title: Flamingo Las Vegas

text: Legendary past performers at The Flamingo include Judy Garland in 1958, Bobby Darin in 1963 (for several weeks), Fats Domino in 1963 (and for several years), Jerry Lee Lewis in 1963, and Ray Charles in 1963. The Supremes in 1966 and 1967, James Brown in 1967, Little Richard in 1967, Tom Jones in 1968 (for the album "Tom Jones Live in Las Vegas"), Wayne Newton (longtime Vegas resident) in 1968, and Ella Fitzgerald in 1970, and B.B. King in 1971.


title: Flamingo Las Vegas

text: Later headliners included Kenny Rogers in 1997, Foreigner in 2000, Vinnie Favorito in 2003, The Beach Boys in 2003, Jimmy Buffett in 2004. Sly & the Family Stone (from San Francisco) played the Flamingo in 2007, Old Dominion in 2017, Aaron Carter in 2017, Everclear in 2017, Lit and Alien Ant Farm (both from L.A.) in 2017, Richard Marx in 2017, Smash Mouth (from San Jose) in 2017, Rita Ora in 2018, and Gin Blossoms (from Phoenix) in 2018.


title: Flamingo Las Vegas

text: Long running shows included Gladys Knight with her Pips who played the Flamingo in 2003. Toni Braxton's show ran from August 2006 to April 2008 and closed due to Braxton's health problems. Singer Olivia Newton-John maintained a long term residency at the Flamingo from April 2014 through 2016.


title: Flamingo Las Vegas

text: Also from 2008 through November 2019 the headlining show at the Flamingo featured brother-sister musical duo Donny and Marie Osmond. Their show premiered in September 2008, and was extended through November 2019 for an eleven-year run. The show was rated in The Best of Las Vegas online contest. Donny and Marie Osmond were voted "Best Performers of Las Vegas" in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The final show was on November 16, 2019 and holds the record for the longest-running musical act in Vegas history with 1730 performances with more than 9 million tickets sold during the production.


title: Flamingo Las Vegas

text: The 1964 film "Viva Las Vegas" and the 1960 version of "Ocean's 11" were filmed at the hotel, as was a flashback sequence from the 2001 version of the latter film. In the 1960 version, the Flamingo was one of the five Las Vegas casinos robbed by characters played by Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis Jr. and others.


title: Flamingo Las Vegas

text: The 1991 film "Bugsy" starring Warren Beatty depicted Bugsy Siegel's involvement in the construction of the Flamingo, though many of the details were altered for dramatic effect. For instance, in the film, Siegel originates the idea of the Flamingo, instead of buying ownership from Billy Wilkerson, and is killed after the first opening on December 26, 1946, rather than the second opening of the Flamingo in 1947.


title: Flamingo Las Vegas

text: The Netflix original series "Lilyhammer" featuring E-Street Band guitarist and singer Steven Van Zandt features a nightclub in Lillehammer, Norway, named the Flamingo. During its construction, Van Zandt's character, Giovanni Henriksen (aka Frank "The Fixer" Tagliano), referenced the hotel and casino, as well as Benjamin Siegel, as his inspiration for the nightclub.


title: Flamingo Las Vegas

text: In the television series "Vega$" (1978–1981), starring Robert Urich, and filmed entirely in Las Vegas, the Flamingo Hilton is featured prominently in the opening montage.


title: Flamingo Las Vegas

text: Hunter S. Thompson and Oscar Zeta Acosta stayed at the Flamingo while attending a seminar by the National Conference of District Attorneys on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs held at the Dunes Hotel across the street. Several of their experiences in their room are depicted in Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream".


title: Flamingo Las Vegas

text: The Flamingo figures prominently in the Tim Powers novel "Last Call". In the novel, the Flamingo is supposedly founded on Siegel's mythical/mystical paranoia of being pursued and killed for his archetypal position as the "King of the West", known mythologically as "Fisher King". Supposedly the Flamingo itself was meant to be a real-life personification of "The Tower" card of the tarot deck.


title: Jessica Darrow

text: Jessica Darrow (born January 7, 1995) is an American actress and singer best known for voicing the character Luisa Madrigal in Disney's "Encanto".


title: Jessica Darrow

text: Darrow was born in Miami, Florida. She is of Cuban descent. As a teenager, she would listen to songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and watched Disney films.


title: Jessica Darrow

text: Darrow's first film role was Sarah in the 2019 film "Feast of the Seven Fishes", directed by Robert Tinnell. She rose to fame in 2021 acting in the Disney animated feature film "Encanto" as the voice of Luisa Madrigal. She sang one of the film's most popular songs, "Surface Pressure", which was certified platinum by the RIAA and peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 2022. Darrow voiced Mimi in "Grand Theft Auto Online"s 2021 update "Los Santos Tuners".


title: Jessica Darrow

text: In an interview for "Deadline Hollywood", Darrow voiced her support of the LGBT community in the wake of the Parental Rights in Education Act passage in Miami, where she was born, "Here I am being queer and gorgeous, and I'm on the red carpet, and I'm very happy to represent fellow gorgeous queer people."


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: USS "America" (LHA-6), is an amphibious assault ship of the United States Navy and the lead ship of the "America"-class amphibious assault ship. The fourth U.S. warship to be named for the United States of America, she was delivered in spring of 2014, replacing of the . Her mission is to act as the flagship of an expeditionary strike group or amphibious ready group, carrying part of a Marine expeditionary unit into battle and putting them ashore with helicopters and V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, supported by F-35B Lightning II aircraft and helicopter gunships.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: The ship's design is based on , but to allow more room for aviation facilities she does not have a well deck, and has smaller medical spaces. With a displacement of 45,000 tons, she is as large as many other countries' aircraft carriers and can fulfill similar missions when configured with 20 F-35B strike fighters.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: "America's" original homeport was San Diego, California, until in 2019 it was changed to Sasebo, Japan.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: The design is based on that of , itself an improved version of the . Approximately 45% of the Flight 0 design is based on "Makin Island", with the well deck removed to allow more room for aircraft and aviation fuel. The removal of the well deck for landing craft allows for an extended hangar deck with two significantly wider high bay areas, each fitted with an overhead crane for aircraft maintenance.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: These changes were required in order to operate the F-35B and MV-22, which are considerably larger than the aircraft they replace. The typical aircraft complement is expected to be 12 MV-22B transports, six STOVL F-35B attack aircraft, four CH-53K heavy transport helicopters, seven AH-1Z/UH-1Y attack/utility helicopters and two Navy MH-60S for air-sea rescue. The exact makeup of the ship's aircraft complement will vary according to the mission. "America" can carry 20 F-35B and 2 MH-60S to serve as a small aircraft carrier as demonstrated by LHD operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: Other enhancements include a re-configurable command and control complex, an on-board hospital, additional aviation fuel capacity and numerous aviation support spaces.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: "America" will be modified in a similar way to the modifications made on to make her better able to withstand the great amounts of heat generated by the F-35B's engine exhaust when taking off or landing vertically. Intercostal structural members will be added underneath flight deck landing spots seven and nine to more closely perform timed cyclic flight operations without overstressing it. Other changes may involve re-adjusting some ship antennas to allow for a clear flight path. The ship will undergo a 40-week modification period where recently installed piping, lighting, and other features will be removed to weld reinforcements underneath the flight deck; the modification period would have been greater if its construction in the shipyard had been interrupted to perform it. Such accommodations will be included in all future "America"-class ships from the start.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: The "America" class has an increased aviation capacity to include an enlarged hangar deck, realignment and expansion of the aviation maintenance facilities, a significant increase in available stowage for parts and support equipment and increased aviation fuel capacity. However, the ship's design represents a major departure from past designs and has been the source of considerable controversy, as it lacks the capabilities and multi-role flexibility of traditional amphibious ships, including the ability to launch landing craft and amphibious assault vehicles, such as the AAV-7. Some have even argued that "America" represents a "dead end" as an amphibious ship. In fact, the Navy is building only one other ship () to the LHA-6 blueprint. At issue is the focus on aviation capabilities, at the expense of the "well deck", which is the defining feature of the amphibious fleet and allows Marine Corps amphibious operations. The Marine Corps Commandant and the Chief of Naval Operations have signed an official Memorandum of Agreement that restores the well deck to and subsequent ships, while in 2015 the Commandant of the Marine Corps launched an initiative to ensure aviation platforms do not lead to an imbalance in the MAGTF.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: The U.S. Navy awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation's Ingalls Shipyard Division a $2.4 billion fixed-price incentive contract for the detailed design and construction of LHA-6, primarily at the company's shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The production decision was made in January 2006 and construction of LHA-6 began in December 2008. Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter announced in June 2008 that the ship would be named "America". The keel-laying ceremony was held on 17 July 2009 with delivery originally planned for August 2012.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: She took to the sea for the first time on 5 November 2013, for five days of builder's sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico,


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: "America" departed in commission without ceremony from Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 11 July 2014 in transit to her homeport of San Diego, California. The ship earned commission status after the crew successfully completed the light-off assessment, anti-terrorism force protection certification and crew certification.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: "America" arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 5 August, and the local press was invited to a guided visit the next day. She arrived at her home port of San Diego, California on 15 September 2014. During transitions around South America, "America"s mission was to connect with regional allies, conducting joint exercises with Colombia, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Chile, and Peru involving security and communications operations, as well as medical asset coordination and mission planning activities. The ship carried three SH-60 Seahawk helicopters of HSC-21 and four MV-22 Ospreys of VMX-22, which flew into countries and transported distinguished visitors to the ship. Plans are to embark the F-35B JSF for "America"s first operational deployment.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: "America" was commissioned on 11 October 2014 in San Francisco as part of the activities of San Francisco Fleet Week 2014. The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Ray Mabus was the featured speaker.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: In July 2017, "America" was attached to the 15th MEU for Western Pacific 17-2 (WESTPAC 17-2). Their main mission was the supporting of Operation Inherent Resolve. During their deployment, Marines and Sailors aboard the "America" came to the aid of the USS John S. McCain at Changi Naval Base after the USS John S. McCain and Alnic MC collision. "America" provided messing and berthing services to "McCain" crew members and supported damage control efforts on board. "America" also supported the searches for the 10 missing Sailors all of which were eventually recovered. "America" decomposited stateside on 7 March 2018.


