personal testimony - part 2

After receiving a personal prophecy on October 25, 2005, that God was going to "do a new thing and it would be a while before I knew [the full extent of] it," I started having a hunger for more of the Holy Spirit. I emailed a fellow elder of my church who was gradually become a friend. I knew that he was charismatic. I asked if we could get together to discuss "18 questions plus subquestions" about the Holy Spirit that I had written down. We got together on November 10 and talked for 3 1/2 hours before praying over each other in tongues for unseen needs in our lives. We instantly bonded as close friends. We started meeting weekly for Bible study, discussion, and prayer. I have always joked that he has the "world's largest private Pentecostal library". Each week he would bring me a bagful of books and tapes. Because I was working midnight shift at the turnpike, I was able to work my way through them at rapid pace. We began to minister together. We team-taught in men's retreats, and Sunday school. We anointed the sick as a pair and saw several immediate healings and some gradual but quick healings of long-standing conditions. We were called to anoint people in hospitals, nursing homes, and their own homes. We anointed some whose churches do not practice anointing. We anointed a pastor of a house church, and we anointed a vice president of our denomination. Two pastors of our church told people if they want anything prayed for, to come to us. We also taught a class on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues in three different venues and prayed with many people to receive the Baptism. We continued to minister together until he moved out of state. Six years ago it was prophesied over me four times in four different situations by four different people that my greatest influence is yet to come. In my retirement I am volunteering at Mission to Amish People, grading correspondence evangelical Bible studies. I am still waiting for the fulfillment of that prophecy.

How I Came to Sar Shalom

My coming to attend Sar Shalom regularly was a very gradual thing. On November 10, 2005, I began meeting weekly with my best friend, Bob P., for 1 1/2 hours of theological discussion and prayer. One of the things that Bob taught me early on was about the significance of the Festivals. This was an entirely new area of study for me. This led me to begin to study Messianic Judaism as an academic interest... something to keep my mind active by learning new things in my senior years... more or less a hobby. I searched online and found Rosh Hashanah services at Sar Shalom in 2007(2008?), which Bob and I attended together. He believes and teaches that Yeshua will most likely return on Rosh Hashanah. We continued to attend Rosh Hashanah services at Sar Shalom every year until he moved to Florida in 2016. We also attended Tikvat Yisrael in Cleveland a couple times, where his daughter's mother-in-law is the worship leader. I began to attend both Sar Shalom and Tikvat Yisrael on my own a few times a year. The first time that I attended a regular Shabbat service at Sar Shalom, I recall thinking after twenty minutes, "This is what worship should always be." There were several testimonies, both worshipful and joyous dances, small group prayer, and anointed deep worship, as well as a type of teaching that was new to me. Eventually I attended only Sar Shalom and not Tikvat Yisrael, as I liked the friendly, less liturgical atmosphere at Sar and was getting to know a few people. The thing which drew me the most was the depth of interest in the Word that I saw among the people, the way that God was working actively in people's lives as evidenced by testimonies, and that no one was afraid to pray in the small groups. Since having learned about the Festivals from my friend Bob, I have taught classes on the Festivals in Sunday school and in several Bible study groups in two churches. As I was teaching one evening in 2017, the Lord planted a question in my mind: "Why I am not attending Sar Shalom regularly?" I began to do so, often taking friends with me. (I continue to be active in the church which has been my and my wife's home since 1970). I studied Zola's Introduction to Hebrew for a year, and I toured Israel in November 2018. On August 31, 2019, my friend Jerry W. at Sar Shalom told me about torahclass.com (Seed of Abraham Ministries). This teaching was exactly what I had been looking for. I began to study the lessons online daily, and I have not ever missed a day. By April 1, 2021, I will have completed the entire Old Testament studies and will begin the New Testament studies that are available. Through my studies in torahclass.com, I have come to truly understand and to accept for myself that Yeshua did not do away with the Law, and I have committed to observing the true Sabbath and to eating Biblically kosher. What began as an academic interest to keep learning new things in my senior years has turned into a deeper understanding of God's Word from a Messianic perspective and a desire to follow that teaching.

