In December 1969, Don Finto went looking for the Holy Ghost.
Growing up in the Church of Christ, Finto believed in God the Father Almighty, and he learned to trust in Jesus. But for the most part, he felt the Holy Ghost was missing from his life ”” especially when it came to speaking in tongues, a practice of praying in unknown languages.
“I felt like I was stuck in a box,” he said.
Finto, then 39, decided to give the Holy Spirit a try. The former missionary-turned-David Lipscomb University-professor knelt and prayed, asking to be baptized in the Spirit, an experience relatively unknown outside of Pentecostal circles.
When he stood up, Finto says, his life had changed forever.
Just some trivia from a reader. I grew up in Nashville, and was baptized when I was six months old at St. George’s Episcopal Church, but did not return to the Church until 1990 after a radical conversion. Don Finto was my first pastor (along with Stephen Mansfield: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Mansfield) at Belmont Church. It was an amazing time of growth for me. In those days, many of us would go to Belmont just to worship. Yes, they had a fantastic praise band deep with studio quality musicians, but the real reason was the sensitivity to the Spirit’s move in that place and among the congregation. Don is an engaging preacher, and always felt like a papa of sorts, even if you did not know him personally.
After 20 years walking with the Lord, Belmont Church remains the place where I grew the most, had the most significant fellowship with Christians, and was the place from which the Lord launched me into ministry, first with YWAM, then to Regent College in Vancouver and into the Anglican Church of Canada. I must admit, reading this post has, to quote David Byrne, made me ask again, “Well, how did I get here?” To be honest, the Anglican Church in North America could use a host of Fintos to bring some life back our churches.
I also grew up in Nashville and was a member of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, which worked closely with Finto and Belmont Church in developing a powerful healing ministry in the late 70’s. St. B’s became one of the foremost charismatic Episcopal churches in the Southeast under the dynamic leadership of Fr. Chuck Murphy, who was AMiA Bp. Chuck Murphy’s father. Through St. B’s, the Nashville charismatic movement spread to other Episcopal churches in the Southeast, including St. Andrew’s-by-the-sea in Destin, Florida. There was a young priest there by the name of Sandy Greene, who was greatly influenced by Fr. Murphy (and thus indirectly by Finto). Some twenty years later, Greene was consecrated as a bishop for AMiA a few years after Bp. Chuck. Finto’s legacy is alive and well in the charismatic current of AMiA’s “three streams” church, which is now being brought into the ACNA.