Pinecrest Bible Training Center
1968-2008

John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.

Beginning in 2008 the vision and bible school that God so graciously gave Wade Taylor beginning in 1968 came to an abrupt end, falling into the ground and dying.

We now wait for God to raise up and bring forth His seed of promise in another, that the vision fail not.

Winter 1997
 Flooded With God
By Penny Smith


"To get to know also, the knowledge-surpassing love of
the Christ, - In order that ye may be filled unto all
the fullness of God." Eph 3:19 Rotherham.

Paul's prayer for the Ephesians echoes through the ages to reach those of us who are no longer satisfied to paddle in "shallow" waters. The heart of Paul's prayer is "that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God."

The word translated "fullness" is prominent in Pauline vocabulary when referring to Christ and the Church. Paul uses a form of it again in Ephesians 4:10. Here, Paul refers to the five-fold ministry gifts to the Church, given to equip us for ministry and build up the body of Christ. Verse 13, "Until we all attain ... to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs- (and here is the word again) - to the fullness of Christ."

Paul is praying in effect, "Father, they are no longer children, easily influenced; it is time to move them into the full measure of Christ." If Paul should visit our local assemblies today, would he pray, "Father, look at their spiritual hunger, their thirst. Father, they are ready for You, they desire Your fullness.

The Greek word "pleroma," translated fullness in the New Testament, refers to plentitude. In Ephesians 1:22-23 Paul speaks of "the Church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way." It is "that which is filled with the presence, power, agency, riches of God and of Christ" (Greek Lexicon). Thus, the Body of Christ is His fullness.

Now we see what Paul is really asking of the Father in Ephesians 3. "That they may become a Body wholly filled and flooded by God." This fullness is to be attained "in Christ - through the Church." God's great love and power exceeds our weakness. God is more than able to give us victory and to cause us to love triumphantly.

Paul gives two conditions or qualifiers for attaining to the fullness of God. "That you being rooted and grounded in love," (verse 17). Having experienced grace, we are now to be established. How? Verse 16, "Strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man," and verse 20, "According to the power that works within us."


The roots of life involve all that we are - our intellect, our sensibilities, and our will. We cannot trust our intellect. It is a root that if followed long enough, will eventually disclose our ignorance. The root of our sensibilities, our feelings and emotions alone, if followed, will spin-off into a tangent. Knowing the love of Christ surpasses knowledge (verse 19); it is experiential. Knowledge without experience is theory without practice.

Once I trained to become a school bus driver. At my very first lesson, the trainer handed me the key and said, "You drive, this is the best way to learn." It took practice, but soon I became a competent bus driver.

Knowing about God is like learning about driving a bus, but never actually driving the bus. When we enter into an experiential love relationship with our Lord, we begin to experience His fullness. Seated with Him in the heavenlies, as the Holy Spirit whispers the cues, we become empowered, flooded with God - becoming a measure of His fullness to others.