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THIS WEEK IN AG HISTORYBY DARRIN J. RODGERS Myer Pearlman, a prominent Assemblies of God systematic theologian, summed up the current Western culture in 1932 with this phrase: “We are living in a transition period.”����7KH�$*·V�YLHZ�RI�WKH�HQG�WLPHV�spoke directly to the cultural chaos of the 1930s. Like many other evangelical groups, the AG embraced a premillennial eschatology that predicted a period of rapid social GHFD\��IROORZHG�E\�&KULVW·V�UHWXUQ��They believed that much of the American church had abandoned the authority of Scripture. In their view, this would lead to the collapse of families, morality, and the broader culture.

Pearlman described the cultural conditions present at the birth of the church 2,000 years ago, which strikingly paralleled what was happening in the 1930s:1) Popular culture reigned 2) Highly civilized and modern 3) Educated 4) Cosmopolitan 5) Religious universalism was promoted 6) Expectation of a king to emerge who would save and rule the world����5HDG�3HDUOPDQ·V�DUWLFOH��´$W�WKH�Dividing Point of Two Ages,” on pages 8, 9, and 11 of the July 30, 1932, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel online at s2.ag.org/july301932.

NBF ATTENDEES DISCUSS DIVERSITY

PRAYERFUL TURNAROUNDPAGE 3

THEFT RESULTS IN GOOD, TRAGEDY PAGE 5 • CHURCHES MEET DIGITAL CHALLENGE PAGE 5 • THE NATIONS COME TO PHOENIX

PAGE 7 • THIS WEEK IN AG HISTORY PAGE 8

VIBRANT YOUTH PASTOR WAS PREPARED TO DIE PAGE 4

STAYING HITCHED IS SMARTPAGE 6

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A COLLECTION OF THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES FROM PENEWS.ORG

SUNDAY,JULY 31,2016

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When Wayne and Drue Huffman returned to the U.S. after more than two decades as Assemblies of God missionaries in Europe, they discovered a GLIIHUHQW�PLVVLRQ�ÀHOG�PXFK�FORVHU�WR�KRPH�� The Huffmans quickly noticed the struggles that local immigrants and refugees faced — and their need for the gospel. “We came back to an America where the world is coming to us,” Wayne +XIIPDQ�VD\V��´$�PLVVLRQDU\·V�H[SHULHQFH�KHOSV�WR�GHDO�ZLWK�WKHVH�FXOWXUHV�µ Wayne, who now serves with Drue as the national representative for Ethnic Ministries for AG U.S. Missions Intercultural Ministries, says few immigrants meet an American who is a Christian and willing to share his or her faith. In 2011, the Huffmans founded Phoenix Refugee Ministry, a program that works to bridge that gap by making connections on the most practical levels. Ministry workers form relationships with immigrants and refugees by offering free English as a Second Language classes in homes, visiting apartment FRPSOH[HV�WR�KROG�FKLOGUHQ·V�PLQLVWULHV��DQG�VLPSO\�EHLQJ�DYDLODEOH�WR�KHOS�UHFHQW�arrivals with government paperwork, transportation to doctor visits, furnishing apartments, and other day-to-day needs. By meeting the immigrants and refugees relationally, Huffman says, his team is building connections that open doors to share the gospel. ����´,W·V�P\�MRE�WR�VKDUH�WKH�JRVSHO�ZLWK�WKHP�µ�+XIIPDQ�VD\V��´:H�DOORZ�WKH�/RUG�to do the rest.” The ministry also works to raise up pastors and build congregations for the different ethnic groups. Within Phoenix, Huffman says 18 ethnic churches have been planted. Congregations include Ethiopians, Burmese, Nepalese, Arabs, Romanians, Ghanaians, and Congolese.

RED OAK, Texas — Ostensibly, the leadership roundtable forum at last ZHHN·V�$VVHPEOLHV�RI�*RG�1DWLRQDO�Black Fellowship Reach Conference was to discuss implementation of a resolution approved by the General Council last year to add a designated African-American representative to the Executive Presbytery. But the free-ranging conversations by a dozen panelists and various audience members at The Oaks Fellowship in Red Oak, Texas, morphed into an often profound and poignant examination of the historical lack of diversity in the QDWLRQ·V�ODUJHVW�SUHGRPLQDQWO\�ZKLWH�Pentecostal denomination. AG General Secretary James T. Bradford moderated the 90-minute session that featured black and white Assemblies of God ministry leaders. Several participants expressed frustration that while 43 percent of the U.S. Assemblies of God constituency is ethnic minority, there are relatively few African-American ministry leaders at the national, district, or local levels.

