Solemn Assembly is an expression of common resolve by a people to corporately join together before the face of God to be reconciled from sin and to seek His will for their future. Bishop B.E. Underwood and the General Executive Board of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church have in obedience to God called us together to repent of the sins of our past and to seize by faith the promise of our future.

Our church can rejoice in the legacy of achievement left to us by our forefathers in the faith. There are many spiritual giants in our history whose performance has been a great inspiration to our own efforts today. As a denomination we can boldly say that there is "a past to build upon."

However, there are systemic sins in our past that if ignored will prevent us from the promise of our tomorrow in Christ. There is a "future to fulfill" for the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, but the seven deadly sins of our past that we confess today cannot be a part of it, i.e. spiritual pride, judgmentalism, controlling spirit, racism, male domination, elder brother syndrome, and greed.

In recent years the Lord has graciously given prophetic direction to our church concerning His intended future for us. He declares,

"This is a new dawn, child. It is a day when I am calling you to take a 'big step' with Me. This is not a day for smallness. This will not be a small step. As you move forward we will take this step together. You are coming up to a new plateau in Me, and in this place you will see My spaciousness and graciousness. This is not a time to shrink back! Step forward, receive my spaciousness and graciousness."

When Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees, it was a big step filled with uncertainty. The seed of promise, Isaac, did not appear until Abraham was well increased in years, and it was not until Isaac was placed on the altar that the promise was truly fulfilled.

The International Pentecostal Holiness Church began almost 100 years ago. The promise of God was that in us "all the peoples of the earth would be blessed." Now that we have come to place this church upon the altar we can fully expect the promise to be fulfilled.

In October of 1991 John Dawson, author of "Taking Our Cities For God", prophetically portrayed the International Pentecostal Holiness Church as God would have us be:

• A people prepared for harvest confidently asking for great things
• A movement characterized by joy
• A people identified by their ability to know, encourage and serve the whole Church
• A tribe that raises up leadership for a vision as big as the world
• A strategic, informed army of intercessors who carry the nations in their heart
• A people who are poor in spirit and understand the fellowship of the rescued
• A people that condemns no man, having a spirit of adoption to the rejected and unlovely
• A people containing an extended family of many cultures and nationalities
• A people with liberty to create, without fear, forms of worship and ministry that release the full personality of the Creator
• A pioneering people of radical generosity, doing bigger things than our resources allow us to do

Before this shadow "seen through a glass darkly" can become substance the International Pentecostal Holiness Church must address its sins of the past. That is our purpose and intent. Join in agreement with this exercise of repentance and faith as the dear children of God fulfilling all righteousness.

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