Seminary Celebrates Heritage Week
“Standing with Competence” is the theme of Heritage Week at the Pentecostal Theological Seminary November 14 and 15. Activities include a Tuesday chapel service at 11:00 a.m., the annual Azusa Lecture Tuesday at 7:00 p.m., and a luncheon/panel discussion featuring seminary alums on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.
A century ago in November 1917, General Overseer A.J. Tomlinson called upon the Church of God General Assembly to establish a school for ministerial training. The Assembly responded positively, and today the Church of God has more than 225 Bible colleges, universities, and seminaries located around the world. The earliest Church of God educational efforts were Bible Schools beginning with Bible Training School, now Lee University.
In 1970, General Overseer Charles W. Conn issued a call to establish “a proper Pentecostal Seminary.” In response to that call, the Church of God Graduate School of Christian Ministries begin classes offering a master’s degree in 1975. The first class consisted of fifteen males and two females. Renamed Pentecostal Theological Seminary in 2010, the seminary offers six masters programs and the Doctor of Ministry.
Heritage Week began today with a chapel service at 11:00 a.m. in Cross Chapel on the PTS campus. Dr. Dan Tomberlin presented “Competent to Stand in the King’s Palace: Our PTS Heritage.” Tomberlin’s title and the theme for the week illustrate how Daniel and other Hebrew youth in Babylonian captivity were to be “. . . skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace. . .” (Daniel 1:4 ESV). According to Tomberlin, “From its inception the mission of Pentecostal Theological Seminary has been to seek out and train young men and women to stand in the king’s palace – to serve the church and the world with outstanding competence.”
Tomberlin is the PTS Director of Student Placement and an Instructor in Pastoral Ministry. An ordained bishop in the Church of God, he served as a local church pastor for thirty-seven years before coming to the seminary this year. Tomberlin also served as director of Ministerial Development for the Church of God in South Georgia for 15 years and on the denomination’s Division of Education Board for 12 years. In addition to his Bachelor of Science from Lee University (1994), he earned the Master of Divinity (2003) and Doctor of Ministry (2014) at Pentecostal Theological Seminary. He has authored Pentecostal Sacraments: Encountering God at the Altar as well as other books and articles.
Also part of PTS Heritage Week, Dr. Louis Morgan will present “Fanning the Flame: Reflections on a Century of Church of God Education” as the 12th Annual Azusa Lecture on Tuesday, November 14. Dr. Morgan serves as director of library services at Squires Library and is an associate professor at Lee University. He frequently lectures and publishes articles on Church of God history.
Following Morgan’s 7:00 p.m. lecture in North Cleveland Church of God’s Dixon Chapel, the Dixon Research Center will honor Dr. Paul L. Walker with the Spirit of Azusa Award and a reception. Dr. Walker served as pastor of the prestigious Mount Paran Church of God in Atlanta for almost four decades. The denomination elected him as general overseer in 1996, and he also served as the first chancellor of Church of God education.
PTS Heritage Week will conclude with an 11:00 a.m. luncheon and panel discussion on Wednesday, November 15, in the Knight Conference Hall. The panel theme is “Competent to Stand in the King’s Palace: Reflections from the Field” and will feature PTS alumni. Since the first seminary class, 1,844 students have graduated from PTS. They are serving as pastors, administrative bishops, missionaries, chaplains, counselors, administrators and educators throughout the world.
Panelists will include Dr. Thomas Doolittle, Dr. Suzanne Hamid Holt, Dr. Jeremy McGinnis, and Dr. Dwain Pyeatt. Dr. Dan Tomberlin will moderate the panel discussion. Doolittle is Professor of Pastoral Ministries at Lee University and has served as a pastor for 24 years. Holt is an Associate Professor of Education at Lee University and directs LEAP—a federal grant funded program. McGinnis is campus pastor of Park West Church of God in Knoxville, where he has served since 2000. Pyeatt, a Church of God pastor of 27 years, currently serves the Church of God Division of Education as International Coordinator for Ministerial Development/School of Ministry.
The public is invited to attend Heritage Week events at the seminary, which is located at 900 Walker Street NE in Cleveland. Persons wishing to attend the Wednesday panel and luncheon should RSVP to [email protected] or 423-478-1131, no later than Monday, November 13.
(Source: Pentecostal Theological Seminary)
