Wood, Smith Share

New General Superintendent George O. Wood and new Executive Director of U.S. Missions Zollie Smith completed the special series of messages by new officers of the Assemblies of God last Thursday and Friday at Assemblies of God Headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, sharing their personal life stories. Go to ag.org to listen to or view the messages.


(Images are screen captures only. View videos at ag.org.)

Audio Files for TPE Articles Begin

Senior Associate Editor Scott Harrup has begun reading selected articles from each issue of TPE. Note: This a second podcast, separate from TPExtra.

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Video From the Recent Walk for Life

Garrison, Palmer Share Testimonies

Assistant General Superintendent Alton Garrison and General
Secretary John Palmer began a special series of services, sharing
their testimonies. Garrison tells the remarkable story of his wife's
family coming to the Lord and how God brought him into a
Christian family, when it seemed he was destined to be the son of
an alcoholic. Palmer shares about the powerful examples his
parents lived out before him, how that influenced his life and
how God has used failures and disappointments as cornerstones for
success. See and hear the complete testimonies at http://ag.org/.
Dan Van Veen


(Images are screen captures only. View videos at ag.org.)

AG Participates in Pregnancy Care Center Walk for Life

Walkers raised $113,100 for the 6th annual Pregnancy Care Center Walk for Life Saturday, Oct. 6, at Jordan Valley Park in Springfield, Mo. Including a separate simultaneous walk in nearby Monett to help the center’s branch in Aurora, Mo., more than 2,200 walkers participated in the event, including 95 representing the Assemblies of God.

The funds will be used for the Pregnancy Care Center’s building campaign. The center will move into its own more spacious facility next summer.

“We are very grateful that Assemblies of God leadership stood with us in this,” says Cindi Boston, executive director of the Pregnancy Care Center. “The Assemblies of God is making a difference in serving the community where we live.”

The Pregnancy Care Center provides services for more than 1,600 people annually. The center launched a Fatherhood program this year.

—John W. Kennedy; photos by Ken Horn


Cindi Boston addresses walkers


Prayer prior to the event








The End of the Walk

AG U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis Dies From Cancer

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis, a member of the Assemblies of God who served in Congress for seven years, died Oct. 6 after a two-year battle with breast cancer.

Davis, 57, became Virginia's first Republican woman elected to Congress in 2000, and she was a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee.

“Her determination to fight the disease is an inspiration to all of us,” President Bush said. “She was a fine example of a public servant who worked hard to cut government waste to ensure the people's money was used wisely. “Her common-sense values will be missed on Capitol Hill.''

Her first piece of legislation, passed by the House in 2001, increased the life insurance benefit paid to survivors of military members killed on duty.

A conservative who came from modest means, Davis was known for her unquenchable inquisitiveness and how quickly and deeply she learned about any legislative issue.

“I always admired Congresswoman Davis' strong convictions and the tenacity that she brought to bear in acting on them,” said U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, a fellow Virginia Republican.

She underwent chemotherapy treatments and a mastectomy when her cancer was first diagnosed in 2005. When the cancer returned this year, she underwent chemotherapy again and often monitored hearings from her home in Glocester.

Survivors include her husband, Chuck, two sons and a granddaughter.

Editor Ken Horn interviewed Rep. Davis in Washington, D.C., from a Conversation that was published in the February 29, 2004, Pentecostal Evangel. That interview follows, exactly as it appeared:

Christians in politics

Jo Ann Davis serves Virginia’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House
of Representatives. She spoke with Managing Editor Ken Horn during the
Assemblies of God’s 50th General Council in Washington, D.C.

PE: What is the atmosphere and what are the challenges as a believer
involved in government?

DAVIS: I’m not a politician first; I’m a Christian who happens to be in
politics. I feel very strongly that this is the path that God led me on. I
see a lot of ways in Congress, in Washington, in which God is working. I
think now more than ever we have a godly man in the White House and we have Christians in the House and Senate. I believe God is trying to move and it’s time now that we pray and humble ourselves.

PE: How would you recommend Christians pray for government and for the political climate in the nation?

DAVIS: I would pray that the leaders in government would have godly wisdom, that they would listen to the Lord and that they would be bold, step out and not worry about being politically correct. Pray that God’s Spirit would descend upon Washington and upon each and every member of Congress. I ask people to pray that I would not only have wisdom but that I would be open in my spirit to hear from God, and that I would be obedient to the Lord.

