A COLLECTION OF THIS WEEK’S
TOP STORIES FROM PENEWS.ORG
SUNDAY,
APRIL 3,
2016
THIS WEEK IN AG HISTORY
BY DARRIN J. RODGERS
Pandita Ramabai (1858-1922),
regarded as one of India’s most
prominent female social reformers and
educators, played a significant role in
pioneering the Pentecostal movement
in India.
Ramabai’s father, an educator and
social reformer, taught her to read
and write Sanskrit. At a young age,
Ramabai devoted her life to helping
widows and orphans, who were often
despised and mistreated in her society.
After attending college in England,
she returned to India and established
homes for dispossessed widows and
children. She also fought for social
reform.
Ramabai’s social ministries cared
for both the body and the soul. They
sheltered, educated, and fed women
and children, and they also taught
Christian doctrine and nurtured a
generation of new Christians. In the summer of 1905, Ramabai
sent 30 young women out into
the villages to preach the gospel.
These young preachers reported an
outpouring of the Holy Spirit on June
29, 1905.
Alfred G. Garr, the first missionary
sent by the Azusa Street Mission
in Los Angeles, recounted his
interactions with Ramabai. Read the
article, “The Work Spreads to India,”
on pages 4 and 5 of the April 1, 1916,
issue of the Pentecostal Evangel
online at S2.ag.org/april11916.
Check out the PE News app!
Get
Assemblies
of God
news,
NEWS
FOR, ABOUT,
AND
FROM
THE ASSEMBLIES
GOD on
features,
and videoOF
content
your
mobile device
CONNECT WITH US ON
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
Available
for iPhone
and Android
RSS
AND OUR WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER.
VISIT PENEWS.ORG FOR
MORE INFORMATION.
2
USHER BEQUEATHS COLLECTION OF
30,000 CLASSIC TOY CARS TO CHURCH
PAGE 2
TRAILBLAZING
CONTINUES FOR
CHAPLAIN
BUS REVAMPED AS 50 BIRTHDAYS, 50
MILES, 50 LIVES
FOOD PANTRY
PAGE 4
PAGE 6
PAGE 3
SOUTH CAROLINA AG CHURCH DESTROYED BY FIRE PAGE 5 • AG
RELEASE NAMED TOP CHILDREN’S RESOURCE PAGE 5 • FLORIDA AG
PASTOR’S VOICE MIRACULOUSLY RESTORED PAGE 7 • THIS WEEK IN
AG HISTORY PAGE 8
3
FLORIDA AG PASTOR’S VOICE
MIRACULOUSLY RESTORED
BY DEANN ALFORD
USHER BEQUEATHS COLLECTION OF
30,000 CLASSIC TOY CARS TO CHURCH
BY DEANN ALFORD
Lisa Lundstrom’s mom, Connie, told
her that one day, she should go see
Dennis Erickson’s car collection.
Everybody knew Erickson at
Celebration Church, an Assemblies
of God congregation of 700 in
Lakeville, Minnesota. He was the
smiling, engaging lead usher, tasked
with greeting and helping people and
getting them seated for services.
A bachelor and only child, Erickson,
a civil engineer who worked for the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, lived
with his parents, Robert and Florence.
He enjoyed a hobby he discovered
as a young man: fixing cars with his
father. Together, they attended car
shows. At age nine, Erickson began
collecting toy diecast cars.
Lundstrom, daughter of Celebration
Church’s founding pastor, Lowell
Lundstrom, saw the quiet Erickson
occasionally take one of his seven
drivable old cars to church, typically his
1959 Edsel and 1966 Rambler. After
4
2
Erickson’s parents died and he retired,
his church family was his life.
Erickson, 69, who died in his sleep
on Dec. 3, 2015, willed almost his entire
estate to the church. About 12 years
after Connie Lundstrom first suggested
Lisa view his collection, at last the
daughter visited Erickson’s house.
Lisa, who is the church finance
director, saw the Edsel and the
Rambler she had seen in the church
parking lot. Also there were a fullsized Model T Ford, a 1977 Pontiac
Bonneville, and three other full-sized
cars, all in pristine condition with filing
cabinets full of owner’s manuals and
Erickson’s meticulous maintenance
records on each.
Throughout the rest of the house
were 30,000 toy cars: larger diecasts
and small Hot Wheels. There were
model bicycles, vans, tractors, and
ambulances, and toddler-sized
police vehicles. The collectibles were
crammed into every room, including
In Katie Bettner’s years as a speech
therapist, she never had seen a worse case
of muscle tension dysphonia than that of
Alice Burdeshaw, lead pastor of Heritage
Assembly of God in Tallahassee, Florida.
