September 23, 2025 | Daniel L. Segraves, Ph.D.
Once again, it’s a joy to greet friends and former students at general conference!
I will be at the Pentecostal Publishing House display at 9:15 p.m. Thursday to sign copies of my newest book, the second volume of my commentary on the book of Psalms: The Messiah in the Psalms: Discovering Christ in Unexpected Places. This book covers Psalms 73-106 in 252 pages.
I hope to see many of you there!
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September 5, 2025 | Daniel L. Segraves, Ph.D.
Since July 1, 2018, I’ve been working on the second volume of my commentary on the Book of Psalms. The first volume, titled The Messiah in the Psalms: Discovering Christ in Unexpected Places, was released in 2007. It covered Psalms 1-72, which comprise Books One and Two of the Psalter.
What took me so long to finish the second volume? Well, I put my work on Psalms on the back burner for a while to write another book titled The Holy Spirit: A Commentary, which in 314 pages explores nearly every reference to the Holy Spirit from Genesis 1:2 through Revelation 22:17. This book was published in 2020.
I contributed a chapter to Oneness Pentecostalism: Race, Gender, and Culture, a book published by The Pennsylvania State University Press in 2023. This book was edited by Lloyd D. Barba, Andrea Shan Johnson, and Daniel Ramirez. My chapter is titled “Andrew D. Urshan: An Eastern Voice in Early Oneness Pentecostalism.”
I also wrote a chapter titled “James and First Century Jewish Christology,” which is scheduled to be published in an early high Christology project together with research by other contributors. Jeffrey Brickle, Ph.D., is the editor of this pending volume.
I’m not immediately certain how many articles I have written since July 1, 2018, for the Pentecostal Herald and Pentecostal Life, along with lesson material for God’s Word for Life. In quite another dimension of ministry, I taught a professional development session for interested members of the general board of the United Pentecostal Church International at the request of Dr. Brent Coltharp, president of Urshan University and Urshan Graduate School of Theology.
There was also the course I taught to students of the French Bible Institute at the invitation of missionary John Nowacki. This required a flight to Paris together with my wife, Susan. An event that occurred during this trip inspired me to write the book The Holy Spirit. I have explained that in another post.
So I have probably provided a sufficient explanation of why volume two of The Messiah in the Psalms: Discovering Christ in Unexpected Places has taken so long to arrive. I would like to make some comments about the new book.
The second volume of my work on Psalms covers the section of the Psalms known as Books Three and Four. Book 3 comprises Psalms 73 through 89, and Book 4 comprises Psalms 90 through 106. There are at least eighteen references to these psalms by those who wrote the New Testament. Numbers of these references are understood by the New Testament to be specifically about the Messiah.
Significantly, the Aramaic word Memra (i.e., “Word”) appears fifty times in these psalms. In at least fifteen cases, the Targums use Memra as a surrogate for the Hebrew Yahweh, which is usually rendered LORD in English translations. This is given considerable examination in view of the use of Logos (i.e., Word) in John 1:1.
I am scheduled to be available for a book signing on Thursday night of the upcoming eightieth general conference of the UPCI in the Pentecostal Publishing House booth at 9:15 p.m.
I look forward to meeting many of you there!
By the way, I have already begun work on volume three, which will explore the messianic significance of Psalms 107 through 150.
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August 2, 2025 | Daniel L. Segraves, Ph.D.
A couple of days ago I contacted the hotel where Susan and I will stay during the upcoming eightieth general conference of the United Pentecostal Church International. The conference will convene in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. Our hotel will be nearby.
The UPCI came into existence in 1945. I was born the next year.
As I thought about the location of our hotel and the fact that I was born in a home in St. Lous, I wondered how far my birth place is from our hotel.
I checked it out. Eight minutes. I took my first breath on the first floor of a house within minutes of the site of the eightieth general conference of the UPCI.
To borrow some lyrics from Andrae Crouch, “I’ve been a lot of places, and I’ve seen a lot of faces ….”
I have lived in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, and California. I have declared the gospel of Jesus Christ in each of these states and in Australia, France, and Germany. I have taught the Scriptures for eighteen camp meetings and visited Israel (twice), Jordan, Belgium, Holland, Quebec, Italy, the Vatican (twice), St. Martin, Canada, and Mexico. There may be some other places I’ve fogotten about.
But I keep coming home.
I will be 79 years old in three months, and I have spent about half of my life in or just minutes away from the city of St. Louis.
This is something of a parable for me. It’s not just the city, it’s my spiritual home.
The UPCI is where I want to be. It was in a UPCI church that I was baptized in water in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit. It is where I have developed deep lifelong friendships.
I have been a credentialed minister with the UPCI for sixty years. My ordination occurred on November 29, 1968.
St. Louis is my natural home.
The United Penteostal Church International is my spiritual home.
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June 4, 2025 | Daniel L. Segraves, Ph.D.
Since 1968, I have been involved in various ways in the production of Sunday school curriculum for the United Pentecostal Church International. This started with Word Aflame Publications, when I served as the editor of the Junior High literature.
