There was a time when a pregnant teenager was disdained and labeled as a “bad girl.” Sometimes she “disappeared” from her community for a time, until the birth of her child. Her options regarding her “unplanned” baby usually included either making a plan for adoption or seeking an illegal abortion.

That scenario changed somewhat following the passing of Roe vs. Wade, legalizing abortion in 1973. Recent statistics indicate that since then an estimated 63,000,000 babies have been aborted in the United States. Though the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in 2022, the overall abortion numbers in the United States continue to climb.

In 1992, right in the middle of the “abortion crisis,” the Rev. Marvin Whitfield and his wife, Regina, recognized the need of offering an alternative plan for young expectant mothers. So, with God’s help and the support of the church, they established an outreach known as Alternative To Abortion Ministries (ATAM). That name was changed to Royal Home Ministries in 2007 as the services transitioned from Salemburg, North Carolina, to Falcon, bringing it under the umbrella of Falcon Children’s Home (FCH). For more than 30 years now, Royal Home Ministries (RHM) has offered hope for single teenage mothers.

At an early age, Karelys sensed a divine mandate from God to devote her life toward ministering to teens. She and her husband, Israel, whom she met while in college, served as youth pastors in a Pentecostal church in central Florida for several years. When they relocated to North Carolina, they were introduced to the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) and became licensed ministers in the North Carolina Conference.

Karelys, Puerta Rican by birth, grew up in a Christian home. In fact, both her mother and her father were lay ministers with the Assemblies of God. Her background in ministry and her proficiency in both English and Spanish placed her quickly in specific areas of service in both the North Carolina Conference and in Northwood Temple PH Church in Fayetteville. On the conference level, Karelys received her ministerial license under Bishop Danny Nelson and served as administrative assistant (AA) to Fernando Angulo, conference director of Hispanic Ministries. She continues to serve on the local level as youth pastor and worship leader at Iglesia Northwood.

During her service in the conference office, Karelys became acquainted with Marysol Martinez, overseer at the Royal Home. She quickly became a faithful supporter of the ministry to single mothers. When Mrs. Martinez retired, Kareyls applied for the position and was hired immediately. She has served as the licensed director of RHM since February 2019.

Karelys admits that housing and ministering to pregnant teenagers, though greatly rewarding, presents a variety of challenges. Since the Royal Home accepts only single girls, they bring with them assorted circumstances. She recalls even having received a pregnant twelve-year-old child. Many of the girls in need of maternity care are in the state-run foster care system. Some are victims of human trafficking or domestic abuse. Others have chosen alternative lifestyles that resulted in their needing assistance.

“It’s alarming how many of our residents are in need of hope and healing and a chance for a better life, in spite of the circumstances they have experienced,” she says. “Because they are here, they have an opportunity for a successful future.”
Royal Home Ministries exists not only for pregnant girls in need of maternity care, it also provides—in separate housing—an after-care ministry for teenage moms who have already given birth. RHM helps many of these young women graduate high school, learn important life skills, find jobs, and begin to live productive lives.

“We are pro-life; not just pro-baby,” says Karelys. “Our goal is to see these young mothers heal, grow, learn, and leave prepared to be independent. This success happens only through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Joey Leggett, administrator of both Falcon Children’s Home and RHM, commends the Whitfields for launching ATAM. “As a result, ATAM/RHM has touched the lives of about 860 mothers and babies,” he says.

He also praises the efficiency with which Karelys directs the ministry. “She is a gifted woman of God who represents FCH and the IPHC very well,” he says.

“I feel privileged to be involved in such an effective pro-life ministry,” says Karelys “I am honored to help provide hope and a brighter future for young women, some of whom feel hopeless.”

For 30 years, the Royal Home Ministries in Falcon, North Carolina, has stood as a place of hope, under the anointed leadership of people of promise, demonstrating the true meaning of PRO-LIFE.

(L-R) IPHC Presiding Bishop Doug; Beacham, Pastor Jason Cook; Joey Leggett, Administrator of the Falcon Children’s Home; and Karelys Pereira, director of RHM; at the 2024 March for Life held on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

The RHM Advisory Committee (L-R): Rev. Phillip Bland, Karelys Pereira, Pearlie Coleman, Terri Prestwood, Rev. Travis Castle, Rev. Casey Strickland

Karelys Pereira interpreted for Joey Leggett in Chile at the inauguration of the James D. Leggett Foundation.

The Mission M25 Diaper Run travels coast to coast every year in September raising pro-life awareness. The motorcyclists collect diapers, wipes and monetary donations for facilities that are making a difference. In 2025, M25 contributed much needed supplies and over $34,000 to the Royal Home Ministries.

The first event is the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther. The triggering event is usually considered when Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses to the Wittenberg church door on October 31, 1517. This year marks the 500^th anniversary of this significant event in history. From Martin Luther, we emphasize the priority of Scripture for doctrine, we affirm justification by faith alone, and we confess the universal priesthood of all believers.

Each of these is important in its own way for Pentecostal believers. We have a high view of the Bible and recognize it as the written Word of God, as well as bearing witness to the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Messiah of Israel and the eternal living Word of God. Justification by faith frees us from the condemnation of the measuring stick of our own works in seeking to prove ourselves worthy of God’s love. Instead, God’s love is given to us as an act of grace and our response is one of faith in what God has done in Christ for us. Thus, our “works” take their place as a witness to God’s redeeming grace and blessings, and not a place of self-righteousness. Finally, the universal priesthood of all believers means that every Christian is a “priest” and can come before God. It also means that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are available for every follower of Jesus, and not just for those who gain recognition in public ministries.

The second figure is the Anglican priest John Wesley, and the renewal movement he began in the 18th century in England that came to be known as Methodism. Our understanding of holiness, as a manifestation of divine love, flows from Wesley’s understanding of the Bible. Our first four doctrinal statements reflect Wesley’s version of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. From Wesley’s movement, we gain the foundations of our ecclesiology. This ecclesiology, partly reflected in our Episcopal/congregational form of government, is one of the reasons IPHC has affirmed the fivefold ministry gifts of Ephesians 4, and grown in our understanding of these ministries. From Wesley, we have learned care for the poor and the power of the gospel to combine redemption with the divine purpose of blessing to and for the world.

The IPHC was birthed in the cradle of the late 19th century holiness movement. From Wesley, we learned that God has begun a good work in our lives that goes beyond justification by faith and forgiveness of sins. Often called the “second blessing,” or “sanctification as a second definite work of grace,” we experience victory over the dominion of sin and are empowered to live as instruments of righteous blessing in the world. In many respects, sanctification is the life-flow of grace that runs through the kingdom of God. Importantly, from Wesley, we have our Arminian understanding of God’s saving grace, predestination, election, and human response.

The third is the early 20th century Pentecostal revival at Azusa Street in Los Angeles. Through this revival, we saw the distinction between the Holy Spirit’s work in sanctification and the Holy Spirit’s work empowering us for global mission. We continue our journey personally and corporately allowing the Holy Spirit to use His gifts through us to bless the world.

For some time, I have been reflecting on our Wesleyan background. I grew up in a Pentecostal Holiness pastor’s home. My teenage years were spent under the ministry of the late Rev. John W. Swails at the Franklin Springs Pentecostal Holiness Church, Franklin Springs, Georgia. I still remember the impact of his sermons during a period when he was reading John Wesley’s Journals. Each Sunday morning there were powerful accounts from the Journals that stirred my teenage heart. I attended Emmanuel College as a junior college and began my initial preparation for ministry in this Wesleyan Pentecostal framework.

After graduating from the University of Georgia, I was accepted at Duke Divinity School (Methodist) in Durham, North Carolina, and at Union Theological Seminary (Presbyterian) in Richmond, Virginia, (now Union Presbyterian Seminary). Torn between the two graduate programs, I finally decided to attend Union in Richmond.

There were several reasons for that decision: 1) I had a very good IPHC church situation at the Ray of Hope IPHC, about a mile from the Union Theological Seminary (UTS) campus. Rev. Carl Campbell offered me an associate position that allowed me to attend seminary full time; 2) I had an uncle, Buster LeDoyen in Portsmouth, Virginia, who was married to one of my mother’s sisters, Christine. He was a Presbyterian layman whose life reflected God’s grace and the best of Presbyterianism. The quality of his life influenced my decision. To this day, I can still hear my mother, who was Arminian, and Uncle Buster lovingly argue about predestination when we would visit. Neither converted the other! 3) When I called the two schools concerning financial aid, the Presbyterians paid almost my entire education! In retrospect, perhaps there was a sense of “predestination and election” in their generosity!

In my years of study at Union I read John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, Emil Brunner, Reinhold Niebuhr, and other Reformed theologians. Those were years of finding my way intellectually along the Protestant continuum of various shades of Reformed Calvinism and my Wesleyan background. My instructors were all gracious and made no effort to “convert” me. They gave me the tools to think biblically and theologically, and I hope I have had some level of success in applying to tools.

With that said, I have no interest in engaging in a theological controversy over these issues. I am very grateful for Reformed writers/speakers such as John Piper, the late Tim Keller, and R.C. Sproul. While I don’t always agree with them, I learn much as I open my mind and heart to their insights. I figure we are all followers of Jesus if we’ve been born again. I have this fantasy that Jesus leads workshops in heaven where He instructs all who have engaged in fights over doctrines. He tells us where we were wrong, commands us to hug and love one another, and get on with eternal life!

But at the end of the day, and in the later crucibles of pastoral ministry and denominational leadership, I came to affirm our Wesleyan-Arminian theological heritage. I find that our Wesleyan-Arminian tradition gave me a better perspective on the Bible, human experience, and the mystery of divine grace and human response. I find our Holiness-Pentecostal understanding of the Bible provides a liberating and joyful understanding of the kingdom of God.

In recent months, I’ve had several IPHC ministers ask me about our Wesleyan-Arminian roots. So, I offer you some resources that I have found particularly fruitful. Enjoy your reading and share with me some of what you are reading!

• I think the best place to start on John Wesley is Wesley himself, particularly his A Plain Account of Christian Perfection. I also recommend John Wesley’s Forty-Four Sermons. You can them through your favorite online bookstore or find excellent resources at https://wesley.nnu.edu/, the Wesley Center Online.

• I found Elizabeth Jay’s The Journal of John Wesley – A Selection, to be an easy read, concise overview of Wesley’s ministry (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987).

• Henry D. Rack, Reasonable Enthusiast: John Wesley and the Rise of Methodism (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992 edition). This is a major study (over 600 pages) with detailed notes. Well worth the read.

• A good introduction to Wesleyan theology is William M. Greathouse and H. Ray Dunning, An Introduction to Wesleyan Theology (Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press, 1989).

• Randy L. Maddox provides insight into Wesleyan theology and life with Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology (Nashville: Kingswood Books, 1994).

• The late Thomas C. Oden has written extensively about Wesley and Wesleyan theology. I recommend his four-volume series John Wesley’s Teachings (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014). I had the privilege of a lunch meal with Dr. Oden a few years ago in Oklahoma City. We had an engaging conversation regarding IPHC Wesleyan roots and contemporary Methodist thought.

• John Wesley: A Biography by Stephen Tomkins is an interesting read, providing a look at some of the quirkiness of Wesley (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003).
• The Journal of John Wesley remains an informative and inspiring read.

• An excellent overview comparing Arminian and Calvinist thought is Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities by Roger Olson (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006). I found this to be a fair and non-polemical assessment of Arminianism compared to Calvinism.

• The IPHC has excellent resources on holiness on our website. I draw your attention to Noel Brooks, Scriptural Holiness and the PDF of J. Holmes, God’s Provision for Holiness. More recent studies include IPHC ministers Paul Evans, Holiness Reconsidered (Xulon Press), and Evans, Hope for Holiness (Westbow Press),  and Terry Tramel, The Beauty of the Balance: Toward an Evangelical-Pentecostal Theology (Franklin Springs, GA: LifeSprings Resources, 2012).

By Doug Beacham

Holiness is at the core of our relationship with God. Psalm 96:9 says: “Oh worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth” (NKJV).

The IPHC has chosen to focus this year on “The Beauty of Holiness.” From Scripture we discover God’s holiness, how God makes us holy, what it means for us to be holy and how holy people share God’s love in this world.

The IPHC was birthed in 1898 as part of a holiness revival that swept the world. That revival emphasized God’s holiness and His command and provision—because He provides the ability for us to “be holy, as I (God) am holy” (see Leviticus 11:44, 45; 19:2; 20:7, 26; 1 Peter 1:16).

That emphasis included the command that we personally live holy lives reflecting the character of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:4; Colossians 1:22; 3:12; 1 Thessalonians

4:3, 4; 2 Timothy 1:9; 1 Peter 1:15). It also included the command that the church, the Body of Christ in the world, live holy as a light to the nations (Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2, 21; 26:19; 28:9; 1 Peter 1:16).

Our movement was birthed in the Wesleyan holiness perspective of Christian theology. John Wesley’s A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, as well as the insights from those who followed him, is how we have historically viewed holiness in the Scriptures.

Wesleyan holiness provides us with a two-fold work of grace through Christ’s redeeming blood. First, in pardon of sin, the guilt we carry for our actual sins are forgiven through Christ. We receive this gift of pardon and justification by faith. We do not earn forgiveness of sins; rather we receive by faith what Christ as provided for us in His death and resurrection.

Second, though we are forgiven of our actual past sins, there often remains a war between our new birth nature and our carnal, fallen nature. IPHC theologians have consistently interpreted Romans 7 as the Apostle Paul’s description of the believer’s struggle in the flesh following conversion. Victory over our fallen nature comes as we fully surrender our will, thoughts, and desires to Christ, and receive by faith the gift of sanctification provided in Jesus Christ (Romans 6–8).

This is how we experience deliverance from the bondage of sin and its addictions that so easily ensnare us (Hebrews 12:1). This is the hope and joy of our present life: Though we experience temptations of varying degrees that seek to have dominion over us, Christ has provided the way for us to resist sinful dominion and live under His righteous and holy dominion (Romans 6:11–22).

The IPHC Articles of Faith 9 and 10 state our position on sanctification. The phrase, “second definite, instantaneous work of grace,” refers to God’s grace in Christ that brings victory over our carnal nature. While this can occur at pardon and justification, it often occurs later in our walk with Christ, subsequent to regeneration. Sanctification is God’s provision for dealing with our carnal nature through Christ purifying our minds, hearts, will, and bodies.

Sanctification is definite and instantaneous. This refers to a spiritual awareness in time when we surrender fully to Christ. As N.J. Holmes wrote in his book God’s Provision for Holiness in 1902: “The crucifixion (of our flesh) will not take long when we are ready to submit to it. It may take us some time to get ready for the cross.”

It is important that we be clear about the meaning of the phrase “work of grace.” It is not about our work; it is about the work of Christ. We surrender—God sanctifies! We receive sanctification the same way we receive pardon and justification, by faith in Christ’s work in our behalf.

This is why the holy life is about joy, peace, love and hope in Christ. It is not about legalism, judgmental attitudes, spiritual defeat and hopelessness. This is why the IPHC identified “The Beauty of Holiness” a core value and focus. This phrase, the beauty of holiness, occurs in 1 Chronicles 16:29; 2 Chronicles 20:21; Psalm 29:2; and Psalm 96:9. It describes the glory, honor and adornment of the Lord. Throughout this year and beyond, insights from these passages, as well as from the totality of Scripture, will help us on this journey with our holy God.

I am convinced that our witness to Jesus Christ must be rooted in holy living. I mean this in two ways. First, the beauty of holiness invites us to exhibit holiness as the body of Christ, the church, living holy in the world. While holiness and sanctification denotes separation from the world, it is not isolation from the world.

Our separation unto Christ as His body, prepares us to live the midst of this confused, hurting and hell-bent world. As a movement, my prayer is that the Holy Spirit will birth in us a corporate sense of holiness, which speaks to every aspect of our witness in the world.

Second, holiness needs to be viewed as a significant element in evangelism. The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:14 speaks of the power of a believing spouse to sanctify an entire family. In the most intimate of human relationships, marriage and children, holiness is greater than unbelief! I believe this is true across the social needs of our world.

The beauty of holiness is greater than immorality, greater than injustice, greater than human trafficking. It is greater than hunger, racism and greed. The beauty of holiness is greater than any corruption of sin. In the light of that beauty, the corruption that is in the world is seen for the devastation it is, and this beauty draws people to Christ. May the body of Jesus Christ arise with joyful and life-giving holiness as a witness to this dying world!

 

 

 

 

This article was published in the January 2016 issue of Encourage.

The 30th General Conference, meeting July 15-17, 2026, in Mobile, Alabama, isn’t just another church meeting. It’s where we come together for three essential purposes that shape our identity and fuel our mission.

1. We Worship Together

There’s something powerful about gathering with thousands of fellow believers to lift our voices in praise. General Conference worship services create moments you simply can’t experience in your local congregation—not because your church isn’t wonderful, but because there’s a unique anointing when the body comes together across geographic and cultural boundaries.

This year, we’ll be inspired by messages from Rev. Steve DeNeff and Mark L. Williams. We look for these servants of God to challenge us, encourage us, and point us toward deeper faithfulness. Whether you’re wrestling with ministry burnout, seeking fresh vision, or simply hungry for God’s presence, General Conference worship creates space for divine encounter.

2. We Connect with One Another

Ministry can be isolating. Pastors and church leaders often serve in small communities or face challenges that feel unique to their context. General Conference breaks that isolation by bringing together multiple congregations’ worth of wisdom, experience, and friendship.

The conversations in hallways between sessions, the meals shared with colleagues from across the country, the training workshops where you discover someone else has wrestled with the exact same issue you’re facing—these connections sustain us through the difficult work of discipling and being discipled. They remind us that we’re not alone, that we’re part of something bigger than ourselves, and that the challenges we face are shared by brothers and sisters who genuinely want to help.

Many lifelong friendships and ministry partnerships have been born at General Conference. Don’t underestimate the value of looking across a crowded room and seeing yourself as part of a tribe.

3. We Do the Work That Shapes Our Future

General Conference is inspirational, yes, but it’s also foundational to our denominational identity and to the purposeful work that goes on in local churches. This is where we elect leadership, adopt policies, and make decisions that will guide the IPHC as a movement for the next four years. If you’re eligible to vote as a minister or certified lay delegate, your participation isn’t optional; it’s essential.

The theme ‘Arise for Mission’ captures this responsibility perfectly. We’re not gathering just to celebrate the past or maintain the status quo. We’re seeking God’s direction for how IPHC should respond to a rapidly changing world while remaining faithful to our calling. Your voice, your vote, your perspective—they all matter.

Even if you’re not a voting delegate, attending General Conference helps you understand the heart behind denominational decisions and gives you ownership of our shared mission. When you return to your local church, you won’t just know what was decided; you’ll understand why decisions were made, and you’ll be equipped to help your congregation embrace it.

Three Ways to Engage with General Conference 2026

PRAY

Begin praying now for the 30th General Conference. Pray for wisdom for our leaders, unity among delegates, open hearts among attendees, and clear direction from the Holy Spirit. Consider organizing a prayer team in your local church dedicated to interceding for this gathering.

REGISTER

Don’t wait—early bird registration rates are available through June 15, 2026. Visit IPHC.org/generalconference to register today.

MOBILIZE

If you’re a leader, make plans now to attend and encourage others from your congregation to join you. Consider making General Conference part of a family trip! Mobile offers excellent attractions for all ages, and combining spiritual renewal with family time can be transformative.

The 30th General Conference is your opportunity to be part of something significant. Whether you come primarily for worship, connections, or to contribute to the work that shapes our future, your presence matters. We’ll see you in Mobile!

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER @ IPHC.ORG/GENERALCONFERENCE

In these last months of 2015 we bring to a close our yearlong focus on Pentecost. This doesn’t mean that after December we stop being Pentecostal! Rather, it means we continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ as His Spirit moves over this earth.
We began this year focusing on “Who is the Holy Spirit?” And, “What is He doing in the earth?” As we approached Pentecost Sunday on May 24, we prayed for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit among us.

I rejoiced to read accounts from around the world of people baptized in the Holy Spirit! Over the summer we looked at the fruit of the Spirit and how the Holy Spirit is shaping our personal and corporate character.
From October through December, we are focusing on the gifts of the Spirit. A Pentecostal church is a charismatic church. That means that we welcome the gifts of grace that God pours out upon His children.

In this issue of Encourage, you will read Dr. Harold Dalton’s review of the late Bishop B.E. Underwood’s IPHC classic, Spiritual Gifts: Ministries and Manifestations. Originally published in 1984, this book provides the usual categories IPHC uses in helping us understand the Apostle Paul’s writings about spiritual gifts. For a moment, let’s review the Apostle Paul’s teachings about spiritual gifts.

1. Equipping gifts: While all the gifts have a ministry function, some of them are more directly involved in the ongoing ministry life of the Body of Christ. This is first seen in the equipping gifts. These are sometimes called “ascension gifts” or “the gifts of Christ” and are found in Ephesians 4:11–16. The gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are foundational for the body of Christ. These are persons that Christ has gifted to lead and equip the body of Christ.

2. Ministry gifts: These gifts are named in Romans 12:3–8. They are sometimes called “gifts of the Father” or “motivational gifts.” That means that these gifts reflect the unique talents and abilities each of us has as part of our nature. These are “native abilities,” the things we do well and like to do. They are the things that “motivate” us in life. These gifts are meant to be sanctified for God’s glory and used in the growth of Christ’s body on earth.

3. Supernatural manifestations: There are miraculous manifestations of the Holy Spirit that are given to enable the body to respond to particular needs. Bishop Underwood called them “surprises” of the Spirit. Every follower of Jesus should have an open heart for whenever and however the Holy Spirit wants to manifest Himself through us. These gifts are reflected in 1 Corinthians 12:8–10 and sometimes called the “nine gifts of the Spirit.”

My prayer for the IPHC is that in these months we will again discover, develop and deploy these ministry and manifestation gifts in our service to the Lord, to His church, and to the world. But as we focus on these various gifts, it’s important to remember some Scriptural guidance.

First, we are not superior Christians because of spiritual gifts. Whatever our gifts, it’s not about us! It’s about Jesus building His Church (Ephesians 4:12–16)!

Second, spiritual gifts are given to build up the body of Christ. We need one another and the gifts at work in each of us. A Spirit-filled congregation is a community of people who recognize God at work in one another. We see in our brothers and sisters someone whom Christ has gifted. We need them, and they need us (see 1 Cor. 12–27).

Third, when we minister in the anointing of spiritual gifts, we minister in the power of the Holy Spirit. Even with our natural abilities, it is the Holy Spirit who makes them fruitful for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 12:4–7).

Fourth, our gifts do not define us. We are born again, sanctified, followers of Jesus. Our identity is in that we are sons and daughters of the Living God. Spiritual gifts are not meant to elevate someone above others; spiritual gifts serve to elevate the name and power of Jesus above all (Romans 12:3–6).

Fifth, love, or agape in the Greek, is “the more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31 through 14:1). I like to think of 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14 as two slices of bread. Both slices are good—really good, in fact—and are seen first. But the best part is the meat (or, for some of you, the peanut butter and jelly) in the center! That’s what 1 Corinthians 13 is: it’s the meat, the heart, the real substance and purpose of spiritual gifts. It’s about love!

We see this clearly expressed by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:31. He tells us: “But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way” (NKJV). Then he introduces to the chapter we know as 1 Corinthians 13. This love is not like the love of this world. Agape love is love defined by the cross of Christ (John 3:16–17). It is the love disciples have among themselves that reveals the truth of Jesus to the world (John 13:35). It is the love that controls how I relate to my brothers or sisters in Christ (Galatians 5:13; Ephesians 4:2; 1 Peter 4:8). Yes, Pentecostalism is about the fullness of the gifts active in the church today. But it starts with love.

 

 

 

 

 

This article was published in the October 2015 issue of Encourage.

This coming Sunday, June 5th, is Pentecost Sunday. As we prepare our hearts, I want to share a story with you. Recently Susan and I visited Prague and toured the Castle Church of St. Vitus Cathedral. I noticed the artistic window that is in the photo below. Unfortunately, my photo does not capture the brilliance of the sun’s rays that illuminated the fire of the Holy Spirit falling upon the 120 gathered in the Upper Room. For us, as Christians who are part of the Pentecostal movement, it was a powerful image, and I made a point of pointing it out to our guide.

St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague, Czech Republic

I mention the guide for several reasons. One, a personal tour guide is a great way to see Prague. Second, she was well-informed, an active 60-year-old, very friendly and kind, who eagerly turned our original four-hour tour into six hours. Third, there was time to talk about the religious atmosphere of Prague and the nation.

At one point I asked her about the religious make-up of the nation: was it primarily Catholic or mixed Protestant?

“The Czech Republic is mainly non-religious,” she replied. “This is not because of when we were under Soviet communist control. As a nation we have tended to be secular. We have churches but people go to them for concerts.”

I asked her, “Do people celebrate Christmas?”

“Oh, yes. Most families decorate on Christmas Eve, and some will go to a church for a concert. We do not put emphasis on Santa Claus. Rather, children are told that the Baby Jesus will bring them gifts.” She laughed. “Parents tell children that the Baby Jesus is watching to see if they are behaving.”

In response I had several thoughts:

• Jesus is primarily for children and is a mix of spy, judge, and gift-giver.
• I remembered that Czech culture is the home of a way of living described in the term Bohemian, with its anti-establishment orientation
• She described the dominant western world spirit, life without a need for God, life with monuments to an ancient world of faith.

Later we toured the Pinkas Synagogue of Prague. Our guide pointed out an old shoe in the synagogue that was used in wedding ceremonies. That opened the window for us to ask her if she knew the Bible background to that? She said no, she did not know it. I asked if she had read the Book of Ruth, and again the answer was no. We used that opportunity to talk about the use of the sandal in Ruth 4:7-12 and the connection to the lineage of Jesus. We encouraged her to read the book of Ruth, and Luke 7:11-17 because of the connection to the city gates at Nain and the miracle Jesus performed there (she had not read Luke either). Needless to say, Susan and I remember this wonderful lady and pray that she has read Ruth and Luke, and that the Holy Spirit will open her mind and spirit to the reality of God’s life.

I mention this personal story not only because of the Pentecost stained glass window and Pentecost Sunday, but also because of the story of Ruth and the importance of seeking ways to share the story of Jesus. Ruth is commonly read in synagogues during the Jewish festival of Shavuot, or Pentecost. It was an agricultural festival, and the Ruth account shows how the family of God is open to anyone who will believe, including a Moabite woman. If you have Eugene Peterson’s Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work, read chapter two for an engaging look at Ruth and Pentecost.

