The Cross / Summer 2015

CrossCrossS U M M E R 2 0 1 5

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LifeOF

Kenneth F. Haney

SUMMER 2015 | THE CROSS 5

From the Editor

PUBLISHED BY

Christian Life Ministry9025 West LaneStockton, CA 95210PHONE: 209-957-4027WEBSITE: clministry.com

EDITOR Nathaniel K. HaneyDESIGN DIRECTOR Joshua RivasDESIGN ASSISTANT Ishmael BrunoTHE CROSS STAFF Vickie Ogden, Eli Lopez, Regina Lopez, William Riddell, Israel Rodriguez

No articles may be reprinted in whole or in part without obtaining permission from Christian Life Ministry.

PRINTED IN THE USA

This issue is dedicated to my father, the late Kenneth Franklyn Haney. He was a man who loved and be-

lieved in people, finding their abilities, and empowering them to do something lasting and meaningful in life. In my opin-ion, which many share, he was the great-est visionary the UPCI has ever had. But greater than his vision was his Christiani-ty, for when he was attacked by little men, he never retaliated against them. At all times he showed the character of Christ with love and dignity throughout his life. He had a very special relationship with my mother and loved her very much. I’m sure that if anything was hard for him, it was leaving my mother behind. It is im-possible to tell the whole of such a man as he was in this short publication of less than 40 pages, but, since his life touched so many, I have tried to share just a little

about him in regards to his ministry and character. In some ways it seems like only yesterday when the angels came that night to give him his chauffeured ride into the Holy City where he was welcomed by the Lord Jesus and that great body of departed saints. I loved my father dearly and miss him greatly. For you who also loved him, I hope this brings back some good memories of a great man who left us way too soon. May God touch each reader with the desire to do more for the Name of Jesus while we are still able.

Nathaniel K. Haney

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CONTENTS

GOD'S WAITING ROOM | 6When you find yourself in God's waiting room

COVENANT THEOLOGY AND ONENESS PENTECOSTALISM | 10The dangers that we see in covenant theology

CHRISTIAN LIFE COLLEGE ISRAEL STUDY TOUR | 12The reports of three students who were part of our 2015 tour

STUDENT MISSIONS | 16CLC students talk about their mission trips to India and Kenya

CLC THE XPERIENCE | 20Highlights from Xperience 2015

STAFF SPOTLIGHT | 22Joanne Gresham is the Director of Student Recruitment and Development at Christian Life College

THE LIFE OF KENNETH F. HANEY | 23The story of Kenneth Franklyn Haney

CrossCross

6 THE CROSS | SUMMER 2015

I t's pretty much one of the most dreaded places to be.

A room filled with complete strangers who awkwardly stare at each other and then, at the moment your eyes meet, look away as in complete denial of getting caught. I remember the day my four-year-old daughter fell, while hanging from the towel rack in the bathroom, and the outcome was a bump on her forehead the size of a baseball. (Did I make mention it was two days before I went in to give birth to my second child?) After five to six hours in the ER waiting room I learned that the nuts and fruits really do come out after midnight, and there really was good reason for that security Plexiglas wall to guard the receptionist. Waiting rooms.

The waiting room is a room that has no boundaries or preju-dice; it’s open to all ages, shapes, genders, and positions. Beyond all the negative feelings of the crazies, the vomiting, the phobias, and the screaming kids, the worst part is the fact of having no control over time.

“Instant” has become a part of our DNA and the outcome of the way we resolve issues. Without realizing it we try to fit God and the way He thinks, processes, and responds into this mold. When He doesn’t come through within the time frame we think He should, we give up, quit believing, quit praying, and forfeit the answers to our prayers.

My friend, if we fail to realize that God has a waiting room we will miss out on so many fulfillments. It’s not a room filled with people reading dated editions of Women’s Day magazines, but it’s a room where the individuals who are waiting on a promise from God will sit.

God’s spiritual treasures are found in His waiting room, but

sometimes we have our eyes so set on the end results of getting our needs met, receiving our miracle, and getting our prayers answered that we miss the true riches He is trying to pass on to us along the journey.

When we as children of God are not aware of His waiting room, we begin to internally assume that God is not listening, does not desire to meet our needs, or no longer works in the lives of His people in miraculous ways.

Many times, after we have prayed and sought God for the an-swer to a situation, He gives us a Word or confirmation that He has heard our cry and will respond to our prayer. Then, in His grace and love for us, He will open the door to the waiting room and mo-tion for us to take a seat. This, many times, is where we lose it.

It is here, inside of this room, where people let go of their promises because they do not understand the journey of waiting and the fact God works in seasons. When their answers do not manifest or become visible within a couple of weeks or show some kind of outward result within a certain time frame, they either give up, quit believing it’s going to happen, believe the lie that God does not operate supernaturally anymore, and allow the enemy to steal their faith.

Even within Christian circles the unspoken rule has been if your answer does not come right away, then God probably didn’t hear the request, and we need to keep begging Him until He does. When we are not aware of the waiting room where our promises are very much alive and in the birthing process, we chalk it up as another unanswered prayer and add another stone to our mountain of unbelief. Then we enter into our “begging sessions” where you can actually get to the place where you pray yourself out of faith.

GOD'S WAITINGROOM

By KIM HANEY


It’s all in how you respond during the wait that will determine the outcome of your answer!

God’s waiting room is a place where He manifests Himself to us and develops FAITH in His Word through our responses and actions. He takes us by the hand and teaches us how to react to an unseen world through the works of faith.

PATIENTS OF THE PASTWe know how to respond when God answers and comes through for us and promises come to pass, but what about the times when He doesn’t answer? The times you pray the right prayers, you step out in faith, you hold on to God’s Word, you keep faithful to church, and pay your tithes and offerings – but the only feedback you receive is God’s silence. There are times you can really love God and still have problems.

Throughout the Scriptures, many of God’s people have had to sit in His waiting room before they received their promise. Abra-ham was given a promise and direct Word from God that he and Sarah would give birth to a son in their old age. I’m sure Abraham thought the promise would happen right away or within that same year because He knew God would come through on what He promised. Abraham had no idea that he would be shown to a seat in God’s waiting room and for twenty-five years he would wait.

Paul was seated many times in God’s waiting room. He made mention of the times he had to endure suffering while in God’s waiting room, but he knew it was only for a season and God would eventually bring to pass the promise for which he had waited:

For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed (doubtful): for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. II Timothy 1:12

The prophet Habakkuk had been given a direct vision from God. God made it plainly clear that even though this promise was coming, it would first have to go through a time of “tarrying” or lingering and hesitation; however, just because it had to tarry did not mean that it would not happen.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Habakkuk 2:3

You think ten years is a long time to wait? Noah spent 120 years sitting in God’s waiting room. Noah was 480 years old when God told him to build the ark. The Scriptures tell us he was 600 years old when the flood came, so we can assume that Noah sat in God’s waiting room for 120 years before His promise came to pass. Through laughter, mocking, rejection, and disrespect, every morn-ing Noah responded through acts of faith as he would get out of bed and look for his hammer to continue construction.

Joseph had no idea there was a waiting room prepared for him the day he had his dream. For thirteen years Joseph sat in God’s waiting room until one day his season began to change as God gave him great favor with Pharaoh. Somewhere in those thirteen years Joseph did not give up on his promise. No matter how bleak and dark the situation became, no matter how alone he felt, somewhere he kept that seed of promise alive inside of him that God would come through with what He had spoken.

So how do you respond when you’re shown a seat in God’s waiting room? God’s waiting room is not a place where we sit, flip through magazines, and just worry and wait, but it’s how we respond or don’t respond during the season of waiting that de-termines our future. It’s what we do until, and if we are willing to believe until.

It’s how we react in the face of complete resistance and conflict-ing evidence of the very thing we are seeking from God. Smith Wigglesworth, a man of great faith, would say, “Faith is an act. Faith is an act. That’s what faith is – faith is acting on God’s Word. Faith is acting like God’s Word is true.”

Faith is not something I posses or have, but it’s something I do. God has methods that He works through and honestly, most of the time they do not make sense or are even logical. All He asks us to do is to obey and when we do, He steps on the scene and does the impossible.

James uncovered this powerful truth when he wrote in James 2:17,18:

“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”

James is trying to get this point across so strongly that he concludes by saying faith that is not backed up by actions is dead. No breath, no heartbeat, no pulse, which equals no results. At the same time he is trying to explain that faith blooms and produces through actions. He is declaring to us that the nature of faith ex-presses itself through works.

If faith without works is dead, then faith with works is alive and living! So what are these actions of faith? What specific responses has God outlined for us to follow while we wait on our promises? Faith will only work where the will of God is known.

Jesus said in John 15:7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

This tells us that our prayers and needs we bring to Jesus are conditional and must be based on the Word of God. Many times we just stop at verse seven of John 15, but verse eight goes right along with it and completes the thought: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”

Jesus is talking about bearing “prayer fruit” or in other words, answered prayers. Answered prayers will be the results of knowing and standing on the Word of God.

If you and I don’t know what belongs to us, it won’t do us any good to proceed in asking God for something for which we have no spiritual right to ask. The Word of God will work when everything is screaming against you, when the doctor’s report comes back negative, when the symptoms won’t leave, when bills come, and there’s no money to pay, when your kids are still denying there’s a God, when fear attacks your marriage … anything that comes your way, the Word will keep you in perfect peace when you hide it in your heart and believe it will work for you!

THE WORKS OF PRAISEOne of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard on the works of praise came from a precious woman of faith, Sister Nona Freeman. Her and her husband were missionaries to Africa for sev-eral years. On one occasion Bro. Freeman and two other ministers


were driving to a meeting when they had a horrible car accident. When word finally got to his wife, the only thing that was told her was, “Your husband has been cut into pieces. Come immediately to the hospital.”

When she finally was able to make it to the hospital she was just in time to hear the doctor’s words, “This will be your husband’s last night.” All alone and heavyhearted she went back to the place she was staying for the night. As tears of sorrow began to run down her cheeks, she began to cry out and beg God to heal her husband. After a little while of begging God, she felt the Lord stop her and told her to quit begging as she felt Him say, “If you will praise Me, there will be victory.” Inside emotionally she wanted so badly to cry out to God to save her husband, but she knew God had given her specific orders to praise Him.

In pure obedience to what God told her to do, Nona Freeman began to praise God right in the middle of an impossible circum-stance. Even though she had no sign of healing and still carried the load of sadness and heaviness in her heart, she decided to obey God instead of her emotions and began to praise Him. About 2:30 that early morning, while she was still thanking and praising God, a bright blue light appeared in her room. She began to feel such peace inside and knew that God had received her “sacrifice of praise” and was taking care of her husband.

Early the next morning, as she slowly walked into the hospi-tal room where he lay, he was sitting up in the bed talking. He looked at her and said, “Somewhere about two this morning I just felt a peace, and I knew that everything was going to be alright.” God gave her victory just like He promised He would because she showed forth her faith through the works of praise!

If faith without works is dead, then faith with works brings life! Abraham’s physical realm showed no life, no glimmer of change that this promise from God might be coming together as nothing on the outside had improved. The aches, the pains, and the physical evidence of what takes place in an older person’s body – nothing had changed on the outside to make him believe there was hope or that God was hearing his prayers.

