https://news.ag.org/rssThe official news source of the Assemblies of Goden{BF7A6844-D3A1-4C67-A9E9-DD72053F7F2F}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2022/06/This-Week-in-AG-History--June-22-1946<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/ThisWeek-June22-Ward_1400.jpg" alt="" />C.M. Ward’s father converted to Christianity — through his own preaching. Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:00:00 Z<p><span style="color: black;">A.G. (Alfred George) Ward (1881-1960), a Pentecostal pioneer in Canada, was an example of an unconverted minister. According to his own account, he began in ministry as a Methodist circuit-riding preacher — before he became a Christian. He later converted during his own sermon!</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Ward shared this humorous anecdote in the June 22, 1946, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>. He became a prominent Canadian camp-meeting speaker and evangelist, but was possibly best known as the father of longtime <em>Revivaltime </em>speaker C.M. Ward. </span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">A.G. Ward took great care to preach about the importance of having a vibrant spiritual life, as he knew from experience how easy it is to possess a form of religion without substance. His sermons frequently focused on the threefold theme of his life: salvation, consecration, and divine healing, all accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. His messages resonated with listeners across North America.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">A.G. Ward’s father, an alcoholic, died when his son was only 2 months old. The strain of struggling alone to raise four children took its toll, and Ward’s mother died when he was 13. Just before his mother’s death, he attended a Methodist revival meeting. Although he felt a desire to become a Christian, the church leader who spoke with him only encouraged him to believe the Scriptures. Ward did not have an understanding of repentance or the availability of power to live a Christian life. </span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Nevertheless, young Alfred wanted to be a preacher. After finishing high school, he was appointed as a Methodist circuit-rider on the western frontier of the Canadian Rockies. At the time, young preachers were expected to receive practical experience as ministers before receiving education. During these early meetings, he preached the Bible; but he did not truly know God. His preaching lacked power, conviction, and results.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">In the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> article, he recalled, “On my second circuit as a Methodist preacher … during a series of special meetings while I was doing the preaching, I was converted. I was the only convert in a week’s meetings, but I have always been thankful and a few others have been saved since, as a result of the preacher getting converted.”</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">It was not long after this experience that Ward met a group of Methodists in northwestern Canada who taught holiness and believed that Jesus healed people in answer to the prayer of faith. Ward met Christian and Missionary Alliance founder A.B. Simpson, a teacher of divine healing. </span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Simpson sent Ward to begin an Alliance work in Winnipeg, where he met and married a Mennonite evangelist, Mary Markle. In 1907, at a holiness prayer meeting in Winnipeg, they both received the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. This ended their affiliation with both the Mennonites and the Christian and Missionary Alliance.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">A.G. and Mary took a step of faith and, in 1909, organized one of the first Pentecostal camp meetings held in Ontario. The young evangelists had no money to give in the offering at the camp meeting. However, they felt impressed to physically place their infant son, Charles Morse Ward, in the offering basket as their gift to God’s work. They did so, and young C.M. grew up with a calling to the ministry from a young age.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">After the meeting, Ward raised funds by selling his tent to another young Canadian evangelist, future Foursquare Gospel Church founder Aimee Semple McPherson, and began holding meetings in schoolhouses, churches, and other places across Canada and later throughout the U.S. </span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Ward not only preached consecration, he modeled it in his own life. C.M. Ward, in a <em>Revivaltime</em> booklet titled <em>Intimate Glimpses of My Father’s Life,</em> described his father’s deep spiritual life. The younger Ward wrote, “I would rather have been born in such a home than have the honor of sitting in the White House.” C.M. credited the example of his father’s message of holy consecration, lived out through the power of the Holy Spirit, as his own model for ministry. </span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Read the full sermon “Christ or Self — Which Shall It Be?” on page 3 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1946/FPHC/1946_06_22.pdf" target="_blank">June 22, 1946, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em></span><span style="color: black;">. </span></p> <p><span style="background-image: none; background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; color: black;">Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p><span style="background-image: none; background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; color: black;">• “Signs of the Times,”<em> </em>by Ralph M. Riggs</span></p> <p><span style="background-image: none; background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; color: black;">• “A Harvest of Souls in Jamaica,<em>” </em>by Harvey McAlister</span></p> <p><span style="background-image: none; background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; color: black;">• “How to Have Revival,” by George T.B. Davis</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;"><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1946/FPHC/1946_06_22.pdf" target="_blank">Click here </a></span><span style="color: black;"><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1946/FPHC/1946_06_22.pdf" target="_blank">to read this issue now</a>.