There is still time to register and participate in either or both of this summer’s adult conferences in the FGBC.

DRIVEN06, geared mainly for young adults, will be held June 22-26 on the campus of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. The conference theme is “Alert and Oriented,” and it will focus on helping twenty-somethings answer basic questions about their identity and mission in life.

Speakers, workshops, roundtables, recreation, and great times of fellowship will provide opportunity for learning, reflection, and interaction. Main-session speakers include Kondo Simfukwe, Jeff Bogue, Lisa Harrison, Dr. Randy Smith, and Kary Oberbrunner.

The fee for single adults is $165 per person or $300 for married couples, with special group rate “packs” as well as day rates and children’s rates. Log onto www.driven06.org to register, or e-mail questions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The annual gathering of Grace Brethren churches, Celebrate06, will take place at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort in Indian Wells, CA, July 29-August 3.

Beginning with a celebratory look at the past by longtime pastor Charles Ashman, the conference will include the moderator’s address by incoming FGBC Moderator Tim Boal and a variety of speakers including Tom Hocking, Keith Shearer, Jim Cymbala, Randy Smith, and Terry Hofecker.

The national organizations will sponsor luncheons, business meetings, ministry updates and special functions, and there will be separate sessions for the Association of Grace Brethren Ministers and the Women of Grace USA.

Online registration is available at www.celebrate06.com, and registration packets and publicity materials are available from the office of Fellowship Coordinator Tom Avey by calling (574) 269-1269, ext. 2.
 

Dr. Jerry Young, standing right, led the recent AGBM “Certification Summit” held at the Grace Brethren Church in Lititz, Pennsylvania. Participants represented the licensure and ordination examining boards from districts around the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. (Jay Fretz photo) Twenty-six members of the Association of Grace Brethren Ministers, representatives of national organizations, and the chairs of the examining boards of 16 of the Fellowship’s districts met in Lititz, PA, March 27-29 for an historic “Certification Summit” discussion of licensure and ordination.

The meeting was called, organized, and led by Dr. Jerry Young, who has been working as a contracted research and development director for the AGBM. Subdividing into four discussion groups, the participants worked through some 44 discussion questions, bringing summary reports to the entire group.

A number of subjects were discussed, including the potential adoption at the upcoming Celebrate06 conference of new constitution and bylaws for the AGBM, the ratification of a board of directors, and steps leading to the engagement of a part-time director for the association.

A major portion of the discussion at Lititz revolved around initiatives to broaden the categories of membership in the AGBM beyond licensed and ordained ministers. Specifically, Grace Brethren North American Missions is now training a number of church planters, and part of the discussion was the credentialing and creation of categories for membership for these church planters and other church workers who do not follow the traditional path of licensure and ordination.

Participants in the Lititz meeting included Terry Daniels, Greg Howell, Norris Mason, Steve Taylor, Tim Boal, Jerry Young, John Schumacher, Ken Bickel, Chip Heim, Mike Govey, Jay Fretz, Dan Pritchett, Keith Shearer, Terry White, Don Eshelman, Howard Johnson, Robert MacMillan, Larry Orme, Dan White, Joel Richards, Randy Weekley, Kevin Pinkerton, Steve Shipley, Charles Thornton, Robert Wagner, and Tom Avey.

The AGBM will have four meetings at Celebrate06 in which to conclude the discussions and take actions, along with the regular AGBM activities that incl

ude introduction of new members, honoring member with the Lifetime Achievement, Pastor of the Year, and Excellence in Ministry awards, and more.

Input or suggestions prior to the conference meetings should be sent to Jerry Young at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , sent to him at 62679 Northwood Road in Tucson, AZ 85739 or phoned to him at (717) 682-1216.

Donald P. Shoemaker

By Pastor Donald P. Shoemaker
Grace Community Church of Seal Beach, CA

A longer version of this essay was printed in the Long Beach CA Press-Telegram, on March 25, 2006. © 2006 Donald P. Shoemaker.

April marks a great milestone in America’s religious heritage as the Pentecostal Movement reaches the 100th anniversary of the revival that launched it. This was the “Azusa Street Revival” in Los Angeles that began in 1906, continued for four years, and attracted inquirers who spread the revival across the country and around the world.

Pentecostalism was not the only revival of its time. The Welsh Revival fanned spiritual flames into some of the early participants at Azusa Street. The Pentecostal revival, however, had unique features of its own. The most obvious, the spiritual renewal it called the “baptism” or “filling of the Holy Spirit,” was accompanied and evidenced by the experience of “speaking in tongues.” This linkage became a key doctrinal and experiential feature of the many denominations, churches, and ministries the revival later produced.