But watch how how Abraham responded to all of this in Romans 4:20:

"He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.”

Not seeing any evidence in the natural, physical world, Abra-ham did not stagger (or go back and forth) at what God promised He was going to do. He kept his faith strong by adding a specific work to his faith – he gave glory to God! He praised God before he saw the miracle happen. Jesus said in Mark 11:24,

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

When you praise Him outwardly you are telling God, “You are bigger than this temporary obstacle.” You’re going to look through the eyes of faith and see it as done. You will see that child that was lost, now saved, and sitting next to you in church. You will see that sick body now healed and full of life and energy. You will see the things you have need of restored and repaired. When you look through the eyes of faith, praise and giving glory to God for what He has done will accompany your actions.

THE POWER OF CONFESSIONSome people think of confession as a Roman Catholic practice that involves confessing sins and personal weakness to a priest while inside a confession booth, but there is another side of confession that is a very powerful work of faith. Hebrews 10:23 is very clear on the power of verbal confession:

“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised).”

Paul wrote this directly to those who were suffering persecution at the time. He is encouraging them to keep professing and verbally confessing without being shaken by their immediate trials or at-tacks of their enemy. Professing your faith is using your voice and your mouth to speak verbally, or make a public acknowledgement and open declaration of what you believe God is going to do.

No, it’s not logical nor is it understandable. It puts you in a very vulnerable position and brings a sense of humility knowing you are stepping out into the unseen world of faith. It’s basically releasing your hand from inside the boat, turning the security of it loose, and stepping out on the promises of God. Your image, your self-confidence, and what others think about you are all put on the line. Confession is a work of faith that is active and outward. Satan knows if he can silence our mouth he can silence our faith.

Paul understood that the word of faith, or the works of faith must also be in your mouth as well as in your heart:

“...the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.” (Romans 10:8)

Confession is faith’s way of expressing itself. As faith begins to confess, it eventually begins to birth reality. Faith makes confes-sion even when there are no physical results, because confession precedes or comes before actually possessing your miracle. When words of confession are backed by the Word of God, and we believe what we speak will come to pass, God will give us power over our circumstance.

When you’re fighting the good fight of faith sometimes it feels as if you’re hanging on to a rollercoaster. There will be times you will wonder where God is at in all of this? Many times much of our anxiety and frustration comes because we expect things to happen on our time clock. Through my personal situation I share in the book, “God Has a Waiting Room,” the greatest treasure that was passed down to me was the fact I had to release time to God. Releasing time actually released me from the pressure of trying to make things happen or push things into existence.

I was one of those people who just assumed that faith was something that happened instantly and visibly, but now I under-stand true faith is how I respond during the wait. When we release time to God, His “times of tarrying” will not influence or sway our stance of faith because there are times God will have us in a hold-ing position.

My friend, if you find yourself in God’s waiting room, don’t believe the lie that God is not hearing your prayers or will not an-swer; just realize you’re in the waiting room. This is a season where God is able to impart and reveal spiritual nuggets – things that only come to those who are willing to wait with Him. ■

Kim Haney is the Director of Women's Ministries at Christian Life Center.

BOOK - $14.99To order, visit us online at www.clministry.com/church/storeRelease Date: August 2015


T HE FIRST TIME I HEARD THE term covenant theology, I immedi-ately assumed it was referring to

the covenants that we find in Scripture. This is a common misunderstanding. This doctrine, in fact, has very little association with the biblical covenants. In Scripture, we see that covenants are God’s method of coming alongside humans in order to accomplish His goals. Biblically, a covenant is a partnership that God uses to relate to His people, and ultimately bring about their redemption. The traditional biblical covenants are well known as the Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic and New Covenant (I suppose there could be more, depending on your view). We do well to identify and study the biblical cov-enants, as they help our understanding of the biblical text. However, this doctrine of covenant theology does not find its roots in the biblical covenants; rather it is a method of biblical interpretation that struggles to find continuity in Scripture, at the expense of the text. Certain elements of its teaching have been circling amongst our brothers — elements, which I believe, are dangerous to the mission of the Oneness movement. This article will briefly highlight a number of these dangers that we can see in covenant theology (hereafter CT), and send a strong warning that we must not embrace this teaching.

We must first identify the parameters of this doctrine so we clearly understand what is being addressed. CT can be summed up in three basic parts. Most adherents would hold two of the three, but the second seems to be consistently spoken amongst its proponents.1

1. Covenant of Works – This covenant is understood to have been made between God and Adam while in the

garden. This is the closest we get to a biblical covenant; traditionally it has been labeled the Adamic Covenant. Although we do not see the language used in the Bible, it seems to fit all re-quirements for a covenant, again that is, God making an agreement with a person to accomplish His goals. The agreement promised eternal life, and prosperity on the earth, as long as God’s word was not violated. How-ever Adam sinned and death entered the world.

2. Covenant of Redemption – This covenant was made between God the Father and God the Son in eternity past, in order to bring about the salva-tion of the elect. Obviously this view is inconsistent with the Oneness Pen-tecostal view of God. It is simply im-possible for a person that maintains the Oneness message to embrace this Trinitarian system. We would believe that there was no covenant between two persons, but rather a decision made by God alone to redeem His creation from sin. He acted on His authority and power, without any permission or consultation.

3. Covenant of Grace – This covenant is made between God and all humans on earth. Essentially, it is emphasiz-ing the importance of the grace of God throughout redemptive history.

This is where we really see the first danger. Grace is not a dispensation, nor is it a covenant. It is a gift. The Bible says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). This gift is not new; it has always been seen throughout Scripture. Embracing a literal hermeneutic, in no way, fails to acknowledge the grace of God

throughout redemptive history. Any person, who is saved, has received the gift of grace. God’s grace is the main thrust of the entire Bible. The whole Scripture revolves around the life, death, resurrection, and the soon return of Jesus Christ. This is the Gospel.

The danger is not in the grace of God, but lies in the fact that there are major distinctions on how that grace is mediated. In other words, God has dealt with people in various ways throughout history, and each time He has had clear distinctions between these people. Many, who hold this view of CT, in reality, have rejected this fun-damental teaching that is in the Scriptures. Advocates of CT will not make a distinction between the church and Israel, and thus removes the future restoration of the nation of Israel. This is where we see the argument come to light, and is the most important issue of this discussion. The questions are these: Is there a future for national Israel in God’s plan in the coming millennial reign? Is there a clear distinction between the church and Israel? If you answered NO to either of these questions, you are in danger of falling into this system of biblical interpretation. By emphasizing one single covenant of grace with all mankind, one may fail to see the distinctions between the people of God, thus fall into disobedience of God’s command (Gen 12:3; Ps 122:6).

This is the greatest danger: the replace-ment of Israel. If we say the distinction between Israel and the church is not absolute, then we make no difference between the two people, and have (at least) merged or (at worst) replaced Israel with the Church. This would put our belief system in danger of the curse of God. This curse is found in the unconditional covenant that God gave to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3; 15:1-7). The stipu-lations of this covenant were one sided. Unilaterally, God would fulfill His promises

COVENANT THEOLOGY AND ONENESS PENTECOSTALISMThis article will briefly highlight a number of dangers that we see in covenant theology and

send a strong warning that this teaching is incompatible with Oneness Pentecostalism

By MICAH JOHNSON


to Abraham, through faith. If Abraham had a requirement, it was simply to believe that God would fulfill His promise and keep His word. Righteousness was accounted to Abraham, based on belief. “For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteous-ness” (Rom. 4:3). There was nothing that Abraham could have done to earn, or completely revoke the blessings of God. God choosing Abraham was not deserved and not initiated by Abraham. God chose, based on His sovereign will. “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers...” (Dt. 7:7-8).

Therefore, The Abrahamic blessings of God cannot be taken away, but they can be squandered. Punishment of Israel as a people is not derived from a disobedi-ence of the Abrahamic covenant. Although other agreements may come into play (e.g. Mosaic), this covenant in particular is not being violated, nor is it being revoked. Some believe that Abraham and his fam-ily had to do something in order for the promise to take effect. They argue from this passage in Genesis, where it says, “... that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him” (Gen. 18:19). However, according to the context, this passage argues for the preservation of the covenant and not the establishment. Abraham’s faith was the sole requirement for God to grant him blessing. This is confirmed, not on my subjective opinion, but rather through the lens of the New Testament. The Bible says, “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Rom 4:19-22).

The covenant that God makes here is an everlasting covenant with His people. Later we read that the church has been grafted into this blessing, not replacing or remov-ing the blessing of promise for Israel. There is a huge difference here between grafting

and removal. Paul is making it clear that Israel has rejected Christ; consequently some have been “broken off”. However, he continues to tell us that these people, as a whole, can and will be grafted back into the tree. The Bible says in Romans 11:23-24, “And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?” God never intends for this agreement to end. He will remain faithful to His people and to His word. He said, “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting posses-sion; and I will be their God” (Gen. 17:7-8).

It is this very distinction that makes CT so dangerous. As Oneness people, we must be careful to keep the distinction between Israel and the church. It seems clear that any person removing or replacing Israel from the plan of God is considered a proponent of this belief system (i.e. CT). This doctrine is also known as Replacement Theology. In a number of textbooks, these are synonymous terms. Paul Enns notes that, “Covenant theology is also known as replacement theology. Replacement theol-ogy is a distinctive of covenant theology.” He continues to write that replacement and covenant theology’s “major weakness is that it must resort to a hermeneutic of allegorization: Israel is made to mean the church.”2 Again, this is to force continuity on Scripture, at the expense of the text. Israel is never seen as a figure, symbol or allegory in order to represent something. Israel representing something else does not seem to be found in Scripture.

Proponents of this dangerous doctrine are forced to reinterpret passages with an allegorical hermeneutic. That is to say, that where the Bible makes specific distinctions between the times and people, the reader changes the meaning of the text to apply to “all believers” and thus replaces past cov-enant promises (mainly the Abrahamic). Charles Ryrie notes that this is consistent among advocates of CT. He says, “Covenant

theologians are well known for their stand on allegorical interpretation especially as it relates to the prophetic Word, and they are equally well known for their amillennial-ism which is only the natural outcome of allegorizing.”3

CT does not stand, in my opinion, because it is built on a faulty foundation of a nonliteral interpretation of Scripture. The danger of an Allegorical method of interpretation is that it is subjective and inconsistent. Any Oneness Pentecostal theology, must invoke a literal interpreta-tion of Scripture. In my view, the literal interpretation of Scripture is the only consistent method of interpretation. When the Bible is interpreted in an allegorical or spiritual way, then there is no way to say when these allegories begin and end. The dangers of this type of method are endless. Enns rightly notes “Allegorization is not ob-jective in its interpretation; it is subjective and leads to a serious question: If the texts concerning Israel can be allegorized, what else can be allegorized? Liberal theologians take this concept to a final conclusion by allegorizing the claims of Christ, thereby denying Christ’s deity.”4

In conclusion, I believe that we must defend our belief system against any hint of this dangerous doctrine. I would like to summarize my objection to this system in three basic statements of why we should reject CT: (1) first, and most importantly, it is inconsistent with the Oneness view of God. (2) It is inconsistent with a literal understanding of the Bible. Holding fast to a literal view of Scripture is the only way to understand the clear meaning of the text. (3) It at least blurs the line between, and at worst, replaces Israel with the church.

