Assemblies of God General Superintendent Responds to Remarks Attributed to Paul Alexander at Seattle, Washington, Meeting

The General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, George O. Wood, has issued a statement responding to Jeff Walton’s coverage of a recent meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies (SPS) in Seattle. At that meeting, the society’s president at the time, Paul Alexander, made remarks about race, theology and sex that have been described as controversial. Alexander is ordained in the Assemblies of God.

In his statement, Wood identified Alexander as a faculty member of Palmer Seminary and a licensed Assemblies of God minister. He said that on April 8 he received a copy of statements attributed to Alexander at the SPS meeting, and that Alexander was SPS president when the remarks were made.

Wood said he was waiting for a written transcript of Alexander’s address before drawing conclusions. In the meantime, he said, he had made Alexander’s district superintendent aware of the matter. He noted that Article X of the General Council Bylaws provides a process when allegations are made against a credentialed minister.

Wood also wrote that he trusted there would never be a day in the Assemblies of God when a credentialed minister could keep credentials while supporting any form of sexual immorality. The statement, which the commentary describes as a response to Walton’s coverage, was posted on Wood’s Facebook page in reply to a question about the matter. One commenter said they had been unable to find it anywhere else.

Other responses followed. Lee Roy Martin, who was then incoming SPS president, released a letter to society members, according to a later commentary that cited it. Some readers who defended Alexander argued that he had been misrepresented and that the criticism was unfair; these were personal comments and did not come from an official body. The source does not detail the specific remarks in dispute beyond the general subjects of race, theology and sex, and it does not report any finding on the statements.

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