As the year comes to a close, I want to thank those who read and follow my work on this blog. It is not lost on me that the world is competing for attention with digital content. Whether you are one of the several hundred subscribers to the blog or one of the approximately 25,000 who found it through searches, I am grateful to you for reading and caring about the work I do. I hope it adds value to your understanding of the world in some small way.

Now to my review of 2025…

Its been a light year on academic publishing, but a huge year of contributing to the publishing interests of the Assemblies of God. Here are the highlights.

A New AG History Book Coming Soon!

In publishing, my biggest accomplishment in 2025 was completing a new history of the Assemblies of God. Several years back, a number of friends kept asking if I was going to do a updated history of the AG. After pursuing several possibilities, in Fall 2024 I signed a contract with the Gospel Publishing House to write a new popular history. Over the next 6 months, God helped write a 40,000-word new popular, the first since Blumhofer’s 1985. The book is in final production and is expected out in early January.

I also contributed essays to two new AG Books on the Holy Spirit. The first was an edited volume called Holy Spirit in the Life of the Discipler that features pieces by AG scholars and ministers on how the Holy Spirit works in the discipleship process. I teamed up with Dr. Mellisa Alfaro to author a chapter on how the Holy Spirit helps the teacher in the teaching process. This great new volume can be found here: https://myhealthychurch.com/store/startitem.cfm?item=020743&cat=iNEWTITLES&mastercat=&path=AGMHCINDEX

Another book I contributed to is The Art of the Altar a new book by AG evangelists on altar ministry in the 21st Century. I contributed a historical chapter highlighting how the altar has been important to Pentecostal ministry. It should be out in 2026, but you can check it out here:

I also had the privilege of publishing several pieces in the Influence Magazine, a magazine published for AG ministers. I am grateful to George P. Wood for being allowing me to contribute two articles and a review. I love Influence Magazine and am so grateful to contribute.

One was published in the Summer issue called “A Baptism of Love” and discusses how early Pentecostals equated Spirit-baptism as a baptism of Love. The Love of God is poured out “in our hearts” in Spirit-baptism, therefore Spirit-filled Christians should be known for thier love. You Can read that article here: A Baptism of Love.

A second article was published this fall called “Books Every AG Minister Should Read.” This article discusses various historical and theological books on Pentecostalism that I would recommend to ministers to have in their library. From popular books to academic works, these books are helpful in developing a sense of the ethos of Pentecostal theology and history. You can read the article here.

I also published a book review of Larry Martin’s William J. Seymour book. You can read about it on another blog I wrote about that.

Academic Publishing

Due to the major book project and other writing projects for the AG, I only worked on a few academic publications that are expected to be published next year. Here is a preview.

The first is an essay on “Pentecostals and Public Health” that will be published in an upcoming edited volume in the Brill Encyclopedia Global Pentecostalism Supplement: North America, edited by Peter Althouse and Andrea Johnson (Brill), forthcoming in 2026. In it, I explore how Pentecostals navigated the tensions with public health concerns. Similar to the work I did on the Spanish Flu epidemic, I looked at how Pentecostals responded to public-based health issues, including medicine, public health institutions, vaccines, contraception, and other public health-related issues, as captured in Pentecostal publications.

A second essay I wrote was an academic biographical sketch entitled “Vinson Synan: A Pioneer of Pentecostal Studies,” for a new edited volume of essays from ORU Press about Synan’s life and later academic work. That book contains essays he wrote, as well as reflections from various people following his passing. This edited volume should be out in 2026.

I also read and reviewed two books for which I wrote book reviews that are scheduled for publication next year.

This first is a new history of African American Christianity by Walter R. Strickland called “Swing Low: A History of Black Christianity”. The two-volume work, Swing Low , stands alone as the first volume to focus on the history of Black Christianity in the Protestant tradition in the United States. I love this book. Its approach is enlightening and refreshing. That review is scheduled for publication in Pneuma in 2026.

Another is a review of a new history on AG missions that will be out sometime next year. Although that one is still in process.

Personal Highlights

On a personal level, my favorite part of 2026 was seeing my wife, Dr. Amonda Matthewman-Isgrigg, graduate with her Ed.D. from Oral Roberts University in May. As if that were not enough, she received the award for the Outstanding Doctoral Student in the College of Education, and as a faculty member, was honored with the Excellence in Teaching Award for the College of Arts and Cultural Studies! Wow, what a year! Dr. Matthewman-Isgrigg is making a great contribution to ORU and her college as an English/Writing professor. I am so proud of her.

2025 was a great year. Although my academic CV has been somewhat thin this past year, I have been very busy with the opportunities that have opened up for me to contribute to the AG and its publishing interests. I never dreamed that when I began my dissertation research in 2009, it would lead to being invited into these circles. I am so grateful to God, but also to the AG ministers and leaders who appreciate my work and believe that it is beneficial to the fellowship. Many people have supported me and advocated for me to be where I am today. I am so grateful. I believe 2026 is going to be a great year with the new AG history coming out.

I hope you all have a great 2026 as well.