I pray you will find these brief remarks helpful. My hope is that the Oneness people will be united in the glorious truth of Scripture, and continue to bring this wonderful Gospel to the whole world. ■

1 These scholars are those who would trace their classification to the Westminster Confession, which does not expand on CT, but does seem to introduce the topic.2 Enns, Paul, The Moody Handbook of Theology: Revised and Expanded (537). Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers (2008).3 Ryrie, C. C. Dr. Ryrie’s Articles (pp. 33–34). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software (2010).4 Ibid., Enns, 539.

Micah Johnson is the Young Adult Pastor at Christian Life Center. He is also the

Academic Dean at Christian Life College.

Christian Life College}

Israel Study TourO ne of the most compelling reasons for attending Christian

Life College is the hands-on training and ministry op-portunities that we are able to provide our students. Every

summer, we send out teams of young men and women to travel throughout North America to minister in churches, youth camps, and camp meetings. While the composition of each group is unique (music, drama, or preaching ministries), it allows our students the opportunity to minister across our fellowship under the care of many wonderful pastors and district leaders. Another minis-try endeavor is our college’s missions program, which conducts trips abroad to give our students the opportunity to engage in the worldwide harvest. For many years now, Christian Life Center has been engaged in building a work in an area of India untouched by the Oneness message. This has allowed our missions students to evangelistically preach in unchurched villages, to minister in native churches, and to teach at an Indian Bible College.

Perhaps the most unique training opportunity regards CLC’s annual Israel Study Tour. It is our goal that every student journey to Israel prior to completing his or her studies. This allows these students to assimilate their classroom instruction into the reality of the land of the Bible, bringing knowledge and experience together in a way that is both inspiring and life changing. The Lord has tre-mendously blessed these trips, as we have experienced great divine visitations on every tour. Led by Pastor Nathaniel Haney, these are great times of interaction and instruction, as we personally witness the fulfillment of Bible prophecy right before our eyes. Following are the reports of three students who were part of our 2015 tour; through their words, you will feel the impact of this trip upon their lives and ministries. ■


Sea of Galilee

Gethsemane

+

Student Voices

A s cliche as it may sound, Israel literally changed my life. As a result of my trip to the Holy Land, my perspective of Who God is really grew by gaining an understanding

of His nature and pure love for this world. His Word came to life in such a surreal way. I visited so many places that I had only read about. I had the opportunity to visit landmarks like Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus asked “Who do men say that I am?,” and the Sea of Galilee where Jesus walked on water. These were the stories I learned about in Sunday school. It was amazing to see the very places where Jesus walked and performed miracles, where he grew up and began His ministry.

The most impactful moment was in a small room near the garden tomb where it was believed Jesus was once buried. As we took communion, I opened my Bible and began to read the Gospel of Mark. I began to weep as I read about how they wrapped Jesus in purple cloth, pushed a crown of thorns into His head, and screamed in mockery, “King of the Jews! King of the Jews!" Little did they know, that in fact, He WAS the King of the Jews. I then imagined Jesus crying while thinking to Himself, "They don’t know now, but one day I will save them, and they will know." I read, again, about Judas. He was a man close to Jesus. He walked with Him every day! The Bible says that Judas went to Jesus, called Him Master and betrayed Him with a kiss. To think that's how he be-

trayed Jesus with a kiss; a kiss is such an intimate thing. Adding to the fact that Judas called Him, "Master," one last time. I felt so up-set and angry because of what Judas did. But then I realized, Judas represents the world, he represents me, and the betrayal I would one day commit. It was in that moment that everything I had learned, every place I had visited during my trip all came together. I came to realize that everything in the Bible intertwined. God lit-erally created everything in this world. He came to earth manifest-ed in flesh, healed, performed miracles, saved, and comforted, with one thing in mind... the cross. Everything preceding the crucifixion and everything that was to follow all revolved around it. Jesus proved His endless love and forever enduring mercy to me that day.

All of the mocking, all of the criticizing, all of the negativity that Jesus experienced – He endured that for me. The amazing thing is that HE WANTED TO do it. I can proudly say that I am a follower of Christ-the most loving, comforting, provisionary, omnipresent, supernatural, all encompassing, El Shaddai. My El Shaddai, my everything. Going to the Holy Land gave me the op-portunity to experience The King of the Jews and His Word become a living Word in my heart. ■


-Alexis SandersKapolei, HI

Independence Hall, Tel Aviv


T hroughout our lives there are certain occurrences we expe-rience that impact us in a very profound way. This impact has such an effect that when asked about it all we can say is

“that undoubtedly changed my life”. After experiencing a week in a half in the beautiful country of Israel, when asked all I can truly say is that undoubtedly this trip has changed my life.

The country of Israel is not only rich in culture and geographic beauty; to me its most captivating feature is its richness in Bibli-cal history. No one site stands out as a favorite to me. Every single location visited inspired a peculiar insight from the Word of God that I’ve never had before.

From the highlands, mountains, and volcanic ash cones of Go-lan Heights found north east of the Sea of Galilee. A city of refuge disputed and fought over for millennia, this city was located in Bashan, which is mentioned all throughout the Old Testament. Be-ing able to walk these hills was an experience that took me back to the references made by King David and the Prophet Amos as they wrote about the lush abundance of livestock found in Bashan.

To the scenic hot water spring oasis of En-Gedi found on the west side of the Dead Sea about 35 miles southeast of Jerusalem. An area known for its palms, vineyards, and balsams, this location was a crucial shelter for King David as he ran for his life from Saul. As we climbed up to its beautiful springs and walked through the semitropical vegetation I could feel the sense of refuge King David

would have felt as he camped and found strength in En-Gedi. And to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, known as the headquarters

for much of Jesus’ ministry. This city is full of rich archeological history dating back to the 2nd century BC where we saw many structures that made up the day-to-day life of Jesus and His Dis-ciples. An unforgettable feeling arose in me as we walked the city. I began to vividly recreate, in my mind, the encounter that Jesus had here with the Roman centurion found in the Gospel of Mark as well as walking through an ancient synagogue in which it is believed that Jesus would go to pray and teach.

Finally, finishing our trip in the truly magnificent Jerusalem, City of the King, located approximately 33 miles east of the Medi-terranean Coast. This is the city chosen by God upon which His name would remain according to 2 Chronicles chapter 6. This was, to me, the pinnacle point of our trip as Pastor Haney gave us a clear description of the prophetic events that will take place here.

Being able to personally witness the Word of God come to life was an indescribable experience. It has increased not only my knowledge, but also my love for God's Word. Because of the time I spent on this trip, I have developed a deep sense of value for the truly beautiful country of Israel. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. Israel has truly impacted my life forever. ■

Western Wall, Temple MountJerusalem

-Andrew PuentesBrooklyn, NY

Student Voices


A s children, most of us were told fairytales about big imaginary kingdoms and magnificent make believe places, where kings held prisoners captive, and the helpless peas-

ants became heroes at the end of fables. My trip to Israel brought to life all of the stories I was told as child. But unlike the places and kingdoms in fanaticized fairytales, I got to see and stand in places and kingdoms my mother taught me about as a child.

The Bible was already validated in my heart by faith and by my belief and commitment to Jesus Christ, but in Israel the Bible became my personal lived-out “fairytale.” No longer just stories told of places studied through books, articles, preaching and teachings; I was standing on the ground that my spiritual forefathers wrote about. I saw where the great apostle Paul was imprisoned in the palace of Herod. I stood at the mountain where it is said that Abra-ham sacrificed Isaac; I saw the Jezreel Valley where the Lord will judge the nations. In my heart the Bible was no longer just a book filled with stories I had faith in, but it was real and it was living. Be-cause of my trip to Israel, I saw the ancient foundation of my faith, while living in the present and seeing hope and glory in which my faith rest for the future.

In addition to all the affirmation of faith in God’s word, I am glad to share that visiting Israel gave me compassion for the little

nation that is continuously mistreated and abused by the world. Seeing all that has been done to this people and learning of past sufferings, and how important these people are to the God we serve. He loves them; my trip opened my understanding of the importance of supporting the nation of Israel.

While in Israel on the last day of our trip in the garden tomb, God fulfilled a personal promise to me that I will share. While in prayer months before my trip to Israel, I communicated to God the hunger I had to experience Him by knowing Him in a way like I had not yet known him before. In my mind I thought on the tomb. A friend had told me it was the place that impacted him the most, so my mind was meditating on the image of an empty tomb when I spoke my request to the Lord. As I thought on this place, the Lord assured me that when I met Him in His Holy Land, I would know Him. On the last day of our trip at the garden tomb, He manifested his glory in a little room. He spoke through a friend as she spoke in tongues; I understood her and the Lord said “Aqui Estoy,” which in Spanish means “I Am here.” Never had I ever experienced some-thing like that before, God fulfilled His promise to me, and I know Him in a way I had never known Him before. ■

-Vanessa GalavisFresno, CA

Mission KenyaO n April 12th, 2015 my brother Daniel Llamas and I jour-

neyed to Nairobi, Kenya in Africa, where our faith would be challenged. As a senior at Christian Life College, a

missions trip to the other side of the world is what any twenty-year-old Bible College student lives for. This is the season in which we think ourselves to be invincible. Just a week before embarking on Mission Kenya 2015, a terrorist attack swept through the country of Kenya killing a total of 147 Christians. As a team, we were given two options: surrender or go in the power and authority given to us according to Acts 1:8.

As much as I believed we’d be a blessing to the people, the op-posite occurred and the people of Kenya forever blessed our lives. Some of us will never know what it is to be blessed because of the commodities provided in the States in which we live. As for the people of Kenya, they are the most blessed people because they’ve learned to be content with the very little that they have. For them, worship is their whole life. Whether I have or lack, my worship must never change. I thank the people of Kenya for teaching me this.

On the last evening of our crusade I could not help but to shed

tears as I was moved with compassion for the people of Kenya. A young boy glanced at me during the worship service, as I was hold-ing two water bottles. I asked the boy if he was thirsty; he nodded yes. As I gave him the water bottle; his facial expression was as if he had received the greatest Christmas gift. He smiled and ran away. Later he came and held my hand as we continued worship-ing. At the very end of the service, he ran up to our bus and at that moment I offered him a bottle of soda. He rejected my drink and asked for prayer. It was then that my life would forever change. I prayed for the young boy and began speaking life into him and told him he would become a mighty man of God in his country. As his friends mocked, tears fell from his face, and I gave him the tie that I had on that day. It’s like our Vice President Richard Bishop often says, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Little did we know that we would be given the opportunity to take the experiences learned at Christian Life College outside of the four walls of the classroom and minister the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the villages of Kenya, Africa. ■

-Cristopher LlamasTumwater, WA


Student Voices


A fter a long exhausting flight in a cramped airplane, we landed in the city of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, where our journey really began. The first two days we explored

the area, went out on safari, and saw some incredible animals in the wild. We saw the beauty of God's creation in a natural habitat; it was breath taking. We met the people in the Mesai Mara tribe and learned about their identity and culture. We learned about what a great honor it is to defend the tribe from an attacking lion, and what it is to become a tribal warrior.

