Establishing a Culture of Honor

During the first evening service of General Assembly, Pentecostal Church of God leadership took time to honor former General Bishop, Dr. Wayman Ming Jr., and his wife, former Empowered Women’s Ministries Director, Rev. Kimberly Ming. In 2017, the Mings stepped in to serve the PCG with a clear vision for One Mission—One Movement and a passionate call to “impact eternity by the power of the Spirit.” Throughout the service, moments were created to celebrate their bold leadership and the story we have all begun to write in this second-century PCG.

In a video that highlighted some of the major points of progress during Dr. Ming’s tenure, Jon Jennings shared, “Bishop Ming is a visionary leader, a transformative leader, and a reformational leader... Because of his leadership, we have launched initiatives like the Forerunner Experience for young leaaders wanting to go into ministry and online credentialing for those wanting to advance from exhorter to licensed to ordained; and we have had over 180 churches in the last five years that have gone through our church coaching initiative—and that EXCEED model was a gift that was given to us by Bishop Ming.” Similarly, Women’s Ministries witnessed a deeper level of engagement and discipleship through release of eleven devotionals—seven in English, three in Spanish, and 1 girls’ devotional—and the historic vote in 2019 to allow women to serve in any level of leadership within the Pentecostal Church of God.

Even before preaching the Word that night, Dr. Ming himself reflected, “[As we prepared for the Centennial celebration in 2019], we were facing a major transition from a first-century PCG to a second-century PCG, and we were really in a position of maintaining the organization rather than accelerating our missional movement... But something happened in the hearts of our leadership in the PCG as we acknowledged that God wanted us to move forward toward impacting eternity... God is helping us change from being an American church with a global vision to a global church with a global vision.”

Truthfully, the Mings stepped into a challenging situation, especially financially, but through sound stewardship and conviction in biblical tithing, God began to turn the situation around. Not only did the Movement begin to operate with a balanced budget, but it made steps to become debt-free by 2039 and witnessed an additional $700,000 come in through One Mission—One Movement to fund new ministry and mission. To God be the glory, great things He has done.

At the end of the service, the General Council gathered around the Mings to honor them with words of encouragement, gifts of gratitude, and an offering of celebration to carry them into their next season of ministry. Both Wayman and Kimberly, expressed their sincere thanks, saying, “It has been the honor of a lifetime for us to serve as your General Bishop and Women’s Ministries Director. We truly love you. You have become our family. There have been so many warm embraces and words of encouragement. It has just been an incredible season for us. No leader is indispensable. God has prepared the next leader to charge up the hill, and we look forward to charging with them. PCG, you are our family, and exciting days are ahead... My hope and prayer is simply this: that the Pentecostal Church of God in this second-century will write one story for eternal impact.”

A foundation has been laid for us. We honor it, and we aim to build upon it. As we step forward into another chapter of a PCG 2.0, we do so with both gratitude and expectation. What does a PCG 2.0 look like? It looks like them. It looks like us. It looks like you.

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“Father, I thank you for the legacy that we stand upon and the mantles that are about to be released... Let unity run like oil through this Assembly.”

^{— Rev. Russell Hylton, Assistant General Bishop, Northeastern Division;  an excerpt from his prayer of blessing at the start of General Assembly}.

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