{"id":23383,"date":"2021-04-13T10:20:35","date_gmt":"2021-04-13T10:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/they-moved-the-kingdom-of-god-forward-an-interview-with-dean-merrill\/"},"modified":"2021-04-13T10:20:35","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T10:20:35","slug":"they-moved-the-kingdom-of-god-forward-an-interview-with-dean-merrill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/they-moved-the-kingdom-of-god-forward-an-interview-with-dean-merrill\/","title":{"rendered":"They Moved the Kingdom of God Forward: An interview with Dean Merrill"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Pneuma Review speaks with Dean Merrill about his book, 50 Pentecostal and Charismatic Leaders Every Christian Should Know <\/em><\/a>(Chosen, 2021).<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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PneumaReview.com: Please tell us about your own involvement in the Pentecostal Movement.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dean Merrill:<\/strong> My parents\u2014good Midwestern Quakers\u2014were drawn toward a fuller experience of the Holy Spirit about the time I was born. My personal infilling came while I was still a boy, a year after my conversion. Sensing a call to ministry, I trained at a Pentecostal school (Chicago Bible College) and was ordained thereafter by Philadelphia Church, Chicago. My convictions have remained the same throughout my life, even though much of my editing and publishing work has been in generically evangelical circles.<\/p>\n

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PneumaReview.com: Where did the idea for this book come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dean Merrill:<\/strong> Actually, it was the idea of the publisher (Chosen Books, part of the Baker Publishing Group). They had published two similar volumes: 50 People Every Christian Should Know <\/em>(2009) and 50 Women Every Christian Should Know <\/em>(2014). They approached me to keep the series going.<\/p>\n

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PneumaReview.com: Were there specific criteria that were used to determine which Pentecostal and Charismatic leaders would be included in this volume?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Smith Wigglesworth, bold as a lion
\nWilliam J. Seymour, igniting Azusa Street
\nJohn G. Lake, making room for the Healer
\nAimee Semple McPherson, everybody’s sister
\nDavid du Plessis, bridge-builder
\nLeonard Ravenhill, sounding the alarm
\nJohn and Elizabeth Sherrill, scribes of the renewal
\nJesse Miranda, up from the barrio
\nDavid Wilkerson, straight shooter
\nCindy Jacobs, the “general”
\n– from the Publisher\u2019s page<\/a><\/div>Dean Merrill:<\/strong> Well, yes\u2014first, as the title says, it had to be people whom \u201cevery Christian should know.\u201d (There were some possible names I didn\u2019t <\/em>want every Christian to know about!) Second, they needed to be people with a credible ministry. Notice, I didn\u2019t say \u201cperfect.\u201d Many of them had flaws and shortcomings (which I don\u2019t gloss over the book), but generally speaking, they moved the Kingdom of God forward. And third, their influence had some breadth to it; they touched people beyond their own little corner of the church.<\/p>\n

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PneumaReview.com: In the book you mention that you and at least one other family member received ministry from a couple of the people whose stories are in the book. Please tell our readers a little bit about those encounters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dean Merrill:<\/strong> I was about ten years old when, at an Oral Roberts campaign in Des Moines, Iowa, my father guided me into the healing line to receive prayer for my enlarged adenoids. It was the last night of the campaign, so Roberts was moving us through quickly, trying to touch everyone who hadn\u2019t been able to come up previously. He laid his hand on my head and prayed a short prayer. My problem went away thereafter, never requiring surgery.<\/p>\n

They were confident that the God who saves us is the God who heals.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>A year or so later, I was sitting in the row when healing evangelist William Branham singled my dad out of a large crowd at the Chicago Coliseum and said, through the word of knowledge, that his serious ulcer problem would now be healed. We all broke up in tears of joy, since his stomach flare-ups had been just agonizing. That night after the service, we went out to a restaurant, where he had a zesty meal and suffered no ill effects. It made an indelible impression on my young mind and heart.<\/p>\n

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PneumaReview.com: As you have studied the lives of the leaders who are included in the book, what would you say are some of the key factors that caused them to be so effective?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dean Merrill: <\/strong><\/p>\n