Wherein I lament the failure to practice what good theology and biblical interpretation ought to have taught us: tongues-for-show only shows one thing: lunacy.

Surely, by now, everybody’s seen or at least heard of the WashingtonPost.com political cartoon by equal-opportunity skewer-artist Pat Oliphant that was automatically posted to the WP’s cartoon site on September 9 last. If you haven’t seen it, and if you are Pentecostal or charismatic, viewing it may make you angry. But if you feel so inclined, do check it out. (For coverage, check out the official A/G response, Christianity Today’s blog post, and the WorldNet Daily post quoting George O. Wood’s response.)

In it, governor Sarah Palin is lampooned as a typical kooky Pentecostal, hot-line to God in hand, standing before an appreciative audience, gibbering:

“Argle bargle glooka slobber blartogger gniff blerft gennikt klepwoop madurta wonka burble and like that …”

The Washington Post has apologized, of course, though not for accepting Oliphant’s cartoon (which they’re probably contractually obligated to do) but for its automatic posting to the newspaper’s comics Website.

Readers were right to complain … Political cartoons and comics aren’t selected at WashingtonPost.com the way they are for The Post in print; they are automatically posted.

Naturally, the religious right are furious — and none more so than my fellow Pentecostals. My own response upon first seeing it was disgusted disbelief that an intelligent political commentator/cartoonist could be so clueless about something so core to Pentecostal faith and practice.

But, then …

Now I’ve had a few days to mull it over, I think those of us inside the tongues-talking camp might benefit from a step back. Let us and breathe deeply for a moment, and consider: Oliphant’s political cartoon states nothing more than the truth from an outsider’s perspective — one that we should not only understand but expect. Especially when it’s our fault.

Yes, that’s right, I say it’s our fault.

I’m not saying that liberal angst over Palin is our fault, nor am I saying that the Democratic reaction against Palin is our fault. I’m simply saying that the public’s perception of Pentecostals as crazy wing-nuts babbling in tongues is entirely due to our undisciplined failure to practice church the way Paul recommended.

For years I’ve cringed every time I’ve heard one or another fired-up Pentecostal preacher literally demonstrate his or her ability to pray in tongues on command by shooting forth a nonsensical string of syllables and consonants recognizable as that peculiar Pentecostal patois of tongues and glossolalia. Public tongues and the abuse of tongues (and dare I say … the faking of tongues) has become so commonplace that we even joke about it in our inner circles. Once, my alma mater’s basketball team was on the road playing against a rival Pentecostal university. As legend had it, our travelling fans leaped to their feet with the rally, “We got the Spirit, yes we do! A-didi-a-didi how ’bout you?” Similarly, I’ve heard the wordplay bandied about, making fun of how cliché some of the sounds have become: “See me tie, see me tie my tie, see me tie my bow-tie,” or “Who stola my Honda?”

If we, ourselves, are taking tongues lightly, how can we be surprised when outsiders are dismissive as well?

Further, this is exactly the scenario Paul had in mind when he wrote this to the Corinthians:

“So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?” (1 Corinthians 14:24)

Yes, yes they will. And some of us will exclaim, “But of course they’ll think we’re crazy! They don’t get it! We’re being persecuted for righteousness’ sake!” But this is not Paul’s point, here. Being wronged for being right is one thing. Being wronged because you’re, well, wrong, is something else entirely.

Paul gave very clear direction on the the exercise of tongues as both a spiritual gift for the edification of the church but also as a private prayer language useful for personal edification. Our failure to recognize and heed those guidelines leads us to the situation we see with Oliphant and his cartoon: we have abused the gift of tongues, and the unbelievers think us mad.

Paul says tongues are for private use for personal edification and that any public exercise of tongues must be accompanied by an interpretation so that the listener may be edified and say “Amen.” Tongues, Paul says, are of no public use without an interpretation.

Tongues are not for public display of “religiosity” or to show off that one has favor with God. Tongues do not prove that one is divinely endowed or that one has special access to God. Tongues do not prove one’s holiness or spiritual “attainment.” But too often, they have become exactly that. A badge of honor and approval. If you have tongues, you’ve got “it.”

What’s worse, though — if you needed further demonstration that our current practice has strayed from the Biblical ideal — in typical Pentecostal congregations today, whenever someone speaks out loudly in tongues, the interpretation that follows (if there is one) is almost invariably is addressed to the church. It’s a message to the congregation. But, Paul clearly and plainly teaches in 1 Corinthians 14 that tongues are prayers directed toward God and that the interpretation, correctly given, will also be directed toward God. Tongues, when interpreted, are not identical to a prophecy. However, in our churches today, they are. (The tongues in Acts 2 required no interpretation because they were delivered in the hearers’ receptor language. The interpretation? “we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” See Acts 2:5-13.)

If you disagree with me on these points, please read 1 Corinthians 12-14. Paul’s meaning is quite clear, and his words quite pointed.

I’m not angry at Pat Oliphant, the Washington Post, or their cartoon. I’m saddened, because that ‘toon is a mirror reflecting our failure to heed Scripture.

(PS: For an excellent discussion of the role of tongues, a defense of tongues, and the proper exercise of tongues with interpretation in the church, see “Biblical Glossolalia” William Graham MacDonald (Enrichment Journal).)

[tags]1-corinthians-12, 1-corinthians-13, 1-corinthians-14, aog, Assemblies-of-God, assembly-of-god, blogrodent, charismatic, glossolalia, palin, pat-olilphant, paul, pentecostal, political-cartoon, prayer, rich-tatum, sara-palin, speaking-in-tongues, spiritual-gifts, tongues, washington-post, washingtonpost, george-o-wood, general-superintendent, enrichment-journal, william-graham-macdonald, controversy[/tags]

Wherein I break my silence to introduce my latest freelance writing project for ChristianityToday.com (a small article) and attempt to exlain in a thousand words or less what the entire media elite have yet to figure out despite the powers of Lexis-Nexis.

So last monday Ted Olsen at Christianity Today invited me to respond to the latest inquiries into Palin’s faith with a sensible description of who the A/G are and how we fit into the rest of mainstream evangelicalism. This is my attempt.

I’ll confess to being a little nervous when writing this. Not only would my denomination’s leadership see it, but probably a couple million people could find something to disagree over it. But, hey — have keyboard, will write.

So, here it is, have fun with it, and feel free to comment.

All You Need to Know About the Assemblies of God
A primer for Palin watchers and others.

From: http://christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/septemberweb-only/138-21.0.html

“She is a longtime member of the Assemblies of God. That’s all you need to know.”

That’s how political blogger Andrew Sullivan recently summarized Governor Sarah Palin’s faith background.

But entertain the crazy thought that some people might want to know more. What would we learn from the media about the Assemblies of God?

It’s “the evangelical experience on steroids,” “where sitting is an option but clapping is not,” where beliefs “stray a bit from the mainstream” and which “mainstream Christians don’t understand.” There’s the usual report of tongues, faith-healing, and “end times” — threateningly caricaturized as “a violent upheaval that … will deliver Jesus Christ’s second coming.” Combine “holy laughter, divine dancing, silver tooth fillings turning into gold, [and] the regeneration of a large intestine,” and you see why Palin’s childhood faith has been “deemed irrelevant by the liberal intelligentsia because it is regarded as fundamentalist and … irrational.”

Then again, news accounts of “rational faith” have been rather scarce.

The first wave

About one in four Christian believers worldwide are Pentecostal or charismatic, and the percentage is increasing daily. The World Christian Database says 8.7 percent of the world’s population is part of this “renewalist” group. The AG is one of the most prominent Pentecostal groups, it’s only a part of the movement. An AG study from 2006 found 60 million adherents in more than 300,000 churches worldwide. About 2.8 million of these are in the U.S.

The renewalist movement in the U.S. is often divided into three historical “waves.” The first wave began in 1901, resulting in the “classical” Pentecostal denominations, including the Assemblies of God. The second (“charismatic”) wave began around 1960, and the third (“neocharismatic”) wave around 1980. While there are doctrinal and practical differences between the various Pentecostal and charismatic believers, what is common to all is the conviction that the Holy Spirit is personally active, immanent, and works through believers by giving gifts (charisms) for ministry, evangelism, and holiness.

