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SURPRISE: The U.S. State With The MOST "Pentecostal" Churches.

 
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Post SURPRISE: The U.S. State With The MOST "Pentecostal" Churches. doyle
UNDER THE LABEL "Pentecostal," there are many variations and degrees of expression. For this article, the word "Pentecostal" encompasses those churches, Independent, Non-Aligned or denominational that continue to teach that what happened at Pentecost (Acts Chapter 2), is still possible today.

What God did "back then," He still does today.

"Jesus Christ, THE SAME yesterday, TODAY and forever." (Hebrews 13:8)

As a Chaplain, I am regularly with people of nearly all the major denominations; Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic etc. I don't agree with all of them but I love them. I also love the Jews, Muslims, Hindus and "Nones" (Those who don't claim to be anything), who the Lord brings into my pathway.

Several weeks ago, I was having breakfast with five men who are dedicated Christians. Though none of them are Pentecostal, they have welcomed me into their breakfast fellowship. We have a great friendly relationship and meet often.

They began discussing the lack of power in churches today. The word Pentecost came up. The general consensus was that though it was wonderful when it happened, Pentecost, especially the Speaking In Tongues part, is not for today. God doesn't do that anymore.

Suddenly realizing where the conversation was going, there was the proverbial "Pregnant Pause." They turned and looked at me. Listen, I am a Bible-Believing, Christ-Centered, Spirit-Filled guy who has experienced Speaking In Tongues as "The Spirit gives the utterance." ( Acts 2:1-4)

However, as wonderful as that spiritual experience has been and is, it is not the primary message. As Christians, our priority message, whether we have spoken in Tongues or not, is John 3:16 and the love of God.

As they looked and listened, I said, "Not unless He wants to."

They had agreed with the statement that God does not do Pentecost or Speaking In Tongues now. It was something that happened "Then" but not now.

"Not unless He wants too."

John 3:8 indicates that just like the wind, the Spirit goes where He wants to. We don't tell Him what to do. He tells us.

SURPRISE: When the media talks about California, it is almost always about Hollywood and San Francisco. At times it almost seems like the other millions of people (about 40 million) there hardly exist.

Some of Americas LARGEST Christian churches are in California. Saddleback Baptist in Southern California's Lake Forest, runs over 23,000. It seems where David Jeremiah pastors in San Diego, is doing well too. So is Jentzen Franklin's Western Campus of around 4,000.

The Assembly of God has 1,500 churches in California and many are massive. Up in the Central Valley where one-third of the worlds fruit is grown, the very conservative United Pentecostals have a STRONG presence.
One of their churches in Stockton, runs nearly 5,000. Amish and Mennonites have a large following in California too.

In addition to thousands of denominational Pentecostal churches, in California there are also hundreds and thousands of Non-Aligned Pentecostal churches. Compared to what one hears about California on media, it is SURPRISING to learn that most likely, California has more Pentecostal churches than any other state in the U.S. It is a very fruitful place for the Gospel.

Doyle
writedoyle@gmail.com
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Last edited by doyle on 10/20/21 2:59 pm; edited 1 time in total
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10/9/21 2:37 pm


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Post Dean Steenburgh
Great post @Doyle
It is very true that this ultra leftist liberal state is chocked full of pentecostal churches of every kind.
The Anglo CoG has about 125 congregations & the Latino CoG has about the exact same. Also there are about 20 Romanian churches making it around 270 congregations ...some of the Latino churches are English speaking due to generational changes in leadership.
One of the Romanian churches has been listed in the top 10 of highest attended Sunday School attendance in all of the CoG.

The PCG (Pentecostal Church of God) denomination has a big presence here with over 400+ congregations & several hundred Hispanic churches as well.
The UPC group as Doyle said has hundreds of churches here & so does the Pentecostal Holiness, A/G's, COGIC & multiple splinter groups.

At our church here in Modesto we share our building with multiple other congregations. Over the last 20 plus years we have helped about 12 other churches get started here in this area. Never one time has a non-pentecostal group ever approached us to use our building.
Currently we have 2 different Hispanic churches & a Gypsy group using our church.

Doyle is right, we do have some of the largest churches in America right here in Calif & most of those churches are Spirit filled.
San Diego has Rock Church & C3 & both are in excess of 20,000.
Orange County has multiple Pentecostal churches well over 10,000.
All over the state we have churches that average 5,000 to 10,000.
Right here in Modesto Glen Bertau's church claims to have about 12,000 members.
Sammy Rodriguez in Sacramento has a large A/G church with thousands in attendance.
There are multiple Pentecostal churches in Sacramento with 10,000+ in attendance weekly.
The SF Bay Area also has multiple denominations with mega churches spread all over the greater Bay Area.

This state may be under the influence of the ultra left liberals (politically speaking) but God has the final say so as to what/where/how the church will continue to grow here on the Left Coast.



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10/10/21 3:09 pm


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California is huge, both from land mass and population. The population is estimated to be greater than that of Canada.

What percent of California is Pentecostal?

It is not surprising there are a lot of Pentecostal churches there. The Azusa Street Revival was in LA.
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10/13/21 8:27 pm


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