Since he opened its doors last fall, Mr. Hamblin's small Pentecostal church, 39 miles north of Knoxville, has grown to almost 50 members, most of them in their 20s. Part of his strategy for expansion has been to use Facebook to publicize the daredevil spiritual exploits of his congregation. Best known for what they call "gifts of the Holy Spirit," like speaking in tongues and giving prophetic utterances, Pentecostals seek a direct, personal connection to God. The movement dates back to 1901 and has mushroomed in recent decades to some 15 million adherents in the U.S. and 279 million world-wide, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
But the major Pentecostal denominations condemn snake handling, and Mr. Hamblin's risk-taking sometimes gets the best of him. At midnight on New Year's Eve, he was bitten on his index finger by a yellow timber rattlesnake. He staggered and then dropped to his knees. After a few minutes, he got up.
"I felt the anointing of God more than I'd ever felt," he said a day later over pizza. Read More
0 comments:
Post a Comment