Back at the first of the year, on January 3, I wrote a post wherein I teased out some trends from the most recent official A/G statistical report published in 2004. I concluded that:
Not only are the new believers outstripping the net change in adherents, they seem to have no impact on the growth trend at all. If the data are accurate, we may be bringing folks to Christ in the A/G, but we’re not keeping them.
—"Examining Assemblies of God statistics on growth"
And I illustrated my conclusion with data, specifically, with this chart:
Note the numbers:
472,704: Conversions
49,533: Net Change in Adherents
10.5%: Percentage of Net Change in Adherents
This week, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's indie documentary, Jesus Camp, is set to release, and already the blogosphere is all abuzz about it. I can't wait. I will be catching a pre-release screening of the film through the auspices of Christianity Today International, my employer, and will write my reactions to it as soon as possible. Of course, I'll share it with you.
Upon seeing the trailer, linked below, I was shocked and fascinated. Repelled and embarrassed. And angry. You see, I went to these camps as a kid. I witnessed this kind of exuberant excess, only I saw it with the eyes of an insider, both as a teenager and later as a camp counselor. I have seen the pseudo exorcisms (I sincerely doubt any of the exhibitions I saw at the altar were genuine possession) and I've seen my peers faint and wooden on the floor, both praising, weeping, and sometimes faking it.
And, looking back, it is a little creepy. But it was also formative.
Just a very quick note to say that I've updated the PneumaBlogs list in recent days to include some stellar new names, including:
This is a repost of a recent article for CTLibrary.com. Enjoy, and please post your reactions. (For a related post, see, "Violence and Entertainment.")
Is mounting teen violence evidence of the effects of violent video games?
CHRISTIANITY TODAY LIBRARY | RICHARD TATUM | JULY 31, 2006
On Tuesday, March 24, 1998, two cousins, aged 13 and 11, soldiered up. Donning camouflage and armed with handguns and rifles, they hid in the trees near Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas, while an accomplice set off the school's fire alarm. The ambush came off with military perfection: firing only 27 shots, the juvenile commandos killed 4 middle-school girls, 1 teacher, and wounded 11 others fleeing the building.
While most planned acts of violence in school are probably foiled, many attempts have been successful in recent years, including several well-publicized events. Beyond the immediate tragedy and bloody aftermath, one troubling aspect of these events is the lack of a profile for children prone to violence. Apparently, children "snap" into violence, and there's simply no predicting the fracture.
But something is clearly causing a "tipping point," driving children to violence in increasing numbers. The catalyst, many say, is violent media — specifically, gory video games that desensitize players to violence, train them in deadly shooting skills, and reward killing without consequences.
Okay, this is just irresponsible.
ChristiaNet, billing itself as "the world's most visited Christian website" recently offered a web-based survey asking visitors to answer "eleven questions about their personal sexual conduct." A press release from ChistiaNet trumpeted the results.
After receiving 1,000 results, ChristaNet asked Second Glance Ministries to help evaluate the responses:
"The poll results indicate that 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography."
Further:
- 60% of the women have significant struggles with lust
- 40% of the women committed sexual sin in the past year
- 20% of church-going women struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis
This is nuts. These survey results are not scientific data. I don't believe for a second that one of every two Christian men are addicted to porn, and I certainly don't buy the assertion that one of every
Over on my post, “Charismatic Heresy,” inspired by the egregious charismatic excess highlighted by Charisma editor J. Lee Grady, reader Lynn asked some questions that deserve more attention than a comment reply merits.
Lynn writes:
I go to an A/G church, but have very Reformed views. It has been a struggle for years.
Here’s one question I have: Why, if Charismatic/Pentecostals have the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit,” do they tend to have MORE sin/problems in life than other more mainline denominations? It seems to be a doctrine that this second blessing is supposed to give power to live a godly life. I just don’t see it! My Presbyterian and Baptist friends seem to have a better handle on living the Christian life.
What about “prayer language”? Is this phenomena really in the Bible? I see the gift of tongues, but not a prayer language solely for the individual? If it is really supposed to build up the believer, why does it produce such flakiness?