Our goal in this mission was to preach the Word to the people of Kenya. Each morning we had sessions where the team members spoke about biblical doctrines, and each day we preached about the baptism of the Holy Ghost. During the evenings we went down to the local market, where thousands of people were walking around, and preached in the open air so that everybody could hear the Truth. The stage was set up and speakers were put in place so that every individual who was walking around the area could hear the Word. The multitude came in and the people received what they heard. Healings took place, people were filled with the Holy Ghost, and pastors from all over the country of Kenya were inspired. The

mission was to preach the Word, and the people received it.If there is one particular event that stuck with me, it was seeing

their housing lifestyle. Pastors and families from all around Kenya and Tanzania traveled hours to get to this conference. It was too far to go back home each night so they stayed at an abandoned school. As we walked in the school quarters; I realized how small the area was and how little they had in regard to mattresses. Most of these people slept on the cold concrete each night with little to no room, yet they would get up each morning and praise God with the most authentic worship you would ever see.

Before I enrolled at Christian Life College, missions was far from my mind. I never had a desire to travel to a third world country, but I was inspired when the Missions Team of CLC played a video of their trip to Skid Row in L.A. and seeing the impact they had. I signed up for a missions class where my desire to "just try it" was birthed. CLC didn't just prepare me to be a world changer towards the people of Kenya, but it prepared me to have my life changed forever when I decided to answer the call of God. ■

-Daniel LlamasTumwater, WA


Student Voices

T he first time I met Chandrakanth "John" Kantheti, was in January of 2013. He had graduated from Christian Life Col-lege in 2010 and was revisiting Stockton from his home in

Warangal, India for Landmark conference. We immediately forged a friendship.

In February of 2014, John again visited for Landmark, and this time he was invited to the Young Adult service on a Wednesday night to share with us the work he was leading in India.

He spoke of how he was converted by a kind preacher named Carl Keller, when he was a seventeen-year-old idol maker. He recounted the experience of starting three separate churches in that year and how that number had grown to fifteen churches in the time since graduation. He told us of a nation full of sincere souls that were trapped in millennia of darkness and idolatry. In that service, I felt an immediate burden to spend some time in his home city.

I remember thinking to myself that it was an absurd idea. I had never felt the urge to even vacation in India, let alone evangelize. And who was I to assume I could make even a dent of difference in that city that would benefit that work? And even if I could help, how was I going to raise the funds to travel? I made a quick prayer to God in that moment, that if He made a clear and unhindered path for me to go, I would, and without another question.

I approached John after the presentation and told him that I felt that God wanted me to spend the summer helping him. He told me that if I really wanted to go I would need to raise the money for a plane ticket and living expenses. I thanked him for the opportunity and went on my way.

It was three days later that a Godsend of a friend named Freda offered to pay for the entire trip! It was that answer to my prayer that started me on my way around the world in June of that year. The following two months were every bit as life changing as I

hoped they would be and more. My task with John was two fold: to preach weekly services at

the churches under his leadership (sometimes two or three times in a Sunday), and to teach at the Christian school operated by John's brother, Ravi.

I have never seen such a burden for little ones as I saw in John and Ravi. Their school took in over 350 Lombardi tribal children, many of them completely orphaned, and gave them a good private and Christ centered education. It was amazing to see the joy that filled these children simply from having a school and someone who loved them.

I went to India with the intention of imparting something to the villagers there, and yet, by the first Sunday service, they had impacted my life just as deeply. It was there that I learned a truth about living for God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. A truth I thought I knew but had never experienced before. My eyes were opened to true dedication and what it meant to fully abandon the former life, take up one's cross, and follow Christ.

In India, to choose Christ is to lose social standing, whatever wealth one has, and to be discarded by one’s family. We, for the most part, have a very comfortable Christianity leading to what I found myself guilty of, lazy religion. The pastor I met who changed my life and the way I think about my dedication to Christ forever, walked nearly twenty-eight miles one way to preach in his stone building with dirt floors and no chairs.

I am forever grateful to God for the experiences I shared with Him that Summer and eternally thankful to Chandrakanth and his family, my Pastor Guy J. Schroeder, Pastor Nathaniel Haney, Rev. Daryl Rash, and Freda Grievelding for the trust and support they gave me in following my burden for the people of India. ■

India

-Trevor SmithRoseville, CA


Xperience is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated events for Christian Life College. This year's event was no exception to this rule. Five months of planning by CLC staff and student

volunteers quickly unfolded with a whirlwind of 100 registrants from 16 different states and two countries moving through five full days of events including three days of touring classes, nightly social events, and attending chapel services, student body prayer and Wednesday night Lifeline Young Adult service. The hardest part of the week comes as our Xperience registrants and students say good bye, but we know all the hard work is worth it when we hear, "See you next fall!" ■

Christian Life College}

The Xperience


Staff Spotlight

+Joanne Gresham

W hen Pastor Nathaniel Haney asked me to consider accepting the position of Director of Student Recruit-ment and Development at Christian Life College, my

mind immediately went back to the legacy of service I was inherit-ing as a third generation member of this ministry.

As a native Stocktonian and member of Christian Life Minis-tries since birth, I began to recall some of my life’s experiences: the deep spiritual leadership of Pastor Clyde J. Haney, song services led by my father, Jerry L. Renison, piano playing by my mother, Christine Renison, the building of both church and college facili-ties, countless peanut brittle drives, Saturday Singspirations, the CLC choir’s first LP recording (which was directed by Kenneth F. Haney), baccalaureate services, victory marches, healing prayer lines with Andrew Urshan, class trips to Yosemite, prayer meetings breaking out in classes, yearbook signings, recreation hall fellow-ship after church services, Sunday afternoon dinner guests, and the many college students who have graced our campus.

Then the recollection of life’s lessons taught by the two genera-tions of pastors and family before me started flooding my thoughts: always stand united with leadership, freely give of your physical talents, complete tasks with excellence, pause to answer and then keep your word, mentor and support our college students, accept positions as a ministry and not an income opportunity, give sacrifi-cially, stand for righteousness, be fair, be longsuffering, be under-standing, and always uphold the heritage, doctrine and integrity of the college.

All of these life experiences and lesson have instilled in me an overwhelming love and burden for ministry at Christian Life Cen-ter and Christian Life College.

So I asked myself these questions: “How could I pass up the op-portunity to carry on the legacy I was given and make a difference for the generations to follow? What could I give back to a college that changed so many lives?”

Today, Christian Life College is my heartbeat...the students are my heart...this ministry opportunity reassures me of the purpose of my healing of cancer a few years ago...and I am honored to be a part of the CLC faculty and staff.

As I look back over the lives and ministries of Clyde and Olive Haney, Kenneth and Joy Haney, Willie and Wynona Renison, Jerry

and Christine Renison, I am committed to continuing in the teach-ing, the lifestyle and the ministry their generations set as examples for us to follow.

“One student... One life”Christian Life College holds on to its heritage while aspiring to climb to new heights. It is my privilege to unite with and work under the leadership of Pastor Nathaniel Haney in advancing to another level in the coming years. Our goal is to keep our college current and progressive while holding fast to what we believe.

My goal begins with actively searching for new students who want to be a part of this apostolic Bible-based curriculum and training program... students who truly desire to be trained and educated by faculty and staff who are dedicated to the same ideals.

We sponsor multiple student-led and staffed tour groups that serve a minimum of ten weeks in our “Summer of Service” pro-gram. This allows us to span the nation meeting students who are at a crossroads – Bible college or secular college? It’s a known fact that most high school graduates want to further their education but they truly are in a quandary as what to do and what direction to take. We want to answer their questions and concerns, giving them the pertinent information they need as we share Bible college life with first person insight.

Each student is welcomed as a new addition to our family. Their lives become centered around the college and church, which will be their home for the next four years. We meet with them to discuss their goals and plans. Where are they right now and where do they want to be in one year, four years, and ten years? What are their goals and aspirations? In what direction is God leading them at this very moment. What do they want and expect out of Chris-tian Life College?

We try to mentor each student and develop a relationship with them that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. Their time spent in Stockton will be one of their fondest memories, because we care and love each student who walks through our doors. ■

-Joanne GreshamDirector of Student Recruitment

and Development

»

Kenneth F. Haney


Preaching his last Landmark message, 2011

I had heard him say so many times as he walked into the hospital to face an impos-sible situation with others. He had always been there for saints, ministers, friends, and family, his spiritual shoulders so broad and strong on the many occasions he walked through hell trusting God for a miracle.

Now, after all these years, it was his turn. With his faith intact, he faced the last battle he was to fight in this life. When the doc-tor gave us the news that it was terminal, something inside me pushed back; we were a people of faith expecting a reversal of this situation. We had seen others healed and knew that God was no respecter of persons. However, as time would tell, this was not to be the case for my father; he had finished his race. It would be just a few short weeks

and the angels would be carrying him to the Other Side. Once he arrived to that Holy City, he would see Jesus whom he dearly loved. There would be others waiting for his arrival – his mother and father and a host of wonderful saints that he had faithfully pas-tored.

As time went on, many who loved him finally resigned to the fact that death was imminent. I certainly wasn’t ignorant to the fact that, if God did not intervene quickly, it would soon be over. However, I hadn’t yet reached that point where I had abandoned the hope that God would raise him up. I re-member the last time I saw my father as he lay unconscious just hours before his depar-ture. I told him I loved him, and I laid my hand on him and prayed for his healing the

last time I was to see him alive. I remember feeling such a surge of faith while I prayed as God’s presence stirred in my soul while standing in his room. I was tired and hadn’t slept or eaten much for several days. After saying good-by to my father, my wife, moth-er, and I went home to rest while my dad’s sister Shirley stayed that night.

Once I got home, I began to unwind. I needed to hear from God, but I have learned that when I’m physically and mentally fa-tigued it is hard for my spirit to tune in. That night the Lord came to me while I slept and told me that He was going to be transport-ing my father home. He gave me a passage of Scripture that gave me peace that His will was being done. In my sleep, I felt His Spirit of grace gently sweep over me like a warm

The Life ofKenneth Franklyn Haney

By NATHANIEL K. HANEY


Seventy-four seems too young to die when one is so vibrant and full of energy with many dreams still yet to be fulfilled, especially when he’s your father. I guess I never will quite forget the call from my mother telling me something’s wrong with dad. As my wife and I drove toward the hospital, I told myself everything will be all right; God’s still in control. These are some of the same words

breeze, and when I woke up, dad was gone. That visitation has carried me from then to now and will continue to do so until we meet again.

We buried my father on the Double Springs Ranch where his family has been buried since the 1870s. When reflecting over his life, the saying that only what one does for Christ will last has taken on a new meaning. One of the things that I’ve been keenly aware of since his passing is that dad belonged to God. Yes, we all shared him, but God owned him, and he had finished his course much sooner than we had ever expected. I still have my moments when I would love to pick up the phone and call him to see if he would like to take a drive up to the mountains just to talk, to get a little advice, to hear what new dream he had, or what he was planning to do for the King-dom, but his phone is silent, and his voice is gone from the world that I live in. Now that he has left us, all that remains are memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life until I see him again.

