United Pentecostal Church Adopts Denominational Bird

In a close vote, the United Pentecostal Church (UPC) adopted the cardinal as the denominational bird over the flamingo during its annual conference in Richmond, Virginia. While many important issues were discussed at the conference, including revising its doctrinal statement to adopt footwashing as an ordinance of the church and to establish a formal position on homosexuality, the bird debate seemed to awaken a sleeping Greater Richmond Convention Center filled with UPC pastors from around the country.

Debate centered around whether the flamingo, which stands on one leg, or the cardinal, with its bright, red plumaged males and its drab, brown feathered females, most closely reflected the values of the denomination. Observers said the comments of the Reverend Larry Guenther of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, characterized the sentiments of the majority who voted in favor of the redbird.

Folks, look around the room here. Look at our men, our ministers, with their mousses and hair oils and bright ties and flashy suits. They look great—all decked out and spruced up, styling and profiling like the bright, flashy male redbirds that strut their stuff and ruffle their feathers. But the female birds, well now, that’s a different story. They’re drab, brown, looking like plain old holiness.

In opposition to the cardinal, other attendees suggested the flamingo better symbolizes the denomination. An anonymous church delegate said: “I see the flamingo on one leg paralleling our stance of the oneness of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in Jesus. I’ll tell you, when I’m at the ocean and see a flamingo standing on one leg, it just makes me think about our ‘Jesus only’ doctrine. No other bird brings out our doctrine like that bird does.” 

Some delegates objected to the flamingo because of its association with dancing and worldliness. However, Pastor Jose Trujillo of San Juan Capistrano, California corrected his brethren by saying that the word for that type of dancing was actually “flamenco.” This angered some of the delegates, who then asked how Trujillo could know so much about a worldly dance like the flamenco. He then gave a testimony of how his mother, a flamenco club dancer, got saved in his native Ecuador. The angry brethren then calmed down and debate around the denominational bird continued, ending with a vote of 322 to 101 in favor of the cardinal. Look for a redesigned UPC logo early next year with the denominational bird included.

This piece of satire came to me as I was sitting at my in-laws house in Southern Illinois looking at the cardinals feeding at the bird feeders in the back yard a few years ago. The birds reminded me of holiness Pentecostals, a church whose women are not permitted to cut their hair or wear makeup. The United Pentecostal Church (UPC) women look rather drab compared to their males, just as the female cardinals do.