Rev. Marvin Sapp, pastor of Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and ordained minister of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, took home seven Stellar Awards during the 24th Annual Stellar Awards show. He received honors including Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, CD of the Year, and Male Vocalist of the Year.
Sapp’s song “Never Would Have Made It” took Gospel radio by storm.
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Word of Life Apostolic Church in West Grove, Pennsylvania has been ordered to remove trailers that were donated to the church for the purpose of opening a school.
Neighbors complained to local officials, and the church had not obtained the necessary permits to move the trailers on to their Woodcrest Road property. The township is allowing Bishop Rayford Moulden 15 days to have the trailers removed.
Bishop Moulden is displeased with the township’s decision and suspects that racial bias could be a factor in the decision. The church is forced to scrap the idea of opening a Christian school to serve their congregation.
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Greater Grace Temple, a Pentecostal Assemblies of the World 8,000-member megachurch in Detroit, Michigan, hosted a corporate service to pray for God’s intervention in saving the auto industry. Bishop Charles Ellis III, pastor of Greater Grace, is very concerned about the impact of the collapse of car manufacturing on his congregation and the metropolitan area. Ellis said: “We have never seen as midnight an hour as we face this coming week.”
Ellis also invited UAW officials to speak at the service. General Holiefield, a UAW vice president for Chrysler told the congregation: “We have done all that we can do in this union, so I turn it over to the Lord.
At the close of the service, the choir sang “We’re Going to Make It.” Ellis encouraged members of Greater Grace to pray that Detroiters will make it through the tough times ahead.
Three SUVs were parked on the church’s platform, keeping the clear focus on the auto industry!
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T
his month, Bishop Horace Smith, presiding prelate of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., the oldest Oneness Pentecostal organization, reports on the progress of his ‘Apostolic Manifesto’ initiative, which aims to chart a course for the future of the organization.
Bishop Smith introduced his plan in March 2008, identifying several systemic problems in the organization, including:
1) The lack of ‘corporate’ vision in the fellowship.
2) Strong regionalism that limits organization-wide decision making and hurts the PAW as a whole.
3) Antiquated and ineffective leadership structure with deficient accountability
4) The development of “separate, disconnected, siparate, almost antagonistic organizations” that work without national guidelines.
5) The lack of executive oversight for the separate diocese of the fellowship
6) Substandard organizational communication and cooperation resulting in lack of consistency and professionalism for the entire constituency.
The manifesto ultimately seeks to revitalize the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World through a stronger, centralized organization and to improve the quality, caliber, and accountability of the fellowship’s international leadership through optimized communication, fiscal responsibility and unified vision and effort.
According to the November update, six committees have been formed:
1) Structure & Vision
2) Diocese
3) International Missions
4) Critical Issues
5) Finances
6) Leadership
Bishop Smith sees the manifesto as an essential part of rehabilitating the organization and correcting problems that are presently “destablizing the organization at best and is [sic] killing the organization at worst.”
Click here to visit the PAW web site.
New Birth Apostolic Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan has been seriously damaged by fire. Some members were at the church preparing a fundraising dinner to raise money to help the church’s pastor, Rev. Fred Jordan, who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer.
The fire quickly spread the building and also damaged an adjoining church.
“We’ve still got the victory, no matter what,” said Eld. Brad Nelson, who was in the church when the blaze started.
The congregation only has approximately 20 members.
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Many couples seek out a secluded spot in a romantic location for their honeymoon — but newly-wed Lauren Elrod of Chicago had something completely different in mind.
Josh over at the Collideoscope blog posted this story about a very selfless couple.
Brian and Lauren Elrod (son-in-law and daughter of the presiding bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World) sponsored a child in Zambia, but weren’t satisfied simply sending money. For their honeymoon they decided to go there themselves and visit some of the sites that have been supported by their church. Along the way, they also had the opportunity to meet the child they had been sponsoring. Perhaps in the most self-sacrificing part of the journey, Brian even allowed the in-laws to join them.
Click HERE to read the full story.
Rev. Beverly Jean Moore died in Friday, July 18, at her home in Flint, Michigan. She was a staff pastor at Bethlehem Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith, a position she assumed in 1977.
Rev. Moore was ordained by the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and was a gifted singer, evangelist, and Bible teacher. She also served as a member of the International Missionary and Christian Women’s Association.
Rev. Moore was reared in the Apostolic Faith under the ministry of her grandfather, Bishop George Lucas, at the Spiritual Israel Church of the Apostolic Faith in Flint, Michigan.
She is survived by her 3 sons, 6 grandchildren, 2 great-grandchildren, and 6 sisters.
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Two weeks after breaking with his long-time church after pastors there made inflammatory and anti-American sermons, Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama went to a new church on Sunday to discuss fatherhood.
Obama, accompanied by his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia, took part in Father’s Day services near their house at the Apostolic Church of God — a large, predominantly black church in the South Side of Chicago.
The Apostolic Church is a Oneness Pentecostal congregation that baptizes converts in the name of Jesus.
This was Obama’s first time attending a church service since he announced last month that he had quit Trinity United Church of Christ, which he had attended for 16 years, as he sought to calm concerns about comments by pastors there.
In choosing to speak at Apostolic, Obama chose a somewhat more conservative church than Trinity United Church of Christ, where the senator from Illinois was a member until recently.