The world that Kenneth Franklyn Haney was to be born into was about to explode into the most horrific war that the planet had ever seen. In the Far East lived his grandparents Frank and May Gray, who had worked with the Japanese as missionar-ies for many years. In fact, his mother, Ol-ive, had been born in Japan during one of their terms as missionaries. Japan was a very powerful nation that had never lost a battle for thousands of years. This caused them to believe that the gods they served were more powerful than other gods making them in-vincible in war. It also made them very hard to win to the Gospel message because they did not want any foreign God replacing their gods. The nation of Japan had begun to beat the war drums, which eventually forced the Grays to return to America before the attack on Pearl Harbor took place.

In Europe about this same time was a

mad man named Adolf Hitler, who was preaching a new kind of hate that he hoped would bring about the Third Reich, which he believed would last a thousand years. Back in the United States, unlike the nation it is today, we were trying to stay out of the war that was coming. For my dad, for the first years of his life he would be oblivious to what was happening around him. To him, he would be mostly concerned about a mother and father that would love and take care of him, which they did. God had

chosen the timing of his birth so that at the right time he would be of the proper age to answer his call to evangelize the world. Ken-neth Franklyn Haney was born around mid-night on July 18, 1937, to the proud parents of Clyde and Olive Haney.

Prior to this, Clyde and Olive had been studying at the Pentecostal Bible School in Oakland, California, under the ministry of Bro. Harry Morse. The school was one of faith, and no one attending was allowed to

hold a job, but they were required to trust God for their every need. This was hard for Clyde since he had worked hard all his life, but he felt that he needed the training, so he stayed in school where he learned some tre-mendous lessons of faith. One of the lessons they learned is recorded in the book, “The Man of the Hills Served in the Valley:” “The years were 1936 and 1937. We were still in the midst of the depression. Brother Morse needed $100.00 for expenses of the home. It took quite a bit of money to rent the hall, feed about twen-

ty to twenty-five students, and keep up the cars and the home. He did not know where the mon-ey would come from, and Clyde, being a very practical man, couldn’t see where it could come from either. Harry Morse rose up in church and said that he felt God wanted him to take up a missionary offering, never mentioning the needs of the mission home. His philosophy was that if he unselfishly took care of God’s work, God would take care of his needs. He took the offering, and after service a man came up to him and pressed something into his hand and said, “God told me to give this to you.” It was a check for $100.00, a tremendous amount of money in those days.” (Page 134)

These lessons in faith had a major im-pact on Clyde’s ministry, which helped him to launch out in faith on many occasions. My father was also taught these powerful principles that stayed with him all his life. Most every time he needed a financial mira-cle, Kenneth Haney would generally take up a missions offering so that God would meet the need of the church. All his life these be-liefs enabled him to trust God to do great

things in meeting needs. When his parents discovered that they were expecting a child, they left the school to prepare financially for the hospital and doctor bills that would come with having a baby. Clyde worked hard at whatever he could find in the way of work, saving as much as he could while living on the rest. One of the things he did in preparation for Kenneth’s arrival was to build a trailer so that he and his wife would have a home to live in when the newborn arrived.


After Kenneth was born, the only work Clyde could find was a welfare project that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had institut-ed through Congress. For Clyde, it was unac-ceptable to be on welfare when he was capa-ble of working, so he headed to the foothills and began cutting up oak trees for firewood to sell. The work was slow and hard, and he earned every penny that it brought him. He didn’t mind hard work, but he didn’t like the fact that it only allowed him to be at home on the weekends, and sometimes an evening during the week. While he was away work-ing, Olive and little Kenneth were living in Stockton in the trailer he had built. The trailer was not insulated, so during the win-ter they kept a small wood stove burning to fight off the cold and moisture. This still did not keep the trailer from continually sweat-ing making the air humid, which caused Kenneth to develop bronchial trouble.

As newly marrieds, and the Great De-pression on, they did not have the extra money to take Kenneth to the doctor. They needed every penny Clyde made just to live on. Olive had to be his nurse, and she did a good job, but the prob-lems did not go away, and the little baby developed bronchiolitis. This then went into pneumonia, and Kenneth became very sick. His mother was afraid they might lose him if his fever continued to rise, so she sent word to his family in the hills to tell Clyde what was happen-ing. When he heard the news, he came straight home. He and Olive laid hands on Kenny and prayed, calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. As they prayed, his fever began to come down, and his breath-ing became normal as God healed his little body.

From time to time, this disease would return, but it never got that bad again. No doubt the devil sensed that God had a plan for this small child’s life, and, if he could, he would have snuffed it out before the child was able to grow up and become the man that he did. After Kenneth was healed, he gained plenty of weight and became a chub-by little boy, who was the delight of his fa-ther.

The Lord blessed Clyde with a job build-ing a road, which enabled him to be home every evening with his family. Each evening, Clyde and Kenneth made up for lost time as they played together. Clyde sometimes would count his ribs to see if Kenneth had lost one while he was gone to work, and, of course, this would tickle. He knew just how

far to go, and Kenneth loved it when his dad played with him this way. As his children were growing up, Kenneth also counted all their ribs to make sure none of them ever lost one. This was a lot of fun, and it always made him laugh as well, which seemed to warm the whole house up.

When Kenny was young, he was given a child’s guitar, and when his dad would play his guitar, Kenny would get his and try to play along with his father. He loved the piggyback rides, and often Clyde would lie on the floor while Kenneth climbed all over him. He and his dad had so many fun times together. As he got older, sometimes his dad would take him to school on his horse. This was a real treat, and all the other kids would run over to see the horse, which made Ken-neth feel very special.

When Kenneth turned seven years old, something very wonderful happened for both parents and child. On this occasion fol-

lowing a church service in Pasadena, Cali-fornia, Clyde was shaking hands with the visitors who had come to service that Sun-day. He approached an older gentleman and shook his hand welcoming him to service. He told the man his name was Pastor Haney, and then he asked the man his name. The man replied, “It happens to be the same as yours. Clyde, I am your father.” Clyde Haney hadn’t seen his father since he was thirteen years old. His father, Levi, had been a pre-war minister who had a wonderful ministry of healing and music with a special anoint-ing for casting out demons.

Levi Haney’s weakness was that he lacked boundaries in his life. This eventually led to moral failure that resulted in his leav-ing his family. After all these years, it took Clyde a few moments before he recognized his own father. Later, after his father left, Clyde found a note in the pulpit he had writ-ten him that said, “Clyde, I’m proud of you.”

This touched something deep down inside of Clyde that God knew he needed. For Ken-neth, the experience was quite different. He had never seen this grandfather and did not even know he existed; he became so excited to find out that he now had two grandpas and not just one. The second thing that hap-pened for Kenneth in Pasadena when he was seven was that he was filled with the bap-tism of the Holy Ghost.

Kenneth’s family continued to live in Pas-adena for two more years until 1946 when his father resigned as pastor of the church there. Rev. Clyde Haney had been contacted by the board of the Stockton, California, church and asked if he would accept an invi-tation to be their pastor. Once back in Stock-ton, Kenneth felt his need to be baptized in Jesus name for the remission of his sins. The baptistery was down in the basement of the church and, of course, no baptistery in those days was heated. So, in December

of 1946 during the middle of winter, he was baptized. As he stood ready to go down into the water, his lips turned blue as he shivered from the cold water, but after being baptized, he felt warm all over. This was such a relief to him as his father was a prophecy teacher who taught the imminent catching away of the saints. Now, with the Holy Ghost and being baptized in water, he knew that he was ready to go in the Rapture when the trumpet sounded.

It was after this that Kenneth began to show signs of a greater hunger toward God. This did not take away from the

mischievousness that he had as a boy, nor did it transform him from a boy into an old mature man, but it was clear that the hand of God was beginning to direct his steps from that day forward. While he was grow-ing up, Kenneth’s parents had many pioneer minister friends that came to their home or preached in the church. This allowed Ken-neth to be around a great generation of some of the most committed Christian men alive during that time. God had planned it out in such a way that these people, many who were missioners, could inspire and greatly impact this young child’s life. Needless to say, these men made a tremendous impres-sion upon him. Men like George B. Studd and Frank J. Ewart, who had pastored Clyde and Olive, would come and visit with his parents, and Kenneth would listen to them talk. He said that George B. Studd would stay in their home, and he would hear him pray for hours. One can only imagine what


God was depositing into the life of Kenneth Franklyn Haney through these men.

THE TEENAGE YEARSIn 1950, something happened that was to change the lives of millions of people for the Kingdom’s sake. Clyde J. Haney had been asked to come to the Oregon District camp meeting and be the Bible teacher during the day services. One day after the night service, the youth had a bonfire consecration ser-vice. Kenneth, who was almost thirteen, was allowed to attend. He was one of the young-est ones there, and it was an awesome feel-ing to be among older youth who were com-mitting their lives to God in a world were Pentecostalism was not popular, as is still the case today. It was a very moving service as he watched older young people making tearful commitments as they stepped for-ward and cast a pinecone into the bonfire, a symbol of the old life that was to be no more.

While all this was going on, God did not pass him by just because he was the young-est, but God saw within this lad a tender heart and said, “I have a place for you in my kingdom; will you answer the call?” As he trembled with tears running down his checks and his little lips quivering under the power of the Holy Spirit, he stepped forward and made that commitment, which was for-ever to change the course of his life. As the fire was burning, he also took a pinecone as a symbol of his old life and childhood dreams and threw it into the fire. As he watched it burn, he saw his carnal self fading away, and a new vision was being forged in his mind and heart of who he was going to be. There by that fire he committed to preach the Gos-

pel like the men of God that surrounded his life, and to reach the world. Later that night he went into his parents’ room, and the three of them stayed up late into the night talking about what had happened to him at the fireside service.

At that age he did not grasp the mag-nitude of what had actually happened to him, but he knew that he would never be the same. From that moment on, he was destined to do something great for God. As he grew, for a little while he was intrigued by the law profession and wanted to be-come a criminal attorney. As a teenager, he would go to the courthouse and watch court cases, but God never forgot the com-mitment he made in Bend, Oregon, standing by that bon-fire, and, when the time was right, God began to stir up his spirit toward the things of the Kingdom of God. Once Ken-neth Haney stretched forth his hand and took a hold of the handles of the Gospel plow, he never looked back once he fo-cused his eyes on Jesus and the mission of his calling.

At seventeen years of age, the call was being activated in a real and powerful way as he preached his first revival in Carmichael, California, for Reverend Jesse Francis. After this he never looked back. Whether it was ministerial work in Stockton laboring be-side his father or evangelistic work in some other city, he was committed to God’s work. In the early days while attending Western Apostolic Bible Collage, he also worked as

a promoter for the school. In fact, for most of his life he promoted WABC/CLC. He be-lieved that the Bible school was the greatest tool among Oneness people to be used to train young men and women for the expan-sion of the Kingdom of God. He believed in his father’s dream and wanted to help him achieve it. Kenneth considered his father, as did many other ministers, to be one of the great Bible scholars and teachers among the Apostolic people, and felt his teachings would benefit and help prepare the next generation of the ministry. Because of this, he was not one bit intimidated to promote or push WABC anywhere he went.

