firstIMPRESSIONS
from Senior Pastor Timothy Satryan

A fourteenth-century Italian stained-glass artist was summoned to design a huge portrait for the window of a cathedral in Chartres, France. He laid all of the pieces he was going to use out on the floor of the cathedral. They were beautiful to behold; most of them were large and colorful. Some of the colors from that time cannot even be reproduced today. Among these awesome pieces of glass was a small, clear piece about as big as your fingernail.

As the stained-glass portrait was assembled, that little piece remained on the floor. Only the big colorful pieces of glass were used. On the day of the window’s completion, the tiny piece of clear glass was still lying on the ground.

The entire city gathered to witness the unveiling of the brilliant and beautiful stained-glass portrait. The artist stood in front of the crowd, made his speech, and dramatically pulled down the cloth cover. The crowd gasped at the beauty of the colorful window glowing in the sunlight. After a few seconds, however, the crowd grew silent. They sensed that something was missing, that the portrait was unfinished.

The great artist then walked over to where the little clear piece of glass lay, picked it up, and placed it in the portrait, right in the center of Jesus’ eye. As the sun hit that little piece, it gave off a dazzling sparkle. The magnificent stained glass window still draws visitors. The first thing they see is that sparkle in Jesus’ eye.

Do you ever feel like that little piece of clear glass? You doubt you can ever do anything for God. Let the story of that last little piece remind you that God thinks of you as the apple of his eye. (Psalm 17:8). It doesn’t matter that in your eyes you don’t measure up to others; you are an important to God. That is why He sent His Son Jesus to die for you.

Here is your copy of firstIMPRESSIONS, Volume 7.31. Live for God, on purpose, knowing that He loves you with an everlasting love.

The General Council is the biennial business meeting of the Assemblies of God, the largest Pentecostal group in the world with nearly 55 million members. This meeting is for the U.S. Assemblies of God which has nearly 3 million members and adherents. WFA (Wilmington First Assembly) is an Assemblies of God church.

General Council is held every other year, in odd numbered years, to conduct important church business, elect top church officials, and to convene ministries and activities of the church. Voting constituency is comprised of ordained and licensed AG ministers and one delegate from each General Council church. Voting on officers will begin Thursday afternoon (August 9).

The 52nd General Council convenes in Indianapolis, Indiana, August 8-11. Over 30,000 church members are expected to gather at the Indiana Convention Center for activities during the day, then for evening services at the Conseco Fieldhouse Wednesday through Friday nights. The final service will be held on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 in the RCA Dome.

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In light of the need to fill vacancies for both the offices of General Superintendent and Assistant General Superintendent, as well as balloting required for the posts of General Secretary and Executive Director of Assemblies of God World Missions, the National Prayer Center is issuing a special call to prayer across our Fellowship for God’s wisdom and direction. The 52nd General Council of the Assemblies of God convenes next week, August 8-11, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

“We are asking churches across the nation to devote a concerted time of prayer this Sunday, August 5, for God’s will to be accomplished in these key posts of ministry in our Fellowship,” states John Maempa, director of the NPC.

“We also hope that our Fellowship members will continue to provide a prayer covering throughout the week of General Council for the elections and other matters of business affecting the Church,” Maempa adds. “This is a pivotal moment for the Assemblies of God; we must have God’s direction.”

A General Council Prayer Chapel will be available in the Indiana Convention Center (Room 107) for use by individuals or groups that want to spend special times in prayer for these issues and other matters for which God’s help is needed. For the daily schedule of the the Prayer Chapel, consult the General Council schedule of events by clicking through the General Council link at http://ag/org/.

For more information on the National Prayer Center, including how to submit a prayer request, see http://prayer.ag.org/.

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Hot Links for General Council

Beginning Wednesday, August 8th, you will be able to read the news from General Council at this web site – http://ag.org/top/Events/General_Council_2007/News/index.cfm, as provided by The Council Today newspaper staff.