While some scholars have traced a thread of Pentecostal and charismatic expressions throughout church history, the modern renewal began with the “touch felt around the world” on January 1, 1901, when students of Charles Fox Parham were “baptized in the Spirit” and spoke in tongues after studying the Bible to prove or deny the validity of such an experience.

The fledgling movement found its tipping point at the Azusa Street Revival, led by a former student of Parham’s, William Joseph Seymour. This California revival, from 1906 to 1909, is widely considered the true genesis of Pentecostalism and has been called ” America ‘s most successful spiritual export.”

The first Pentecostal denomination to form (in 1907) was the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), led by Charles H. Mason. The body that became the AG formed in 1914.

What do they believe?

Today, the Assemblies of God is generally considered orthodox with beliefs common to many denominations — excepting mainstream cessationist groups. George Barna reports that among the 12 largest denominations, Assemblies of God adherents tend to have the highest “overall purity of … biblical perspectives.” They are more likely to be born again, to be “absolutely committed” to faith, to hold a high view of Scripture, to believe in a literal heaven and hell, to believe that Jesus was sinless, to believe that God created the universe, are more likely to pray, and are more likely to share the gospel with unbelievers.

Assemblies of God adherents are evangelical, believing in the need for personal salvation and the call to evangelize. They have a high view of biblical authority and believe in the literal death and resurrection of Jesus. They are Arminian, believing that God-given free will is compatible with divine sovereignty. They believe that salvation is by grace and unmerited but is conditional on faith and on accepting the sacrifice and lordship of Jesus — and therefore, one can willfully fall from grace. They are thoroughly Trinitarian, rejecting the modalism as expressed in the Oneness or “Jesus’ Name”-only Pentecostal movement (e.g., the United Pentecostal Church).

Their essential doctrines are expressed in creedal form in their “Sixteen Fundamental Truths,” and expanded on in a variety of position papers available online. Their four core doctrines are a belief in salvation, divine healing, Jesus’ imminent “second coming” (along with the rapture, tribulation, and the millennial reign of Christ), and that the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” is a divine gift freely available to all believers.

This baptism is the core “distinctive doctrine” of the Assemblies of God, defined as a work of grace and an experience subsequent to and distinct from conversion (and not required for salvation), accompanied by the “initial physical evidence” of speaking in other tongues. This experience empowers believers for Christian witness, service, and holiness. Distinct from water-immersion baptism, Pentecostals see Spirit baptism as an immersion in the power, person, and experience of the Holy Spirit, and locate it biblically as promised in Joel 2:28-29, Mark 1:8, and John 16:5-16; made normative in Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:4-5; modeled in Acts 2:1-4; and universally extended as a gift to all believers in Acts 2:38-39.

Not just TV preachers

In addition to media-whipped anomalies such as Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and Benny Hinn (all former Assemblies of God ministers), other AG churchgoers have gained national attention, including singer-songwriter Sara Groves, former U.S. Representatives Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), and Linda Smith (R-Wash.), and former Attorney General John Ashcroft.

And, of course, Sarah Palin.

But while Palin may well have been “a longtime member of the Assemblies of God,” she has not regularly attended an AG church since 2002.

And a lot can change in six years.

Rich Tatum is a freelance writer who attends an AG church
and blogs at TatumWeb.com/blog/.

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Used by permission

Related Elsewhere:

• You can interact with the commenters at the ChristianityToday.com article as well.
• The AG has a history page.
• At Azusa Remixed, Pentecostal and charismatic scholars discuss the movement’s history and contemporary debates.
• The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has a demographic portrait of Pentecostals in 10 different countries.

Update: Krista Tippett from NPR’s Speaking of Faith wrote to let me know about a program they put together which I think you’ll be interested in, too. She writes:

I love your piece on Azusa in Christianity Today and wanted to let you know that we made a very similar move on our show this past weekend to respond to the generalizations about Palin’s faith — and also point out that there are Pentecostals in key positions in the DNC and the Obama campaign. We’ve had a tremendous response to it:

Speaking of Faith: The Origins and Impact of Pentecostalism

Check it out, there’s an mp3 to download, you can stream the program, listen to other interviews with sociologist Margaret Poloma, Pentecostal historian Cecil Robeck, an exploration of the Master’s Commission, and more, more, more.

[tags]1-corinthians-12, 1-corinthians-13, 1-corinthians-14, acts-2, aog, assemblies-of-god, assembly-of-god, azusa, azusa-street, blogrodent, cecil-robeck, charismatic, christianity-today, controversy, dnc, enrichment-journal, general-superintendent, george-o-wood, glossolalia, krista-tippett, lunacy, margaret-poloma, master’s-commission, national-public-radio, npr, obama, palin, pat-olilphant, pat-oliphant, paul, pentecostal, political-cartoon, prayer, prophecy, religious-right, rich-tatum, sara-palin, sarah-palin, speaking-in-tongues, speaking-of-faith, spiritual-gifts, tongues, washington-post, washingtonpost, washingtonpost.com, william-graham-macdonald[/tags]

Tomorrow, the 52nd biennial business-meeting for the General Council of the Assemblies of God begins. On Thursday, our next General Superintendent will be selected. Here are my thoughts on matters over which I have no input or influence, and which are probably inappropriate for me to publicly opine over. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop me from writing! If you read this and think I’m an idiot for writing it, just remember: you read it!

[Skip all the blather and just see my pick for the vote, if that’s what you’re after!]

The Generational Exchange … Happens Now

Stop now. Before you go any further, before you cast your nominating vote, before you accept your nomination (as if anybody reads this), go listen to (or read) this incredible sermon from the last General Council delivered by Bryan Jarrett.

Done? Good. Great message wasn’t it? In case you didn’t catch them, I want to highlight a couple of quotes from the article/sermon.

First, Jarrett nicely sums up one significant aspect of the cultural gap between our elder leaders and our younger ministers and ministry candidates. Here, in his words:

There is titanic distrust among the generations. … The older generation is looking for someone in whom they can deposit their faith, or as Paul puts it, they are looking for someone in whom they can deposit the trust of the full gospel (1 Timothy 1:11; 1 Timothy 6:20). However, they are reluctant to make that deposit for fear that their faith, their church and the trust will be diluted, altered, or even forsaken.

On the other hand is the younger generation. They are as passionate as the pioneers of this Pentecostal church and have an amazing potential to expand the Kingdom in this world. But they have become weary with church as usual, with legalistic expectations and with conditional blessings.

Jarrett goes on to describe the need for the older generation to release the younger generation into ministry with their blessing without placing their generational baggage and conditions on that blessing. He describes the need for the younger generation to ground their feeling-based worldview in the Word and to honor the sacrifices of their forefathers. And he encourages the older generation to trust the youth. If the Assemblies of God doesn’t make this transition, if we don’t release the youth into ministry, they’ll depart. He says:

If the blessing is withheld, the blessing will die with the older generation in the next 20 or 30 years, and the Assemblies of God will never be what it was before. The younger generation will reform our Movement, or they will leave it and start another one like our forefathers did four generations ago.

But I want to really highlight the story he told from his days as an itinerant speaker and evangelist.

While still an evangelist, I preached a revival in a little town on the Arkansas-Missouri line. In my message that night I challenged the people to seek God for another great awakening in America. After the altar service an older man in his late 80s or early 90s walked briskly up to me. It was obvious he was weeping.

He passionately grabbed me by the lapel of my jacket and said, “Son, listen to this old man. I am a retired Methodist pastor. I came into the Methodist church when it was a revival movement. We were called the shouting Methodists. Over time, the Assemblies of God came along, stole the fire out of our stove, and left us with a cold, black stove. What happened to my church is happening to yours. If revival does not come to your church, when you are an old man, you will grab some young man by the collar just like this and weep the same bitter tears this old man weeps tonight.”

That’s enough to give one pause.

