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GRATEFUL FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOMSPAGE 4

SUMMER WELCOME FOR INTERNATIONALS PAGE 3 • LOSING AND WINNING IN SIN CITY PAGE 5 • THIS WEEK IN AG HISTORY PAGE 8

“PEOPLE BECOMING THE CHURCH” PAGE 6

SINGING A NEW SONGPAGE 7

A COLLECTION OF THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES FROM PENEWS.ORG

SUNDAY,AUG 13,2017

THIS WEEK IN AG HISTORYBY GLENN W. GOHR

Fifty years ago, the Pentecostal Evangel highlighted some key events in the life of Argentina missionary Louie Stokes (1909-1989).

Born and raised in Atlanta, Stokes graduated from Beulah Heights Bible Institute (which now is Southeastern University). He and his wife, Lillian, served in stateside ministries, but in 1940 they became appointed missionaries to Cuba until 1949. They then served in Argentina until 1976, which was followed by two years in Panama.

In Argentina, the Stokeses taught in a Bible institute and conducted a radio program in Buenos Aires called The Voice of Faith. Louie Stokes also held

street meetings and published tracts as well as a publication called ID (Go Ye). A massive evangelistic-healing campaign was held in Buenos Aires in 1954, which resulted in thousands of converts. After this crusade, the Stokeses converted an old Argentinian shoe factory into a church and had a fruitful ministry for the next 22 years.

The Aug. 13, 1967, Pentecostal Evangel featured some jottings from Louie Stokes’ then 27 years of service in Latin America, including testimonies of miraculous healings.

Read “Anthology of a Missionary,” on pages 8 and 9 of the Aug. 13, 1967, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel online at s2.ag.org/aug131967.

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LEE MCFARLAND’S RESTORATIONPAGE 2

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As director of worldwide operations at Microsoft Corp., Lee McFarland amassed a $160,000 annual salary, $50,000 in yearly bonuses, and 16,000 shares of Microsoft stock.

Yet in 1996, McFarland walked off the fast track to vast wealth, and instead acceded to God’s call to pioneer an AG church in Surprise, Arizona. He made $22,000 his first year as pastor. However, nine years after launching, Radiant became the fourth largest church in the AG.

But, in 2011, McFarland confessed to moral failure, resigned from the church, repented, and submitted to a two-year period of healing and restoration. His wife, Sandy, recognized Lee’s genuine sorrow and repentance, and stayed in the marriage, now in its 36th year.

After a two-year rehabilitation process, the AG reinstated McFarland’s ministerial credentials in 2013.

“So many ministers who go through the rehab process don’t return to full- time ministry,” says Arizona Ministry Network Superintendent Stephen L. Harris. “Lee is a great example of one who fell, went through the process, and

is restored to ministry.”“Satan wants to label us with our

failures,” says McFarland, who speaks forthrightly about his fall. “God says OK, that was for a season, but that’s not who you are.”

In his attempt to return to the pulpit, McFarland sparked much interest from pastoral search committees — until internet hunts revealed a pending lawsuit brought by a former Radiant couple who claimed McFarland had breached his pastoral and counseling duties over an 11-month period by manipulating the wife.

In early 2015, SoCal Ministry Network Assistant Superintendent John Johnson notified McFarland of a lead pastor opening at Covina Assembly of God, where Johnson’s daughter-in-law, JoAnn Johnson, is executive pastor. Church members voted to hire McFarland just before settlement of the lawsuit against him.

“I’m acutely aware of where I’ve been,” McFarland says. “You learn a lot about yourself if you go to weekly counseling for two years.”

McFarland says he now cultivates 2 7

T H E A B C s O F S A L V A T I O N

ACCEPT that you are a sinner, and God’s punishment for yoursin is death and separation from God forever.

BELIEVE that Jesus paid God’s price for your sin when He died on the cross.

CONFESS “Jesus, I believe You are who the Bible and historydeclares You are – the Son of God. I humble myself and surrender to You. Forgive me. Make me spiritually whole. Change my life. Amen.”

SINGING A NEW SONGBY JOHN W. KENNEDY

At the age of 13, Kurtis Parks began leading worship at the church where his father pastored. At 22, he made the final 50 cut for American Idol. By age 27, Parks started directing worship at National Community Church, eventually overseeing 150 musicians and singers on eight campuses in Washington, D.C.

