For Christmas, Amonda bought me this shirt. It has a simple phrase: “Write On.”  This shirt was such a blessing to me because it has ably characterized this season of my life. My dissertation was finished nearly a year before I submitted it. In the mean time, I found it refreshing to write about other things I was interested in that I couldn’t do when I was focusing on my dissertation. This was when I wrote my first two Spiritus articles on Oral Roberts.  I found a way to channel the energy and rhythms of my life I had developed to work on some new areas of research and writing.

For many PhD students, the relief of completing the thesis is too great to jump back into writing other things. They simply stop writing. I certainly understand that temptation. It is an exhausting journey. But this wasn’t the case for me. The fact is, God called me to write. I always have.  When I finished my MA thesis in 2007, I was also writing my other book I published.  Its just who I am.

But I also recognize that I am very fortunate that my job is such that I am surrounded by materials and conversations that keep ideas fresh in my mind. While I don’t right during my work hours, I am constantly exposed to areas that need to be explored. When I get home at night, I can’t help but dig into these ideas and write about them. This has led me a a remarkable number of publications that are slated for this year. Here are some of the exciting writing projects I have been working on.

1. I have been assigned to be a special issue editor for the fall Healing Special Issue of Spiritus: ORU Journal of theology. I not only assisted the contributors with their pieces, but I also will write the editorial in which I will focus on the legacy of Oral Roberts to expand the definition of healing to be multidisciplinary.  Oral’s vision was that healing would extend to “every person’s world.” With this outlook, healing could take many forms: medicine, music, evangelism, and other fields and professions. This issue will focus on that legacy.
2. Also In the Healing issue, I have written an article Oral Roberts and his legacy of racial reconciliation situated in the backdrop of Tulsa, a city that has a tragic history of racial division. I am so excited about this article. I believe that it will showcase the radical vision Oral had for racial inclusion with details about his work that few are aware of, even within the university. This will be my 4th article on Oral Roberts as I continue to strive to become the foremost scholar today on Oral Roberts and ORU.
3. I was asked by the editors of Brill’s Encyclopedia of Global Pentecostalism to contribute two entries. One is on Alice Luce, a pioneer in the Assemblies of God missions who founded Latin American Bible Institute. She is a remarkable woman who was a missionary strategist and  founder of Latin American ministry in the US. The second was on A.A. Allen, the famous healing evangelist who was an Assemblies of God minister. Allen was a flamboyant evangelist who had amazing miracles take place in his ministry. He was also controversial. The HSRC has a wonderful collection of Allen resources and it was a delight to research and write about his life.
4. A few years back, my friend and fellow AG scholar, Rick Wadholm, talked about working on an edited volume together. After several ideas, we began to think about compiling some studies on the emerging discipline in Pentecostal studies of Reception History.  Things really came together when it was announced that the theme for the 2019 SPS conference was Reception History.  The SPS program chair and noted AG New Testament scholar, Martin Middelstadt, joined our editorial team to help us assemble some of the studies presented at the conference into a volume to be published with CPT Press. I am just thrilled to be working with these great friends and scholars on this ground breaking volume.
5. In the Reception History volume, I will publish the SPS paper I wrote on the reception history of “tarrying” for the baptism in the Holy Spirit from testimonies in the Azusa Street Mission paper, The Apostolic Faith. This paper was well received at the conference and I believe gives insights into the dynamics,  methods and struggles for people being baptized in the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the Pentecostal Movement.
6. I was also approached about contributing a chapter to an upcoming edited volume that is a primer on Pentecostal Theology edited by David Bradnick called Voices of the Spirit. It is a survey of various leading scholarly voices in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement. I was asked to write a profile of Dr. Peter Althouse, one of the most notable theologians of the Pentecostal tradition. Althouse was a very important scholar in my dissertation because of his publications on Pentecostal eschatology.  No one has done more to bring to light the importance and issues surround Pentecostal eschatology. It was a real joy to bring his important contributions to light.
7. In my role as director of the HSRC, I was asked to submit an article on the HSRC resources pertaining to Canadian Pentecostalism in the Canadian Journal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity. This too was a joy because it was wonderful for me to become more familiar with my own collection in the HSRC as well as the history of Canadian Pentecostalism.  This should come out later this year.

As you can see, I have been very busy. But I have loved every project. Some have asked how I have time and energy to do all of this. The answer is simple: Write On.  Although its not every day, it is not unusual for me to spend a couple hours a night several times a week working on research and writing (not binge watching Netflix certainly helps!). This was the pattern I developed when I was working on my dissertation. I just kept the same pace and have stayed curious about what is out there that needs explored. But beyond that, I love to do it. This is what I am called to do and I am thankful for the opportunities that I have been given to do it. I hope I can keep up this pace. I feel like I can because I found the secret.  “Write On!”