Perhaps you’ve heard of Yahawa Wahab recently? Mr. Wahab lives in Malaysia, and he’s looking forward to his day in court: He owes $218 trillion dollars. If Mr. Wahab paid off his debt by one dollar every second of every 24-hour day, he would need 68,770.28 years to pay down his bill--or 1,058 lifetimes with 65 years of earning potential ("How Big is a Trillion?").
Recently, on an A/G forum I participate in, somebody raised a question about Paula White, and several folks jumped in to offer their opinions. Some way through the discussion, we received this contribution from a long-time member of the group who is a seasoned minister in the Assemblies of God. He begins with a very brief critique of Paula White in response to the questioner, but then expands on some ideas about what Paula White and her colleagues represent as a trend in the Pentecostal and charismatic tradition.
I thought it was too good and on-point a post to share. Not because it slams the A/G … Mark loves the A/G and is a faithful minister within our Fellowship. But this is a timely and critical warning. I think Mark speaks the truth, and we should heed it. This is why we have the Carlton D. Pearson’s of the Church promoting heresy and unusual doctrine.
Read on.
Some of you may have heard of Tim Sanders. He was the Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo! from 2001–2003, before that he ran an in-house think-tank for Yahoo! Lately he’s been serving as the Leadership Coach there, while also hitting the leadership conference tour, and authoring a couple books along the way. His two main messages appear to be learning to love (in business), and learning how to be likeable. Conference attendees say his message is life-changing.
His first book, Love Is the Killer App, was a slender 214-page tome—that started out much larger. He cut 140,000 words from the first draft (my kind of guy … write long, cut short!), and the nut of his first book
There’s a new academic journal on the block, and it’s from one of the A/G’s premier seminaries (I say “one of” because we have other great seminaries not on American soil, such as Asia Pacific Theological Seminary and West Africa Advanced School of Theology). It’s called Encounter: Journal for Pentecostal Ministry.
More later, but first, allow me to get a couple new feeds out of the way.
The editors of Leadership journal have posted another incisive commentary on the state of the Church today in their Out of Ur weblog. It’s about how we (in the Western church) have turned the gospel into a pimping enterprise. There’s nothing really new here, it’s the same complaint Bonhoeffer had about “cheap grace.” But the language is, well, provocative. From church planter Jonathan Yarboro:
Previously:
On Wednesday, February 15, WSAV News reported that Eric Brian Golden, the 35–year-old Southside Assembly of God youth pastor who killed his wife, was formally indicted on several charges in Chatham County, Georgia (in Savannah). According to the Chatham County Courhouse website, the case was filed on the 15th, and the next event will be a conference hearing on April 20. Hon. Perry Brannen, Jr., is the judge, and Golden is being defended by attorney John P. Sugrue.
I don’t know what is typically accomplished at a conference hearing in Georgia criminal courts, but from what I’ve read about other kinds of conference hearings, it will probably provide an opportunity for the court to do some quick work and avoid a trial and also review and litigate possible appeal issues such as how the arrest and confession were handled, and so fort. Since Brian Golden has confessed, 
unless his confession is recanted or unless there is some critical need to spend taxpayer’s money for a court case, I suspect there may not be one. However, as you can see, Brian has an attorney now (and he didn’t when he made his initial confession), so, who knows?
Short post today. I just wanted to point to a brief and fascinating roundup of arguments for the existence of God from a cosmological/mathematical viewpoint:
God by the Numbers
Coincidence and random mutation are not the most likely explanations for some things.
by Charles Edward White
The article summarizes the evidentiary value of three numbers in mathematics that seem to point to an intelligent designer of the universe:
Update (07/14/2007): "Carlton Pearson: The closest to God you’ll probably ever get"
On Heresy
What is heresy? The textbook definition is simply:
- An opinion or a doctrine at variance with established religious beliefs … or
- A controversial or unorthodox opinion or doctrine.
And right alongside that definition — at least on this weblog, anyhow — you can find a picture of Bishop Carlton D. Pearson who wants to "rewrite the theology of the charismatic world" by preaching a "Gospel of Inclusion" asserting that Christ's death conclusively reconciled all mankind to God — whether we realize it or not — and that the only separation between man and God's grace is subjective, illusionary, and exists only in unenlightened minds (Carlton Pearson, "Jesus Savior of the World/Gospel of Inclusion — Position Paper," Higher Dimension website, viewed March 5, 2006).