The story of Ruth, and the story of the Prague tour guide, came together for me in a recent article by Thom Rainer about the lack of evangelism among Christians. The spirit of the age, with its emphasis on a form of toleration that means all views are equal, and some are more equal based on the changing winds of political and social expediency, leads us to believe that we are imposing, or insensitive, or triggering, or (the worst accusation) judgmental and condemning, if we share the good news of the gospel.

For Christians, the reality is that our faith is an evangelistic faith, meant to be shared in the power of the Holy Spirit. That means the Holy Spirit guides us in how to best approach those with whom we encounter. In some instances, the Holy Spirit leads us to simply be quiet and patiently listen. Other times the Spirit leads us to speak boldly with love. At others the Spirit awakens us to the inquiring heart in someone’s question. Regardless of the situation, Pentecost is at the heart of evangelism. Pentecost is the heart of God’s loving nature, revealed in the passion of His Son Jesus, and manifested through the Spirit in the grace and wisdom of our engagement with those we meet. My prayer for us this Pentecost Sunday is that our hearts will be moved by God’s seeking heart, and that we will discover fresh expressions of sharing God’s loving heart. Like the one hundred twenty on the Day of Pentecost described in Acts 2, let’s be filled with the Spirit and share the good news of Jesus Christ.

Click here to watch a special Pentecost greeting from Dr. Beacham!

Earnest Hemmingway’s novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls, published in 1940, immortalized the closing line of an abstract poem, No Man Is an Island, by John Donne: “…never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.” In his unique way, Donne was referring to the practice of “funeral tolling,” which was common in his time.

However, instead of “tolling” for those facing physical separation through death, a Pentecostal Holiness Church in the Appalachian Conference rings a bell each time a person in their congregation surrenders his of her life to Christ.

When Jeff and Tammy Pickett accepted the pastorate of the Hillsville congregation, the church had no bell. Actually, there wasn’t much of a need for one. Their first service included only eleven people in a building in desperate need of renovation.

Pastor Jeff admits to being reluctant to accept the role of pastor in his own hometown. “Everybody knew me and could remember my past,” he says. “I was a drunk; a functional alcoholic.”

Jeff married Tammy Ashworth in 1985 but he took the addiction and abuse with him into the marriage. Their relationship went smoothly for a few years; however, by the end of 2001, the couple’s homelife had become so toxic and intolerable, Tammy packed her bags, took their two daughters and walked out.

Tammy’s decision served as a wakeup call for Jeff. You might say God rang a warning bell somewhere in his conscience, nudging him into thinking seriously about the direction of his life and the losses he stood to encounter, unless he made some serious changes. He knew what he had to do. So, on Christmas day, sitting alone at a picnic table, he had a heart-to-heart conversation with the Lord. God told him he was at a stop sign and he need to make a decision, not only for his marriage and family, but also for his soul.
That was the turning point for Jeff’s life. He vowed that, with God’s help, 2002 would be more than a new year. It would be a second chance for him and his family. He enrolled in a local rehab center for recovering addicts and attended the daily meetings faithfully. He never missed a session for over a year.

He began serving the Lord every way possible, knowing that a deeper calling awaited his surrender.
God, who had confirmed that Jeff had a pastor’s heart, restored the Pickett’s marriage and set them as a team on a course of service in His kingdom. When the family began attending the Pentecostal Holiness Church in Galax, Virginia (Tammy’s hometown), Pastor Ron Fredericks asked Jeff if he would be willing to preach at the local rehab center. He accepted the challenge. That ministry helped prepare him for God’s plan for his future.

Jeff was ordained as a minister of the gospel in 2008. A year earlier, in January 2007, as Jeff and Tammy sought the Lord on a Danial Fast, their conference superintendent, Bishop Ray Kingrea, approached Jeff with a pastoral opportunity: three congregations in the conference were in need of pastors: Pine Mountain, St. Paul, and Hillsville.

Though the St. Paul church building had been renovated recently to accommodate a growing congregation, Jeff’s desire was to pastor Pine Mountain. “So, I ‘tried out’ for the church and was not chosen,” he says. But Bishop Kingrea was persistent, urging him to pastor in his hometown of Hillsville. Jeff finally relented and agreed to minister there for three weeks. “If it isn’t a ‘fit,’ he said, “I will wait until another opportunity appears.”

That was 18 years ago, and the Picketts are still leading the Hillsville Pentecostal Holiness Church. Under the hand of God, the building and the congregation changed quickly. From ministering to a group of 11 people, Pastor Pickett found himself preaching in two Sunday morning services by 2010. Two years later, he knew the church must purchase property for a new building that would serve his growing flock and their vision and goals for reaching the lost.

The Hillsville congregation dedicated their new facility in 2014. Then in 2016, they added a gymnasium. Today, in a small town with a population of 2400, the church ministers to over 1200 members, some of whom drive an hour-and-a-half to worship at the Hillsville PH.
Pastors Jeff and Tammy Pickett give all credit to the Holy Spirit for the church’s growth and progress. “Anything that’s outreach,” is how they describe the church’s mission statement. Addiction recovery and counseling services and the purchase of a thrift store are just samples of outreach ministries provided by this Place of Hope. In 2025 alone, the congregation contributed over $700,000 to world and local missions.

Now, about the bell: one day, a local farmer contacted Pastor Pickett and made him an offer for consideration. “Pastor, I have a large bell in my barn,” he said. “It has been there for years, gathering dust. If you want it, you can have it for church.”

What would I do with a bell? Jeff wondered. Then, God gave him an idea: Why not ring the bell every time someone is saved in one of our worship services?
The bell tolls often now in Hillsville, not as a gimmick or even as a ceremonial gesture but as a declaration of hope to the surrounding community and to the world that another sinner has traded death for eternal life.

Lois was described as a wife of noble character to her first husband, the Rev. Elvin Terry Tripp, for 25 years. As a widow, she served four years (1985-1989) as president of Women’s Ministries for the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC), headquartered in Bethany, Oklahoma.

“Lois Tripp Van Dyke led Women’s Ministries with grace, wisdom, and a deep love for the Lord,” recalls Whitney Davis, present director of IPHC Women’s Ministries. “Faithfully building upon the foundation laid before her, she strengthened and expanded the work of Women’s Ministries, helping shape a legacy that continues to bless and guide women today. We honor her life with gratitude and give thanks for the impact of her leadership.”

“Lois Tripp Van Dyke was recognized notably for her leadership abilities,” says Mrs. Mary Belle Johnson, former IPHC Women’s Ministries president. “Lois led well with dedicated, willing hands and a servant’s heart. She left the fingerprints of Jesus on the hearts of many women and girls. Her legacy, no doubt, will live on through generations.”[i]

Brenda Clowers, retired IPHC missionary and leader of TEAMS, remembers the encouragement she received as Lois’s administrative assistant. “I was finishing my classes at Southwestern College (now Southwestern Christian University) when Lois hired me. She graciously allowed me to work flexible hours in order to complete my assignments,” she says. “I was always impressed by how she encouraged and supported others, both financially and spiritually. Lois also encouraged me in every aspect of office management. This experience prepared me for the years ahead. While I was employed for her, my husband and I began our journey to serve in World Missions. She allowed me to work right up to the last day possible, which was such a blessing. I truly appreciate Lois and the blessing she was to me during that transitional time of my life.”

In 1989, through God’s providence, Lois became a loving wife of noble character to Earl B. Van Dyke. They were married for 19 years before his passing in 2007.

Lois was preceded in death by her parents, William Wallace and Carrie Teal Gainey; her husbands, Rev. Elvin Terry Tripp (1938-1985), and Earl Bennett Van Dyke (1934-2007); her stepson, William Lance Van Dyke; and her brothers, Wallace, Lloyd, and Charles Gainey.

She is survived by her stepchildren, Benny Van Dyke, Suzanne Van Dyke, and Amy Van Dyke; grandchildren, Keith Van Dyke, Bennett Moore (Mandie), Melissa Smith (Josh), Jacob Moore (Elizabeth), Branden Van Dyke, Caleb Van Dyke (Sarah), and Lucas Van Dyke (Leah); nieces and nephews; and 19 beloved great-grandchildren.

Lois especially loved the Lord, her family, all babies, singing hymns, and butter pecan ice cream. Her life was a testimony of faith, perseverance, and devotion to prayer and God’s Word. Her legacy continues in the lives of those she guided and cherished.

Funeral services for Lois Tripp Van Dyke were held on September 23, 2025, at the West Huntsville Baptist Church, Huntsville, Alabama, with Pastor Scott Gossett officiating. Interment took place in Sardis Springs Baptist Church Cemetery in Athens, Alabama.

[1] Additional information provided by Mrs. Mary Belle Johnson:

Lois Tripp Van Dyke, as Girl’s Ministries Director in the IPHC South Carolina Conference, captured the attention and admiration of the girls she mentored, taught, and led in spiritual growth. She modeled for them how to become respected Christians, successful in setting and achieving goals. As she ministered to the girls, she was also preparing herself for another position of distinction. In 1985, Lois Tripp was elected president of the IPHC Women’s Auxiliary, where, again, she served with admiration and appreciation. It was during this time that changes were debated with regard to the name–IPHC Women’s Auxiliary. During the 1985 General Conference, a motion was heard to change the name from Women’s Auxiliary to Women’s Ministries. At one point, the discussion focused on the definition of the term, Ministries vs. Auxiliary. Mrs. Tripp responded, “Ministry simply means ‘seeing a need and meeting it.’”  With that simple clarification, he vote passed and the official name became Women’s Ministries of the IPHC and remains so in the 21^st century. The second item referred to giving local WM leaders the distinction of being recognized as Local WM Directors, distinguishing them from General Presidents/Directors. This question also received a positive vote.

How can we even consider such a notion in a world riddled with confusion? Anarchy in national, state, and local branches of government. Turmoil in the public education systems. Discord in relationships. Voices of hate, hurt, harm. The list is endless.

Pastor Chris Maxwell

Yet, amidst the chaos and drama of life in the now, Chris Maxwell has written a book titled, Contentment: What You’re Searching for Is Already Yours.

The inspiration for the volume (Maxwell’s thirteenth publication to date) originated toward the end of a counseling session in late 2024. As Chris prepared to leave, his counselor asked permission to speak a word, just one word, for Chris’s contemplation: contentment.

“I knew in that moment contentment was more than a counselor’s idea. It was the mindset I needed then. I still need it now,” Chris confesses. That word launched a search in the new year for the meaning of contentment: what it is not, what it is, and how to live it. He describes it as “the search that never had to begin.”

Chris Maxwell, a master wordsmith, addresses the topic from experience. Most people are capable of handling one or two, perhaps three, responsibilities at a time without breaking under the weight of duty. But accepting four, five, or six assignments is surely a recipe for bedlam. Yet Chris maneuvers through the maze of his busy life with peace as campus pastor and director of spiritual life at Emmanuel University; author of thirteen books; editor, and ghostwriter for other authors; speaker and advocate for a pharmaceutical company; and council member for the IPHC LifePoint Conference. Add to those appointments his role as a devoted family man, pastor of a local PH church (Goldmine), host of a weekly podcast titled, “Next Step Leadership,” and narrator for the IPHC Ministerial Credentialing Program videos.
Surely juggling that many assignments would cause most people to cave. Yet, Chris is enjoying his life and walking in thanksgiving and contentment. “Somewhere along the way, I discovered—and I continue discovering—something deeper than all the noise. Something steadier than applause. Something stronger than shame. Something called contentment,” he says.

Chris and his wife, Debbie, live near Emmanuel University. They met at the school when Chris was a student there.

Meeting Chris today, one might wonder if this gentle and humble man has ever experienced a setback—a time of confusion and hardship. However, he is open and forthright about rough seasons of life he has experienced.
In March of 1996, Chris was pastoring a congregation in Florida when he became extremely ill. His doctors were unable at first to determine the source of his pain. It had begun with a headache that morphed quickly into hallucinations. After a ten-day bout in the hospital, the medical team pinpointed and diagnosed the infection–encephalitis, inflammation of the brain. The disease left Chris with severe brain damage that resulted in his dealing with epilepsy and an inability to remember and perform rudimentary activities, such as how to speak, eat, read, and even tie his shoes.
Through extensive rehabilitation, perseverance, and hope in the healing and sustaining power of God, Chris eventually regained his faculties to the point that he is now in demand as a convention and event speaker. He also speaks as an advocate for individuals living with epilepsy.
Chris’s role as campus pastor and director of spiritual life at Emmanuel University opens doors for him to minister into the lives of students, some of whom are struggling to find their way out of confusion, disappointment, and anxiety. “I want this university to be their place of hope,” he says. “They need to experience contentment in the now. Not passivity, but spiritual grounding.”

The Maxwell extended family includes their three married sons and their wives, and 10 grandchildren.

The premise of the book, Contentment: What You’re Searching for Is Already Yours, is a message that serves older leaders who need renewed confidence and purpose; younger leaders wrestling with performance, ambition, and comparison; and pastors and ministry families who feel stretched thin or quietly overwhelmed. “My purpose in addressing these issues is to give ministers a fresh way forward—one marked not by exhaustion, but by contentment already available in Christ.”

Contentment in chaos! That phrase surely strikes a note of longing in so many leaders who stagger under the load of responsibility. In a lawless and fallen world, finding that place seems to be the urgent cry of every searching individual.
Written in his readable and relatable style, Maxwell’s book (scheduled for release in April 2026) deals frankly with the three basic queries with which the searching soul grapples: What Contentment Is Not; What Contentment Is; How do I Live It?

The book can be ordered on Chris’s website chrismaxwell.me or on his Amazon page.

Shirley G. Spencer retired in 2010, after having served 30 years as executive editor of publications for the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. She continues to write and edit on a freelance basis.

I mention this because it relates to the title I have given to this portion of Ephesians 4:17 through the remainder of this chapter. Modern commentators are mixed on how they treat Ephesians 4:17-24 considering the remainder of the chapter. For instance, Noel Brooks and John Stott, whose comments we have referenced in this study of Ephesians, both connect Ephesians 4:17 with Paul’s comments through all or part of Ephesians 5.[1] On the other hand, N.T. Wright treats Ephesians 4:17-24 as primarily related to the Paul’s arguments that began in Ephesians 1:1 and runs through 4:24.[2]

Admittedly you may be wondering, “so what?” The title of this essay attempts to view Ephesians 4:17 following as something clearly built upon all that Paul has previously written. It should be clear that the writers referenced in footnote one completely agrees with that. The question is where does the emphasis of 4:17-24 fall: primarily upon the previous comments or is it an introduction to holy living? The reality is that it is probably both. I cannot imagine Paul’s Ephesian audience making a sharp distinction as they read/heard the letter. I am treating Ephesians 4:17-24 as an introduction to holy living as a “preface” section reminding his Gentile and Jewish readers of the contrast between their old way of living prior to Jesus as the Messiah, and the new way of life to which they are called.

In my reading of Rev. Paul Evans yet unpublished work, Hope for Holiness, which focuses on Ephesians 4:21 and its larger context, he takes a similar view, writing, “(The Apostle Paul) …. Views the saints as those who are sealed with the Spirit of promise, the anticipation of which (are) final and mature godliness (Eph. 1:13-14; 4:22-24), and he views their bodies as temples of the Spirit, a sanctified dwelling place for God, out of which concrete expressions of practical righteousness must and should arise in the present age – ‘glorify God in your bodies’ (2 Cor. 6:14-18).”

So, why is Ephesians 4:17-24 a “preface” to the question of holy living? First, from Ephesians 4:17 through 5:21 there are four English uses of “therefore,” using three different Greek words (4:17, 25; 5:1, 17).[3] The main impact of these conjunctions and prepositions is to describe a series of implications or results based on previous comments or actions. Markus Barth translates Ephesians 4:17, “Now in the Lord[’s name] I say and insist upon the following:” Barth adds, “Paul speaks with an unmistakable tone of authority.”[4] Paul’s insisted that he had heard from the Lord regarding what constitutes the ground for holy living since the Messiah had come. Paul’s view was not that of one opinion about holy living. His view was an insistence that He had received just as much Holy Spirit revelation about how we live as he had received concerning the meaning of the Messiah’s earthly and heavenly ministry described in the previous chapters.

These verses provide the foundation, or ground, upon which Paul expects followers of Jesus to source their lives. The metaphor of foundation was used by Jesus in a parable found in Luke 6:48 and used by Paul in Ephesians 1:4; 2:20.[5] The idea of the ground, soil, also reflects the teachings of Jesus and metaphors from agriculture that Paul knew.[6] Thus, in verses 17-24 Paul clearly contrasts the two primary sources that influence, perhaps even we can say, dictate, how we live.

The first source is the walk of Gentiles (4:17-19). Paul had earlier described this way of life, “(you) were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:1-3). Later in 2:12 he further elaborated that Gentiles “were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Now in 4:17-19 Paul added to what he had already addressed as characteristic of the Gentile walk, way of life: futile minds, darkened understanding, alienated from the life of God. All of this is “because of the ignorance in them and because of the blindness of their hearts” (verse 18). Furthermore, this ignorance and blindness cause them to be “past feeling, given over to lewdness,” all of which causes “all uncleanness with (or in) greediness” (verse 19).

Reading these descriptions of the Gentile walk is like watching contemporary news channels, social media, and the entertainment industry! Today we are as much under the influence of these dark spiritual forces as were Paul’s contemporaries in Ephesus.

Let us explore some of Paul’s words and phrases a little more in 4:17-19. To have a “futile mind” is to live with an empty, idle, foolish mind. The mind is our thought world. It is like a computer, what you put in is what comes out! Jesus said this in Matthew 15:18, 19, “Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart (a metaphor for the mind), and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” The Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich Lexicon refers to this futility as “purposelessness, transitoriness.”[7]

“Having their understanding darkened” (verse 18) is a direct assault on the modern Western way of thinking. Across almost every spectrum of thought and education, the notion of God and His light as present and essential is absent. Regardless of political alliances, so much of what we see and receive is by nature darkened because it does not even acknowledge that “the beginning of wisdom/knowledge is the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 1:7, 29; 8:13; 9:10). In many circles of our modern world, to argue a Biblical worldview is to be mocked, marginalized, and often rejected as a thoughtful person.

The third condition is alienation from the “life of God.” Sinful humanity cannot on its own “discover” God’s life-giving presence and power. Human effort to do so is called “religion.” Only divine grace revealed in the gospel, which is revealed in the Word of God, can open our minds and hearts to discern that it is the Creator and Redeemer knocking at the door of our understanding and heart. We are by nature estranged from God because of sin. In the gospel God has taken the initiative in Jesus the Messiah to bridge the gap of this estrangement. The reality is that we do not discover God. God seeks and saves us. It is that discovery on our part, conviction by the Holy Spirit, which brings to our spiritual and conscious awareness of our lost condition and God’s amazing grace to bring us home.

These three conditions occur because of “ignorance” and “blindness of heart.” Notice that “ignorance” refers to “futility of mind.” “Blindness of heart” refers to “understanding darkened.” The word translated “blindness” in the NKJV is porosis (πώρωσις). It refers to hardening, dullness, obstinacy, insensibility.[8] Thielman described the condition of unbelieving Gentiles as “people who do not understand God or the world as it truly is.”[9]

Paul continued in Ephesians 4:20 to describe the condition of lost people. No doubt from his lengthy time in Greek and Roman cities he saw the moral, spiritual, intellectual, and relational fruit of the spirit of lawlessness and death in the daily lives of people. I cannot help but think of the title of Philip Rieff’s analysis of the condition of humanity outside of moral constraints, My Life Among the Deathworks.” That title describes how Paul and other Christians viewed living in a world without the truth of God. It accurately describes how we live today in our present world.

In this verse Paul names three aspects of life among the deathworks. First, it is a world where people are “past feeling.” Theilman translates the Greek word apelgekotes as despondent. This is the only use of this word in the New Testament and means “that one has abandoned, or nearly abandoned, hope.”[10] Callous is another word that be used to describe those who are hardened in heart. Their conscience is seared by sin, and they are under the dominion of demonic spirits of the world. Secondly, such people have lost any sense of shame and decorum in life. Pleasure and self-aggrandizement are the goal of life. Sexual licentiousness characterizes such a life. We see this in widespread sex trafficking, in widespread pornography, in the entertainment industry that promotes and celebrates all forms of sexual deviant behavior. Third, this spirit manifests itself in “all uncleanness with greediness.” In other words, we treat others as objects of our own satisfaction. The spirit of greed is far more than about money. It is about the control and dominion of others for our own gain.

In Greek and English, seven words in Ephesians 4:20 mark the difference between people born again and those still living in the spirit of the world: “But you have not so learned Christ.” Those seven words are a line in the sand for everyone who has acknowledged Christ in saving faith. These seven words draw the line between the fallacy of “accepting Christ but continuing in sin.” Ephesians 4:21 indicates that the early Christians knew the teachings of Jesus. Early missionaries, like Paul and Peter, knew what Jesus had said and done and shared those accounts as part of their preaching and teaching when they established local communities of faith. To “have heard Him and have been taught by Him” meant that the life of Jesus was clearly part of early preaching. When preachers recounted words and deeds of Jesus, it was as if the listeners were really hearing Jesus and being taught by Jesus!

Such direct and anointed communication meant a clear demarcation between life among the deathworks and life in the kingdom of God. In Ephesians 4:22-24 Paul described three specific actions that characterize what it means to be delivered from the power of darkness and conveyed into the kingdom of the Son of God (Colossians 1:13). Using day to day language, Paul referred to the change in our lives in Christ as equivalent to “putting off” old clothes and “putting on” new clothes. We “put off . . . the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,” and we “put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (4:22, 24). This is called sanctification, the recognition that after we are born again there remains our fallen nature, our “old man,” that must consciously apply the redeeming, sanctifying power of the blood of Jesus and Word of God to our lives.

N.T. Wright expressed like this in attempting to express what should be occurring in baptism, or when we confess Christ as Savior, “You have to make it your own. As in the dramatic event of an early Christian baptism, you must take off those shabby old clothes, the old humanity with its mental and physical habits, and put on the new clothes, the new humanity, by being renewed in the spirit of your mind. The place where the pagan world goes wrong is the place where the Jesus-followers must get it right. The renewal of the mind, as in Romans 12:1-2, is at the centre of it all. Learning to think Christianity is near the heart of what it means to be living as the new humanity.”[11]

I close this “Preface to Holy Living” with Rev. Paul Evans commentary on Ephesians 4:22-24, “Paul taught in his theology of what we now call sanctification, that it consists in both decisive, choice, faith-based, and surrender to the God and a progressive, developmental aspect leading to the goal of full moral and spiritual maturity.” Further elaborating, Evans addressed the Apostle Paul’s view of salvation “as involving an exchange of ruling principles, the ruling principles of the flesh or old life that is connected to sin, for the new, morally transformed life operating under the direction and influence of the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom. 8: 1-4; Gal. 5: 16-25).”[12]

[1] Brooks, Ephesians: Outlined and Unfolded, connects it through 5:21 (page 172), a view also held by Hendriksen. John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, connects 4:17 through 5:4 (page 133). Markus Barth in Volume II of his Anchor Bible Commentary on Ephesians, treats 4:17-32 as its own structure. Thielman in his Ephesians commentary treats Ephesians 4:17 to 5:2 (page 290).

[2] Wright, The Vision of Ephesians: The Task of the Church and the Glory of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2025) page 80ff. Wright takes a minority position that Paul was imprisoned in Ephesus, an imprisonment not mentioned in Acts or elsewhere.

[3] οὖν in 4:17; 5:1; δίο in 4:25; δία in 5:17. The first two are usually inferential conjunctions that indicate what follows is the result of or inference from the preceding (Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 597). The last is a preposition.

[4] Barth, Ephesians 4-6, Volume II, 498, 499. The structure of “Lord’s” in the citation is Barth’s,

[5] Paul would have heard teachings of Jesus through the oral tradition as well as the work of Luke in preparing his Gospel account. In his letters, Paul referred to a “foundation” in Romans 15:20; 1 Corinthians 3:10, 11, 12; 1 Timothy 6:19; 2 Timothy 2:19.

[6] Matthew 13:8; Luke 8:8, 15; 1 Corinthians 3:6; 1 Timothy 3:15.

[7] Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, 496.

[8] Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, 739

[9] Thielman, p. 298

[10] Ibid., p. 299

[11] Wright, op. cit., page 93.

[12] Paul Evans, The Hope for Holiness: The Divine End-Game, A Fresh Consideration of Ephesians 4:12-14. This book is yet unpublished and these quotes are used by permission.

This isn’t just another conference—it’s a transformative gathering that happens only once every four years. General Conference is where our entire IPHC family comes together for powerful worship, deep connection, and decisive action that will shape the future of our denomination.

Imagine three days immersed in the presence of God alongside thousands of fellow believers from across the nation. Picture the energy of unified worship, the power of collective prayer, and the inspiration that comes from being part of something far greater than ourselves. This is General Conference.

Why You Can’t Miss This

Experience worship that will move your soul, forge connections with believers from diverse communities who share your passion for the Gospel, participate in governance decisions that will guide our denomination’s mission for the next four years, and return home ignited with fresh vision and purpose for your local ministry. Hear from Presiding Bishop Doug Beacham (Wednesday), Dr. Mark Williams (Thursday), and Steve DeNeff (daytime sessions), as well as the newly elected General Superintendent (Friday).

Your Seat Is Waiting

Spaces will fill up fast! This is your invitation to be part of a defining moment in IPHC history. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by—register today and secure your place in Mobile this July.

Register Now

Additional information about the conference will be available in the coming days on the General Conference page.

Mobile is calling. Your church family is gathering. The mission is waiting. Will you arise?

See you in Mobile!

This isn’t just another conference—it’s a transformative gathering that happens only once every four years. General Conference is where our entire IPHC family comes together for powerful worship, deep connection, and decisive action that will shape the future of our denomination.

Imagine three days immersed in the presence of God alongside thousands of fellow believers from across the nation. Picture the energy of unified worship, the power of collective prayer, and the inspiration that comes from being part of something far greater than ourselves. This is General Conference.