Clyde J. Haney was one of the earli-est United Pentecostal Church educators among us. He was at the merger when the UPCI was formed and felt the need to help establish the new movement with our doc-trines. Another early educator during that time was Bro. S. G. Norris of Apostolic Bible Institute. Clyde J. Haney considered him a friend and shared many of the same beliefs as Brother Norris did. Both schools taught the New Birth consisting of repentance, wa-ter baptism by full immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost evidenced by speaking in tongues. They were Dispensationalist and believed in the inerrancy of the Scripture. They taught Pre-millennialism and that the Rapture would precede the appearing of the Antichrist. Both men were used of God to

establish strong doctrine in this Oneness movement through the colleges they oper-ated.

The history of Western Apostolic Bible College goes like this: For many years God had dealt with Clyde Haney about starting a Bible school on the west coast, and, in time, it became one of the greatest dreams he had. So in February of 1949, he launched his dream of a training school called the Pente-


costal Bible School. This school ran for two years, 1949-1950, and then closed its doors. The students were called the 49ers. In 1953, the school was reopened under the name of WABC in which Kenneth Haney was enrolled. When the first graduating class walked down the aisle three years later in 1956, Kenneth was among them to receive his three-year diploma. During this time, he had also held some revival services, which had been very successful for a teenage min-ister, and a few doors were starting to open up for him. At seventeen, Kenneth Haney applied for his ministers license with the

United Pentecostal Church International, which he received.

He, like many young men, wanted to do something for the Lord, but he also wanted to make sure that what he did was in the perfect will of God. He wrestled with God in prayer trying to hear from God as to wheth-er he should travel and evangelize or work in a local church somewhere. This decision was not an easy one, but slowly he began to feel that he had the mind of God in this mat-ter. While still in college, and even after he graduated, he went on many tours promot-ing the school. Sometimes he would travel alone preaching and singing, while at other times he would travel with a group, one of which was the Bible Aires Quartet that start-ed in 1957. When he traveled, he made many friends that were very good to him, some of which ended up becoming life-long friends.

After he had graduated, his parents be-

gan praying for him that he would let God direct his life. They wanted him to do the right thing and not just travel because all the other young men in his circle were doing so. While they did not pressure him, they did privately pray that, if it was God’s will, He would put it in Kenneth’s heart to want to work in Stockton with his father. His father was delighted when Kenneth came to him and said that he wanted to work with him. He made Kenneth his assistant paying him ten dollars a week with room and meals. Even then this was very little pay, but for Kenneth the money was not that impor-

tant; it was the thrill of being able to work full-time for God in a place where he had a burden. As a father and son team, it was per-fect. His father was generally the teacher, although, on occasion, he did rare back and preach, while most of the time Kenneth was the fervent, passionate evangelist. However, Kenneth Haney was also a teacher and was used in the Bible school as he became older. It was at this point in his life that he, like his father, became both a pastor and an educa-tor. He spent eleven years working beside his father until God called him to do a work among the youth nationally.

HIS ELEVEN YEARS WITH HIS FATHER

One of the things Kenneth did while work-ing with his father was that he shared the radio program on KCVR where he would preach one week and his father the next.

His excitement energized the church to win souls, and he personally taught many Bible studies throughout the city of Stockton. He said that at the age of twenty, he learned one of the most valuable lessons in his entire life that helped him in dealing with adversity caused by others. It began when several un-ethical men launched an attack against his father concerning the things he was teach-ing. Their motive was to undermine and discredit the Bible school WABC. They also made an attempt to undermine the character of his father in an effort to ruin his influence among the brethren. His father’s spiritual maturity was such that he continued build-ing the Kingdom while taking the situation to the Lord in prayer. But Kenneth became resentful toward these men. Sometimes it’s very hard for children to watch their father come under attack by people who are full of guile and jealousies.

Because of this, Kenneth came to a place where he despised these men and could not find it in his heart to forgive them. This be-came a grudge, and a grudge will just about kill the man who is holding it, and that is ex-actly what it started doing to him. His body broke out in boils to the point he became very sick. He later would say that he learned how important it was to always have a right spirit no matter what happened to you at the hands of others, something he held to until the day he died. God eventually dealt with these men and took care of the situation. As for Kenneth, he refused to ever again let his attitude become soured by others. He had learned to take these situations to the Lord in prayer, as his father had done, and stand back and watch God vindicate him. This was put into practice many times in his life when others unjustly attacked him.

I remember when there was a group of men in the Western District that were con-stantly attacking my father; it seemed that they lived to find fault with him. They did everything they could to assassinate his character in hopes of destroying his in-fluence. He had to constantly live under the magnifying glass of these men as they looked for every flaw. What was most amaz-ing was his response toward them. He was a true Christian through it all. He spoke kindly about and to them, he loved them, and, when allowed, he tried to be a friend. Many times he even helped them achieve a dream of their own for the Kingdom’s sake. In time, this group of merry men began to have their own internal problems. They all wanted to be the king of this human dynasty



they were building instead of being servants toward each other. Some of these men soon received a real eye-opener when they them-selves became the object of attack by those they had called friends. Fortunately, some of them were able to get out of the tangled web before the spider devoured them; God in His mercy saved them from self-destructing.

Kenneth Haney, who could have stood back with glee and watched them struggle through these times, instead he reached out to them with love and kindness mak-ing friends with them. One of those who

had been manipulated by this group worked hard at making amends. He told my father that he was embarrassed to admit it, but the reason they were always attacking him was because they were jealous of him, and they envied the work in Stockton that he was do-ing. Kenneth Haney never held it over his head but treated him with respect and dig-nity all the days of his life. Kenneth Haney loved the men of the United Pentecostal Church International and did everything he could to be a peace-maker among the breth-ren.

While a young man, on June 19, 1959, at the Western District Campground, with General Superintendent A. T. Morgan speaking, he had received his ordination

and was proud of the fact that he belonged to such a wonderful body of believers. By the time he received his ordination at the age of twenty-two, it was obvious that there was a special anointing upon his life. He believed that a Oneness Pentecostal church could be the biggest church in the city, and this was in the days when Oneness Pentecostals were a despised few that most people believed were simple and ignorant. But Kenneth believed that he could change that mentality in his home town, and he set out to do that in the world where God had put him.

The work in Stockton was growing, and Clyde could not effectively pastor the church and run the school by himself. He had reached the place where he needed a co-pastor who the people of the church would respect and love, while he devoted more time to developing and building the Bible college. Now that Kenneth was ordained, his father appointed him to this position. The next step was for the church board to approve this appointment, and on Janu-ary 7, 1960, they officially made Kenneth Haney the co-pastor of the First Pentecos-tal Church. With Kenneth working by his father’s side, the Stockton church began to grow, which required them to build a new sanctuary, which was located at 1950 Chero-

kee Road across the street from the college campus.

God not only had His hand on Kenneth’s ministry, but was also looking out for him in other areas of his life, and knew he would need a wife to walk by his side through the journey of life. God had prepared a woman who would love and support him, a woman who would encourage him when he felt dis-couraged, and someone to believe in him and help him achieve the dreams he had re-ceived from God. This life-long relationship was to come about through his work as a re-cruiter for the college. As such, it was his job to contact prospective students throughout the Western District, and in this capacity he had persuaded my mother, Joy McDonald, to come to Stockton and attend the school. She was a senior at Modesto High School and had just been given the secretarial job of the local chapter the Future Farmers of America. This was a huge honor, and also a very important position to her. This was not an easy decision to make, so she and her par-ents prayed about it to find the mind of God. After prayer, she knew that God wanted her to move to Stockton and attend the school. Kenneth Haney was not only the recruiter, but he also was one of the instructors, and, of course, as God would have it, he was to be one of my mother’s teachers. She says she fell in love with him and he also fell in love with her. This led to their first date on Decem-ber 16, 1960, in the big city of Sacramento, and in less than a year they were married on October 14, 1961. They had a special bond of love between them that could be seen up until the day he died.

His dedication to the work of God, and my mother’s willingness to support that dedication, can be seen in that for their hon-eymoon Kenneth took his new bride to Gen-eral Conference and set up a WABC booth to recruit students. Within a few short years, Kenneth became known as a man with great passion who not only dreamed but would also get the job done. He never stepped on others to get where he was going, but tried to include others in the dreams that God gave him. Because of this, he had made many friends, and in May 1963 in Fresno, California, Kenneth Haney was elected the Western District youth president. As the youth president, he led the Western District to first place in Sheaves for Christ giving.

While holding this office, he started the sectional youth camps, which are still con-tinuing to this day. He was so full of ideas that he usually ran out of time in the offices

he held, and finally of life itself, that he was never able to accomplish them all. He was definitely a seer and could see way into the future, and one of the things he could see was a national program where children in local churches would memorize hundreds of Scriptures. During this time, he started what has become one of the greatest pro-grams that the UPCI has going today, the Bible-quizzing contests among the youth. He was appointed the first quizmaster over it, and it was a huge success in the Western District. This did not go unnoticed by the rest of the movement, and in a few short years the Bible-quizzing program was ad-opted nationally by the UPCI.

KENNETH FRANKLYN HANEY INTERNATIONAL YOUTH PRESIDENTAt the General Conference in St. Louis, Mis-souri, October 1969, Kenneth Haney was elected the International Youth President. This required Kenneth to leave Stockton and move to St. Louis. This left the Stock-ton church in a difficult position. However, Kenneth’s dad felt that this was the will of God and supported the move. Once he was there, he was able to implement his dreams for the youth of our nation with all the pas-sion and zeal he had. He had so many ideas that it shook up some of those at headquar-ters. It was a grand time for the UPCI. At the helm of the Home Missions Department was his good friend Bro. J. T. Pugh, who also was a dreamer and brought many wonderful ideas and dreams to the movement. It was God’s time to evangelize America, and he brought Kenneth Haney and J. T. Pugh to-gether to reach our nation.

In America outside the church it was a dark day with Vietnam, Woodstock, and hip-pies, but Kenneth Haney and God had a plan as they, with the support of the brethren, be-gan a massive outreach to the youth of our nation. For the youth in our churches, he felt that with all that was happing around them it was time to focus on the Great Commis-sion. He started a program called Interna-tional Youth Corps. It was originally designed to take young people to foreign countries and involve them in intense missions work. The plan was not so much as a fun-loving tour that one would look back on as a great experience, but was to engage those young people in serious field work with the end result being the increase of workers on for-eign soil. The second thing he started was the Pentecostal Student Fellowship Interna-tional. This was designed to reach the col-

lege and university campuses across our nation. It involved registering lo-cal chapters on campuses nation-wide where meetings were to be held that would introduce students to Oneness Pentecostalism. The end result was thousands being converted. This was to be an official arm of the UPCI that would give us a huge presence among America’s young adults.

