{"id":1572,"date":"2017-08-16T22:09:21","date_gmt":"2017-08-16T22:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/?p=1572"},"modified":"2017-08-16T22:13:34","modified_gmt":"2017-08-16T22:13:34","slug":"the-earth-is-the-lords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/2017\/08\/16\/the-earth-is-the-lords\/","title":{"rendered":"The Earth is the Lord\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Doug Beacham<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Earlier this year, I sensed the Holy Spirit speaking to me about \u201cwhere\u201d the IPHC should be going. I\u2019ve always had a keen interest in world history, and the history of our movement is part of that interest. Since last fall I\u2019ve been writing a brief commentary on the January 31, 2011, Centennial Covenant. Hopefully this will be completed in the fall and made available as a free PDF. In writing this commentary, I found myself reviewing our more recent history from the early 1980s.<\/p>\n

Dr. Vinson Synan\u2019s 1998 centennial edition of IPHC history, Old-Time Power<\/em>, describes the development of Target 2000. This was a global vision for the IPHC developed in the middle 1980s and made a priority through Bishop Leon Stewart and then World Missions Director B.E. Underwood. During his tenure as general superintendent, Underwood continued the Target 2000 emphasis (1989-1997).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>As I thought about Target 2000, I realized that these leaders made a prophetic claim on the future, a future about 16 years in advance. Though thoroughly in the eschatology model that Jesus could return at any time, they decided to follow the advice later referenced by the late C. Peter Wagner and attributed to the late Robert Schuller, \u201cDon\u2019t let eschatology stifle your long-term thinking.\u201d Sound advice for every generation!<\/p>\n

It was the awareness of Stewart\u2019s and Underwood\u2019s sense of the future that began to gnaw at my spirit. I knew how to connect the dots of our past. I understood our present, a present articulated in 2013 with our seven core values and vision phrases of \u201cPlace of Hope, People of Promise.\u201d It was the future, the \u201cwhere are we going?\u201d that intrigued me.<\/p>\n

Intrigued by maps of the 2016 U.S. presidential election where each of the over 3,100 counties in this nation were colored red or blue, I started thinking about where IPHC has congregations. I remembered the efforts of the Methodists in earlier generations to have a Methodist church in every county of the nation. With our Wesleyan and Methodist denominational roots, that goal began to stir in my heart.<\/p>\n

I remembered people making the point that we are but a few years from the 2000th<\/sup> commemoration of the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, God\u2019s only-begotten Son, Israel\u2019s Messiah, and the Savior of the world. Most are marking the period 2030-2033 as the framework for that commemoration.<\/p>\n

I realized that at 2017, we are but 13 years from 2030 and 16 years from 2033. We are in a similar time-frame to Target 2000. But we have the advantage of greater communication than 1984-2000. We have ubiquitous and multi-faceted smart phones along with the ever increasing forms of social media communications.<\/p>\n

By early 2017, a vision became clearer to me and I offered it first to the Executive Committee of the Council of Bishops in Oklahoma City, and with their encouragement, to the Council of Bishops in Albuquerque in February. Along with specific goals, I shared with the COB an act that I believed God wanted us to do at the close of General Conference, an act associated with soil. My vision was that the U.S. bishops would bring soil from their conference and national leaders and missionaries would bring soil from around the world to be placed in a large container. The bishops responded with a deep spiritual awareness and many leaders brought soil from different parts of their state and nation.<\/p>\n

The purpose of the soil? First, an act of gratitude to God for where we are in the world, the territory God has given us. Second, a prophetic act of reaching significantly more counties, cities, and nations for Jesus Christ during these 16 years (2033 will be a General Conference year).<\/p>\n

You can view that Friday night service here<\/a>. Hopefully the vision fulfills Habakkuk\u2019s instructions, \u201cWrite the vision and make it plain . . . that he may run who reads it\u201d (2:2, NKJV). You will see the leaders pouring their soil into a container donated by Bishop Tom Murray and the Golden West Conference.<\/p>\n

