The Centennial Celebration sessions are now history. It was by far the best of the best events I have ever attended in my 78 years of living, and being in the Pentecostal Holiness Church.
In the providence of God we had present two living former presiding bishops, Leon O. Stewart and James D. Leggett, and the widows of two other general superintendents, J. Floyd Williams (Jean), and B. E. Underwood (Queen Esther) for all the sessions. It was a delight and joy to see them and to hear each of them speak. Leon Stewart's wife, Miss Donna, and James Leggett's wife, Faye, were given opportunity to speak by our presiding bishop, Ronald W. Carpenter, Sr.
Although the International Pentecostal Holiness Church dates her actual birth back to 1898, this year is our 100th Anniversary of January 31, 1911, the day the merger agreement between the Fire Baptized Holiness Church and the Pentecostal Holiness Church in the little Octagon Tabernacle in Falcon, North Carolina. The small group of delegates met together on a warm day (72 degrees according to the weather bureau archives) in 1911 would be overwhelmed with surprise and joy to know that he church birthed 100 years ago is now a leader in the Pentecostal World with a constituency of 4.1 million strong, with 23,000 ministers and 18,000 churches in 103 countries around the world.
Our purpose for these days here in Falcon, North Carolina was fourfold: to (1) To Commemorate, (2) Celebrate, (3) Venerate, and (4) Dedicate.
(1) We commemorated our past: the leaders, the places, the reasons, the events, the successes, and even the failures. The IPHC is one of the oldest Pentecostal denominations in the world, and we were here in Falcon, NC, to commemorate God's faithfulness and favor throughout the years.
(2) We celebrated our present and future. God, Who has been our help in ages past, is our strength for the present and our hope for the future. We celebrated who we are, what we believe, what we are doing, and where we are going!
(3) We venerated our God: We worshiped Him with our singing, our praying, our preaching, our teaching, and our testimonies. We clapped our hands, and we danced before Him. We joined with the Psalmist, David, by praising God with our whole heart and singing praises unto His Name! (Psalm 9:1-2).
(4) We dedicated ourselves: We dedicated ourselves individually and the IPHC corporately to God, to our doctrine, to our mission of evangelism, to God's unique purposes for the IPHC, and to relevant, dynamic and demonstrative ministry to our generation.
When the Psalmist said, Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance, he was referring to the blast of the shofar that announced the beginning of the Year of Jubilee. This was a year-long celebration which occurred once every fifty years and was marked by great rejoicing. It was a time when that which had been lost was restored, that which had been enslaved was released, and that which was bound was was set free. The "Celebrate the Merger" Centennial was the IPHC celebrating its second Jubilee, and we were justly blessed because we heard the joyful sound that brought us here to Falcon, NC, to be a part of a wonderful historic event!
Posted on
Tue, February 1, 2011
by Hugh Morgan