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Print I walked into the room to hear, “Welcome Brother Binion.” I hesitated. “What business does (Dr. Decker) have calling me brother?” I thought. Dr. Edward Decker, a professor from Oral Roberts University, would chair the session that I was to be speaking. Everything on this day was what I would categorize as a first. This day of firsts began on March 13, 2004, the last day of the national conference of the Society of Pentecostal Studies (SPS) being held at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. This all began in the fall of 2003. I had just graduated from Urshan Graduate School of Theology (UGST) in St. Louis. My thesis for graduation was called A Pentecostal Theology of Worship: Using God’s Mission through Covenant to Deconstruct Cultural Colonialism. In plainer terms, my premise was that when there is a proper worship, usually the debate is based on cultural terms first rather than God’s mission. I proposed that all of life is worship, therefore context or culture should serve purpose rather than the other way around. Anything else is what I call cultural colonialism. One of my professors urged me to submit some of my work on worship to the SPS national conference. I did, but presumed I was too young and inexperienced to have a chance. A month later I was notified that I had been chosen to present my paper at the national conference. The Society for Pentecostal Studies is an organization of Pentecostal scholars whose purpose is “…to provide a forum of discussion for all academic disciplines as a spiritual service to the kingdom of God. Membership, now over 600, comprises every major Christian denomination, and some outside Christianity. Meeting participants are as apt to be graduate students from secular schools as they are professors from religiously affiliated colleges. Ecumenism has been a natural by-product of the Society. That scholars outside of the Pentecostal circle wish to partake in the debate and contribute to the growing body of literature on Pentecostalism is proof incontrovertible of the admission of Pentecostalism into the academic firmament.”1 The goal has been for Pentecostalism to have an academic voice in the world of Christianity and academia. SPS has a journal called Pneuma and has a national conference annually in the spring at different universities around the United States. The 2004 conference theme was “Pentecostalism and the Body.” There were over 30 papers accepted from Harvard University, Fuller Seminary, Baylor University, Regent University, and Asbury Theological Seminary. The most exciting addition to the conference is Urshan Graduate School of Theology, our own United Pentecostal Church seminary. Until recently, Oneness Pentecostals have not been a part of the discussion on Pentecostal issues. Others were writing about us, but we were not sharing our own narrative. Since academia influences the next generation, it is crucial that Oneness Pentecostals write our own story and impact others with this beautiful truth. The passion for Apostolic worship allowed me to partake in the next step for our movement. I was very excited and scared. I knew what was going to happen. I was going to give my paper. A person was going to respond. Then, I would respond to him and answer questions about my work for the balance of the time. On March 13, I nervously stepped to the podium and began talking about how all of life is worship. Then, as I was speaking, a wonderful feeling overpowered me. I had worked on my paper for a year, but all of a sudden I understood, “Everything that I do is worship to God.” I paused and felt the power of the Holy Ghost overtake the room. I looked up and saw a people that truly desired to understand Apostolic worship. At the end of my paper the attitude of all of the people in the room, which included Assembly of God, Church of God, COGIC, and UPCI, were unified on this one tenor—we must worship God. I found this unity of purpose eye opening. At that moment I realized what the Apostolic church has to offer the rest of the world; which brings me back to my first reaction to Dr. Decker calling me “brother.” Immediately I had an instantaneous, while seemingly eternal, debate within myself. Could it be that my adverse feelings to him welcoming me had less to do with his denial of truth and more to my insecurity about Apostolic truth? I still am sure that this Apostolic Truth is the right way and I still am not sure about him calling me “brother.” I still have not completely digested the fact that I received the opportunity to be part of this conference. But this I know, no longer should we hide from the rest of Christendom disguised in the veil of exclusivity. I will speak out of this wonderful truth in every context available, for we have a gift worth giving.
ninetyandnine.com © 2004, Nathaniel Binion --------- Nathaniel Binion recently graduated from UGST and is assistant to the pastor at New Life Center in Bridgeton, MO. He studied music at the University of Oklahoma and believes that OU belongs in the NFL. He loves his wife, his mastiff, Miles Davis, all airplanes, and is passionate about worshipping God with all of life. |
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