More on that later, but first.…
My longtime email friend and fine Bayou pastor, Rev. Louis Bartet (The Grace Place), recently posed this thought-provoking question, which I have attempted to answer from my perspective.
« What in your opinion should be the primary basis of Christian ethics?»
Lou, doesn’t believe in simple questions with short answers!
Okay. I'll give the short answer first—just to save you time: the character and nature of God should serve as the primary basis of Christian ethics. God created us, and formed us in his image, therefore our ethics should reflect his character and nature. Like Jesus, we should do what we see our Father doing (John 5:19-20).
Unfortunately, the Fall in the Garden marred and damaged God's image within us. As a result, we can no longer consistently act within an ethical framework reflecting God's character. All have acted unethically: "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
Therefore, any ethical system which does not ultimately move us closer to the Divine ideal reveals a fatal flaw. Indeed, even our attempts to interpret the revealed ethical framework of Scripture inherits this flaw because God did not give us a systematic ethical calculus to cover every circumstance. Our ability to "tease out" the ethical underpinnings of God's character, nature, fall short. The flaw reveals itself in our tendency to legalize the framework and ignore the spirit of the laws he did provide.
Now, to unpack that a bit.
What is ethics?
This question was recently posed to me (and some other friends) on an email discussion-group:
« What is your take on Matthew 5:17-18 regarding the Law and Prophets? Do you believe we are still under the Law, and do you believe that we have Prophets today, and if so for what purpose in light of receiving the Holy Spirit individually? »
I waited with anticipation for an answer to these questions from the group, but nobody dared venture forth... I suspect it’s because the answers to those questions would require so much explanation that too many are daunted!
I too am daunted, but I've never let that stop me from being a foolish blow-hard (witness this weblog!). So, here goes a long answer.
First, see the a larger context of the verses cited:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have
Yesterday my blog stats tripled. Nay: quadrupled. With six new random comments on my previous Justin Berry post (“Justin Berry: From ‘camwhore’ to water-baptized witness for the State”), I figured there’d been another major media piece on Berry’s recent lifestyle change and cooperation with the Feds. Little did I know that both Justin Berry and Kurt Eichenwald had appeared on the local media-diva’s talk show: Oprah. And I didn’t even Tivo it.
The links to the Oprah show content follow my comments.
“She can not take it any more, Captain!”
One thing concerns me, even more now that I’ve seen Justin’s hollow-eyed, thousand-yard stare in the Oprah.com screenshots: Justin is ripe for a meltdown-burnout-crisis. There’s a scriptural injunction against “laying hands” on anybody suddenly—it’s not a proscription against Pentecostals 
praying for strangers, and it’s not advice about
I submit for your consideration two apparently unrelated questions:
- Is the Assemblies of God a cult?
- Is Wikipedia an authoritative encyclopedia?
I submit that the Assemblies of God is as much like a cult as the Wikipedia is authoritative. We are, instead, a movement.
A Word on Wikipedia
Over the last few months Wikipedia has taken much heat over its collaborative form of public authoring and editing. Nearly anyone can post an article, make an edit, or undo edits. This is good, and not-so-good: The good of it is that Wikipedia benefits from the collective mind of many editors. Where one editor may have it wrong, several others can guide an article to incremental perfection (in theory). On the other hand, one misinformed or biased "editor" can make subtle or egregious changes, and it may not come to the attention of those best armed to correct it. Thus, Wikipedia's
Updated 01/09/2006: See my reference to Dan Edelen’s recent post, below.
Last Tuesday, I was asleep at the wheel when Eric Reed over at Out of Ur invited Dr. Craig L. Blomberg to post a thoughtful article on blogging and the Evangelical blogosphere. I finally saw the post today, and thought it worth sharing.
It’s easy to read Blomberg’s post as entirely critical. It’s not. But he does ask some hard questions worthy of consideration. His post, indeed, may be a sort of litmus test for motives: if you see it as overly critical, perhaps you’re the inspiration for his questions? I quote, below, a few excerpts, but the whole post is worth reading. My response, posted to the site, follows.
If Marshall McLuhan was even partly right that “the medium is the message,” then what message does the medium of blogging send?
