The Church

This post is dedicated to a huge part of my life, the church.
I was born and raised in church and am appreciative of the many Godly principles that I've been taught and the countless experiences and encounters that I've had with God.

My parents raised us to be people of prayer, faith, and the Word of God, the Bible.
We were also raised to live the life; that our faith isn't something that we put on and take off as we would our school clothes, but that this is our way of life. Prayer, Bible study, praising God, singing and glorifying the God of our salvation, living a clean and sanctified life...this is how we are to live.

The churches that we were brought up in were a part of the larger Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW). This organization is historically significant to the African Americans and the Pentecostal movement in America, tracing its roots back to the small mission in California in the early 1900s and great Azusa Street revival.

Even with great moves of God, the country was still deeply divided over race. Unfortunately such differences found their way into the church, no fault to the Lord. As a result, the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World became a predominately black Pentecostal church organization with many of our white brothers and sisters forming our sister organization.

Today, however, PAW and other organizations are much more inclusive than they once were, realizing that God is not God of an organization but over his organism, the church of the living God.

The church is still very much a huge part of my life and I'm grateful to my parents for raising me in it. I couldn't be thankful to them without paying tribute to our ancestors who yielded themselves to the move of the Holy Ghost, not only in the early 20th century, but also back on the day of Pentecost spoken of in Acts chapter 2!