Gathering under the theme, “Pentecost Today: Impartation to Impact the World,” delegates from 34 nations and area churches convened in the 20,000-seat auditorium of Bethany Church in Surabaya, Indonesia, July 17-20, 2007, for the 21st triennial conference of the Pentecostal World Fellowship. The Pentecostal World Fellowship (PWF) is a cooperative body of Pentecostal churches and groups worldwide committed to the furtherance of the Gospel to the ends of the world.

Opening ceremonies filled the sprawling, dome-shaped auditorium. A parade of flags was presented for the countries and regions included [list nations in sidebar?] American Samoa, Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, East Africa, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, West Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Greetings were delivered by Indonesia church leaders, Reverend Dr. Willy Josep Chandra, chairman of the Indonesian Host Committee and pastor of Gereja Bethel Indonesia “House of Glory,” Sidoarjo, East Java; and Reverend Dr. Abraham Alex Tuneseputra, advisory board member and senior pastor of Bethany Church, venue for the 21st world conference. Greetings also were delivered by official dignitaries representing Indonesia's government and Department of Religion.

In his greeting to the delegation, Bishop James Leggett, General Superintendent of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and chairman of the Pentecostal World Fellowship, noted that this conference represented a continuation of the Pentecostal movement. “God is still pouring out His Spirit since the Day of Pentecost,” Leggett noted. “In Acts 2 we find the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; in Acts 4 we find the Church gathering together, praying for power. And when they prayed, 'the place was shaken.' The power of Pentecost can have the same impact today.”

Events of the conference included morning plenary sessions, a slate of 28 workshops, and evening rallies. A powerful sense of God's presence and anointing prevailed throughout the gatherings. Dynamic and inspiring worship led by the talented and creative worship team at Bethany Church during the plenary meetings, lifted hearts to God in praise and adoration. All meetings through the day and evening were well attended with general sessions near or at capacity seating. Multiplied hundreds of attendees responded to altar calls for salvation, healing, and God's direction in their lives.

Keynote speaker for the opening rally on Tuesday evening was Brian Houston, president of the Assemblies of God in Australia, pastor of the 20,000-member Hillsong Church of Sydney, and overseer of more than 1,100 churches across Australia. Focusing on the importance of empowering the next generation, a theme that surfaced numerous times during the conference, Houston cited Psalm 45:16, “Your sons will take the place of your fathers; you will make them princes throughout the land.”

“God thinks and moves generationally,” Houston declared. “I want a church that builds princes on the earth.” Though fathers generally represent knowledge and experience and sons represent the unknown, the untried, the unproven, and unpredictable, Houston warned that human nature wants to keep things tied to the known and predictable. “God wants fathers to move toward the sons. We must not try to pump new life into the ways of the fathers, but move forward toward the sons, moving from the predictable to the unpredictable.”

In the first morning plenary session on Wednesday, PWF chairman, Bishop James Leggett, challenged Pentecostals to keep the fire burning. “Jesus' passion is for His Church to have the fire of God,” Leggett stated. “We must have that passion for the fire and pass it on to our sons and daughters.” Leggett further noted that among its many effects, the fire of God releases women for ministry, breaks down racial and cultural barriers, brings the supernatural in the Church, and empowers the Church to cover the earth with the gospel of Jesus Christ. “Pentecost is for world evangelization,” Leggett declared.

In the second morning plenary, William Morrow, general superintendent of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, addressed key issues the Pentecostal movement must address. Noting matters of oppression, poverty, and lack of opportunity for many people around the world, Morrow stated, “As long as there is suffering, the Church must be the voice of hope, life, and healing.” Morrow emphasized also the importance of investing in the emerging generations. “Younger leaders are more interested in function and results rather than in traditional ways of defining purpose and authority,” he stated. “If we learn to understand the younger generation, we can join together to reach the world.”

Speaker for Wednesday evening's rally was Bishop Jerry Macklin pastor of Glad Tidings Church of God in Christ, Hayward, California, jurisdictional prelate and general board member for the Church of God in Christ. In opening remarks Macklin stated, “Nothing changes until something changes.” Citing the experiences of key biblical characters, Macklin noted that God already had prepared a blessing for Abraham in a faraway land before Abraham left Ur. Had Abraham remained home, the blessing would not have been realized. Similarly, the woman with the issue of blood; Jairus, whose daughter was critically ill; and blind Bartimaeus would not have received their blessings had they remained where they were and not stepped out in faith.