Both churches are on Chicago’s South Side and are predominantly African-American congregations.
Trinity is part of the United Church of Christ, a liberal Protestant denomination that, for example, ordains gay ministers.
For decades, Apostolic Church of God had been part of the conservative Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. Though Bishop Brazier broke away from the PAW last year, his church is still solidly conservative when compared to Trinity.
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Bishop Arthur M. Brazier will preach his last sermon at Apostolic Church of God on June 1st. The church has over 20,000 members and is one of the largest African American congregations in Chicago. Bishop Brazier is 86 years old and became pastor of Apostolic Church of God in 1960.
The church’s official board has named Dr. Byron Brazier, Bishop Brazier’s son, as his successor.
Bishop Brazier served as the Diocesan Bishop of the 6th Episcopal District of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World before withdrawing from the fellowship in October 2007 because of his espousal of the doctrine of “eternal security.”
Click here to read the full story.
Bishop Samuel Lee Jones died 7 May 2008 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He was the founder of Grace Apostolic Faith Church in Pine Bluff at the age of 70.
Bishop Jones was baptized at age 6 and filled with the Holy Ghost at the age of 18 under the ministry of Bishop A.J. Streets in St. Louis, where he became a member of the influential Bethesda Temple and later served as assistant pastor of the assembly. He also served as Chairman of the Youth Department of the Midwestern District Council of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World while in Missouri.
He founded Grace Apostolic Faith Church in Pine Bluff in 1985.
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Since their estrangement after an altercation in an Atlanta parking lot (August 2007), Juanita Bynum, a tele-evangelist, has made many media appearances to discuss her husband’s abusive behavior.
Now, Bishop Thomas Weeks, pastor of Global Destiny Ministries in Duluth, Georgia, has released his self-published book entitled What Love Taught Me, alleging that the parking lot incident was merely a public example of their tumultuous home life. The book includes chapters such as “I Would rather Push You Now Than Punch You Later” and “She Wanted to Be Oprah at Any Cost”. In the book, he accuses Bynum of instigating the August altercation in order to draw media attention to herself and allow her to leave the marriage as an innocent victim. Weeks claims that Bynum was physically abusive and that he was indeed longsuffering prior to shoving her in Atlanta.
According to Weeks’ site, the book offer comes with a bonus interactive CD and a freek webinar.
Bynum has discussed the rift on Oprah and Divorce Court as well as several Christian television programs, portraying herself as a victim of Weeks’ rage and physical violence.
It remains to be seen if the blow of Weeks’ new book will result in a return punch from Bynum!
Click here to read the full story.
Thirty influential African American pastors came together on Friday, 2 May, at Quinn Chapel A.M.E. on Chicago’s South Side to express their support for Senator Barack Obama’s campaign amidst the controversies surrounding the inflammatory comments of his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, leader of a Black liberationist church in Chicago.
Amongst the group were three leading Apostolic ministers: Rev. Leon Finney, pastor of the Metropolitan Aposotlic Community Church, Rev. Horace Smith, Presiding Bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and pastor of Apostolic Faith Church, and Rev. Arthur Brazier, pastor of the mega-church, Apostolic Church of God.
These men, and fellow clergy, flet that it was important for the Black Church to demonstrate their concern over Rev. Wright’s divisive statements about race in America, especially his claim to speak for the entire African American Religious tradition. Bishop Brazier says: ” . . . the black church has nothing to do with this.”
Brazier and Smith noted that their congregants continue to express grave concerns over the impact of Rev. Wright’s publicized comments on Obama’s campaign and voice their personal desire to see the controversial relationship marginalized in hopes that Obama will make the presidency.
Click here to read the full story.
According to the Mo’ Kelly Report, a ‘blog published on the Electronic Urban Report, former Pentecostal Assemblies of the World bishop, Thomas Weeks III and his estranged wife, Dr. Juanita Bynum Weeks, will be appearing in a special two-part episode of Divorce Court. The court is presided over by Judge Lynn Toler.
Weeks is pastor of a Pentecostal church in Georgia, and Bynum is a well-known tele-evangelist. The couple have no plans for reconciliation and have been estranged since August 2007 when Weeks allegedly attacked his wife in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel.
Click here to read the full story. Click here to visit the Divorce Court website.
Bishop Theophilus Price of San Jose, California died at the age of 73. While on vacation in Fiji and New Zealand, Bishop Price became burdened for missions work and began dozens of churches throughout the South Pacific region while continuing his pastorate at the Light of the World Apostolic Cathedral in California. In response to the dynamic growth of Price’s daughter churches, the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World formed a new district and elevated Price as a diocesan bishop of the South Pacific Council.
Bishop Price was also an entrepreneur and often attached businesses to many of his churches including restaurants, daycares, recording studios, and farms.
He is remembered as a church planter and an accomplished minister of Jesus Christ.
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Carlton Bell, 26, a member of Greater Emmanuel Apostolic Church in Tucson, Arizona, died mysteriously on March 18, 2008. He was a real estate agent and a well-loved husband and father.
Police are uncertain about the exact circumstances of Bell’s death. Witnesses reported that he jumped or was heaved from a moving vehicle before being run over by a sport utility vehicle. The SUV driver left the seen of the crash but was later apprehended. Investigators suspect abduction but would not comment on the reasons for this conclusion.
Click here to read the full story.
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