The photos that accompany this article reveal the different colors and types of soil. Only the very first and last soils were pre-arranged. North Carolina soil was poured in first as the mother of the 1911 merger and the home of the 1898 Pentecostal Holiness Church of North Carolina. Oklahoma was next, representing the Midwestern roots of the 1898 Fire-Baptized Holiness Church, roots that included African-Americans and women in leadership.<\/p>\n

Next were leaders from Hong Kong and India, representing the first two locations of IPHC world missions. Significantly, they represent the two most populous nations on earth, calling us to engage the whole world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

The pouring of the soil concluded with soil from Wyoming and Rhode Island, the two U.S. states without an IPHC congregation. And the final soil was from\"\"<\/a> Turkey, representing closed countries and a strong resistance to the gospel.<\/p>\n

As all of us watched the soil being poured, we saw what I consider to be Holy Spirit artwork as layers took on different colors and structure. In my mind, soil was soil and it would be a nice collection of brown soil. What we saw instead was a visual demonstration of the colors, cultures, and peoples of the earth. We saw the divine beauty of God\u2019s kingdom, reaching around the globe and creating a divine beauty that stands in sharp contrast to what humanity designs.<\/p>\n

I write this with Charlottesville, Virginia in our thoughts. I\u2019m thankful for the way the IPHC family has responded to the spirit of the age that manifests itself in the divisive utopias of racial superiority and neo-Nazi paganism. But let us not be deceived. The spirit of the age also manifests itself in the ungodly conformity demands of a utopian equality paradise.<\/p>\n

We must be prepared for every human dream, with its Tower of Babel utopias, to resist and reject God\u2019s kingdom and the King we are called to serve. The kingdom of God always stands in judgment against humanity\u2019s kingdoms. Thus, we must speak truth, wisdom, justice, love, and peace, with the knowledge we will be resisted.<\/p>\n