The white proportion of AG adherents has decreased every year this century. While Anglos comprised two-thirds of AG churchgoers a decade ago, whites are expected to become a minority in the Fellowship by 2022, according to research by Shannon Polk, a doctoral student at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in 6SULQJÀHOG��0LVVRXUL��� In an earlier session, Executive Presbyter J. Don George drew repeated applause as he recalled how Calvary Church where he pastors in Irving, Texas, plateaued with a 98 percent white attendance starting in the 1980s. But since being intentional about ethnic diversity, Calvary Church has become a megachurch, with roughly 30 percent of attendees white, 30 percent black, and 30 percent Hispanic.����7KH�UDFLDO�GLYLGH�ZRQ·W�EH�eradicated by white people “tolerating” nonwhites, cautioned George, who is white. Racism and bigotry must be confronted, with whites enthusiastically

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THE NATIONS COME TO PHOENIXBY IAN RICHARDSON

NBF ATTENDEES DISCUSS DIVERSITYBY JOHN W. KENNEDY

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Savvy businesses offer smartphone apps, social media pages, and other digital tools to meet people in their virtual worlds. And increasingly, houses of worship are doing the same. “People are checking out hotels, vacation spots, houses, businesses, and churches online long before they make a call or decision to engage,” says Josh Skjoldal, lead pastor at Evangel, an Assemblies of God church in Bismarck, North Dakota. “We have to acknowledge that people think and behave differently today than they did last year, much less a decade ago.” Those connected to the church can XVH�(YDQJHO·V�DSS�WR�YLHZ�VHUYLFHV��give tithes and offerings, read announcements, and even to respond to sermons. “Our hope is that the door to our church is an online portal, not just a physical structure,” Skjoldal says. Nearly two-thirds of Americans own a smartphone, and more than half of smartphone owners have used their devices to bank or look up health information, according to Pew Research Center.����´,Q�WRGD\·V�ZRUOG��HYDQJHOLVP�and discipleship happen through relationship, and, like it or not, many relationships in this age of technology begin digitally,” Skjoldal says. “The Church is no exception.”

Geno Roncone, the 23-year-old son of Highpoint Church (AG) Pastor Gene and Rhonda Roncone, passed away on July 15. But Geno was prepared to GLH��LI�WKDW·V�ZKDW�*RG�DVNHG�RI�KLP�����*HQR�ZDV�+LJKSRLQW·V�\RXWK�SDVWRU��When he was just 15 years old, he started taking classes through Global University (AG). In August 2011, just after graduating high school, he was licensed as an AG minister by the Rocky Mountain District. He would go on to attend Northpoint Bible College (AG) in New Haverhill, Massachusetts, for two years before returning to $XURUD��&RORUDGR��DV�+LJKSRLQW·V�\RXWK�SDVWRU�ZKLOH�DOVR�ÀQLVKLQJ�KLV�GHJUHH�at Colorado Christian University. The grandson of former AG Assistant General Superintendent Charles Crabtree and his wife, Ramona, Geno said in a posted message that several months before being rushed to the hospital on Dec. 17, 2015, with intense pain, God told him change was coming in his life. In his last sermon at Highpoint, Geno said that for the next several months,

KH�KDG�VRXJKW�*RG�IRU�FODULÀFDWLRQ�³�what were these changes all about? Just days before Dec. 17, God revealed to him that he would battle cancer. “He spoke to me so clearly and so GLVWLQFWO\�WKDW�,�FRXOGQ·W�DUJXH�ZLWK�ZKDW�He just told me,” Geno said. “I said OK, ZKHQ�WKDW�WLPH�FRPHV��,�GRQ·W�NQRZ�LI�WKDW·V�VRRQ�RU�ODWHU�RQ�LQ�OLIH��EXW�,·OO�EH�ready.” Doctors diagnosed Geno with Stage IV Burkitts Lymphoma — a rare, but very aggressive, fast-growing cancer. Geno battled the disease valiantly and in great faith. He explained that it ZDVQ·W�VR�PXFK�DERXW�ZKDW�*RG�ZDV�bringing him through, but where God was bringing him to. “He died as he lived,” Crabtree says, “a wonderful Christian, a victorious saint, and what a testimony to all of XV�WKDW�WKH�ODVW�FKDSWHU�KDVQ·W�EHHQ�written.”����)RU�GHWDLOV�DERXW�*HQR·V�$XJ�����memorial service, see https://www.facebook.com/geno.roncone.

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YOUTH PASTOR WAS PREPARED TO DIE BY DAN VAN VEEN

As Pastor Dwight Moore and his wife of 32 years, Rachel, headed out the door of their Schenectady, New York, home on Sunday, July 10, they were stunned — both of their cars had been stolen! “Schenectady is a fairly rough town,” says Dwight, who is a bivocational pastor and pioneered Clifton Park Assembly of God 28 years ago, “but our neighborhood has been wonderful to live in.” Dwight admits it has not always been easy pastoring a small church of 15 to 20, but oddly enough, God used the theft of their cars to encourage them. “The church really pulled together through this,” Dwight says. “We had 15 calls from people offering to lend us their cars.” Rachel says that through the loss, God has also revealed the extent of their footprint in the community. But then real tragedy struck. A 17-year-old boy was killed while driving WKH�0RRUHV·�VWROHQ�YDQ��DQG�WZR�RWKHU�minors were seriously injured. The Moores are hoping for the church to be able to minister to the families of those in the accident. “When I learned of the accident, I ZDV�GHYDVWDWHG�µ�'ZLJKW�VD\V��´:H·UH�praying that [the other two riders in the van] will be OK . . . and that one day ZH·OO�KDYH�RSSRUWXQLWLHV�WR�WHVWLI\�WR�WKH�/RUG·V�JRRGQHVV�WR�WKHP�µ