Why You Can’t Miss This

Experience worship that will move your soul, forge connections with believers from diverse communities who share your passion for the Gospel, participate in governance decisions that will guide our denomination’s mission for the next four years, and return home ignited with fresh vision and purpose for your local ministry. Hear from Presiding Bishop Doug Beacham (Wednesday), Dr. Mark Williams (Thursday), and Steve DeNeff (daytime sessions), as well as the newly elected General Superintendent (Friday).

Your Seat Is Waiting

Spaces will fill up fast! This is your invitation to be part of a defining moment in IPHC history. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by—register today and secure your place in Mobile this July.

Register Now

Additional information about the conference will be available in the coming days on the General Conference page.

Mobile is calling. Your church family is gathering. The mission is waiting. Will you arise?

See you in Mobile!

Jonathan Altman serves as the Lead Pastor of Saint Paul Church in Greenville, NC, and as the Assistant Conference Superintendent of the North Carolina Conference of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. He’s a graduate of Campbell University (B.B.A. and M.Div.), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Th.M.), and Fuller Theological Seminary (D.Min.). His partner in ministry is his wife, Anna, who’s also an ordained minister in the IPHC. Together, they have two children.

When Archives Director Ricky Nelms and I were discussing today’s lectures, we both expressed a desire for them to address the past as well as the present. In other words, we did not want them only to be historical, but also to address ministry today. So, we came up with the title “How Can a Classical Pentecostal Church Reach a Contemporary World? Lessons from the

Past.” In our minds, that would hopefully help people appreciate in a greater way what God has

done in the past and what He can do in our time, too.

When I began my research, I assumed I would ultimately provide a list of historical lessons, such as the need to prioritize prayer, give the Holy Spirit freedom in services, and embrace people across racial and economic lines. However, as I continued to read and reflect, one truth seemed to undergird all the others: our predecessors were captivated by the gospel. That is to say, the gospel motivated their lives and ministries.

You may ask who these predecessors are and what I mean when I refer to “the gospel.” In short, these individuals include members of the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church and the Pentecostal Holiness Church until 1930. That is not to suggest that people after 1930 did not value the gospel; I am certain they did. It is simply that when I got to that place on the timeline, I thought, “I have more than enough to work with. I should place a boundary marker here.”

Now, what about the gospel? What do I mean when I say they were “captivated by the

gospel”? I’m referring to what is often called the “five cardinal doctrines”—the belief that Christ is Savior, Sanctifier, Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, Healer, and Soon-Coming King. Of course, this fivefold understanding developed over time, particularly in relation to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. However, as I mentioned a moment ago, this constituted the heart of what our predecessors believed.

I recognize this is not a groundbreaking assertion, but it deserves our attention. One may wonder if we, their spiritual ancestors, are also captivated by the gospel. One may ask if our lives and ministries are built on this foundation. I do not want you to take my word for it, though. I

want you to see this for yourself, as well as how our predecessors’ convictions can offer us

guidance today.

The Fivefold Gospel

Let us start by turning our attention to Christ’s role as Savior. This was the cornerstone of our forebears’ beliefs. It provided a foundation for everything they believed about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christ the Savior

 Justification by faith was a founding doctrine in both the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church and the Holiness Church of North Carolina (later known as the Pentecostal Holiness Church).¹ It was a foundational conviction after the groups merged in 1911, too. Together, they affirmed, “We believe, teach and firmly maintain the Scriptural doctrine of justification by faith alone (Rom. 5:1).”² (If that sounds familiar, it should—it is still part of our Articles of Faith.)

As Presiding Bishop A. D. Beacham, Jr. has noted, this statement reflects the influence of Protestant Reformer Martin Luther and the Augsburg Confession of 1530.³ It was not merely a historical reference, though. It was a core conviction of our predecessors. Consider how the 1897 edition of The Discipline of the Holiness Church expressed it:

Having repented scripturally, we are then able to exercise faith in Christ Jesus as our personal Savior, which brings pardon and the “new birth” or regeneration to the trusting soul.

In consequence of this two-fold change from guilt to innocency and from death to life, we are “new creatures” in Christ, having righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. This is real conversion and includes justification and regeneration.⁴

Note the last line: repentance and faith constitute “real conversion,” or real transformation. This means a person is declared righteous in God’s heavenly courtroom and born again by the Spirit by faith.

One might think that our spiritual ancestors might have touched lightly on this doctrine to get on to more “heartwarming” and “explosive” tenets of the faith, such as sanctification and Spirit baptism. As we see here, however, they believed justification by faith deserved a thorough explanation. Additionally, they believed they needed to share this good news with the world.

One place this comes into focus is in a brief article on a missions organization called the World-Wide Mission Band in a 1909 issue of The Apostolic Evangel. There, editor J. H. King, who led the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church and who would later lead the Pentecostal Holiness Church, wrote:

We all cannot go [to be missionaries], but can pray and we must pray, pray with all

prayer for God’s world-wide purpose to be fulfilled in the world’s redemption. We can give and we must give or lose far more by not giving. If we can go we must go or go into darkness and finally into eternal misery. God help us. We need and must have a love,

prayer, liberality and consecration planet wide. God’s love is planet wide, the atonement

¹ A. D. Beacham, Jr., Remembering for the Future: A Commentary on the IPHC Centennial Covenant

(International Pentecostal Holiness Church: 2020), 24.

² Constitution and General Rules of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, 1911, 3.

³ Beacham, 17-18.

⁴ The Discipline of the Holiness Church (Louisville, KY: Pentecostal Herald Press, 1897), 8. is planet wide and the commission of Jesus is planet wide, and if we get all these in us we will be planet wide Christians.⁵

In other words, King said Christ is Savior, and the world must hear this news. It is worth noting that King wrote this just before his worldwide missions tour, which required him to miss the merger of the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church and the Pentecostal Holiness Church.⁶ He demonstrated in both word and deed that the gospel captivated him.

Christ the Sanctifier

 The Fire-Baptized Holiness Church and the Holiness Church of North Carolina also affirmed Christ’s role as Sanctifier in their founding doctrines.⁷ After they united, they expressed their convictions by stating, “We believe also that entire sanctification is an instantaneous, definite, second work of grace obtainable by faith on the part of the fully justified believer (John 15:2; Acts 26:18).”⁸ Both groups were forged in the fire of the Holiness movement and unequivocally affirmed that Jesus can, in an instant, completely sanctify those who have faith.

This was a powerful motivation for our predecessors’ ministries. A. B. Crumpler, for example, who started the Pentecostal Holiness Church, wrote in 1904 that the mission of the

organization was to “‘spread scriptural holiness over these lands’ and to carry the gospel of full salvation.”⁹ J. H. King, on the other hand, left Methodism, which he dearly loved and in which he had pastored, so he could preach holiness without hindrance.¹⁰ Perhaps one of the most

poignant examples of sacrifices for sanctification comes from F. M. Britton, a Methodist minister turned Fire-Baptized Holiness minister who helped lead the merger with the Pentecostal Holiness Church. He wrote:

I well remember walking until my socks were wet around my toes with blood from ingrowing toenails. I walked twenty-four miles and preached three times on Sunday a many a time to get holiness established in S.C. Well I do remember walking 75 miles to hold a meeting in a new field where poor people were begging me to go, and after the meeting was over and many were saved and sanctified, I rode a short distance so the people would not know but what I rode all the way home. But when I remembered my wife and children at home . . . I got off the train and walked over 60 miles so I could have something to live on while I was holding another meeting……………………………………………………………………………………… ”¹¹

Our predecessors were captivated by the gospel. They knew Christ as Sanctifier for themselves, and they were compelled to help others know him too by preaching, teaching, evangelizing, and

⁵ J. H. King, “World-Wide Mission Band,” The Apostolic Evangel, June 1, 1909, 5.

⁶ Vinson Synan, Old Time Power: A Centennial History of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church

(Franklin Springs, GA: LifeSprings Resources, 1998), 120-21.

⁷ Beacham, 24.

⁸ Constitution and General Rules of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, 1911, 3.

⁹ A. B. Crumpler, “The Holiness Church,” The Holiness Advocate, July 15, 1904, 4.

¹⁰ Synan, 58.

¹¹ F. M. Britton, Pentecostal Truth, or Sermons on Regeneration, Sanctification, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Divine Healing, the Second Coming of Jesus, etc. (Royston, GA: Publishing House of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, 1919), 224-25, 232-41. writing. B. H. Irwin, for example, who founded the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church, drank deeply from the wells of Holiness publications, and eventually purchased a press so he could publish his own periodical, Live Coals of Fire, to spread the message.¹²

Christ the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit

 Irwin’s most enduring legacy was his laying the foundation for our forebears’ understanding of Christ as Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. He did this by teaching that the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire comes after salvation.¹³ It was not until after the Azusa Street Revival, however, that our predecessors began to affirm the doctrine as we know it today. Following the merger of the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church and the Pentecostal Holiness Church, the newly united group expressed it this way: “We believe also that the Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire is obtainable by a definite act of appropriate faith on the part of the fully cleansed believer, and that the initial evidence of the reception of this experience is speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance (Luke 11:13; Acts 1:5; 2:1-4; 8:17; 10:44-46; 19:6).”¹⁴

1. F. Taylor, who later started the Franklin Springs Institute, now known as Emmanuel University, was an early advocate of this doctrine.¹⁵ In 1907, he published a book entitled The Spirit and the Bride, in which he advanced and defended his conviction. The final portion of the book provides practical instruction on “how to obtain and retain the baptism of the Holy Ghost,” with Taylor claiming his publication would not be complete without it.¹⁶

One person who received this baptism in the early days was Katie Parker from Mount Olive, NC. She was saved under G. B. Cashwell and sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit under J. H. Sutton and A. H. Butler. In a 1907 issue of The Holiness Advocate, she wrote:

It seemed that my heart would break. I said, Lord, you know my heart, and if the temple is not in order to receive the Holy Ghost, do, for Jesus’, sake, [sic] prepare it. I had not more than finished my little prayer before the Lord sanctified my soul.            I kept holding on until two days later the blessed Holy Ghost came in His temple and manifested himself with my tongue, and ever since that day there has been a river of love, joy and peace in my soul every day and hour. Praise His blessed name. It never runs dry.¹⁷

1. B. Crumpler was a prominent person who did not affirm this doctrine. His point of concern was tongues as initial evidence. This led to his departure from the Pentecostal Holiness Church in 1908 and his return to the Methodist church. Historians say he spent the rest of his life as a layman, lawyer, and supply pastor.¹⁸ Despite this, the Pentecostal Holiness Church forged ahead, captivated by the gospel.

¹² Synan, 45, 53.

¹³ Ibid., 61.

¹⁴ Constitution and General Rules of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, 1911, 3.

¹⁵ Synan, 56-57.

¹⁶ G. F. Taylor, The Spirit and the Bride (Dunn, NC: Private Printing, 1907), 131.

¹⁷ Katie Parker, The Holiness Advocate, June 15, 1907, 6.

¹⁸ Daniel Rollins, Forward, Ever Forward: A History of the North Carolina Conference of the Pentecostal Holiness Church (Franklin Springs, GA: LifeSprings Resources, 2011), 87-90.

Christ the Healer

 Divine healing was another foundational doctrine in both the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church and the Holiness Church of North Carolina.¹⁹ After the 1911 merger, the Pentecostal Holiness Church affirmed, “We believe in divine healing as in the atonement (Isa. 53:4, 5; Matt. 8:16, 17; Mark 16:4-8; James 5:14-16; Ex. 15:26).”²⁰ By grounding the doctrine of divine healing in Christ’s atoning work, our predecessors identified sin as the source of sickness. However, they believed healing was possible because Christ dealt decisively with the problem of sin through His death and subsequent resurrection.²¹

In 1920, different convictions on divine healing led to controversy. While one group believed it was permissible for Christians to use medicine, others sharply disagreed, insisting that people should trust God for their healing. In 1921, this led the “pro-remedy” group, composed mainly of believers in Georgia, to leave the Pentecostal Holiness Church and establish the Congregational Holiness Church.²² The Pentecostal Holiness Church later admitted its misstep, recognizing that God also provides healing through medicine.²³

One example of our predecessors’ belief in divine healing is found in the life of A. H. Butler. In 1917, he wrote a letter to The Pentecostal Holiness Advocate, providing an update on his recent ministry activities as Superintendent of the North Carolina Conference. He wrote that, after preaching to “a right large congregation of tired and sleepy farmers” at Hodge’s Chapel in Chocowinity, NC, he went home with J. M. McRoy, where he heard a mule groaning. Noticing that the mule was sick, Butler and McRoy prayed for the mule, with Butler testifying, “She got well in a few minutes, and pulled me to the depot the next morning. Glory. He can heal all manner of sickness and everything that gets sick or afflicted.”²⁴

This may seem trivial or even humorous, but it indicates a profound belief in God’s power and care for His creation. In the early 1900s, many people in Eastern North Carolina depended on mules for farming and transportation. When the health of McRoy’s mule was in jeopardy, he and Butler did not fret; they turned to the One they knew could help: Christ the Healer.

Christ the Soon-Coming King

 The final aspect of our predecessors’ fivefold gospel is the belief in Christ the Soon-Coming King. This was a founding doctrine in both the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church and the Holiness Church of North Carolina.²⁵ After the 1911 merger, our forebears expressed their conviction by stating, “We believe in the imminent, personal, premillennial second coming of

¹⁹ Beacham, 24.

²⁰ Constitution and General Rules of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, 1911, 3.

²¹ Beacham, 25.

²² Synan, 162-67.

²³ Beacham, 51-52n25.

²⁴ A. H. Butler, The Pentecostal Holiness Advocate, May 17, 1917, 14-15.

²⁵ Beacham, 24.

our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 4:15-18; Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 3:1-4; Matt. 24:29-44), and we love and wait for His appearing (2 Tim. 4:8).”²⁶

As Presiding Bishop Beacham has noted, several nineteenth-century streams of thought influenced this statement, including: (1) the belief that the Holy Spirit’s outpouring indicates that Christ will soon return; (2) premillennialism, which teaches that Christ will return before the millennial reign of Revelation 20; (3) a pretribulational view of Christ’s return, meaning He will rapture His people before the tribulation of Matthew 20; (4) dispensationalism, which divides human history into distinct periods, or dispensations; and (5) the belief that Israel plays a unique role in biblical prophecy.²⁷

1. F. Taylor wrote at length on this doctrine in his book The Second Coming of Jesus.

After expressing dissatisfaction with other positions on Christ’s return, Taylor wrote: “At the

head of this chapter we have the simple statement, ‘The Son of Man cometh’ [Matt. 24:44]. If we had no other Scripture, we should expect the Son of Man to come. One jot or one tittle of God’s Word is as sure as God Himself. It can never fail.”²⁸

Taylor was convinced of Christ’s return, and he wanted others to believe it too. He explained, “The wicked will grow worse until Jesus comes; the righteous, at least a part of them, will grow better. Some day, without any warning, the trump of God will sound, Jesus will pass around the world as lightning, and those who are alive and are ready for His coming, with all who died ready for His coming, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.”²⁹ Taylor longed for both he and his readers to one day live in the Holy City, the New Jerusalem.³⁰

In his history of the North Carolina Conference, Daniel Rollins summarizes the ministries of A. H. Butler and G. F. Taylor with the following description: “Together, they gave voice to a small sectarian group of believers, convinced that the same Jesus who saved them and healed them and filled them with the Holy Ghost would soon come back to take them to Heaven.”³¹ In short, they were captivated by the gospel, as were our predecessors at large. It motivated their lives and ministries, galvanizing them to reach the world.

Moving Forward

We do not simply want to look at the past, however. We also want to talk about what God can do today. We want to consider how a classical Pentecostal church can reach a contemporary world. Considering what we have covered so far, I would like to offer three suggestions to you.

Identify What Captivates You

The first is to identify what captivates you. In other words, identify what occupies your

²⁶ Constitution and General Rules of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, 1911, 4.

²⁷ Beacham, 26.

²⁸ G. F. Taylor, The Second Coming of Jesus (Falcon, NC: Falcon Publishing Co., 1916), 2.

²⁹ Ibid., 4.

³⁰ Ibid., 264.

³¹ Rollins, 99.

mind; identify what enthralls you and motivates your life and ministry. Is it the fivefold gospel, as was the case with our spiritual ancestors? Or is it something else? It could be money. It could be applause. It could be the next vacation. Ask yourself what captivates you.

One thing I have noticed in my life, as well as in the lives of others, is that people are often captivated by the gospel when they first encounter God. When they are first saved or baptized in the Holy Spirit, they cannot help but tell others about it. Over time, however, that fervor can fade, and their walk with God can become, for a lack of a better word, routine. They can find themselves just going through the motions.

I think of what it is like when you go out in the ocean. You can feel like you are in the same spot; you can feel like you are in the same place. But when you look back to shore, you see that you have drifted. The current has moved you without you realizing it.

Has that happened to you? Is that the case with your life? Are you still captivated by the gospel? Do you still have the same passion to reach people for Jesus that you once did? If not, what energizes you? What gets you out of bed each morning? What keeps you in the fight?

As I mentioned a moment ago, it could be several things. If you’re a pastor, it could be church growth. Do you dream of higher attendance and a bigger budget? Or are you simply trying to keep your church alive? I want you to know that God has something better for you; He has something grander for you. He wants you to be captivated by the gospel. He wants you amazed by the good news that Christ is Savior, Sanctifier, Baptizer in the Spirit, Healer, and Soon-Coming King!

I say this not out of condemnation. God knows lesser things have captivated me at times.

Instead, I say this because our hearts can drift away from the things of God. In the words of Revelation 2:4, we can abandon the love we had at first. We can get so caught up in ministry and doing things for God, that we miss out on God Himself. Truth be told, when I read about our predecessors, I often feel convicted. I see that they were willing to do whatever it took to spread the gospel, and yet I am often tempted to resist discomfort.

So, identify what captivates you. Identify what enthralls you. If it is anything other than the Lord and the good news of Jesus Christ, it is not enough and will not enable you to live fully into God’s good plans for you.

Ask God to Captivate You with the Gospel

 That leads me to my next suggestion: Ask God to captivate you with the gospel. After you have identified what captivates you, ask God to captivate you with the gospel. And if you are already captivated by the gospel, ask God to captivate you in an even greater way!

Note that I did not say, “Captivate yourself with the gospel.” By stating that we should ask God to captivate us, I am making clear that we need God to work in our lives. This is not about trying harder or doing more. This is about allowing the Lord to do what only He can do.

One verse that comes to mind in this regard is the first part of Psalm 51:12. There, David cries out, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (NIV throughout). According to tradition, this psalm was written after Nathan confronted David about committing adultery with Bathsheba. You are likely familiar with that story. It is found in 2 Samuel 11 and 12.

One night, while David was standing on the roof of his palace, he saw Bathsheba bathing on her roof. He sent for her, slept with her, and upon finding out she was pregnant, he brought her husband, Uriah the Hittite, back home from war to cover it up. He hoped they would be intimate together and Uriah would think the child was his. Uriah the Hittite, however, had too much honor to sleep with his wife while his fellow soldiers were on the battlefield, so David sent him to the front line and ordered that the other soldiers withdraw from him so he would die, and that he did.

After this took place, Nathan the prophet confronted David. He delivered a word of judgment from the Lord. Nathan said out of David’s own household the Lord would bring calamity upon him, and that the son Bathsheba was pregnant with would die. As a result of this, tradition says David wrote Psalm 51. In it, he pleads for the Lord to have mercy on him and to cleanse him of his sins. Then, in verse 12, he says, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.” What does that mean? It means he wants to know the joy of the Lord’s deliverance. He longs to rejoice because the Lord has saved him.

You and I may not be in David’s position, but I cannot help but wonder how amazing it would be to experience the joy of salvation again, to know the thrill of experiencing God’s deliverance, to know the lightness, to know the enthusiasm, to know the energy that we experienced when we first got saved. Ask God to restore it to you. Ask God to make it real to you. Ask God to move your heart so you can know in a fresh way how good the good news of Jesus really is.

To go back to Revelation 2:4, which I mentioned earlier, ask God to help you return to the love you had at first. Ask Him to fade everything else into the background and to captivate you with His goodness and His love. That is what the gospel is, by the way: an expression of His goodness and love. Remember, Jesus is God’s greatest gift. He is God’s supreme act of love. Ask God to awaken your heart and captivate you with the gospel!

I must ask the Lord to do this every so often. I am not simply talking about taking a day off or enjoying some vacation time. I am talking about asking God for an encounter with Him, asking Him to move in my life, asking Him to clear away all the busyness and all the distractions and to rekindle my love for Him. I suspect that all of us need to do that from time to time. It is like a bonfire. At first, it may burn brightly and strongly, but if you do not keep adding fuel to it, it will go out. All you will be left with is ashes. We all need fuel for our fire!

This is one reason my church designates 21 days for prayer and fasting each January. I know the IPHC does this at the general level, but I make a concerted effort to encourage our people to seek the Lord during this period as a family of believers. We ask God to captivate us. We ask God to awaken us. We ask God to remove everything in our lives that is not of Him, and to help us know Him in a greater way.

Ask God to captivate you with the gospel. Ask God to captivate you with the good news. Ask God to captivate you with the truth that Jesus is your Savior, your Sanctifier, your Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, your Healer, your Soon-Coming King.

Let that Captivation Motivate You

 That leads me to my third suggestion. After you have identified what captivates you, and after you have asked God to captivate you with the gospel—let that captivation motivate you. Let it propel your life. Let it ignite your ministry. Let it send you out to tell others about it so they can know it for themselves.

I personally believe Christians’ not being captivated by the gospel is the underlying issue of many of their problems. Spotty church attendance? Failure to give? Refusing to serve? In many cases, the underlying issue is that the gospel has not captivated them. So, when I say we should let our gospel captivation motivate us, I mean we should let it motivate us so others might be captivated and motivated too.

Since the topic of today’s lectures is about classical Pentecostal churches reaching a contemporary world, let me talk for a bit about church ministry. To get to the point, we cannot expect our people to be captivated by the fivefold gospel if we do not preach and teach on it and give them an opportunity to experience it. Let me say that again: We cannot expect our people to be captivated by the fivefold gospel if we do not preach and teach on it and give them an opportunity to experience it.

 This is something I learned from Rev. King White, longtime pastor of Gospel Tabernacle in Dunn, NC. After I first became a pastor, I asked him, “How can I help the people in my church go deeper spiritually?” He said, “You must preach on such things. You must tell them about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and give them an opportunity to receive it.” That has stuck with me, and I have seen it to be true in my life and in the lives of others.

If we merely affirm the Articles of Faith but do not talk about them or encourage others to experience the truth they express, we cannot expect people to be captivated by the gospel—not the fivefold gospel, at least. That is not to undermine non-Holiness or non-Pentecostal Christians. I do not intend to do that at all. My point is simply that we must preach and teach on the five cardinal doctrines if we want our people to be captivated by them.

But just so we are clear, I am not talking about doctrinalism. I am not suggesting that we focus on doctrine for doctrine’s sake. No, I am proposing that we recognize that these doctrines point to profound truths about Christ, which we can know for ourselves today. We need to let our captivation by them motivate us to emphasize them so others might be captivated and motivated too.

A couple of months ago, I decided to do this at my church. I preached a five-week sermon series called “Fivefold Gospel.” I devoted one week to each of the five cardinal doctrines. Every week I saw Jesus confirm these truths by the Holy Spirit as people were saved, set free, filled with the Holy Spirit, and healed. Someone may say, “Well, that is just your personal experience.” Let me encourage you to try it for yourself. Preach and teach on it, open your altars, and see what happens!

Can you imagine how amazing it would be to see men and women, young and old, set on fire by the good news of Jesus? Can you imagine the impact they could have on their homes, schools, and workplaces? Can you imagine them bringing people to church—can you imagine them bringing people to your church—because they are captivated by the gospel? This is not a new concept. We see it in the lives of our predecessors. We see it in the lives of first-century Christians. They were captivated by the gospel, and they turned the world upside down.

For the record, I am not saying that other aspects of ministry are unimportant. I am not brushing aside the need for effective systems and strategies. I am simply suggesting that in the grand scheme of things, this is what is most important. Think about it: Who would we be if we were not captivated by the gospel? Would we resemble our predecessors? Would we resemble the early church? Would we experience what they did? I do not think so. But if we were captivated by the gospel, I would like to think that Peter and Paul and J. H. and G. F. just might lean over the handrail of heaven and exclaim, “They are following in our footsteps! They are reaching the world for Christ!”

Bibliography

Primary Sources

 Britton, F. M. Pentecostal Truth, or Sermons on Regeneration, Sanctification, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Divine Healing, the Second Coming of Jesus, etc. Royston, GA: Publishing House of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, 1919.

Butler, A. H. The Pentecostal Holiness Advocate, May 17, 1917.

Constitution and General Rules of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, 1911.

Crumpler, A. B. “The Holiness Church.” The Holiness Advocate, July 15, 1904.

The Discipline of the Holiness Church. Louisville, KY: Pentecostal Herald Press, 1897.

King, J. H. “World-Wide Mission Band.” The Apostolic Evangel, June 1, 1909. Parker, Katie. The Holiness Advocate, June 15, 1907.

Taylor, G. F. The Second Coming of Jesus. Falcon, NC: Falcon Publishing Co., 1916.

———. The Spirit and the Bride. Dunn, NC: Private Printing, 1907.

Secondary Sources

Beacham, Jr., A. D. Remembering for the Future: A Commentary on the IPHC Centennial Covenant. International Pentecostal Holiness Church: 2020.

Rollins, Daniel. Forward, Ever Forward: A History of the North Carolina Conference of the Pentecostal Holiness Church. Franklin Springs, GA: LifeSprings Resources, 2011.

Synan, Vinson. Old Time Power: A Centennial History of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. Franklin Springs, GA: LifeSprings Resources, 1998.

Faye spent her childhood in Norfolk, Virginia, where her love for the Lord first began to flourish. At age 14, she felt God leading her to Greenville, South Carolina, to attend Holmes Academy and later Holmes Bible College. There, on the campus that would shape both her heart and future, she met James Daniel Leggett, the young man who would become the love of her life. Over the next five years, their friendship deepened, and on June 25, 1961, they were married at First Pentecostal Holiness Church in Norfolk, Virginia. From that day forward, Faye became not only a devoted wife but a steadfast partner in every season of life and ministry.

The newlyweds returned to Greenville where James became a teacher at Holmes Bible College, and soon afterward the couple accepted their first pastorate at Swan Quarter PH Church in Pinetown, North Carolina. It marked the beginning of a ministry journey spanning more than five decades, built on faith, sacrifice, and an unwavering commitment to serve God’s people.