Last year, at 33, Parks wrote SoundCheck: How Worship Teams Can Pursue Authenticity, Excellence, and Purpose. Parks has toured the country, sharing the stage with the likes of Reliant K and Gungor, plus sponsored conferences where he nurtured budding musicians and songwriters. He has composed 1,200 songs, including “Revive,” “You Alone,” and “We Believe.”

Parks married Sarah in 2005 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, using the country music epicenter as a base for touring the country in a van with a band. So perhaps no one was more surprised recently than Parks himself when he sensed God prodding him to put his music on the back burner in order to plant a church.

“God began to lay on our hearts to return to Nashville,” recalls Parks, who plays both guitar and piano. “I thought it would be for music, but God said to start a church.”

The new Nashville church, to be called Bridges, will launch next year. Parks will try to penetrate the rock-star-wannabe culture that he succumbed to years ago. He knows the narcissistic bent running through the personality of many artists.

“We want Music City to become worship city,” Parks says. He is cognizant of the temptations revolving around both the limelight of leading worship on stage and the pedestal of preaching from a podium.

“I want to strategically surround myself with people who will keep me hungry and humble,” Parks says. “I don’t just want to be in a room with people who keep telling me I’m the best.”

LEE MCFARLAND’S RESTORATIONBY JOHN W. KENNEDY

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More than two years into his role as deputy chief of chaplains for the U.S. Army, AG Chaplain Thomas L. Solhjem is ensuring troops can freely exercise their faith, providing spiritual care for soldiers and their families, and imparting moral leadership.

The brigadier general says Army chaplains must be vigilant in taking care of soldiers at all levels, including leaders — who aren’t immune from the same problems that contribute to stress and depression among the ranks. He sees the overarching issue facing the military as readiness, 16 years into a war on terrorism.

Solhjem runs the day-to-day operations of the Chaplain Corps; travels extensively; and engages Army leaders, chaplains, and religion affairs specialists in order to make sure chaplains have what they need to provide religious and spiritual support to soldiers and families. He says chaplains have tremendous protections while practicing their spiritual beliefs.

“We want to live out our calling in a pluralistic environment, to represent the Lord, and to take care of His people — whether they have faith or no faith,” Solhjem says.

The cultural reality that fewer Americans have any religious background compared to a generation ago also has impacted the military. Besides the traditional Protestant and Catholic faith traditions, which

comprise more than two-thirds of soldiers, there now are over 220 recognized religions in the military, including heathen, Druid, shaman, pagan, and humanist.

Still, Solhjem sees a pluralistic environment as preferable to a government-mandated religion.

“It allows people of faith to thrive, which doesn’t happen in some other countries,” Solhjem says. “Pluralism gives the opportunity to expose other people to your faith.”

Currently, over 15 percent of the Army’s more than 3,300 chaplains identify as Pentecostal. The AG has 168 endorsed military chaplains, 101 of those in the Army (active, Reserve, and National Guard).

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GRATEFUL FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOMSBY JOHN W. KENNEDY

Paul Marc Goulet, senior pastor of International Church of Las Vegas (ICLV), didn’t have pastoring on his radar in the 1990s when he had a thriving professional therapist career.

Yet 25 years after taking over at the then 200-member church, ICLV ministers from three campuses with a dozen weekly services reaching more than 5,200 congregants. The church reaches a diverse ethnic and socioeconomic community. Millennials and seniors blend together seamlessly at ICLV, which is an eclectic multiethnic mix of Anglo, Hispanic, African-American, Hawaiian, Armenian, Brazilian, and Filipino congregants.

The greater Las Vegas area welcomes ICLV’s outreaches such as fighting the sex trade by providing Bible studies for strippers and dancers, and supporting a safe house for those leaving that lifestyle. It also has produced a 28-minute documentary called Trafficked No More that police departments across Nevada use for training personnel.

In 2012, the Las Vegas Police Department requested the church

conduct a prayer walk in a violent neighborhood known for repeated emergency calls. Following the prayers, no one called 911 that evening. Prayer walks in troubled spots are commonplace now.

In 2014, ICLV launched a tutoring program in a grade school in an effort to help solve a 50 percent dropout rate. The church operates a multiphase program through a separate nonprofit that includes one-on-one tutoring and mentoring for at-risk students, providing clothing, backpacks, and food.

