Rena Mero

On August 10, 2004, WWE.com announced that Mero and the WWE had parted ways. Additional Pentecostal theologians are listed in the article entitled, "Renewal Theologians". Mero appeared in pictorials in the April 1999, September 1999, and March 2004 issues of Playboy magazine. Source: Operation World by Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, 2000, unless otherwise indicated. At Vengeance '03 in Denver, Colorado, Sable defeated Stephanie McMahon; many commentators were of the opinion that her resistance to such storylines came from her born-again husband Marc and, after their separation, was more conducive to such behavior. The Apostolic Church is the fastest growing church in the world. However, she returned to WWE television at the April 1, 2003 "Smackdown!" taping, and over the course of several months participated in storylines similar to those described in the lawsuit, including acting as a whore and kissing Torrie Wilson. Founded and led by David Yonggi Cho since 1958, it had 780,000 members in 2003.

Mero reduced her settlement figure and eventually settled out of court. The great majority of Pentecostals are to be found in Third World countries (see the Statistics subsection below), although much of their international leadership is still North American. Pentecostalism is sometimes referred to as the "third force of Christianity." The largest Christian church in the world is the Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea, a Pentecostal church. In June 1999, Mero quit the WWF and filed a $110 million lawsuit against the company, with allegations of sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions. Pentecostalism was conservatively estimated to number around 115 million followers worldwide in 2000; other estimates place the figure closer to 400 million. (Ivory later lost her third and last Women's Title reign to The Kat in Evening Gown in a Pool match in December of 1999). is estimated to be more than 20 million and also including approx 918,000 (4%) of the Hispanic-American population, counting all unaffiliated congregations, although exact numbers are hard to come by, in part because some tenets of Pentecostalism are held by members of non-Pentecostal denominations in what has been called the charismatic movement. Sable became the first woman/diva to lose her title without losing it by pin or submission. The size of Pentecostalism in the U.S.

However, Commissioner Shawn Michaels ruled that he considered the woman who had lost her dress the winner, making Debra the new Women's Champion. According to a Spring 1998 article in Christian History, there are about 11,000 different pentecostal or charismatic denominations worldwide. Sable took off Debra's dress, and should therefore have been the winner. The largest Pentecostal denominations in the United States today are the United Pentecostal Church, the Church of God in Christ, Church of God (Cleveland) and the Assemblies of God. Technically, in an Evening Gown Match, the winner is the woman who forcibly removes her opponent's dress. The history of pentecostalism in Australia has been documented by Dr Barry Chant in Heart of Fire (1984, Adelaide: Tabor, 382 pages). On May 10, 1999, Debra "won" the Women's Championship from Sable in an Evening Gown Match. In Brazil, for example, churches founded by the Swedish Pentecostal mission claim several million members.

As a one-time WWF Women's Champion, Sable defeated Jacqueline and the Spider Lady (who was really Luna Vachon in disguise). Swedish Pentecostals have been very missionary-minded and have established churches in many countries. Sable used a Stone Cold gesture and flipped off McMahon. These congregations are all independent but cooperate on a large scale. The match was then awarded to Jacqueline. As of 2005, the Swedish pentecostal movement has approximately 90,000 members in nearly 500 congregations. The next night, Vince McMahon disqualified Sable since she did not actually wear a bikini at all. Today this congregation has about 7000 members and is the biggest Pentecostal congregation in northern Europe.

Sable, only wearing impressions of painted hands covering her exposed breasts, won the contest easily. Pastored by Lewi Pethrus, this congregation, originally Baptist, was expelled from the Baptist Union of Sweden in 1913 for doctrinal differences. The two met in a bikini contest at Fully Loaded in July 1998. In Sweden, the first Pentecostal church was Filadelfiaförsamlingen in Stockholm. It was only a matter of time before Jacqueline and Sable started a feud. This was later followed by the Elim Church. During Sable's absence, her husband hired Jacqueline as his new manager. In the United Kingdom, the first Pentecostal church to be formed was the Apostolic Church.

Mero made her WWF debut as Sable at Wrestlemania XII in 1996, when she escorted Hunter Hearst Helmsley to ringside for his match against the Ultimate Warrior. She even won two awards at the 1997 Slammy Awards: "Dressed to Kill" and "Miss Slammy." She wore a rather revealing outfit to win the latter. Unlike "Classical Pentecostals," who formed strictly Pentecostal congregations or denominations, Charismatics adopted as their motto, "Bloom where God planted you.". She had a daughter named Mariah with Richardson. From the late 1950s onwards, the Charismatic Movement, which was to a large extent inspired and influenced by Pentecostalism, began to flourish in the mainline Protestant denominations, as well as the Roman Catholic church. In 2004 she became engaged to Brock Lesnar. This influence included evangelistic emphasis, C&MA doctrine, Simpson's hymns and books, and the use of the term 'Gospel Tabernacle,' which evolved into Pentecostal churches being known as 'Full Gospel Tabernacles.'. She married wrestler Marc Mero in 1994; in 2003 she announced that they were divorcing. Because of this, Simpson and the C&MA (an evangelistic movement that Simpson founded) had a great influence on Pentecostalism, in particular the Assemblies of God and the FourSquare Church.