This council will offer live video and audio streaming of all plenary services, business sessions and the Body Life Session/Communion service via the Internet at this address – http://ag.org/top/Events/General_Council_2007/Broadcasts/index.cfm. All evening services will also be televised on INSP Networks (visit www.insp.com to check availability in your area. In the Wilmington area, INSP is carried on channel 95 on Comcast cable systems.)

The schedule for all sessions and services is found here – http://ag.org/top/Events/General_Council_2007/Activities/index.cfm

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Thomas E. Trask, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God since 1993, has announced that he will step down from office at the 52nd General Council in Indianapolis.

“As a result of seeking the Lord as to His will for my continuing to serve out the remaining two years of the present term, I have reached a decision to step down as general superintendent of the Assemblies of God at this forthcoming General Council that will convene August 8-11, 2007, in Indianapolis,” he said. He was elected to his fourth 4-year term in 2005 at the Denver, Colorado, General Council.

He will vacate the office 60 days after the General Council.

“Shirley [his wife] and I love the ministry and plan to stay active in the work of the Lord as He gives strength,” Trask says.

Trask, who has served in national leadership for 19 years (5 as General Treasurer and 14 as General Superintendent), has served pastorates and district leadership positions for more than 50 years. He currently is chairman of the World Assemblies of God Congress and is past president of the Pentecostal World Fellowship. He is a member of the board of administration of the National Association of Evangelicals, and the board of directors of the National Religious Broadcasters. He also serves on many boards and committees for the church.

His leadership of the Assemblies of God, which has become recognized as one of the largest Pentecostal groups in the United States, has been characterized by growth in membership, number of churches and conversions. He has also given strong emphasis to the church’s world missions programs (overseas and U.S.).

The Trasks are the parents of four grown children.

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This will be the first time in thirteen years that the Assemblies of God has not had an incumbent General Superintendent to consider when choosing its leader. For many ministers, this will be the very first time they have considered who they believe the Lord would desire to serve in that office.

In this day of connectivity, a group of pastors has quickly created a web site for the sole purpose of posting their thoughts on the individuals they believe will likely be considered as the nominating process begins on Thursday.

If you are interested in reading these well organized thoughts about the potential candidates for our General Superintendent, their “blog” is located at http://futureag.blogspot.com/

Here is the initial posting from that blog, written by Paul Stewart —

“As I am sure most of you are aware, Tom Trask announced his resignation last week effective as of the next General Council in just a few short weeks. I feel this is an important moment in the history of our fellowship. We have a rare opportunity to take our unique Pentecostal heritage into the next generation.

Many of us on the frontlines of ministry have been doing this already. Experimenting with new discipleship strategies, meeting venues, church models, and creative outreach to our cities. In order for this fellowship to survive it is vital that the leadership of the next generation recognize these efforts and do everything they can to structure the fellowship to support, encourage, and promote their continuation both in the US and around the world.

In order to ensure that the best leaders are chosen for this task, I think it is important that the emerging generation knows who they are. I grew up in the Assemblies of God and went to an AG bible college, but I’m not a PK or an MK so I am not as well “connected” as others may be. I am limited by my geography and my ability to interact with other ministers and missionaries who all have unique and important perspectives on the future of this movement.

So I have decided to start a blog where AG ministers can discuss some of the characteristics, experiences, and values needed in the next generation of AG leadership. There will be a number of authors who post along with me, but the real “meat” of the site will be in the comments section where any minister, from anywhere in the world, can offer their insight.

I was recently in Springfield and I asked the general secretary George Wood, “Why don’t we have a nomination process, so that people like me can take some time before general council to get to know 10 – 15 candidates?” His answer was that it would make the process to “political” and besides the “system hasn’t let us down yet.” Well, I honestly believe there is some truth in that, however, I visited the general council website today and looked at the preceding leadership conference. I was able to retrieve more information about each of the presenters than I will probably know about many of the top vote-getters in August.