The third thing Kenneth started was a special publication geared to-ward young married couples. It was called Pentecostal Home Life, which targeted young marrieds who were still inside the age bracket of the Pen-tecostal Conquers (youth) depart-ment. It was designed to give support to young couples to help them build strong families and empower them to have solid marriages. He always believed that the building blocks of a strong church were strong families. The fourth thing he started in his two years as youth president was the Youth Redemption Center. Of all the things he started, this was at the top of the list of his passions. America was falling hard: drugs were rampant among the youth of that time, and rock and roll music was fanning the flames of sex, alcohol, and rebellion. Many youth wanted out once they became addicted, but they did not know where to turn for lasting help. This was new to the nation, and most people did not know how to deal with it.

Even Christian parents whose children had been swept away with Satan’s lies need-ed help, and he felt that this was part of the plan to roll back the attack of hell. He envi-sioned a place away from the sex and drug scenes where they could find spiritual help. These were stormy times for our nation, but God had given Kenneth Haney a plan to meet the challenge facing the world of his day. The youth board was excited about the possibilities that the Youth Redemption Center could bring. Every one of them em-braced the dream. They found an old mili-tary base for sale and raised the money to purchase it and begin the task of pulling young people out of the darkness into the safety and hope of the Lord Jesus Christ. After Kenneth returned to Stockton, this project was abandoned. He believed that if the Youth Division had continued with this project, even our own youth would have benefited greatly, and that we could have reached thousands for Christ.

KENNETH FRANKLYN HANEY PASTOR OF STOCKTON CHURCH

Once Kenneth left Stockton, he didn’t really want to return but had decided to go to a big city where he could build a big church. Two of the cities he liked were Dallas and Chi-cago. He would have loved to have built a church in one of these cities when he left the Youth Division, but he was committed to doing the will of God. Before his father’s death, his father had wanted him to come back and work with him in Stockton, and eventually take the church as pastor. Clyde knew that he could not continue carrying the load of the work much longer, and he felt that Kenneth was the one who should carry on the work. But Clyde put his desires aside and was willing to let his son do what he wanted. It wasn’t that Kenneth didn’t love working with his father, or that he didn’t love the people in Stockton, but he felt that he was limited by being in such a small town. The last time he saw his father alive was in Houston, Texas, at the General Conference where he was re-elected as the International Youth President. His father stayed through the elections to give his support to Kenneth whether he was re-elected or not. After the election, Clyde knew that Kenneth would be staying in St. Louis at least two more years. He was happy to see his son reach his dreams, but sad that he would not be com-ing home to work with him. Kenney said goodbye, and, as Clyde Haney walked away,



it was the last time Kenneth saw his father alive.

Shortly after this, Clyde Haney was killed in a hunting accident when the Scout Jeep he was riding in somehow went over an em-bankment killing him instantly. The church board called Kenneth Haney and asked him to come back to Stockton and take the church. It took him two months of wres-tling with himself before he knew without a doubt that it was God’s will for him to return to his home town to pastor. When it came time for the church to vote, Kenneth Haney wanted the church to realize that, although he was his father’s son, he could never fill his father’s shoes but would have to be him-self, the man God had made him. So before the vote, he spoke to the church and said, “I could never be the man that Clyde Haney was, because we were different. I can only be the man that Kenneth Haney is. Before you would vote me in as pastor, I want you to understand that this must be a revival center. It will be a church where everyone must work to win the lost. We will build. We will grow. We will reach the city. We will reach the world, but it will mean much work and sacrifice. If that is what you want you can express it in a vote.” (From “The Man with a Vision,” page 170). Close to 99 voting members voted him in.

Once he returned to Stockton, he never looked back but was committed to the work there for the next 34 years. As the new pastor of the First Pente-costal Church, he took the time to help the church recover and heal from the pain and sorrow that they were experi-encing with the loss of their shepherd, his father. However, he did not just sit still while they were healing, but he launched the church into evangelism as he began the mission of reaching Stockton. He began the Landmark preaching conference, which has continued for over 43 years now uninter-rupted. The last time he attended this con-ference, it had reached over six thousand people in attendance. As they were worship-ing and waves of God’s Spirit were rolling over the crowd, I looked over to see the tears on his face as he looked out over the people. I’m sure he knew that his labors of not only the conference, but also of his life’s work in Stockton, had not been in vain.

As pastor, he took advantage of every opportunity there was to pack the church out. Every Easter we had an Easter drive. He would say, “Most people go somewhere on Easter Sunday, so let’s get them to Christian

Life Center.” The bus ministry grew very large with over 30 busses at one point as he reached out into the city. He brought in many different evangelists to help him reach Stockton and to inspire his saints. I remem-ber when he brought in a young man named Steve Munsey, who got us to decorate each bus with a theme. One bus took some seats out and installed a small merry-go-round like one finds in front of a K-mart or grocery store. One was an ambulance with sirens and lights, while another was turned into a zoo. Every bus caption was in charge of painting and decorating his bus, and they all had First Pentecostal Church painted on the side driving up and down the streets of Stockton. It seemed every kid in the neigh-borhood wanted to take a ride on these bus-ses.

Once Kenneth divided the church into two teams – the watermelon team and the pumpkin team – and had a contest to see

which team could bring the most people to church. The team that lost would serve food to the winning team, and, of course, the food was either unlimited watermelon or pumpkin pie. The watermelon team won, and we kids were glad that we got to eat all the watermelon we wanted. Once a man gave a small car to the church, so another soul-winning contest was held with the prize being the car. He said that for a number of weeks a visitor drive was on, and the win-ner would get the car. He put a new paint job on it. One of the ladies won it by bring-ing the most people. Kenneth had city-wide crusades, home Bible study drives, concerts, and dramas. He also started a singspiration and brought in singers from many churches, and he usually had special guest singers to conclude the night.

As the church began to have some real

growth, it became necessary to build an-other new facility. His dream was to be able to keep the Bible school and the church to-gether at one location, so they found some land to relocate the college and church to West Lane. It was at this time that Kenneth changed the name of the church to Chris-tian Life Center and renamed the college Christian Life College to match the name of the church. After the church was success-fully moved, Pastor Haney began to build the new campus for the college to move over and join the church. These were excit-ing times for the saints in Stockton. Some people thought he was a little crazy at times because his dreams were so huge. The new church at West Lane was designed to seat over two thousand people in its original configuration. When we moved in, we only filled the bottom floor’s two center sections. There were some ministers who made nega-tive remarks and belittled him, but he knew

that God was going to give him the city. On several occasions he stopped preaching to the church and turned and began to preach by faith to an empty balcony that he believed God was going to fill with new believers. In one service he had us each go to an empty pew and told us that it was our own pew, and that we had to fill it up. The church re-sponded, and pew after pew began to be filled with new “babies.”

One of his favorite messages he preached to us was about Elisha and the woman who was in debt. Elisha told her to go and borrow all the vessels she could find to fill with oil, and he would always preach for a while on the phrase

were Elisha told the woman to borrow not a few. He believed that if the people would get the visitors to church, God would fill them with the Holy Ghost. I well remem-ber when he brought in Richard Heard for the first two-thousand-soul revival. He con-tacted fellow pastors in the area and invited them to bring their people to join us in the revival. After six months, two thousand souls had been harvested. The Stockton church had about 1200 new believers while other churches had reaped about 800. It seemed we had more babies than mothers, spiritual speaking, and Kenneth worked day and night to organize the church and reach out to the new ones so that we could keep as many as possible. Then came the Jesus of Nazareth drama days when the church was turned upside down, and a full stage was built to produce it. The whole city talked

about it, and thousands came to see it with many becoming members of the church.

Kenneth Haney was the greatest evange-list I have ever known, and he used every-body he could and did not care who got the glory. What he wanted was souls to be saved from hell. He believed he had the greatest message and hope, and he was not afraid to tell the world about it. I can still remember when he organized a one-day crusade and brought in Billy Cole to speak. Before the service was over, there were close to four hundred people filled with the Holy Ghost. This was also a first among the North Amer-ica churches. He had more vision than any man alive, and even today it’s hard to find another with this kind of vision. He was like so many of the elders, unique and different, seemingly one-of-a-kind.

While talking about all he did to evange-lize, it was his personal conviction that with-out prayer and fasting all his efforts would be in vain. He led the church in three-day quarterly fasting and prayer for years, and he often had prayer chains throughout the year. He was a believer in the power of prayer. He not only was a great man of vision and an evangelist, but he loved his sheep and would walk through hell with them – deaths, sick-ness, tragedies, marriage failures, lost chil-dren, out of work – he felt it all as if it was his own pain, and they knew that Kenneth Haney cared for them as family. He con-sidered being a pastor as the chief servant among the saints. He lived to serve and nev-er ruled as a king over the Lord’s people. His saints and friends will always remember the affection he had for them.

Because of his great drive to evangelize and reach the world, many people over-looked the role that Kenneth Haney played in the organization as an educator. There was hardly a time since his late teenage years that he wasn’t involved in the role of an educator. When he came back to Stock-ton, he not only assumed the role of pastor, but also as the chair of the Bible college that he had served in with his father before leav-ing. Under his ministry there have been lit-erally thousands who have been trained and prepared before being sent out into the har-vest field. He believed in the Bible schools of the UPCI often saying that strong schools help preserve the doctrines and identity of the movement. He made many sacrifices so that Christian Life College could continue to train men and women for the harvest. On several occasions when the college required it, he would pay for the instructors to fur-

ther their education, and while he never had a masters degree himself, he paid for at least twelve to receive theirs that I’m aware of. He was never intimidated by anyone who had a degree because he had found God’s place for himself in the body of Christ many years before. This also allowed him to work with many men with a secular education from a university or seminary. He never felt inferi-

or or become jealous of there achievements. Throughout his life, he maintained the

belief that the United Pentecostals needed Bible schools to train and equip the minis-try. Years later, when he was approached as the General Superintendent seeking his sup-port of the Urshan Graduate School, one of his biggest concerns was that none of the ex-isting Bible schools would be affected in an adverse way. He realized that a school that could boast of being the official UPCI school would receive perks and advantages over the other schools. It would receive millions in funding from dues and gifts and constant ad-vertising, something the other Bible schools could not expect or get. This concern was put to rest when he was promised that Ur-shan Seminary would never do anything to hurt the existing Bible schools, promises that were made at that time. Kenneth Haney felt that the Bible schools of the UPCI had made many sacrifices and great contribu-tions to the organization and deserved the continued support of the brethren. He was an educator like his father before him, and

he believed it was wrong to be unlearned, but he also believed that the content of what one learned was of the utmost importance, especially concerning the future ministry of the organization. Because of this, he kept Western Apostolic Bible College/Christian Life College committed to the founding doc-trines and teachings of Scripture. This was not always easy with so many personalities

involved, but his efforts toward this end has helped us today at WABC/CLC to continue in the doctrines of its founder and those men who have served there before us.