Update: See "The A/G: Desperately Seeking Disciplers" for the latest information on this issue, and to see what the A/G is doing about it.
Blogging from the heartland, Sean MacNair calls it like he sees it. In a brief post he concisely serves up highlights from 100 years of American church renewal (See: "The Pardoner's Tale: My best (stolen) idea so far this year"). He buzzes over Pentecostalism, the Charismatic renewal, healing revivals, Billy Graham, the Charismatic Catholic renewal, the Jesus Movement, the megachurch-cum-denomination trend, worship innovations, and the Emergent Conversation. His point: Renewal threatens the status quo but ultimately gets institutionalized, fades into oblivion, or is assimilated into the mainstream.
Buried in his post is a subtle criticism of the movement that spawned them all, and the institution that formed as a result: Pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God.
So, Farris Hassan wants to be a journalist. More: he wants to be an immersion journalist, the kind of writer who fully enters the story he’s covering, risking becoming part of the story, and hoping to craft something fuller, with more texture, with greater narrative scope than traditional journalism. (Some traditional journalists are uncomfortable with immersive journalism because of the ethical issues raised in becoming part of the story. Recently, I blogged on Kurt Eichenwald’s story about teen pornographer Justin Berry, and Eichenwald crossed a fuzzy ethical line in traditional journalism by becoming part of and influencing the story itself, and he took some heat for it. But he did the right thing, and Eichenwald’s a big boy. He’s handling the criticism nicely.)
Problem is, Pine Crest private school student Farris Hassan is only
I’ve added a page of RSS links and email newsletter links for official Assemblies of God news outlets (and a couple unofficial). This includes links to the AG-News newsletter, Dan Betzer’s “ByLine,” and several new Women’s Ministries newsletters that look good.
If you’re interested, see:
Assemblies of God newsfeeds
It’s also linked it in my sidebar under “God,” in case you need to find it again.
[tags]BlogRodent, Pentecostal, Assemblies-of-God, Assembly-of-God, News, General-Council-of-the-Assemblies-of-God[/tags]
I’ve been wanting to do a positive Hurricane Katrina followup for weeks. I’m frustrated. I nearly could, but I can’t, just yet.
So, I give. I’ll report the lack of a report.
So, there was a big Christmas party scheduled in New Orleans this weekend. Sponsored by Hosanna Fellowship, the A/G’s national Children’s Ministry Agency (CMA), and Convoy of Hope, it was to be free, packed with at least a hundred volunteers, full of Christmassy “Bags of Blessings,” and replete with Things-in-Church-That-Require-Blow-Hards:
"We will have carnival games with free prizes and candy and giant inflatable games and slides. There will also be free refreshments each evening along with a 'sleigh ride' through a winter wonderland and the Hosanna Choir will be presenting a musical called 'Hope has Come.'"
(Note to my fellow Chicagoans: “Sleigh Ride,” above, gets the funny-quotes because our
Today I felt my heart lifted even as my gut was wrenched. Kurt Eichenwald, writing for The New York Times, ditched a traditional rule of journalism by becoming a compassionate part of the story. And The NYT pulled out all the stops, backing him every step of the way. Three cheers for Eichenwald and the NY Times!
Update 12/30/05: Kurt Eichenwald updates us on the aftermath his series of articles have at least temporarily wrought in the online pedophiliac camworld. From the article: “The shutdown of the portals, all of which have been in operation for at least four years, came days after an article in The New York Times described how minors, often with the assistance of their online fans, had begun operating pay pornography sites featuring their own images sent onto the Internet by Webcams.” Child Pornography Sites Face New Obstacles (New
This is an update to: Youth pastor slays wife, confesses. Why, oh why?
Note: On 12/15 I updated this post with a comment found off the Web, and some commentary.
Eric Brian Golden had his first day in court yesterday. Golden’s confession was read to the the court by Detective LaPrentice Mayes, and other testimony was apparently provided, including some of Golden’s statements to the police outside the transcript. (Remember, “anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”). Judge Lawrence Dillon is sending Golden to the grand jury, charged with murder.
New information paints a more troubling picture of the Golden family life. According to Brian Golden, marriage had already been “rocky” for two years—with the trouble apparently beginning after their move to Southside. There was drinking going on (Golden claims
