THIRD GENERATION PENTECOSTAL

I am a 3^rd generation Pentecostal. My grandparents, Richard and Lulu Emerson, were farmers in Nebraska. My grandmother had attended a community Methodist church but had a longing for more of God. During the early 1930’s when the Depression had hit the country my grandparents were facing a tough times. It was during this time that a lady from the Los Angeles slums was called of God to come to Nebraska and hold revival meetings at a little white church in Coburg. The meetings were held every night and because people had so much time on their hands because of a great drought that had struck the land – and there were no crops and no need to work the fields – they attended the meetings.

This revival went on every night for a solid year, from New Year;s 1934-to New Year’s 1935. It was during this time that my grandparents received the baptism of the Holy Spirit – and my family became “Pentecostal”. During this revival, my Dad, Richard Emerson, was called into the ministry and later went into the ministry.

I was born into a minister’s home – and my parents pastored in Colorado during their ministry. My Dad is 93 – and still preaching to everyone he meets. We have 5 children that we have raised in the Pentecostal faith – and one of our sons, Dane Richard, has become a 4^th generation Pentecostal now preaching the gospel.

As you may have noticed Dane is also the 4^th generation to carry the name Richard. The reason I bring this out is because in 4 generations of being Pentecostals – we have all shared some things in common: our doctrine (the way we believe), our mission (to preach and share the Good News) and experience (we also believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit and share that experience).

But there are also differences: My grandparents lived on a farm and drove wagons, and road horses to their church. The children all took their Saturday baths and were dressed up to go as a family.

In my family growing up – we lived in parsonages – some were connected to the church and some were small homes a few blocks away. I was always expected to be in church every time the doors were opened. I remember having revival services that lasted 2-3 weeks at a time. During those revivals the emphasis was always on people receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The evangelists usually stayed in our home and the days were spent in preparing for the evening services – always lots of prayer and lots of visiting.

I remember the night I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I was around 10 years old and everyone was at the altar praying and I had a group of women praying around me – holding up my arms – saying things in my ears like “hold on” “let go” – “just praise Him” “say hallelujah over and over”. All I knew that was that I wanted it so bad because all my friends were getting it! Finally – in one service I did receive the Holy Spirit – and it was a great time for me.

And then Ray and I entered the ministry and we began our own journey of doing things a little different. Over the years revival meetings began to change from 2-3 weeks to weekends – and instead of revivals we started calling them seminars or Spirit Filled weekends. At the beginning of our ministry some things were the same – all my children were expected to be in every service-and they were expected to dress up in dress clothes and Ray ALWAYS wore a suit coat and tie – even during the week! We had organs in our worship services and never drums!

Now today – there are even more differences. Very few revival meetings anywhere in the country – especially those that last longer then 3 days - our pastors very seldom wear suit coats and ties. At my sons’ church in Wyoming the pastor wears shorts to church! We never see an organ – and we hear lots of drums and guitars.

Change is good – change is inevitable. The Methods are bound to change with time – but our message never changes. We are still Pentecostals – we still believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit – we still believe people need to be delivered and set free from sin. We still need to teach the doctrines of our faith. The things never change.

In this study that we are about to begin we will learn that being Pentecostal is much more then “speaking in tongues”. Being Pentecostal is literally “Living in the Spirit”.

George Wood who wrote this book says “We believe that baptism in the Spirit brings the delight of initially speaking with other tongues, but if we stop there, this Pentecostal experience will have no ongoing fruitfulness. I grew up in the Assemblies of God when it was preached that the baptism of the Spirit is for the empowerment of believers for life and service…If we’re not seeing this evidence – fruitfulness – we’re in trouble”

A quote from this introduction says: Our prayer time in churches lead us to a place where we feel the fruit of the Spirit growing up inside us. It should be a holy, life-changing moment.” And the writer said “for me, that experience is the essence of Pentecostalism: holy and life-changing.”

Pentecost is my heritage – let it become your heritage as well and let us together begin a journey that will change our lives and touch others and the next generation.