Burdeshaw, 68, woke up without her
voice one Sunday in October 2015, leaving
her unable to preach the next nine weeks. After a physician referred Burdeshaw
to Bettner, the speech therapist wasn’t optimistic.
“She had no voice whatsoever,” Bettner says. “Typically in therapy, you can
get patients to cough. She couldn’t even cough.”
“I had to be concerned about the church,” says Burdeshaw, in her 25th year
pastoring the church. “A pastor can’t go on without a voice.” Heritage AG’s
associate pastor, Dewayne Hurst, who is Burdeshaw’s son-in-law, assumed the
pulpit.
The church body and other congregations in the district repeatedly prayed for
the pastor. On Jan. 3, Burdeshaw served as substitute organist. As she played
“Jesus Rescued Me,” she says, “The Holy Spirit covered me like a blanket.”
She quit playing. “I was just praising God, speaking in tongues, and I realized I
could hear myself,” she says. “I stood up and said, ‘I can talk!’”
The service erupted in celebration. “I’ve been talking ever since,” Burdeshaw
says.
Four days later, Burdeshaw visited Bettner, who called the voice restoration
miraculous.
57
S.C. AG CHURCH
AG RELEASE NAMED
DESTROYED BY FIRE TOP CHILDREN’S
BY DAN VAN VEEN
RESOURCE
BUS REVAMPED AS FOOD PANTRY
BY DEANN ALFORD
Buster Lackey holds a doctorate in
counseling psychology and seemed an
unlikely candidate to retrofit a school
bus into a mobile food pantry.
However, inspired by a sermon from
North Little Rock First Assembly Senior
Pastor Rod Loy about hunger, Lackey
helped spearhead a church partnership
with Arkansas Children’s Hospital and
a charity, Helping Hand, to retrofit a
bus as a mobile food pantry.
Lackey’s résumé includes serving
as a senior hospital chaplain, school
administrator, and Arkansas USDA
director. But all the while his heart has
been drawn to the plight of the hungry,
especially those without transportation,
and thus without access to food.
“Buster told us that one of the needs
was a mobile food bank for Arkansas
Children’s Hospital,” Loy says. “A
significant percentage of patients who
come to their clinics are food insecure
or simply hungry.”
To that end, the hospital provides
meals to those in need. But it needed
a way to connect to Helping Hand,
6
4
a charity that provides 40 sacks
of groceries per month to hospital
patients and their families.
When the church offered the hospital
a 1991 Blue Bird 71-passenger school
bus it had retired from its fleet, the
hospital suggested the church donate
the bus to Helping Hand of Greater
Little Rock.
“We’re small, we needed a bus,”
says Helping Hand Director Gayle
Priddy. “We didn’t have the funds for
that. But the Lord knows what we need.
First Assembly said they’d retrofit it.”
The church raised around $30,000
and tasked Lackey to renovate the bus
inside and out. The bus was equipped
with new flooring, heating and air
conditioning, refrigeration, food bins
made from recycled wooden pallets
and bushel baskets, and a desk.
The concept of a mobile food pantry
is biblical, Lackey believes.
“Nowhere in the Scriptures did
Jesus say, ‘You come to me.’ He went
to them,” says Lackey. “He met them
where they were.”
New Life Assembly of God in
Florence, South Carolina, was gutted
by fire early Palm Sunday morning.
Pastor Burton (Andrew) Ross Jr. says
by the time he was notified and arrived
at the church, the entire building was
engulfed in flames.
At this point, no official reason for the
fire has been determined, but the ATF
(Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms,
and Explosives) and SLED (State
Law Enforcement Division) have been
called in to investigate the cause and
origin of the fire, including the potential
of arson.
The timing of the fire is particularly
painful. Ross’ father, Burton A. Ross
Sr., was the beloved former minister
at New Life and the former assistant
general superintendent of the Guyana
Assemblies of God. Referred to simply
as “Bishop,” he unexpectedly died on
Good Friday 2013.
With fire destroying the church on Palm
Sunday, the proximity of the dates has
brought back a flood of emotions.
Although the church was insured,
it appears that it may have been
underinsured.
“We will definitely be looking for
friends and neighbors and partners in
the faith to get us back to where we
need to be,” Ross says.
Currently, the church is looking to
temporarily rent facilities.
BY DAN VAN VEEN
Talk Now and Later, the new
Assemblies of God parenting resource
written by AG minister Brian Dollar,
has recently been named Outreach
Magazine’s Children’s Outreach 2016
Resource of the Year winner.
Steve Adams, children’s pastor at
Saddleback Church in Lake Forest,
California, was the evaluator of
children’s outreach resources. In his
review, he states, “Brian Dollar gives
us some much-needed guidance in
one of the hardest areas of parenting
— talking!”
