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PRAYS ANSWERED AFTER 18 YEARSPAGE 4

WEEK OF PRAYER BEGINS JAN. 7 PAGE 3 • CHAPLAIN SEEKS NEW RECRUITS PAGE 5 • GOLD FOR IRON PAGE 5 • THIS WEEK IN AG

HISTORY PAGE 8

GIVING FOSTER CARE A TRYPAGE 6

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

SUNDAY,DEC. 31,2017

THIS WEEK IN AG HISTORYBY DARRIN J. RODGERS

The first organization for Hispanic Assemblies of God churches in the United States formed in 1918. Two AG conventions were held in Texas in 1918 — one in January and a second in November. These conventions united Hispanic Pentecostals and laid the foundation for one of the largest and fastest growing AG segments.

Hispanics forged their own AG identity — developing indigenous leaders, schools, and governance structures. Asambleas de Dios congregations now dot the American landscape. In 2016, 22.2 percent of U.S. AG adherents were Hispanic.

The January 1918 convention was organized by Isabel Flores (a male Mexican-American pastor) and missionary Henry C. Ball. They ministered among the 300,000 refugees from the Mexican Revolution who lived along the Texas border.

The first superintendent of the Hispanic work was Ball, but he stressed the importance of developing indigenous leaders who could serve as

pastors, evangelists, and missionaries to Hispanics in the United States and across Latin America. This vision for indigenous leadership was more fully realized in 1939, when Demetrio Bazan succeeded Ball as the first Hispanic leader of the Latin American District Council of the AG.

Read H. C. Ball’s article, “A Report of the Spanish Pentecostal Convention,” on page 7 of the Dec. 28, 1918, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel online at s2.ag.org/dec281918.

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NEW EP HAS COME A LONG WAYPAGE 2

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Melissa J. Alfaro is the first in her family to graduate from high school. And to earn a bachelor’s degree. And master’s degree. And doctorate.

Alfaro, 35, also is the first in her family to become a member of the Assemblies of God Executive Presbytery. In November, Alfaro began a four-year term as the designated under-40 minister to the Fellowship’s 21-member top policy-making body.

Such a trajectory appeared unlikely early in Alfaro’s life. Her Mexican-born father, Victor Arellano Sr., immigrated to the U.S. at 18 and worked two jobs to make ends meet. Her Texas-born Hispanic mother, Janie, quit school at 16 in order to work as a waitress to support her family.

While Alfaro’s parents didn’t have much money, they did provide for spiritual blessings. Melissa went to Missionettes, the forerunner to National Girls Ministries. Melissa felt insecure because of her ethnic minority and

socio-economic status. She rarely spoke in class and made middling marks. But a seventh-grade history teacher noticed Melissa’s potential, and wrote a lengthy letter to her parents explaining they had a bright daughter who could change the world. Melissa’s parents insisted she get a college education.

At Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU), she met Jay Alfaro. They have been married 15 years. She earned a Bachelor of Biblical Studies at SAGU. Her Master of English as well as her Doctor of Rhetoric and Composition both are from Texas Woman’s University.

Alfaro has been administrative pastor of El Tabernaculo in Houston since 2010. Her husband is lead pastor of the urban Hispanic church. Alfaro also has been Texas Louisiana Hispanic District Girls Ministries director the past seven years.

“Our girls have such great potential

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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.”

A MARATHON MIRACLE AND MOREBY DAN VAN VEEN

When Josh Clark crossed the finish line at the New York City Marathon on Nov. 5, it marked a personal victory for the 34-year-old minister, a victory for his church, for his community, and for God, because doctors say he should be dead or, at best, incapable of any kind of sustained movement!

Two years earlier, Josh was concluding a community worship service at Generation Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina, when he collapsed and fell down a five-foot flight of concrete stairs.

Josh had suffered a brain aneurysm. When he came to, he was being lifted onto a stretcher — paralyzed from the neck down.

A doctor, who was a part of the worship team, knelt beside Josh after he fell. He told Josh’s wife, Amber, that he thought Josh was saying something, even though he was unconscious.

“I suddenly realized that he was praying in the Holy Spirit,” Amber says. “The Spirit was praying on his behalf!”

Miraculously, on the way to the hospital, Josh’s rupture stopped

bleeding, the paralysis disappeared, and it was discovered he hadn’t suffered any injuries from the fall.