She was married to Wayne Richardson from 1987 until his death in 1991. It was common for Pentecostal pastors and missionaries to receive their training at the Missionary Training Institute that Simpson founded. She performed for World Wrestling Entertainment as Sable. During the beginning of the twentieth century, Albert Benjamin Simpson became closely involved with the growing Pentecostal movement. Rena Mero (born Rena Greek August 8, 1967 in Jacksonville, Florida) is an American model, actress and professional wrestler. The unification of white and black movements led to the restructing of the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America to become the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America. Winner 1997 WWF Miss Slammy. This unification occurred in 1998, again in Memphis, Tennessee.

Winner 1997 WWF California Tan Contest. In 1994, Pentecostals returned to their roots of racial reconciliation and proposed formal unification of the major white and black branches of the Pentecostal Church, in a meeting subsequently known as the Memphis Miracle. 1-Time WWF Women's Champion. When the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America was formed in 1948, it was made up entirely of Anglo-American Pentecostal denominations. Sablecanrana / FrankenSable. This lasted until 1924, when the church split along racial lines (see Apostolic Faith Mission). TKO. The first decade of Pentecostalism was marked by interracial assemblies, "...Whites and blacks mix in a religious frenzy,..." according to a local newspaper account.

Kick to the head. By the third week in April, 1906, the small but growing congregation had rented an abandoned African Methodist Episcopal Church at 312 Azusa Street and organized as the Apostolic Faith Mission. Double Leg Takedown. On April 18, 1906, the Los Angeles Times ran a front page story on the movement. Sable Bomb. The attending pastor, William J. Seymour, also claimed that he was overcome with the Holy Spirit on April 12, 1906. Trainer: Marc Mero. The expansion of the movement started with the Azusa Street Revival, beginning April 9, 1906 at the Los Angeles home of Edward Lee, who experienced what he felt to be an infilling of the Holy Spirit during a prayer session.

Other Gimmicks: Sable. Parham left Topeka and began a revival ministry which led to a link to the Azusa Street Revival through William J. Seymour whom he taught in his school in Houston, although because Seymour was African American, he was only allowed to sit outside the room to listen. Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida. Parham, a minister of Methodist background, formulated the doctrine that tongues was the "Bible evidence" of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Birthday: August 8, 1967. Although the 1896 Shearer Schoolhouse Revival in Cherokee County, North Carolina might be regarded as a precursor to the modern Pentecostal movement, the commonly accepted origin dates from when Agnes Ozman received the gift of tongues (glossolalia) at Charles Fox Parham's Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas in 1901. Weight: 121 lbs. Modern Pentecostalism began around 1901.

Height: 5'6". This same holds true for the Oneness Pentecostal towards trinitarian churches. The major trinitarian Pentecostal organizations, however, including the Pentecostal World Conference and the Fellowship of Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of North America, have condemned Oneness Theology as a heresy and refuse membership to churches holding this belief. They also believe that God has revealed Himself in different roles rather than three distinct persons. This is for their belief that the original Apostles baptized converts in the name of Jesus.

Oneness Pentecostals, are sometimes known as Jesus-Name, "Apostolics", or by their detractors as "Jesus only" Pentecostals. The largest Pentecostal Oneness denomination in the United States is the United Pentecostal Church. Some Pentecostal churches hold to "Oneness theology", which decries the traditional doctrine of the Trinity as unbiblical. The idea that one is not saved unless one speaks in tongues is rejected by most major Pentecostal denominations.

Advocates say that the Pentecostal position aligns closely with Luke's emphasis in the book of Acts and reflects a more sophisticated use of hermeneutics. Critics charge that this doctrine does not mesh well with what they believe to be Paul's criticism of the early Corinthian church for their obsession with speaking in tongues (see 1 Corinthians, chapters 12-14 in the New Testament). This, however, would be a minority perspective. This would be the only case where a believer would be filled with the Holy Spirit, but not exhibit the so-called "initial physical evidence" of speaking in tongues.

Some ministers and members admit that a believer might be able to speak in tongues, but for various personal reasons (such as a lack of understanding) might not. Most major Pentecostal churches also accept the corollary that those who don't speak in tongues have not received the blessing that they call "The Baptism of the Holy Spirit" (this claim is uniquely Pentecostal and is one of the few consistent differences from Charismatic theology). Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is the normative proof of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. One of the most prominent distinguishing characteristics of Pentecostalism that separates it from Evangelicalism is its emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit.

