April 2006

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Sooner or later, every parent and teacher learns that the surest way to pique a student's interest is to declare a topic off limits. At the Christian college I attended, I got interested in contemporary literature when my lit teacher told us not to read a certain short story because the school and our parents would not approve. She was sly.

Associate editor Madison Trammel attended a Christian college that was officially cessationist (that is, it taught that tongues, prophecy, and healing had died off with the apostles). Perhaps that is what sharpened his interest in Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement.

You can credit Madison for this issue's cover package, because he was the one who asked Mark Galli, "We are going to publish something about Pentecostalism 100 years after the Azusa Street revival, right?" Not only did Mark agree, he gave Madison the responsibility of developing these articles.

Madison is particularly sensitive to divisions in the body of Christ. The two that interest him most are the divisions along racial or ethnic lines, and the division between Pentecostal/charismatic evangelicals and those that are not. Madison's interest in ethnic reconciliation comes from growing up in multicultural Los Angeles and from marrying an American-born Chinese woman. Madison and Regina have a 10-month old son named Asher Zhou and attend Parkwood Community Church, a congregation largely made up of 30-something, second-generation Asian Americans.

The forum of charismatic and Pentecostal leaders was made possible through the extra efforts of friends at Strang Communications. In that panel, you'll find candid comments about the strengths and challenges of the movement. Madison tried to gather key leaders at our Chicago-area ...