title: USS America (LHA-6)

text: In July 2021, "America" participated in Exercise Talisman Saber 2021 in north-east Australian waters, with more than 17,000 personnel from Australia and the United States and forces from Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United Kingdom.


title: Ian Brown

text: Ian George Brown (born 20 February 1963) is an English singer and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses from their formation in 1983. Following the split in 1996, he began a solo career, releasing seven studio albums, a greatest hits compilation, a remix album, an 11-disc box set titled "Collection", and 19 singles. He has performed solo shows in 45 countries. He returned to singing for the Stone Roses in 2011, although this did not spell the end of his solo endeavours, releasing "First World Problems" through Virgin/EMI Records on 25 October 2018.


title: Ian Brown

text: Brown was born in Warrington in 1963 and grew up on Forster Street, Orford until the age of about six. His father, George, was a joiner, and his mother, Jeane, worked as a receptionist in a paper factory. He then moved with his family, including a brother (Graham) and sister (Sharon) to Sylvan Avenue in Timperley, Altrincham. He attended Park Road County Primary Infant and Junior School and then Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, leaving aged 16. In 2015 and 2017, he testified against a former teacher at Altrincham Grammar, Fred Talbot, who was found guilty of sexually abusing pupils in the 1970s.


title: Ian Brown

text: Brown's interest in music was inspired by the punk movement, specifically the bands Sex Pistols, The Clash, and Manchester-based Slaughter & the Dogs. Brown and original Stone Roses bassist Pete Garner attended the recording of the Clash single "Bankrobber" in Manchester.


title: Ian Brown

text: Brown was married to Fabiola Quiroz, a model from Mexico. They divorced in 2011. He has three children, one with Quiroz, the other two from a previous relationship.


title: Ian Brown

text: Brown is a lifelong supporter of Manchester United and is a season ticket holder. For the 2005–06 season, Brown was the shirt sponsor of London Commercial Division football team Chiswick Homefields, the players wearing an "IB – The Greatest" logo on their chests.


title: Ian Brown

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Brown promoted conspiracy theories and misinformation about the pandemic, and criticised lockdowns, the use of masks and the COVID-19 vaccine. In July 2021, Brown received a 2-week Twitter ban for posting false claims that the vaccine was not effective. He pulled out of a festival headline slot as he disagreed with its vaccine passport for entry policy, calling it the "new nazi normal". His anti-lockdown song "Little Seed, Big Tree", which featured lyrics alluding to conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine, was taken down from Spotify.


title: Ian Brown

text: Brown's music career began in 1980, playing bass guitar in a band with John Squire and Simon Wolstencroft. They eventually became the Patrol, with Andy Couzens on vocals. The band soon split up, with Brown selling his bass to buy a scooter. Brown moved to Hulme and attended Northern soul "all-nighters" across Northern England in the early 1980s as the scene faded. Around this time, Brown met soul legend Geno Washington, who told him, "You should be a star."


title: Ian Brown

text: In 1983, Brown joined the Waterfront, the band that would evolve into the Stone Roses, as co-vocalist.


title: Ian Brown

text: The Stone Roses rose to prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with their debut album voted the best British album of all time in 2004. The band's second album, "Second Coming", received a mixed reaction, and after several changes of line-up, the band split up in October 1996.


title: Ian Brown

text: On 17 October 2011, Brown alluded to a Stone Roses reunion via text message, saying, "We are going to rule the world again. It's happening." On the following day, a reunion was announced for the band with performances planned for June 2012 in Manchester. In a press conference interview, the members of the Stone Roses have said that a new album is planned.


title: Ian Brown

text: On 2 December 2011, Ian Brown and John Squire performed together live for the first time since 1995. They joined Mick Jones from The Clash, The Farm, and Pete Wylie at the Manchester Ritz in a concert in aid of the Justice for Hillsborough campaign. They performed "Elizabeth My Dear" as a duo before being joined by Mick Jones and The Farm for renditions of the Clash's "Bankrobber" and "Armagideon Time", with Ian Brown taking on lead vocals for the three songs.


title: Ian Brown

text: The Stone Roses reunited in 2011 and went on a reunion tour in 2012. They continued to tour until 2017 when the band disbanded for a second time.


title: Ian Brown

text: After a break from music in Morocco, Brown established his solo career with the debut solo single "My Star", which was released in the UK on 12 January 1998. The debut album "Unfinished Monkey Business" followed on 2 February 1998. The album was produced and financed by Brown and featured ex-Roses members Mani, Nigel Ipinson, Aziz Ibrahim, and Robbie Maddix. The album sold over 300,000 copies.


title: Ian Brown

text: Brown toured in summer 1998 with a band that included Aziz Ibrahim (guitar), Inder "Goldfinger" Matharu (tabla/percussion), Simon Moore (drums), and Sylvan Richardson (bass), including performances at the Glastonbury Festival and the V Festival. Brown was arrested after a flight back from his live show in Paris and later sentenced to four months in prison for using threatening behaviour towards an airline stewardess and captain, a charge he denied, causing his tour to be rescheduled. His bandmate Aziz Ibrahim condemned the sentence, saying that Brown was "just being cheeky". He had threatened to cut off the hands of the stewardess and hammered on the cockpit door, as the plane came in to land. A few weeks before, he had threatened a magazine critic, who had given his album a one-star review, to a "good kicking".


title: Ian Brown

text: While in Strangeways Prison, Brown wrote the lyrics for "Free My Way", "So Many Soldiers", and "Set My Baby Free". He was released on parole after two months.


title: Ian Brown

text: His second album, "Golden Greats", was released by Polydor Records in 1999. It featured more electronic instrumentation and earned critical acclaim. For his third studio album, "Music of the Spheres", Brown sought outside production help for the first time, hiring the services of songwriter and producer Dave McCracken, who would go on to become a regular collaborator. He toured the US for the first time as a solo artist in support of the album.


title: Ian Brown

text: Brown's fourth solo album, "Solarized", was released in the UK on 13 September 2004 and was the first to be released under the revived Polydor imprint Fiction Records. When his new Fiction A&R Jim Chancellor was asked in HitQuarters what contribution he makes to Brown's records, he said, "There's not as much to do. Ian is very much the master of his own records."


title: Ian Brown

text: Since the break-up of the Stone Roses in 1996, Brown has released six solo albums and fourteen UK Top 40 singles. He has sold out seven UK tours and appeared three times at the Glastonbury Festival, including headlining the Other Stage in 2005. He has appeared five times at V Festival since 1998, along with regular appearances at T in the Park and Oxegen festivals, and played the Move festival in 2002 at Old Trafford Cricket Ground as well as two tours of Australia in 2006 and 2008.


title: Ian Brown

text: At the 2006 "NME" awards, Brown was presented with the "Godlike Genius" award and in 2007, was given the "Q" "Legend" Award.


title: Ian Brown

text: In September 2007, Brown released his fifth studio album, "The World Is Yours". The album represented a more political approach in his music, particularly the anti-war track "Illegal Attacks", which featured Sinéad O'Connor. The album also featured former Smiths bassist Andy Rourke, Paul Ryder of Happy Mondays, and Steve Jones and Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols.


title: Ian Brown

text: "My Way", his sixth solo album, was released in September 2009. It was recorded at London's Battery Studios with producer Dave McCracken; the first single, "Stellify", was released 21 September 2009. Brown played Manchester Arena for the 3rd time in December 2009 and in 2010, made his 3rd appearance in Moscow and 2nd in Beijing, China. Since turning solo in 1998, Brown has played shows in 45 countries.


title: Ian Brown

text: Brown has collaborated several times with UNKLE, appearing on "Be There" in 1999 and on "Reign" on the 2003 album "Never, Never, Land", which was also released as a single.


title: Ian Brown

text: On 25 October 2018, he released his first solo material in nine years with the single "First World Problems". His seventh studio album, "Ripples", was then released on 1 February 2019.


title: Ian Brown

text: On 18 September 2020, Brown announced the release of new song "Little Seed, Big Tree" through his Twitter account. The song appears to refer to the COVID-19 pandemic, and express anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine sentiment. Brown later complained that it was taken off Spotify. A Spotify spokesman stated that the platform "prohibits content on the platform which promotes dangerous false, deceptive, or misleading content about COVID-19".


title: Ian Brown

text: In September 2022 he made the first appearance of a UK tour, with a sold-out performance in Leeds. His use of a backing tracks in place of a live band was met with a negative reaction by some attendees.


title: Ian Brown

text: Brown had a cameo role in the 2004 film "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" as a wizard magically stirring his drink while reading Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" at the Leaky Cauldron.


title: Ian Brown

text: In 2010, Brown had a cameo role as a police officer in Shane Meadow's series "This is England '86" based on the film of "This is England".


title: Ian Brown

text: Ian Brown has won several awards and magazine polls in his career, in recognition of his work as a solo artist and his work with the Stone Roses. The awards he has won are as follows:


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: "Sign of the Times" is the debut solo single by British singer Harry Styles from his self-titled debut studio album. Released on 7 April 2017 by Columbia Records, it was written by Styles, Jeff Bhasker, Mitch Rowland, Ryan Nasci, Alex Salibian, and Tyler Johnson, and produced by Bhasker, Salibian, and Johnson. Musically, it was described by critics as a pop rock and soft rock ballad. Its accompanying music video was released on 8 May 2017.