Chatter, Chatter, Chatter …

Since the announcement of Trask’s surprise resignation, the A/G-specific mailing lists and blogs have been full of chatter about who the next general superintendent of the Assemblies of God should be. Many of the discussions, especially at the FutureAG blog, wind up discussing the value and risk of a young leader versus the trust and track-record that comes with an older leader. Many great things have been said, and I was completely prepared to write one of my trademark behemoth explorations all the different issues involved in young vs. old leadership. But so much has been said that there simply isn’t time or space to cover all the subjects worth considering. For example, I was preparing to write the following subjects — which I now only mention in passing:

• Centralization vs. flattening:
  Older leaders, having matured under authoritarian, CEO-style leadership models prefer, trust and expect rigid hierarchical structures. With these guys, their church organizational-chart (and there will be one!) looks like a finely detailed pyramid (with guys like me at the very lowest part, to be sure). However, younger leaders have grown up in a culture where relationships are being flattened. They enjoy instant access to everybody and they grant the same unfettered access, using various pieces of technology to do that. They’re wired, accessible 24×7 and resent chains of command that insulate them from access to leadership.
• Absentee voting:
  Many feel that younger ministers low on the church totem-pole aren’t going to be given the opportunity to go to a General Council and vote. Their church maybe can only afford to send one or two people to Council — so the Youth Pastor stays behind. Or there are bi-vocational ministers and small-church pastors who simply can’t afford to go on their own dime. But it’ll be at least 2011 before absentee voting could become a reality because it would require a committee to study it, a resolution to pass it and the Constitution and Bylaws to be amended to allow it. It’s not happening any time soon and people on the fringes feel disenfranchised.

  There are arguments against this, of course, but it’s a discussion that needs to happen. Unfortunately, the last time this was raised in General Council (in 2003), the resolution was withdrawn.

• Managerial skills vs. pastoral skills:
  There have been some calls to install a leader fresh from the pastorate, who can lead with a shepherd’s heart. Others point out that the GS position is really a CEO-style job including a busy agenda dealing with issues far from the pastorate. However, short of only voting in current District executives the selection process cannot take any of those qualifications into account. So, ministers and delegates will have to vote based on what they know about a nominee. Is he a good pastor with a good reputation? Is he a good communicator? Can he preach? Rarely will anybody know whether he’s a sound administrator, if he sets wise policy, if he can negotiate well, if he can be diplomatic and whether he can navigate legal issues gracefully.
• Old vs. young
  The big topic this year is old versus young. (Trivia: The median age of ministers in our Fellowship is 51.) A GS will be likely to serve 10 or more years (we’ve only had three in the last 50), the job is highly stressful and longevity will be a concern for nominees already into their late sixties to early 70s. Plus there are concerns that the older ministers aren’t in touch with contemporary culture and cannot cast a vision to adequately reach that culture.

  On the other hand, younger ministers may have the stamina to last several years, but they won’t be as strongly rooted in the Assemblies of God’s traditions and history. They may be too culturally bound and not as resistant to current trends like the dread virus of ecumenicalism and the various oddities of the postmodern Emergent church.

  Whatever the case, younger ministers are typically not well-known and there are few young people in national leadership positions that would give the majority a basis for that kind of awareness (There are exceptions, of course, like Tom Green, director of the national Men’s Ministries program and former National Youth Director).

• Male vs. female:
  Women are being welcomed into higher and higher positions of leadership in the A/G, but not quickly enough. There are no female district executive officials, despite that 19 percent of all our ministers are women. Out of 6,000+ female ministers, only 452 are senior pastors. Some think it’s time for the A/G to stand by its official position of egalitarianism and elect a lady GS. But there is still a strong segment of ministers within the A/G who hold to the complementarian view. (We have a position paper that comes down strongly on the side of egalitarianism, but position papers aren’t policy.)

  It’s unlikely that we’re either ready for it or that there are many female leaders in the A/G with enough visibility to pass nomination.

  Getting the resolution passed to open up a seat on the Executive Presbytery, though, will be a resounding success and a good next step.

• Not white vs. white
  Our Hispanic and Asian districts have some of the largest churches in the nation, and whites are quickly becoming a minority in many parts of the country. Our leadership spectrum doesn’t reflect the actual diversity found in either our churches or the nation at-large. Further, the Assemblies of God in North America is quickly losing ground as the leading and largest Pentecostal sect. Our sister fellowships in Latin America, Africa and Asia are quickly becoming (if not already are) globally respected leaders of the movement. As one General Council employee wrote to me, “I wish Lazarus Chakwera could be nominated — I’d vote for him and be done with it.”
• Church growth issues:
  As the A/G becomes more “mainstream” and viewed as less heretical, and as many of our churches toy with Saddleback and Willow Creek models for church growth, mega-churches are now on the rise. The mega-churches, of course, create mega-star pastors who become well-known by virtue not only of the size of their church and the money they bring to the District coffers, but because these pastors also wind up hitting the conference trail and penning books.

  Who knew church growth could be so profitable?

  Meanwhile the little-guy pastors of small and medium-sized churches go unrecognized. The church-growth virus/meme makes them feel like failures in their district meetings and they battle the herd mentality, consoling themselves by remembering the effective fellowship, discipleship and mentoring that’s going on in their smaller communities.

  Still, the attention goes to the church growth flock and it could well be reasoned that only a mega-church pastor would have the administrative/CEO-like skills to run a denomination.

  We have been blessed by the programs and the drive to growing and planting churches: we have more churches open today than we did at the last General Council — our highest number ever. But perhaps we’ve been cursed too: we have fewer converts today than we did then. Perhaps church growth and church planting should take a back seat to spiritual growth and new converts?

  Who we choose as a leader will have a strong impact on this philosophy.

• The global South:
  Is anybody paying attention to this? Will any of our potential leaders help improve the bridges between the American A/G and the rest of the Pentecostal world? Is there any white leader who can fill the top slot who can be an effective bridge builder and earn the trust of the Global South? As George Wood reports, “our growth in the USA has slowed at the same time that our international growth is galloping ahead.” Clearly, there’s something going on there that isn’t happening here.

  But, wait, it is happening here! Some of our largest mega-churches are immigrant churches, and services are not being conducted in English and their websites are not, either. The global South is coming to us. Is our leadership prepared?

• Liberals vs. conservatives vs. progressives:
  There has been concern expressed on a few blogs that there is a growing divide in our Fellowship between conservatives and liberals, or as they see themselves, progressives. (For what it’s worth, I consider myself conservative, but others reading my posts call me progressive. Go figger.) The Third-Wave Charismatic movement has transformed mainline churches so that there are now Episcopalian churches where you can hear tongues and see the laying on of hands. Some of those Charismatic mainliners have trickled over into the A/G (sometimes by accident, because we’ve stopped naming our churches “Assembly of God,” what James Bridges once called “stealth Assemblies”). And now many of our biggest churches are indistinguishable from a typical Evangelical church. The conservatives lament the loss of the active exercise of the charismata in our services. And the liberals/progressives have begun softening their teaching on initial evidence and other key doctrines. And then there is the confusion of traditional “holiness” values with conservativism. If you reject the old-school values, you’re labeled a liberal. So, who do you choose for the next GS? Someone sensitive to the current postmodern trends in our church? Someone who holds to the classical Pentecostal line? This isn’t necessarily an age-division, either. Some of our elder ministers look back with nostalgia on the good old days, but some don’t. Even Trask admits the church needs to adapt.
• Charismatics vs. Pentecostals:
  In a similar vein, TBN and its charismatic hodgepodge of doctrine and heresy continues to be a staple television experience for many in our churches while others are happily reading the latest Harry Potter novel. (Disclaimer: my family owns a copy of every novel issued … and we call ourselves Pentecostal?) What has long distinguished the Assemblies of God as a classical Pentecostal denomination is fading in many of our churches, which are taking a softer, more Charismatic approach to “doing church” and are much more permissive about what constitutes good doctrine and good behavior.

  Very rarely, especially in larger churches, do you have altar calls, much less healing services. In the last ten years I’ve never seen a prayer line where people wanting to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit “run the gauntlet” with tongues-talking recipients coming out the end of the pipeline. Healing testimonies are rare and demon possession is hardly spoken of, except to say that perhaps somebody needs psychological help. Revival is the exception and evangelistic zeal has waned.

  Whether these are truly earmarks of Classical Pentecostalism can be debated. Whether they’re truly Biblical or merely culture-bound can be debated. What cannot be debated is that they are no longer widespread practices in our churches — especially megachurches. (They once were. You might actually find this in our smaller churches.)

  So, who do you vote for? A small church Pentecostal old-guard who will push for a revival of traditional Pentecostalism? Or a mega-church style Charismatic who will push for more church-growth practices and self-help preaching? One thing’s for sure, a traditional Pentecostal church is not a typical seeker-sensitive church.

