Christianity Today Interviews Craig Lent

45,000 charismatic Christians gathered in Arrowhead Stadium for the 1977 Kansas City Conference. Photo: People of Praise archives.

Christianity Today has published an interview with Craig Lent, our overall coordinator. The interviewer is Ed Stetzer, a pastor, author and professor and dean at Wheaton College.

In the interview, Craig answers questions about our portrayal in the press, the history of the People of Praise, our covenant, our organizational structure and our stance on social and political issues.

Here are a few excerpts:

On finding Christian community: When I was prayed with to be baptized in the Spirit, things changed. My prayer came alive, the words of the Bible jumped off the page, and I began praying in tongues (even though I had never heard speaking in tongues before). Within a few months, something else happened. I discovered a deep desire to live my life in a strong sense with other Christians.

On life together: Our life is lived out in many ways: shared meals, parties, weddings, wakes and funerals, and celebrating seasons of the church year. We help each other with meals, care and service of various kinds. We are longtime friends.

On what's next for the People of Praise: Last fall, the Lord led us as a community to make 2020 a year of intercessory prayer for the work of the Holy Spirit in our world. Now, in this challenging and divisive time for our country and our world, we invite everyone to join us in praying, "Come Holy Spirit!"

You can read the full interview here.

If you haven’t seen it already, you might be interested in this earlier article Dr. Stetzer wrote, in which he outlines the history of the Pentecostal and charismatic renewal movements and of the People of Praise within that context. 

That article included a link to footage from the 1977 Kansas City conference, which brought together tens of thousands of charismatic Christians from many denominations. The footage includes a clip of Kevin Ranaghan (South Bend) speaking. You can watch that video below. Kevin's clip begins at around 1:00.