Randy Remington inaugurated as seventh president of The U.S. Foursquare Church

The Foursquare Church paused on Sunday, May 31, to celebrate the inauguration of Foursquare’s seventh elected president, Randy Remington, which took place live from Angelus Temple in Los Angeles. With times of powerful worship and a timely word from Randy, more than 3,000 members of the Foursquare family gathered together online to welcome the president, who was elected during Foursquare Connection 2019 in Nashville, Tenn.

President Glenn Burris Jr. welcomed the online audience from his home in Georgia, noting he was complying with local orders to shelter-in-place. “This is a spiritual moment we are entering into,” he noted, adding that the “the Spirit of the living God dwells among us” and “is uniting us and knitting our hearts together, as we pledge our support and partnership to our new president; and as we proclaim the greatness and the goodness of Almighty God.”

Glenn joked that his one disappointment about not being at Angelus Temple for the inauguration was “not being able to empty a whole bottle of anointing oil on Randy, as Pastor Jack Hayford did on me in Atlanta, some 10 years ago. He wanted to make sure I got the whole anointing.”

The online event was in lieu of Foursquare Connection 2020, which was to be held in Denver. Because of the event’s cancellation, the inauguration stood as an interim convention. Consequently, in accordance with bylaws, Corporate Secretary Adam Davidson called a quorum, noting 1,217 credentialed ministers had registered for the inauguration.

Chairperson of the board of directors Huey Hudson led our seventh president through the presidential charge (Bylaw 7.1.1), which notes that the president shall:

• Devote himself to the salvation of souls, encourage the worship of God, uplift our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, honor the ministry of the Holy Spirit, work to strengthen the body of believers, and promote every effort to fulfill the command of Jesus to preach the Word to all people;
• Supervise the worldwide work of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel;
• Be responsible for the recommending to the board the appointment of personnel to fulfill executive offices, affixing their name to all corporate ministerial credentials, certificates, church charters and pastoral appointments;
• Oversee the business of the corporation, in compliance with laws, rules and regulations, including the signing and filing of reports for federal, state and local governments; and
• Represent, preserve and strengthen the image of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, its goals and its ministry.

Following Huey anointing Randy and Sandy Remington with anointing oil, Pastor Keith Jenkins, Pastor Frank Nuño and General Supervisor Tammy Dunahoo prayed.

Tammy concluded the spiritually charged moment, praying: “Ever-present God, You have been equipping and preparing Randy with each of these qualities to meet the task at hand. May these continue to grow in abundance, and may his leadership mantra be: Follow Christ with me! Thank You for giving us this gift. We receive him and will support and be fellow workers in the gospel with him.”

During the event, two worship ensembles—which featured 33 worship leaders from Foursquare churches across the U.S.—performed powerful renditions of “My Hallelujah” and “The Blessing.” The worshipful moments united voices together in English, Spanish, Tagalog and Hawaiian. Both are available to view online.

Randy concluded the time together, giving thanks to Glenn Burris Jr. for the “seamless transition,” to Tammy Dunahoo, as both general supervisor and his running mate last year, as well as his wife of 31 years, Sandy Remington.

He shared that after nearly a year of working on his talk for this moment, he had to acknowledge current circumstances that included lives lost through COVID-19 and uprisings against racism occurring throughout the U.S. He would instead plan to share the talk he had planned at district conferences this fall.

He spoke from Rev. 22:17, noting our desperate need for the Holy Spirit to “Come!” in this moment in time as he asserted: “The changing of a human heart requires the Holy Spirit; freedom from addictions requires the Holy Spirit; healing from diseases requires the Holy Spirit; confronting and overcoming the racism that we’re encountering requires the Holy Spirit; forming us into this humanity that Jesus won at the cross requires the Holy Spirit.”

Randy went on to say: “The Spirit of God is poured out equally and isn’t racist, isn’t sexist, isn’t elitist, [and isn’t] ageist. When the Holy Spirit moves among us, we are all equally valued and equally needed.”

He concluded first with a powerful and appropriate Fourfold Franciscan Blessing, which says:

“May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.”

“The Spirit of God is poured out equally and isn’t racist, isn’t sexist, isn’t elitist, [and isn’t] ageist. When the Holy Spirit moves among us, we are all equally valued and equally needed.”

He then went on to share a blessing adapted from John Kilpatrick, which included the charge:

“May God’s angels be with you to protect and keep you. May you be blessed with supernatural strength to turn your eyes from foolish and worthless and evil things, and instead may you behold the beauty of the Lord and perceive the things God has planned for you as you walk in obedience to His Word.”