Reverend Mark Stromberg of Lynden United Reformed Church in Washington State joins Pastor Chris Gordon to talk all things Pentecostal. In the first video (below), Rev. Stromberg shares his experiences as a Pentecostal preacher and breaks down what happens during a typical Pentecostal service. They discuss his colourful childhood growing up in the church and what led him out of the Pentecostal church and into the Reformed Faith. Their conversation covers speaking in tongues, church revivals, and the time Pastor Stromberg broke his pulpit.
Rev. Stromberg was raised Pentecostal and became an influential Pentecostal preacher in Montana for more than a decade. As his understanding of the Bible grew, so did his doubts about the Pentecostal Church. His study of Acts 2 and questions about regeneration led him out of Pentecostalism and into Westminster Seminary in Escondido, California. He answered the call to become the preaching pastor at Lynden United Reformed Church in Lynden, Washington where he resides today.
Video 2: Leaving Pentecostalism behind
Chris Gordon continues the conversation Rev. Stromberg. The discussion pivots to how Rev. Stromberg’s understanding of the Bible led to doubts about Pentecostalism and his inevitable path to the Reformed faith. He explains how voicing his concerns caused the church, and his own uncle, to silence him, ban him, and hand him a one-way ticket out of town.
Chapters:
00:00 – Borrowing from the Charismatic movement
01:38 – Pentecostalism reinvents itself
02:34 – Pentecostal in theology, not experience
04:11 – No church after a year of college
05:00 – The Charismatic movement is death?
06:55 – Stromberg on becoming Reformed
07:34 – My uncle recognized Pentecostal deficits
08:29 – Reading Calvin’s Institutes
10:30 – Dry bones and predestination
10:57 – A guy walks into a restaurant
10:00 – Pentecostals deny the Trinity
11:18 – Pentecostals against Kenneth Copeland
13:17 – Banned for being Reformed
15:00 – On to Westminster Seminary
16:00 – Belgrade to Lynden
17:10 – Reformed discomfort
18:54 – Proper Reformed experience
19:47 – Push back on daily conversion
21:00 – Preaching the law to the Saved
22:00 – The Reformed experience of being saved
23:20 – The impact of the truth
23:42 – The sacrifice of the preacher’s wife
25:37 – Breaking the table
26:18 – Preaching conviction and repentance
28:47 – David’s sin
29:46 – The decline of Pentecostalism
Video 3: Cessationism
Pastor Gordon and Rev. Stromberg keep the conversation going as they talk about the importance of preaching God’s wrath and the relevance of truly being convicted of your sin. They discuss how some churches today focus less on sin and more on signs and wonders, and how that idea is putting the power of the Gospel in the wrong place. They interpret scripture with scripture on these issues, referring to Ezekiel, Jeremiah, John, Acts, and Isaiah to better understand the gospel, the true purpose of apostolic gifts, and how they ceased with the apostles. Watch the full episode as they bring the discussion back to the ministry of the word and the gift of being born again.
Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction
01:00 – Reformed struggles
03:00 – The law and daily conversion
03:58 – Conviction of sin
05:23 – The Apostle Paul awakens
06:10 – The experience of true conversion
06:50 – The music moves me
07:58 – Planning the service
08:40 – YWAM
09:23 – Dead in sin
13:01 – Rise of the modern self
13:45 – Eternity, sin, and hell
14:35 – The Gospel isn’t a fix-all
15:40 – Why can’t you just preach Christ?
16:50 – Sin and God’s judgment
17:10 – Reformed discomfort
18:57 – Scripture to interpret scripture
20:47 – The need for Gospel ministry
21:15 – Cessationism, the end of spiritual gifts
22:30 – Acts 2 – The Upper Room
23:41 – The tongues of fire
25:17 – Signs and wonders
28:37 – Acts is about preaching
29:50 – Losing confidence in Christ
30:42 – Putting God in a box
31:27 – Stumbling over the Gospel ministry
33:24 – Wilderness people
34:00 – People want the power