For the Pentecostal, the Scriptures are a primary reference point for communion with God and a template for reading the world. Jackie David Johns, in his work on Pentecostal formational leadership, states that the Scriptures hold a special place in the Pentecostal worldview in that the Bible is held as a book in which the Holy Spirit is always active; to encounter the Scriptures is to encounter God. Dr. Reason is esteemed as a valid conduit of truth, but Pentecostals do not limit truth to the realm of reason.

Although Pentecostals are concerned with orthodoxy ("correct belief"), they are also concerned with orthopathy ("right affections") and orthopraxy ("right reflection or action"). Pentecostals embrace a transrational worldview. While there is cross pollination with other movements, Pentecostals differ from Fundamentalists by placing more emphasis on personal spiritual experience and, in most cases, by allowing women in ministry. Theologically, most Pentecostal denominations are aligned with Evangelicalism in that they emphasize the reliability of the Bible and the need for conversion to faith in Jesus.

Charismatic Christians, at least in the early days of the movement, tended to remain in their respective denominations. Pentecostalism is similar to the Charismatic movement, but developed earlier and separated from the mainstream church. The Pentecostal movement within Protestant Christianity places special emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Al Sharpton - American politician, civil rights activist, and Pentecostal minister.

Andrea Mason - leader of the Family First Party of Australia in the Federal Election of 2004. Steve Fielding - Family First Party Leader and Senator from Victoria. Andrew Evans - Founder and most influential member of the Family First Party and Member of the South Australian Legislative Council. Stockwell Day - prominent Canadian politician.

Frederick Chiluba - former President of Zambia. John Ashcroft - former Attorney-General of the United States. Luis & Aileen Torres - Pastors of Centro De Adoracion Nuevos Comienzos, Passaic, New Jersey, US. Rev Mohan - Pastor New Life Assemblies Of God Church, chennai, India.

Vincent Leoh [1957- ]- General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God of Malaysia; Senior Pastor of Glad Tidings Assembly of God, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Sophia Tan Luang Keng - Founding and Senior Pastor of Living Spring Fellowship, based in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Larry Schoonover is also Senior editor of the Apostolic Herald (http://apostolicherald.com). Larry Schoonover - Senior Pastor of New Life Pentecostal Church (http://newlife-apostolic.com) in Puyallup, Washington.

Ouriel de Jesus - Senior Pastor of World Revival Church (http://www.godsrevival.com), the center of the revival in Boston, MA, and the president of the 70 some odd congregations planted by his ministry around the world. Brian Houston - Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. Wayne Hughes - Senior Pastor of the Takapuna Assembly of God, New Zealand. In 2002, he conducted the largest known evangelistic crusade in history, in Lagos, Nigeria, attended by six million people.

Reinhard Bonnke (1941-) - German evangelist known for his huge crusades, mostly in Africa but also elsewhere. Luis Cabral (1965-) - Portuguese evangelist, now based in New Zealand. Jack Hayford - Founding Pastor of Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California. David Yonggi Cho (1936-) - Senior Pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea.

Currently Associate Pastor of Times Square Church, New York. David Wilkerson (1931-) - author of The Cross and the Switchblade and numerous other books. Ward. M.

C. Jimmy Swaggart. Pat Robertson. Oral Roberts.

Kathryn Kuhlman. Kenneth Hagin Sr. Kenneth Copeland. Morris Cerullo.

Dan Betzer. Jim Bakker. Gordon Fee - New Testament Scholar. Rufus Hollis Gause (born 1925).

Derek Prince (1915-2003) - probably the world's best-known Pentecostal theologian. Donald Gee (1891-1966). Rex Humbard (b.1919) The first successful TV evangelist of the mid 1950s, 1960s, and the 1970s and at one time had the largest television audience of any televangelist in the U.S. Oral Roberts (b.1918) Healing Tent Evangelist who made the transition to televangelism.

Allen (1911-1970) Healing Tent Evangelist of the 1950s and 1960s. A. A. Jack Coe (1918-1956) Healing Tent Evangelist of the 1950s.

Branham (1909-1965) Healing Evangelists of the mid 20th century. William M. Kathryn Kuhlman (1907-1976) American female evangelist who brought Pentecostalism into the mainstream denominations. Aimee Semple McPherson(1890-1944) American Female Evangelist and organizer of the Four Square Gospel Church.

Seymour (1870-1922) Azusa Street Mission Founder. William J. Charles Fox Parham (1873-1929) Father of Modern Pentecostalism. David du Plessis.

Smith Wigglesworth. John Alexander Dowie (1848-1907). Australia: 0.4 million. Papua New Guinea: 0.4 million.

Oceania: 3.3 million