As you might imagine, many changes have occurred in this process since 1968. Beginning in the 1970s and continuing to the present time, I have written materials on the adult level. Although I have lost track of how many lessons I have written, I think it is safe to say they number in the hundreds. Some years ago, I counted what I had done to that point. I believe it was 150 lessons.
More recently, with the development of new technologies, my involvement has reached beyond writing. Videos are now included in the materials produced to supplement the printed lessons. Last week, I was in the studio at the headquarters of the UPCI to film two videos, one on the significance of the change of Jacob’s name to Israel and the other on what it means to say that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
It occurred to me that some readers of this blog may be interested to know what kind of studio is used and how this process is accomplished. Susan, my wife, was with me, and she took some pictures with her iPhone. We were in the same studio where David K. Bernard and Jonathan Mohr film Dr. Bernard’s podcast.
L. J. Harry, Curriculum Director for the Pentecostal Resources Group, sits with his back to the camera. State-of-the-art technology is utilized, including a teleprompter that keeps pace with the reader’s voice. I wrote the scripts for the videos and emailed them to Brother Harry before the session. David Zuniga, the cameraman, is a graduate of Christian Life College in Stockton, California. I taught at Christian Life College for twenty-five years.
So that’s it! I recommend God’s Word for Life, the current name of the curriculum produced by the UPCI. Each Sunday, the lessons prepared for all grade levels explore the same biblical texts, enabling families to review what they have studied.
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May 7, 2025 | Daniel L. Segraves, Ph.D.
I am so thankful for the privilege of being involved in various aspects of ministry in the United Pentecostal Church International for the past sixty years. This has included pastoring, teaching, and writing.
It all began when I was sixteen years old. As I participated in a prayer meeting at about one or two o’clock in the morning, the Lord gave me a desire to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. My early training came from men like Clyde J. Haney, Paul Dugas, and other faculty members at Western Apostolic Bible College in Stockton, California.
In 1968, the year after graduation from WABC, I accepted an invitation from J. O. Wallace to work with him as the first Director of Promotions and Publications for the General Sunday School Department of the UPC. At that time, the headquarters of the organization were located at 3645 South Grand Avenue in Saint Louis, Missouri. This is the city where I was born.
During the time I served in this capacity, the UPC began publishing the first full-scale Oneness Pentecostal Sunday school curriculum under the banner of Word Aflame Publications. My responsibility was to function as the editor of the Junior High materials.
From 1970 until 1975, I worked as the Minister of Christian Education for a local church in Maplewood, Missouri, while at the same time developing promotional materials for various departments of the UPC. Then I accepted the pastorate of the First Pentecostal Church in Dupo, Illinois, staying in this role until 1982.
During the spring of 1982, Kenneth F. Haney invited me to become the Executive Vice-President of Christian Life College. I accepted, returning to Stockton as the administrator and chairman of the department of theology for the same school where I had been trained when it was known as WABC. When Brother Haney was elected as the general superintendent of the UPCI, he asked me to assume the role of president for CLC. I served in this office until 2007, when I returned to St. Louis to teach at Urshan Graduate School of Theology.
I retired from full-time work at UGST on July 1, 2018, becoming professor emeritus.
This is a kind of “bare bones” description of my life in ministry to this point. Along the way, I have written twenty-two books, and I am now working on the twenty-third. I have been the Bible teacher at eighteen camp meetings, and I had the privilege of preaching for the general conference of the United Pentecostal Church in Australia.
As the days of my life have progressed, I have had the opportunity to complete further education, earning the Master of Arts in Exegetical Theology and the Master of Theology degrees at Western Seminary as well as the Ph.D. in Renewal Studies with dual emphases in Christian History and Christian Theology at Regent University School of Divinity.
None of us knows the future. But if the day should come when I receive a Ministry Milestone for seventy years of service, I will be approaching ninety years of age!
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April 4, 2025 | Daniel L. Segraves, Ph.D.
Yesterday, I enjoyed an afternoon of teaching a session on the Holy Spirit in the Systematic Theology course taught by Jeffrey Brickle, Professor of Biblical Studies. Dr. Brickle, a long-time friend of mine, invited me to lecture on this topic.
We entered the campus by turning from East Pitman Avenue in Wentzville, Missouri onto Bernard Drive. From Bernard Drive, we turned onto Apostolic Way, then onto Urshan Way. We had arrived early in the morning to attend the thesis defense of L. J. Harry, a graduating student. His presentation was excellent and we were enriched by the fellowship we enjoyed. Brother Harry is the curriculum director for the Pentecostal Resources Group. Thus, he is responsible for the production of God’s Word for Life, the Sunday school curriculum available from the Pentecostal Publishing House. In the picture below, Brother Harry is seen presenting his thesis on the topic of the identity of the twenty-four elders in the Book of Revelation. His diligent research and clear analysis resulted in a thought provoking conclusion.
