by Bill Meyer, Pastor, SonRise Community Church
In 1997 I had an overwhelming experience of the presence and power of God after a group of leaders from King of Kings Community Church,
our sister church in Manahawkin, NJ laid hands on me. This was a life
giving and life transforming experience. Although I had been a "Born
Again" Christian for most of my life and had "rededicated" my life to
the Lord may times, this experience was something totally new for me. I
experience a new love for Jesus, a blessing and acceptance from the
Father, a new zeal for ministry, and great power to overcome sin.
People who had sat under my ministry before I had this experience
noticed that I had new "anointing" and authority as a pastor. Even my
wife and children noticed a change in me.
In order to
understand the significance of this event, I want to share a little of
my background with you. I was neither charismatic nor penticostal, so I
did not believe in the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit". I believed that
Christians got all they were going get of the Holy Spirit at the time
of their conversion. Shortly before this experience, I had been
appointed as a Church Planter with the Christian and Missionary
Alliance. Even though the C&MA doctrinal statement spoke about
sanctification being both "a crisis and a progressive experience", my
theology up to this point emphasized the progressive aspect of the
Christian life and did not focus at all on the idea of a crisis
experience. As a matter of fact I became part of the C&MA believing
that this part of our doctrinal statement was a legacy of our quaint
past. Some of my new collegues in the Alliance told me that our
movement no longer emphasized the "crisis" aspect of our doctrine of
sanctification. However a mature and experienced leader of our district
told me that indeed the Alliance still believed very much in "crisis
sanctification," and the fullness of the Holy Spirit. He encouraged me
to begin praying a simple prayer to the Holy Spirit, based on Luke
11:13 . . . "Holy Spirit, I am willing to recieve all of you and
everything you want to give me." It was during this time of learning
about the C&MA and seeking "whatever the Holy Spirit has for me"
that I had this powerful experience with the Holy Spirit.
After
I recieved this new anointing from the Lord, I began a search for a
theological and Biblical filter through which to understand my
experience. The books listed on the side bar of this page were
especially helpful to me in my search. It was during this search that I
came across the book, "Empowered Evangelicals". Rich Nathan, the Sr.
Pastor of the Vineyard in Columbus Ohio, co-authored this book and
coined the phrase "Empowered Evangelical". A friend of mine gave me
this book for my 40th birthday, and when I read title, I immediately
connected with the phrase "Empowered Evangelical". You see, since the
experience I had at King of Kings, I had a sense of disconnection from
the theological underpinnings of my youth. As I mentioned above, I was
neither Pentecostal nor Charismatic. I had impeccable "Evangelical"
credentials. The pastor I was raised under was a graduate of Wheaton
College and had Billy Graham as a roomate in college. (No kidding!). I
went to Moody Bible Institute for a year, graduated from a
dispensational Bible College, and a moderately Reformed Seminary. I had
spent 10 years of my ministry pastoring in a mainstream Evangelical
denomination. However, I had a sense that this powerful visitation of
God in my life would change me forever, and I felt like I no longer fit
in my old ministerial and church circles. There was a sense in which I
crossed a river I could not go back through.
That is
why, when I read the title of Rich Nathan's book and then the book
itself, I was so excited. I realized that there were other's like me.
Evangelicals, who still identified themselves as evangelicals, moving
in a new flow of the Holy Spirit. As I continued to study this subject,
I realized that indeed, God was moving in many of my Evangelical
brothers and sisters in the same way He was moving in me. I also
understood from reading many original Alliance documents
that I was very much in the flow of what God had started with A. B.
Simpson (the founder of the C&MA) and other early Alliance pioneers. God
has called us to plant an "Empowered Evangelical" Church. This paper
grows out of need I have seen as people have been visiting our church.
Although our Vision at Sonrise is to grow through seeing lost people
come into the Kingdom of God, we have seen our share of transfer
growth. When newcomers visit us who have been discipled in other
churches, one of the first questions they ask me is, "What kind of
church is this?" The questions behind their question are "Is this
church pentecostal, charismatic, or a 'bible' church? What does this
church believe about the ministry of the Holy Spirit?" Hopefully this
paper will answer these questions. Part of the answer is found in what
God was doing in my life in the beginning stages of the life of SonRise
that I shared with you earlier. I have found that there are many people
who were discipled in evangelical churches who have come to realize
that there is more to experience of God than they have yet experienced.
Some of those people are finding their way to SonRise. Our mutual
journey and experience contributes to a unique atmosphere and culture
that we call an "Empowered Evangelical Church".
Continue . . . 
