Empowered Books
An Imprint of ORU Press
As The Waters Cover the Sea
The Story of Empowered21 and the Movement It Serves
THE SPIRIT-EMPOWERED MOVEMENT is rich in history and hope. Throughout the pages of our past, we find generations of believers deeply affected by the Holy Spirit’s expansion of God’s kingdom, especially through the historic outpouring of the Spirit early in the twentieth century at the Azusa Street Mission of Los Angeles. Now, turning the pages to a new chapter, we see a twenty-first-century generation on the cusp of a new Holy Spirit outpouring. But this time it is occurring not just in one or even a few locations, but around the globe.
In As the Waters Cover the Sea: The Story of Empowered21 and the Movement It Serves, E21 movement leaders and scholars Dr. Billy Wilson and the late Dr. Vinson Synan inform and inspire us about the Holy Spirit’s empowering of generations—past, present, and future, producing a network of Spirit-empowered believers connected across decades and denominations.
This account of the Spirit-empowered movement moves from North American origins to the growth of the Empowered21 network and the cooperative efforts it fuels globally. It is as hope-filled as it is grounded and as theologically sound as it is inspirational. News of spiritual victories around the globe will encourage you and awaken fresh hope, while this book helps you envision God’s glory covering the whole earth—just as the waters cover the sea.
Contents
- Tables
- Foreword by Dr. George O. Wood
- Acknowledgments
- Part 1 by Dr. Vinson Synan
- 1. What is Empowered Christianity?
- 2. Empowered Success and Challenges
- 3. Pentecostal and Charismatic Unity
- 4. Empowered21: A Global Network
- Part II by Dr. Billy Wilson
- 5. Reflections from the Floor
- 6. A Second Flood
- 7. Issues Facing the Movement Then (2009–2010)
- 8. Issues Facing the Movement Now (2018–2020)
- 9. The Next Move of God
- 10. Five Signs of the Coming Wave
- 11. A Growing Movement
- 12. Passing the Baton
- About the Authors
“A thorough, comprehensive and complex analysis of the origin and development of the eschatological thinking in one of the largest and most important Pentecostal denominations in the world, Assemblies of God (AG). Isgrigg offers a fascinating, constructive proposal for a contemporary pneumatological eschatology building on the huge potential of the pneumatological imagination which leads into a consequent eschatological imagination, as the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the “last days” and so the eschatological end is conceived as the future work of the Spirit.”
— Corneliu Constantineanu, Ph.D., Professor of Pentecostal Theology, Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad, Romania
“This books stimulates much needed thought on eschatology within the AG and Pentecostal communities and be a blessing to both. Isgrigg combines thorough historical analysis with informed and insightful theological reflection. He writes clearly and with an irenic spirit. The result is a wonderful encouragement to the AG community to engage in much needed reflection on the contours, purpose, and impact of our eschatology.”
— Robert P. Menzies, Ph.D., Director, Asia Center for Pentecostal Theology
“This fine and multi-layered study of American Assemblies of God shows how it has adjusted fundamental interpretations of its eschatology in the face of a changing world. This is a vigorous and expertly documented account that deserves to be widely read, not least because the church has a pressing need to revisit its expectations of humanity’s future.”
— William K Kay, D.D., Emeritus Professor, Wrexham Glyndwr University
“Isgrigg’s meticulously researched and engagingly written monograph on eschatology in the Assemblies of God provides not only the first comprehensive historical and theological treatment of the development of AG eschatology throughout the movement’s entire history, particularly as it relates to dispensationalism, but also makes the important theological contribution of an emphasis on pneumatological imagination, calling for both a renewed focus on and hopeful expectation for the Holy Spirit’s work in eschatological signs. I highly recommend this book for ministers, scholars, and all who eagerly await the Blessed Hope.”
— Alicia R. Jackson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Vanguard University
The late DR. VINSON SYNAN was a leading scholar, historian, author, and alliance leader within the Pentecostal movement, having held leadership roles in the Holy Spirit Research Center at Oral Roberts University, the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, the North American Renewal Service Committee, and at the School of Divinity at Regent University, where he was Dean. More recently, Synan returned to ORU as Interim Dean of the College of Theology and Ministry, was an ORU Scholar in Residence, and was inaugurated into Virginia’s Historical Hall of Fame. His passing in 2020 left behind his wife, Carol, their four children, and their families.
DR. BILLY WILSON is president of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and global co-chair for Empowered21, a network helping shape the future of the Spirit-empowered movement. He also chairs the Pentecostal World Fellowship, is a board member of the National Association of Evangelicals, and served as the executive officer for the 2006 Azusa Street Centennial. A global influencer and dynamic speaker, Wilson authored Father Cry and Fasting Forward and hosts the television program World Impact with Billy Wilson. Billy and his wife, Lisa, reside in Tulsa, where they enjoy time with their family.
Available now
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International & translation rights available
- Price:
- $24.99
- ISBN:
- 978-1-950971-06-0 (jacketed, cloth)
- Published:
- 2021
- Copyright:
- 2021
- Pages:
- 149
- Size:
- 6 x 9 in.
- 3 tables, 48 photos