Great Commission – Daniel Tomberlin

I was recently invited to speak about engaging in global mission as a local church pastor. Here are my brief remarks.

In the Fall of 1980, I was pastoring a small church in Attapulgus, Georgia. I was just a few months into the pastorate, when I invited a young evangelist – Phillip Kirkland – to come preach a revival. One night during the altar service he prophesied these words to me: “God has anointed you to preach the gospel throughout the world and God will raise you up to be a Pentecostal leader.” I was from a small town, pastoring in a small town, and never anticipated ministry beyond small town Georgia . . .

Continue reading “My Testimony – Reflecting on a Pastor’s Global Mission”

“For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me“ (John 17:19-21).

As a teen attending a Pentecostal church in the 1970s I consistently heard bold pronouncements about the dead Baptists, the apostate Methodists, and above all the “great whore” – the Catholic Church. The concept of ecumenism was most often presented as a diabolical scheme to form a “one-world” church led by the “false prophet” for the purpose of worshiping the notorious antichrist. As a young pastor in the 1980’s I discovered that these sentiments were firmly entrenched traditions in Pentecostal churches.

Continue reading “Is Your Church Too Small?”