This Week in AG History -- June 20, 1954

Bert Webb (1906-1995) held many positions of leadership in the Assemblies of God. He served as a district youth director, evangelist, pastor, district official, an assistant general superintendent for the Assemblies of God for 20 years, and in his retirement years he was campus pastor at Evangel College (now Evangel University) in Springfield, Missouri.

Born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, he moved with his parents to a farm at Weleetka, Oklahoma, when he was 8 years old. Three years later, his family moved to Wellston, a small farming community in the central part of Oklahoma. Before the 1920s, Webb described Wellston as “a most ungodly place.” As a teenager, he said that he did not know any young people who claimed to know Christ, including himself.

But that all changed when Bert was a senior in high school. Dexter Collins, a new convert, came to Wellston in 1922 and conducted what amounted to a year-long revival. Starting small, the meetings soon attracted many individuals and families who were saved, healed, and baptized in the Holy Spirit. After Webb’s mother was healed of asthma, he went to services out of curiosity. Then he too was saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit. When the meetings ended, it was estimated that some 300 were saved in his hometown of only 600. His high school senior class officers were saved and filled with the Spirit. Nineteen of the new converts went into the ministry, including Webb.

Ordained in 1926 in the Oklahoma district, Webb first ministered as an evangelist. He met his future wife, Charlotte Williamson, at a district youth convention where he was preaching in June 1927. They eventually were married at Faith Tabernacle in Oklahoma City in June 1931. The Williamson family were gifted musicians, and Charlotte’s musical abilities were an asset to Bert’s ministry as an evangelist and pastor.

Webb continued evangelizing and also pastored churches in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Arkansas before coming to Springfield, Missouri, in 1939, when he was elected as pastor of Central Assembly of God. In addition to preaching at the church, Webb also spoke three times weekly on Springfield’s KTTS radio station with a program called The Church by the Side of the Road. At the same time, on KWTO radio station, he hosted a weekly radio broadcast called, Assembly Vespers. Charlotte Webb served as director of the orchestra, and Sunday School exceeded all previous attendance records when the Webbs were pastors. One of the high points of the Webbs’ ministry at Central was a meeting they hosted with Dr. Charles S. Price, which was held at the Shrine Mosque in 1940.

Next Webb was elected superintendent of the Southern Missouri district for six years before becoming an assistant general superintendent of the Assemblies of God from 1949 to 1969. In that position he served as the executive director of the Sunday School, Youth, Evangelism, Radio, Personnel, and Publications. He also was chairman of the building committee for the administration building at 1445 N. Boonville Avenue, which was erected in 1960 and dedicated on March 2, 1962.

Webb served on numerous interchurch committees. He was chairman of the Assemblies of God Commission on Chaplains. He served on the National Advisory Board for the U.S. Air Force Chief of Chaplains in Washington, D.C. He was president of the National Sunday School Association, which was comprised of some 40 Protestant denominations. He also served on boards with the National Religious Broadcasters and the National Association of Evangelicals. His ministry took him to more than 62 countries where he led missions conventions, teaching seminars, and revival campaigns.

In retirement, he and Charlotte moved to California, where they became administrators of a 262-bed church-operated convalescent home. In 1974 they started a church in Mission Viejo, California, pastoring there for a year. Webb then traveled in ministers institutes and camp meetings until January 1977, when he returned to Springfield to accept the position of campus pastor of Evangel College (now Evangel University), where he served until 1983.

The Webbs continued to accept ministry invitations from many places. They served interim pastorates in Eugene, Oregon; Houston and Fort Worth, Texas; Biloxi, Mississippi; and Omaha, Nebraska. He passed away in Springfield, Missouri in January 1995 at the age of 88. Assemblies of God General Superintendent Thomas Trask stated, “This Fellowship owes a great debt of gratitude to Bert Webb for his years of leadership…. This man faithfully served the Lord and this church and we shall miss him.”

While serving as executive director of the National Sunday School Department, Webb wrote an article called, “It is Time to Seek the Lord,” found on page 4 of the June 20, 1954, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Head of the House,” by James D. Menzies

• “Hundreds Converted in South Africa,” by Vernon D. Pettenger

• “Graduation at the L.A.B.I,” by Kenny Savage

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

Pentecostal Evangel archived editions courtesy of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.