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: "Sign of the Times" reached number one on the UK charts and number four in the United States. In 2018, the single won a BMI Pop Award, and the video won a Brit Award for British Artist Video of the Year. In 2021, "Rolling Stone" placed it at number 428 on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: Rumours about Styles embarking on a solo career sparked in 2015, when it was reported that Sony Music wanted Styles to release a solo album during . By the end of 2015, four new songs written and performed by Styles were registered on the ASCAP online database, which was believed to be for his potential debut solo album at the time. Shortly after, Styles signed with American agent Jeffrey Azoff and inked a record contract with Columbia Records. In September 2016, Styles appeared on the cover of "Another Man", which led to media speculation about a new album on the horizon.


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: In February 2017, the CEO of Columbia Records, Rob Stringer, revealed that the album was close to being finished and called it "authentic". A month later, it was reported that the album sounded like David Bowie and Queen, and was later revealed to have been executively produced by Grammy award-winning producer Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, Fun, Mark Ronson). The same report also hinted that the lead single would be released in late April or early May and sounded "like it would be a smash in any decade". The same month, US radio host Elvis Duran accidentally revealed during his show that Styles' debut single would be released on 7 April 2017. On 25 March, Styles teased the new single with a television ad during "The Voice UK". On 31 March, the singer revealed through social media that his single is titled "Sign of the Times". On 7 April, the song premiered during Nick Grimshaw's breakfast show on BBC Radio 1.


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: The song is a pop rock, soft rock, piano ballad, with glam rock influences. According to "Billboard", it "folds in psychedelic soul, indie rock and spacey pop". The "apocalyptic" power ballad shows influences from '70s British rock. The track was co-written by Jeff Bhasker, Alex Salibian and Tyler Johnson. Also credited were Mitch Rowland, Ryan Nasci, and Styles (who received the top credit). Rowland played guitar and drums, Nasci the bass, and Bhasker the piano, keyboard and lap steel parts. A 25 voice choir provided harmonies throughout the song. The track was recorded at Village Studios in Los Angeles and Geejam Hotel Recording Studio in Port Antonio, Jamaica, and was mixed by Spike Stent. "Sign of the Times" is composed in the key of F major and set in a 4/4 time signature at a moderately slow tempo of 60 beats per minute.


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: The idea of the song was conceived by Styles while playing chords on the piano in Jamaica. Styles explained to "Rolling Stone" that "The song is written from a point of view as if a mother was giving birth to a child and there's a complication. The mother is told, 'The child is fine, but you're not going to make it.' The mother has five minutes to tell the child, 'Go forth and conquer.'" The entire song was cut in three hours according to Bhasker, who called it "an instant classic-sounding record from conception to completion".


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: Directed by Yoann Lemoine, the song's music video was released and uploaded on YouTube on 8 May 2017. It features Styles singing in a meadow, flying in the skies, and walking on water. A writer from "USA Today" humorously described Styles as "auditioning to be Marvel Comics next superhero or in a new biblical epic". It was filmed on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The video's stunt pilot, Will Banks, stated that Styles flew more than 1,550 feet high during the shoot. Banks also claimed that no green screen or CGI effects were employed during filming.


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: The music video won British Artist Video of the Year at the 2018 Brit Awards and Best Music Video at the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards. It was nominated for two awards at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards: Best Pop Video and Best Visual Effects. As of August 2022, it has received more than 1 billion views on YouTube.


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: "Sign of the Times" received critical acclaim. "Billboard"s Gil Kaufman wrote, "Styles appears to be both showing his range and making a clear effort to step boldly away from the manufactured, plastic pop of his past". Kaufman opined that the song "rakes in influences from Pink Floyd and David Bowie to Queen, Spacehog, Suede, Coldplay, the Beatles, Eric Carmen and Prince". Also for "Billboard", Jason Lipshutz described the song as "resolute, determined, wholly committed to its messaging and sound, radio trends be damned. Although it wears its influences on its sleeve (Bowie) nothing about this single bends toward someone else's expectations". Other critics have compared the song to the music of American indie rock band the Walkmen, to Fun's "We Are Young" and Coldplay's "The Scientist", and to Britpop anthems like Blur's "Tender" or the Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony".


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: Brittany Spanos of "Rolling Stone" asserted that "Sign of the Times" "aligns" "with the Seventies-inspired pop-rock of One Direction's more recent albums like "Made in the A.M."". Anjali Raguraman from "The Straits Times" considered it the "strongest" track on the album, saying "the conviction of his delivery is beyond his years". In "The Atlantic", Spencer Kornhaber opined that the song "continues with One Direction's po-mo project of recycling classic-rock sounds as bubblegum," and added that Styles is "embracing such sounds with more abandon". Since the song was released on the 30th anniversary of Prince's "Sign o' the Times", "Spin"s Andy Cush commented, "it's clear that this is Styles's attempt to distinguish himself as an artist with real depth. But the music itself has almost nothing to do with Prince–instead, think Oasis, Elton John at his most bombastic, '70s John Lennon". Cush added that the song "has only those three chords, and it goes straight for cruising altitude with an onslaught of cymbals and guitar on the first chorus, expecting you to be moved without pausing to consider why".


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: "Billboard"s critics' list placed it first on "Every One Direction Solo Single, Ranked" in May 2017. "Rolling Stone" ranked it as the best song released in 2017. "Billboard" staff considered it the eighth best song of the year and the best rock song of the year. "Pitchfork" ranked it as the 87th best song of 2017, while "Spin" staff ranked it as the 13th best boy-band solo debut single. In 2018, "Rolling Stone" ranked it 49th among the 100 Greatest Songs of the Century So Far.


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: "Sign of the Times" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart with a combined sales of 62,900 units. In its first week, it recorded 39,000 digital downloads combined with 3.5 million streams that give 23,472 equivalent units, ending Ed Sheeran's run of 13 consecutive weeks at the top of the chart with "Shape of You". In the United States, the song debuted at number four on the "Billboard" Hot 100. In its first week, it sold 142,000 copies (topping Digital Songs), earned 16.5 million streams and 23 million airplay impressions. The song was at the time Styles' highest charting single on the chart. It managed to hit the number one in record time on the US iTunes charts, reaching the top in 19 minutes, beating Adele's previous record at 50 minutes. It was certified platinum in the country, making it the top certified rock song of 2017, according to RIAA. It ranked number nine on the Most Shazamed Songs of 2017. "Sign of the Times" managed to be on the Shazam's Hall of Fame, the most Shazamed songs of all time at 100th.


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: Kygo and Ellie Goulding performed a cover of the song on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. Hanson performed a cover on KIIS 106.5. Paul Cardall made a classical cover of the song. Alex Boyé released an 'Africanized' orchestral cover. Sabrina Carpenter collaborated with YouTube star Jasmine Thompson on a cover. LANY released their recordings for Spotify's new Singles series which included a cover of "Sign of the Times".


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: "Sign of the Times" was used for a commercial ad for Google released in December 2017 in the United States, under the title of Google: Year In Search 2017. It was also used as a soundtrack for an episode in the second season of the popular CW drama "Riverdale". It was one of the early Olympics Brand Synchs for 2018, airing throughout Europe, Asia, the U.S, parts of Africa spanning the globe.


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: Styles performed the song for the first time on 15 April 2017 episode of "Saturday Night Live"s 42nd season. On 21 April, Harry appeared on the BBC's "The Graham Norton Show", for his debut solo performance in his native UK. He performed it live on the French talk show, "Quotidien", on 26 April 2017. He also performed the song on "The Today Show" on 9 May, and on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" on 15 May.


title: Sign of the Times (Harry Styles song)

text: On 11 September, he performed it on "BBC Live Lounge". On 2 November, Styles performed the song "at the BBC" studio. On 9 November, he performed the song on "X Factor Italy".


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged in North America from the 19th-century Wesleyan-Holiness movement within Methodism. It is headquartered in Lenexa within Johnson County, Kansas. With its members commonly referred to as Nazarenes, it is the largest denomination in the world aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement and is a member of the World Methodist Council.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The global mission of the Church of the Nazarene since its beginnings has been "to respond to the Great Commission of Christ to 'go and make disciples of all nations' (Matthew 28:19)". In December 2006, this was expressed more precisely as "to make Christlike disciples in the nations". This frames the global mission of the denomination. In 2009 the General Assembly indicated in its revision of Article XI of the "Manual" the means for accomplishing its mission: "making disciples through evangelism, education, showing compassion, working for justice, and bearing witness to the kingdom of God." The mission of the Church of the Nazarene is to make Christlike disciples in the nations.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The denominational vision is: "to be a disciple-making church, an international community of faith, in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition."


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Since 2001, the three "core values" of the Church have been identified as "Christian, Holiness, Missional". At the 2013 General Assembly, the Board of General Superintendents unveiled seven characteristics for the Church of the Nazarene:


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Board of General Superintendents affirmed: "While these descriptors do not take the place of our mission 'to make Christlike disciples in the nations' or our core values of 'Christian, holiness and missional,' they describe what we believe should characterize every Church of the Nazarene and in large part, should be reflected by Nazarenes everywhere."