• The Emergent issue:
  Few among the older generation even recognize this as an issue and those that do see only the bad parts. Many among the younger set are fully aware of it and may even be embracing it uncritically. However, we need a leader who can find the balance between what is good about Emergent and what needs to be critically examined and rejected. The Assemblies of God has largely resisted the movement, but some would say we’ve ignored it, to our peril. Our younger church planters often see themselves as Emergent, and the old-guard doesn’t seem to know what to make of this. Not only is it postmodern, but it’s simply not being written about much in our publications. (The A/G’s website has a total of 29 articles mentioning “emergent” and “postmodern” in the same page. Compare that with 185 results from the somewhat Emergent-unfriendly Christianity Today.) Who will lead the Fellowship as this conversation continues to penetrate and subtly transform our churches?
• The Bible and preaching
  Pentecostal churches are simply not well-known for their hard-line stance on expository preaching. Homiletics courses in our colleges and seminaries don’t have a standard Pentecostal homiletics text to refer to, or at least not one that is respected and trusted outside Pentecostal circles. Discussions of the “Pentecostal Hermeneutic” still flourish in seminaries and in academic journals, but how many pastors know or even care what that is?

  In our search for answers on the problem of discipleship in our Fellowship, will anyone take the lead and say that perhaps our preaching is part of the problem? Will anyone take the lead and say that perhaps our historic rejection of academic excellence has led to a failure to not only properly handle the Word of God in the pulpit, but to not even use it as the source of the sermon? (Though, admittedly, this is changing.) In every A/G church I’ve attended, save for one, the pastor used the text to “springboard” into a topical sermon. The doctrine was fine, but the handling of the text was not. And, in the end, the congregation takes its cues from the pastor and his is how they read their Bible.

  Which values in this arena will our next GS embody? Will he call our Fellowship back to the Word — and that preached well? Or will it be more of the same?

More discussion …

There’s more that’s being bandied about, to be sure. For some excellent discussions of these issues, see:

• Rev. Eric Smith @ Igniting the Darkness: Why the Assemblies of God is Headed for Trouble
• Rev. Eric Smith @ True Discernment: More Reasons Why the Assemblies of God are headed for Serious Trouble: Its Youth Programs!
• Rev. Chip Sander @ Chip Sanders Blog: General Council
• Rev. Tory Farina @ Tory Farina: Rock the AG Vote
• Rev. Chris Hooton @ The Lord, The Blues and the Art of Being Smooth: The Future of the A/G
• Various: FutureAG blog, especially What I’m Looking For
• Various: A/G Leadership Change Blog

So What?

This question pops up frequently in these discussions. So what? What difference does the General Superintendent make to the local church, much less and individual believer?

More than you’d realize. Many of the resolutions that actually get passed at each General Council were not sponsored by pastors, they were sponsored by the Executive Presbytery. And, ultimately, you’ll see the GS’s fingerprints all over those resolutions. By the time one of these resolutions makes it to Council, it’s already gone through a significant vetting process by General Council leadership, and its chances of being approved are pretty good. These resolutions, in turn, have an effect on District Council policies, local church policies and ministerial requirements.

For example, until the last General Council in 2005, the only way you could get credentials in the Assemblies of God was to go through the formal process of applying through your District Office and meeting all the requirements of a General Council credentials holder. Now, however, your local church can credential you temporarily (up to two years) so that you can carry legitimate credentials while doing ministry, such as preaching, teaching, church planting, etc.

Beyond that, the less ephemeral stuff that you don’t see comes in the form of vision casting for the whole Fellowship. The personality, style and vision of the general superintendent gets communicated and is accepted or rejected by the grass-roots ministers over the years. The GS also provides leadership for the many ministries and efforts at a national level that have local impact, like the Convoy of Hope food program that has been effectively used in disasters like when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. The GS has influence over editorial and content policies for all of our publications. He has influence over the curricula that the Gospel Publishing House provides. He builds bridges between denominations, speaks at conferences and preaches at local churches.

When Zimmerman was the GS, the A/G broke ground in broadcast media — and it was largely due to Zimmerman’s vision. When Carlson was GS, the Gormon/Swaggart/Bakker scandals could have soiled the A/G even more than they did were it not for the wise and capable (some say grandfatherly) way that Carlson led the Fellowship during that time. There could not have been a better man for the hour.

What mark Trask has made on the Fellowship as a whole remains to be seen, in retrospect, but I suspect one will be that we are more like a denomination now than ever before. For good, or bad. You decide.

Can the general superintendent be a change agent who fosters revival throughout our Fellowship? Nobody can say, many suspect not. I believe, however, that it could happen — especially if we have someone in office who calls our ministers back to preaching the Word and rejecting the winds of heresy that blow through our ranks from time to time.

I stand with all my brethren who are ministers (I am not) who characterize this as a momentous time and a pivotal moment. In realistic terms: a crisis is upon the A/G. Who we choose to lead us down the road we take from here is critical.

My Call

Finally, in light of all that I’ve read and processed on this, here’s how I see the next few days transpiring. George Wood will almost certainly get nominated. If he is nominated, I don’t see how any dark horse could surpass him in getting votes, unless somebody like Dan Betzer is nominated.

Alton Garrison, the director for the US Home Missions department, will almost certainly get nominated as well. I suspect he’ll wind up as the Assistant General Superintendent, and will likely move up to the top slot when George Wood finishes out the remainder of this term.

John Lindell, pastor of James River Assembly in Springfield, will probably get nominated, especially by the younger crowd, but I’ve seen many comments from the female contingent that they’d be hard pressed to elect him as his views on women in ministry are not perfectly egalitarian. (The Springfield News-Leader mentioned him as a possible candidate, by the way, along with Charles Arsenault, pastor of Evangel Temple in Springfield and a member the executive presbytery.)

Personally, I’d like to see my friend Gene Roncone, pastor of Aurora First Assembly in Aurora, Colorado (and son-in-law to Charles Crabtree), nominated for the General Secretary slot. I don’t think he’d accept it, but I think he’d be an excellent choice to have in national leadership. He helped the A/G revamp its Constitution and Bylaws and is considered our top expert on Roberts Rules of Order. I know, that’s an arcane thing to be expert in, but to operate our business meetings legally, that has to be followed. And Roncone is a fine preacher who eschews spring boarding. I like that.

John Bueno, director of the World Missions department, may elect to retire at this point, since that had been his plan earlier. So, that could leave the directorate of World Missions up for grabs, too. Some have suggested nominating him for GS, but HQ insiders seriously doubt he’d consider it at this point.

Nobody seems to be able to come up with any names for female nominations. I would love to see it happen, but there haven’t been enough prominent lady ministers to get the visibility needed to pass nomination. As George Wood notes, there are no district executives who are women.

Will we see some non-whites nominated this year? I dearly hope so. But I doubt it. If this Council were on the East or West Coast, maybe. But being here in the heartland makes it affordable for more Bible Belt ministers to drive and attend. I suspect this year’s Council will be pretty lily-white, and the nominations will reflect that complexion. Unfortunately.

So, that’s as far as my (ill-founded?) “prescience” takes me. Wood as GS, Garrison as Asst. GS and anybody’s guess as to General Secretary, Home Missions and World Missions.

I know, not very informative. But you’re the one who read this far, silly!

What about the Holy Spirit

I just want to say that, ultimately, it will be the Holy Spirit that superintends the voting process. God will select Trask’s successor, just as he selected Trask, and Carlson before him, and Zimmerman before him and all the others before them. I know that our pastors and ministers are praying about this. And I’m sure God’s sovereignty will still … be sovereign.

That said, there is still a need for wisdom in the process, and God has not called us to leave our critical faculties at the coat-rack when choosing servant ministers. These leaders are in top positions of authority, to be sure, but they are much like the deacons who were chosen in Acts. They are men (and someday women) who perform the business of the church, the “setting of tables” so that our pastors, evangelists, teachers, and missionaries can go about preparing themselves and their messages and their ministries. To that end, it’s critical that we choose candidates “full of the Holy Spirit.” The only way that can be done is to choose men that our delegates and ministers know, men whose ministries have become familiar with the voters. Thus, there is really no getting away from the aspect of the process that many complain is a popularity contest. It really cannot be any other way: You cannot realistically vote someone into this kind of leadership role if you haven’t seen the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s power in his or her ministry.

And that’s the biggest problem with the process, really. It’s impossible to know all 30,000 ministers. It’s impossible to know all of even one percent of that number. So, the voting process inevitably focuses on the one percent of the top one percent of whoever happens to be known to the delegates.