In addition to Outreach Magazine’s
recognition, Amazon.com also
recognized Talk Now and Later as
a No. 1 new release in its Christian
Families category.
Mark Entzminger, senior director
of AG Children’s Ministries, states,
“Talk Now and Later . . . fills a void
with practical, ready-to-use advice that
can help parents guide their children
through questions and experiences that
otherwise may seriously damage their
view of and relationship with Christ.”
In Talk Now and Later, Dollar equips
parents to biblically guide their children
through a variety of challenging topics,
such as God, self-image, friendships,
bullying, sex, divorce, and other
subjects that parents may struggle to
help their children understand.
75
50 BIRTHDAYS, 50 MILES, 50 LIVES
BY DAN VAN VEEN
Paul Jenkins is lead pastor of
The Gathering, a church he and his
wife planted four years ago in the
rural community of Albemarle, North
Carolina. With a population of 16,000,
the community sees few signs of
human trafficking.
Three years ago, God planted the
seed of compassion into their lives for
current and future victims of human
trafficking. As they explored the issue,
they learned how it hit closer to home
than they knew.
“We were shocked to learn that every
30 seconds, someone is the victim of
human trafficking in the world,” Paul
says. “And then we learned that the
Charlotte metro region is the sixth
largest area in the United States for
human trafficking violations!” Albemarle
is located D40 miles from Charlotte.
“I learned that it takes about $1,000
to fully restore victims — not just rescue
them, but help them safely re-establish
their lives,” Paul says. “I decided to run
50 miles on my 50th birthday and work
to raise $50,000 to see 50 girls brought
out of human trafficking.”
8
6
As word spread about his plan, the
Charlotte media took note. Suddenly,
the message was not only impacting a
single church or a small community —
it was reaching throughout the
Charlotte metro region with a
population nearing 2.4 million people!
But running 50 miles wasn’t the only
event planned for the weekend.
“The run was part of the ‘Weekend
of Freedom’ in our church,” Paul
explains. “On Friday night, we invited
the community to come watch the
Nefarious documentary at the church
to help raise awareness. The run was
on Saturday, and on Sunday, we had
Sandhill Teen Challenge come to the
church to talk about how people, many
who would likely otherwise be dead,
found hope and life in Jesus Christ.”
Paul started his 50-mile attempt at
5 a.m. Saturday, March 19. People
from the church and community joined
in with him as he ran a variety of loop
courses until he reached 50 miles,
exhausted but excited.
So far, more than $30,000 has come
in towards the run.
the bathrooms and kitchen, in floor-toceiling cabinets.
As Lundstrom researched, she
discovered that Erickson’s was among
the largest toy car collections in the
world. And all of it went to the church.
While no dollar value has been
placed on the estate, Erickson’s house
alone is worth six figures, she says.
Proceeds from the sale of the home
and car collection will finance the
church’s kids’ ministry facilities.
As Lundstrom read through
Erickson’s papers, she found
something he had written upon
retirement: “Some might think it’s sad
that I never had children or a family,
but I have my church family and the
mission to help others and reach
people for Jesus.”
“Dennis gave his collection to the
church so a name would be mentioned
other than his own: Jesus,” says Derrick
Ross, Celebration Church’s senior
pastor. “He wanted to do everything he
could to see people saved.”
The church will sell the collection;
Lundstrom’s days are filled with phone
calls from interested buyers.
“We’re praying it sells in a way that
honors Dennis, that it isn’t just cars
being sold but Dennis’ story and legacy
go on with the collection,” Lundstrom
says.
TRAILBLAZING CONTINUES FOR CHAPLAIN
BY JOHN W. KENNEDY
Assemblies of God Chaplaincy
Ministries Senior Director Manuel
A. Cordero knew he had found the
right person for a newly configured
leadership position in Gloria Orengo
Taylor.
Taylor retired in 2014 after 35 years
as a chaplain, equally split between
the military and hospital chaplaincy,
making her the perfect candidate for
the reshaped post of AG Chaplaincy
Ministries Veterans Affairs/health care
representative.
Cordero notes that Taylor, who
took over the part-time role on March
21, will better be able to engage
Assemblies of God VA chaplains who
have been underserved in the past.
“She’s a good fit because she has
both military and hospital experience,”
Cordero says. “Health care chaplains
need someone who has been in their
field and understands what they go
through. Being a veteran herself, she
understands the needs of veterans.”
Taylor is the first woman to have a
leadership role in the 43-year history
of AG Chaplaincy Ministries. However,
trailblazing is nothing new for Taylor,
who in 1976 became the first woman
military chaplain endorsed by the AG.
“I usually was the first female
chaplain whatever base I went to,”
Taylor says. “There still weren’t that
many women chaplains in the military
when I served.”
93