Author: Dr Kevin Hall
The division between Sunni and Shiite Muslims is one of the most consequential religious developments in world history. What began as a dispute over leadership in the seventh century eventually reshaped the political, cultural, and religious landscape of the Middle East. Today, more than fourteen centuries later, that divide continues to influence global politics and regional alliances. To understand this story, we must travel back to the year 632 AD, the year the Prophet Muhammad died in the Arabian city of Medina. Muhammad had united much of the Arabian Peninsula under the banner of Islam. Through his preaching and leadership,…
When Calling Moves Forward Terah, Abram, and the God Who Speaks in Stages Leadership in Scripture does not begin with human ambition.It begins with divine speech. Before Abram ever heard the command to “Go,”God had already begun moving history. Genesis 11:31 tells us something often overlooked: “Terah took his son Abram… and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.” Read that carefully. The destination was Canaan. The movement began. But it stopped in Haran. Terah responded to something — perhaps a stirring,…
It begins not in Jerusalem, but in chains. Long before palm branches were waved and hymns were sung, Israel was a people pressed into brick and mortar beneath the scorching Egyptian sun. The book of Exodus tells us they had grown numerous in a foreign land, descendants of Abraham now reduced to forced labor under Pharaoh. Their backs bent under oppression; their cries rose to heaven. And Scripture says simply: God heard. The story of Passover, recorded in Exodus 12, unfolds at the climax of divine confrontation. After plague upon plague—each striking not only Egypt’s economy but its gods—the final…
Charles Parham, William Seymour, and the Birth of a Pentecostal Doctrine Before Azusa Street erupted in global revival, before Haywood structured councils, before the Caribbean carried the fire across islands — there was a classroom in Topeka, Kansas. And there was a question. What is the evidence that a believer has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit? The man asking it was Charles F. Parham. Charles Parham: The Seeker Who Asked the Question Charles Fox Parham was born in 1873 in Iowa and raised in Kansas. He came out of the Holiness movement, a revival stream that emphasized sanctification,…
William J. Seymour: The One-Eyed Preacher Who Helped Ignite a Global Revival Before councils were organized.Before doctrinal debates hardened.Before denominational lines formed. There was a prayer meeting on Azusa Street. And at the center of it stood a humble, soft-spoken Black preacher named William J. Seymour. If Garfield Thomas Haywood helped structure the movement, Seymour helped ignite it. Early Life: Born Into Reconstruction America William Joseph Seymour was born in 1870 in Centerville, Louisiana, just five years after the end of the Civil War. His parents were formerly enslaved. He grew up in the fragile, uncertain climate of Reconstruction-era America…
From Azusa to Nassau: The Legacy of Haywood and the Continuing Apostolic Witness in The Bahamas There is an image that lingers in my mind when I think about early Pentecostal history. A young Black student in the early 1900s, educated in segregated America, who would grow up to become a bishop, a theologian, a hymn writer, and a national leader in one of the earliest interracial Pentecostal fellowships in America. His name was Garfield Thomas Haywood. Born in Indianapolis in 1880, Haywood matured in the shadow of post-Reconstruction segregation. Racial hierarchies were deeply embedded. Social ceilings were real. Opportunities…
25 Years of Transformational Leadership within the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World A Formal Tribute in Honor of SUFFRAGAN BISHOP DR. SHARON ROLLE Overseer, Transformation Group of ChurchesSenior Pastor, Transformation Ministries International On this sacred occasion, we celebrate twenty-five years of leadership at Transformation Ministries International — a ministry that now serves as headquarters for the Bahamas & Turks and Caicos Council of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (BTCC PAW). Yet this celebration stands within something larger than one congregation. It stands within a council.It stands within a movement.It stands within a history that stretches back over a century.…
What I Have Learned About Christian Leadership That Changed Everything Dr. Kevin A. HallThe Way Christian Educational Leadership Institute There was a time when I thought leadership was primarily about vision. If you could articulate it clearly enough…If you could organize people effectively enough…If you could execute strategically enough… Then progress would follow. But the deeper I studied Scripture — and the deeper I studied leadership theory — the clearer it became: Biblical leadership is not about building platforms.It is about restoring people to the image of God. That realization reframed everything.
A The Way Reflection on 1 Samuel 9–15 There are leaders who fail because they rebel openly against God.And then there are leaders who fail because they never learned how to fully obey Him. Saul belongs to the second group. Saul did not grow up in a season of spiritual stability. Israel itself was fragmented. The tabernacle at Shiloh had fallen silent. The Ark rested offstage. Worship took place on hills instead of at the center. The priesthood had been discredited, and the people were tired of waiting. Fear pressed in from outside, impatience brewed within.
Main Scripture: “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” — Proverbs 13:20 (NIV) When Rehoboam became king, he stood at a crossroads. The people asked him to lighten the heavy burdens his father Solomon had placed on them. Rehoboam did something smart at first—he asked the elders, leaders who had seen victories and failures up close. Their advice was simple: serve the people, speak kindly, and you’ll earn their loyalty. But then Rehoboam turned away from that wisdom.