But we speak. We speak because of the soil. We speak because God created us from the soil. We speak because the creation awaits the revealing of the sons of God. We speak because \u201cthe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fullness thereof\u201d (Psalm 24:1, KJV).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,317,1],"tags":[313,378,6,134,46,182,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-1572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bishops-blog","8":"category-gencon","9":"category-general","10":"tag-313","11":"tag-28th-general-conference","12":"tag-august","13":"tag-bishops-blog","14":"tag-doug-beacham","15":"tag-general-superintendent","16":"tag-iphc","17":"entry"},"title_es":"Un ni\u00f1o peque\u00f1o los conducir\u00e1","content_es":"Por Doug Beacham<\/strong> La 28\u00aa<\/sup> Conferencia General de la Iglesia Internacional de Santidad Pentecostal comenz\u00f3 con ni\u00f1os que nos llamaban a la adoraci\u00f3n. En el oscuro auditorio, un grupo de ni\u00f1os empez\u00f3 a cantar \"Esta Peque\u00f1a Luz de M\u00eda\", y mientras cantaban, encend\u00edan luces individuales. Pronto una tropa de casi 60 ni\u00f1os entr\u00f3 en el auditorio cantando con ellos y encendiendo sus luces. Se reunieron en la parte delantera del \"\" Etapa ante una multitud de 1.500 personas, record\u00e1ndonos el llamado del Evangelio de que seremos luces en este mundo oscuro. Luego, como recordatorio de que el Evangelio es para el mundo entero, cantaban con el gusto que s\u00f3lo los ni\u00f1os pueden cantar \"\u00c9l tiene todo el mundo en sus manos\". Puede ver esa apertura y todo el servicio de apertura de la Conferencia General de la Conferencia en Http:\/\/iphc.org\/live\/<\/a> . Las razones que motivaron el comienzo de la Conferencia General con los ni\u00f1os fueron dos. Primero, el valor central de IPHC para 2018 es \"Valoramos todas las generaciones con oraci\u00f3n\". El obispo Tommy McGhee y el equipo de Discipleship Ministries est\u00e1n preparando diligentemente el \u00e9nfasis para esta importante afirmaci\u00f3n del IPHC. Sab\u00edamos que hab\u00eda adultos de todas las edades presentes en la Conferencia General y que los j\u00f3venes ten\u00edan mucha atenci\u00f3n en ellos con Youth Quest y el Festival de Bellas Artes. Fue en mi coraz\u00f3n que los m\u00e1s j\u00f3venes entre nosotros ser\u00e1n los m\u00e1s responsables para alumbrar la luz del Evangelio a trav\u00e9s de la IPHC en las pr\u00f3ximas d\u00e9cadas. Mucho despu\u00e9s de que nos hayamos ido, el Esp\u00edritu Santo los llenar\u00e1 y les dar\u00e1 poder en el servicio de Jes\u00fas. La segunda raz\u00f3n fue el mayor \u00e9nfasis que los Ministerios de Discipulado colocaron en el ministerio de los ni\u00f1os para la Conferencia General. Durante muchos a\u00f1os, IPHC ha proporcionado alg\u00fan tipo de cuidado infantil y formas de ministerio infantil para los ni\u00f1os que acompa\u00f1aron a sus padres a la Conferencia General. Pero este a\u00f1o, los Ministerios de Discipulado, como parte de su mayor enfoque en el Ministerio de Familia, vieron la oportunidad de hacer un impacto espiritual significativo en las vidas de los ni\u00f1os. Usted debe tomar tiempo para ver la incre\u00edble cantidad de recursos y enfocar este ministerio en https:\/\/iphc.org\/disciples\/<\/a> . Afirmando \"Familia: Las personas que viven juntas\", Discipleship Ministries trajo a la especialista y consultora del Ministerio de Ni\u00f1os, la Dra. Ellen Moore, y su equipo de Ark Church, cerca de Houston, Texas. M\u00e1s de 100 ni\u00f1os a trav\u00e9s de los grados quinto se les dio la oportunidad de aprender y crecer en Cristo. Ellos estuvieron involucrados en la porci\u00f3n de adoraci\u00f3n y respuesta del seminario \"Iglesia que se convierte en familia\" del Dr. Michelle Anthony. Los ni\u00f1os aprendieron a escuchar mejor la voz de Dios en sus vidas. Muchos de ellos sintieron que el Esp\u00edritu Santo los llamaba al ministerio, incluyendo el servicio de misiones en el IPHC. Ayudar a la Dra. Moore y su equipo eran estudiantes de Southwestern Christian University y otros adultos j\u00f3venes de familias misioneras y varias conferencias de Estados Unidos. Los trabajadores de la iglesia local de la iglesia participaron y aprendieron del equipo del Dr. Moore. Estoy seguro de que veremos el impacto de esto a trav\u00e9s del IPHC en los pr\u00f3ximos meses. \"\"<\/a> Oigo mucha angustia acerca de \"milenarias\" y \"Generaci\u00f3n Z\", y hay motivos de preocupaci\u00f3n. Al mismo tiempo, el Esp\u00edritu Santo ha encontrado a mujeres y hombres en cada generaci\u00f3n dispuestos a responder a su llamado ya compartir las buenas nuevas de Jesucristo. \u00a1Jes\u00fas contin\u00faa construyendo Su iglesia! Nuestro movimiento puede estar muy agradecido por este compromiso con los ni\u00f1os. Es este compromiso llegar a los ni\u00f1os antes de que est\u00e9n abrumados por las presiones culturales que sientan el fundamento del conocimiento b\u00edblico y la verdad. A menudo he pensado en lo que har\u00eda de manera diferente si pudiera revivir los doce a\u00f1os que pastore\u00e9 la Iglesia de Santidad Pentecostal de Franklin Springs. Una de las cosas que har\u00eda es poner mayor \u00e9nfasis en el ministerio de los ni\u00f1os. El IPHC ten\u00eda entonces, y ahora tiene, ministros de ni\u00f1os sobresalientes y yo habr\u00eda tratado de haber tra\u00eddo uno de ellos a la iglesia a tiempo completo. No puedo rehacer el pasado, pero usted puede hacer algo sobre el presente! Busque el rostro del Se\u00f1or en oraci\u00f3n sobre estos asuntos. Hable con el obispo McGhee y el equipo de Discipleship Ministries para obtener ideas y contactos. Hable con su director de Discipleship Ministries y obtenga ideas y contactos. Hay una cosa que no puedes hacer: \u00a1ignora los ministerios de los ni\u00f1os!","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/08\/IMG_0404-1-e1502920999356.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Bx-pm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}