After Lori Myles went from Memphis, Tenn., to Paine College on a basketball scholarship in 1981, she said, she left the school with more than an experience in academics and athletics.
The basketball coaches required that players attend church every Sunday. After she met Kerwin Myles, a devout Pentecostal and son of a Pentecostal preacher, she began accompanying her new boyfriend regularly to his church.
That started her life as a Pentecostal Christian, she said.
Pentecostalism is an Evangelical Christian movement that began near the end of the 19th century. It is characterized by worshippers who feel a direct, personal connection to God and who speak in tongues.
Mrs. Myles, a job/internship coordinator at T.W. Josey High School, married her boyfriend, who is now the Rev. Myles, the pastor of Augusta Deliverance Evangelistic Church, of a Pentecostal denomination.
For more than 20 years, Mrs. Myles has considered herself a Pentecostal Christian, she said.
"I believe that we operate in every aspect of the Bible -- the fivefold ministry, meaning that I believe in the apostle, pastor, teacher, evangelist and the prophet," she said. "I believe in the speaking of tongues, I believe in miracles working through faith -- the laying-on-of-hands ministry, the prophetic ministry, which deals with the dreams and visions and the discerning of spirits. I believe that this is not our home."
Mrs. Myles described the experience of speaking in tongues as a feeling of "when you get full" from prayer and thinking of God's goodness, so much that when you try to speak, it "begins to be a stutter at first, then you allow it to come and it sounds like a foreign language."
It comes from the book of Acts, which tells of the Holy Ghost's coming over a people who begin speaking in tongues, she said.
"It came from the innermost parts of their belly and proceeded out of their mouth," she said. "When you get saved, you get filled with God's Holy Ghost. But the Bible says the evidence of the Holy Ghost in you is the speaking in the unknown tongue."
This unknown tongue, she said, sometimes relays messages to God that worshippers might have left out of their prayers.
"The Bible says when he allows us to speak in an unknown tongue, the Holy Spirit is praying for us what we need to be praying for," she said. "We pray for one thing, but when we speak in tongues, we don't even know it, but we're praying for things we ought to be praying for anyway."
Mrs. Myles said the Holy Spirit builds her up and makes her faith strong.
She is comforted and encouraged daily knowing that, through the acceptance of Jesus Christ, "we serve a sovereign God with no limits; if he said it, it can be done."
"He is so awesome, and I fell in love with him," she said of Jesus. "And I told the Lord a long time ago, if I'm not going to live this way, go on and take my life. Let me leave here. God wants us to be victorious. It's not about dying; it's about living with God in charge."
Reach C. Samantha McKevie at (706) 823-3552 or samantha.mckevie@augustachronicle.com.
Pentecostalism by the numbers
6.2 million - Pentecostals in the U.S. in 2004
400 million to 600 million - Pentecostals in the world
About Pentecostalism
Its origins
- An Evangelical Christian faith in which worshippers have a direct, personal experience with God.
- The Pentecostal movement comes from the day of Pentecost, which was observed in Jerusalem 50 days after the celebration of the Passover, said the Rev. Francine Pearce, the pastor of House of the Lord Pentecostal Church on 10th Street. The Holy Spirit was made evident coming over the disciples through their sudden ability to speak in tongues, she said.
- The birth of the modern Pentecostal movement is generally traced to Azusa Street in downtown Los Angeles in April 1906, when a revival of people speaking in tongues began and lasted for three years. The movement is said to have stemmed from the Holiness movement in Methodism.
The Pentecostal way
BAPTISM: Immersion in water after a confession of faith in and acceptance of Jesus Christ, the Rev. Pearce said: "This is a total cleansing of sins and signifies a newness of life in Christ. The baptism is an outward testimony of faith that a change has taken place inwardly."
COMMUNION: Done by passing around wafers or bread and grape juice, according to the Bible's instruction to do so in remembrance of Jesus. Frequency of the ritual is up to the place of worship.
"This connects us as a reminder of Christ's death, burial and Resurrection, a reminder of his sacrifice," she said.
CHOIRS: Varies among places of worship, but each has different choirs and praise and worship groups.
CHURCHES: Denominations include Assemblies of God, Church of God and Church of God in Christ.
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