Our churches don’t choose their pastors without extensive background checks, interviews, board meetings, and much prayerful consideration over each of the candidates. I don’t believe the leadership of the general council should be any different.

So I am proposing that as many ministers as possible use this sight as a “senior pastor search committee.” The first posts will be geared towards a general discussion on what the ideal persons would look like. Questions like, “What are the most important issues facing the AG in the next 5 – 10 years?” and “What abilities would the ideal candidate need to possess in order to navigate the AG during that time?”

Hopefully we will have time to narrow it down to some names as general council (very quickly) approaches.

I really do not want this to become a place for people to just vent frustrations or argue back and forth. As Mark McGuire so aptly put it before the congressional committee, “I’m not here to talk about the past, but about the future.”

It is my prayerful hope that this becomes a fruitful dialogue between ministry colleagues as well as a place where young ministers, who are not as familiar with the names and faces of the AG, can learn about some potential candidates and make educated decisions next month.”

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In Tom Rees’ recent “Outside the Box” mailing, he included an interesting article by Keith Drury. It adds some great insight into understanding “denominational elections.”

Tom shares that “two years ago, Keith Drury, Associate Professor of Religion at Indiana Wesleyan University, wrote a column dealing with the election of a new General Superintendent in his Wesleyan denomination. It has some good insight into how people approach this selection process.”

How does God get His will in denominational elections?

It is popular among some to decry “church politics” and to condemn any sort of discussion of “candidates” for denominational offices or discussion of who is “running” or “leading” in elections. It is an easy shot – it all looks so secular. But this is a free ride for people who don’t have a vote anyway, and it makes them appear so spiritual and superior. My own denomination is in the process of selecting a new General Superintendent and I’ve been reading lots of stuff on it and I note there are generally three different views that I’ll outline in a minute.

First, a word about theology and politics.

Most American denominations have “votes” to decide things. Some of this is rooted in our own history of democracy where we believe that the “majority rules” and “everyone makes a better choice than anybody.” But some of it is theological too. Most of us believe that the Holy Spirit actually works through the church to guide us into a decision. If the church were a family-owned business we’d just let the owner who put up the money to start the business decide what to do and if people didn’t like it they could take their business elsewhere. But the church is not a business but a body. We believe (most of us, at least) that when seeking God’s will there is “safety in numbers” and people should vote on things. We believe the Holy Spirit actually reveals His will through these votes – assuming the people are in tune with His will. The assumption is that lots of people voting on relocation of a church or hiring a new pastor gives us a safer decision than letting the church boss (lay or minister) decide it for everyone. (This assumption can be challenged, and Catholics do it best, but for our purposes here let’s assume the Holy Spirit does work through the voting of a group.)

So I’ve noted that there are three general positions when it comes to God’s involvement in denominational elections.

1. God picks leaders ahead of time – our job is to find the one God has already chosen.

This point of view assumes that God in His sovereignty has already chosen my denomination’s next General Superintendent and our job is to discover God’s choice and elect that person as GS. With this point of view the elective body would pray individually and corporately seeking guidance from God and then they’d cast their votes. If they had all heard the Lord’s voice clearly the vote should be unanimous, but some might not get a name or they might even hear different names. This position offers lots to the church and is deep in our denominational history (especially the Pilgrim Holiness side that was influenced by Quaker “consensus” methods of elections. If you take this position you probably prefer prayer to interviews, and straight up balloting to any sort of nomination “process” that smacks of politics. Most of my students prefer this position for it is very similar to many of their view on marriage – that God has pre-selected the one person they should marry and their job is to find that person and marry them. For years this was the dominant position in our denomination and they shunned any “nominating ballots” or “interviews” or forcing a person to decide ahead of time if they’d serve if elected. In those days everybody prayerfully took a plain piece of paper and put one name on their ballot-and they [eventually] got an election. The system appeared more spiritual than it was-there was plenty of “prayerful discussion” on breaks and in the rest rooms between the balloting. And the system favored incumbents and those with the highest visibility in the denomination. That is, the most famous people’s names always seemed to emerge no matter what their strengths or weaknesses. But this point of view has the longest history in my denomination and still is often called for at the general level by pastors (though they do so less when their own church is electing local board members). If you’re a member and have this position you are seeking from God the name of the person He has already selected and you fear being ‘out of God’s will” or will have “taken God’s second best” if that person won’t take it or someone else is elected instead.