</span></p> <p><em><span style="color: black;">Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span style="color: black;"> archived editions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://ifphc.org/"><span style="color: purple;">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a><span style="color: black;">.</span></p>{1C52AE31-52EE-4EC9-A413-6D5A32C3A302}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2017/06/This-Week-in-AG-History-June-9-1957<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/ES-Williams-gospel-car_1400.jpg" alt="" />General Superintendent Ernest S. Williams did not accept Christ until he was 19, but he was ordained three years later under the ministry of William J. Seymour, later identifying the experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit as a defining moment in his life.Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:00:00 Z<p><span>Ernest S. Williams (1885-1981) was the only participant in the Azusa Street revival to later became general superintendent of the Assemblies of God (1929-1949).</span> </p> <p><span>Known for his spiritual depth, he led the Fellowship during a period of significant growth in numbers as well as expanding outreach programs. During his watch, the Assemblies of God opened several new Bible schools and developed programs such as the Sunday School Department, Education Department, U.S. Missions, Chaplaincy, Youth Ministries, and Speed the Light. He wrote several books on theology, taught theology courses at Central Bible Institute, and authored a “Question and Answer” column for the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.</span> </p> <p><span>Ernest Williams was born in San Bernardino, California, where his family was active in a Holiness church. He received salvation in 1904 at age 19 and felt that he had been saved and sanctified.</span> </p> <p><span>Two years later, in August 1906, Williams was living in Colorado when he received letters from his mother telling him about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Los Angeles. That September, Williams and a friend traveled to Los Angeles to observe for themselves what was happening.</span> </p> <p><span>His first visit to the Azusa Street Mission was on a Sunday morning. What touched him the most was the altar service at the end of the meeting. The front of the mission was packed with seekers and altar workers. Christians and unsaved spectators crowded around to see what was going on. Some at the altar were seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit; others were worshiping God in unknown tongues. Some were prostrate under the power of God. People were worshiping everywhere. In his autobiography, Williams stated this worship was best described in Ephesians 5:19, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”</span> </p> <p><span>Williams looked on, not knowing what to think. His heart was hungry for God. He already had salvation, but he was not satisfied. After much prayer and study of the Word, he returned to the Mission and began to seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit. On Oct. 2, 1906, he received the Pentecostal blessing. Williams recalled, “How rich an experience, and in my private devotions spontaneous speaking in tongues became a large part of the outpouring of my heart in worship of God.”</span> </p> <p><span>This was Williams’ introduction into the Pentecostal Movement, and he never regretted his decision. Feeling called into the ministry, Williams was ordained by the Apostolic Faith Mission under the ministry of William J. Seymour in 1907. He went on to lead a Pentecostal mission in San Francisco in August 1907. From there he traveled as an evangelist to Colorado Springs, Portland, and other places in the Northwest. In Portland, he met Laura Jacobsen, and two years later she became his wife in 1911.</span> </p> <p><span>Together the Williamses pastored small churches in Kentucky; Conneaut, Ohio; and Seattle. E.S. Williams read in the <em>Word and Witness</em>, an early Pentecostal newspaper, about the formation of the Assemblies of God, and he decided to join the young fellowship in 1915.</span></p> <p>Next the Williamses pastored in Bradford, Pennsylvania, in 1916, and Newark, New Jersey, beginning in 1917, where Bethel Bible Training School had recently opened. In 1920, Williams became the pastor of Highway Mission Tabernacle in Philadelphia, where he served for a little over 10 years. He then was elected general superintendent and served for 20 years in that office (1929-1949) as he guided the Assemblies of God through the Great Depression, World War II, and the post-war era. </p> <p><span>Throughout his ministry, Williams pointed back to his baptism in the Holy Spirit as being a defining moment in his life. In an article from nearly 70 years ago titled, “Baptized With the Holy Spirit,” Williams explained the doctrine of being baptized in the Holy Spirit from a scriptural viewpoint.