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Authorized by the General Assembly, "the supreme doctrine-formulating and lawmaking body of the Church of the Nazarene", the 2013–2017 edition of the "Manual" is declared "the official statement of the faith and practice of the church" and "is therefore authoritative as a guide for action". Reflecting the decisions and judgments of ministerial and lay delegates of the Twenty-eighth General Assembly, which met in Indianapolis June 23–27, 2013. The 2013–2017 "Manual" includes a brief historical statement of the denomination; its Constitution, which defines its 16 Articles of Faith, its understanding of the church, the Covenant of Christian Character for holy living, and principles of organization and government; the Covenant of Christian Conduct, which address key issues of contemporary society; and policies of church government dealing with the local, district, and general church organization.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Church of the Nazarene supports 52 undergraduate and graduate educational institutions in 35 countries on six continents around the world, with an enrollment of 51,555 students in 2016.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: While for more than a century the denominational international headquarters was in Kansas City, Missouri, the Global Ministry Center (GMC) has been located at 17001 Prairie Star Parkway, Lenexa, Kansas, since September 15, 2008. The Foundry Publishing has been located in Kansas City, Missouri, since its inception in 1912.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Based on "reporting received from districts for assemblies held 1 October 2015, through September 30, 2016", at the end of September 2016 the Church of the Nazarene had 2,471,553 total members (a net increase of 30,181 or 1.24% increase from the previous year). During that reporting period, 139,560 people became new members of the Church of the Nazarene, with 113,968 received by profession of faith and a further 25,592 coming from other denominations. With 626,811 members, the USA was the country with the greatest number of Nazarenes, with 25.36% of all Nazarenes members of US congregations. Other nations with large Nazarene populations include Mozambique (202,118), Brazil (153,002), India (136,079), Haiti (134,236), Bangladesh (123,192), Guatemala (90,101), Mexico (70,700), Peru (67,394), Benin (56,036), and Ethiopia (50,361). In 2016, the Church of the Nazarene had the highest percentage presence in the nations of Barbados (where its members constitute 2.84% of the population), Cape Verde (1.54% of the population), Eswatini (1.42% of the population), Haiti (1.34% of the population) Mozambique (0.82% of the population), and Samoa (0.66% of the population). The highest percentage of Nazarene presence in the US occurred in 2000, when there were 2.25 members for every 1,000 US people (0.25%). According to the Board of General Superintendents in December 2009, "an average of 455 people came to Christ and joined the Church of the Nazarene every day last year".


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: With 27.29% of the Nazarene population, for the first time Africa was the largest of the denomination's 6 global regions, with a total of 674,414 members reported (an increase of 27,370 members since 2015; and an increase of 355,072 since 2006). The USA/Canada region, which had always been the largest region in the denomination ranked as second with 25.87% of the global Nazarene population, with a total church membership of 639,410 (a decrease of 8,886 members from the previous year, and a decadal decline of 13,990). In 2006 the USA/Canada region comprised 40.27% of the Nazarene population. Since 2006 the Church has grown from 1,622,669 total members, which is a net increase of 848,884 members (or 52.31% decadal growth), with the most significant growth in the past decade being in the Eurasia (increase of 242.95%), Africa (increase of 111.19%), South America (up 82.46%), Mesoamerica (up 42.18%) and Asia-Pacific (23.00%) regions. In that period all of the net growth of the denomination took place outside of the US and Canada, with the US/Canada region the only region to have negative growth, with a net decadal loss of 2.14%.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: According to Nazarene Research Services, from 1983 to 2013, Church of the Nazarene membership grew from 650,000 full members to more than 2 million. The top 10 world areas for net gain of full members over that 30-year period were: Mozambique (149,778), USA (130,712), Brazil (104,737), India (100,689), Haiti (74,262), Bangladesh (68,053), Guatemala (63,908), Ethiopia (48,304), Benin (45,700), and Peru (40,723).


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: In 2016, there were 22,392 organized churches (an increase of 480 from the previous year), and 8,182 churches that were not yet organized (an increase of 149 from the previous year) for a total of 30,574 local churches around the world (a net increase of 629 from the previous year).


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: During 2016 an average of 1,503,872 people attended worship services in the Church of the Nazarene around the world each week (an decrease of 5,390 people from the previous year). Since 2006 average worship attendance increased from 1,150,482 each week (an increase of 353,390 or 30.72% in the decade). Most of the growth came in the denomination's small (under 100 in attendance) or new churches.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: During 2016, Nazarene churches received annual income from all sources of US$860,949,037, a decrease of US$941,336 from 2015, and a 3.79% decadal decrease from the US$894,866,142 reported in September 2006. Worldwide per capita expenses amounted to US$353.04 (a decrease of $198.77 from that reported in 2006).


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Church of the Nazarene is the product of a series of mergers that occurred between various holiness churches, associations and denominations throughout the 20th century. The most prominent of these mergers took place at the First and Second General Assemblies, held at Chicago, Illinois, and Pilot Point, Texas, in 1907 and 1908, respectively. The primary architect of these early mergers was C. W. Ruth.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The First General Assembly held in Chicago, Illinois, from October 10–17, 1907, brought together the Eastern and the Western streams. The Western group was the Church of the Nazarene founded in October 1895 in Los Angeles, California, by Dr. Phineas F. Bresee, a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Dr Joseph Pomeroy Widney, a Methodist physician, and the second president of the University of Southern California. The Eastern group was the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America, a denomination formed on April 13, 1897, through the merger of two older bodies: The Central Evangelical Holiness Association (organized March 13–14, 1890) and led by Fred A. Hillery and C. Howard Davis; and three churches organized by William Howard Hoople since January 1894, and formed into the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America. On November 12, 1896, these two groups met in Brooklyn, agreed upon a plan of union, which included retaining the name and Manual of Hoople's group. Prominent leaders included Hiram F. Reynolds, Davis, and Hoople. At the time of its merger with the Church of the Nazarene in 1907, the APCA existed principally from Nova Scotia to Iowa and the northeastern United States. The name of the united body adopted at the First General Assembly was Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene, and Bresee and Reynolds were elected the first general superintendents.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: In April 1908 Bresee accepted Edgar P. Ellyson, president of the Holiness University of Texas of Peniel, Texas, his wife, Mary Emily Ellyson (1869–1943), and many leaders and members of the Holiness Association of Texas into the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene, with Emily Ellyson elected pastor of the new congregation at Peniel. In September 1908 the Pennsylvania Conference of the Holiness Christian Church under the leadership of Horace G. Trumbauer merged with the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: At the Second General Assembly held at Pilot Point, Texas, the Holiness Church of Christ (located in the southern United States) merged with the Pentecostal Nazarenes. The Holiness Church of Christ itself was the merger of the New Testament Church of Christ (founded in July 1894 at Milan, Tennessee, by R.L. Harris, but soon led by his widow Mary Lee Cagle), and a group (also called the Holiness Church of Christ), that resulted in November 1904 at Rising Star, Texas, from the prior merger of The Holiness Church (founded in 1888 in Texas) and the Independent Holiness Church (formed at Van Alstyne, Texas, in 1901, and led by Charles B. Jernigan and J.B. Chapman). The merger of the Holiness Church of Christ in the south and the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene took place on Tuesday, October 13, 1908, at 10:40 am, "amid great shouts of joy and holy enthusiasm." The newly merged Church of the Nazarene began with 10,034 members, 228 congregations, 11 districts, and 19 missionaries, according to historical records. The latter date marks the "official" founding date. Bresee, Reynolds and Ellyson were elected general superintendents.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Other independent bodies joined at later dates, including the Pentecostal Church of Scotland (founded in 1909 by Rev. George Sharpe) and the Pentecostal Mission (founded in 1898 by J.O. McClurkan), both in 1915. At this point, the Church of the Nazarene now embraced seven previous denominations and significant parts of two other groups. In time, the Church of the Nazarene and the Wesleyan Church would emerge as the two major denominations to gather in the smaller bodies of the 19th century Wesleyan-holiness movement. In subsequent decades, there were new accessions and mergers. In the 1922, more than one thousand members and most of the workers led by Joseph G. Morrison, from the Laymen's Holiness Association (founded in 1917) located in the Dakotas, joined the Church of the Nazarene. In the 1950s, there were mergers with the Hephzibah Faith Missionary Association (founded in 1893 in Tabor, Iowa) in 1950; the International Holiness Mission (founded in London in 1907 by David Thomas) merged on October 29, 1952; the Calvary Holiness Church (founded in Britain 1934 by Maynard James and Jack Ford), united on June 11, 1955 (though there were clergy who dissented from this decision and continued as the Calvary Holiness Church); and the Gospel Workers Church of Canada (founded in Ontario in 1918) became part of the Church of the Nazarene on September 7, 1958. On April 3, 1988, an indigenous Church of the Nazarene in Nigeria, established in the 1940s, merged with the denomination.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The 2009 General Assembly authorized a committee with "the responsibility to approach "like-minded churches in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition in order to pursue closer relations, with a goal of exploring the possibility of a merger or a collaborative relationship."


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Throughout its history, there have been several groups that separated from the Church of the Nazarene to form new denominations. Among the new denominations formed by those seceding or being expelled from the Church of the Nazarene are: the People's Mission Church (1912), which had become part of the Church of the Nazarene in 1911, but subsequently became part of the Pilgrim Holiness Church in 1925; the Pentecost Pilgrim Church (1917), which merged with the International Holiness Union to form the Pilgrim Holiness Church in 1922; the Bible Missionary Church (1955), which subsequently split to create the Wesleyan Holiness Association of Churches (1959), and the Nazarene Baptist Church (1960) (later Nazarene Bible Church in 1967); the Holiness Church of the Nazarene (1961) in the Philippines; the Church of the Bible Covenant (1967); the Crusaders Churches of the United States of America (1972); and the Fellowship of Charismatic Nazarenes (1977).