Focusing on Peter and the disciples, Macklin noted that they had to move out of the shallow water to catch their draught of fish. “What they were looking for was not in the shallow water, but in deep water,” Macklin stated. “The deep waters held the blessing.” Macklin stated that in order to claim God's blessings in our lives, we must decide to follow God's leading and trust in Him. We must release our hold on the status quo and allow God to fulfill His blessings. “As long as the boat is tied to the dock, you cannot get out into the deep water,” Macklin declared. We also must also be willing to say “nevertheless.” Though Peter and the disciples had been fishing all night, nevertheless they followed Jesus' command to go into the deeper water. When we are willing to step out in faith, things will change.

Dag Heward-Mills of Ghana, West Africa, a medical doctor by profession and presently bishop and founder of Lighthouse Chapel International, a charismatic denomination with over 400 branches in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, addressed the delegation in the opening morning plenary on Thursday. Heward-Mills challenged the delegation to bear fruit.

Citing character qualities listed in 2 Peter 1:5-8, Heward-Mills focused on three things noted in verse 9 that cause barrenness or unfruitfulness in the Church. First, people who lack the qualities listed by Peter are completely blind. Blindness, Heward-Mills stated, is due to having a now-centered, earthly focus. “Many in the church are too earthly minded and worldly, focusing on being fashionable not spiritual,” he stated. This emphasis has caused the Church to be blind to the eternal realities of heaven and hell, about which little is said. Secondly, the Church also is shortsighted, failing to see what needs to be accomplished. Referencing Swiss and German missionaries who came to Ghana around the turn of the 20th century, Heward-Mills stated, “They did not see only Switzerland and Germany, but lifted their eyes and saw Ghana, West Africa. They saw the villages and towns that needed to be reached.” Today, a large percentage of Ghana is Christian. “When you see far, you will bear much fruit,” he added. Thirdly, many in the Church have forgotten the message of suffering that often is required to see God's work accomplished. “We have many big churches with lots of money, but they are powerless to bear fruit,” Heward-Mills stated. “The message of suffering does not go well with the message of safety first. Sacrifice and suffering, however, release God's power,” he added. “Jesus paid with His life. We must be willing to do the same.”

In the second plenary session on Thursday morning, Prince Guneratnam, president of Calvary International Ministries, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and former general superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Malaysia, focused on the need to invest in emerging leaders within the Pentecostal movement. “There is a great need for leaders as we move closer to the coming of Christ,” Guneratnam stated. Guneratnam cited his own experience as a young minister as being one who benefited greatly by established leaders who supported him. A result was that by age 28 he was elected general superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Malaysia.
Guneratnam noted one thing that caused him to develop as a leader was spiritual fathers who had faith in him. “They didn't see failure as final,” Guneratnam stated. His mentors also loved him with the love of Jesus and cared for him deeply, and they had hope for him and expressed such. Further, they gave him opportunity to move into leadership. While some emerging leaders may face intense opposition and limitations in moving forward, like King David, they can overcome those things through the power of the Spirit. The Spirit of God that was upon David gave him great ability to lead. Today, leaders have the power of Pentecost upon which they can draw for strength and direction.

On Thursday evening, Reinhard Bonke, well-known international evangelist and founder/chairman of Christ for All Nations, Orlando, Florida, stirred a capacity crowd to receive the impartation of the Holy Spirit. Citing the Great Commission, Bonke stated that the Lord's commission would be impossible to fulfill without the power of the Holy Spirit. “But when Jesus commands the impossible, He makes the impossible possible,” Bonke declared. “The key to success is the fire of the Holy Spirit.” Bonke noted that Jesus declared His agenda as He read from Isaiah 61 in His visit to the synagogue (Luke 4). The Spirit of the Lord was upon Him to reach the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, those who are blind, and those in bondage. “When you have the fire of Jesus, you have the agenda of Jesus,” Bonke stated. “Jesus' agenda is the blueprint for all of us.” Noting that many Christians have no power because they only sit in their chairs at church, he stated, “We need to rise up. A church that doesn't reach out will pass out and eventually die out.” Bonke urged the delegation to reach out to those who need to hear the gospel.