As her husband pastored congregations in Pembroke and Falcon, Faye was the heart of each church they served. She taught Sunday School, mentored young women, sang in the choir, and quietly cared for families with compassion and grace. Her ministry was never about titles; it was about people. She had a genuine love for those God placed in her life.

When her husband was elected as the Superintendent of the North Carolina Conference and then eventually to global leadership as the Presiding Bishop of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, Faye’s influence grew as well. She served the church with excellence as Women’s Ministries director for the NC Conference, a member of the General Women’s Ministries Board, and later director of the IPHC Ministers’ Wives Fellowship.

Faye fulfilled her role as First Lady of the IPHC with warmth, dignity, and joy—encouraging pastors’ wives, supporting women in ministry, and opening her home with Christlike hospitality. Later, when the couple returned once again to Holmes Bible College—this time for him to serve as president—Faye gave her whole heart to the mission. She welcomed students, prayed faithfully for the faculty, encouraged future ministers and supported the revitalization of the campus until his retirement in 2017.

Bishop Doug Beacham and First Lady Susan remember Faye Leggett with love and appreciation. “Susan and I are grateful for the godly life and influence of Mrs. Faye Leggett,” he said. “She served Jesus with faithful joy and righteous integrity. She was always so encouraging to us as she understood the challenges and opportunities of serving as the First Lady of the IPHC. Our prayers are with her dear family and we rejoice knowing she is with her beloved husband, Bishop James Leggett, and with the Lord they both lovingly served.”

Through every chapter—pastoring, conference leadership, national ministry, global ministry, and college work—Faye remained the quiet, steady strength behind it all. Her faith never wavered. Her kindness never dimmed. Her life was a continuous testimony of the presence of Jesus. Yet, of all her callings, family was her greatest joy. Faye was devoted to her husband, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Her prayers covered each one by name, and her home was filled with laughter, Scripture, and love.

She is survived by her four children: James D. Leggett, Jr. (Sandra) of Clinton, North Carolina; Joseph Talmadge Leggett (Sharon) of Falcon, North Carolina; Cindy McKeone (Jim) of Little River, South Carolina; and John Leggett (Laurie) of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; her grandchildren: Erica Leggett Gill, Whitney Leggett Upton (Zack), James Daniel Leggett III (Bailey), Cameron Leggett, Trevor Leggett, Andrew Leggett, Megan Johnson (Eddie), Mychaela Hicks, Austin Leggett (Natalie), Abigail Hall (Laine), and Avery Leggett; 11 great-grandchildren: Landon Gill, Ellison Johnson, Westlyn Upton, Rose Mary Gill, Graelyn Upton, Makenna Johnson, Paitin Upton, Ian Gill, Charlie Leggett, Emerie Johnson, and Olivia Leggett. She is also survived by her brothers Tommy Watts and Charlie Watts.

Faye’s life was marked by grace, humility, dignity, and unwavering devotion to Jesus Christ. She was a pillar in her family, a gift to her church, and a blessing to her denomination. Her legacy will endure in the generations she nurtured and in the countless lives she touched. She has now been reunited with her beloved husband—together again in the presence of the Savior they faithfully served.

Jesus gave His followings clear directions for a fruitful ministry: When the harvest fields appear plentiful and in need of workers, as they do today, He said we must “…pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38, NKJV). The Lord has blessed the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) with committed church planters who are touching their communities across the United States with the love and compassion of Christ.

Recently, IPHC Clergy Development partnered with Healthy Growing Multiplying Churches (HGM), a ministry of Evangelism USA, in spotlighting three healthy church plants by awarding each a $3,000 grant to assist in its outreach ministries.

“Church planting is a critical piece of the IPHC vision, Arise 2033,” says Bishop A. D. Beacham. “I’m so grateful for the vision of Rev. Steve Ely, Director of Clergy Development for the denomination and a former church planter. The response of Clergy Development to these IPHC church planters creates a synergy of vision and mission that is vital to our growth in the USA.” ​

Rev. Steve Ely presented the grants to HGM Director Dr. Trey Jones. “I wish to express our deepest gratitude to Clergy Development and Steve Ely for your willingness to invest in church planting,” said Jones. “We selected three thriving church plants to receive the grants. These include Turnaround City Church in Raleigh, North Carolina; Wurth Church in Casey, South Carolina; and Goodness and Love City Church in Los Angeles, California. Thank you for your partnership. The grants will be greatly appreciated and will benefit what God is doing through these leaders.”

​Each of these growing congregations is being led by outstanding shepherds who are committed to reaching unchurched and de-churched people in their areas. These teams include Pastors Jon and Erica Campbell in LA; Adam and Morgan Johnson in Raleigh; and Caleb and Carlie Henderson in Casey.

​“We celebrate the generosity of Clergy Development and the partnership with our church planting, church multiplication efforts,” says Bishop Garry Bryant, Executive Director of Evangelism USA. “The collaboration is providing fruitful and long-lasting collaboration.”

Bishop Bryant went on to give some encouraging stats with regard to IPHC church-planting efforts in the United States. “Momentum is growing in US church planting,” he says. “In 2024,18 new IPHC churches were launched, representing 1,118 new people and over 380 salvations. In 2025, the IPHC has launched 36 new church plants, representing hundreds of new people and salvations. EVUSA remains faithful to serving our denomination and pursuing Arise 2033.”

Kathy’s involvement in the event seemed much more dramatic than ours. She was there when a helicopter lifted the world and began its flight across town to its designated resting place. In fact, Kathy had witnessed its fabrication from being a vision to its completion.

On the other end of the process, Bishop Beacham’s father, the Reverend A. D. Beacham, along with most of the Headquarters’ staff, stood in the grass and watched as the massive globe arrived at the entrance to the newly-renovated Pentecostal Holiness Executive Offices in Bethany, Oklahoma. I will never forget seeing the world being lowered into its permanent home west of the gate.

“I love telling the story of the globe from my family’s perspective,” says Kathy Larsen. “The timing was what I call a ‘God thing’ in so many ways, from the day Mr. Bill Mash contacted my father with an idea, until its idea’s realization and transport to its ultimate destination.”

Kathy’s dad, G.R. “Jeff” Shilling, Jr., a second-generation blacksmith by trade, owned and managed Atlas Iron Works. He was the creator, designer, and overseer—the BOSS. The men in the shop did the actual fabrication on most of the orders, and Kathy’s job included clerical duties, which involved ordering materials and locating and procuring means for transporting the finished projects, some of which were impressively large but none as extraordinary as the sculpture in question.

Mr. Bill Mash, a local contractor and member of the Muse Memorial Pentecostal Holiness Church, located near Atlas Iron Works, approached Mr. Shilling one day with a question: “Can you construct a metal globe?” he asked. “I would like for it to be grander than the largest one known at this time, which is located in California.”

“Dad loved a challenge,” admits Kathy. That fact was event in the company’s slogan: “Particular Iron for Particular People.”

Jeff Shilling, an artist with iron as his medium, was known to procrastinate at times (a common trait of many creative individuals). So, sometime after his initial conversation with her dad, Mr. Mash contacted Kathy. He expressed his desire for Atlas to do the job, but, being on a tight deadline and working with a specific budget, he was anxious to receive a bid. He needed the project to move forward to completion before Dedication Day of the property, which was scheduled for October 24, 1975. After some tough “father-daughter” discussion (as Kathy describes it), she found the information on her desk the next morning and, soon, a reasonable bid was in Mr. Mash’s hands.

Though Atlas Iron Works had accepted the job, the world’s construction offered several challenges. First, it came at a time when the Shillings family was facing some internal struggles. “Yet, we were always grateful for every job-related opportunity,” says Kathy. “However, this one was unique. It presented several issues for consideration. Along with the creativity required in producing such a massive sculpture, questions arose with regard to its overall design, fabrication, and the availability of the precise materials needed for the job.” Even so, God provided the means at every level.

As the project neared completion, another issue arose: how to transport the globe across town to the PH Headquarters. Since Mr. Shilling was scheduled to be out of town at the time, he gave Kathy information that helped her determine how best to proceed. Because of its size, moving the structure over neither land nor water was an option. It had to be flown. But how?

Kathy began the search but every possibility in Oklahoma–from private entities to military—was unable to assist in the transport. Then, a business friend mentioned a company in Missouri—St. Louis Helicopter Airways. He thought they might be a resource. Kathy wasted no time. She contacted them immediately. Not only were they able to fly but they “just happened” to have a chopper available on the exact day and at the specific time they were needed. “God does provide!” exclaimed Kathy.

The next morning, which was the day before they were to transport, St. Louis Helicopter Airways called Atlas, inquiring about the weight of the globe. “To answer their questions, we brought in a crane scale to weigh the globe,” says Kathy. “It registered a whopping 5200 pounds, with a diameter of 24 feet, which was within only a few pounds of our calculations. I called St. Louis, and they said it weighed several hundred pounds too much.”

Considering the weight of the piece, the Atlas crew was faced with yet another challenge: if parts were removed, the braces from the center axis might collapse the globe. There was only one way to find out. That evening, the shop foreman and Kathy cut the braces extending from the axis. “We removed the center axis,” explains Kathy, “That gave an acceptable less than an inch change in diameter. We were good for the morning flight!”

When the helicopter arrived, a crowd had gathered to witness the “world’s lifting.” As they watched from a safe distance, the helicopter pilot tried twice but could not get a lift. So, the shop crew and volunteers rolled the sphere over the parking lot to a vacant lot across the road. At first try from there, the helicopter rose, veered south to follow the railroad tracks, then turned west to the river to cross over Lake Overholser. Then, it made a wide U-turn by flying east over Wiley Post Airport then straight south to the world’s new home.

Being an astute business woman, Kathy’s mother, Ruth, remained in the office that day to answer the phone. As she waited, she wrote a letter and titled it, “The Day the World Moved!” That piece, along with pictures of the transaction, found its way into several publications, including the Pentecostal Holiness Advocate.

As Kathy returned to the office, her mother handed her the phone. A caller from St. Louis Helicopter was on the line. “We need to reschedule the lift,” he explained. “Considering the weight of the sculpture and the atmospheric conditions today, it would be ‘humanly impossible’ to move it at this time.”

Kathy informed the caller that they had provided the means but God had already moved the world safely to its destination. “God was totally in the lead for the move of the ‘world’ in more ways than any of us knew. He planted an idea then provided the creativity, knowledge, and means every step of the way.”

Each year at the National Ornamental Metal Manufacturers Association, manufacturers are allowed to enter photographs of jobs they feel are worthy of recognition by their peers. Atlas Iron Works entered the “world,” along with two other projects—a Dallas church and a Las Vegas Hilton remodel. Each won first place in their category. The world, however, was awarded the Top Job of overall entries.

That was then and this now, more than 50 years after the fact, and my memory bank seems to be a bit “low on funds.” However, I do remember September 3, 1975, as being an historical day. The Headquarters building was abuzz with anticipation as word spread for employees to gather at the entrance to the property for the arrival of something special. We stood there in the Oklahoma sunshine as a chopper appeared, bearing one of the most impressive sculptures in iron most of us had ever seen. After the globe was lowered into place, Bishop J. Floyd Williams, led in a prayer of thanksgiving and dedication, and we returned to our duties.

For the next 35 years, that beautiful sphere welcomed me to my place of service. Though I was actually employed by Advocate Press (which later became LifeSprings Resources) in Franklin Springs, Georgia, having an office in the IPHC Headquarters was truly a privilege and blessing. That place of hope became for me an outlet for ministry. And the globe still stands there today as a distinctive landmark and defining symbol of the vision and goals of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church to help lift a much larger world out of depravity by spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yes, Kathy Larsen and I found common ground and it focused on a magnificent piece of art. She lived the story of the day the world was lifted, and I saw it arrive and have lived to help tell its story again in retrospect.

Paul began Ephesians 4:11 by affirming that “He himself,” that is, Jesus the Messiah, “gave some” to be carriers of the five gifts named in that verse.[3] The gifts are listed in what appears to be an order: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.[4] Based on 1 Corinthians 12:28, it seems that Paul understood a certain priority at least related to the first two, “And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers.” Paul closed that section with the rhetorical question, “Are all apostles, Are all prophets? Are all teachers?” (12:29). Note that in 1 Corinthians, written from Ephesus, Paul named teachers as third rather than evangelists.

From the Apostle Paul’s own writings, especially in 2 Corinthians 10:7 through 13:10 where he defends his own apostolic call, and the meaning of the word apostle in the New Testament era, Paul recognized that apostolic anointing meant a level of spiritual authority that had a “first among equals” quality. He recognized spheres of spiritual authority as he identified himself as “an apostle to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13; 1 Corinthians 9:2; Galatians 2:8; 1 Timothy 1:11).[5] But for Paul, who knew the teachings of Jesus, spiritual authority did not operate as world authority operates. Spiritual authority is a serving authority and not dictatorial authority. I view the five gifts in Ephesians 4:11 as resting upon people who function as “elders” in the body of Christ with the accompanying characteristics (Acts 15:2, 4, 6, 22, 23; 1 Timothy 5:17; 1 Peter 5:1, 5; 2 John 1:1; 3 John 1:1).

In this essay the survey of these five gifts will be brief, and you should review the sources in the footnote for more about these gifts.[6] Before proceeding to examine the purpose of these gifts described in Ephesians 4:12-16, we will discuss two areas. First, brief assessments of the five gifts and secondly, are these gifts operating in the body of Christ today.

First, apostle was a term known by Paul from its use in the political sphere of Rome. “It was used to describe leaders sent to colonize areas. These leaders had control of and authority over sailing vessels that carried people and cargo to expand the empire. It also described someone who was sent as an ambassador or envoy with authority based on the authority of the sender.”[7]

Second, a prophet was a person sent by God with a specific message. In both the Old and New Testaments, it had the double sense of “forth telling” as well as “foretelling.” The “forth telling” was declaring God’s Word to a specific situation based on what God hath said. The “foretelling” was about some aspect of the future based on what God had revealed in His Word regarding His divine response to obedience and to disobedience. In both senses, prophets were deeply knowledgeable of God’s Word (the Bible), history, and the Holy Spirit giving clarity regarding the future, all based upon fidelity to what God has revealed in His Word.[8] In 1 Corinthians 14:29-33 Paul gave clear instructions that prophetic messages were meant to be shared in the life of the congregation but that such messages were to be affirmed, modified, or rejected by others in the congregation.

Third, evangelists were/are people with an anointing to preach the gospel in such a way that sinners repented/repent of their sins and turned/turn to Christ. One thinks of the late Billy Graham and the anointing he had to preach a simple gospel message, and thousands respond to its truth.

Fourth, pastors are shepherds of God’s sheep. While it may be argued that the first three gifts are more translocal, a pastor has a more local oversight of a group of believers. In a large local congregation of three hundred people plus, it is practically impossible for one “pastor” to provide the pastoral care for that many people. Thus, one may find a “senior pastor” with other “associate pastors” who do the ministry that in a smaller congregation is usually done by one pastor.

The fifth group, which may belong to that of pastors, are teachers. But there seems to be a certain distinction as teachers are gifted people who know how to convey truth to others in such a way that there is spiritual transformation through applicable information.

The Apostle Paul had elements of at least some of the five gifts operating in his life. The only person who had all five gifts fully operating was Jesus in His earthly ministry. But since the Day of Pentecost Jesus has been giving one or more of these gifts to people that He calls and anoints.

In Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus, he names qualities of “bishops, overseers, elders” (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9). It seems that in the early church these terms were used interchangeably in local and translocal leadership. There are three things from these lists that are important to remember for anyone who is called into “the ministry.” Character is foremost, then holy relationships, and the primary ministry skill is “teaching.”

This brief listing of these gifts leads to the question: are these gifts operating in the church today? The answer is a qualified Yes. The qualified answer relates specifically to the gifts of apostles and prophets. Regarding apostles, the Twelve that Jesus called plus the Apostle Paul constitute an irreplaceable foundational group.[9] These First Century apostles had to be people who had been with Jesus “from the baptism of John to that day when He (Jesus) was taken up from us” (Acts 1:22). This was particularly true for replacing Judas. That was not the case for the Apostle Paul. But because Paul had seen the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus, he was granted acceptance as a legitimate apostolic witness to the Gentiles.[10] It was these First Century apostles who gave us the Holy Spirit inspired Scriptures that constitute the New Testament.

But have there been apostles since the close of the First Century? Yes, they are often called missionaries. They are people with a Holy Spirit anointing to establish new congregations where the gospel has not been preached or where the gospel message has faded from spiritual neglect.

Prophets have similar qualifications. The Old and New Testament prophets cannot be replaced. Their messages, recorded in Holy Scripture, remain the authoritative Word of God for all time. Any contemporary prophet who claims to have another revelation of Jesus Christ is a false prophet. Any prophet whose teaching does not conform to Scripture must either be corrected (that is, be teachable) or if unteachable, rejected. But there are people through the past two thousand years who have a prophetic anointing to speak to situations and declare revelation that conforms to Scripture and brings new life and light to that situation.

As for evangelists, pastors, and teachers, there is little debate that those gifts abide today in the lives of men and women.

In some churches it is common to refer to spiritual leaders by a variety of titles: pastor, evangelist, prophet, apostle, elder, teacher, etc. In the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, a person may be called by one of these terms as a recognition of a particular anointing for that season and location in their life. However, the IPHC does not license or ordain anyone as one of those gifts. Rather, people are ordained into the ministry with the recognition that their gift mix may change as they grow in the grace of serving Jesus. The reason for this licensure or ordination as “minister” is made clear in Ephesians 4:12-16. In these verses Paul shifts the attention away from the individual in whom one or more of these gifts abide. In other words, it’s not about me or you as “apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher.” It’s all about Christ and His body and its global mission to reach this lost world.

Four key themes emerge from Ephesians 4:12-16: 1) Equipping (4:12); 2) Maturity (4:13); 3) Protection (4:14); 4) Prevailing Love (4:15, 16). We will briefly examine each of these.

Equipping. Ephesians 4:12 indicates that the five gifts of verse 11 are meant to equip “the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Before describing the meanings of equip, a point of punctuation needs to be discussed. If you grew up reading the King James Version of the Bible, verse 12 probably read like this: “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Notice the two commas. The two commas indicate that the five gifts have three purposes: “perfect (equip) the saints, do the work of the ministry, and edify the body of Christ.” To use the gift of pastor as an example, this implies that only a pastor is to do the work of the ministry and make sure that everyone in the local church is being edified.

But if you remove the first comma, as most new Bible translations do, including new editions of the King James Version, the verse reads: “for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” No, the primary purpose of the five gifts is to equip the saints, the people of God in that local congregation, to do the work of the ministry so that body of Christ is edified. It’s no longer just the pastor who does ministry; it’s the whole congregation of redeemed people engaged in ministry. Those with five-fold ministry gifts in local congregations or in other leadership positions should be equipping the saints to do the ministry.

You may be wondering if changing the punctuation is tampering with the Word of God. Keep in mind when the Bible was written punctuation was not used. Punctuation did not enter the Bible until 500 to 600 years after the First Century. Chapter and verse divisions did not occur until 1551. So, it’s not tampering with the Bible to rethink punctuation considering the total witness of God’s Word.

Equipping is the Greek word katartismos.[11] In his study of Ephesians 4:12, B.E. Underwood used these eight words to show the breadth of meaning of this one word: mending, organizing, restoring, equipping, training, maturing, uniting, and perfecting.[12] With the first comma removed, these five gifted-by-Christ persons have the assignment of equipping the people of God for the kind of ministry that builds up (edifies) the body of Christ.

Maturity. In Greek, Ephesians 4:11-16 is another of Paul’s long sentences. Thus, the three statements in verse 13 are not isolated from the purpose of the five gifts or the edifying of the church. Until Jesus returns, Ephesians 4:11, 12 identify two continuing purposes. First, Paul envisioned “we all come to the unity of the faith.” This is a goal that Jesus Himself prayed (John 17:21). This is not a human-made institution but a spiritual reality whereby we recognize the presence of Jesus with one another wherever the gospel is faithfully lived. The purpose is, in Jesus’ words, “that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:22).

The second is that we all come “to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man.” I have made the decision to include “perfect man” with this clause. The reason is that I believe Paul’s primary focus is to locate unity within the reality of who Jesus is as the Son of God. The word translated man in the NKJV is aner and refers specifically to a male. Many commentators believe Paul uses this word rather than the more generic anthropos to contrast it with children used in verse 14. Though this is probably correct, it is more than a contrast. It is the recognition that Jesus is the Son of God, the God-man, the Word made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Thus, Jesus is the perfect man, and we as members of His body, are in the process of being conformed to His image.

Thirty years after Paul wrote this letter, during the decade of the 90s, the Apostle John who had moved to Ephesus with Mary the mother of Jesus, wrote of the significance of the confession that Jesus is the Son of God. In 1 John 2:18-23; 4:1-3 John warned of the spirit of antichrist which denies that Jesus is the Son of God and came in human flesh.

Thus, when Paul in Ephesians 4:13 wrote of coming to “the knowledge of the Son of God,” he was addressing profound theological truths that have bearing on who Jesus is and on the reality of His atoning mission and death.

This maturity includes “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” This naturally follows on Jesus being the perfect man and His body being the spiritual and physical entity where His fullness is being manifested. Of the twelve times Paul uses fullness is his letters, half occur in Ephesians and Colossians (Eph. 1:10, 23; 3:19; 4:13; Col. 1:19; 2:9). In this verse, Paul’s view of the expansive and prevailing presence of the Kingdom through the Messiah continued what he had earlier written about the Messiah in Ephesians 1:20-23, 3:18-21 and 4:8-10. For everyone in the Roman Empire, Paul’s understanding of the fullness of Christ was more than spiritual fantasy. It was a clear political statement that the Emperor and Rome, or any human instrument of power, would bow at the feet of the Messiah.

Paul was keenly aware of the moral, intellectual, and spiritual weakness (even sinfulness) of individual Christians. But he understood that the power of divine holiness in the life of Jesus is always greater than the power of sin in humans and human institutions. This means that the Holy Spirit is always at work in us individually and together as members of the Messiah’s body to bring us to the fulfillment to be revealed at the return of the Messiah.

Protection. Frank Thielman wrote of Ephesians 4:14, “The church’s goal, negatively viewed, is to move believers out of childhood, with its susceptibility to various false teachings. A church moving toward full unity with Christ is leaving behind immaturity, with its intertwined characteristics of ignorance (cf. 1 Cor. 13:11; 14:20; Rom. 2:20; Col. 1:28), gullibility (cf. Heb. 5:12-14), and individualism (cf. 1 Cor. 2:6; 3:1-4; Phil. 3:15).”[13]

It is important to note that Paul’s concern is with false teaching. We often think of spiritual immaturity in terms of our attitudes and actions. That is true, but Paul’s warning is deeper than any personal emotional immaturity. He was concerned that the Ephesians be alert to what he called “every wind of doctrine.” The language of “tossed” and “wind” was language from the Gospel of Luke 8:24 that Paul knew from the life of Jesus. The same Greek words are used in Luke’s account. When we remember that Luke was part of Paul’s missionary team, it helps us understand that Paul knew the same accounts of the life of Jesus that Luke recorded in his record.

The final clauses of 4:14 reveal Paul’s disdain for those who taught “a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6-9). It should not surprise us that in the first decades after the resurrection Satan worked to bring confusion about doctrine. Thought defeated in the death and resurrection of Jesus, Satan continues to resist the kingdom of God and works to deceive us. Jesus knew this and warned His disciples about Satan’s efforts (Luke 21:8, 34-36).

Prevailing Love. Ephesians 4:15, 16 ties together all that Paul has been writing to the encompassing power and presence of God’s love in Christ. Nineteen times in Ephesians Paul used either the noun agape or verb form agapao for “love, loves, loved” as translated in the New King James. Observe the use of the personal pronoun “we” in verse 14. That pronoun controls the opening of verse 15, “we” are the ones “speaking the truth in love.”[14] The issue of “the truth” corresponds to “every wind of doctrine” in verse 14. While it is appropriate to view verse 15 in terms of personal relationships of admonition, correction, the primary focus of verse 15 is to bring correct doctrine in an atmosphere of transforming love within the Christian community. Love is the attitude of heart that knows the importance of saving another from error that will hinder their witness or destroy their life. When a parent warns a child not to touch a hot stove the parent is showing love for the child. It’s more than mild mannered speech. The speech may be strong but nonetheless flows from a heart of love designed to save.

Speaking the truth in love is part of how we “may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ.” It is interesting that the word translated “grow up” in verse 15 is the same word used in Luke 1:80; 2:40 referring to the growth of John the Baptist and Jesus.[15] When the Ephesians heard this letter read, they connected the language of “grow” back to Ephesians 2:20 where the church “grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” In every aspect of life (all things) we grow into the body of Jesus. Jesus is the head, and we belong to His body. This is the second use of “head” in Ephesians (1:22) and Paul maintained this metaphor in Ephesians and Colossians. The language of Christ as the head reflects Jesus’ own words that He will build His church (Matthew 16:18).

Ephesians 4:16 closes this long sentence by using human body analogies to describe how the body of the Messiah operates in the world. In a sense, Paul paints a picture of the “one new man” in Ephesians 2:15. From the head, which is from Jesus the Messiah, the body on earth is nourished. The body of the Messiah, “the whole body,” is “joined and knit together by what every joint supplies.” In Greek the two words “joined” and “knit” are a mouthful: synarmologoumenon and symbibazomenon. The underlined syllables mark the accents for pronunciation. The first term “joined” is a repetition from Ephesians 2:21. The term “joint” (haphe) in this verse is unclear. Some view it as joints, ligaments or tendons. The primary meaning of the word relates to “touch or contact.”[16] Regardless the specific piece of anatomy, the main point is that Paul describes the presence of the Holy Spirit in people making connections that hold the body together.

The final clauses of Ephesians 4:16 takes us back to the various spiritual gifts operating in the body of Christ, including those named in 4:11. As each of us does out part as redeemed, Spirit-filled and anointed servants of Christ, the body of Christ grows for the purpose of building up itself in agape, love. The Apostle John, about 30 years after Paul wrote Ephesians, wrote to the Ephesians and other churches in western Turkey that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The goal of redemption is the restoration of the fallen created order to the image of its Creator, the God who is love.