Josh was in ICU for 10 days. Doctors told him that half of the people who suffer a similar stroke never make it to the hospital; those that do, half of them die within two weeks.

“Only 5 percent of those who do survive leave the hospital without any lifelong disabilities,” Josh says. “. . . we know the real story — it’s God!”

In order to help deal with a new range of emotions, his doctor advised Josh to start walking. But he needed a goal to keep himself motivated. With his doctor’s permission, in February, he signed up for the New York City Marathon.

Nine months later, Josh crossed the finish line as a living miracle.

“This has been a victory for all of us — for our church and the churches in the community,” Josh says. “I’m here because they prayed.”

NEW EP HAS COME A LONG WAYBY JOHN W. KENNEDY

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Tabitha Shirley received a medical diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome at 19. She underwent an operation to remove a cyst, which also resulted in removal of her right ovary. A doctor told her she would have difficulty bearing children.

The following year, 1993, Tabitha married Curtis Wilson, in Monroe, Louisiana. Years of infertility followed.

A decade into their marriage, Curtis says the Lord spoke to them that he and his wife would have a child. He thought God’s vow would result in an immediate pregnancy, but in the following eight years, the Wilsons endured many moments questioning the Lord. Well-meaning people suggested they undergo fertility treatments or adopt a child. Many friends and relatives uttered heartfelt prayers over them.

The day before their 18th wedding anniversary, Tabitha hurt tremendously in her abdomen. She asked Curtis, who is three years older, to pray for her. As he put his hand on her belly, Curtis says he heard the Lord speaking again: “This is My creative process.”

“What do you mean God’s creative process?” Tabitha responded. “I’m in terrible pain.”

In fact, on their anniversary the next day, she went to her doctor to schedule a hysterectomy. She had tired of nearly 20 years of dealing with uncomfortable ovarian cysts. In the ensuing medical

checkup, her physician found something else growing inside her: a baby.

Seven months later, in November 2011, Tabitha, at the age of 39, gave birth to a daughter, Rayna. In January 2013, at age 40, she gave birth to a son, Jacob.

Afterwards, during a medical checkup, a doctor discovered that Tabitha had two perfectly functioning ovaries. Curtis figures that intense pain resulted from God’s reforming her right ovary.

Today, 6-year-old Rayna and 5-year-old Jacob are healthy — and energetic — kids. And Tabitha has no more cysts or agony.

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PRAYS ANSWERED AFTER 18 YEARSBY JOHN W. KENNEDY

A chaplain who spent 23 years working in federal prisons is the new correctional ministries representative for AG Chaplaincy Ministries. Daniel J. Odean, 57, succeeds Manuel A. Cordero, who now is senior director of Chaplaincy Ministries.

In the position, Odean supports the AG’s 108 correctional chaplains in ecclesiastic issues they face in carrying out their duties. Odean wants to recruit as many AG chaplains as possible to fill vacancies in state and federal prisons. He plans to visit AG endorsed schools to let students know about correctional chaplain openings.

In an increasingly secular society, prison administrators fail to appreciate the worth of a chaplain, Odean says. While the government must provide for the spiritual needs of inmates, many facilities have moved to hiring “religious coordinators” to conduct programming rather than theologically trained chaplains who provide spiritual nurturing.

“It’s important that chaplains function effectively in a pastoral role to demonstrate their value,” Odean says.

Odean also wants to see the number of laypeople volunteering in local jails and prisons expand. The department can provide literature and other resources, as well as training, so that the layperson receives ministerial endorsement. This process provides more credibility in the eyes of prison officials, Odean says.

Inside a jewelry box that belonged to her late aunt, Adele Flower Dalton, Kathryn Flower Ringer found a lady’s pocket watch. The numbers and hands were gold; but the face and the case were black.

Wrapped around the jewelry box was a Pentecostal Evangel article written by Adele. It told how Mary Alice Reynolds, Adele’s grandmother, had her gold wedding ring and gold pocket watch case replaced with iron so the proceeds could go to missions.

“It is not the monetary value that makes the watch priceless; rather, it is the memory of the gift and the cause to which it was devoted,” Adele Flower Dalton wrote.

A daughter of early AG leaders, Adele devoted her life to missions, first as a single woman and then with her husband, Roy Dalton, in Ronda, Spain.