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Even before the merger of October 1908, the parental bodies of the Church of the Nazarene had a vision to be an international denomination. International expansion began in India in 1898 by missionaries sponsored by the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America. By 1908, there were churches in Canada and organized work in India, Eswatini, Cape Verde, and Japan, soon followed by work in central Africa, Mexico, and China. The 1915 mergers added congregations in the British Isles and work in Cuba, Central America, and South America. There were congregations in Syria and Palestine by 1922. General Superintendent Reynolds advocated "a mission to the world", and support for world evangelization became a distinguishing characteristic of Nazarene life. Taking advantage of new technologies, the church began producing the "Showers of Blessing" radio program in the 1940s, followed by the Spanish broadcast "La Hora Nazarena" and later by broadcasts in other languages. From the 1940s through the 1980s, indigenous holiness churches in other countries continued to join the church.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: At the time of the 50th anniversary of the denomination in October 1958, a total of 19.8% of all Nazarenes lived outside the continental United States. In 1981 the figure was 28.3%. In late 1991 there were one million members of the denomination globally, with 43% living outside the US. By 2000 the church's membership was just under 1.4 million, with the church's membership outside the US doubling in the previous decade, and now comprising 53% of total global church membership. In June 2009 64 percent of Nazarene members and 80 percent of the church's then 429 districts were outside the United States. By September 2016 church membership outside USA had reached 1,844,742 or almost 75% of the total global church membership of 2,471,553, with 398 (84.5%) of the denomination's 471 districts located outside USA. In 2016 over 27% of Nazarenes were in the Africa region, and more than 20% Nazarenes spoke Spanish as their first language.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: In 2017, the church was located in 162 "world areas" (approximately equivalent to nations). For a map illustrating both the world areas and regions of the Church of the Nazarene, see the Nazarene.org website. At the February 2012 annual meeting of the General Board, it was decided that the denomination would enter the following new nations: South Sudan (Africa Region), Turks and Caicos (Mesoamerica Region); and a tenth "Creative Access Area", thus increasing to 159 the world areas entered. At the February 2017 General Board meeting it was announced that the Church of the Nazarene is now in 162 world areas, adding Singapore, Mongolia, and Curaçao.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Each week Nazarenes worship in more than 212 languages or tribal languages, with literature produced in 90 of these. The Church of the Nazarene reaches out to persons around the globe through the Internet, radio broadcasts in 33 languages, and video and printed materials in 95 languages. In 2010, 286 books were produced in 59 languages for pastoral training and holiness, and World Mission Broadcast aired 140 radio broadcasts in 72 countries and 36 languages.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The primary architect of Nazarene mission philosophy and practice was Hiram F. Reynolds, who had served as the foreign missionary superintendent in the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America (APCA) from its earliest years, and held a similar role in the Church of the Nazarene (under various titles) from 1907 until 1922. Influenced by the indigenous church mission theories of Anglican Henry Venn (1796–1873) and American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions secretary Rufus Anderson (1796–1880), from the beginning of the global expansion of the Church of the Nazarene (including its antecedent groups), there was a commitment to the development of indigenous churches and districts within the framework of a unitary global denomination under the authority of the "Manual". As early as March 3, 1914, Nazarene mission policy developed for the work in Japan by Reynolds encouraged the creation of "self-supporting and self-governing churches":


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: When a Mission Church reaches a place where it can become entirely self supporting it shall be organized by the District Missionary Superintendent (SIC) Into a self supporting body according to the manual of the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene adapted to the needs peculiar to the country, and shall be governed by the same. The church shall be granted a pastor whose duties and privileges (SIC) shall conform to the manual; and at this time all missionary control shall be relinquished except such superintendency as provided for in the manual.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Under the policy, foreign districts would be granted the same rights as US districts, with control passing from missionaries to local leaders. However, in 1919, all reference to the missionaries relinquishing control was removed, and the following substituted: "The pastor and delegates from the self-supporting church to the District Assembly must be able to enter into the deliberations of the Assembly in the English language until such time as a self-supporting district may be formed."


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Gailey indicates, that by 1932 these policy statements had been broadened to full "three-self" language, with the instruction to missionaries to cultivate among local Christians "self support, self leadership and responsibility for the propagation of the gospel in that field." The "language was unchanged for the next twenty years, and has remained essentially intact until the present time." By the 1930s, Nazarene missions leaders "did not aim toward the development of autonomous national churches, but a federation of districts. They did not plan for indefinite missionary control. Without a great deal of thought about where this would lead, without consciously copying any other denomination's model of church government, and without much theological reflection, the Church of the Nazarene became an international body." The first non-missionary district superintendents were George Sharpe (born in Scotland in 1865; died 1948) in Britain (November 1915) and Vicente G. Santin (1870–1948), appointed district superintendent in Mexico in 1919. In January 1936 the General Board divided the Japan District into two, and the Western or Kwansai district became the first regular district in the denomination, "with all the rights and privileges of any of the North American and British Isles districts subject to the Manual and the General Assembly", however the effects of World War II on the church in Japan saw the two districts reunified and revert to a missionary-led district.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: According to one denominational historian, W.T. Purkiser, the process of "internationalizing" the church began at the General Assembly in Portland, Oregon, in 1964 with an eight-year study of the church's total missionary program." Soon after that General Assembly, E.S. Phillips was elected Executive Secretary for World Missions, who encouraged the self-study. In this period, a "think tank" comprising R. Franklin Cook, a former missionary to India and member of the World Mission department since 1961; missiologist Paul Orjala, pioneer missionary to Haiti; and Honorato Reza, long-time representative for the Hispanic church, was formed to advise Phillips. They were responsible for developing the denomination's first "National Church Policy" that was adopted in 1966, and indicated explicitly for the first time the steps towards achieving "regular" district status. At the General Assembly of 1972, held at Miami Beach, Florida, Phillips, influenced by the recommendations of the preceding self-study, recommended in his report that "The administrative bodies of the church must be internationalized. ... That portion of the church that lives overseas ... must be given full voice in the councils of the church." Phillips advocated contextualization of the gospel and internationalization of denominational programs and structures. It was only in 1972 that the general secretary began to include overseas membership in reporting totals, as prior to this time it had been difficult to collect the needed data.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: In 1973 Phillips died, and was succeeded by former missionary to Germany Jerald Johnson (born 1916). In 1974 the Guatemala Northeast district achieved regular status, the first since Japan achieved this milestone in 1936 Also in 1974 the Nazarene Young Peoples Society (now Nazarene Youth International) in its desire to be more inclusive, held its fifth International Institute (now Nazarene World Youth Conference) on the campus of European Nazarene Bible College in Büsingen, Germany, the first one held outside the United States. At the 1976 General Assembly held in Dallas, Texas, a Commission on Internationalization was created to recommend "means by which the next stage of internationalization might be implemented." In 1976, concrete steps were taken to make possible an international church with the creation of three intercontinental zones outside the US and Canada: Intercontinental Zone I (Europe, the Middle East and Africa); Intercontinental Zone II (the Orient and South Pacific); and Intercontinental Zone III (Central and South America). In 1977 the General Board had eight members (18%) from outside the US among its 44 members. In 1978 the first international district superintendents' conference was held in Kansas City, Missouri, with 52 leaders from 35 nations attending.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: At the 1980 General Assembly held in Kansas City, the denomination formally committed itself to the process of internationalization, a deliberate policy of being one church of congregations and districts worldwide, rather than splitting into national churches like earlier Protestant denominations. The principle was set forth of "one church, one doctrine, one polity, and one policy." At that time, the entire denomination was divided into fifteen geographical regions, with eight in the US based around its regional college; one in Canada; and the three Intercontinental Zones subdivided into six regions: Africa; Asia; Europe and Middle East; Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean; South America; and the South Pacific. The General Board now included members from outside the US, Canada and the other parts of the British Commonwealth. In 1980 the General Board had fourteen (27%) out of its 51 members residing outside the United States and Canada.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: After the election of Jerald Johnson as a general superintendent in June 1980, the General Board elected L. Guy Nees as his replacement. During his six years of leadership, Nees appointed directors for each of the six missions regions, who supervised the establishment of administrative offices in each region. The 2nd Commission on Internationalization recommended that regional directors should be born in the region, but this recommendation has never been implemented fully. The 1985 General Assembly allowed "cultural adaptations of local, district, and regional church government procedures", approved the creation of regional advisory councils and conferences, and national administrative boards. In 1989 the 3rd Commission recommended that the Church of the Nazarene should be a "denomination of districts (not nations)", and that districts and regions should follow geographical rather than racial or ethnic lines. The 1989 General Assembly stated three principles for internationalization: "(1) shared mission; (2) national identity; and (3) indigenization"; prohibited districts being constituted on the basis of ethnicity; explicitly rejected the idea of a commonwealth or federation of the denomination, in favour of it being a "global family"; and created a Commission on the International Church.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: In 1999 incoming professor of missions at Nazarene Theological Seminary Mario Zani indicated that the biblical concept of "koinonia", the fellowship "that transcended any differences, assignments, or titles", should be the basis of the development of the Church of the Nazarene. Zani critiqued the idea of internationalization as being too predetermined and focused on strategies and administrative policies, whereas he advocated the denominational goal should be globalization, which he defined as "that process by which we become sensitized and responsive to the multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, and multi-national world of which we are a part." Zani concluded that though the Church of the Nazarene was "international from its conception, it was not truly global."