T.K. Leonard and the origin of the Assemblies of God in Findlay

Thomas King Leonard (1861-1946), an evangelical pastor from Ohio, was among the earliest to accept the Pentecostal message from the Azusa Street Revival (1906-1909). As a Pentecostal, Leonard pioneered an interracial congregation in a former bar and brothel. Importantly, the congregation provided the first home for the newly formed Assemblies of God national office from 1914 to 1915. Carl Brumback, in his 1961 history of the Assemblies of God, called Leonard a “truly indispensable man” at the organizational General Council in 1914. According to Revivaltime radio host C.M. Ward, Leonard “dominated the scene until his retirement in 1941 … a great man.” Yet few Assemblies of God members today probably recall the name of T.K. Leonard. Leonard started in the ministry with a small denomination called Christian Union. A bivocational pastor, he owned a prosperous farm outside of McComb, Ohio. In September 1906, he believed that God was pressing upon him to “sell my possessions, consecrate myself, spirit, soul, and body to the ministry of the Lord Jesus.” It was during this same time that reports began to spread about an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at a little mission on Azusa Street in Los Angeles. Some Christians in Ohio who heard about the revival began to desire more of God. When Claude McKinney began to preach the Pentecostal message in Akron, Leonard went to the meetings and was convinced of the reality of the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. In January 1907, Leonard took the proceeds from the sale of his farm and purchased an old hotel at 406 Sandusky in Findlay, Ohio. This two-story hotel and tavern, which had doubled as a brothel, seemed the appropriate place to begin a mission to reach those who were most in need of his message of salvation and deliverance. He renovated the building and called it “The Apostolic Temple.” The only thing from the old tavern that seemed useful for the new church was the bar rail, which Leonard “converted” to an altar rail. The bar rail was not the last of the conversions. Before long many who used to drink at the old bar and make use of the “house of ill-repute” were kneeling in repentance at the altar rail and finding love that was pure and lasting. Significantly, Leonard’s congregation was interracial and was committed to caring for the poor. From the church’s founding, Leonard had determined that his work would include persons of every race and economic class. Feeling that the word “church” carried a negative connotation, he searched for another word that expressed their mission to “call out” a group of people from all walks of life. He finally fell on the Greek word “ekklesia” (the called-out assembly) and changed the name of his church to “The Assembly of God” and began issuing credentials under that name in 1912. Feeling strongly that education for those called into ministry was vital, he opened “The Gospel School” for the training of ministers. He also started up a print shop that he christened “The Gospel Publishing House.” When the call was issued in 1914 for a gathering of Pentecostal believers in Hot Springs, Arkansas, for the purpose of bringing greater unity to this fledgling movement, Leonard served on the conference committee and was elected one of the executive presbyters. It was T.K. Leonard who wrote the constitutional preamble which established the term “Assemblies of God” as the name for the new Fellowship. When discussion turned to the need for a headquarters for the Fellowship, Leonard offered his facilities. The newly formed Assemblies of God set up its first headquarters in his converted tavern and brothel in Findlay, Ohio, and began using Gospel Publishing House to print materials. The arrangement was short-lived due to inadequate space, and the headquarters moved to St. Louis in 1915. By 1916, the Assemblies of God was facing doctrinal challenges, and the need became apparent for a formal statement of faith. Leonard served on the committee that drafted the Statement of Fundamental Truths, which remains the authoritative theological statement for the Assemblies of God to this day. Leonard settled into his pastoral role at the Findlay church, which he led until his retirement in 1941 at age 80. He intended to continue preaching and teaching; however, his health deteriorated and he spent his last years in quiet retirement. A death notice printed in the March 2, 1946, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel stated, “Brother Leonard will be remembered as the author of the original declaration on constitution which was adopted at the first General Council…which declaration shaped the course of the Assemblies of God fellowship.” In fact, it was Thomas King Leonard who gave the Assemblies of God its first constitutional preamble and resolution, its official name, and the name of its publishing house, all of which form a legacy that has endured to this day. See the notice for T.K. Leonard’s death on page 12 of the March 2, 1946, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.