CELEBRATION OF RECONCILIATION
L
eaders from across Pentecostalism gathered at the
historic Mason Temple and world headquarters for
the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) in Memphis
on March 19 for the annual Pentecostal/Charismatic
Churches of North America (PCCNA) meeting and to
celebrate the 25th-year anniversary of what is known as
the “Memphis Miracle.”
PCCNA Prayer Commission Chairman and International
Prayer Coordinator for the Church of God, P. Douglas
Small delivered the concluding message and challenge
for the evening.
Small challenged attendees to learn from the past
while looking to the future. He noted how deeply early
Christians relied upon the Holy Spirit. The fledgling group
of Christians grew exponentially in a sea of paganism. They
did it with secret meetings and an outlawed religion. They
did it with no buildings, no budget, and few resources, and
virtually no favor from political powers. Yet, these formally
untrained followers changed the world!
“Can it happen in our day,” Small asked. “In those early
days, ordinary believers fellowshipped with the fire, and in
the flow of their daily lives, they carried the gospel where
they lived and worked. They were salt and light!”
“Our future is in our past,” Small noted. “It’s found in the
DNA of prayer at the intersection of mission. With a deep
dependence on God, and with the Holy Spirit burning like
fire in our bellies, He will move us to the next town and to
the next generation.”
The sparks of the Azusa Street Mission and other
centers of Pentecostal outpourings spread the Pentecostal
revival around the world. “What did God really want to do
at Azusa Street?” Small asked. “He wanted to give birth
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to a new race unseen in modern history. The apostle
Peter called it the “chosen race.” It’s not the black, white,
Hispanic, or Asian race. It’s the select race, a church that
would transcend skin color, becoming a royal priesthood
and a holy nation to the nations - a church that gathered
the speech of heaven and declared prophetically what
God wanted to do on earth.”
Small challenged attendees, “This is our hour again. We
need to embrace what happened at Azusa Street. We must
go back to the future and discover our prayerful, missional
roots one more time. Our early Pentecostal forebears
had little formal education. They preached from burning
hearts. Most didn’t have a clue about sermon preparation,
but shared what they learned praying over ragged,
marked-up Bibles stained with tears. And rising from
calloused knees, they humbly declared that what God had
done for them He would do for others. A true Pentecostal
encounter changes everything: our view of God, the devil,
sin, holiness, friendships, enemies, the world”
“Only the Holy Spirit’s power can reach the culture
that we are in,” Small said. “We must go back to the future.
God is inviting us to join Him.”
Noting the events of the 1994 meeting, Assemblies
of God Assistant General Superintendent Alton Garrison
reminded attendees how at the beginning of the 20th
century Pentecostals led the way in interracial relations,
but later bowed to the cultural norms of the day in
separating themselves.
The Backdrop
A quarter century ago, delegations from the white
Pentecostal Fellowship of North America (PFNA) came