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: By the 2001 General Assembly, held in Indianapolis, 42 percent of delegates present and voting were not native English speakers. In 2011 68 percent of Nazarene members and 82 percent of the church's 439 districts are outside the United States. However, general secretary David Wilson reported that at the 2009 General Assembly that 562 delegates present and registered were from the US and Canada (55 percent) and 461 delegates were from other world regions (45 percent). As many elected delegates from outside the United States could not attend the General Assembly due to US immigration policies, financial or other reasons, the General Assembly authorised the creation of "a committee to address the concern that a high percentage (as many as 40 percent in some world regions) of non-North American/non-United States delegates are unable to attend a General Assembly". Since the Church of the Nazarene's quadrennial General Assembly is based on representation from districts from 162 world areas, the 2009 General Assembly was probably one of the most racially and linguistically diverse general meetings of any religious body that originated on American soil. At the 2009 General Assembly the delegates voted to create a global "Manual" that would be streamlined in comparison to recent Manuals, consist of the foreword, and Parts I, II, and III of the current Manual, and would also include parts of the Manual that are global in scope, retaining the universally appropriate polity and principles." The General Assembly authorised the different regions to adapt the "Manual" to fit specific cultural contexts and would function as a "regional Manual policy handbook."


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: For the quadrennium that started in July 2009, the General Board had 44 members representing the church's then 15 regions, and an additional four members who were elected to represent Education (2), Nazarene Youth International, and Nazarene Missions International. Of the 48 members elected, 27 (56%) were from outside the US, and 21 are US citizens. Five were women. The General Board elected at the 2013 General Assembly comprised 48 people, of whom 18 represented the US's then 8 regions, while 2 represented Canada, and 28 represented regions located outside of North America, with the additional 4 representing Education (2), Nazarene Youth International, and Nazarene Missions International. Five were women, including the NMI Global Vice President Lola Brickey of the USA.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The denomination inherited its current name from one of its primary antecedent groups, the Los Angeles, California, based Church of the Nazarene founded in October 1895 by Dr. Phineas F. Bresee and Dr. Joseph Pomeroy Widney. The name of the denomination comes from the biblical description of Jesus Christ, who had been raised in the village of Nazareth (and was regarded consequently as "a Nazarene"). Jesus is called a Nazarene in , and in , Paul's accuser Tertullus calls him "a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes". In the NASB Bible and a few other Bible versions, Jesus is also called a Nazarene in ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; , whereas most versions simply say "Jesus of Nazareth" in these verses.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Consequently, the denominational name focuses on Jesus as "The Nazarene". Additionally, the followers of Jesus were initially called "Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5), a term perhaps used by Jesus himself. According to Church of the Nazarene archivist Dr. Stan Ingersol:


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Hebrew name for "Jesus," derived from "Joshua," was common in first-century Palestinian Judaism, so "Jesus of Nazareth" specified which Jesus, and Acts references the early Palestinian Christians as followers "of the Nazarene" and "the sect of the Nazarenes." The term "Christian" developed outside Palestine, in Syria according to Acts, in conjunction with the mission to the Gentiles. It is derived from "Christos," a Greek translation of the Hebrew "messiah" or "anointed one." As Gentile Christianity spread through the Mediterranean basin, Jesus became known as Christ and references to "the Nazarene" diminished. Nineteenth and early 20th century European writers produced numerous biographies of Jesus, re-popularizing the term "Nazarene" and setting the stage for how the Church of the Nazarene received its name.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: In 1895 the name of the denomination was first recommended by Dr. Joseph Pomeroy Widney, a former president of the University of Southern California and an influential figure in the early days of the Church of the Nazarene on the West Coast, where with Bresee, he was elected as a general superintendent for life. Ingersol indicates: "Other proposed names included various uses of 'Methodist'". Widney explained that the name had come to him one morning after spending the whole night in prayer. He said that the word "Nazarene" symbolized


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: the toiling, lowly mission of Christ. It was the name that Christ used of Himself, the name which was used in derision of Him by His enemies, the name which above all others linked Him to the great toiling, struggling, sorrowing heart of the world. It is Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth to whom the world in its misery and despair turns, that it may have hope


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The denomination started as a church that ministered to the homeless and poor, and wanted to keep that attitude of ministering to "lower classes" of society.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: At the First General Assembly that united Bresee's denomination with the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America in October 1907, the denominational name that emerged was the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene, reflecting the ancestry of both denominational tributaries. A subsequent General Assembly (held in October 1908 at Pilot Point, Texas), which saw the merger with the Holiness Church of Christ, which was subsequently regarded as the natal date of the denomination, upheld the 1907 decision.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The term "Pentecostal" in the church's original name soon proved to be increasingly problematic. In the Wesleyan-holiness movement, the word was used widely as a synonym simply for "holiness". However, from the rise of 20th century Pentecostalism, especially after 1906, new meanings and associations attached themselves to the term – meanings that the Pentecostal Nazarenes rejected. Ingersol indicates: "[T]he word was increasingly understood in reference to charismatic gifts like speaking in tongues, which Nazarenes never practiced or approved."


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: At the fifth General Assembly (held in Nashville in 1919), in response to resolutions from thirty-five district assemblies, the General Assembly voted to remove the word "Pentecostal" from the church name, leaving it simply as "Church of the Nazarene". Consequently, since 1919 "the denominational name has been identical to that of its western parent-body — a name that originated because J. P. Widney read 'lives of Jesus' books, and his imagination had been captured by a strong personal vision of 'the Nazarene'."


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Church of the Nazarene is a Methodist denomination that emerged during the holiness movement. The official doctrines of the Church of the Nazarene are published in the "Manual: Church of the Nazarene", which is published quadrennially after the General Assembly, the primary convention and gathering of Nazarenes, at which leaders are elected, and amendments and suggestions are incorporated into the "Manual". The "Manual" is published in print, and is available online at the Nazarene Church's website. Nazarenes have established 16 "Articles of Faith" as a guiding principle for living Christianity. The "Articles" include the following: one eternal self-existent God manifest in a Trinity; the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit; the authority of the Bible; Original and Personal Sin; the work of atonement; prevenient grace; the need for repentance; justification, regeneration, and adoption; entire sanctification; the church; creedal baptism, "baptism being a symbol of the new covenant, young children may be baptized, upon request of parents or guardians who shall give assurance for them of necessary Christian training. Baptism may be administered by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion, according to the choice of the applicant" (Church of the Nazarene Manual 2013–2017); the Lord's Supper for all believers; divine healing; the return of Jesus Christ; and the resurrection of the dead.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: While there is no official theology text authorised by the denomination, there are several that have been widely used in the pre-ordination training course for ministers. In the early years of the denomination, books by John Miley and William Burt Pope were used. The most influential theologians within the Church of the Nazarene have been Edgar P. Ellyson, author of "Theological Compend" (1908); A.M. Hills, author of "Fundamental Christian Theology" (1931); H. Orton Wiley, author of the three-volume "Christian Theology" (1940–1943); Mildred Bangs Wynkoop, author of "A Theology of Love" (1972) and "Foundations of Wesleyan-Arminian Theology" (1972); Richard S. Taylor, author of "A Right Conception of Sin" (1945) and "Exploring Christian Holiness, Vol.3: The Theological Formulation" (1985); H. Ray Dunning, author of "Grace, Faith & Holiness" (1988); and J. Kenneth Grider, author of "A Wesleyan-Holiness Theology" (1994). Contemporary Nazarene theologians include Craig Keen, Michael Lodahl, Thomas Oord, Samuel M. Powell, Bryan Stone, Rob Staples, and Thomas A. Noble. Noble has been commissioned to write a three-volume systematic theology for the denomination that seeks to be intellectually coherent, comprehensive, contemporary, and global.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Church of the Nazarene stands in the Arminian tradition of free grace for all and human freedom to choose to partake of that saving grace. The Nazarene Church distinguishes itself from many other Protestant churches because of its belief that God's Holy Spirit empowers Christians to be constantly obedient to Him—similar to the belief of other churches in the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The Nazarene Church does not believe that a Christian is helpless to sin every day. Rather, the Nazarene Church does teach that sin should be the rare exception in the life of a sanctified Christian. Also, there exists the belief in entire sanctification, the idea that a person can have a relationship of entire devotion to God in which they are no longer under the influence of original sin. This means that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, people can be changed so as to be able to live a holy life for the glory of God. The concept of entire sanctification (also called Christian perfection and Baptism with the Holy Ghost) stems from John Wesley's teaching. This is interpreted on a variety of different levels; as with any denomination, certain believers interpret the theology more rigidly and others less so.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Both the doctrines of entire sanctification and prevenient grace are usually interpreted in less rigid fashion by most church members, viewing spiritual perfection as something to strive toward, being already sanctified and forgiven for their sins under the sacrifice of Christ. Hence, thinking in a circular and very Greek fashion, one would be perfect, since one would be forgiven; however, since Christ was also human, and one is still entirely alive and living in the world, then one would still need to continue striving to live the best, or most "perfect" life possible, because Christ was God and man. And so, the dilemma continues in theological interpretation.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: In recent years, Nazarene theologians have increasingly understood the movement's distinctive theological doctrine, entire sanctification, as best understood in terms of love. Love is the core notion of the various understandings of holiness and sanctification found in the Bible. Christians are called to love when in relation to God and others (Oord and Lodahl, 2005).