PE: What are the issues that Christians should be concerned about?

DAVIS: Issues that impact the family are the ones that concern me the most — the homosexual agenda, the need for pro-life legislation, for example. Families are the basis of our nation.

PE: During the continuing conflict overseas, how should we be praying and
supporting our troops and our leaders?

DAVIS: I serve on the House Armed Services Committee and International
Relations Committee and I have visited our men and women in the military
over in Afghanistan. We need to pray for their safety, that God will bring
them back home to their families.

PE: How did you come to know Christ?

DAVIS: I was saved when I was 25 in 1981. My husband’s sister led me to the Lord when his mother died.

PE: Describe your journey into politics.

DAVIS: I spent months asking God to use me. Eventually, I got my real estate license and opened a real estate company. One of my real estate agents in 1997 asked me to consider running for the state legislature against a 15-year incumbent. I was not political in any way, shape or form. I voted every year for pro-life candidates, but I didn’t know anything else about them. And then my friend said those fateful words: “Would you pray about it?” So I prayed. I started to feel led by the Lord to run. I asked my husband, knowing that if he said no, I wouldn’t do it. And he said, “I knew three years ago that you would do something like this.” I ran for the state legislature in 1997, and started serving in 1998. I served three years and then the congressman in my district announced his retirement. I knew that I was supposed to run for Congress. I did, against all odds. Even the governor endorsed another candidate, but I knew that the Lord had told me I was going to Congress. So we ran even though we didn’t have any money. We won. Here we are.

PE: Any other thoughts?

DAVIS: Just continue praying. There are so many of us in government who feel those prayers and we know the prayers are what keep us going. Without prayer, I couldn’t be here.

End of interview.

The staff of Today's Pentecostal Evangel are appreciative of the life and ministry of this godly woman who was a patriot and a Christian.

(Photo By Peggy Horn)

Parting Words From Pastor Trask

For nearly two years, General Superintendent Thomas E. Trask has delivered a weekly video "Chat With Pastors." His final Chat included words that are appropriate to all believers. We share just a few of them here:

I have a library full of books ... but there’s no book like the Word of God. ... I admonish you — live in the Word and let the Word live in you.

...

David said, “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11). What is going to keep you pure? What is going to keep any of us pure? What is going to keep us righteous? What is going to keep us holy? What is going to keep us on track? What is going to keep us in balance? I’m here to tell you, it’s going to be the Word of God.

...

How can we minister in spiritual things if we are unspiritual? ... I’m talking about walking in the Spirit, living in the Spirit, and ministering through the enablement of the Spirit. We must have a keen sense of what God is doing. He will give you an awareness of opportunities you’ve never had before — daily, so that you can be the salt and you can be the light that He’s called all of us to be.

... I urge you to walk with the Lord. Walk in the power of His Spirit. Live with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit so you will be effective. I promise you, on the authority of God’s Word, your ministry will flourish. God will bless.

TPE Podcasts

The TPE Podcast continues to draw new listeners. Here is the first program Kirk Noonan and I did. It was "Doing Business God’s Way," a discussion of our 7-8-07 TPE. All of our podcasts can be found at tpe.podbean.com.

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"Nothing’s Too Hard for God"

National Director of Communications for the Assemblies of God Juleen Turnage and Resource Development Coordinator for the Office of Public Relations Rick Griepp recently appeared on our TPExtra Podcast. They talked with host Ken Horn about the AG’s multimedia campaign available to our churches, Nothing’s Too Hard for God. Included in the podcast are sample 60 second radio spots. You can listen on the player below. Visit nothingstoohardforgod.org for more information.

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God’s Grace: Injured Husband Finds New Purpose After Wife’s Unexpected Death

Editor’s note: The following article appeared in the March 25, 2007 issue of TPE. On Sept. 10, 2007, James John Tingle, was sentenced to three to six years in prison upon being convicted of homicide by vehicle while driving a vehicle under the influence in connection with the death of Linda Whited. Tingle received concurrent terms for two counts of aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI.

Meanwhile, James Whited, who wears a leg brace and uses a cane, says he continues to miss his wife immensely. He is preparing for ordination next spring and plans to travel as an evangelist in a motor home. His son Jim Jr. is in college in Williamsport. Pa., studying computers. Daughter Chrissy is in 10th grade.

