christians in the world are connected to the Pentecostal or charismatic movements.
“This is a long-developing phenomenon," Harvey Cox, an expert in Pentecostalism and professor of religion at the Harvard Divinity School, told the Associated Press. "They don't want what appears to be objectionable to stick out or be viewed with suspicion."
And it’s not just the Pentecostals that are straying from the defining characteristics of their faith. The Baptists are also reporting a decline in Baptisms. Indeed, the North American Mission Board (NAMB) reports water baptisms dipped 13 percent in 2012 to under 300,000. Al Gilbert of the NAMB told One News Now that’s the biggest drop in 62 years—62 years!
“Maybe we're not identifying the need to help our teenagers and even our older children understand how to publicly profess their faith," Gilbert says. "Are we even making sure that they've understood the claims of Christ and then they have declared that they're publicly a follower of Christ?"
OK, so what’s going on here and what does it mean for Pentecostals, Baptists, and Christianity at large? It doesn’t take a prophet to see that secularism is attacking the foundations of Christianity and we’re seeing the manifestations in two of the largest, oldest branches in the body of Christ.
Think about it for a minute. When Pentecostals don’t speak in tongues and Baptists aren’t getting baptized, it signals a deeper issue of faith. In an age of interfaith marriages, some may be abandoning their religious roots to avoid offending their spouses.
In a recent article entitled “Interfaith Unions: A Mixed Blessing,” Naomi Shaeffer Riley points out that before the 1960s, about 20 percent of married couples were in interfaith unions; of couples married in this century’s first decade, 45 percent were. She also notes that secular Americans welcome the rise of interfaith unions as a sign of societal progress. But it’s not progress when you abandon the tenets of your faith in the name of compromise.
Secularism is even creeping into churches. What does that look like? Some of the signs are blatantly obvious, such as teaching that Jesus is not the only way to God. But the Bible clearly states that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). Approval of homosexual lifestyles is another obvious fruit of secularism in the church, just as is a refusal to confront other sins.
But secularism isn’t always so blatant. There are subtle secularistic messages invading the church. Messages that focus more on moralism than Christ and the cross sound fine and good but morality without Christ is not Christianity. Likewise, pop psychology-centered sermons can take our focus off Christ’s and distract us from our faith in His healing power and place it in steps or formulas that may actually contradict the Word.
When we’re scared our faith will offend, we’re bowing to secularism. When we stop publicly baptizing in water, we may also be bowing to the influence of secularism. And when we stop praying in tongues because we don’t want to scare off seekers, we’ve definitely given in to secularism.
This Scripture keeps coming to mind: “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3). Make no mistake, secularism is among the forces working to destroy our Christian foundation. It’s time for the righteous to rise up, bold as lions, and declare the cross of Christ, get baptized publicly, and speak in tongues to build ourselves up in our most holy faith. And ultimately, secularism must bow a knee to the name of Jesus.
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