Devotion with emotion
Speaking in tongues, joyous worship mark services at Pentecostal church
Friday, September 29, 2006
Jeb Phillips
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Pastor James Stark watches the worship during an altar call that features loud praise, speaking in tongues and prayer.
DORAL CHENOWETH III Worshippers at Calvary Apostolic Church speak in tongues during a prayer. From left are Nancy Robinson, Peggy Johnson and Carrie Williams.
Derek Cranstoun praises God through speaking in tongues during the worship service.
They believe they are reborn in the Spirit, which is not a quiet thing. From the lectern, the Rev. James Stark preaches so hard that his face turns red and the sweat pops out on his forehead. He uses a microphone, but he doesn?t need it.
"I don?t know what you came for this morning," he yells, "but if you came without the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you don?t have to leave that way!"
You can hear the band ? guitar and bass, keyboard, drums, saxophone ? standing outside of the building, and if you?re inside, you can feel the vibrations through the floor.
In the front row, a 16-year-old named Aaron Johnson is swinging around a towel that says "In Your Face, Devil." An 81-year-old named Carrie Williams says she feels as much joy today as she did in 1971, when the Spirit first came into her.
"Some people say I?m a holy roller," she said. "They got that right. I?m holy, and my name is on the roll."
But this is praising God, with recognizable music and words. When the Spirit comes over the members of the Calvary Apostolic Church in the Short North, though, they start speaking words they don?t know.
A man says a bunch of syllables that sound vaguely like Hebrew, but he?s never learned Hebrew. A woman opens her mouth and a lot of "L" sounds come out.
They call it speaking in tongues ? the physical evidence of a spiritual baptism. In the Bible, Acts Chapter 2, the Holy Ghost comes upon the apostles during Pentecost and causes them to speak languages they don?t know. And that is what happens at the Calvary Apostolic Church, its members say. They are Pentecostals.
"I came into this church eight years ago, and God gave me the Holy Ghost," said Jim Johnson, 42. "It felt like someone had taken the top of my head off and poured this warm stuff into my soul. . . . People say, ?Why do you jump around and act crazy?? If you felt the way I did, you would, too."
Some members meet a little before the 10 a.m. service, when it?s quieter, to invite the Spirit in.
At first, only two old women are sitting in the prayer room for the early meeting. Then Dathan Herring, a staff minister, walks in and begins clapping.
"Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah," he says. "Yes Lord, Yes Lord. Oh, God, move in this place today."
He claps and paces, and in a few minutes, the room is jammed. It has 56 chairs, all full. Other people are kneeling, and some are standing. People are crying, yelling and speaking in tongues
And, just like that, the sound dies. Stark asks people to join hands, and he tells them that the Lord reigns supreme. Then the meeting, the quieter one, the pep rally, is finished.
They file downstairs for the main service. Time to get really loud.
Calvary Apostolic Church is at 38 W. Greenwood Ave., just southwest of N. High Street and 5 th Avenue.
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