But, despite that, I pray God’s will be done, and that wisdom will prevail.

Some folks people are talking about …

I’ve compiled the suggestions for GS that I’ve seen around the blogosphere and in my email discussion groups. For more names that will likely be considered, you should see my A/G Mega-Church list. A lot of those names are prominent and well-known among the people who will be voting at General Council this week. There could be several nominees coming from that list.

• Wood, George
  General Secretary, doctorate in jurisprudence, and licensed to practice law in CA. One commenter wrote: "Wood is well-educated enough, and progressive enough that he’d be fine." Another commenter wrote "Woods does have the education, the world-view, class, and authority to lead." Another wrote: "Wood is progressive and has a global perspective." Another wrote: "Brother Wood raised the I.Q. of the Executive Presbytery about 400 points when he joined it." Another wrote: "I was somewhat surprised how keenly aware he is of the needed changes in our fellowship. He has a real grasp on the younger generation which really took me back." Another wrote: "We need someone like Wood, who has a historic, profound grasp of what we really were as a Movement, and the ability to clearly see and understand where and how we need to change to reach this modern-postmodern culture without compromising the essence of who we are …. He has more than a superficial grasp of current books and cliches on reaching this ‘postmodern’ generation. He has a far deeper grasp of AG history and polity, the essence of our movement, the history of the church, Scripture and theology, the law, AND the culture, than most of the other ‘candidates’ combined.."
• Bridges, James
  General Treasurer. One commenter wrote: "Bridges is way too conservative / fundamentalist, in my opinion." Another commenter wrote: "Bridges is indeed a godly man also, but some may find him to be too conservative.".
• Klaus, Byron
  President of Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.
• Clay, Doug
  Superintendent of the Ohio District. From one commenter: "strong, proven and respected by both ‘old school’ ministers and young alike." Capable.
• Garrison, Alton
  Executive Director of US Missions and executive presbyter, former superintendent of the Arkansas District, and former pastor and evangelist. From one commenter: "He spent 45 minutes explaining to the crowd how to use a website. It was obvious by the discussion that someone had just tutored him and that he was not comfortable navigating a simple web page. I don’t think that our GS needs to be a computer geek but to me this has a sign of an underlying generational deficiency." Another commenter wrote: "many believe that Alton was moved to lead US Missions to position him for the Gen Sup job. He has really worked in innovative ways in US Missions to push for Reach America fund raising." Another wrote: "He is said to be a good administrator, good financial manager, and innovative.".
• Batterson, Mark
  Pastor of National Community Church, Washington, DC. Not interested in the job: "I’ll definitely be praying but I definitely won’t be ‘running’ … I feel called to pastor one church for life." Church.
• Bueno, John
  Executive director of the Assemblies of God World Missions, executive presbyter. Served as missionary for 25 years in El Salvador, also served as Latin America Field Director for the Division of Foreign Missions.
• Trask, Bradley T.
  Church planter and senior pastor, Brighton Assembly of God, Brighton, MI. From one commenter: "Son of Tom Trask impressive young man. Humble, very good preacher, personable, articulate." Brighton.
• Donaldson, Hal
  Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Convoy of Hope, editor of Today’s Pentecostal Evangel.
• Huddleston, Samuel
  Nor Cal/Nev Asst. from one commenter: "Early fifties, missional, pastoral. …".
• Braddy, James
  Superintendent of Northern California & Nevada District.
• Leach, William
  Superintendent of the Michigan District.
• Allen, Bret
  Senior pastor of Bethel Church of San Jose in San Jose, California, former District Youth Director of California. From one commenter: "Probably the most phenomenal leader I have ever known.".
• George, J. Don
  Nonresident executive presbyter and senior pastor of Calvary Church in Irving, TX.
• Bradford, Jim
  Senior Pastor of Central Assembly in MO Springfield.
• Creps, Earl
  Professor of Doctoral Studies at AGTS, author, soon to be church planter. He has stated that he’s not interested in nomination.
• Benson, M. Wayne
  President of EMERGE Ministries in Akron, Ohio. Former pastor at Grand Rapids First Assembly in Grand Rapids, Michigan, former president of Central Bible College.
• Betzer, Dan
  Nonresident executive presbyter, and senior pastor of First Assembly Ministries.
• Loy, Rod
  Senior Pastor of First Assembly of North Little Rock God.
• Valimont, Randy
  Senior Pastor of First Assembly of God in GA Griffin.
• Berteau, Glen
  Senior Pastor of Calvary Temple Worship Center in CA Modesto.
• Palmer, John M.
  Executive Presbyter and World Missions Director of the Iowa Ministry Network, teaches at Evangel University. From one commenter: "has shown an ability to reach out to ministers and leaders.".
• Lindell, John
  Senior Pastor of James River Assembly.
• Davis, Maury
  Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Church in TN Nashville.
• Anderson, Gordon
  President of North Central University.
• Dubose, Rick
  Superintendent of the North Texas District.
• Welk, Leslie
  Superintendent of the Northwest Ministry Network.
• Wilkerson, Rich
  Founder of Peacemakers and Senior Pastor of Trinity Church.
• Raburn, Terry
  Superintendent of Peninsular Florida District.
• Barnett, Tommy
  Senior Pastor of Phoenix First Assembly of God in Pheonix, AZ, one of the largest and fastest growing churches in the A/G with over 15,000 reported in attendance. Barnett began preaching at age 16 and celebrated 50 years of ministry in 2003. He has several honorary doctorates.
• McFarland, Lee
  Senior Pastor of Radiant Church in Surprise, AZ. Was working as Director of World Wide Operations at Microsoft when called to ministry in the late 90s. His church has been featured on the cover of the New York Times magazine and in an ABC news program and has been dubbed "the blue jean church" and has been called "the 18th fastest growing church in the country."
• Jarrett, Bryan
  Senior Pastor of Sachse Assembly of God in Sachse, TX. Jarrett delivered a phenomenal message at the 51st General Council which you absolutely must read or listen to. He is a graduate of CBC and is currently studying for a Masters degree from Oral Roberts University.
• Bosman, John W.
  Founder and president of SpiritWind International, a transdenominational ministry. Former pastor of Glad Tidings Church in Lake Charles, LA; former Assistant District Superintendent for the LA District Council, and also former General Presbyter."embracing the essence of building unity in the Body of Christ and facilitating the restoration of the five-fold ministry in the Church." From one commenter: "He may very well be the outsider that will surprise everyone. I believe he is between 50-60, but is a strong leader with a servant’s heart. A great preacher and a man of vision, innovative.".
• Northrup, Dary
  Senior Pastor of Timberline Church in Ft CO. From one commenter: "He is deeply committed to the organization and its history but extremely forward in his thinking. He has also served as Assistant Superintendent of his district and understands the system." Collins.
• Blackburn, Wayne
  Pastor of Victory Church in Lakeland, Florida, on of the A/G’s largest megachurches with over 2,500 members.
• Rutland, Mark
  President of Southeastern University and President and Founder of Global Servants. From one commenter: "He is where he is because the Methodist church saw potential and invested in him to create a better leader. He changed denominations after being groomed by the Methodist church (and a realization of the Holy Spirit’s work in today’s world). He is a a phenomenal communicator, and has his pulse on this generation as a college president. mentor".
• Dresselhaus, Richard
  Pastor, homiletics professor (AGTS and Fuller Theological Seminary), and chaplain (Azusa Pacific University). Is currently a nonresident executive presbyter. Dresselhaus has more than 45 years of ministry experience, much of it pastoral. He graudated from Luther College in 1957, earned his MA from Wheaton Graduate School in 1960, and earned his D.Min from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1991. He has authored several books and writes frequently for A/G periodicals.
• Hurst, Randy
  Director of Communications, AG World Missions. Has edited of the Missions World edition of the Pentecostal Evangel, served as evangelist, pastor and missionary to the Samoan Islands. One commenter wrote: "Hurst would make an interesting GC official. He is a missionary and is also over the Commission for Evangelism.".
• Green, Tom
  National Director of the Men’s Ministries. Previously served as the A/G National Youth Director and national Speed the Light Director and served for 12 years as the Oklahoma District Youth director. One commenter wrote: "He raised the level of excellence in the National Youth Ministries. Is currently renovating the Men’s department to a place that a church planter, for the first time can be proud to be apart of and its events — not ashamed to promote. I believe he is among the most well-rounded and innovative leaders of today. He is professional in leadership style, doctrinally grounded, innovative in thinking and missional in approach. And although he has worked within the a/g headquarters building for a few years now, he has managed to stay outside the ‘church bubble’ and still clutches to a passion and ability to connect and reach the ‘un-churched’. He still serves on the rouged plans of ministry in both personal and ‘business’ practices.".