By John W. Kennedy

James R. Whited Sr. still hobbles with a leg brace. Pain flairs where tendons no longer exist. He suffered permanent damage in what remains a weak left ankle. He has no sensation in the bottom of his foot. Steel plates are inserted in his left arm and hip.

Emotionally, Whited has a difficult time retelling the events that changed his family forever. What troubles him most is the loss of Linda, his wife of 23 years.

On Dec. 4, 2005, Whited drove his wife and two children among the picturesque rolling mountains in central Pennsylvania en route to the Sunday evening service at Gospel Tabernacle, the Philipsburg Assemblies of God church where they are members. An oncoming car driven by Brandi Markel had stopped on U.S. Route 322 to make a turn. In the wintry dark Whited saw a speeding Ford F250 pickup truck driven by James Tingle hit Markel’s vehicle from behind. Markel’s car traveled 120 feet, but she miraculously escaped injury.

However, Tingle’s truck came into Whited’s lane and struck his vehicle head-on. The truck hit with such ferocity that the crushed dashboard pinned Jim and Linda in the front seat.

Whited’s Kia Sportage caught fire and filled with black smoke. John Taylor, driving in the car behind the Whiteds, smothered the flames with a fire extinguisher he carried in his auto. Meanwhile, a passer-by broke out a rear passenger window to free son Jim Whited Jr., then 17. Jim Jr. crawled out, then collapsed. The other backseat passenger, daughter Chrissy, then 13, emerged with only a bruise on her leg.

To read the rest of this article, click here here.

Last Week to Leave a Message of Appreciation for Trask, Crabtree

The change of leadership for the Assemblies of God officially takes place this Sunday, October 8. October 7 will be the last date that messages of appreciation can be left online for outgoing leaders Thomas Trask and Charles Crabtree. You may access the site for Bro. Trask here, and for Bro. Crabtree here.

Quote Power Is Waiting for You

"I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done."

"The goal of worship is not to showcase musical talent, but to bring people into God’s presence."

“Repentant tears are the waters upon which the Spirit of God moves.”

"Attempt great things for God, expect great things from God."

To see whose words these great quotes are, visit our Quote Power site. Almost daily a new power quote is added. These are great devotional thoughts, and also good for messages and writing. Visit Quote Power now.

(And feel free to send suggested quotes to khorn@ag.org. Please identify the source of the quote.)

** Make a Difference: Support Coins for Kids

Coins for Kids is the missions fundraising arm for National Girls Ministries, and since its inception in 1994, has raised more than one million dollars toward missions. Funds sent in through December 31, 2007, will benefit Touched Romania, a ministry helping to reduce the number of abandoned newborns in the European country.

To learn more about Coins for Kids, visit the national Girls Ministries Web site at http://ngmevents.ag.org/cfk/. Then, to learn more about this year's Coins for Kids recipient, visit http://TouchedRomania.org/.

Juleen Turnage on TPExtra Podcast

Juleen Turnage, National Director of Communications for the Assemblies of God, recently appeared on our TPExtra Podcast. With a change of administration and leadership in the Fellowship on October 8, 2007, Turnage shares insights from past transitional times and administrations.

Listen Now:

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Military Chaplains Stage War Service at AGTS

Military chaplaincy candidates staged a mock pre-battle field service Tuesday at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. The chapel platform was transformed into a military camp.

Chaplaincy candidates conducted the service as they would in an actual war situation just before a battle. President Byron Klaus stated that AGTS prepares more chaplains-in-training than any other seminary.




Col. Scott McChrystal, head of military chaplaincy for the Assemblies of God, spoke.

In Awe In Argentina By Rocky Grams

Rocky Grams' new book, In Awe In Argentina, has been impacting lives. I was with Rocky a few years ago in Argentina and I know this is a story that needed to be written. What God continues doing there is remarkable. I have bumped into missionaries from Argentina all over the world who are graduates of River Plate Bible Institute, the school Rocky leads.

Rocky says, "Writing this book was a mandate from God! It took me five years to write it and a couple of years to find a publisher, Creation House."

Reading the manuscript brought revival to students, pastors and missionaries in Albania.

Edgardo Munoz, a friend and colleague of the Grams, states that the book is "the seed of revival."

It's being sold in countries as diverse as Japan, Great Britain, Australia and Germany. It has been published in English and Spanish.