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The spiritual vision of early Nazarenes was derived from the doctrinal core of John Wesley's preaching and the holiness movement of the 19th century. The affirmations of the church include justification by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ, sanctification by grace through faith united with good works, entire sanctification as an inheritance available to every Christian, and the witness of the Spirit to God's work in human lives. The holiness movement arose in the 1830s to promote these doctrines, especially Entire Sanctification, but splintered by 1900. The Church of the Nazarene remains committed to Christian holiness. The key emphasis of Wesley's theology relates to how Divine grace operates within the individual. Wesley defined the Way of Salvation as the operation of grace in at least three parts: Prevenient Grace, Justifying Grace, and Sanctifying Grace.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Prevenient grace, or the grace that "goes before" us, is given to all people. It is that power which enables us to love and motivates us to seek a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. This grace is the present work of God to turn us from our sin-corrupted human will to the loving will of the Father. In this work, God desires that we might sense both our sinfulness before God and God's offer of salvation. Prevenient grace allows those tainted by sin to nevertheless make a truly free choice to accept or reject God's salvation in Christ.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Justifying Grace or Accepting Grace is that grace, offered by God to all people, that we receive by faith and trust in Christ, through which God pardons the believer of sin. It is in justifying grace we are received by God, in spite of our sin. In this reception, we are forgiven through the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The justifying grace cancels our guilt and empowers us to resist the power of sin and to fully love God and neighbor. Today, justifying grace is also known as conversion, "accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior", or being "born again". John Wesley originally called this experience the New Birth. This experience can occur in different ways; it can be one transforming moment, such as an altar call experience, or it may involve a series of decisions across a period of time.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Sanctifying Grace is that grace of God which sustains the believers in the journey toward Christian Perfection: a genuine love of God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, and a genuine love of our neighbors as ourselves. Sanctifying grace enables us to respond to God by leading a Spirit-filled and Christ-like life aimed toward love.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Wesleyan theology maintains that salvation is the act of God's grace entirely, from invitation, to pardon, to growth in holiness. Furthermore, God's prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace interact dynamically in the lives of Christians from birth to death.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: For Wesley, good works were the fruit of one's salvation, not the way in which that salvation was earned. Faith and good works go hand in hand in Methodist theology: a living tree naturally and inevitably bears fruit. Wesleyan theology rejects the doctrine of eternal security, believing that salvation can be rejected (conditional security).<ref name="Weber/Kalberg-Conditional preservation of the saints"></ref> Wesley emphasized that believers must continue to grow in their relationship with Christ, through the process of Sanctification.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: A key outgrowth of this theology is the commitment of Nazarenes not only to the Evangelical Gospel of repentance and a personal relationship with God, but also to compassionate ministry to the poor.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Church of the Nazarene also takes a stance on a wide array of current moral and social issues, which is published in the "Manual" and online. These issues have included stances regarding human sexuality, theatrical arts, movies, social dancing, AIDS/HIV, and organ donation. On some matters, such as human sexuality, the church has said that homosexuality is a sin "subject to the wrath of God", and its stance on scientific discovery might be considered comparatively liberal.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Consistent with the position of classical Nazarene theologian H. Orton Wiley, several contemporary Nazarene theologians, including Thomas Jay Oord, Michael Lodahl, and Samuel M. Powell, have endeavored to reconcile the theory of evolution with theology. There are an increasing number of Nazarene scientists who support theistic evolution, among them Karl Giberson, Darrel R. Falk, and Richard G. Colling, whose 2004 book, "Random Designer", has been controversial within the denomination since 2007. At the most recent General Assembly, held in Orlando, Florida, in July 2009, there was extended debate on a resolution to adopt a more fundamentalist view of the doctrine of Creation based on a more literal view of the Bible. This resolution was defeated resoundingly.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Throughout its history, the Church of the Nazarene has maintained a stance supporting total abstinence from alcohol and any other intoxicant, including cigarettes. Primary Nazarene founder Bresee was active in the Prohibition cause. Although this continues to be debated, the position remains in the church. While the church does not consider alcohol itself to be the "cause" of sin, it recognizes that intoxication and the like are a 'danger' to many people, both physically and spiritually. Historically, the Nazarene Church was founded in order to help the poor. Alcohol, gambling and the like, and their addictions, were cited as things that kept people poor. So in order to help the poor, as well as everyone else, Nazarenes have traditionally abstained from those things. Also, a person who is meant to serve an example to others should avoid the use of them, in order not to cause others to stray from their "walk with God", as that is considered a sin for both parties.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: For many years Church of the Nazarene congregations had worship services (each lasting about an hour) three times a week: Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening. The Sunday evening service was more evangelistically focused with gospel songs sung rather than hymns, testimonies given, and often concluded with an altar call inviting those seeking either salvation or entire sanctification to come forward and kneel at the altar. However, increasingly in recent years, the Sunday and Wednesday evening services in many Nazarene churches have changed from worship services to discipleship training, and many growing churches have utilized weekly small group meetings. Worship services typically contain singing a mix of hymns and contemporary worship songs, prayer, special music, reading of Scripture, sermon, and offering. Services are often focused toward a time of prayer and commitment at the end of the sermon, with people finding spiritual help as they gather for corporate praying.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Worship styles vary widely. Over the last twenty years, an increasing number of Nazarene churches have utilized contemporary worship services as their predominant worship style. This may involve the use of a projector to display song and chorus lyrics onto a video screen. More traditional Nazarene churches may have a song leader who directs congregational hymns from the pulpit or platform. In some worship services, particularly the traditional Wednesday night prayer meeting, members are often encouraged to "testify", that is, give an account of some aspect of their spiritual journey. A testimony may describe a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit or speak to a particular event of meaning in a person's recent Christian life. Prayers offered during services are most often communal and led by a single person. More recently, a small number of local churches have adopted a more formal liturgical style based on practices in the Anglican tradition.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Annual revival meetings have long been a traditional part of Nazarene life, and are still encouraged in the Manual, though may be seen less today than they once were. An evangelist comes to preach the revival services. The Church of the Nazarene licenses and credentials evangelists, many of whom earn their entire living through their ministry of evangelism. Most Nazarene districts also sponsor an annual camp meeting for adults and their families as well as separate camps for both teens and children.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: A distinct approach to worship, especially in the early days of the Nazarene church, was the belief that ultimately the Holy Spirit should lead the worship. Services that were considered to be palpably evidenced by leadership of the Holy Spirit were marked by what was called "the Glory". Almost equal to the emphasis on the doctrine of entire sanctification was the emphasis on these unusual worship experiences. Church leaders were careful to avoid emotional techniques to bring about such services. Ritual and the usual order of services were not abandoned but were held loosely. While some of the services were marked by shouting, others were marked by testimony, weeping, and individuals seeking spiritual help.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: While Nazarenes believe that the ill should utilize all appropriate medical agencies, Nazarenes also affirm God's will of divine healing and pastors may "lay hands" upon the ill in prayer, either at the hospital or in a worship service. A prayer for divine healing is never understood as excluding medical services and agencies.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Church of the Nazarene recognizes two sacraments: Christian baptism and the Lord's Supper, or communion.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Nazarenes permit both believer's baptism and infant baptism. When a family in the Church of the Nazarene chooses not to baptize their infants they often participate in an infant dedication. Whether a child is baptized or dedicated is the choice of the parents of the child. This decision is often based on geographic location, local church culture, and their pastor's theological leanings, and if they were baptized or dedicated as a child.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Nazarene "Manual" includes rituals for the believer's baptism, infant baptism, infant dedication, reception of new church members, communion, weddings, funerals, the organization of a local church, the installation of new officers, and church dedications.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Church of the Nazarene combines episcopal and congregational polities to form a "representative" government. The salient feature of this structure is shared power between people and clergy as well as between the local church and the denomination. At the 1923 General Assembly, the following was stated in relation to the denomination's polity: "Our people have felt they did not want extreme


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: episcopacy in the appointment of pastors, neither did they want extreme congregationalism. In the past, we have tried to find a middle ground, so as to respect the spirit of democracy and at the same time retain a degree of efficiency."