As usual, please feel free to comment. I write for you. Will you write for me? What are your “predictions?”

[tags]age, tbn, aog, ceo, tom-trask, mega-church, megachurch, legalism, global-south, discipleship, 52nd-general-council, general-council-of-the-assemblies-of-god, leadership, Assemblies-of-God, assembly-of-god, general-superintendent, reverend-tom-trask, superintendent, heresy, baggage, blogrodent, rich-tatum, indiana, indianapolis, religion, holiness, voting, vision, christianity, thomas-trask, john-lindell, evangelical, evangelism, alton-garrison, church-culture, church-growth, george-wood, emergent, emergent-conversation, charismata, charismatic, spirituality, pentecostal, pentecostal-holiness, youth, culture[/tags]

On the resignation of the Assemblies of God’s current superintendent, Rev. Thomas Trask, and the chaos that is in its wake. Wherein I opine on matters explicitly not my business.

I’d like to make it perfectly clear at the outset: I am not a credentialed Assemblies of God minister. I’m not a credentialed anything really. I’m blogging on this matter because it’s of interest to me as an Assemblies of God churchgoing Pentecostal who loves his Fellowship and because it’s also of interest to you, my faithful readers.

Oh, also because I tend blog on this sort of thing, and I promised you that I would.

What you are about to read (if you read it) is opinion mixed with some facts. I will try to source the facts where appropriate, and they’re a matter of easily findable record via Google and such. My opinion and and layman’s speculation, however, you can only find here. Well, elsewhere, too, but mostly here. Or, at least, officially here. If here can be in any way official.

I hope you find it an enjoyable, if lengthy, read. And I invite you to interact in the comments section.

Leadership, Interrupted

photo: escapedtowisconsin

According to the record set forth by fellow PneumaBlogger, Darren Rodgers at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage blog, Tom Trask first announced his intent to quit at 9:00 am on Tuesday, July 10, 2007. The audience was the General Council’s Board of Directors, which includes all the executive leadership at the A/G headquarters. Then, after all the staff had trickled back in from lunch, when sugar comas were well underway, and just before the early-birds left for more enjoyable after-work activities, Trask read a brief statement over the headquarters PA system. It was 2:30 pm. One HQ staffer wrote to me, “The day that Trask made the announcement over the loudspeaker of his retirement, the general reaction of my department was shock.” By 4:00 pm an email went out to the “AGMinister” newsletter. I got my first “heads up!” at 3:59 pm that day.

Within minutes the newsletter discussion groups I participate in were abuzz. I mean, literally abuzz. If you put your ear close to my laptop keyboard you could have heard it. Sure, maybe it was the noisy fan or the flickering monitor or maybe the coffee I spat when I read the email. But I like to think it was all the nervous, excited, and worried electrons my friends were firing back and forth. Within a few hours — before Tom Trask’s email had grown cold, before the troubled echoes in the carpeted halls of the Blue Vatican had faded away, even before the Gray Mecca’s ex-chef Stan Horton even had a chance to look up from his faded menus, names were already being tossed around for consideration, examination, and excoriation.

The first name I saw: executive presbyter John M. Palmer. What recommends him for the post? According to one list-member: “John Palmer teaches at Evangel — so at least he wouldn’t have to move.”

Curiosity Foments

After that, the names flew fast and thick. So fast, and so thick, that I could hardly follow the discussion. But just as quick were inquiries from curious minds wanting to know the rationale for the resignation. Sure, Trask wrote in his announcement and has reiterated in subsequent interviews that he had been fasting and praying for several months, “seeking the Lord as to His will for my continuing to serve.” But, nooo, that’s not enough for some folks. This was the first query posted to the discussion group:

“One of you HQ guys reading this subscribe to the list under a pseudonym and tell what’s really going on!”

Guess what? That came from a credentialed minister. Somehow, Trask’s explanation didn’t satisfy at least one faithful servant of ministry. But that was just the beginning.…

Later, a former minister with the A/G (who no longer fears stepping on toes, apparently!) wrote that such a sudden and unprecedented acquittal of office demanded a clearer explanation than a vague displacement of motivation to “the will of God.” He wrote:

“In my opinion, whatever the political fallout, and I mean whatever, it is irresponsible to not disclose things fully in the light. Personally, I want answers. If it involves corruption, abuse of authority, illegal activities at the highest levels of the Assemblies of God government, I don’t care. I believe it to be a sin to hide accountability and silence the prophetic voices which call for righteous conduct toward others from religious leaders.”

Now, to be sure, this former A/G pastor feels victimized by how the executive leadership (specifically Trask, Crabtree, Bridges, and Wood) failed to properly handle a personality and authority issue that rapidly escalated into a terrible battle with allegations of death threats, potential law-suits, district and national leadership involvement (I’ve seen correspondence attesting to all of this). That fracas ended with a minister defrocked, abandoned by leadership, and a victim of the “tyranny of a centralized ecclesiastic government” (his words). (And this former pastor is apparently not alone in his experience. See how my defrocked friend’s former District Superintendent Saied Adour relates his own ousting and the reports of Trask’s personal involvement.)

This minister’s personal experience of a failure of authority at best (and an abuse of authority at worst) leads him now to question if there aren’t deeper issues at stake in Trask’s sudden and ill-timed resignation.

Personal Caveat Lector

While I’ve certainly seen documentation and accusations attesting to Trask’s (and others) abuse of authority and power, I have to remain agnostic about this because I am not a minister, I am not an employee of the General Council, I was not privy to Trask’s private announcement to the HQ Board, and I am not a close personal friend who calls our Supe “Tom.” I’ve never even been kissed or patted on the cheek. As one friend said, “I don’t have a dog in this hunt.” But having witnessed Trask in one public outburst of semi-anger and frustration I’m therefore not able to dismiss out of hand the claims that I’ve seen.

In Trask’s defense, I know many pastors whom I respect and who have worked closely with Trask who have nothing but praise for him — and who have nothing to gain for their praise. As Bob Braswell (a good friend who stood with me at my wedding who is now serving as missionary to Africa and previously served as special assistant to the executive director of DFM) relates:

“That man exemplifies a servant-leader who tried to follow his conscience in every situation … Trask’s vision was different. It’s the title of a book he did with Wayde Goodall called Back to the Altar — I don’t know if that communicates to our generation, but that was his vision.”

A call for Leadership Transparency

Please understand: I’m not asserting nor am I even implying that I believe some sort of ethical or moral wrongdoing is prompting Trask’s resignation. I truly believe if that were the case, it could not be hidden, and I don’t believe Trask would be so underhanded as to lie and claim God’s leadership if he were resigning due to some pending scandal. I reject that theory. I primarily bring up the defrocked ministers and their claims of abuse at the hands of authority because it seems they’re among the few that demand the same transparency from Trask that they offered him.

If the apostle Paul could model this kind of transparency (more on that below), and we expect our pastors and district leadership to answer difficult questions without appealing to private revelation, then it simply seems reasonable that the top leaders of our Fellowship should aspire to a similar standard.

I’d rather leave when they’re saying ‘why’ than saying ‘when.

And so, along with names tossed up for consideration, there came the inevitable discussion and speculation on true motives. Ministers and non-ministers alike were divided on the issue. Most held out that in the absence of any further explanation, it would be improper to question or speculate on Trask’s explanation beyond what he’s already, tersely, provided.

Others, however, argued that since this is the first time in the history of the Assemblies of God that the top officer of the Fellowship has vacated his position without a divine send-off (E. N. Bell and Wesley R. Steelberg both died in office) then a better explanation is in order — if only to demonstrate accountability and transparency.

Oh, and it’d be nice to simply quash pesky questions and speculation and put the kibosh on magnum e-cartas like this one.

The Sour Grapes of Wrath?