Argentina is the second largest nation in South America. Its population of approximately 38 million is diverse, with about 85 percent being of European descent. At one time, Argentina was the most prosperous, educated, and industrialized nation in South America. In recent years the government has had to pursue harsh economic measures to combat spiraling inflation. Despite the people's spiritual aloofness of decades, God has sent a mighty revival to Argentina in recent years. Hundreds of thousands have accepted Christ and the urgent need has been discipling and training—to retain the tremendous harvest.
Rocky Grams grew up on the mission field. He spent 16 years in Bolivia ministering alongside his parents, assisting in planting churches in the high Andes Mountains, distributing literature, ministering to youth, and teaching music and Spanish at a Bible School for Aymara Indians.

Rocky and his wife, Sherry, met at North Central Bible College. They have served as missionaries to Argentina since 1979 and have seen a dynamic response to the gospel. Rocky has directed the Instituto Biblico Rio de la Plata in Buenos Aires, and Sherry has served as teacher and counselor. The Bible School has an enrollment of 408 resident students and 529 part-time students.

The school has over 1,873 graduates ministering all over Argentina and in 35 different countries of the world. Of the 179 foreign missionaries sent out by the Argentine Assemblies of God, 53 are alumni of River Plate Bible Institute.

The Grams sense a tremendous urgency to help provide training for the hundreds of young people who are feeling the call to ministry.

For more on Instituto Bíblico Río de la Plata go to: www.ibrponline.org

To order the book, e-mail Rachel Schaible at inaweinargentina@gmail.com. Web site: inaweinargentina.com

Physician’s vision results in free health care to needy

ByJohn W. Kennedy in Des Moines, Iowa

Editor’s note: The following article appeared in the March 10, 2002, edition of TPE, when James and Beth Blessman did short-term medical missions trips with HealthCare Ministries. In 2004, the Blessmans transferred to Caring Connection, where James is responsible for e-mail or phone physician medical care consultations with overseas Assemblies of God missionaries. Blessman also attends to the primary health-care needs of missionary families every summer at the School of Missions in Springfield, Mo. The Blessmans also spend four months in each year in South Africa, caring for 300 orphan children whose parents have died from HIV/AIDS.