2. God guides us on the kind of leader we need – we get to pick which one.

This position is held by most of the people who actually get to vote on such things. It argues that God has not picked any one particular person to be our next GS but leads a denomination through prayer to know the kind of leader we need. In their view God lets us pick which actual individual we want to elect. (It would be parallel to a few students I have who do not believe there is “one and only one” person God has chosen for them to marry – they think God has given guidance on the kind of person but the student is free to chose the individual meeting these general requirements. If you have this position (and have a vote) you have been praying to get guidance from God the kind of person the church needs at this point. Then you’ll judge the several potential “candidates” compared to that list of qualities. Most of the folk I know who serve on boards and in conferences in my denomination have this point of view. Thus they can be easily divided. Some come to the voting absolutely convinced that “God wants a conservative leader who will block any more liberalizing in our denomination” while others are equally convinced “God wants an open-minded leader who will loosen up the remnants of legalism in our denomination to we can reach the lost.” But having already chosen to select our leaders by Holy-Spirit led voting this view end up being might-makes-right. That is, when the majority votes for one person it is assumed that God has led the process and the “losers” submit to the “will of the body.” If you’re a member and have this position you are seeking from God guidance on the kind of leader we need next and then you’ll examine the candidates to see which one is closest.

3. God has delegated the choice completely to us – He will anoint whomever we appoint.

Not many leaders will publicly admit they believe this third position but a number do privately and some elections (local through denominational) actually operate under this third point of view. This position says that the church is a human organization with human leadership and human methods of selecting leaders and it is our job to select our leaders. They argue it is up to us to decide what sort of leader we need and elect her or him and God will anoint and use whomever we appoint. This position puts God after the process not before it. It argues that God has used all kinds of leaders in the past – some good and some bad-and He will do so in the future. If you’re a member and have this position you are going into the election of a new GS about like you’d go about the election of a President, the appointment of a Supreme Court Justice or the hiring of a new company president. You are especially interested in the resume, the references, the positions and the “track record” of the “candidates” whom you will “interview” to determine who would be best for the job. It looks like a completely secular process but you will “surround the decision with prayer” though prayer will not be the means to the actual choice but supportive. You believe God has delegated this to you and the other voters and as the duly elected representative you should use your own sanctified good sense.

Perhaps there are other positions but these serve the purpose of recognizing that when we speak of church elections our point of view may differ.

So the questions are:

• Which position do you lean toward?

• What abuses of other positions have you seen in the past?

• How else could we pick leaders? Cast lots? Apostolic selection? Pray through like Quakers?

• Is the first position to most spiritual and the last the least?

So, what do you think?

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A minister friend took a short missions trip to Latin America. He was going to use a translator when preaching, but to identify with his audience, he wanted to begin his message by saying in Spanish, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.” He arrived at the church a little early and realized he did not know the Spanish words for ladies and gentlemen. Being rather resourceful, he went to the part of the building where the restrooms were, looked at the signs on the two doors, and memorized those two words.

When the people arrived and he was introduced, he stood up and said in Spanish, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.”

The audience was shocked. He didn’t know whether he had offended them or perhaps they hadn’t heard him or understood him. So he decided to repeat it. Again in Spanish he said, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.”

One person in the congregation began to snicker. Pretty soon the entire church was laughing. Finally, someone told him that he had said, “Good evening, bathrooms and broom closets!”

We appreciate your prayers as we join with the many thousands of others in Indianapolis this coming week. Pray that people would clearly hear from God. Pray for His perfect will to be accomplished.