Globally, ICLV is active in assisting church plants in India, Singapore, and Europe. For example, ICLV helped to establish Grace Assembly of God, a Faridabad, India, congregation that started with 50 people and now has 10,000 members.

Goulet suffered a major stroke last December. Recovering on a low-stress regimen for six months, he has handed day-to-day ICLV operations to his wife, Denise, senior associate pastor, plus the church’s executive team. At 59, he recently returned to preaching.

LOSING AND WINNING IN SIN CITYBY PETER K. JOHNSON

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healthy ways of dealing with stress, such as walking or reading a book, rather than caving to damaging triggers. He says being transparent about his failures has given him an inroad to reach millennials, many of whom have absentee dads.

“People are more willing to listen to someone who’s traveled through intense hurt and pain — and talks about it from the pulpit — than someone who just says life’s always been good,” McFarland says. Although the suit has been settled, the lurid accusations still are on the web.

“The Lord lets you go through a fire because He knows you will be a better person afterwards,” McFarland says.

“My struggles are out there for anyone to see, and that’s humbling.”

Meanwhile, Radiant Church has rebounded under the leadership of Greg Marquart.

McFarland says he wants to help other church leaders guard against temptations and decipher detrimental tendencies before they lead to isolation that causes a fiasco. He laments that he didn’t take a sabbatical in 14 years at Radiant.

“Anyone who is struggling, who is feeling empty or burned out, should take a break and get healthy,” McFarland advises. “That’s better than crashing in a spectacular failure that hurts the witness of the church.”

PEOPLE BECOMING THE CHURCH BY JANET WALKER

When Jeffery and Joanne Portmann launched newhope church* in Puyallup, Washington, in 2014, their vision was to plant a church with the DNA to plant more churches. They set a goal to start five churches. They already have three!

Puyallup is located 10 miles southeast of Tacoma and 35 miles south of Seattle. About 200,000 people live within 15 minutes’ driving distance of newhope South Hill. About 65 percent of the 200,000 indicate they are unchurched or dechurched.

When the Portmanns moved to South Hill nine months prior to launching newhope, they knew no one. But they built relationships at their sons’ schools and in their neighborhood by inviting people to a community group, where they read through Mark Batterson’s book The Circle Maker. Only two of the six couples that came were Christians.

Jeffery Portmann began building a launch team and started hosting worship and prayer gatherings in coffee shops and a community center, and volunteered at a local food bank and in schools.

On Easter 2014, newhope church

launched at the Regal Theater. Tony and Sarah Pence, who came that day, were the first people at newhope to accept Christ and be baptized.

“That was especially meaningful,” recalls Portmann, “because the first Saturday our family moved into our neighborhood, I met Tony. He had recently retired from the Air Force. Our conversation led him to say, ‘People have always said I should be a pastor or something like that, but I don’t know anything about the Bible. Will you help me?’” That conversation led to several months of friendship building as the two men read through the gospels together.

Ronnie Medina, who is now a part of newhope’s creative arts team, had wrestled with addiction, anger, and loneliness. But looking back at the first weekend he came to newhope, he says, “I felt like I had come home.”

“We boldly declare that Jesus is not our last hope, He’s our only hope,” Portmann says. “Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are people becoming the church.”

*newhope church’s official name is not capitalized.

Matt and Cathy Boyle, pastors at Mid-Cape Worship Center, also have the unique opportunity to serve as U.S. missionaries with Cape Cod Global Outreach, ministering to young men and women from around the globe without ever leaving their 65-mile-long island and home, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

For the past 15 years, the Boyles have ministered to internationals who come to Cape Cod every year on seasonal work visas. But it wasn’t until 2011 that Cathy says they became aware of a larger and urgent need.

Cathy volunteered to pick up 11 students from China and drive them to their hotel. However, upon arrival, she learned the students had

misunderstood the hotel reservation process and didn’t have anywhere to stay. That night the Boyles took in all 11, suddenly cognizant of the annual housing crisis facing the 4,000 J-1 visa students who arrive in Cape Cod every summer.

If housing cannot be found, the Boyles say students are forced to sleep in the woods, on park benches, or even go door-to-door in an effort to find a room to rent for the night.

Since becoming attuned to this need, the Boyles have started the Mid-Cape Housing Program and have joined forces with folks from 13 different churches in an effort to provide safe housing for every student who arrives in the Cape.

SUMMER WELCOME FOR INTERNATIONALSBY ASHLEY B. GRANT