As we close these thoughts on Ephesians 4:11-16, I remind you that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus around 53-54 A.D. What he wrote to them not only addressed the problems they sent him but also reflected what Paul was teaching in Ephesus. Thus, when he wrote about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, he intentionally placed the great love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, between the two gift chapters. This was not a random poem selection. It was something Paul was teaching in Ephesus. When he wrote the Ephesians letter in the early 60s, about 8-10 years after he wrote 1 Corinthians, he was reminding the Ephesians that it is holy love, God’s own nature, that is the hope of the world and what empowers the body of Christ as His witnesses in this fallen world.

[1] See the previous essay at https://iphc.org/gso/2025/10/22/the-messiahs-gifts-to-his-church-part-1-ephesians-47-10/.

[2] https://iphc.org/gso/2025/09/30/live-worthy-of-the-call-ephesians-41-3/ and https://iphc.org/gso/2025/10/09/ephesians-44-6-seven-ones-four-all/. The gifts named in 4:11 are sometimes called “Christ’s Gifts,” “Ascension Gifts,” “Leadership Gifts,” or “Equipping Gifts.” These terms are often used interchangeably.

[3] αὐτὸς ἔδωκεν τοὺς. The word translated “some” is the definite article masculine plural. The masculine gender should not be interpreted to mean that only males have been appointed to these designated ministries. This is controversial in certain parts of global Christianity. For reasons from other New Testament passages, many Pentecostals and other Protestants hold that men and women are called by Christ to serve in these capacities.

[4] There is some debate whether pastors and teachers are one and the same. This is because Paul used definite articles for the first three but only one definite article for the last two. From a grammatical viewpoint it can be argued that pastors and teachers are meant as one or they are meant as two. The commentary on these last two will treat them as separate but with pastors having overlapping teaching giftings.

[5] Paul recognized that Peter was an apostle to the Jews, something that Peter himself affirmed (Galatians 2:7, 8; 1 Peter 1:1).

[6] For an IPHC official position paper see https://iphc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Apostolic-Position-Paper.pdf. Also, for an overview of IPHC history and theology on these gifts see Doug Beacham, Rediscovering the Role of Apostles and Prophets (Franklin Springs, GA: LifeSprings Resources, 2003). Chapters 1-5 are a historical study, chapters 6-8 are a theological/exegetical study primarily of Ephesians, and Chapters 9, 10 review the late 20^th century and early 21^st century views on apostles and prophets within certain aspects of the charismatic movement.

[7] Beacham, Rediscovering the Role of Apostles and Prophets, 132.

[8] I am convinced that the Old Testament prophets, and legitimate prophets in our era, are good historians and understand history, its direction and goal, considering God’s revelation in His Word.

[9] This includes Matthias as the replacement of Judas (Acts 1:15-26).

[10] Paul had to battle through much of his ministry for his apostolic calling to be recognized. A reading of Acts and Paul’s letters makes that clear.

[11] Frank Thielman argues that equip is the best translation of the Greek given the context, Ephesians: Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: MI: Baker Academic, 2013) 279.

[12] B.E. Underwood, Spiritual Gifts: Ministries and Manifestations (Franklin Springs, GA: Advocate Press, 1984) 24, italics Underwood. As observed in the previous essay, this book as been the defining book on spiritual gifts for the IPHC.

[13] Thielman, 282.

[14] “Speaking the truth” is one word in Greek, a present participle of means “defining more closely the verb αὐξήσωμεν [grow] and describing the way in which the growth takes place.” Thielman, p. 285 Kindle Edition.

[15] The more I read Paul’s letters and Luke’s Gospel and the book of Acts, the more convinced I am that these two men, along with others in their ministry, knew and shared information about Jesus. While Luke’s Gospel record is usually dated later in the first century, I’m finding it likely that at least an early version of Luke’s Gospel account was well known to Paul.

[16] Thielman, page 287.

Passports from various countries brought by delegates attending the 2025 Global Assembly.

The morning of the November 5^th began with Rev. Tres Ward and his wife Rachael leading the delegates in praise to God. Presiding Bishop Beacham then reminded the delegates of God’s promise to the IPHC in Isaiah 54:1-3 and the IPHC themes of being A Place of Hope and A People of Promise. Beacham welcomed the delegates and recognized delegates from newly added IPHC nations, Scotland and Macedonia. Beacham then shared information about the IPHC in the United States and called for other nations to send missionariesto the USA.

Bishop Talmadge Gardner, Executive Director of IPHC World Missions Ministries and IPHC Vice-Chair gave the keynote address. Gardner spoke of the blessings of the Lord in response to the 2017 IPHC Arise 2033 Vision. Since 2017 the IPHC has grown to an additional twenty-six and there are now IPHC churches in over 120 countries. He recalled Rev. Jentezen Franklin’s call to the IPHC in 2001, “I have raised you up for such a time as this and you cannot retreat. Your days of harvest are not behind you, but your fields of harvest are before you.” He concluded with an enthusiastic call for us to be “one church in thousands of locations!”

The next speaker was Rev. Ismail Serinken, IPHC leader in Turkey and the host for the Global Assembly. Ismail

Rev. Ismail Serinken with his wife, Angela.

recognized his wife Angela who years ago came as an IPHC missionary from Romania. Though facing many difficulties, Angela was faithful to God’s call, and the fruit of her faithfulness is seen in their family and the growing IPHC presence in Turkey. Ismail then told of his leadership role in a new Turkish Bible translation that is being released this Christmas. This version is the first Turkish Bible to use Biblical language for Jesus rather than Arabic for the Lord’s name. He indicated a need for about $15,000 to complete the project for distribution this year and in a few moments dozens of people from around the world stood and committed the money to spread the Word of God in Turkish!

Through the remainder of the morning inspiring reports were given by Dr. Wallapa Wisawasukmongchol of the new Hope Center Ministry facility for women in Phetchabun, Thailand. Argentine Bishop David Passuelo called for us to be “dangerous” to the kingdom of darkness. Rev. Rosaline John from India inspired everyone with her account of the impact of Arise in Prayer in India and how thousands of Indian women are arising in prayer.

The morning concluded with reports from Rev. Khader Koury from the Palestinian Territory of Bethlehem and Rev. Michael Sadowsky from Living Israel in Haifa. Koury, who is originally from Gaza, shared about his family in Gaza and relief for the small Christian community in this war-torn area. Sadowsky spoke of the impact of the war in Israel since the October 7, 2023, attack and atrocities against Israeli citizens from Hamas. He shared how Living Israel is growing and now has ministry in twenty-five Israeli cities.

To close the morning with these two men, one from Gaza and the other a Russian speaking Jew in Israel, demonstrated the power of the gospel to bring reconciliation and healing in this sin-devastated world.

The first afternoon session has presentations from Bishop Valerii Reshetinskyi from Ukraine, Bishop Michael John of India, Bishop David Trejulo from Spain, Rev. Gretchen Schwartz from Belgium, and Rev. Debra Crook from the Philippines.

Bishop Reshetinskyi spoke of the ongoing attacks from Russia against Ukraine and the need for continued prayer and financial support to help the thousands of Ukrainians impacted by the war. Heartbreaking photos of the humanitarian crisis in the south of Ukraine were shown. But the photos also showed the impact of the constant stream of aid from IPHC Ukraine to these needy people.

Gretchen Schwartz spoke of her ministry, along with IPHC missionary Lulu Salazar, in Antwerp, Belgium among women in the world of prostitution. Gretchen shared the impact of building relationships with these women and showing the love of Christ is making a difference in their lives. She described the challenges faced by transgender “women” struggling to discover their real identity in Christ.

The final group of reports were from Dr. Terry Tramel from USA, Rev. Eddy Kwok from Hong Kong, Rev. Togo Ranaivoarimanana from Madagascar, and Bishop Adonis Gato from Cuba. Dr. Tramel shared how India leads the way in the international dimension of the IPHC Global Outreach Offering and encouraged each nation to participate. Hong Kong Field Superintendent Eddy Kwok shared an inspiring and informative message on unity based on Psalm 133. Both Rev. Ranaivoarimanana and Bishop Gato closed the global reports with messages of great hope and celebration.

The final session of this significant day included Holy Communion, prayers for various parts of the globe, and personal prayer times of impartation and prayers for healing.

Bishop Jason Beiler giving a devotion in Thyatira

From Kusadasi most of the delegates boarded buses and toured the archeological sites of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. It was particularly special that each bus stopped at the IPHC church location near the archeological site of Laodicea. In that location we met with local IPHC leaders for prayer and fellowship.

From a personal perspective, I have participated in six of the seven IPHC Global Assemblies. Each has been special, but to me the Wednesday day of praise, reports, and prayer were the most significant spiritual day of my life as an IPHC minister.

I am very thankful for the work of the General Superintendent’s Office and World Missions Ministries in planning and executing this special occasion.

Ironically, a historic meeting took place that same year in a tiny, one-room, octagon-shaped structure more than 1200 miles away. Leaders of the Pentecostal Holiness Church and the Fire Baptized Holiness Church convened in Falcon, North Carolina, to sign a merger agreement, uniting the two small denominations into one. As part of the blending, the larger of the two entities—Fire Baptized Holiness—agreed on a proposal to adopt the name of the smaller group, creating the movement known today as the International Pentecostal Holiness Church.

St. Joseph’s

The following year (1912), that impressive building in Oklahoma opened under the name, St. Joseph’s Orphanage. Constructed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City as a place of hope for displaced children, the residence housed and cared for over 5,000 orphans from 1912 until its closing in 1965. Reports indicate that the rise of the foster care system and a shift in focus towards providing short-term placements for abused and neglected children led to the facility’s closure.

Meanwhile, following the merger of the two denominational groups in North Carolina, the Pentecostal Holiness Church operated without a specific headquarters until 1919, when it established its base of operations in Franklin Springs, Georgia. Since the General Superintendent, Bishop Joseph H. King, lived in Royston—the adjacent village—it seemed logical at the time that the denominational headquarters had found its “forever” home.

Yet, in 1952, under the oversight of Bishop Joseph A. Synan, the headquarters relocated for a short time to Memphis, Tennessee. However, at the 1961 General Conference, the delegation voted to return the offices to its former home in Franklin Springs. This move seemed financially expedient, since property and housing in a metropolis exceeded expectations. In “the Springs,” the general offices were housed once again in the denominational publishing house, Advocate Press (later to become known as LifeSprings Resources).

The Headquarters remained in Franklin Springs, Georgia, for 12 years before another shift was ratified and implemented.

When J. Floyd Williams was elected General Superintendent in 1969, one of his expressed mandates was to engender transformation in the denomination. In an interview with Dr. Vinson Synan, Williams stated that he saw his election to the church’s highest office as a “mandate for change.”[i][ii] One of those perceived changes was to relocate the church’s headquarters to a “centralized location that would give the church a more urban and progressive image.”

Previously, the Pentecostal Holiness Church had been identified primarily as a rural organization, perceived to have focused its stateside outreach and ministry along the eastern regions of the United States. A disadvantage to its present base of operation was its remote location in northeast Georgia.

A need for change was definitely on the agenda of the 1973 General Conference, held in Roanoke, Virginia. To the surprise of some delegates, a controversial motion was brought to the floor, evoking much discussion. Finally, after a lengthy session of heated debate, the proposal passed by a narrow margin (208 to 206). The Pentecostal Holiness Headquarters would relocate once again; this time to Oklahoma.

Following the General Conference, no time was wasted in negotiating the purchase and refurbishing of the proposed property. The restoration of the main building and adjacent structures proceeded expeditiously under the skilled workmanship of Mr. Bill Mash, a layman and member of the Muse Memorial Pentecostal Holiness Church.

Mr. Mash proved to be skilled at the construction. His vision and passion for the reconstruction of the property also included extraordinary design features both inside and outside of the buildings. One of the most striking additions, however, was a 5,200-pound, metal structure designed to augment the entrance to the property.

For months, Mr. Mash worked closely with Mr. Gilbert Shilling and other artisans at Atlas Iron Works, a local firm, to see the world globe completed. Because of its massive size (a diameter of 24 feet)[iii] the piece had to be airlifted by helicopter several miles through the city to its home landing. Since September 6, 1975, the Globe has been a memorable landmark for travelers on historic Highway 66.

Throughout the restoration process, the generosity of Pentecostal Holiness laypersons contributed greatly to the extraordinary design of the Executive Offices and adjacent buildings on the property. These included such individuals as Mr. C. H. Springer, a businessman from Memphis, Tennessee, who sponsored the design and furnishing of the International Conference Room.

Mr. A. R. Minchew, a businessman from Washington, D.C., donated funds for the renovation of the auditorium situated east of the Executive Offices. Though the facility is used primarily now by Southwestern Christian University, Minchew Auditorium continues to serve as a venue for numerous special occasions. It was the site for the Dedication of the new Headquarters of the IPHC in October of 1975 as well as the Jubilee Celebration, held on October 14, 2025.

Constructed originally as an arm to Minchew Auditorium, Robertson Training Center continues as a support to Southwestern Christian University. The classroom still buzz with instruction and discussion as students are trained for Christian ministry. The redesign and restructure of the center was sponsored by Mr. Robert Roberson, a businessman from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Billy and Florence Lou Wellons of Fayetteville, North Carolina, funded the furnishing of an elegant banquet room in the Executive Office Building. The room, designed to seat 25, was used to host lunches for special guests and other occasions. Mr. Errol Stafford, of Tallahassee, Florida, donated the silver service for the Banquet Room, and the Pentecostal Holiness Church of Canada donated the Royal Albert’s fine china.

The Captain’s Table, located in the east wing of the first floor, was furnished in a nautical theme and could seat up to 200. The purchase of the furnishings and decor were sponsored by the South Carolina Conference, under the superintendency of Rev. David A. McKenzie.

Collins Chapel, located adjacent to the Executive Office Building, was sponsored by a gift from Mr. G. C. Collins, a businessman from Memphis, Tennessee. Funding for the furnishings of the Sam Hill Prayer Room, located beneath the Chapel’s bell tower, were provided by Mr. Sam Hill, a businessman from Florence, South Carolina.[iv]

These laymen and women, many of whom now reside in the presence of the King of kings, caught the vision of the church’s leaders and contributed to its realization. We remember them with gratitude for their faith and generosity.

By the summer of 1974, the work was completed and the Executive Offices of the Pentecostal Holiness Church occupied the former St. Joseph’s Orphanage—the large, three-story building on the hill west of downtown Bethany, Oklahoma. The magnificently restored facility was dedicated on October 26, 1975, with noted dignitaries present for the celebration.

Soon after the move, the Pentecostal Holiness Church added the word International, to its name, denoting its worldwide outreach.

Over the last 50 years, the church has identified key emphases and vision statements to guide its ministry and outreach efforts. Examples include Target 2000, the Jerusalem Proclamation, Mission 21, Arise 2033, and our current identity as a Place of Hope/ People of Promise.

Under the mighty hand of God, the International Pentecostal Holiness Church has continued to grow and expand its ministry to include a presence in ­­­­122 countries. The name of the building has been elevated through the years from simply “PH Headquarters,” to “Resource Development Center (RDC),” to “Global Ministry Center (GMC).”

We celebrate our past today. Yet, we anticipate the future where God continues to lead the International Pentecostal Holiness Church as a movement. And, under the leadership of Presiding Bishop A. D. Beacham and other God-called and anointed leaders, the beautiful building on the hill remains to be known as “A Place of Hope.” But wasn’t that its original purpose?

[i] Vinson Synan: OldTime Power, A Centennial History of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church: 1998, LifeSprings Resources, p.279.

Ii “The Day the World Moved,” an article by Mrs. G.R. (Ruth) Shilling. The complete article is available for reading in the IPHC Archives.

iii Donors to the restoration process were named in the May 9, 23, 1976, edition of The International Pentecostal Holiness Advocate, which featured photographs of the newly renovated Executive Offices.

While emphasizing unity through 4:6, Paul shifted his attention to how spiritual leadership operates in Christ’s body for the purposes expressed in Ephesians 4:13-16. In those verses “the unity of the faith” is found “in the stature of the fullness of Christ” and “the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”

Thus, unity of and in Christ does not diminish nor negate each follower of Jesus with our individual experiences of grace.

Paul began this section with the affirmation that “to each of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (4:7). He expressed that grace was given “to each of us.” This means that every born-again believer receives a measure of grace that is unique and sufficient for us in the assignments and relationships the Holy Spirit gives us. For most of us the “body of Christ” is experienced in a local congregation. But the body of Christ has spiritual implications extending beyond what we naturally experience in a local congregation. Our participation and support for local and global ministries goes beyond what we can observe. Our prayers extend to heaven and through the Spirit to the ends of the earth and future generations.

What we receive is “grace,” the charis (χάρις)” that we experience as divine gifts. Keep in mind Paul’s comments about grace throughout this letter: “glory of His grace,” “the riches of His grace,” “by grace you are saved,” “the exceeding riches of His grace,” “the gift of the grace of God” (Ephesians 1:6, 7; 2:5, 7; 3:7).

How is this divine grace revealed in our lives? For John Wesley it was “prevenient grace,” that “grace that attends us and awakens our attentiveness. The initiative comes from grace preparing us (prevening) prior to our first awakening to the mercy and holiness of God. Preparatory (or prevenient) grace elicits ‘the first wish to please God, the first dawn of light concerning his will, and the first slight transient conviction of having sinned against him.’ Grace works ahead of us to draw us toward faith, to begin its work in us.”[1]

Expanding on this pre-conversion manifestation of grace, Thomas Oden wrote, “Prevening grace leads towards convicting grace, which begins not with our self-initiated determination to repent but by the grace that awakens a determination to repent. Prevenient grace brings us to the exact point of attentiveness to our own personal responsibility for sin.”[2]

Convicting grace leads to justifying grace and then sanctifying grace. As Wesley wrote, “By justification we are saved from the guilt of sin and restored to the favor of God; by sanctification we are saved from the power and root of sin and restored to the image of God.”[3]

It is within this larger context of divine grace that we understand the gifts of grace that are given to “each one of us.” These gifts are the spiritual gifts, the charismata described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Romans 12:3-8. Every born-again believer is given gifts for the edification of the body of Christ.[4]

In Ephesians 4:7 Paul emphasized that “to each one of us grace was given” and in 4:11 Paul remarked that “He Himself (the Messiah) gave some” the gifts enumerated in verse 11. Paul’s point was that while all disciples receive some measure of grace as gifts, there are some disciples who receive the gifts named in 4:11.[5]

The clause in 4:7, “according to the measure of Christ’s gift” has three important aspects. Working backwards in the sentence, we begin with the Messiah, the Christ.[6] The focus is not on us, our abilities, our faith. The focus is on the Anointed One, Jesus, who has triumphed over sin and death. In Ephesians, Jesus, the Anointed One revealed part of His strategy for His body, the church, to announce in human history the victory He won at Calvary.

Second, it is the Messiah’s gift (dorea, δωρεά). The word “gift” is feminine singular. It is appropriate that the “gift of Christ” is for His Bride, the church. The image is of a husband giving his bride a gift conveying his love and she cherishes it as an expression of his love (a metaphor that points towards Paul’s view of marriage in Ephesians 5:22-33). Notice that the Messiah’s “gift” is viewed as a unity, it is one gift manifested in multiplied ways through “each of us.” Dorea, gift, implies the bounty of Christ and that He gives it undeservedly to us. We do not earn the spiritual gifts God graciously bestows upon us. Rather, we celebrate the diversity of the Messiah’s gift among us with the humility described in Ephesians 4:1-6.

Third, the Messiah’s gift has its own measurement, metron. This word referred to “an instrument for measuring, of measures of capacity.”[7] Paul used the same term in Romans 12:3 to refer to the “measure of faith” God has given to each of us. This phrase introduced the spiritual gifts named in Romans 12:4-8. In Ephesians 4:16 the same word is used again to describe how the whole body of the Messiah is filled with love for the glory of God.

Thus, in our unity there is diversity in how the Messiah’s gift is manifested. There is liberty in that diversity enabling us to rejoice in what the Holy Spirit is doing in others. We do not measure ourselves against the gifts of others. To do so invites jealously, envy, the works of the flesh that destroy us and those whom we serve. Rather, we seek the fullness of Christ’s love in the church so that the fruit of the Spirit controls our relationship with Christ and others.[8]

The significance of Ephesians 4:7 is magnified as we view what Paul did in the following verses quoting Psalm 68:18. Here is Psalm 68:18 as usually translated from the Hebrew text:

“You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men, Even from the rebellious, That the Lord God might dwell there” (New King James Version).

Here is the same passage in Ephesians 4:8, “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

The italics are places where the Apostle Paul changed the personal pronoun and the verbs “received” and “gave.”[9]

The question before us is “why did Paul change the pronoun and the verb?” Part of the answer lies within the entirety of Psalm 68 in its context. I encourage you to read the entire Psalm and notice several themes:

1. God arises and defeats His enemies (Psalm 68:1, 2, 12, 14, 21)
2. God cares for and defends those who are powerless (68:5, 6)
3. Moses at Mt. Sinai (the giving of the Ten Commandments) is emphasized (68:7, 8, 17).
4. God is worshipped and magnified at His place of worship (68:24-27)
5. The nations will worship the Lord God of Israel as the One True God (68:29-35)

In the Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, Frank S. Thielman, New Testament professor at Beeson Divinity School, gives a detailed history of the interpretation of Psalm 68 and the Apostle Paul’s use of that Psalm.[10] For the purposes of this essay, the following stands out from Thielman’s analysis.

1. Jewish interpretation of Psalm 68:18 focused on Moses as the one who ascended on high (Mount Sinai) where he received the law, that is, took captive the law, and it was Israel who received the law from God through Moses. Judaism considered the Feast of Pentecost to be when Moses received the Law at Mount Sinai.[11]
2. The only Jewish tradition that changed “received” to “gave” was a Targum from the fourth or fifth centuries after Christ. If that Targum had any influence on Paul, it probably was through an oral tradition which Paul may have known.[12]
3. Thielman concludes that Paul reinterpreted Psalm 68:18 from his understanding of the victory of Jesus the Messiah. Thus, Paul took Psalm 68:18 as a prophecy fulfilled in Jesus. It was Jesus who “ascended on high,” referring to the Cross and/or a reference to His Ascension.[13] The “captivity” referred to the spiritual darkness that held humanity in its grasp, a darkness that was defeated on the Cross.[14] The phrase in Ephesians 4:8 of “gifts to men” leads to the gifts and persons named in 4:11.[15]

In Ephesians 4:9, 10 Paul gave his interpretation of Psalm 68:18. He did this by focusing on the meaning of Jesus “ascending” and “descending.” This language, with ascending mentioned first, reminds us of Genesis 28:12 where angels first ascend then descend on a ladder between earth and heaven in Jacob’s dream. Jesus used the same language in John 1:51. The passage in John is an interesting contrast with Genesis. In Genesis Jacob is a deceiver. He manipulated his brother Esau and deceived his father, Isaac. In John 1:43-51, upon seeing Nathanael, Jesus said to him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit.” There was a purity of heart in Nathanael that Jesus said was not in Jacob. The fact the angels are first ascending means they are already present with us, not dependent upon our purity of heart, but by divine grace ready to enter heaven for us (intercede) and then descend with God’s provision of mercy and grace.

Paul used the language of “ascended and descended” in 4:9, 10 to describe what Jesus did in His Incarnation. Jesus is “with us” as “the Word made flesh.” Before Jesus could “ascend” to the right hand of the Father with the victory of the Cross, He had to “first descend into the lower parts of the earth.” Where was “the lower parts of the earth?” Most commentators take it to mean the realm of sin and death from whence pours forth the demonic spirits that control our fallen world. Jesus, who became sin for us, entered that realm and conquered it. As Revelation 1:17, 18 expressed it in Jesus’s words, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”

It was Jesus, not Moses, who sent the lifesaving, life-transforming Holy Spirit at Pentecost. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:6, “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Thus, the One who descended into the depths of human depravity came forth victorious and is “far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10). Remember in Ephesians how Paul referred to Jesus as present in “heavenly places” in 1:3, 20; and 2:6. Also remember the fullness of divine love described in Ephesians 3:17-19 and God “who is above all, and through all, and in you all” in 4:6. It is this triumph that Paul has in mind when he closed 4:10 with this phrase, “that He (the Messiah) might fill all things.”

[1] Thomas C. Oden quoting John Wesley’s sermon, “On Working Out Our Own Salvation.” Google this sermon for the full manuscript. The citation in this essay comes from Oden’s John Wesley’s Teachings, Volume 2: Christ and Salvation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012) p. 142, 143. For a fuller discussion of Wesley on God’s providence see Oden’s Volume 1: God and Providence.

[2] Oden, Volume 2, p. 143.

[3] Oden, Volume 2, p. 144

[4] I will not deal with all the gifts named in the Romans and 1 Corinthians passages. I refer you to the late Bishop B.E. Underwood’s Spiritual Gifts: Ministries and Manifestations (Franklin Springs, GA: Advocate Press, 1984). Underwood described the gifts named in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4:11 as Ministry Gifts. The Ephesians 4:11 gifts are equipping ministry gifts and the Romans 12 gifts are body ministry gifts. The gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, 14 are described by Underwood as manifestation gifts. For another IPHC perspective see Noel Brooks 1988 lectures published by Holmes Memorial Church (Greenville, SC) titled Charismatic Ministries in the New Testament. See Doug Beacham, Plugged In To God’s Power (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2002) pp. 117-137.

[5] Paul’s Greek in in 4:11 is αὐτὸς ἔδωκεν. This should not be interpreted to mean the Ephesians 4:11 gifts establish a hierarchy whereby some people are “greater” than others. More about this in the next essay discussing the 4:11 gifts.

[6] I remind you that Christ is the Greek for anointed, which is the translation from Hebrew anointed one into Greek. Thus, the name Jesus Christ means Jesus (the second person of the Trinity) is the anointed One from heaven. As I’ve noted in earlier essays, I often prefer to use “Messiah” in place of “Christ” to remind us of the Jewish roots of Jesus and our faith.

[7] Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, ILL: The University of Chicago Press, 1957), 516.

[8] Galatians 5:19-21 works of the flesh and Galatians 5:22-26 fruit of the Spirit.

[9] The LXX reading of Psalm 68:18 is the same as the Hebrew text. The Hebrew text is often called the Masoretic Text (MT).

[10] G.K. Beale and D.A. Carson, editors, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007) pages 819-826.

[11] For more on the Pentecost connection, see Doug Beacham, Rediscovering the Role of Apostles and Prophets (Franklin Springs, GA: LifeSprings Resources, 2003) page 118.