Before we dismiss our defrocked minister’s call for transparency as mere bitterness, recall that I first saw this question raised by a minister in good standing. Truly, we Pentecostals have a long history of alluding to, claiming, and sometimes abusing claims to special revelation when making difficult or unpopular decisions. (For example, why does God often seem to call pastors to larger churches with more generous compensation packages? It might be refreshing to hear a departing pastor actually admit, “Well, I’m leaving because you guys are cheap and my children need to eat.” But that’s a different blog entry.)

When Paul the Apostle Changed Course

But even Paul the Apostle, who had a better claim to special revelation than any of us do, made no secret about the developing plan that God was unfolding in his heart months before he stated that it was definitely God’s will that he go to Jerusalem. (See Acts 21.)

Paul’s decision to travel to Jerusalem — effectively resigning from his missionary journeys — started with a decision. But he didn’t just ponder it. He declared his intention to his traveling companions. Naturally, then, the issue was debated, discussed, and examined over several months. Opinions and emotions were laid out “through the Spirit.” And Agabus, a card-carrying, certified prophet, described what would happen to Paul, with encouragement to cease and desist!

Yet after all that public examination, after all the debate, after all the counsel, Paul remained firm: “When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, ‘The Lord’s will be done.'” People other than Paul were definitely hearing from God on the matter: the prophecies prove that. But it took the community of Paul’s fellow saints to discuss it with him before they all came to a settled understanding — and acceptance — of God’s will as it was first revealed to Paul.

Private Revelations Publicly Tested

My point in highlighting this one (of many) examples of God’s leadership through private revelation is simply to say that even when the Spirit compels us, and even when faith is required to obey, it would seem odd that the best course is to spring a last-minute surprise upon the people we’re ministering with. If it’s God, what he’s laying on our heart to do will be made clear, not only because (as is biblical) it will be confirmed by fellow saints but because private revelations must be tested and discerned publicly by fellow, Spirit-filled leaders.

How else do we “test the spirits?” (1 John 4:1)

But Trask’s sudden announcement surprised even those ministering closest to him — his traveling companions, if you will. The public announcement didn’t come after months of clarification and discernment with the executive leadership. It came suddenly and is a fait accompli.. Even James Bridges, one of the “fab four” leaders elected into office simultaneously with Trask in 1993, was taken unaware:

“Trask’s announcement was a surprise to Bridges, but he said he respects his friend’s decision.”

And it probably came as a surprise to John Bueno, too, (Executive director of the Assemblies of God World Missions), who delayed his retirement as a favor to Trask. According to one insider:

“Just six months ago, [Trask] all but begged John Bueno to stay on for two more years after John announced his retirement … and then came back with a reluctant announcement that he would stay. (John said that Trask had pressured him to stay because Trask didn’t want to have to deal with ‘new blood in that department’ in his last two years.)”

So, what happened four to six months ago to precipitate Trask’s fasting and praying in order to consider terminating his current journey?

The Pressure of Change and Relevance

Back in late 2005, Trask described his biggest challenge to Josh Sargent over at LeadershipBlog. What, apparently, kept Tom Trask awake at night? It was the need to …

” …effectively bring about change in a culture that is changing constantly so that the church remains relevant to the need both here at home and worldwide.”

Coming a scant four weeks before a business meeting literally years in the planning this resignation certainly does introduce change.

Centralization Concerns:

“Question was raised concerning increased centralization of authority for providing for and changing Headquarters ministries and structures. Upon the adoption of the complete document, including amendments, General Superintendent Trask spoke to the delegates, assuring the intent is not to diminish the authority and rights of the Council. It is to provide the Fellowship with a viable constitution and bylaws, freeing it to address the needs the church will face as the new century dawns, to continue its service to and for the Fellowship.”

(From: “Revision of the General Council Constitution and Bylaws“, 1999)

In all fairness, Trask did effect a lot of change within the A/G, helping to position it for greater relevance and greater (possible) influence the best way he knew how. To do this, he successfully led efforts to marshall greater authority with the resident executives between executive presbyter meetings and between the less-frequent general presbyter meetings (for example, see the creation of the General Council Policy Manual resolution and revision to the Constitution and Bylaws passed in 1999). He led the “Vision for Transformation” reform, which is attempting to reorganize certain aspects of headquarters business for greater speed in responding to ministry demands. Under his watch the AG Loan Fund became the A/G Financial Solutions group, which he chairs and which currently has $2.5 billion in funds under management. He wiped out a $5 million deficit. He instituted or revitalized the Commission on Discipleship, currently chaired by Charles Crabtree, in an effort to examine and repair critical problems with our Fellowship’s discipleship failures. Under his watch, sovereign churches can once again credential ministers for local ministry (we used to have this in the form of “exhorter’s papers”). And under his watch women and minorities are invited to enjoy greater positions of influence.

What Kind of Change?

But some have criticized Trask for changes that may be detrimental to the future of the A/G. As one friend lamented:

“[Trask] has been possessed with gaining complete control and complete power since day one.”

When Margaret Poloma, church sociologist and historian, wrote her ground-breaking book, The Assemblies of God at the Crossroads, she noted that the A/G was heading toward increasing ossification and centralization. That we were well into moving away from our earliest days fires of revival and were turning from a cooperative fellowship of like-minded ministers into a centralized priestly class of bureaucracy. Unless the trend were addressed and reversed, the Assemblies of God would go the way of similar previous revivalistic movements: we would become respectable, mainlined, and institutionalized. And stagnant.

“Centralizing” power and authority in Springfield was probably not what Poloma had in mind as a way of reversing that trend. And that strategy has produced its own unique pressures, including the foretold stagnation (in America, at least).

Not Your Grandaddy’s Hierarchy

Note: The resolution linked to in this paragraph — without a hint of irony — re-defines “voluntary cooperative fellowship” as “voluntary obligatory cooperation and participation.” Know your terms!

What Poloma didn’t know back in the late 80’s has since become clear: the CEO-driven hierarchies of the 80’s and 90’s have flattened. Thanks to the Internet, postmodernism, and the Emergent conversation, what was once old (a voluntary cooperative fellowship of like-minded ministers banding together to escape ecclesiastical despotism) is becoming new once again.

And the pressure of the new is stressing the fault-lines in our CEO-driven model of ministry. It’s surely been stressing Trask, too.

The current crop young ministers and candidates for ministry in the A/G have been dyed in the wool on the flattened anti-hierarchical structures of the Internet age where respect is granted based on abilities, gifting, and real leadership skills rather than resumés, positions or titles. Leaving aside the theology of a flattened hierarchy, young ministers today (under 40, if you must draw a line somewhere) are heavily influenced by the Emergent conversation, Blackberrys, iPhones and iPods, prolific social networking technologies, instant and ready access via VOIP and IM and WiFi, loosely-joined networks of virtual relationships and short degrees of separation via networks like FaceBook, LinkedIN, and MySpace.

(Raise your hand if you have no idea what all that means. You’re not alone. And if the young guys keep fleeing we won’t have anybody to mentor you in the new culture!)

Young ministers like Mark Batterson, Paul Stewart, Brad Leach, Jeff Leake, Tory Farina, Bryan Koch, David Crosby, Jr. and Daniel McNaughton aren’t going to wait for the 50-and-older set to tell them who to follow after the General Council vote: they’re going to find out now who the best candidates are, what the top issues are, and what the larger A/G world is thinking without having anything filtered by headquarters. How, you ask, do they do this? Easy. Note: I stand corrected regarding the “I want to be George Wood when I grow up” FaceBook group. That group was actually created by Laura Wright because she simply loves George Wood (as do I!). She wrote: “I actually created the group back in April and it had nothing to do with the run for GS. I actually just liked the man when I met him in my Princeton days at the conference for A/G students at non-A/G seminaries. I also found groups entitled “AG Worldwide” annoying because they take themselves entirely too seriously.” They create a blog (FutureAG, AGLeadershipChange) or they set up whimsical FaceBook groups like “Eric Treuil for General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God,” “I want to be George Wood when I grow up,” or “Dan Morrison for General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God.”) and within days get thousands of unique visitors stopping by, hundreds of comments and contributions, and some interesting poll results.

At least these guys aren’t leaving: they’re trying to effect change by using the tools of influence and leadership (yes, leadership … using technology) they intuitively understand and have already mastered.