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: According to the denominational website, "The General Assembly of the church serves as the supreme doctrine-formulating, lawmaking, and elective authority of the Church of the Nazarene, subject to the provisions of the church constitution." Composed of elected representatives from all of the denomination's districts globally, since 1985 the General Assembly has met once every four years. All General Assemblies have been held in the United States. At the General Assembly held in Orlando, Florida, US, in June 2009, a total of 1,030 delegates were finally registered, with 982 eligible to vote, and 48 non-voting delegates. The General Assembly elects the members of the Board of General Superintendents and considers legislative proposals from the church's 465 districts. Topics under consideration may range from the method of calling a pastor to bioethics.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The highest elected office in the Church of the Nazarene is that of General Superintendent. Every four years six ordained elders, who are at least 35 years old and are not over 68 years old, are elected by the General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene for a four-year term. Both ordained females and males are eligible to be elected to the office of General Superintendent. However of the forty-one persons who have served in this office, only two women have been elected: Dr. Nina G. Gunter (born 1940), who served for four years from 2005, and Dr. Carla Sunberg (born 1961), who was elected in 2017 and is currently serving. The youngest person elected General Superintendent was Roy T. Williams (1883–1946), who was only 32 when chosen to fill a vacancy caused by the deaths of Phineas F. Bresee (1837–1915) and William C. Wilson (1866–1915), both of whom died within weeks of the 1915 General Assembly. Wilson is the shortest-serving General Superintendent, dying only 33 days after his election at the age of 47. R.T. Williams was the longest-serving general superintendent, who served for just over 30 years from January 1916 to his death in March 1946. Eight of the first eleven General Superintendents died in office, resulting in both the expansion in the number of general superintendents, and an upper age limit of 72. Dr Hiram F. Reynolds (1854–1938), one of the original two General Superintendents elected in October 1907, holds the record as the oldest person to serve in this office, retiring in 1932, at the age of 78.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Collectively these six elders constitute the Board of General Superintendents, which is, according to the denominational website, "charged with the responsibility of administering the worldwide work of the Church of the Nazarene. The Board of General Superintendents also interprets the denomination's book of polity, the "Manual of the Church of the Nazarene"." All official acts of the Board of General Superintendents are subject to the review of the General Assembly, the supreme legislative body in the denomination. At the 2013 General Assembly, General Superintendents Jerry D. Porter (born 1949), elected initially in 1997 in San Antonio, Texas, was re-elected to a fifth term; J. K. Warrick (born 1945), who was elected initially in 2005 in Indianapolis, Indiana, was re-elected to a third four-year term; Eugenio Duarte, from Cape Verde, the 37th general superintendent, the first person elected to the Board of General Superintendents from Africa, was re-elected to a 2nd term; and David W. Graves, the 38th general superintendent, was re-elected to a 2nd term. After the mandatory retirement of Jesse C. Middendorf (born 1942); and the resignation of Stan Toler, the 39th general superintendent, David Busic, President of Nazarene Theological Seminary since 2011, and Gustavo A. Crocker, director of the Eurasia region since 2004, were elected as the 40th and 41st General Superintendents respectively. Crocker, a native of San Jerónimo, Guatemala, the first General Superintendent from Central America, and the 2nd general superintendent elected while residing outside the US/Canada Region, was elected on a record 53rd ballot. In December 2013, Porter and Warrick, who is term limited, announced that they would will retire at the 29th General Assembly in June 2017.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: At the 2017 General Assembly, Filimão M. Chambo was elected as the 42nd General Superintendent. Chambo, a native of Mozambique, was serving as director of the Africa Region at the time of his election. Carla Sunberg was elected as the 43rd General Superintendent. She was serving as president of Nazarene Theological Seminary at the time.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The General Board of the Church of the Nazarene was created by action of the 1923 General Assembly to replace a system of independent general boards that often competed with one another for the church dollar. These independent boards became departments of the General Board. The General Board is made up of district superintendents, pastors and lay leaders representing the global church and elected by the regional caucuses at General Assembly. Convening in late February each year, the board has governing responsibility for the international Church of the Nazarene between general assemblies. The General Board carries out the corporate business of the denomination.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: At the June 2013 General Assembly a new General Board was elected to a four-year term. The General Board currently has 48 members representing the church's then 15 regions, and an additional four members were elected to represent Education (2), Nazarene Youth International, and Nazarene Missions International. Of the 52 members elected, 27 are from outside the US, and 25 are US citizens. Six are women. Meeting at least annually, the most recent meeting of the General Board was its 92nd Session held February 24–26, 2015 in Lenexa, Kansas. At that meeting, The General Board members represented the following world areas: Papua New Guinea, Uruguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Bangladesh, US, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, India, Canada, El Salvador, Philippines, Netherlands, Brazil, Germany, Mozambique, South Africa, Fiji, Guyana, South Korea, United Kingdom, and Eswatini.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Church of the Nazarene has two orders of ordained ministry: the ordained elder and the ordained deacon. The ordained elder is a person, either male or female, who has been set apart for a ministry of "Word and Sacrament". Their primary assignment is to preach the Word, administer the sacraments, and lead the local church. The ordained deacon is a man or woman who has been set apart for full-time ministry in a role other than "Word and Sacrament". Those eligible to be ordained as deacons include those who are called to a full-time ministry of music, Christian social ministry, or director of Christian education, or another ministry that does not typically involve leading a congregation. The church also has district licensed ministers. Usually these are persons who are on the path toward ordination or who are strongly considering a call to ordained ministry. A licensed minister may, in some cases, be the pastor of a church.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The Church of the Nazarene also recognizes these specialized forms of Christian service and ministry. In September 2014, the Church of the Nazarene had 17,017 ordained elders, 838 ordained deacons and 9,847 licensed ministers, for a total of 27,702 credentialed or licensed ministers. On March 24, 2010, the Bangladesh District set a denominational record with 193 women and men ordained in one service, including 30 women, the most ever in the denomination's history, exceeding the 39 ordained in Peru.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The basic unit of organization in the Church of the Nazarene is the local church congregation, which may be either an organized church or church-type mission (often known as "New Starts"). At the end of September 2014, there were 21,425 organized churches and a further 7,970 church-type missions, for a total of 29,395 congregations. The average Nazarene congregation globally has 78 members, and an average weekly worship attendance of 51. The largest congregation in the denomination as measured by average weekly attendance each Sunday morning (as of February 2009) was the Central De Campinas church on the Paulista Sudeste district in Brazil, which reported 8,216 members and an average weekly Sunday morning worship attendance of 7,237. During 2009 it received 873 new Nazarenes. The next four largest congregations were the Casa De Oracion Paso Ancho church in Colombia (4,600 members; 7,000 worship); the Americana church in Brazil; Grove City Church of the Nazarene in Grove City, Ohio; and College Church of the Nazarene in Olathe, Kansas.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Local congregations are grouped administratively into geographical districts. At the 2009 General Assembly a resolution was passed defining a district as "an entity made up of interdependent local churches organized to facilitate the mission of each local church through mutual support, and sharing of resources, and collaboration". Each district is led by a district superintendent, who is usually elected by delegates from each local church in an annual meeting called the District Assembly. In embryonic districts, the district superintendent may be appointed by the jurisdictional general superintendent. There are currently 465 districts worldwide. In 2008 these were 174 are Phase 3 (regular districts); 85 are Phase 2; and 141 are Phase 1. There were also 33 pioneer areas. There are 80 Districts in the US and Canada. The largest districts are Brazil Sudeste Paulista (24,686 full members), South Korea National District (23,143 members), India East (19,490 members), and Oklahoma (17,530), the largest district in the US.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Districts may also be divided into several Zones or missional networks, where local churches within a Zone may cooperate for various activities, particularly for youth events.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: All Districts of the Church of the Nazarene are organized into Regions. Previously there were 15 regions, but from February 28, 2011, there were 6 Regions. At September 30, 2014, there were:


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: The regions are administered through Nazarene Global Mission, an entity formed in 2011 after a strategic restructuring that incorporates all functions of the former World Mission Department. It focuses on partnership and collaboration to help equip Nazarene churches support mission at community, district, regional and international levels. The Global Mission Director is Dr. Verne Ward III, who was at the time of his election in March 2012, Director of the Asia-Pacific Region. Each region has a regional director.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: In the United States and Canada, there are educational zones centered on one of the denominational institutions of higher education. Each local church pays an agreed budget to the District level, and each District remits a portion of the local and district budgets for their zone's Nazarene institution of higher education (see "Higher Education" below). Educational zones for the Church of the Nazarene were first established in 1918.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: Districts in areas administered by the Global Mission are often grouped into "fields", with a field strategy co-ordinator providing strategic leadership. In the US and Canada the sub-regional areas may be referred to as "Zones". On January 31, 2008, India became the first field in the global Church of the Nazarene to be entirely indigenous with the field strategy co-ordinator, Rev Sunil Dange, and all 15 district superintendents, all ministry coordinators, and all pastors from India.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: "The 2013–2017 Manual of the Church of the Nazarene" states that "[t]he Church of the Nazarene, from its inception, has been committed to higher education. The church provides the college/university with students, administrative and faculty leadership, and financial and spiritual support ... The church college/university, while not a local congregation, is an integral part of the church; it is an expression of the church." A portion of each local church and district budget is allocated for Nazarene higher education, which subsidizes the cost of each educational zone or nation's respective institution. Globally the denomination contributed US$23,904,271 in 2010 (a decrease of US$1,865,713 from 2009) to Nazarene educational institutions. Hence, in the United States and Canada, there is one Nazarene liberal arts college per Region. The regional colleges are Canada Region for Ambrose University in Calgary, Alberta, Eastern USA Region for Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) in Quincy, Massachusetts, North Central USA Region for MidAmerica Nazarene University (MNU) in Olathe, Kansas, East Central USA Region for Mount Vernon Nazarene University (MVNU) in Mount Vernon, Ohio, Northwest USA Region for Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) in Nampa, Idaho, Central USA Region for Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) in Bourbonnais, Illinois, Southwest USA Region for Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) in San Diego, California, South Central USA Region for Southern Nazarene University (SNU) in Bethany, Oklahoma, Southeast USA Region for Trevecca Nazarene University (TNU) in Nashville, Tennessee. Accompanying that logic of institutional support, there is a gentlemen's agreement between the Nazarene liberal arts colleges in the United States to not actively recruit outside their respective educational zone, requiring that a Nazarene prospective college student must first seek information from any "Off-Region" institution on an individual basis.


title: Church of the Nazarene

text: In 2016, the Church of the Nazarene owned and operated 52 educational institutions in 35 countries on six continents, comprising 5 graduate seminaries; 31 undergraduate Bible/theological colleges; 2 nurses training colleges in Eswatini and Papua New Guinea, and 1 teacher training college in Papua New Guinea, that had a 2016 combined enrollment of 51,555 students globally. In these Nazarene institutions of higher education in 2011 there were 30,936 students enrolled in on-campus programs (a decrease of 221 from the previous year) and 18,612 students enrolled in extension programs (an increase of 3,802 over last year). At the end of 2010 these educational assets were valued at US$1,041,436,984 (an increase of US$54.9 million over 2009), with liabilities of US$341,009,574, for a net worth of US$700,427,410. During the 2010–2011 academic year, 11,015 degrees or diplomas were awarded by Nazarene institutions worldwide, an increase of 1,691 over the previous year.