[12] Targum were Jewish interpretations of Hebrew text into Aramaic, a process that some scholars believe in the time of Ezra but more likely in the First Century of the Christian era. See the article Targum, Targumim in The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism, edited by John J. Collins and Daniel C. Harlow (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010) pages 1278-1281.

[13] Notice in the Gospel of John the references to Jesus being “lifted up” on the Cross (John 3:13-17; 8:28; 12:32-34). The Ascension of Jesus is described in Luke 24:50, 51 and Acts 1:9-11.

[14] These are the “principality and power and might and dominion” Paul mentioned in Ephesians 1:21. Jesus is seated “far above” all these in His victory on the Cross and His ascension.

[15] It was widespread practice for military leaders to lead their captives in a procession of triumph and give the booty of the victory to their soldiers or to the home population. A good description of this is found in The Twelve Caesars by the Roman historian Suetonius. In Chapter XXVI of his account of Julius Caesar, Suetonius wrote, “With money raised from the spoils of the war, he (Julius Caesar) promised the people a public entertainment of gladiators, and a feast in memory of his daughter, such as no one before him had ever given.”

“Our hearts are heavy following the tragic explosion at Accurate Energetic Systems. Two members of our Tennessee Valley Conference family were among those affected, and our entire Conference grieves alongside their loved ones.

As a family of believers, we stand with these families in their sorrow and in the difficult days ahead. We are praying that the peace of God, which passes all understanding, would surround them and carry them through this season of loss.

We also lift up every family impacted, along with the first responders and medical teams serving our community. In moments like this, we cling to the promise that God is near to the brokenhearted and that His comfort will not fail.”

]]> https://iphc.org/2025/10/14/iphc-families-impacted-by-tennessee-explosion-2/#respond 0 4272 https://iphc.org/gso/2025/10/09/ephesians-44-6-seven-ones-four-all/ https://iphc.org/gso/2025/10/09/ephesians-44-6-seven-ones-four-all/#respond Thu, 09 Oct 2025 19:39:53 +0000 twilson https://iphc.org/gso/?p=6364 https://i0.wp.com/iphc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/10/Bishop-Doug-Beacham-A-Greeting-to-Ukraine.png?fit=270%2C270&ssl=1 https://iphc.org/gso/2025/10/09/ephesians-44-6-seven-ones-four-all/ Having established in Ephesians 4:1-3 the foundations of how followers of Jesus live in unity, the Apostle Paul revealed the basis for that unity in God’s nature and actions in our behalf.[1]

Seven times in verses 4-6 Paul used the Greek numeral, heis, one, to emphasize this unity: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. He used the Greek for “all” four times in verse 6.

Paul’s thoughts, based on what he had previously expressed, focused on the fact of the statement by Jesus of the One/Only True God (John 17:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6). Monotheism was the foundation of Israel’s faith as evidenced in Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”[2] This confession stood in marked contrast to the plurality of gods with their idols in practically every town and city in the ancient Greek/Roman world. You are familiar with Paul’s experience in Athens, Greece “when he saw that the city was given over to idols” (Acts 17:16). This was also true of Ephesus where the goddess Diana (Artemis) was worshipped. A mother-goddess, her shrine was so impressive that it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.[3]

Acts 19 gives more background to the spiritual atmosphere of Ephesus. Three things stand out in Acts 19 concerning the atmosphere where Paul had his Bible school. First, even the Jews in Ephesus were open to any spiritual reality whereby power could be manifested (19:11-17). Second, magic was a lucrative business for manuscript sellers (19:18-20). Third, the worship of Diana was financially profitable for the guild of silversmiths and any threat to that business was met with violence (19:23-41). With this atmosphere in mind, Paul’s seven-fold focus on “one” in Ephesians 4:4, 5 takes on greater significance.

It is interesting the sequence of spiritual realities listed in 4:4, 5. Paul began with “one body.” That body is the body of Jesus Christ, often called the “Church.” Jesus is the sole Head of this body and His body, like the analogous human body, is composed of many members, all of which are meant to work together in unity (Ephesians 4:7-16; 1 Corinthians 12-14). Paul’s order of the seven was not haphazard. The unity of the body is the natural sequence to how the members of the body are to live “worthy of the calling with which you were called” (4:1; a phrase that appears again at the close of verse 4).

The second in the list is “one Spirit.” This is clearly a reference to the Holy Spirit who is often mentioned in Ephesians and was expressed at the end of verse 3 in terms of keeping “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”[4]

The reference of the “body” and the “Spirit” are connected to the double use of “calling” and “hope” found at the end of verse 4. As noted above, the phrase “just as you were called in one hope of your calling” is an echo of 4:1, “walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” The “call” upon our lives is “God’s call.” It reflects Psalm 100:3, “It is He (God) who has made us, and not we ourselves.” As the apostle wrote it in Acts 20:28, we have been “purchased with His own blood,” and Romans 14:8, “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

Paul referred to “one hope of your calling” in verse 5. We may “hope” for many things. As Paul wrote, hope is based on unseen and yet unfulfilled promises (Romans 8:24). But for Paul this was not a vague or blind hope. In Romans 5:1-5 Paul tied hope to the reality of our justification, that is, the reality of divine forgiveness of sin, we experienced when we turned to faith in Jesus. It is through faith that we “have access into this grace,” and we “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” The reality is that “in this world you will have tribulation” (Jesus, John 16:33), but for those justified by faith our tribulations produce perseverance (patience), and perseverance produces character (the character of Jesus), and it is from a life transformed into the glory of Christ manifested in our character, that hope springs forth. We are not disappointed by this kind of hope “because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:1-5). Divine hope is not produced by human effort but is the result of sanctifying discipleship.

Thus, the “one hope of your calling” is rooted in the saving act of Jesus Christ on the Cross. To enter a life where our sins are forgiven is to enter the sphere of eternal life (John 3:16) and a living hope (1 Peter 1:3).

Ephesians 4:5 continued the list with “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” The “Lord” is none other than Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah of Israel. To refer to Jesus as “Lord” meant two things. For the Jews, it meant that Jesus was God, the Lord of creation and of Israel. For the Romans, it meant that Caesar was not “lord” but that Jesus was Lord over all human empires and history. It was a provocative title pregnant with challenge against every authority, principality, and power of Satan

The “faith” is a comprehensive term that encompassed the totality of God’s plans through Abraham, David, Israel, and revealed in Jesus the Messiah. It was, as Jude 3 expressed it, “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”

“Baptism” refers to the initiatory public rite of water baptism which symbolized, and symbolizes today, a witness that our sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ and that we are citizens of the kingdom of God. It is important as Pentecostals to recognize that water baptism and the baptism with the Holy Spirit are separate spiritual experiences. They may occur simultaneously, but are different expressions of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. The first, baptism in water, is an expression of our renewed life in Christ. As Colossians 1:13, 14 put it, “He (God the Father) has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” The baptism with the Holy Spirit is an empowerment in the life of a follower of Jesus enabling us to testify to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Again, it is important to recognize that the Holy Spirit is present in both baptisms accomplishing different purposes.

The final “one” is in verse 6 and tied together Paul’s understanding of the nature of God’s being as Spirit, Lord (Jesus, the Son of God), and God as Father. Those who argue that the Trinity is not found in the Bible are arguing from a lack of knowledge of the Bible. While the nuances of Trinitarian doctrine were worked out over the first 300 years of the church in various church councils, the Scriptural reality was always present from the beginning of the Old Testament through the entire New Testament. It remains important that we recognize that Paul’s language of “one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father” does not refer to three separate “gods.” The New Testament, and faithful contemporary theology, always understands the nature of God in terms of the Shema and the historic Christian definitions of the Trinity.

As noted at the beginning of this essay, four times in verse 6 Paul used forms of the Greek word we translate “all.” This was his way of rejecting the polytheism and idolatry of Ephesus and the entire Greek/Roman world. There are not a multitude of gods who have dominion over certain spheres of life. There is only “one God and Father of all.” The mythologies of ancient Greece and Rome, found again in various forms in contemporary “spirituality” and other forms of idolatry (economics, military power, self-identification) are the domain of demons (1 Corinthians 10:20, 21; 1 Timothy 4:1). These demons, expressed in the principalities and powers mentioned by Paul throughout Ephesians, appeal to fallen humanity’s quest for power, dominion, and self-preservation.

The language of “Father” is of interest to us. Does it refer to God as the “Father” of all humanity, redeemed and unredeemed? Or does it refer to those who belong to God as Father by faith in Jesus Christ? Both John Stott and Noel Brooks follow John Wesley, “One God and father of all that believe. He is above all, presiding over all His children, operating through them all by Christ, and dwelling in all by His Spirit.”[5] The church fathers also support this view. Ambrosiaster in his commentary on Ephesians quotes Ephesians 4:6 and refers to “believers. He (God) is also in all of us, that is, us who are believers.”[6] Origen wrote, “He is God and Father of all by being the God but not the Father of some and both God and Father of others.”[7]

Is Paul then saying that God as Father “of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all,” only affirms this as being over the church? Or is it over all humanity? In pondering this I thought of Martin Luther’s observation in 1531, “If we had only the first three words of the Creed, ‘I believe in God the Father,’ they would still be far beyond our understanding and reason. In short, it does not occur to man that God is Father.”[8] For Luther, unredeemed humanity cannot recognize the Fatherhood of God as such recognition is only given by revelation. Thus, it is those who have heard the gospel message and discovered that God is the loving Father longing for His wayward children, who are able to discern the “all-ness” of what God is doing through the church for the world. Outside of faith in Christ, God is now, or will be in the eschaton, experienced as Judge.

When other passages in Ephesians that refer to God as Father or the fullness of God found in Jesus Christ are examined, the passages tend to focus on God’s Fatherhood in relation to Jesus Christ or to the body of Christ. For example, Ephesians 1:22, 23, “And He (God the Father) put all things under His (Jesus the Son), and gave Him (Jesus the Son) to be head over all things to the church, which is His (Jesus the Son) body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (notice the twice used “all”). And Ephesians 3:14, 15, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” Here “the family” is the covenant family of faith from the Old Testament saints in heaven to the First Century church of Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus the Messiah. Also notice Ephesians 1:10, “That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times (kairos) He (God the Father) might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him.”[9]

While the Apostle Paul understood from the Old Testament that God was the creator of all, Paul was able to refer to the Fatherhood of God in terms of God’s relationship to those who believed in Him and were therefore counted as righteous. Paul’s language of “all” does not move in the direction of universalism. Rather, Paul always remains faithful to the gospel message that “no one comes to the Father except through Jesus” (John 14:6).

In the next essay we will see how Paul’s emphasis on unity does not restrict the heavenly plan to distribute spiritual callings in diverse ways through people to accomplish the divine mission.

[1] I remind you of Rev. Paul Evans yet unpublished book Hope for Holiness that I referenced in the previous essay. That book focused on the unity theme(s) that run throughout Ephesians. That essay can be found at https://iphc.org/gso/2025/09/30/live-worthy-of-the-call-ephesians-41-3/.

[2] Known as the Shema, the first word of the Hebrew text, “hear.”

[3] Diana is the Roman name for this goddess and Artemis is the Greek name.

[4] Thirteen references to the Holy Spirit in Ephesians: 1:13, 17; 2:18, 22; 3:5, 16; 4:3, 4, 30; 5:9, 18; 6:17, 18.

[5] The Wesley quotation is found in Brooks, Ephesians: Outlined and Unfolded, page 147, and taken from Wesley’s Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament, p. 712. See John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, p. 113. William Hendriksen, who we have quoted in earlier essays, agrees in his commentary on Ephesians, pp. 187, 188.

[6] This commentary was written between 366-384 A.D. and was originally attributed to St. Ambrose of Milan. In the 1600 Benedictine monks attributed the commentary to Ambrosiaster. The quotations are from Ancient Christian Texts, Commentaries on Galatians-Philemon, translated by Gerald L. Bray (Downers Grove, ILL: IVP Academic, 2009) p. 47.

[7] Origen, Epistle to the Ephesians, in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament, Volume VIII, p. 160. Origen lived from about 185-253 A.D. and was a prolific early Christian writer.

[8] Martin Luther, Table Talk, Luther’s Works, Vol. 54 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press1967), p. 17.

[9] It is clear from Jesus and the Apostle Paul that the Fatherhood of God is viewed from the standpoint of loving intimacy by the use of the word Abba to refer to God’s love for His children (Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). Also refer to the so called “Lord’s Prayer” where Jesus instructed the disciples to pray to “our Father” (Matthew 6:9 which is one of sixteen times Jesus refers to God as “Father” in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7).

Any effort to understand Paul’s teachings in Ephesians 4-6 that is not connected to Ephesians 1-3, especially 3:16-21, risks misinterpreting Paul’s intentions. His emphasis on unity, gifts of the Spirit, how we live in relation to one another, becomes human effort without the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. Always along with human effort comes pride, judgementalism, competition, self-justification.[2]

The point about unity is clearly made by Rev. Paul Evans, an IPHC minister with excellent insights on Wesleyan holiness, Scripture, and life: “As the focus narrows from God’s eschatological goals in chapter 1 to unity among believers in chapter 4, with its practical implications in chapter 4:25-6:9, Paul is making the points that union with Christ is the ground of unity among believers, and that God’s goal, in any case, is for the final reconciliation of all things to himself, the harmonious reunification of creation to God under his eternal rule (cf. 1 Cor. 15:20-28).”[3]

Two other citations are insightful for us from Paul Evans in Hope for Holiness about unity, especially considering Ephesians 4:1-6:

“Right relationships and proper, compassionate, or gracious treatment of fellow believers in the believing community of the church is paramount for Paul. Even elements of the armor of God (italics by Evans), play their part as critical for Christian life and character, which, when deliberately and purposefully embraced for the sake of the church and its unity, increase and promote fellowship. . .These ideas of mutuality in the church are at the heart of Pauline theology of the church, and of relationships between believers in the community of faith, which is demonstrably a key theme in Ephesians. For that reason, we see that our passage (Eph. 4:22-24) which focuses on character reflecting the holiness and righteousness of God, builds on his call for unity in the church, and serves as the foundation, and even the rationale for making every effort to preserve the unity which the Spirit has established through his application of the grace of God in their lives (Eph. 4:3).”

“The apostle makes the point that unity in the church, initiated by the action of the Spirit, established by him in the church through a shared common experience of the grace of God in each member the body of Christ, is served by their personal experience of transformation. By the transformation of their nature, God has implanted righteousness and holiness in them at initial salvation so that they might thoroughly laid aside the old life of selfish preoccupation and ambition (Eph. 4:17-29). To say there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of us all and who is over and through all things, and who is all in all, is to acknowledge the divine foundation upon which the unity in the church is established (Eph. 4:4-6).”

As you read Ephesians, keep in mind how the Apostle Paul developed the theme of unity and the seriousness of Holy Spirit empowered discipleship in keeping the unity that has been initiated by God Himself.

Ephesians 4:1-3 describe ways that followers of Jesus are to live so that the unity of Jew and Gentile as the “one new man” can be evidenced. When we study Ephesians 4:4-6, we will see how this unity is connected to the very nature of God and His self-revelation in the gospel.

The language of Ephesians 4:1 is characteristic of the Apostle Paul in that the death, resurrection, and mission of Jesus the Messiah is meant to be lived in and through transformed lives. Twenty-nine times in his letters Paul used “walk” to describe the Christian life.[4] We know from Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22 that first century Christians referred to following Jesus as “the Way.” Paul knew and used that terminology in Acts 22:4 and 24:14. Interestingly Paul used this term when defending himself before Jewish and Roman authorities, an indication that they were familiar with the term as designating followers of Jesus.

The Apostle Paul expressed three interconnected themes in Ephesians 4:1-3. First, in verse one, Paul spoke of the call (klesis) we have received from the Lord and that we are to “walk worthy” (axios; worthy) of that call. Let’s look at the “call” first. Paul used the noun klesis and the verb kaleo in verse one. When we reflect on the Biblical use of “call,” there are at least two aspects to its meaning. There is the sense of the “gospel call,” whereby we hear the gospel message that 1) we are sinners condemned to eternal punishment, but 2) God has mercifully intervened to save us through the death and resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus. The human response to this act of grace (which is what preaching and hearing are, acts of grace through human instruments (Romans 10:6-17)), is that we “repent, and believe the gospel” (the preaching of Jesus, Mark 1:15). All Christian vocation begins with that “call.”

But that “call” leads to how we live in the world testifying by word and deed of God’s gracious love for lost humanity. Markus Barth described this “vocation” as “a prescribed way in a fixed order, comparable to the march of Israel under God’s guidance in the wilderness.”[5] I like the way that William Willimon describes this second part of the call: “Everyone who claims ‘I have taken Jesus into my heart’ ought to be asked, ‘So where is Jesus now taking you?’”[6]

Every follower of Jesus has a vocation, a call, to serve Jesus in Christian community and in the world. Spiritual gifts become part of our life when we “repent and believe the gospel,” (Mark 1:15). The mission of discipleship begins upon conversion. Through discipleship, that is, transformative relationships through the Holy Spirit and Scripture through regular engagement with other Christians, we discover those gifts that the Holy Spirit gives, develops, and deploys for the glory of God.

One more thought before we leave these comments about “call, vocation.” As adults we find an occupation. An occupation is the work/job we do that provides finances and opportunities. We are educated in some fashion for occupations which may change throughout our lives. Hopefully, our occupation is fulfilling and meets our personal and family needs.

For some of us, our vocation, our calling, is the same as our occupation. That is true for more than us who serve the church in full-time ministry. For example, my wife served as a pharmacist for over forty years in hospital pharmacy administration. She viewed that as a vocation, a calling from God as well as an occupation. That is true for many of you reading this blog whether you are a schoolteacher, plumber, lawyer, carpenter, physician. But there are many others who “have a job” but are looking for more in life. This is where the divine call comes into focus, the vocation of spiritual gifts and opportunities to serve Christ in the world and in the church. Your teaching and carpentry skills find their service in short-term or life-long mission work helping create a better life for others.

But what does it mean to live “worthy” of God’s call on our lives? Paul used this word to refer to followers of Jesus in Romans 16:2; Philippians 1:27; Colossians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:5, 11; 1 Timothy 5:17, 18. Axios has the sense of worthy as in someone is suitable, fitting, acting proper before God’s revealed standards of godly living.[7]

Second, Ephesians 4:2 named four characteristics of a “worthy” life: lowliness, gentleness, long suffering, bearing with one another in love.

Lowliness (tapeinophrosune) means “’lowliness of mind,’ the humble recognition of the worth and value of other people, the humble mind which was in Christ and led him to empty himself and become a servant.” In Paul’s time, as often in our time, this kind of humility is not admired. Stott wrote, “the Greeks never used their word of humility (tapeinotes) in a context of approval, still less of admiration.” [8]

What makes this word important in Christian unity is that it is precisely this attitude that makes unity possible from the human perspective. Stott called it “the greatest single secret of concord is humility.”[9] All of us have experienced how pride, selfishness, arrogance create disunity within families, businesses, sporting events, and yes, the church.

Gentleness (prautes) is anything but weakness. Stott wrote that this word was used in domesticating animals. The trainer had to have the necessary strength in words and actions to train the animal but without destroying the animals’ spirit and ability.[10]

Stott’s paragraph on the final two characteristics is worth quoting in its entirety: “The third and fourth qualities also form a natural pain, for ‘patience’ (makrothymia) is longsuffering towards aggravating people, such as God in Christ as shown towards us, while bearing with one another speaks of that mutual tolerance without which no group of human beings can live together in peace. Love is the final quality, which embraces the preceding four, and is the crown and sum of all virtues.”[11]

The third interconnected theme is found in verse three, “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” While Christian unity is established by the Father acting through the Son and the Holy Spirit, it is the human response actively working to maintain that unity which we have received as members of the Body of Christ.

Markus Barth translates “endeavoring” as “take pains. It is hardly possible to render exactly the urgency contained in the underlying Greek verb. Not only haste and passion, but a full effort of the whole man is meant, involving his will, sentiment, reason, physical strength, and total attitude. The imperative mood of the participle found in the Greek text excludes passivity, quietism, a wait-and-see attitude, or a diligence tempered by all deliberate speed. Yours in the initiative! Do it now! Mean it! You are to do it! I mean it!”[12]

This is our call as followers of Jesus, “take pains” to maintain something that has been given to us. We do not maintain unity by compulsion but by “the bond of peace.” Love, peace, along with gentleness and longsuffering, are all fruit of the Holy Spirit, the evidence that God is truly among us. It is imperative we remember that we are all members of one body, as verse four will show. The head is Jesus. We are under His control as members of His body. To maintain the unity that shows the world that He is Lord is one of our primary tasks in the world. It’s demanding work. It’s a constant challenge. Satan uses every means available to divide us and the evil one often succeeds. But until Jesus returns, our assignment is to “take pains” to maintain the spiritual unity revealed in Holy Scripture.

[1] This is the second of three references in Ephesians to Paul’s status as related to the Roman Empire. The third reference is in Ephesians 6:20. The apostles in Acts 5:41, viewed their interrogations and their beatings, acts of public shame, as a badge of honor in that they were counted worthy to experience such shame. Likewise, Paul viewed his imprisonment and chains are a badge of honor. In fact, in Ephesians 6:20, Paul referred to himself as “an ambassador in chains” (NKJV). The word he used, presbeuo, is often translated elder, but also refers to someone of stature, maturity, who represented a king at the court of another ruler.

[2] On the perils related to Christian unity, I refer you again to Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, especially the chapter titled “Community.”

[3] This quote is from Hope for Holiness, an unpublished and of this date unfinished study by IPHC minister Rev. Paul Evans. In his studies, Rev. Evans has published these two studies: Holiness Reconsidered: A Fresh Look at the Wesleyan Doctrine of Sanctification (Xulon Press, 2016) and Help for Holiness: Rediscovering God’s Resources for Practical Sanctification in Galatians 5:16-25 (Bloomington, Indiana: Westbow Press, 2018). These are serious Biblical and theological studies and I highly recommend them. I am not using page numbers for the citations of Evans unpublished current study of Ephesians. On a personal note, Evans grew up in Bristol, England under the ministry of Rev. Noel Brooks, the premier IPHC Wesleyan theologian of the second half of the 20^th century. Evans studied at Holmes Bible College and received a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies at Berean School of the Bible in Springfield, Missouri. After completing Holmes, Evans remained in the United States and pastored in the North Carolina Conference. His books are available online at Amazon and are highly recommended as IPHC examples of serious Biblical, theological, and pastoral literature. The yet unpublished Hope for Holiness studies the Apostle Paul’s instructions for Christian living in Ephesians 4:22-24.

[4] This count is based on the New King James Version.

[5] Markus Barth, Ephesians: Translation and Commentary on Chapters 4-6 (New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1974) 427. In his translation, Barth used “vocation” to translate “call.”

[6] William Willimon, Accidental Preacher: A Memoir (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2019) 113 Kindle. Willimon was Dean of the Chapel at Duke University for twenty years and served as Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church from 2004-2012.

[7] Paul also used the Greek word hikanos, which is sometimes translated “worthy,” in 1 Corinthians 15:9; 2 Corinthians 3:5; Colossians 1:12; 2 Timothy 2:2. It means to be sufficient, adequate, qualified. The distinction appears to be that hikanos implies capacity, ability, while axios denotes actualized character.

[8] John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, 111. Both quotes in this paragraph are from Stott.

[9] Stott, 111.

[10] Stott, 111.

[11] Stott, 112.

[12] Barth, Ephesians, 428. The italics is from Barth.

Dr. Welch began archival research on women preachers as she worked toward her 2007 dissertation and the publication of her first book, Women With the Good News, with the invaluable help of Dr. Hunter, former Director of Archives and Research for the IPHC. Also, Reverend Larry Jones, Director of Archives for the IPHC in Lake City, South Carolina, arranged for the interviews with IPHC women preachers that resulted in Dr. Welch’s second book, Deep Roots, published in 2013.

As Director of Archives and Research since July of 2023, Dr. Welch has had the unique opportunity to scour the IPHC vaults for more of these priceless artifacts, and Bishop Talmadge Gardner, Executive Director of World Missions, was instrumental in contacting several women preachers who made treasured contributions. Dr. Welch, Rev. Gordon, and Rev. Sanders have amassed over a hundred texts but would like to collect more.

This new anthology aims to include sermons, essays, and creative works by IPHC women preachers from 1898 through 2025 and to contextualize their lives by drawing upon key milestones in the history of Pentecostalism and women’s history in the United States. Dr. Welch, Reverend Sanders, and Reverend Gordon all believe that it is imperative for readers to understand how these women were called by God, how they served God in spite of hardships, how they challenged societal norms in the pursuit of their calling, and how they built their sermons out of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and submission to God’s direction. This essential anthology has an anticipated publication date for late 2026 or early 2027.

If you are a current IPHC woman preacher or missionary and would like to be included in this anthology, please fill out this form and include a sermon using this link: https://forms.gle/HqeRQ7QPsv9qW9CD6

If you know of a deceased IPHC woman preacher or missionary, please send the information to Dr. Welch. Include a copy of a sermon, if you can.

The deadline for submissions is December 1, 2025. Please feel free to email Dr. Welch directly with any questions. Her email is kwelch@iphc.org.

Dr. Welch shared: “This anthology will capture over a hundred years of our history and become a valuable tool for experiencing the style and impact of IPHC women. It will highlight some contrasts between a secular idea of ambition and a God-ordained idea of servant leadership. We hope that our readers will gain a deeper understanding of how God calls women and works through them in the U.S. and internationally.”

]]> https://iphc.org/gso/2025/09/10/women-who-preach-an-iphc-anthology/#respond 0 6354 https://iphc.org/gso/2025/09/04/a-legacy-of-hope-new-book-from-siblings-carol-and-albert-gray/ https://iphc.org/gso/2025/09/04/a-legacy-of-hope-new-book-from-siblings-carol-and-albert-gray/#respond Thu, 04 Sep 2025 18:29:55 +0000 jlowe https://iphc.org/gso/?p=6350 https://i0.wp.com/iphc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/09/81vuF3hg8PL._SL1500_.jpg?fit=270%2C270&ssl=1 https://iphc.org/gso/2025/09/04/a-legacy-of-hope-new-book-from-siblings-carol-and-albert-gray/ IPHC has long been a supporter of the Bethany Children’s Health Center in Bethany, Oklahoma. The BCHC has seen many changes through the years, and in the last four decades, it has seen tremendous growth under the caring, influential hands of siblings Carol and Albert Gray. These two have written a tremendous book detailing the history of the Health Center from 1898 to where it is today.

