On June 23rd a one-day Kingdom Convocation was held at Harvest Ministries International in Bay City, Texas. The host pastor was William Atchison. ACLC-Texas co-chairs Dr. Karen Hollie-Thibodeaux and Rev. Mark Hernandez assembled the 40 pastors together. Many new pastors have come forward. Earlier in the month Rev. Bob Exler, co-chairman of ACLC for Houston and key leader of ACLC, testified at an interfaith meeting that he was with ACLC founded by Rev. Moon. As he gave his testimony, a powerful Pastor Nwobu came forward, saying, “I was there in the 50-state tour and I received the anointed message of Father Moon. I moved my ministry and lost contact. I’m so excited to meet you.”
Rev. Exler brought Rev. Nwobu and also Apostle Mitchell to a lunch meeting with Rev. Jenkins right after he arrived, and Rev. Karen and David Thibodeaux came for fellowship. Apostle Mitchell is founder of Kingdom Broadcast Corporation, a broadcast company for Christian programming. Well-known pastors throughout the Houston area have been involved with this broadcast over the years.
Both Rev. Nwobu, who knew the value of this movement, and Apostle Mitchell, who was brand-new, brought several insisters to the program on Saturday. It was a very exciting time as Rev. Hernandez gave the vision for the family. Rev. Jenkins shared the biblical vision of Jesus and how he was victorious in overcoming all challenges and trials, and yet much more could have happened if the people have believed and received Jesus as they were told.
Dr. Hollie gave an amazing message on the Fall of Man, how Adam and Eve disobeyed God and that there were things in the Bible that were not literal but symbolic, that there was no real fruit in terms of a literal fruit. But just as Jesus said, the seed in the parable of the sower is the word of God, the fruit actually had to do with the love of Eve, and disobedience meant that Adam and Eve started their family, creating children before they were mature in the blessing of God. (Dr. Hollie is co-chair of the Texas ACLC. She’s president of Grace International Seminary and pastor of the Living Gospel Ministries.)
During the Q&A sessions with the pastors, many challenging issues were brought out, but due to the presence of the ACLC national and Texas leadership, pastors felt stretched and inspired because there was no question that couldn’t be understood and analyzed. The pastors were overwhelmed with the love they experienced at this fellowship. Rev. Helen Kashiwa and also Ms. Yuriko Bohle and many others helped do the outreach to the ministry. Our hats are off to Rev. Bob Exler, whose diligent love and outreach to the clergy have opened the door for these fellowships to occur. John and Elizabeth Ayadu, ACLC volunteers, continuously did outreach to many churches over the years, and they met this wonderful ministry of Bishop Atchison. Once they gave him an invitation to the Pastors Forum, and he was surprised to see the picture of Bishop Jesse Edwards on the invitation. He said, “Jesse Edwards is a close friend of mine.” Because of that, John and Elizabeth’s hard work and diligent prayer opened the door for this wonderful pastor to come forward. He’s over 200 organizations in Pentecostal Christianity. He has churches in Philippines and Africa.
He was touched by Bishop Edwards and eventually by Rev. Hernandez to feel Jesus and the Holy Spirit are moving with ACLC to bring the body of Christ together. Bishop Atchison gave a tremendous message at the lunch program about the holy role of pastors, how precious they are as God’s anointed, and how we must do all we can to help the pastors fulfill their missions and responsibility. Bishop Atchison left to the Philippines the following Monday for a major development and teaching. Harvest Ministries is a wonderful place of worship, with a fellowship hall that was built based on a vision given to Bishop Atchison by God. Bishop Atchison took us for a tour of the beautiful sanctuary that’s appointed with the finest wood and material with which to honor God.