Because the Daltons had no children, Kathryn inherited their gold wedding rings. Kathryn and her husband, David, sold the rings to “continue Aunt Adele’s work.”

Locating the Dalton’s church in Ronda, the Ringers sent the money to help the church’s ministry.

Amazingly, Mary Alice Reynolds’ missional act of nearly a century ago and the Daltons’ missional lives of half a century ago continue to bear fruit.

CHAPLAIN SEEKSNEW RECRUITSBY JOHN W. KENNEDY

GOLD FOR IRONBY KRISTEL ORTIZ

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to become great women of God — Esthers, Deborahs, Ruths,” Alfaro says. “But many need a spiritual voice to guide them on that journey, and maybe they can identify with my story.”

The Alfaros have struggled with infertility issues during marriage, and Melissa had a miscarriage in 2013. She is pregnant, with her child due in April.

“I just want to enjoy the journey,” Alfaro says. “It doesn’t have to be what you asked for, but as long as you are where He wants you, you can find fulfillment, even in time of loss and grieving.”

Alfaro is the first female elected to the EP unrelated to gender, joining Beth Grant who has represented

ordained female ministers since 2009. Alfaro counts SAGU professors

Danny and Amy Alexander among her mentors.

“Melissa is an articulate, passionate, intelligent, highly motivated young woman,” says Danny Alexander. “It does not surprise us at all the giftings God placed within her have come to the forefront.”

He believes greater accomplishments could be in store for Alfaro.

“I knew the Lord would have a wonderful destiny for her,” he says. “But the rest of the story has not been written yet.”

Alfaro’s father now is pastor of Bethel Church, an English-speaking congregation in Jacksboro, Texas.

GIVING FOSTER CARE A TRYBY KEN WALKER

With their three biological children nearly grown, Angie and Stan Grant set out on their foster parenting journey with no idea what a tough challenge they faced. However, because they tackled the task, today Clover Hill Church of Midlothian, Virginia, has a thriving foster parenting ministry.

Since 2012, two dozen families have taken in foster children or completed training. Hundreds of others have fulfilled supportive roles. A multifaceted ministry includes Clover Hill hosting special breakfasts and luncheons throughout the year to honor social workers, and presenting them gifts on special occasions.

This month the church hosted its third annual Christmas party for 200 social workers, family court judges, and other officials who are part of the foster care system.

Foster parents in the congregation receive help from Clover Hill’s wraparound program, which features such touches as volunteers taking foster children in for overnight stays once a month, providing meals, or staying with biological children so their parents can take foster kids to appointments.

Last August, the suburban Richmond church hosted its first Royal Family Kids Camp, part of a nationwide group of summer camps designed to help children from abusive backgrounds. The church raised $40,000 one Sunday, with the special offering defraying all the expenses for the 29 youngsters who attended.

One church member who caught the vision for fostering is Tammy L. Jackson. The single mother of two young sons, Jackson initially felt nervous when considering fostering. While acknowledging there have been occasional tensions and conflict, Jackson also has experienced joys, such as a foster daughter returning for Thanksgiving dinner, six months after she left Jackson’s home.

“When you see what they’re going through and the meltdowns, you can sit and love them through it,” Jackson says. “It opened my eyes to the fact that He can heal this situation.”

“There are many folks who are sitting in our congregations looking for what God has for them,” Grant says. “This is a great way for people to get involved in His work.”

As the Assemblies of God recognizes the 75th anniversary of the Week of Prayer, being held Jan. 7-13, AG General Superintendent Doug Clay urges leaders and individuals to make prayer a priority throughout the year.

“Beyond this one special week each year, I believe God wants us to be focused on prayer,” Clay states. “Scripture is very clear that every Christian should practice calling on God individually and corporately.”

This year’s week of prayer focuses on 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I

will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

The Week of Prayer resources offer daily prayer points from 2 Chronicles 7:14, including: Humble Yourselves, Pray and Seek God’s Face, Repent and Turn, Hear From Heaven, Restore the Land, and others.

Resources, in English and Spanish, are available to download at weekofprayer.ag.org, including: seven brief devotional videos featuring an Executive Leadership Team member, PowerPoint slides, a bulletin insert, an email header, the daily prayer points, and an opportunity to sign up to help cover the Week of Prayer with prayer.

WEEK OF PRAYER BEGINS JAN. 7BY DAN VAN VEEN