Presiding Bishop A. D. Beacham, Jr. shares: “In A Legacy of Hope, Albert Gray and his sister Carol Gray describe the amazing story of Bethany Children’s Hospital in Bethany, Oklahoma. The story begins in 1898 with Mattie Mallory, an early member of one of the predecessors to the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC), the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church. In the 1970s, the IPHC became more directly involved in helping to preserve this special ministry to children. Albert and Carol describe how God intervened to use them and the IPHC to put the hospital on solid ground. What the Lord has done over the past forty-plus years is nothing more than miraculous. Today, a modern, state-of-the-art facility provides loving medical care to several hundred special needs children. I am personally thankful for Albert, Carol, and the dedicated personnel who serve these children and the role the IPHC continues to have in prayerful support and encouragement.”

Read the official Press Release for A Legacy of Hope below:

Longtime Leaders, Siblings and ‘Hope Rebels’ Punctuate Four-Decade Journey at Bethany Children’s Health Center in New Book

Carol and Albert Gray Share Powerful Stories of Faith, Resilience, Miracles Observed with a Mission of “Maximizing the Potential of Every Child”

Bethany, Okla. (August 13, 2025) –  In their newly released book, A Legacy of Hope, longtime leaders and brother-sister duo Carol and Albert Gray share the remarkable journey of Bethany Children’s Health Center—from its humble beginnings as an orphanage in 1898, through its near closure in the mid-20th century, to its place today as one of the nation’s premier pediatric hospitals.

Rooted in the legacy of a young schoolteacher, Mattie Mallory, who answered God’s call to care for orphaned children, this story reveals how one small act of obedience blossomed into a mission spanning generations—built on faith, compassion, and the belief that every child deserves hope. An endorsement was provided by the late Don Pray, who served as executive director of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, and the foreword was provided by Mart Green, ministry investment officer of Hobby Lobby, together with his wife, Diana Green.

Formerly known as the Children’s Convalescent Center, Carol began working as the Volunteer Coordinator in 1977, which, due to scarce resources, was starting a road to closure. And that process required a specific skillset – one her brother Albert held – with a Nursing Home Administrator’s license. However, against all odds, and like Mattie Mallory nearly a century before, the Grays felt the Lord calling them into a mission beyond themselves. Instead of the easy solution, they chose a tenacious path inspired by their parents work ethic. They began working together to continue the center’s legacy by finding ways to keep the facility open, which included re-establishing the referral pipeline, transforming traditional models of care for children with disabilities, and fundraising.

“A Legacy of Hope is more than a history—it’s our testimony of God’s faithfulness through seasons of challenge and change,” said Carol Gray. “We wanted to honor the people, past and present, who refused to give up on this mission, and to inspire the next generation to carry it forward with the same passion and hope.”

A Legacy of Hope captures the diligent work of the Gray siblings, among others, to turn a facility in danger of closing into one of the nation’s leading pediatric health centers. It’s a journey of perseverance and faith through financial hardship and organizational challenges. This book exchanges personal accounts from both Carol and Albert, outlining their distinct entrepreneurial, visionary and detail-oriented qualities as inspirational insights from “Two Kids From Lookeba,” and of course shares heartwarming insights and stories of community support.

“When we look back, it’s humbling to think God used two kids from Lookeba to show His goodness and faithfulness,” said Albert Gray. “A Legacy of Hope isn’t just our story, it’s a reminder that when faith, hard work, and community come together, extraordinary things can happen for children who need it most.”

Carol currently serves as the Senior Director of Mission and Culture, and Albert is the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. In recent years the Gray siblings have transitioned from Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer, respectively.

To support the book’s release, Carol and Albert Gray are available beginning August 18 for media interviews, speaking engagements, and book signings. A Legacy of Hope is available for purchase on Amazon, online donations through Bethany Children’s Health Center’s website, and on-site after pre-scheduled tours.

Link to photos here. For more information about Bethany Children’s Health Center please visit www.bethanychildrens.org.

About Bethany Children’s Health Center

Bethany Children’s Health Center is an innovative leader in the field of pediatric rehabilitation and 24-hour complex care. The private, non-profit hospital, accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC), offers inpatient complex care and outpatient rehabilitation services for children and is the only inpatient pediatric rehabilitation facility in Oklahoma. The hospital is also accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). The multidisciplinary team works with patients and their families to maximize every child’s potential, and ensure the family has the training and resources needed for a smooth transition from hospital to home. Bethany Children’s provides a range of community support services for families nationwide, including the annual Cerebral Palsy Conference and adaptive recreation and sports experiences, and is currently campaigning for the next phase of outpatient services with the Landmark of Hope expansion project.

Jada Ragan, Jenny Luckey, and Mayce Nowlen graduated from Baker County High School in Glen St. Mary, Florida, this past May. These three beautiful young women have grown close over the last four years, sharing a love for the Lord and a challenging sport: weightlifting. A sport traditionally associated with male participants, weightlifting helped these women learn innumerable lessons about their God, their personal abilities, and the life they are each capable of creating moving forward.

Jada Ragan, Mayce Nowlen, and Jenny Luckey

Jada, Jenny, and Mayce never could have imagined where their dedication to weightlifting would take them, and they have story upon story of the Lord’s provision, His hand of favor. At their high school, the “girls’” weightlifting team wasn’t the priority that the “boys’” team was, and they were pushed out of the weight room numerous times, forced to train outside. The team of 30 young women, gathered from all four grades, stayed committed, and regardless of how they were perceived and treated by others at the school, they were thankful for their coach, Stanley McDonald, who continuously fought for them and encouraged their efforts. Jada, Mayce, and Jenny were also blessed to have the support of their families.

These young women explain that weightlifting has taught them more about themselves than any other sport or activity has to this point in their lives. Jada had been a volleyball player, while Jenny and Mayce were involved in softball. Weightlifting, unlike other sports, requires a year-round commitment. They explained that if you take time off, you lose ground and have to work so much harder to get back to where you were. Their commitment over the last four years led them to impressive numbers in the competition categories of snatch, clean & jerk, and bench; it was this faithful work ethic that took them all the way to state this year.

For Jada, even though they were so young when they started this journey together, she has seen impressive growth in herself and her team every year: “God called us to weightlifting. We wouldn’t be the young women we are without it.” Jada explained that it is imperative to believe in yourself to accomplish your goals. For her, lifting in front of an audience for points was nerve-racking, and she relied heavily on the Lord, even employing self-talk: “God be the God of my barbell.” Jenny shared how the Lord stretched her by giving her a vision of leading devotions and prayers before every meet. She committed to doing that in her junior and senior years, and through these seasons, she began to see herself positively. She shared: “I’ve always been negative toward myself, but the Lord changed that. I’m learning to trust God; I know that I’m here for a reason.” Mayce echoed the sentiments of Jada and Jenny, adding that she has learned: “You are who you surround yourself with.” She also explained that in her senior season, she was dual-enrolled and taking difficult college classes; weightlifting in these previous years taught her that she could do hard things. “I have to trust myself.”

Jada Ragan

Jenny Luckey

Macy Nowlen

These young women have also learned a lot about their Savior. The team adopted the verse from Psalm 46:5: “God is within her, she will not fall.” Jada shares: “As a team, that is what we have always said. You just gotta trust Him at the end of the day.” Mayce explained that in their senior season, there were “many hills we had to climb,” but we had to “Trust the Lord that it was His plan.” Jenny added that she has been learning to “Be still and know that (He is) God. With God, anything is possible, and He is always by your side.”

This past summer, the young women had one of their greatest adventures yet. Through a divine connection, thanks to Jada’s father (Dave Ragan, Assistant Superintendent of the Sonshine Network Conference) and Missionary David Hodges, the weightlifting team was invited to visit Peru for three days and share about their lifting techniques and about the God who has made it all possible. This adventure significantly impacted each young woman. Out of the team of 30, 7 lifters, all seniors, traveled to Peru for three days.

Some of the Baker County High School Women’s Weightlifting Team

Jada was supposed to be traveling with her parents, but her mom got very sick just before the trip and could not go. Her father was detained at the Peru border, as unbeknownst to him, his passport had expired, and he wasn’t allowed to enter the country. Jada realized through that trip: “My parents aren’t always going to be there with me, and even if they aren’t, God will be.” Mayce was encouraged to “step out of her comfort zone with God,” and “God can use me more when I step out of that box and trust Him.” She also experienced a new level of discernment, listening and acting on the voice of the Lord, praying for young people who needed a touch from Him. Jenny, who would return home from Peru and head right back out for another mission trip to Colombia, felt a call to missions. She is looking forward to seeing where the Lord leads her in the coming years.

The Weightlifting Team in Peru, with Coach MacDonald and Some of the Students They Ministered to

Each of these young women are entering a new season of life, starting their college careers. With rigorous schedules and multiple commitments, Jada and Mayce will have to step away from weightlifting for the time being. Jenny, however, has a desire to continue in her training. Regardless of where this next year takes them, they will reunite next summer to return to Peru. This time, they will stay for a week, heading back into the schools to teach a little bit more about their lifting techniques and the God who loves them fiercely.

Reflecting back on their years in weightlifting, Jada shared a story about praying with a participant from another school at the state competition, saying that you can tell when a weightlifter is a Christian. “There’s something different about her. It’s the love of Jesus.” These beautiful, strong, warrior women of God will carry that love of Jesus with them that sets them apart, knowing that nothing can take away the friendships that were forged or the lessons that were learned in the challenging sport of weightlifting.

]]> https://iphc.org/gso/2025/09/02/god-is-within-her-jada-jenny-and-mayce/#respond 0 6338 https://iphc.org/gso/2025/08/19/defined-by-god-pastor-brett-cooper/ https://iphc.org/gso/2025/08/19/defined-by-god-pastor-brett-cooper/#respond Tue, 19 Aug 2025 14:45:26 +0000 jlowe https://iphc.org/gso/?p=6327 https://i0.wp.com/iphc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/08/IMG_7831.jpg?fit=270%2C270&ssl=1 https://iphc.org/gso/2025/08/19/defined-by-god-pastor-brett-cooper/ What if one encounter with the Lord could rewrite your future and open doors for you that you had always assumed to be closed? What if your leap of faith brought your family into relationship with Him as well? What if you really allowed yourself to be defined, not by what the world says, but by what the God of the universe says is true about you? Brett Cooper’s salvation story begins with just such an encounter, and he and his family are forever changed.

Cooper grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, an only child to parents who grew apart as time went on; by the age of five, his parents were divorced. His mom, a well-known psychologist in the Tallahassee area, married a well-respected psychiatrist, and his father remarried also. Cooper, struggling with learning differences amid a very scholarly family, was very young when he determined that school just wasn’t for him. He completed high school but had no plans for higher education.

At age 20, Cooper committed his life to Christ at a “Fire in the Rockies” conference. In this place, he was challenged to name the “Goliath” in his life; the obstacle in his life that was so big that it stood in the way of his dreams. He knew that education was his personal Goliath and gave it to the Lord. He returned home, entered a community college, and discovered that the Lord had done a mighty work in his life. He maintained a straight A average and then transferred to Emmanuel University in Franklin Springs, Georgia, completing a bachelor’s degree before attaining a master’s from Southwestern Christian University. Blessings were plentiful in these learning seasons, and in 1998, while studying at Emmanuel University, Cooper met and married his wife, Deborah.

Cooper’s conversion at 20 years of age sparked big changes within his family. His father came to the Lord pretty quickly after him, and in 2003, after years of witnessing to his mother, her hand shot up at an altar call. Cooper was, playfully, a little peeved that she answered a call from one of his good friends, instead of him! He explains, “One man plants, one waters, but God makes it grow.” God’s timing is always perfect. In 2007, while spending time at the beach, Cooper’s analytical stepfather, who had spent years reading about and thinking through a relationship with God, also came to know Christ. Cooper’s heart was full.

In 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, Cooper saw that the church was struggling and wouldn’t be able to maintain the salaries for those employed there. He took a 50% pay cut and started a construction business, bringing his son, only 12 at the time, alongside to help him. It was in these next few years that Cooper saw his son flourish. Working together, the Cooper men supported their family through the difficult season.

Cooper baptizing a member from Way Church in Virginia

A couple of years ago, Cooper got a call from his mother that his stepfather’s health was declining rapidly; dementia was taking its toll. The Coopers, who were living in Virginia at the time, sold their construction business and relocated back to Tallahassee, Florida, where they helped to care for his aging stepfather. During this time, Cooper was reminded that love often looks like sacrifice. Cooper, Deborah, and their two children, Isaac and Isabella, settled into a new church where he took a background role of associate pastor, knowing that time and responsibilities would not allow him to devote himself to the position of head pastor. Ten months after their return, Cooper’s stepfather passed away. The family was filled with grief, but also thankfulness that they were able to be so close and care for him and his mother during this time.

Cooper has gained a lot of wisdom in his more than 25 years of ministry. One of the greatest things he has discovered is that the sabbath is not an extra; it is a necessity. Cooper shares that the key to keeping your ministry fresh and your relationship with Christ and your family at the forefront is to set aside time daily and throughout the week to rest and step away from the responsibilities. Cooper also has a heart to disciple young ministers in training and views this as another necessity as a pastor. He is a firm believer in “training people up in the work of the Lord and sending them out.” In fact, it was one of those he had trained who was preaching the night of his mother’s conversion.

Cooper is intentional about sowing into the lives of young people

Looking to the future, Cooper, now the head pastor at Grace Chapel, wants to reach the City of Deland with the gospel of Christ. For him, every local church’s mission is the Great Commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). There is no greater calling than this.

Grace Chapel in Deland, FL

Cooper is a well-educated, compassionate pastor in a city with lots of opportunities to share the love of Christ. He is so thankful for the encounter with Christ that changed the trajectory of his and his family’s lives. He may be at what he describes as the “half-time” of his life, but he knows that God isn’t finished with him or the City of Deland yet.

The Apostle Paul concluded the third chapter of Ephesians with an inspiring doxology that reads like a hymn glorifying God. To gain a sense of why Paul closed Ephesians 3 with this doxology, think of reading or hearing Ephesians without chapter or verse division. It’s like listening to an inspiring sermon progressively moving to a stirring climax that has you on your feet praising God! That’s how to comprehend the impact of Paul’s message from Ephesians chapter 1 through 3.[1]

Before we look at Paul’s dynamic language in Ephesians 3:20, take another moment and remember some of the life-changing themes we have read:

1. We are “blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (1:3).
2. “We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (1:7).
3. God is giving us “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (1:17).
4. We can know and experience “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (1:18).
5. God is “rich in mercy” (2:4).
6. We “sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (2:6).
7. God wants to “show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (2:7).
8. We are “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of Go” (2:19).
9. There are “unsearchable riches of Christ” (3:8).
10. God will strengthen us “according to the riches of His glory” (3:16).
11. We can “know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (3:19).

These are just twelve of the themes found in these chapters that build to the crescendo of Ephesians 3:20, 21. Imagine you are listening as the Apostle Paul dictates this letter. Can you hear the cadence of his speech? Do you hear the rise and fall and the rise again of his voice as he emphasized certain themes? Can you hear his passion when he speaks of himself in the first person as “the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles” (3:1)? Your heart is stirred because you know in Christ you are no longer “dead in trespasses and sin” (2:1). You have heard Paul’s voice speak of the love of Christ and by the Spirit you are enabled to comprehend with all the saints “what is the width and length and depth and height” of God’s love in Christ for us (3:18). If you’re in first century Ephesus Pentecostal house listening to this you are shouting “Hallelujahs” while “Amens” fill the room.

You think you have heard it all and there is nothing more to be said. But now, Paul reminds you that what you have heard, what you have prayed for, what you have thought in your mind, is not even close to all that God has provided and can do in Christ Jesus.

In Ephesians 3:20 Paul used the verb form of the noun dunamis which we have seen through the first three chapters.[2] Usually translated as power, Paul announced that God has the power, the inherent ability, to do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.”

“Exceedingly abundantly” is a term Paul used only three times in his letters, twice in 1 Thessalonians (3:10; 5:13), and here in Ephesians. The Greek transliteration is: huperekperissou. The noun is perissos which means “extraordinary, abundant,” and the adverb means “exceedingly, beyond measure.”[3] Paul added two Greek prefixes to the main word: ek and huper. When the Ephesians listeners heard or read this word, they knew immediately that Paul was describing the unimaginable power of God to do whatever He desired in and through them!

This is a paradox. God can do far more than we can ask or imagine but God also tells us of His amazing power to do this through us. This is God’s power that “works in us” to accomplish His redemptive will on the earth. This power is available to us by faith. We don’t control what God will do. But we are invited to participate in God’s ability to do more than we imagine or ask.

Think of this, we don’t know how to pray or ask God for things for His glory in and through us. But we can come to Him knowing that He is able to work beyond our lack of vision, our inability to imagine the impossible. This is not a license for self-aggrandizement or self-promotion. Rather, it is invitation to trust God beyond our own understanding and knowledge.

Before we leave this word, I want us to briefly look at how Paul used it in 1 Thessalonians. Many commentators believe that 1 Thessalonians is Paul’s first written letter that we have and written from Corinth about 51 A.D. (Acts 18:1-18). The first use is in 3:10 where Paul prayed exceedingly “night and day” for the new believers in Thessalonica. By using this word, Paul told them they cannot imagine how much he is praying for them. The second use is in 5:13 where Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to honor those who work among them. He wanted them to honor these Christian laborers in ways that are more than they can imagine but that God will reveal. This honoring is not about Christian laborers becoming wealthy or elevated in statute as superior to others. That flies in the face of the Biblical call to walk humbly before the Lord. Instead, it is honor that focuses on what God is doing in the lives of laborers for our sakes. It is a genuine spirit of submission, respect to God, and gratitude for the Spirit’s gifts among those who serve us.

Finally, just as Ephesians 3:20 began in English with “Now to Him (God in His triune fullness),” so Ephesians 3:21 begins with “to Him (God in His triune fullness)” there be “glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” The church, the body of Christ in the world from generation to generation, language to language, culture to culture, is called to glorify God in all that she says and does. The closing Amen is an expression of “Yes, we agree, let it be according to Your Word, O Lord.”

[1] I’ll write more in the next essay about Ephesians 4 and its connection to Ephesians 1-3, particularly considering the metaphor of hearing Ephesians as a sermon.

[2] Dunamis is used in 1:19a; 3:7, 20. The New King James translates “power” in places where exousia is used in Greek, denoting a realm of authority as in 1:21 and 2:2.

[3] Brown, Arndt, Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 657. Discussion of the range of this word begins on page 656.

In 1994 I was elected superintendent of the Georgia Conference.[1] The next year at the camp meeting morning service, Barbara and Bane James led the morning sessions. At that time, they directed the denominations intercessory prayer ministry from denominational offices in Oklahoma City. After introducing them, Bane asked my father, Rev. A.D. Beacham, Sr., to come and pray for me as a relatively new conference superintendent.[2] As part of that prayer, my father laid his hands on my head and closed the prayer quoting Ephesians 3:16-21. From that day the Apostle Paul’s words have been a special source of encouragement.

In the previous essay on Ephesians 3:14, 15, the Apostle Paul set the stage for this prayer by referring “to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” and His divine, creative, naming authority over “the whole family in heaven and earth.”[3]

The prayer petitions that follow in 3:16-19 are some of the most memorable and significant in the Bible. John Stott quoted evangelical Anglican Bishop Handley Moule, “Who has not read and re-read the closing verses of the third chapter of the Ephesians with the feeling of one permitted to look through parted curtains into the Holiest Place of the Christian life?”[4] Stott described verses 16-19 “as a staircase by which he (Paul) climbs higher and higher in his ambition for his readers.”[5]

As we examine these verses, I draw your attention to the three-fold use of a Greek connecting word, hina (ἵνα) found in verses 16, 18, 19.[6] This word essentially means “in final sense to denote purpose, aim, or goal in order that, that.”[7] It is important to keep this in mind as we follow the flow of Paul’s prayer.

Referring to the opening lines of Ephesians 3:1, 14, “For this reason,” Paul explained that “I bow my knees to the Father” for the purpose of the contents of verse 16, “in order that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.” Paul’s prayerful posture and content of his prayer, all based on the revelation of God’s divine character and purpose in Jesus Christ expressed from the beginning of this letter, is that God would “grant, or give” the Ephesians the goals expressed in the prayer. That God “gives, grants” us things is an expression of His grace. We do not earn these benefits but rather God freely and lovingly gives them as a loving, faithful father does to his children. To further emphasize the depth of His grace, what God is giving us is “according to the riches of His glory.” This is the sixth and final use of “rich, riches” in Ephesians.[8] In an earlier essay I pointed out that God’s glory includes the establishment and revelation of His will.[9] As we have previously seen, God’s riches and glory are limitless! What God can grant to us “according to the riches of His glory” sets the stage for the poetic language in 3:18 of “width, length, depth, and height” of God’s love in Christ.

Out of the unlimited riches of God’s limitless glory, Paul called for the Ephesians to experience what he himself experienced, “to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man” (3:16b, NKJV). Noel Brooks referred to “strengthened with might” with these words, “The Greek word rendered might is the well-known word dynamis, meaning ‘potential power.’ To be ‘strengthened’ describes the result of the impartation of the power-potential by the Holy Spirit.”[10]

Paul’s use in verse 16 of dynamis with the verb krataioomai, meaning strengthened, deserves a closer look. The verb strengthened is used in Luke 1:80 referring to John the Baptist growing and becoming “strong in spirit,” and in Luke 2:40 referring to Jesus. Marcus Barth connected this spiritual power through the Spirit as “necessary to comprehend the dimensions of God’s wisdom” stated in verse 18.[11]

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us with might through Himself. How does this occur? Three avenues immediately come to mind: 1) Scripture. The Bible is the Holy Spirit inspired Word of God that speaks to every generation, every culture; 2) Prayer. I did not mention prayer first because prayer needs a source of knowledge and object; that is, a real relationship. Scripture provides the divine content and context for prayer. This is not to delegate prayer to a lesser place but simply to remind us that prayer has a subject and object; 3) Fellow believers. We are part of the Body of Christ with one another. We learn from those who have gone before us through their writings and testimonies. We learn from one another through experience and as gifts of wisdom and knowledge are shared among us.

The focus of this Holy Spirit inspired action in the human heart is in the “inner man.” The word “man” is anthropos, every human male or female. Many commentators remark that Paul refers to the Holy Spirit doing something into the inner person. The “inner person” is our inner self, the place of inner thoughts, will, identity, purpose. The born-again life brings provides the way that our entire being of body, soul, mind, spirit, are healed and unified to the glory of God.[12]

So, referring to the first hina at the beginning of verse 16, we see the purposes of God being worked out by the Spirit in our inner being. This continues in verse 17 with the next clauses a continuation of the hina of verse 16. What God is granting us is first expressed in verse 16 and continues in verse 17, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love.”

As I’ve mentioned before, it is important to remember that “Christ” is the Messiah, the Anointed One of Israel. The Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, crucified, dead and buried, risen from the dead, dwells in us by the Holy Spirit through faith. God is granting, giving to us, the presence of Jesus in and among us in our inner person.[13] There is no distinction here between the Spirit and Christ. There is unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working the divine will in the lives of the redeemed.

Paul prayed that the Messiah “may dwell in your hearts through faith.” The word translated dwell is katoikeo and means a permanent dwelling.[14] The redeemed life, lived by the power of the Holy Spirit, means that Jesus has a permanent home in us. This is a call for us to intentionally engage in giving the Holy Spirit access to every known and unknown life dimension. For us to live fragmented lives where we choose to keep Jesus from a part of our lives is to fail to live in the fullness of what God has given us in the riches of His glory. This means that Jesus has not only come to reign in the entirety of our lives, it also means that Jesus has come to conquer every place of rebellion, disobedience, and confusion in us. This corresponds to Paul’s comments to the Corinthians that “every thought” be brought into “captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).[15]

All of this is brought about “through faith.” We cannot earn it. But it is not faith without our participation. Our involvement is that of working out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). It’s the “fearful” work of exposing every part of our lives to God’s redeeming Word and His life-giving Spirit.

Paul uses two metaphors to describe God’s ultimate intentions that are in His loving character: rooted (agriculture) and grounded (architecture). The Jerusalem Bible captures these metaphors with this translation, “planted in love and built on love.”[16] While the metaphors are important, the most important word is love, agape.

Significantly, the closing portion of 3:17 leads directly to the second hina which introduces verse 18: “in order that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height. . . .” Being rooted and grounded in love has as its purpose our ability to comprehend something with all the saints. Notice that this is not an individual in isolation. It’s personal but not private. Our growth in love is based on Christian community. It’s based on life lived with love and manifested in all our relationships.

This focus on love is vividly described in one of my most cherished books, Clowning in Rome: Reflections on Solitude, Celibacy, Prayer, and Contemplation by the late Henri J.M. Nouwen. I cherish it for the content and because on November 24, 1982, he signed it for me after I met him at a conference in Athens, Georgia. The first part of the book focused on three ways the Christian community witnesses to the world: “See how they love one another. See how they serve their neighbor. See how they pray to their Lord.”[17]

It is agape, divine love towards and in us, that gives us the full strength to mentally comprehend, grasp, what is occurring in God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ.[18] The dimensions of this love were expressed as four points covering physical and spiritual limits: width, length, depth, height.

The early church fathers wrote about these dimensions and their meaning. Gregory of Nyssa expressed it in terms of the cross of Christ: “The divine mind of the apostle did not imagine this fourfold figure of the cross to no purpose. He knew that this figure, which is divided into four segments from the common center, represents the power and providence of the one displayed upon it.” Gregory of Elvira wrote, “The height is the measure of the majesty of the Lord . . .. The length is the passion of the Lord’s cross, by which believers are sealed. The breadth is seen in Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit is coming down upon all believers.”[19]

These early church writers making connection with the cross is consistent with John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . ..” It is also consistent with Paul’s letter to the church at Rome that “in all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, no things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39).

Notice that the love theme runs through Ephesians but gains momentum in verses 17, 18, leading to the conclusion in verse 19. The purpose of Paul’s prayerful explanation of love in 17 and 18 is to lead the Ephesians and us, “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.” There are dimensions of the Messiah’s love that we cannot fully comprehend this side of eternity. Brooks noticed the paradox of knowing a love that is beyond knowledge.[20] This paradox recognizes the power of the Holy Spirit in continually revealing the “width, length, depth, height” of God’s love.