Tables and chairs are being set up in the waiting area.
Ear-probe thermometers, blood pressure cuffs and tongue depressors are prepared in the screening section. A toy box and children’s videos are readied in an overflow room.
It’s 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the basement of First Assembly of God in Des Moines, Iowa, and a beehive of active volunteers are transforming Sunday School rooms into a free clinic. Although patients won’t be seen for another half hour, they already are lining up for the first-come, first-served ministry. The church has designated a corner for medical exams and supplies storage.
The weekly free clinic is the brainchild of Dr. James L. Blessman, a member of First Assembly. As founder of the umbrella nonprofit Health Care Access Network, Blessman has started free weekly clinics in 17 Iowa locations. HCAN reaches many Iowans who have jobs, but little or no health insurance.
With the vision of using volunteers from local churches, Blessman in the past decade has recruited 200 doctors and 1,000 non-physician volunteers to donate their services. In addition to the free labor, the use of facilities is donated along with most of the equipment and medicines. The state covers malpractice insurance for the doctors providing the free care. The network of clinics provides free primary medical care, no strings attached, to those who likely don’t have a regular doctor. “We’re just a tiny piece of the safety net,” Blessman says.
From an upstairs meeting of young adults, contemporary worship music can be heard faintly. Many patients who wouldn’t set foot in a church for a service don’t mind doing so for free health care that is run as efficiently and professionally as commercial clinics. The patients who gather are a mixture, representing the neighborhood in northwest Des Moines: a white elderly woman, a Hispanic family of five, a black teenager.
Typically, three nurses, one doctor, a medical student and half a dozen non-medical volunteers will be on hand from 6 to 8 p.m. All likely have put in a full day of work in their regular jobs. An average of 15 patients are seen each Thursday night, receiving everything from bronchitis medication to measles immunizations.
Tonight, Diane Messer, a full-time organs transplant nurse at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, is a volunteer at the free clinic. “All patients need to have equal rights to equal health care,” says Messer, who has been in nursing for 25 years. She spends about 10 minutes with each of her patients, doing a basic assessment of what’s wrong, checking vital signs and finding out about allergies and medications.
Messer, who attends First Assembly, volunteers at least once a month. If she has time, she asks patients if they believe in God and pray. “I recognize that illness can be a time of spiritual uncertainty,” she says.
Tonight’s on-call doctor is Dr. James P. Lovell, a cardiologist who has been volunteering monthly since the clinic opened six years ago. For a specialist who spends his daily life in the intricacies of the heart, treating a common cold is a bit of a departure.
“I’m just a cardiologist,” says Lovell, who also sings in the First A/G choir. “Sometimes I wonder if I should be seeing sick babies. But this is a place where God wants me to be. In a sense, this is a missions outreach. This is the place where I can make a small contribution.”
Sometimes a diagnosis and treatment can change a life. At one clinic, a doctor determined that a baby had phenylketonuria, a genetic disorder that results in mental retardation if not caught early and treated with a special diet.
Lovell engages in good-natured banter with a high school student at the clinic for a basketball physical. The cardiologist asks Garrett Gordon, a first-year student at Hoover High School, what position he plays and how the team is going to do. Eventually he asks the patient whether he goes to church.
Before leaving, patients have the option of counselors praying with them. As they are most weeks, Denny and Joyce Spencer are at the clinic ready to offer spiritual guidance. “Almost everyone lets us pray with them after they receive medical treatment,” Joyce says.
Denny believes those who haven’t made a commitment to Jesus at the start of the night will do so by the end. “I have big expectations because we’ve invited God into this room,” he says.
This evening, Robert Gonzales, a good-looking 17-year-old North High School senior who is at the clinic for the first time for a basketball physical, makes Jesus his Savior after talking with the Spencers. “They told me how to accept God in my life,” he says. Those who make a salvation decision receive a free Bible, discipleship materials and church information.
The cost to HCAN for each patient is $21 per visit, one-tenth of what a trip to a hospital emergency room runs. The entire annual $313,000 HCAN budget comes from private funds and no government money is used. The clinics are dependent upon individuals, congregations, patient donations and private grants to keep going. Blessman is continually on the hunt for more corporate sponsors.
Blessman had practiced family medicine in Des Moines for years, but recent overseas short-term missionary health care trips stirred his heart toward poor and spiritually lost people in Third World countries. At 56, he has reached the point in life where most doctors are winding down and looking forward to a comfortable retirement. Instead, he and his wife, Beth, recently became missionary associates with the Assemblies of God. They will be taking medical team and disaster response trips with the outreach HealthCare Ministries, bringing God’s love and healing to people around the world.

2007 Children’s Edition Points Kids to “Dream Jobs”

The Evangel’s Children’s Edition is becoming a fall tradition as kids team up with mascot Petey to explore the exciting life found in following Jesus Christ.

Past issues have featured the lands of the Bible, God’s wonderful world, and Bible doctrines. This year addresses a theme every young person thinks about: What they will become when they grow up.

The “Dream Jobs” Children’s Edition offers interviews and activities that give readers insight into the lives of teachers, preachers, firemen, doctors and other career professionals.

Don’t miss the October 28, 2007, Today’s Pentecostal Evangel and Fall 2007 Evangelio Pentecostal Hoy.

If you place a bulk order of 400 copies or more by October 1, you can have the issues custom imprinted free of charge with a message from your church or ministry.

Visit tpe.ag.org for a downloadable order form with all the details, or call Gospel Publishing House toll free at 1-800-641-4310.

For a special photo essay from this year's Pentecostal World Conference in Surabaya, Indonesia, July 17-21, click here. Included are photos of Charles and Ramona Crabtree ministering.

"TPEXTRA" OFFERS MORE CONTENT ON INTERNET

For "Today's Pentecostal Evangel" readers who want to go beyond the
printed page, there's now something more. "TPExtra" provides
supplementary material to selected content from the "Evangel" on the
publication's Web site, http://www.tpe.ag.org/. "TPExtra" will offer author
insight, additional photos and other exclusive features.

"I'm excited about our new enhancements to the 'Evangel,'" says
Editor Ken Horn. "Our audio extras will let you meet the 'Evangel'
staff and hear how they have been personally impacted by the stories
they have worked on. And, as an avid photographer, I look forward to
sharing extended photo essays beyond the space we have in the
magazine."

"We hope readers will turn to 'TPExtra' for extra content and
information in our special online offerings of audio, video, photo
and blog content," says Managing Editor Kirk Noonan. "The extras
will give readers who want more information a place to go and give
those who want to express their thoughts a place to do that."

—From AG News