As a pastor, he was so deeply commit-ted to missions that he helped establish and build many Bible schools overseas. He sup-ported every missionary that the national missions board approved. As Russia/Ukraine was just starting to allow missionaries in, he launched a Bible school there staffing it with many of our own people. He said, “We don’t know how long this door will be open; we must work while there is light.” He also traveled the world over preaching in many and divers missionary works from the more luxurious European countries to the heart of Africa, and everything in between. He also believed in Bro. Billy Cole and the work in Ethiopia, and he raised money to build a large Bible school there. Every student was trained in and taught the Search for Truth Bible study, and then each student was giv-en his/her own SfT charts upon graduation. Prior to this, when the Ethiopian state killed



one of Bro. and Sis. Teklemariam’s children because of his fervent love for this truth and refusal to stop spreading the name of Je-sus, my father brought two of his children, Jerusalem and Abraham, to Stockton for safety and placed them in church members’ homes. In later years, he was heart-broken over the way things happened between the work in Ethiopia and the UPCI. He carried that hurt to his grave because he believed that it was possible to see in his lifetime one nation where the majority of the people were Oneness Pentecostals.

This article is not really about his per-sonal family life but is focused on his person as a minister. But, unless someone might think that the silence is because of a weak-ness there, let me say that one only has to ask my mother or sisters, and you will quick-ly find out that all he was for the Kingdom he was more so as a husband and father. He loved my mother, and every one of us saw it in action on a daily basis. He also loved his children, and we knew it and felt it in our home. When he was a young man, the pre-vailing belief was that the family was second to the church. Thank God we have come to

realize that to be wrong as we work to have strong families today. But he, as long as I can remember, made time for us kids taking vacations and trips to an old cabin he had bought. He did give himself wholeheartedly to the work of God, but he never sacrificed his children to reach a dream; his wife and children were his biggest dream.

KENNETH FRANKLYN HANEY ELECTED TO THE OFFICE OF GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT

Before he was elected to be General Super-intendent of the UPCI, he felt that change was coming. Because of this, he asked my wife and me if we would come back home and work with him. I did come home but was not planning to stay in Stockton forever. I had plans to go to the South and build a church in a large city where I felt I could be more effective. One day he approached me about my willingness to pastor the church and explained to me that he felt a change coming. He did not say what the change was, but I was pretty sure that I knew. I told him that I did not want to pastor the work in Stockton, and told him of my dreams. He

wasn’t angry but seemed to understand. As time went on, he and I both prayed about it, and I began to feel a change in myself, and I discussed it with my wife. With her support, and if it would be the Lord’s will, we began to plan toward that end.

In 2001, Pastor Kenneth Haney went to General Conference and was elected the General Superintendent of the UPCI taking on that position January 1, 2002. He served in that capacity for eight years until Janu-ary 1, 2010. When he arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, he came to town with visions that he knew were from God and with a passion that the UPCI could reach the world. He began to unveil his plans, and, as usual, not everybody was excited about the world-wide revival, nor did they all believe it could be done. However, there were men who arose to the challenges and together began to maximize their resources to evangelize the world.

While he was the General Superinten-dent, he did a number of things to enhance the movement and evangelize the world. I would like to mention five of the things that were part of his character throughout his


ministry. The first of the five is prayer and fasting. As a praying man, he worked toward harnessing the many people in God’s King-dom to join together to call on the name of the Lord. He organized 30 days of prayer and fasting annually for the UPCI. He felt that prayer was imperative to having moves of God, and he highly respected people of prayer realizing that they carried such an important position in the Kingdom of God. Secondly, he loved his elders and had the highest respect for them. He realized that without their sacrifice and commitment to our doctrines, the UPCI would cease to ex-ist as the movement that it was and is. He began the Order of Faith, which is the way we honor our elders. It is not limited to just elders, but it was designed mainly for them lest we forget their service. Thirdly, he re-spected the body of Christ throughout his lifetime. He never wanted anyone to feel that their contribution to the work of God was unimportant, so he instituted a program that would acknowledge the faithfulness of our ministers by honoring them for their years of service: 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, and 50 years. These ministers would receive a personalized letter from the General Superintendent and a certificate of honor that acknowledged their labor of love to the Kingdom. He felt that people should realize they were valued members of the UPCI fellowship and the Kingdom of God.

Fourthly, he knew from his years as a pastor that dreams take money, and often the bigger the dream the bigger the monies needed. This caused him to begin a full ser-vice Stewardship Department resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars being com-mitted to various areas within the UPCI, and even millions in the future. He realized that to reach the world, it was going to take more funds to finance the global outreach. Fifthly, he created Global Impact, a program that was designed to reach the world and double our number of ministers, churches, and congre-gations in ten years. Global Impact was only the first stage of a much larger plan that he had for reaching millions of people for Jesus. One of the men who caught his vision was Bro. Jack Cunningham, who was responsible for one thousand churches, daughter works, and preaching points being established in North America. Kenneth Haney knew the base of the UPCI had to grow if the world was to be reached. He took every opportu-nity to obey the Great Commission by using every General Conference as an outreach opportunity to build the local churches as

well as starting new ones. At every General Conference he would end it with a crusade where thousands received the Holy Ghost. Kenneth Haney never missed a chance to reach someone for Christ. Here are a few things that made him the man he was:

A. He loved much and believed in the common man that other leaders some-times passed by.

B. He refused to compromise truth even when some of his dear friends walked away.

C. He spent a lifetime restoring the fallen, including preachers who had fallen into sin; he did not want anyone to be lost and could not stand to see people being hurt by others.

D. He was a very tender man whom some did not care, a man who could be hurt, yet he always returned their hate with love and their cruelty with kindness.

E. He was a praying man, not only in the mornings, but throughout the day. He would often fast, usually for three days but on occasion longer. He had a real relationship with Christ and often, while being touched by God, could be seen weeping while in prayer.

F. He was a man of faith who would talk to himself and preach to himself. He also would preach to others and talk to others as well about keeping their faith. He knew that one’s faith was vital to their walk with God and to being an overcomer.

G. He also had to fight discouragement at times and would cry out to God for

help. He always leaned upon the Lord for everything. During his life, because of his attitude, many people never real-ized that he suffered many setbacks and failures. This brought about many dis-appointments and sometimes regrets, but he never allowed these things to consume him. He finished strong.

H. He wasn’t a quitter, and he would not usually allow us to quit anything with-out coming to a proper finish. And when down, he was sure to get back up by the help of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I. He would meet you once and years later be able to recall your name. Some peo-ple said he had a photographic memory, but this was not so; he worked very, very hard at this. He told me that as a young man he realized the importance of a person’s name and would find ways to remember them often by attaching their name to an event of an object that had the same sound. When he forgot a name, it always bothered him and caused him to work harder the next time. As more foreigners with names that had phonetic sounds that he was not used to began to come to Califor-nia, remembering names became very difficult, but he was determined to re-member the names of these precious saints. He did a wonderful job of it all the way up until his passing.

The biggest hurts I ever saw him go through in the ministry was while he held the office of General Superintendent of the UPCI. One of his elders, who had always


been a part of his life, and for over forty years had been his close friend, surprised us all when he launched a brutal attack against him. Few things in life ever crushed him more than this did. All my life this el-der had been a spiritual father figure who was gentle, loving, and kind to so many in the Western District. He often preached in our church and college delivering powerful messages about Christ. He was a man that had always been fair, and he worked hard at keeping the peace; he had been a real peacemaker. My father never saw it coming when the letters and tape were sent out to the movement that carried a falsified report about him. It had begun when a small group of men needed someone with credibility to help them destroy Kenneth Franklyn Haney. They enlisted this long-time friend for help when he was old and feeling forgotten. Some said that he was on medications, which con-tributed to this evil. They began to show him the attention that he longed for as they wined and dined him and urged him to help them defend the faith that they said Bishop Kenneth F. Haney had compromised.

On several occasions they presented their case to him, and the elder, in one mo-ment’s time, violated everything he had taught us, crossing a line by which he lost the respect of the majority of the brethren. They attacked my father’s character and tried to tarnish his image and undermine many of the things he was working toward achiev-ing within the movement. I still remember many of my father’s good friends urging him to write a letter in rebuttal to the letters and

tape that had been sent out against him, but he refused for two reasons. First, he did not want to engage in a battle with the elder. He looked at the example that David had given us refusing to touch God’s anointed. Even though God was through with Saul, David left him in God’s hands, and my father could not bring himself to fight with a man he loved and had respected. Secondly, he had given it to the Lord and said that the Holy Ghost would vindicate him; this was God’s battle, not his. He would talk about Nehe-miah, the man who would not come down off the wall to fight with those who made accusations against him but continued to stay busy in the work of God; this was his response.

He never read the letter nor would he listen to the tape, but he and my mother just began to pray. However, this did not mean that he was invincible to hurt and a bro-ken heart. One could have plunged a knife into his back, and he would have rather had that than to face this, but there was noth-ing he could do to stop it. He cried to the Lord and felt so heavy, and a cloud seemed to hang over him during this time. He had lost an elder friend and mentor, and the el-der had lost the respect of the brethren, and that bothered him. When the conference in Toronto, Canada, came, and the voting took place, the brethren decided that they still wanted Kenneth Haney as their General Su-perintendent. After the vote, you could see the old elder wondering around all alone; the men who had used him had now aban-doned him. It was a sad sight to see him

wondering around the conference all alone. Those who had pretended to be his friends, once they realized he was no longer of any value to their cause, left him to face the brethren by himself. There were a few more attacks, but they did not generate much in-terest. The organization had moved on and was doing God’s business.

The elder went home and just began to fade away as his health deteriorated. My fa-ther reached out to him, but there was no response. But Kenneth Haney had already forgiven the man whether he responded or not. I will never forget the last year of my father’s life and how he felt a strong urge to do what he could to restore the man who had fallen from the good graces of the breth-ren. He enlisted the help of his long-time friend Reverend Daryl Rash to help him get the elder to the Landmark Conference in January 2011. It was arranged, and on Friday night with about six thousand people in at-tendance, in through the back doors came this man my dad loved so dearly. I remember seeing the tears stream down his face as the man came down the aisle to a seat that was reserved for him.

During that night, my father went to the pulpit and publicly acknowledged him, and then he explained the man’s deteriorating health and asked the people to pray for him. Six thousand people, with out-stretched hands, prayed. My father came down off the platform, joined by my mother, and went over and prayed for him and his wife. Ken-neth Haney got down on his knees and took hold of the ankles of a man who never for-mally asked for forgiveness for the pain he had caused, but Kenneth Haney showed him respect and taught us all how to love and for-give those who have hurt us without a cause. Stories like this were his life. Why God al-lowed so many hurts from others we will never know, but when Kenneth Franklyn Haney stepped from this world into the next world, he went with a pure heart of which it is written, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Of all the things Kenneth Franklyn Haney left us that are a part of his legacy, such as build-ings, churches, colleges, schools, crusades, missions programs, sermons, visions, and dreams, none will ever come close to the les-son he taught us of how to be like Christ. He was a man without guile who loved people and wanted to be like Jesus. He was first and foremost a Christian. ■

Nathaniel K. Haney is Senior Pastor at Christian Life Center. He is also Chairman

of the Board of Christian Life College.

CHRISTIAN LIFE MINISTRY9025 West Lane, Stockton, CA 95210clministry.com

Documents

The Cross / Summer 2015