Carlton Pearson - Live at Azusa
Carlton Pearson, world-renowned pastor and founder of the Tulsa, Oklahoma Higher Dimensions Evangelistic Center in 1981, is a man of God with a mission. Nothing excites Carlton Pearson more than seeing African Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics and other races worshiping God together. Today the racially mixed ministry has almost 3,000 members and conducts three worship services on Sunday. With the 1995 Azusa Conference, an event held in the Mabee Center on the campus of Oral Roberts University, Pearson continues to break down barriers with a powerful worship experience.
Pearson, 46, has 18 years of experience in intercultural ministry under his belt, Pearson says church leaders must go out of their way to understand people who aren't like them. "When I started this church, I intentionally hired people of different races and cultures to reflect what I sense God wants me to do in this city," Pearson told Charisma.
"I believe part of my God-ordained purpose is to bridge gaps between nations, denominations, cultures and generations," he says. It becomes clear that this is exactly how God is using him in the audio and video recordings of the final night of the Azusa Conference which have now become Live at Azusa, the album and the video.
Pearson gained recognition during the early 1970s as a singer on Oral Roberts' television program. He admits his time as a student at Oral Roberts University (ORU) opened his eyes to the need for reconciliation in the body of Christ.
Pearson is widely recognized for his dynamic preaching and evangelism. His emphasis in ministry is for those who seek God in a special way, with all races worshiping together on earth as it will be in heaven. Live at Azusa captures the spirit of this message, a recorded event that displays the power of God at work across racial and generational boundaries.Carlton Pearson Aims at Racial Unity
The live audience responded audibly during the taping to the power of the medley. "We reach back and touch our mothers and grandmothers," Pearson explains. "There were a lot of older people weeping because the songs brought back so many memories." Pearson's mother, Lillie, joins him to sing within the medley on a thrilling arrangement of "I Get Joy."
For young believers, Pearson thinks it is important for them to experience events such as the worship at Azusa. "These events give our young people an historical appreciation of a profound event in American history," he says. "In my opinion, it will have the same effect on them as going through a museum that has important, life-changing memories of the past."
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