Regent University Chapel Welcomes J. Lee Grady

September 5, 1976, is a stand-out day for author, journalist and minister J. Lee Grady.

It was the day he became “baptized in the Holy Spirit,” he told Regent University students, faculty and staff at the weekly University Chapel service on Wednesday, October 26. He came to a turn in his faith after a “strange woman” visited his Southern Baptist congregation and introduced him to the Pentecostal traditions.

“I’m very grateful for my [Southern Baptist] heritage, because those people introduced me to Jesus Christ,” said Grady. “But in my church, we talked about Jesus a lot, but we never talked about the Holy Spirit.”

Grady explained that the Pentecostal movement was more than “people running around the church or hanging from a chandelier.” To him, it was being “thrown into the river.” After his “baptism in the spirit,” he entered college, became a journalist and eventually the editor of Charisma Magazine, the “leading charismatic media source.”

Now, Grady’s mission is to spread the message of the “maximized Pentecost.”

“Over the years a lot of us think that being Pentecostal or spirit-filled is about manifestations, speaking in tongues, shaking, vibrating, whatever people do,” said Grady. “But I believe there is something bigger and deeper going on here. It’s not about you or your personal experience. God has something much bigger in mind.”

Grady explained his philosophy of the Pentecostal movement is derived from Acts 2, and consists of four “barriers” that are “broken by the outpouring of the holy spirit”: racial, gender, generational and status.

These broken barriers encourage the discipling of younger generations, reaching out to the outcasts, and incorporating the prayers and prophesies of God’s sons and daughters in the Church.

“If you want to be a full-on maximized Pentecostal Christian, these should be operation in your life,” said Grady. “There are a lot of Pentecostals who are sitting in their very comfortable boxes. But I believe we’re going to see another outpouring, and I think we’re all going to be surprised by what God does.”

Learn more about Regent University’s Campus Ministries.