With Signs Following

Born to ex-slaves in Reconstruction-era Tennessee, Bishop Charles Harrison Mason had a vision for the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) that thrives today in an international Pentecostal church with more than five million members. With Signs Following: The Life and Ministry of Charles Harrison Mason examines the social, cultural, and religious aspects of Bishop Mason's leadership and creative genius in establishing COGIC as a distinct Black Church tradition. With Signs Following shares four decades of research from leading scholars that addresses the sociological, theological, psychological, social-ethical, and historical perspectives of COGIC and Mason's ministry. Contributors: Christopher Brennan Ithiel Clemmons David D. Daniels III Glenda Williams Goodson Robert R. Owens Craig Scandrett-Leatherman Raynard D. Smith Frederick L. Ware

From hand-rendered folk signs to high-dollar church marquees, religious messages and imagery saturate the landscape of the American South. In With Signs Following, photographer and southern studies scholar Joe York introduces readers to the role of artistic, witty advertising in southern churches. In seventy black-and-white images of religious signs and other ephemera, he simultaneously presents the factual while encouraging reflection and introspection. Though York's pictures speak volumes, With Signs Following features an equally compelling essay by York. This piece seeks the stories of the sign makers through informal interviews. The combination of images and text offers an insightful, humorous, historically grounded perspective on one of the South's most familiar scenes. In collecting images of religious roadside signs from across the region and interviews with the evangelicals who put them there, Joe York shows us the "Christ-haunted" South as it has never before been considered. Joe York is a freelance photographer and a producer and director of documentary films for the Center for Documentary Projects and the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi. Charles Reagan Wilson is director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi.

With Signs Following is undoubtedly the most accurate, comprehensive and reliable history of the early Pentecostal movement that has ever been written. It has long been recognized as the standard work in Pentecostal history.

Signs Following explores how the language of poetry can engage with history, temporality, and the fact of embodiment in the physical world of change and difference, while yearning for some transcendent guarantee of meaning.

"Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." Matthew 10:8 isn't just a challenging commission to every Christian believer; it is what Jesus expects from every one of us. He gave us his Holy Spirit so that we would have the power to heal the sick and raise the dead. To live any less than this is to dishonor our destiny and the price that Jesus paid so we could walk in His shoes. He lives in us. His power flows through us. He gave us authority to do things in His name. It's time to walk in our destiny! These Signs Shall Follow will teach you your identity, your destiny, and your authority. It will teach you how to pursue God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit with hunger and passion. It gives practical insight on how to acquire and practice the spiritual gifts. You will learn how to get a word of knowledge, how to prophesy over someone, and how to heal the sick.