I was happy to introduce my newest book, titled The Holy Spirit, to the students. Of course I couldn’t cover all 314 pages in one afternoon of teaching, but I was able to explain the major themes and some of the key biblical texts about the Holy Spirit. The fact that the Spirit of God appears first in the second verse of the Holy Bible and also in the fifth verse from the end of the Bible demonstrates the high profile of the Spirit in the inspired Scriptures. Altogether, there are more than 330 references to the Holy Spirit in Scripture. In the Old Testament, the Spirit is referred to about once every 11.6 chapters. In the New Testament, on average, about once per chapter. My book is available at pentecostalpublishing.com as well as on Amazon.com.
I recommend Urshan University and Urshan Graduate School of Theology to apostolic students who wish to earn regionally and professionally accredited degrees from the undergraduate level to the doctoral level. You can access all information at http://www.urshan.edu.
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January 27, 2025 | Daniel L. Segraves, Ph.D.
PDF Embedder requires a url attributeI am grateful for the privilege of ministering for sixty years within the fellowship of the United Pentecostal Church International. In my prayers, I frequently express my gratitude to God for those He has brought into my life who have had a good influence on me.
I cannot list all those who have pointed me in the right direction, but they certainly include my parents, Glen and Agnes Segraves. My father was my first pastor. My grandfather, L. D. Segraves, was the first apostolic preacher in my family.
Other pastors and teachers whose voices I can still hear include Clyde J. Haney, my pastor and one of my teachers at what was then known as the Western Apostolic Bible College. Another influential teacher at that time was Paul Dugas, whose son Timothy later became my pastor.
Since my calling in life focused not only on pastoring but on teaching, I sat under a wide variety of teachers in the process of earning various degrees required to qualify for professorial duties in accredited schools. Since the UPCI did not yet have accredited schools where such degrees could be earned, many of my teachers were not identified with the apostolic movement. Nevertheless, the learning experience was valuable and helpful, enabling me to participate in preparing our own graduate school for accreditation.
God is still at work in my life today through the influence of my pastor, Mitchell Bland, my friends in ministry, and my peers who understand the call into the world of academia.
Thank you, United Pentecostal Church. This is my home. This is my church. I love you.
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January 10, 2025 | Daniel L. Segraves, Ph.D.
I am happy to report that I have finished my work on Psalms 73-104. Now I am working on Psalm 105, which I may be able to complete over this weekend. If so, I will lack only Psalm 106 to be ready to send the manuscript for the second volume of my commentary to the editor.
Those who have followed my journey on this project know it has been off and on the back burner since 2018. This has never been because of a lack of interest on my part. I am intrigued by the Psalter, and I rejoice over every discovery I have made. It has truly been an experience of discovery. That’s why all three volumes of this work (yes, there will be a third and final volume covering Psalms 107-150) are titled The Messiah in the Psalms: Discovering Christ in Unexpected Places.
When the project has been on the back burner, it has been due largely to my involvement in other writing projects like my commentary on the Holy Spirit. This hardback book exceeds 300 pages and deals with nearly every reference to the Holy Spirit from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.
I am so grateful for my wife Susan! She has supported and encouraged me throughout this experience, sharing my joy of discovery when I found never before seen insights.
Now, back to work!
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November 26, 2024 | Daniel L. Segraves, Ph.D.
About four weeks ago, I submitted the manuscript for my commentary on Psalms 73-89 to Everett Gossard, the book editor for the Pentecostal Resources Group, UPCI. On November 6, the Executive Publication Committee met and discussed the possibility of publishing the second volume of The Messiah in the Psalms: Discovering Christ in Unexpected Places. The committee provisionally approved the manuscript, contingent on their review of the entire manuscript once it is finished.
This volume will consist of my research and commentary on Psalms 73-106, Books 3 and 4 of the five books within the Psalter. The third volume will cover Psalms 107-150, the fifth and final book within the Book of Psalms.
Since submitting the manuscript, I have finished my work on Psalms 90 and 91. It has been my goal to complete all the psalms through Psalm 106 by the end of this year. I’m realizing this may not be possible. If not, I have prayed to be able reach this goal by the end of January in hopes of getting this second volume published by the time of the 2025 general conference of the United Pentecostal Church International in St. Louis, my home town.
I deeply appreciate the opportunity to participate in the writing ministry. I love the Book of Psalms and pray that God would give me the ability to rightly divide the word of truth and to understand how the Scriptures speak of Him.
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September 5, 2024 | Daniel L. Segraves, Ph.D.
Our first date was on June 15, 2013. I invited Susan to a concert by the Ambassadors of Harmony, an a capella men’s chorus consisting of more than 100 members. Their harmonies are breathtaking.
I discovered the AOH on YouTube while still living in California. I had no idea the chorus was headquartered in Saint Charles, Missouri, next door to Saint Peters, where Susan and I now live. Nor did I know their concerts were performed at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Missouri in St. Louis.
Many members of UPCI churches in the St Louis metro area attend these concerts, and on our first date, several of our friends, seeing us together for the first time, quickly figured out what was going on!
The photo above shows us at our most recent visit to hear the AOH. We are standing before a Steinway piano. The reason we have such big smiles is that we are happy people on the verge of celebrating our eleventh year of marriage! God has blessed us richly. We are deeply grateful He brought us together, and I am so glad Susan said, “Yes!”
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