Meanwhile other frustrated young ministers are abandoning the Assemblies of God and have done so in reaction to this increasing trend toward centralization and denominational authority. As one young minister friend of mine from Michigan wrote:

“Under Trask’s leadership, there seems to have been more of an emphasis on building the Assemblies of God than the Kingdom of God — this is the primary reason I left the A/G. … [And] there are many other ministers and churches that have left the A/G under his leadership (even many larger churches).”

Pastor Phil Steiger, fellow PneumaBlogger, agrees:

“[T]here is change brewing in the Assemblies of God, and … there are a lot of people, especially younger ministers, who are wrestling with what it means to be part of this denomination.”

So, while the A/G and its current crop of leaders — with Trask at the helm — has become more bureaucratized (despite the Vision for Transformation) and hierarchical, the culture at-large has flattened. Because of this “authority vs. leadership” gap (or “driven vs. drawn,” if you prefer) some of our younger ministers are feeling left out in the cold, abandoned, ignored and, in some cases, ostracized because they have challenged the hierarchy or simply don’t get it.

What’s ironic is that this leadership-style chasm is not primarily driven by age. This becomes clear when elder ministry leaders of super-mega-churches like Maury Davis and his mentor J. Don George start weighing in on personal weblogs while the A/G headquarters doesn’t even offer one itself … well, it becomes clear that it’s a “paradigm” thing, not an age thing.

Change Is for the Young and Nimble

And so maybe, just maybe, Trask is feeling the pressure of this cultural gap — acutely. He is, after all, a self-confessed advocate for change and he’s admitted publicly that his effectiveness may be on the wane:

“I’ve watched men want to hold positions and offices and their effectiveness has waned … I don’t want that for this church. I’d rather leave when they’re saying ‘why’ than saying ‘when.'”

That same article mentions that Trask had recently gone on what must have been an exhausting tour, “conducting five Young Ministry Forums across the country where he has heard about the needs of the generation.” One commenter on a newsgroup noted that her pastor had been working with Trask on this task and that:

“[He] was working hard to understand, find out why and keep our fellowship’s younger pastors and preachers from leaving the A/G.”

And what did Trask conclude at the end of conducting these fora?

“It was enlightening. … For the church to be effective, it has to be willing to change.”

It seems likely to me that this resignation may have been partly catalyzed by this disappointing realization. Rather than just a “Back to the Altar” program for the man- and woman-in-the-pew, perhaps Trask is realizing that the church’s leadership itself needs to alter in some fundamental way. It wouldn’t seem to be a stretch to me that the Holy Spirit used these Young Minister fora to help Trask realize this epiphany. And perhaps, too, the timing for this leadership shift is perfect and perfectly divine. George Wood’s term is up. Charles Crabtree has announced his retirement. Bridges has been rumored to be considering retirement. And John Bueno was pulled back from the ledge (with Trask leaving that may change).

If Trask stayed on the only continuity would be provided by Alton Garrison, the newest member of the team.

Plus, Trask does seem to be sending a message in some of his interviews. For example, at this General Council delegates will have the opportunity to vote into reality a seat for not only a female minister but also a seat for an under-40 minister on the 17-member executive committee. When discussing this new opportunity, need for change and the for qualified younger leadership, Trask seemed to imply that his successor might well come from this same field of candidates:

“There are many, many capable men who are not on that 17-member board who are eligible. … One of those could surface.”

Perhaps Trask is hoping for (or foresees?) a non-sexagenarian pastor with national visibility to be tapped for the top slot. If so, he isn’t alone. Nearly every announcement of Trask’s resignation is accompanied by seemingly hyperbolic and high-strung phrases like: “pivotal moment” (John Maempa, AG Prayer Center), “significant turning point” (Bob Mitton, pastor of Red Oaks AG), “a watershed event in our fellowship” (Pastor Chip Sanders), and “time for significant change” (Gary Bruegman, National Institute of Marriage).

If it tells you anything, James Bridges has a contrary view:

“We don’t feel we are in a leadership crisis.”

But in all fairness, maybe Bridges didn’t get the memo sent around by AGTS and reported on by Brad Leach:

According to a recent email … from AGTS, only 8% of the 33,000+ credential holders in the AG are under the age of twenty-nine. And only 24% are under the age of 40. That means that unless we see an increase in young men and women being credentialed, we could be looking in the mirror in a few years at some tired faces.

Perhaps there is a crisis after all, the hyperbole ain’t such an exaggeration, and it truly is a good time for the current crop of leadership to step aside?

Other Tiring and Re-Tiring factors

According to scuttlebutt (but not verified by news reports, sorry), Trask recently underwent surgery around May of this year and one staffer reported that “It seems like it took a little longer to heal than they thought it would,” while another reported that Trask has exhibited some fine motor control with tasks like replacing the cap on a pen. It’s impossible to make an armchair diagnosis, but I’ve heard the speculation regarding deteriorating health so frequently that it may well be a looming concern.

And as with happens with Presidents and Prime Ministers, the stress of top leadership seems to accelerate age. Compare these two photos of Trask. The first is a portrait taken earlier in his leadership, which I found on the A/G website about two years ago, but I recognize it as dating from at least 1995. The second is from a recent interview given to the Springfield News-Leader in Springfield, Missouri.

Being the target at the top of the A/G food-chain wears you out, man.

Ever wonder what the Superintendent does? Apart from being the subject of wandering blog posts like this one? Here’s what pastor George P. Wood had to say about the job (this from the son of George O. Wood, the General Secretary):

I get the impression from reading some of the posts and comments that many are not familiar with what the general superintendent actually does.

Is everyone aware, for example, that the general superintendent is chairman of the board of AG Financial Services, which has $2.5 billion in funds under management? That he is the denomination’s liaison not merely to other American denominations and parachurch organizations (such as the National Association of Evangelicals), but also to over 200 international churches through AG World Fellowship (and similar trans-national organizations)? That he exercises a sizeable influence on national ministries (children, youth, adults), publications (GPH, Pentecostal Evangel, Enrichment), and our institutions of higher learning (Evangel, CBC, AGTS, etc.)?

Additionally, he is our primary spokesman in the national media as well as liaison to political organizations (the parties, the Congress, the White House)?

And, honestly, that barely covers the job description. Trask also has to put out fires — or avoid the fires — when issues from local churches rise to the level of national leadership attention (as I mentioned earlier). Good or bad, like it or not, even avoiding getting involved adds stress. Pile on committee meetings, policy meetings, presbytery meetings, conducting fora, preaching, infinite administrative tasks, hosting visiting dignitaries and General Superintendents from abroad, scandalous NAE fallout (read: Haggard), and on and on, I’m surprised he hasn’t visibly aged more than he has.

Must be all the jowly greetings with a “holy kiss” that keeps his cheeks baby-skin smooth.

So, why, again, is he leaving?

Well, he’s not really leaving leaving. I’m not sure how many or which of his board memberships, chairmanships, and other organizational entanglements come with being the Superintendent, or which ones come with him simply being Tom Trask, International Man of Pentecostal Intrigue. According to the reports, he’s involved in leadership in at least the following:

• Chairman of the World Assemblies of God Congress
• Sits on the board of administration for the National Association of Evangelicals
• Sits on the board of directors for the National Religious Broadcasters
• Chairman of the board of AG Financial Services
• Sites on the Board of Directors of the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary
• Sits on the Board of Directors of Central Bible College
• Ex Officio member of the Board of Directors of Evangel University
• Chairman of the Board of Directors for Global University
• Sits on the Board of Directors for the Global Pastors Network
• Serves on the Commission on Discipleship

And Trask has stated his desire to be an interim pastor for churches in transition. So, he plans to stay in active ministry, and he definitely plans to keep working.

If he’s really serious about that, I can recommend a church in the New York district that could use his personal attention.

But, ultimately, everything you’ve just read is pure speculation, because the Reverend Thomas Trask isn’t saying. I tend to agree with one of my non-minister friends, Doug, who wrote:

“Trask’s resignation before the end of his term begs the question ‘why’. … as an interested observer I agree that the question ‘why’ is a salient one. Saying ‘follow the Lord’s lead’ is indeed a non-answer to the question ‘why’.”

And since Trask has said he sought out “the Lord as to his will,” the question remains: what led him to seek the Lord’s will about quitting early? Maybe, after this week and Trask’s reading of a statement, we will have satisfactory answers.

Who will succeed Trask?

If you’re not fed up with my random and shaky speculations yet, stay tuned for the next post.

Comments are open. You are free to take me to the woodshed now.

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