THEFT RESULTS IN GOOD, TRAGEDY BY DAN VAN VEEN

CHURCHES MEETDIGITAL CHALLENGE BY CHRISTINA QUICK

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When a congregation has a dozen people left for a Sunday morning service and is $13,000 in debt, most attendees contemplate accepting defeat and closing the doors. Yet when Jeffery L. Davis heeded a call to pastor such a church a decade DJR��KH�ÀUPO\�EHOLHYHG�*RG·V�SODQV�for New Life Assembly of God in Lakeland, Florida, had not ceased. Instead of wistful nostalgia for what had once been, Davis saw a future full of promises, prayer, and missions. Davis, backed by a dedicated and growing congregation, helped guide the church into a rousing, world-changing season. Now, 10 years later, the church

has moved into a new sanctuary on 26 acres and donates $100 each per month to 76 different missionaries. Sunday morning attendance now averages more than 300. The global vision for missions is essential for what Davis believes God has called New Life to do. Support for work in Thailand, Guatemala, Spain, and other nations reminds churchgoers WR�WKLQN�JOREDOO\�ZKLOH�VKRZLQJ�*RG·V�love locally, Davis says. At 7 every weekday morning, around 10 people gather at New Life AG for individual prayer. At 11 a.m. every Tuesday, up to 30 congregants meet for corporate prayer.

working alongside people of color.����´:H�ZLOO�PLVV�*RG·V�SODQ�IRU�WKH�Assemblies of God if we are willing to passively settle for racial tolerance,” the 79-year-old George said. “We must have a celebration of diversity.” At the forum, Sam Huddleston, assistant superintendent of the AG Northern California and Nevada District, lauded passage of the resolution last year. He urged white pastors to emulate George and take risks in hiring people of color to serve as staff members. “We cannot in the Assemblies of God rise to positions of leadership without standing on the shoulders of white people,” Huddleston said. AG U.S. Missions Executive Director

Zollie L. Smith Jr., tried to tamper the enthusiasm about racial progress voiced by some of the younger participants at the forum. He noted that similar aspirations have been expressed at AG conferences since WKH�����V��6PLWK��WKH�ÀUVW�PLQRULW\�elected to a General Council executive position, said he remains puzzled why diversity in the body of Christ — let alone racism — remains an issue in the 21st century. “If there is any place that should be a representation of oneness, it should be the Church,” said Smith, 67. “I feel a heaviness. When are we going to grow up and be the Church and stand arm in arm? We have to put action to these meetings.”

While Christians have always known that faith plays a vital role in D�FRXSOH·V�FRPPLWPHQW�WR�D�ORQJ�term marriage, studies indicate that a FRXSOH·V�HGXFDWLRQ�OHYHO�LV�D�IDFWRU�DV�well. Pew Research Center recently UHOHDVHG�ÀQGLQJV�VXJJHVWLQJ�D�VWURQJ�link between higher education and marriages that endure. Researchers discovered that 78 percent of college-educated married women will remain married more than 20 years, as opposed to just 40 percent of high school-educated women. And 65 percent of more-educated men can expect to stay married, compared to 50 percent of men with less formal learning. Ron and Debbie Jansen of Canton, Ohio, believe this has been the case in WKHLU�UHODWLRQVKLS��%RWK�KROG�EDFKHORU·V�degrees from Evangel University, where they met during their senior year. They have been married for 42 years and have three grown children. “I appreciated that Debbie had an

opinion and could articulate it,” says Ron, a retired logistics manager for Roadway Express. “We could talk sensibly and logically. We still use the skills we learned at college to connect with each other.” “I love Ron as much today as I GLG�ZKHQ�ZH�ÀUVW�JRW�PDUULHG�µ�VD\V�Debbie, who is a counselor as well as caregiver for her mother. “He sees me for who I am, accepts me, and encourages me to be better.” Gary R. Allen, corporate chaplain for the Assemblies of God National Leadership Resource Center, believes those communication skills are nurtured and better developed when couples have individually pursued higher learning. These marriages tend to be stronger because the couples have learned how to gain information as well as the ability to process that information into “life values and family systems,” explains Allen, who has been married 51 years to his wife, Arlene.

STAYING HITCHED IS SMARTBY GINGER KOLBABA

PRAYERFUL TURNAROUNDBY CHRIS MAXWELL