The final hina is in the second clause of verse 19, “in order that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” The words “filled” and “fullness” are a play on Greek verbal and noun forms of pleroma.[21] In the New Testament this word is first used in John 1:16, “and of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” This Incarnational language in John 1 indicates that this theological concept was known in early Christianity.[22] Otherwise it is used exclusively by the Apostle Paul.[23] In reference to God and Christ, Paul used “fullness” in Romans 15:29, Ephesians 1:10, 23; 3:19; 4:13, and Colossians 1:19 and 2:9.[24]

What does Paul mean by this use of fullness (pleroma)? Brooks, quoting several authors including John Wesley, thinks of fullness in this phrase, “This, then is the climax of Paul’s great prayer ‘for all saints’ – that each of them may be filled with grace upon grace until their entire being reflects and radiates ‘all the fullness of God.’”[25]

John Stott connects the fullness of Christ with these sentences, “we shall attain the fullness of love, of which Paul has just spoken in his prayer. Then Jesus’ own prayer will be fulfilled: ‘that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.’”[26]

From the standpoint of sanctification and holiness, Brooks noted that several of the verbs in this section of Ephesians are in the aorist tense, indicating a “once-for-all” experience of divine transforming grace in the human heart. While not as staunchly held as in earlier holiness writers, many older holiness writers saw in the Greek aorist tense an “instantaneous” work of holy grace in the life of a born-again believer. It did not mean that God’s work was completed at that time, but rather a definite change had occurred that continues to grow throughout our lives till we enter heaven.[27]

[1] It now goes by the dba, “LifePoint Ministries.”

[2] My father was born in Greenville, SC, attended Holmes Bible College, Emmanuel College, and the University of Richmond (Virginia). He served as pastor of the South Norfolk Pentecostal Holiness Church and from 1961-1985 as General Treasurer and General Secretary-Treasurer of the IPHC. He retired in 1985 to Franklin Springs, Georgia and passed away in 1996.

[3] https://iphc.org/gso/2025/07/07/ephesians-314-15-lets-try-this-again/

[4] John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, 98. The Moule quote is from Moule’s Veni Creator, 228. Moule was a noted New Testament scholar in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was the Bishop of Durham from 1901-1920 and was part of the Higher Life renewal movement in the Church of England.

[5] Stott, 100.

[6] Pronounced “hee-naa” with the accent on the first syllable. I am grateful to IPHC minister, Dr. Chuck Crocker, a biblical Greek scholar, for his valuable insights of this essay that improved my original draft.

[7] Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 377.

[8] Rich, Ephesians 2:4; riches, Ephesians 1:7, 18; 2:7; 3:8, 16.

[9] https://iphc.org/gso/2025/02/12/this-is-my-prayer-wisdom-and-knowledge-of-god-ephesians-115-17/

[10]Brooks, Ephesians Outlined and Unfolded, 117. Bold type is by Brooks.

[11] Barth, 369.

[12] Barth’s commentary on Ephesians, which I have used extensively in this study, offers a unique but ultimately unsatisfying position about the “inner man.” He suggests that the “inner man” Paul is referencing is Jesus, the Christ. His view is that the Spirit is strengthening Jesus as He dwells in the church. This view does not have strong Scriptural support in Paul’s use of “inner man.” See pages 369, 370 of Volume 1, Ephesians 1-3, The Anchor Bible.

[13] It is always important to remember that while Jesus abides in us individually, He abides in and among us as His body, whether a local congregation or the whole body of Christ across generations, cultures, and geography.

[14] See Barth, 370; Brooks 119; Stott, 101, 102. They draw the distinction between Paul’s use of paroiko in Ephesians 2:19 referring to a foreigner, and katoikeo in Ephesians 3:17.

[15] The reality of Christ dwelling permanently in us is similar to Paul’s opening words in Ephesians 1:3-12 where he mentions predestination. This means at least two things for us: 1) Jesus will never abandon His church on earth; 2) Individually, we can be assured that Jesus will never abandon us though we may choose to deny, reject, or abandon Him. This is not a back doorway of expressing a “once saved, always saved” theology. Rather, it affirms the confidence we can have in God’s faithfulness and live with assurance of our salvation, an assurance that overcomes Satan’s attacks in our mind and spirit that God does not love us.

[16] Paul uses love, loved, loves, 19 times in Ephesians.

[17] Nouwen, Clowning in Rome, 25.

[18] Cleon L. Rogers, Jr. and Cleon L. Rogers, III, The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament, 439, 440.

[19] Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament VIII: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, ed. By Mark J. Edwards (Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1999) 155, 156.

[20][20] Brooks, 125, 126.

[21] πλήρωμα, the noun form.

[22] The Gospel of John is usually considered to be written in the latter part of the First Century. But it is interesting to observe that the Apostle John’s later life centered around Ephesus (notice Revelation 2, 3) and tradition holds that the Virgin Mary lived her later years in Ephesus.

[23] Romans 11:12, 25; 15:29; 1 Corinthians 10:26, 28; Galatians 4:4; Ephesians 1:10, 23; 3:19; 4:13; Colossians 1:19; 2:9.

[24] It should not surprise us the similarity of words, phrases, and concepts between Ephesians and Colossians. As has been previously discussed in these essays, it is likely that people from across western Turkey (Asia Minor) attended Paul’s school in Ephesus. His letters to these churches, including a letter to Laodicea which has not been preserved, would naturally have similar themes (Colossians 4:13, 16).

[25] Brooks, 128.

[26] Stott, 105. This prayer from John 17:26 is Jesus referring to the love He has with the Father. Jesus desires us to have that same love.

[27] Brooks, 128. It is important to note that this interpretation of the aorist tense, so popular with older holiness writers, todays biblical Greek authorities are not as committed to this older interpretation.

Juquan Vickers was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, in a family that was very active in church. He was also very involved, singing and ushering from a young age. Around age 14, Vickers realized that he had never given his heart to the Lord. He explains that knowing about God and walking with the Lord, allowing Him to be a personal savior, are two very different things. Also as a young teen, Vickers became interested in playing the keyboard. He says he wasn’t very good in the natural. However, God had big plans to use music in Vickers’ life. One evening at church, his cousin’s wife took hold of his hands and anointed them with oil. She prayed that the Lord would take over his abilities and allow the Spirit to move and play through him. Vickers shares that her prayer over his hands changed his life and his abilities. From that day forward, Vickers’ musical and worship talents have been growing; he is a respected, talented worship leader today.

Alongside music, the local theater is a place filled with childhood memories for Vickers. The theater has always been an outlet where he could pour out his grief, his joy, and any other emotions he has felt in his almost thirty years of life.

Vickers as The Tin Man in “The Wiz”

Not long after he was cast as the Tin Man in a local production of “The Wiz,” Vickers tells that he entered one of the hardest seasons of his life: his beloved grandmother was diagnosed with a fatal heart condition.  As her heart grew weaker, Vickers would practice his songs daily at his grandmother’s bedside, singing of the Tin Man’s desire to acquire a heart.

Vickers with His Beloved Grandmother

After her passing, Vickers shares that he went into a dark place mentally, fighting with anxiety and depression. His struggles were so profound and consuming that he was sometimes unable to drive. Vickers describes how his vision clouded, his hands went numb, and his heart felt as though it was pounding out of his chest.

It was in this time of darkness and confusion that Vickers began to speak life over himself. Just as he had rehearsed and performed lines in a play throughout his life, he spoke the Word with boldness, reminding himself that “God will never leave us or forsake us.” And from Philippians 4:8: “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Vickers also recalls thinking about the importance of putting on the helmet of salvation daily. The helmet assures us of our salvation, eternal security, and protects our minds from unhealthy, negative thoughts.

In 2020, Vickers would have the biggest life change to date when he met Jessica.

Juquan and Jessica Vickers

The two connected online, and on their first date, they went to see a Toy Story movie and stayed up late talking for hours. Vickers and Jessica knew theirs was a lifetime match pretty quickly, and they were married just six months later in October, in the middle of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Jessica, an Occupational Therapist by trade, was already a worship leader at the church she was attending, but she readily agreed to join Vickers at Harvest Life.

Jessica and Juquan Vickers Are a Powerful Worship Team

They love to worship together, even recording a worship album to be released soon.

The Vickers Recording Their Upcoming Worship Album, “Unapologetic Worship”

The two have also recorded a song called “Busy” about how life can be chaotic, but they “wouldn’t want to be busy with anyone else but you.” You can see their music video here: https://youtu.be/dG4_rACp3cg?si=KWLViibY_M_IpRZx

In recent years, Vickers gained a friend and mentor as he sought out Pastor Dave Raegan from Harvest Life Church in Jacksonville, whom he had known from afar for many years. The two men met up for coffee, where Vickers shared his testimony and how he felt the Lord wanted to use him. Pastor Dave appreciated Vickers’ openness and shared his own heart. Before long, the two had created a close-knit friendship, and Vickers was asked to step in to help with the worship team at Harvest Life. He and Jessica also help out with the youth group.

Vickers Baptizing One of the Youth

Today, Vickers is entering his fourth year as the Performing Arts Director at the Foundation Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. He is a graduate of Florida State College at Jacksonville, with a degree in music with a focus on performance. Vickers works with Kindergarten through 12^th grade students, putting on a yearly performance for each elementary, middle, and high school. He is excited to jump back into the theater this fall, knowing the students will love it as much as he does. He shares: “God gave us theater, music, the arts, for expressing thoughts and emotions. I share that testimony often with my students. You don’t have to take on those heavy feelings. Release them through music, poetry, or dance.”

Juquan Vickers’ life is immersed in art, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He wants others to know first about the healing and restorative power of a relationship with Jesus Christ, and secondly, how the arts aren’t frivolous, but a necessity. Vickers shares: “I know how much art has touched me, brought me out through such darkness. I hope people who read this article will learn about themselves and how to view and process the world through the lens of art.” The arts are, after all, our gifts from God.

The Vickers with Their Miniature Dachshund, Callie

Chaplain Dorothy Bayles

One of seven sisters, born directly in the middle, Bayles remembers searching for her “place” and to be seen in the midst of a busy family. She felt a profound longing to be close to God and to have a personal relationship with Him. Dorothy describes herself as “intense and driven,” recalling how, even as a child, she wrestled with deep questions about God, her purpose in the world, and the path to eternal security.

Almost 50 years ago, Bayles volunteered at St. Paul Hospital in North Dallas, Texas. At the time, she was a student at the local Junior High School and doesn’t remember having aspirations of hospital work. She also volunteered at the YMCA on Saturdays, helping children with special needs. Reflecting on that time in her life, Bayles says, “The experiences we give our children, that my parents gave me, we don’t know what they’ll do, what effect they will have.”

A Young Dorothy (McGuire) Bayles (Far Left) Serving at St. Paul Hospital in North Dallas

At 15 years old, she found herself grounded for the summer after sneaking out of the house and attending a party. Her parents, however, allowed her to attend a Billy Graham gathering and a YoungLife youth camp, where she felt her heart stir like never before. Here, she would finally enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ, resulting in a “radical transformation.” Bayles is thankful for the YoungLife leaders who took a special interest in her; they gave her books to read and 7 am classes to attend that helped to deepen her understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done for her. When her family and friends saw the changes in her, they began to be curious about what brought this to be. Her younger siblings often accompanied her to these meetings, learning and growing in faith alongside her.

Bayles went on to study English at the University of Texas at Austin, where she would meet her husband-to-be, Christian.

Dorothy and Christian Bayles Today

The Bayles have been married for 41 years, with five children and 15 grandchildren. Bayles focused on raising her children for many years before returning to the workforce when her youngest was five; at that time, she began working at a local hospital (the Deaconess) as a Chaplain. After five years, she was asked to do some contract labor at Bethany Children’s Health Center. Eventually, she accepted a full-time position where she continues to serve. Chaplain Bayles completed her Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) credits and even chose to study further, obtaining a Doctorate in Clinical Psychotherapy just two years ago. In total, she has been a chaplain for 20 years, with 15 of those at the Bethany Children’s Health Center in some capacity.

Bayles with Bethany Children’s Medical Center Resident

Bayles with Bethany Children’s Medical Center Staff Member

Bethany Children’s Health Center is a special place. Considered a rehabilitation hospital, the children who are in residence here come for an average of a two-month stay. While here, the staff try to make their stay as normal as possible, allowing for them to have many of the same experiences that children outside of the Health Center would have in their everyday lives. The facility includes dedicated classrooms where patients participate in educational programs tailored specifically for each patient’s needs. Throughout the year, they also take part in a variety of meaningful and celebratory events that mark important milestones. In May, for example, the gymnasium is transformed for a festive prom, complete with formal attire and joyful entertainment. Around Easter, patients engage in an immersive “Road to Easter,” a sensory journey through the events of Holy Week. Other annual activities include adaptive Easter egg hunts, candlelight Christmas services, baseball games, water activities, concerts, plays, and many more enriching experiences.

Recently, Chaplain Bayles has been embarking on a season of introspection, having come across some journals from when she was young. She has enjoyed looking back over the years and comparing what she thought she knew about God and her purpose on earth with what she has discovered to be true. She says, “Life is more beautiful – and full of more suffering – than I thought it would be.” Chaplain Bayles explains, “God shows up in people’s suffering; Jesus hangs out with the broken and the hurting in the dark. By proximity, working here, I get to be close to Jesus.”

Praying for Others Is an Integral Part of Bayles’ Job

Praying for Others Is an Integral Part of Bayles’ Job

Chaplain Bayles’ work at the Bethany Children’s Health Center is essential for the patients, the families, and the staff. She has found her place and has helped others do the same. She now leads a team of five chaplains at the Health Center, and she is still immensely enjoying this calling that she has embraced: “It’s going to be hard someday not to do this.” She works daily to keep her mind sharp and her relationship with the Lord “fresh,” explaining that she wants to have “unadulterated Living Waters to pass onto others. To be a conduit of His grace.” And that she is.

]]> https://iphc.org/gso/2025/07/16/a-place-to-belong-chaplain-dorothy-bayles/#respond 0 6302 https://iphc.org/2025/07/09/remembering-rev-william-noyel-bill-jones/ https://iphc.org/2025/07/09/remembering-rev-william-noyel-bill-jones/#respond Wed, 09 Jul 2025 13:45:22 +0000 jlowe https://iphc.org/?p=4165 https://i0.wp.com/iphc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/In-Loving-Memory.jpg?fit=270%2C270&ssl=1 https://iphc.org/2025/07/09/remembering-rev-william-noyel-bill-jones/

IPHC mourns the passing of Rev. William Noyel “Bill” Jones, former Superintendent of the Georgia Conference (now known as LifePoint Ministries). Presiding Bishop A.D. Beacham, Jr. shared: “Rev. Bill Jones served Jesus and the IPHC with distinction. I had the joyful honor of working closely with him in the Georgia Conference and serving with him on the IPHC General Board of Administration and Council of Bishops. He was a real friend and, most especially, a true servant of our Lord Jesus Christ. He and his wife Karen and their family always demonstrated great faith and perseverance.”

Jones was born on October 10, 1954, in Clinton, North Carolina. He was the son of Henry Floyd Jones and Pinkie Blake Medford Jones. He entered the portals of Heaven on July 5, 2025, at 70 years of age.

Bill Jones graduated from the first 4-year degree program of Emmanuel College in 1976 and entered his ministry calling with the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. He served as an intern pastor in Athens, Georgia; pastored in Griffin, Georgia, and Elberton, Georgia. While in Elberton, he planted The Lighthouse which is now Celebration Outreach Center.

From 1991-1997 he served part-time as the Georgia Conference Evangelism Director. He became the full/time conference Evangelism/World Missions director from 1998-2001. He began serving as the assistant superintendent of the Georgia conference in 1994 and became the superintendent of the conference (now LifePoint Ministries) in 2001. He served as superintendent until 2014. Wherever he served, he served faithfully. He was often described as a visionary leader wherever he ministered.

Bishop Bill Jones loved God’s Word, and he loved to preach! He loved people, especially the broken and downtrodden. He had a special place in his heart for those who were rejected and forgotten in this world. He saw people the way Jesus saw people.

He was a faithful and devoted husband to his wife and a loving father to his son, Blake. Yubo Yu, a foreign exchange student from China, became his “Chinese son.” Bill loved his family and created a safe haven for them.

He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Karen; his son, Blake, of Colbert, Georgia; his Chinese son, Yubo Yu; one brother, Henry Floyd Jones, Jr. (Sheila); sisters: JoAnne Logan (Frank) and Evelyn McKenzie (Burnie); nieces: Debbie Hairr, Lisa Logan, Emily Wiley (Terry), Abby Mabry (Jacob), Mackenzie Campbell (Finley); nephews: Rusty Smith (Helen) and Gavin Harper (Shirley); his father-in-law, Cole Fitzgerald, and many great nieces and nephews. He is pre-deceased by his parents; his sister, Lib Skipper (Gene); his nephew, Forrest Logan, and his mother-in-law, Dorothy Fitzgerald.

Bishop Bill Jones impacted an untold number of people for Christ. He was greatly loved and respected. His was truly a life well-lived, and he will be greatly missed by all who loved him.

The family will receive friends on Friday, July 11, from 12:00-1:45p.m. at Celebration Outreach Center, 1333 Washington Highway, Elberton, GA 30635 with the funeral service following at 2:00p.m. The graveside service will be private at Franklin Springs City Cemetery.

Flowers are accepted and contributions may be made in his memory to Celebration Outreach Center, PO Box 209 Elberton, GA 30635 or to SafeHouse Ministries, PO Box 6336, Elberton, GA 30635.

Berry Funeral Home & Crematory of Elberton is respectfully in charge of arrangements for William Noyel “Bill” Jones.

Information gathered from www.berryfh.com

]]> https://iphc.org/2025/07/09/remembering-rev-william-noyel-bill-jones/#respond 0 4165 https://iphc.org/gso/2025/07/07/40-years-at-living-hope-pastor-keith-gilliam/ https://iphc.org/gso/2025/07/07/40-years-at-living-hope-pastor-keith-gilliam/#respond Mon, 07 Jul 2025 14:55:17 +0000 jlowe https://iphc.org/gso/?p=6297 https://i0.wp.com/iphc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2025/07/LHC-Feb4th_20577.jpg?fit=270%2C270&ssl=1 https://iphc.org/gso/2025/07/07/40-years-at-living-hope-pastor-keith-gilliam/ Pastor Keith Gilliam has been at Living Hope Church in Lenoir, North Carolina, for 40 years. The church, started in 1950, changed names in 2018, when Gilliam felt the Lord’s prompting to remember 1 Peter 1:3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (NIV).

Living Hope Church, Lenoir, North Carolina

Living Hope Church, Lenoir, North Carolina

Gilliam is a third-generation IPHC member, following after his grandfather and father. He grew up in Marion, North Carolina, just 35 miles from where he now pastors. He and his brother, who is four years older, both attended Emmanuel University, where Gilliam studied pastoral ministry. Fresh out of college, Gilliam and his new wife, Lana, took Living Hope as their first pastorate, where just 35 people were in attendance at the time. He shares that approximately 20 are still active members. Throughout the past 40 years, the church has seen significant growth. They moved to their current campus in 1998 and recently completed their third sanctuary. Now, Living Hope has a sanctuary that seats 1100 and holds multiple services throughout the week. As far as advice for other pastors just starting out, Gilliam encourages: “Just be committed where you are. Be patient. Going from 35 to 1200… 40 years is a long time, and that didn’t happen instantly.”

Pastor Keith Gilliam

Lana and Keith Gilliam

For Gilliam, the greatest part of staying in one pastorate for 40 years is the relationships that are formed, for themselves and their family. Gilliam and Lana have two grown children: Jennifer, who is married to Bradley with one child, Briggs, and son John, who is married to Sydney. Their children had the unusual experience of growing up as “PK”s (Pastor’s Kids) with the same church family throughout. Throughout these years, Gilliam has come to know the community well. He has formed lasting friendships and watched children born within the church grow up, come to know the Lord, marry, and have children of their own. As far as the accomplishments he is most proud of, Gilliam says, “Watching people come to know the Lord, seeing true life change from the power of the gospel; that’s the most important.” Gilliam is also particularly thrilled when he sees a young person who has grown up in the church be called into ministry.

Living Hope Church

Living Hope Church

Gilliam recognizes that the length of his stay as pastor and the significant growth they have seen over the years are unusual. He knows their growth is partially due to their strong missions giving, both globally and locally. Gilliam’s heart is for missions, and he wants to continue to be a light in their community, the surrounding counties, and around the world. He has enjoyed going on many trips over the years, and Living Hope has built churches in several countries in Central and South America. In the past two decades or so, Gilliam has experienced some life-changing health issues that have required him to do more sending out, rather than going along with, their missions’ teams. Even so, Living Hope’s commitment to supporting missions remains intact.

Pastor Keith Gilliam is a humble man, preferring to turn the spotlight from himself and onto others. He desires to keep Christ as the center of his personal and professional stories, always pointing back to Him and all He has given to and done for Living Hope Church in Lenoir, North Carolina. Forty years have come and gone, and Gilliam looks forward to seeing what God has planned for this next season.

Living Hope Church, Lenoir, North Carolina

For more information about the national Pastors Conference, click the link below.

National Pastors Conference Recap

Jones explained that church planting is a process that takes time. Most churches need 12-18 months of preparation and planning before they are ready to officially launch. In fact, according to Jones, there are three necessary pieces of a successful church plant: individual coaching, ongoing training, and adequate funding. HGM is working to ensure that each committed pastor and launch team have those crucial elements in place and available. Moving forward, Jones and the HGM team’s goal is to build sustainability into the foundation of new churches. HGM has no desire to launch the churches and set them out to sea to navigate rough waters on their own; they want to be there every step of the way, continuing in relationship long after the “launch” has taken place.

One of the 18 plants launched in 2024 took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, under the leadership of Pastors Matt and Theresa Paio. “The Remnant Church” has already seen tremendous results, with 103 salvations and 47 baptisms. The Paios have been working hard to prepare and maintain this new body by receiving ongoing coaching from Dr. Trey Jones and attending “Breaking Barriers 2024,” hearing from speakers such as David Docusen on rebuilding and restoring broken communities. The Remnant Church plant also received the full funding offered by HGM by reaching all of the benchmarks required.

Another of 2024’s church plants took place in Caguas, Puerto Rico, under Pastors Julio Román and Viviana Rodríguez. Launched in February 2024, “Restauración Centro” has seen 35 salvations and 25 baptisms. This church has placed special emphasis on evangelism within the city, with such events as “Movie Under Heaven” with 500 people in attendance over three nights, a Resurrection Brunch, Christmas events, and ministering in a retirement home. This young church has also already embarked on a missions trip, traveling to Nicaragua, where they impacted several communities in Managua and Bluefields, focusing on low-income projects, a hospital (working with children battling cancer), rehabilitation centers, and schools. The team of seven also helped two church plants and two established churches.

Sometimes, a church plant is unique because it is a “replacement plant.” In a replacement plant, a facility is available and may even have a few attending members, but it is in need of a relaunch. In this situation, the Sunday morning services are suspended as a launch team is assembled, a plan is developed, and a new church is birthed. Pastor Adrian Mostella has had this unique opportunity in Decatur, Alabama, with the newly launched “Revive Church.” So far, the church has seen 61 salvations, 20 rededications, and 31 baptisms, while averaging 230 in service. Since implementing the “Growth Track,” they have added 15-20 new team members. Mostella received coaching from Rick Fountain and the full amount of funding offered from HGM by reaching all of the required benchmarks.

To learn more about planting a church with IPHC, visit: https://www.plantachurch.us/

Here, you will be prompted to create a login, take a screening assessment, watch orientation videos, and submit an application. After completing this, a HGM team member will contact you to discuss the next steps.

To learn more about HGM and the resources they have to offer, visit:

https://www.hgmchurches.com/

General Conference is a gathering that takes place every four years to worship, fellowship, select leaders, cast vision, adopt policies, enact legislation, receive training, and other activities that promote the mission/vision of the IPHC to fulfill the Great Commission (p.93). The General Conference voting membership plays a crucial part in this event. The voting membership is comprised of those who are licensed and ordained as part of the IPHC and laity certified by local churches to be delegates. According to the IPHC Manual, each church can send one delegate for every 25 members within the church (p.94). Local churches should begin planning for the General Conference and who they will send to represent them.

As IPHC plans for the upcoming conference, committees are already meeting and working. The Bylaws Committee for 2026, appointed by the Council of Bishops, is tasked “to review the Bylaws for any necessary amendments and to consider proposed amendments submitted to the committee in writing” (p.95). The Committee is as follows:

Chairperson: Keith Gilliam (Cornerstone Conference)
Justin Blankenship (Heartland Conference)
Bill Rose (North Carolina Conference)
Kelly Santos (Red de Ministerios)
Dave Ragan (Sonshine Network)
Tim Lamb (Lifepoint Ministries)
Stan Reynolds (Pacific Western Network)
Jason Beiler (Alpha Conference)
Jamie Grisham (Tennessee Valley Conference)
Ray Boggs (Spirit Life Ministries)
William Peralta (Texas Latin Conference)
Brad Thomas (New Horizons Ministries)
Barbara Carter (Heartland Conference)
Parthenia Lane (South Carolina Conference)
Patrick Estrada (Great Plains Conference)
Ryan Linkous (Appalachian Conference)
Greg Hearn (Acts2Day Conference)

If you would like to ask the Bylaws Committee to consider a particular item, please contact Chairperson Keith Gilliam at kgilliam@livinghopelenoir.com

In 2022, the General Conference introduced a motion “For the Executive Committee of the Council of Bishops to establish a study commission on the role of lay leadership in the local church and to report at the next General Conference.” The Council of Bishops formed the Laity Study Commission and is as follows:

Chairperson: Gary Crouch (New Horizons Ministries)
Mike Ainsworth (Cornerstone Conference)
Anthony Craver (Cornerstone Conference)
Linda Thomas (North Carolina Conference)
Allen Powell (Redemption Ministries)
You can reach out to Chairperson Crouch at gary@crouchco.com

General Superintendent A.D. Beacham, Jr. shared: “I encourage IPHC ministers and laity from across IPHC to attend the 30th General Conference as we gather to worship Jesus and seek His face for the future of IPHC.”

As General Conference gets closer, check this website for additional information: https://iphc.org/generalconference/

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