Word: churches
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...forgiveness. As Jimmy Swaggart took the podium outside his World Ministry headquarters in Baton Rouge, La., last week, the Pentecostal preacher seemed serene. The 13-member executive presbytery of the Assemblies of God had just voted unanimously to defrock him. The televangelist responded by announcing his resignation from the church. "I wish it were possible to erase the ledger and start over again," said Swaggart. "But of course...
...position as pastor (or whatever), would be the most gross stupidity." Under the rules of the Assemblies of God, such a sinner must be suspended from preaching for one year and put on probation for a second year, or else there is a danger that the "whole church will be destroyed...
...Evangelist, he obviously believed them. But when the Assemblies last week prescribed precisely that punishment for him, Swaggart defied the decision and declared his intention to renew preaching next month. He thus not only raised questions about his own future but once again trained an unwanted spotlight on the church group that, before the scandals involving Swaggart and Jim Bakker, had become the fastest-growing denomination...
Once disdained by upper-crust Protestants as "Holy Rollers," Assemblies worshipers are now on a holy roll. Combining lively worship, warm fellowship and soul-winning zeal, the group posted an astounding 23.6% increase in church attendance between 1979 and 1985, a period when those crustier Protestants were struggling to stem decline. John Vaughn, who tracks church growth from Missouri's Southwest Baptist University, reports that two-fifths of America's most rapidly growing congregations are in the Assemblies. The mammoth First Assembly in Phoenix, for instance, boasts the nation's biggest Sunday school (8,000 students) and Holy Week pageants...
...simpler Pentecostalism of old. He targeted dozens of the newer congregations that are experiencing the greatest U.S. growth. Many participate in the interdenominational charismatic movement, which often tolerates modern feel-good theologies and rejects old taboos (drinking, smoking, dancing). Remarks Tommy Reid, pastor of a 5,000-member church near Buffalo: "I certainly don't want to be from the backwoods, where there are rules and regulations a mile long." In the long run, ironically, the fall of the hellfire-breathing preacher could have a soothing, strengthening effect on the booming, still changing denomination...