The Assemblies of God is comprised of 12,830 congregations in the United States. Between 2013 and 2022, the AG chartered 2,985 churches. During that same time, though, it closed 2,958 churches. In other words, just to remain the same size, … Continue reading How to Relaunch Your Church | Influence Podcast
How can pastors lead healthy, productive, and long-lasting change in their congregations? Mike Clarensau answers that question in Subject to Change. An ordained Assemblies of God minister, church consultant, and author, his advice comes from decades of ministry in local-church … Continue reading Subject to Change | Book Review
When it comes to planting and revitalizing churches, rural America is “forgotten field.” It faces a variety of demographic and economic challenges, and the rural pastorate often means bivocational ministry in small congregations. In consequence, rural ministry is not an … Continue reading The Forgotten Field | Book Review
Two years after Covid arrived in the United States, the pandemic seems to be winding down and normalcy seems to be returning. Even so, the pandemic and the governmental responses to it were incredibly disruptive. So, what does the new … Continue reading Where Is the Assemblies of God Heading? | Influence Podcast
Alton Garrison, A Spirit-Empowered Church: An Acts 2 Ministry Model (Springfield, MO: Influence Resources, 2015). Pentecostals look to the Acts 2 church as the paradigmatic church—and with good reason! This was the church to whom Jesus Christ himself said, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). This was the church whose miraculous beginnings (2:4) were followed by immediate growth, both quantitatively (2:41) and qualitatively (2:42ff.). This paradigmatic church is sometimes misunderstood, however. It was not a perfect church, for example, as the negative example of Ananias and Sapphira … Continue reading Review of ‘A Spirit-Empowered Church’ by Alton Garrison
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