I guess when good things happen to someone I know I want to let you know. The Denomination I am credentialed with, the IPHC has a head guy. Not a pope. A Bishop. I know him. He's a really precious man. He likes Chicago. So, from time to time I have been fortunate to spend one on one time with him. That's about as close as I will get to the Pope, but Bishop Leggett will meet with Pope Benedict the 16th tonite in a meeting of many leaders from around the country. In many ways, as a movement with our roots in Luther and Wesley with the fire of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost we have more in common with Catholics sometimes, particularly in social issues, than we do with more liberal denominations and some evangelicals. From a news release.
Footnote: I knew we had in IPHC about 4.2 millions Adherants worldwide. In the USA about half a million. Then, in doing a tiny bit of research, the other church I am appended to, the Lutheran Church, let's put it, conservative Lutherans which includes the Lutheran Church Mo Synod and all it's sister congregations worldwide comprise about 3.4 million adherants. I used this WIKI of the International Lutheran Council as a guide. Apparently that conservative global coalition which includes the LCMS is an umbrella that conservative Lutherans embrace.
I guess my credentials with the IPHC aren't so wimpy after all. I'll keep them. We have grown globally by hundreds of thousands in the last few years. Good place to be.
Local Leader will Represent Evangelical-Pentecostal Groups at Historic Meeting
OKLAHOMA CITY- Local resident Bishop James D. Leggett will meet with Pope Benedict XVI on Friday evening. As president of the Evangelical/Pentecostal Family of Christian Churches Together, he is one of several religious leaders taking part in a prayer service at St. Joseph's Church in Manhattan.
Bishop Leggett is currently the Presiding Bishop of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, which has its international offices in Bethany, Oklahoma. He also serves in the leadership of several interdenominational organizations.
Bishop Leggett worked with Cardinal William H. Keeler in setting up Christian Churches Together in the USA. Its mission is "to enable churches and Christian organizations to grow closer together in Christ in order to strengthen our Christian witness in the world." The organization is comprised of five Christian families: Evangelical/Pentecostal, Historic Protestant, Historic Racial/Ethnic, Orthodox and Catholic.
Bishop Leggett currently serves as Chairman of the Pentecostal World Fellowship, a cooperative body of Pentecostal churches and groups worldwide committed to the furtherance of the Gospel to the ends of the world. He will also chair the 2010 Pentecostal World Conference.
He serves on the board of directors for the National Association of Evangelicals and Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America. He is a member of Mission America, American Society for Church Growth, the International Charismatic Consultation Advisory Council (ICC), the Christian Churches Together (CCT), and the Religious Alliance Against Pornography (RAAP).
Dr. Harold Hunter, Historian and Archivist for the IPHC, was also invited to the meeting with the Pope. Dr. Hunter works in numerous committees developing a Pentecostal-charismatic dialog.
For more information, contact the Office of the General Superintendent at 405.787.7110 or lscott@iphc.org. Photo of Bishop Leggett attached.
* The International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC Ministries), is a 108+ year old traditional Pentecostal denomination. Our Executive Offices are at 7300 NW 39th Expw, Bethany, OK, a suburb of Oklahoma City. We currently have churches in more than 95 nations of the world, with approximately 4.2 million adherents.
* We are charter members of the National Association of Evangelicals ( http://www.nae.net/), charter members of the Pentecostal World Conference (http://www.pentecostalworldconf.org/ ) and were instrumental in creating the Pentecostal & Charismatic Churches of N. America (PCCNA)( http://www.pccna.org/). For more detailed information, please visit our website at http://arc.iphc.org
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