The Assemblies of God (USA) has been holding a grand celebration for the denomination's centennial this week, with thousands of visitors to the event along with an estimated 10.5 million viewers participating through the live stream on their website.
The event, which started on Tuesday, August 5th and ends this Sunday, features many different exhibits, seminars, speakers, and worship leaders. Some session topics include church planting, human rights / social justice, and the future of the church.
Tuesday and Wednesday was primarily focused on church planting, and on the Wednesday night Global Church Planting Summit closing session, Pastor Mark Batterson from National Community Church spoke on prayer.
"When you pray to God regularly, irregular things will happen on a regular basis," he said during his message.
In a report from the centennial event website, Jim Bradford, the AG General Secretary, was quoted saying, "I really feel there's a fire being kindled here that will spread around the world. We're doing this together and the Spirit of God is at the center of it," after the Global Church Planting Summit closing session was concluded.
Another notable speaker from the centennial event is John Dramani Mahama, the president of Ghana, who spoke on Thursday night. Mahama is currently the chairman of Economic Community of West African States, and flew in to the centennial event after a trade and security summit with President Barack Obama.
"The world is becoming a very dangerous place," he said to his audience. "All sorts of fundamentalist groups threaten freedoms and liberties of nations. Working together as a global alliance, we can block it."
Worship leaders include Angie Miller, who placed third in the finals at American Idol in 2013. Miller will be leading worship in the grand finale session on Sunday night.
The Assemblies of God, which was founded in 1914, grew from 300 at its beginning, to over 67 million members worldwide, according to the denomination website.