Today 25 percent of those who claim the Christian religion are Pentecostal. There are at least 20 million Pentecostals in the U.S.

I will always be thankful for this movement’s impact on my own spiritual journey. I prayed to receive Jesus while kneeling at the altar on the concrete floor of a Pentecostal church when I was nine years old. My spiritual life was renewed through contact with a Pentecostal family when I was a teen. I joined a Pentecostal denomination. I first saw my wife-to-be in one of its churches and we were married there!

My earliest opportunities for musical ministry and preaching were in Pentecostal churches, including my first sermon when I was eighteen. Though I no longer hold the distinctive Pentecostal doctrines, I still enjoy fellowship with its adherents and occasional ministry opportunities in its warm assemblies.

The movement has made many positive contributions to the broader Evangelical Protestant community to which it clearly belongs. Two of these are especially significant—renewed interest in the ministries of the Holy Spirit and renewal in church worship.

Pentecostals were about the only Christians focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit in the early Twentieth Century. Clearly, other Christians have now awakened to the topic even if differences remain on particular issues like “speaking in tongues.”

Pentecostalism has transformed worship in many American churches. You must understand that the word “worship” is a verb in Pentecostalism! It is an action you enter into, not a meeting you attend and observe. Styles of worship once found almost distinctively in Pentecostalism are now widespread. We have learned that the experience of approaching God is not altogether or primarily cognitive, but also an experience of the emotions and the body. Once seen by many as a “Pentecostal thing,” lifting up hands in worship is now commonplace.

Has the movement had its errors and excesses? Yes. It has created personality cults where the “anointed man of God” is accountable to no one. It has shared with other “Holy Spirit” revivals the risks of minimizing the intellect, creating spiritual pride, and going beyond the Scriptures in its claims and experiences.

That said, we need the Pentecostal Movement and all other movements of God’s Spirit to renew in us the confession “Jesus is Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:3). Without the presence of God’s Spirit, the church loses its uniqueness. The Roman Catholic scholar Luke Timothy Johnson reminds us, “Unless what it says about the Holy Spirit is true, then the church is simply another organization among others, rather than the sacrament of God’s presence in the world.”

Dr. Donald Shoemaker, in addition to being Senior Pastor at the Seal Beach church, is chair of the FGBC’s Social Concerns committee.

More than 30 years ago, a special financial gift was made from Dayton, Ohio, First Grace Brethren Church to help a new church purchase property. That church is now Centerville Grace Brethren Church, pastored by Steve Makofka.

At a recent Tri-States District conference, Makofka presented a gift of $5,000 to Tim Nixon to assist in Nixon's new church plant.

Nixon, who until recently was youth pastor at the Basore Road church in Dayton, is now planting Cornerstone Grace in the south Dayton area. Cornerstone Grace is applying to join the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches at this summer's Celebrate06 conference in California.

Makofka also presented a $5,000 check to Pastor Mike Tabor of The Happy Church in Jackson, Kentucky, to assist with that church's work.

The Tri-State district is serious about starting healthy churches that start other healthy churches. Pray for these churches as they reach their region for Jesus Christ.

Four Laws for Effective Communicators, a pamphlet designed to illustrate and reinforce the “SALT Principles” being taught by author Tom Julien, is now available from BMH Books.

The four-color 12-page pamphlet is based on Colossians 1:28-29 and is designed both as a standalone publication and as the framework text for SALT seminars teaching the four basic principles of spiritual reproduction. They are The Law of the Seed, The Law of the Soil, The Law of the Sower, and The Law of the Harvest. For more information, visit the Strategic Alliance of Leadership Trainers (S.A.L.T.) website at www.gbim.org/home/SALT/SALT.asp.

Missionary statesman and former GBIM executive director Tom Julien is the author and he has designed the booklet to be useful not only to an American audience, but also to many other cultures where the SALT principles are being taught worldwide. Grace Brethren International Missions is the copyright holder, and GBIM anticipates using the booklet widely in teaching and training sessions.

Base retail price is $1.25 each, and purchases of quantities of 10 or more are encouraged rather than purchasing individual pieces. Quantity discounts (the more purchased the greater the discounts) are available by calling BMH Books division manager John Leonard toll-free at 1-800-348-2756. The pamphlet is also be available for purchase online at www.bmhbooks.com.