Pastors Believe for Thousands of Holy Ghost Baptisms on Pentecost Sunday

The Pentecost Sunday Initiative will come to life this Sunday as preachers in pulpits all over the world proclaim the transforming, renewing, empowering truth of the Holy Spirit.

Entire Spirit-empowered denominations are calling their congregatins to participate and churches from Africa to Australia, India to Indiana and Beirut to Bogota are preparing to celebrate.

Among Christians, Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon 120 followers of Jesus including the apostles as described in Acts Chapter 2. Pentecost was “the Birth of the church” and was the beginning of the great Christian harvest with 3,000 people receiving Christ as their Savior on that day.

“The Pentecost Sunday Initiative is a simple idea birthed from our Empowered21 conversations where new generations have requested to learn more about the Holy Spirit and God’s immediate presence in their lives,” says Billy Wilson, executive director for the International Center for Spiritual Renewal and Empowered21 and Co-chair of the Empowered21 Global Council.

“We anticipate that thousands of believers will experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit around the world on this exciting day,” Wilson says. “2012 is just the beginning as we proclaim Pentecost afresh in the 21st century.”

Thousands of churches and ministries on the six inhabited continents are expected to participate. No church is too small or too large to be a part of this unified proclamation of the Holy Spirit’s ministry.

“When I first heard the concept and idea of asking every pastor in the world to preach on the power of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday, I felt this was God inspired,” says Robert Morris, senior pastor of Gateway Church in Dallas/Fort Worth and a member of the Empowered21 Global Council.

“What could happen if we unite in preaching and teaching what the Bible says about the power, the person and the presence of the Holy Spirit? When the early church received this power they turned their world upside down. I want to encourage pastors around the world to commit to preaching and teaching on the Holy Spirit this Pentecost Sunday that we may also experience the power needed to turn our world upside down for the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Gateway Church has provided downloadable resources from Morris’ best-seller book, The God I Never Knew: How Real Friendship with the Holy Spirit can Change Your Life at pentecostsunday.tv. Pastors and congregations can sign up on the site to solidify their unity with thousands of others around the world and access the free resources.

The May issue of Charisma gives focus to Pentecost Sunday. Steve Strang, founder of Charisma Media and a member of the Empowered21 Global Council, writes, “If you’re a pastor, preach on the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday and invite people to receive the mighty infilling of the Holy Spirit. In a way, every Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, just as every Sunday is Resurrection Day. But since it’s on the calendar and since other churches recognize the day, let’s use it as a time to call attention to the fact that believing in the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives is something that isn’t just a theory in our churches but a reality.”