Growing Up Pentecostal

I recently read a book titled "Growing Up Pente- costal". It was written by J. Stephen Conn. Some of you may have noticed that he occassion- ally posts comments on mine and Darrell's blogs. You may read seven of the chapters on his blog. Click on the highlighted title or the image to link to that site.

The book tells of experiences both bad and good that Pastor Conn experienced as the 3rd child (of 12) of a Church of God minister. I laughed at many of the antics Pastor Conn pulled as a child. I became angry over the way he was treated at times. I felt saddened at times. I read of experiences like some of my own childhood. And I learned some things about the history of our denomination which helped me to understand why some people do the things they do. WE taught them to be that way!

I wish I could have read this book early in our ministerial lives. Perhaps it would have helped me to cope better with folks I considered to be "holier than thou". Some of the older folks in our denomination can't seem to break loose from the holiness-on-the-outside perspective they grew up with, but I thank God that changes are taking place. I just pray we don't follow the swing of the proverbial pendulum and go too far the other way.

Those who have not been raised in our denomination will find insight into some of the "why we do the things we do" and hopefully learn from the mistakes of our past so that we don't repeat history.

It is an interesting book. A great read-at-the-beach or on the porch swing kind of book. What I liked most is that I didn't have to read it cover to cover. I can choose a particular chapter of interest then go back to another later without losing any understanding. In this give-me-a-tidbit-and-let-me-run-world it is the perfect book.

You can get the book at Amazon.com or your local book store.