Local media reports that 140,000 to 150,000 people gathered in Plaza de La Fe in Managua, Nicaragua, on Saturday, April 21, 2012, to culminate the Centennial Celebration of the Assemblies of God in the nation. The event's theme was "The Holy Spirit, the Determining Factor for the Growth of the Church."

Claudio Freidzon, Argentine Assemblies of God pastor and revivalist, and his wife, Betty, ministered. With a powerful Pentecostal anointing, they challenged believers in the Nicaragua Assemblies of God to embrace the work of the Holy Spirit and prophesied a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit flowing out of the nation in these last days. Many powerful miracles were done as a present reminder to future generations that Pentecostalism is alive and well today, just as it was 100 years ago when early missionaries were called to fulfill the Great Commission from the Pentecostal outpouring at Azusa Street.

The Assemblies of God was born in revival around the world as young Holy Spirit-empowered missionaries went to the nations to preach the gospel. In 1912, Spirit-appointed missionaries, B. A. Schoenich and his wife, Rosalie, traveled to Nicaragua to preach the full gospel. They were sent from Stone Church in Chicago, Illinois, with funds to purchase the first missions base in Matagalpa. According to the late Lois Hodges, widow of missionary Melvin Hodges, Stone Church purchased the first three properties where the Assemblies of God was established in the nation.

Many internationally acclaimed missionaries later lived and worked on the Matagalpa missions base to establish the fledgling work in the early days: Clarence and Dorothy Radley; Oren and Florence Munger; Elmer and Bernice Niles; Russell and Gladys Kensinger; David and Ruth Kensinger; Melvin and Lois Hodges; Ralph and Lois Williams; Lewie and Evelyn Spencer; and Loren and Milly Triplett. Pentecostal missionaries faced tremendous opposition in the early days.

On Friday before the Centennial Celebration, the Nicaraguan AG superintendent, executive presbyters, missionaries, and members of the Triplett family attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the dormitories at the Loren Triplett Missionary Training Center. Funds for the boys' dormitory and the completion of the buildings were raised through offerings from missionary colleagues and friends in just 66 days. Loren Triplett, former AGWM executive director, and his wife, Milly, were presented a plaque, honoring them for their missionary service in Nicaragua.

For the Saturday event, 700 uniformed King's Castle young people marched the last mile to escort the Tripletts to the Plaza de la Fe. They were honored guests for the Centennial Celebration and are considered as the last of the pioneer missionaries to Nicaragua.

Today, the Assemblies of God is no longer a struggling work with only 26 small, persecuted churches that the Tripletts encountered in 1954. Nicaragua's churches are experiencing a great move of the Holy Spirit as they grow at an incredible rate. 

Rev. Saturnino Cerrato, AG superintendent of Nicaragua, leads a team of executive presbyters who take church growth seriously. He reports, "The Assemblies of God in Nicaragua is exploding and becoming a powerful force to be reckoned with during the upcoming years."

According to their website, the Assemblies of God has grown to 400,000 members, more than 900 churches, 700 outstations and 1,500 ministers.  They have a vision of expansion that is in the process of transforming Nicaragua into an evangelical nation.

The way the Assemblies of God is growing in Nicaragua and across Central America is through Spirit-filled believers, working diligently to see their neighbors, their cities, their nation and the world saved through obedience to the Great Commission.

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