Charles Crabtree, assistant general superintendent of the U.S. Assemblies of God, focused on the future of Pentecost in the first plenary session on Friday morning. Relating the angel's announcement to Mary that she would be the mother of the Christ Child, Crabtree focused on the seeming impossibility of this circumstance from Mary's perspective. The question that loomed in Mary's mind was “How can this be?” Her life circumstances scarcely qualified her, in the world's view, to be anyone of significance. Yet, the angel's message to her was, “Thou hast found favor with God;” and the angel's answer to Mary's question is the same given to those who would ask, “How will Jesus reign over Indonesia? How will the Church reign over suffering, death, and hell? How shall the power of Pentecost energize the Church to the point that nations will bow before our Lord? How shall all this be? The answer is that the Holy Spirit will come upon you!”

Crabtree urged the delegation to believe fully in the promises of God. In order to move from questioning how shall this be, we first must move from process to the Person of the Holy Spirit. “Some people spend too much time trying to understand the process, but God is bigger than our thought processes. We need to come away from trying to understand the ways of God and know He is able to accomplish what is needed.” Secondly, we must move from the problem to the power. “The power of the Holy Spirit is greater than all our problems,” Crabtree stated. Instead of focusing on problems we face, we must determine to glorify the Lord and rejoice in the Lord our Savior. Thirdly, we must move from the past to the promise. “History is a beautiful place to visit, but a terrible place to live,” Crabtree declared. While we must be thankful for the past, we are to live to make history, he added. “God's promises are bigger than doubting and unbelief. Nothing can stand against the Pentecostal movement if we stand on the promises of God. When we say 'yes' to God's promises, He says 'so let it be' in the heavens.” The future is bright for the Pentecostal movement as we stand upon the promises of God, Crabtree declared.

In the second morning plenary on Friday, Jack Hayford, president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, dealt with the matter of the fivefold ministry in the Church, as outlined in Ephesians 4:11. Hayford cited the tendency in our society to be success oriented. “When we become preoccupied with success, we succumb to the temptation to measure our successes against one another,” Hayford stated. “Comparisons are outside of God's order of things,” he added. Hayford noted further that young leaders are particularly vulnerable to the success syndrome. People are looking for champions to elevate and follow. “Jesus gave the Church gifts not to build our ministries, but to provide a ministry for us to hold in His Church,” Hayford stated. “He gave gifts for equipping, shaping, cultivating, and preparing the members of the Body for works of ministry.” Hayford noted that although Jesus gave the gifts listed in Ephesians, titles are not the issue. Ministry is the issue. The gifts are not intended to elevate people but to accomplish God's work in peoples' lives. “Jesus said, 'I will build my church; I will give the keys',” Hayford stated. “These gifts were not given to a handful of officials, but are available to every member of the body of Christ.” Questions to ask of those operating in the gifts include: Are they submitted to eldership in the Body? are they servant-hearted? are they truly Spirit-filled? “The issue is fruit, not power and authority,” Hayford emphasized.

Events of the 21st Pentecostal World Fellowship conference concluded with Alex Tanuseputra, senior pastor of Bethany Church and general overseer of the Indonesia Bethany Churches. Citing Hebrews 1:1-4 that states God had spoken to mankind in times past through prophets but in the last days have spoken to us by His Son Jesus Christ, Tanuseputra outlined various approaches man has developed to seek truth. “Man's thought processes have been intensified by Satan,” he stated, noting that man has turned to various processes including a society centric view from which Communism arose, humanistic philosophy, and a techno-centric view that elevates technology as a source of all answers. Only a God-centric view is valid. “We are saved by this view,” Tanuseputra stated. “We have received the grace to know the Lord, and we are equipped with enablements from the Lord.” In our search for God, we need to understand that, through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit the Lord is in us. “That is His address,” Tanuseputra announced.

Following Pastor Tanuseputra's address, the meeting was concluded by observing Holy Communion. A powerful sense of God's presence was felt as delegates took the elements representing Christ's broken body and His blood shed for our sins. Afterward, many comments were heard regarding God's awesome presence throughout the meetings.

--John Maempa, Outgoing President
International Pentecostal Press Association