</span> </p> <p><span>Williams wrote, “The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is a definite experience.” He further declared, “It was definite in the time of the early Church; it ought to be definite today.” He called the Holy Spirit “the promise of the Father.” To back this up, he quoted from <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2024:47-49&version=NIV" target="_blank">Luke 24:47-49</a> where the disciples were instructed to “tarry in the city of Jerusalem” until they would be “endued with power from on high.”</span></p> <p><span>The <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1950-1959/1957/1957_06_09.pdf#Page20" target="_blank">June 9, 1957, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> emphasized Pentecost Sunday. Read “Baptized With the Holy Spirit” on page 20.</span> </p> <p><span>Also featured in this issue:</span> </p> <p><span>• “Pentecostal Patience,” by Donald Gee</span></p> <p><span>• “Endued With Power From on High,” by Myer Pearlman</span> </p> <p><span>• “Pentecost,” by Louis H. Hauff</span> </p> <p><span>And many more!</span> </p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1950-1959/1957/1957_06_09.pdf#Page20" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.</p> <p>The <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.</p>{2CAA8D74-1201-45DA-AC87-66C358ED5634}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2020/06/This-Week-in-AG-History-June-3-1944<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/John-Wesley_1400.jpg" alt="" />What Pentecostals can learn from the founder of Methodism, John Wesley.Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:00:00 Z<p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>What can Pentecostals learn from John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of Methodism?</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Wesley, an Anglican priest in England, helped to lay the foundation for large segments of the evangelical and Pentecostal movements. Despite living in a nation that identified as Christian, he recognized that most people did not have saving faith. He pioneered new evangelism and discipleship methods, which upset some of the religious leaders of his day. He appointed itinerant, unordained evangelists who traveled and preached the gospel. He also encouraged the formation of small groups of Christians for the purpose of discipleship, accountability, and Bible study.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Wesley encouraged each person to experience God’s love. However, he insisted that if a person was truly saved, an experience with God must yield a transformed life. True Christians, he taught, would live holy lives. When the Holy Spirit transformed a person’s desires, this inner holiness would naturally be manifested in outward holiness.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>In many ways, early Pentecostals identified themselves in the tradition of Wesley. The June 6, 1944, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> published an article that shared the “secret” of “Wesley’s power.” Three reasons existed, according to the article, which caused Wesley’s ministry to be so powerful.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>First, Wesley believed that the Bible was “the very Word of God.” The Bible was the standard for everything, and he prayerfully consulted it for guidance.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Second, Wesley “preached with a living sense of divine authority.” He believed his sermons were given “by direct communication of the Spirit,” based on the Bible, and “applied logically, earnestly, passionately to the hearts of men.”</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Third, Wesley “lived and preached in the presence and power of the Holy Ghost.” His deep spirituality was formed by living daily in the presence of God and by developing daily habits of “prayer and song, fellowship and meditation, study and preaching.”</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Wesley taught that changed hearts should ultimately change society. He and his followers (known as Methodists) became leaders in social issues of his day, including the abolition of slavery and prison reform.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>In the present era of social and family disintegration, Wesley’s admonitions point Christians back toward holiness and deep spirituality. He understood that humanity’s woes flow from the human heart, and he encouraged people to change society one heart at a time.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Read the entire article by Samuel Chadwick, “Wesley’s Secret of Power,” on page 4 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1944/1944_06_03.pdf" target="_blank">June 3, 1944, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>• “Direct Answers to Prayer,” by Frederick M. Bellsmith</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>• “Following Jesus,” by H.A. Baker</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1944/1944_06_03.pdf" target="_blank">Click here</a></span><span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1944/1944_06_03.pdf" target="_blank"> to read this issue now</a>.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><em><span>Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span> archived editions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0013ff;">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a><span>.</span></p>{408A7A75-6467-404F-A25D-D48D28568E4E}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2020/05/This-Week-in-AG-History-May-29-1937<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/Campmeeting_1400.jpg" alt="" />Camp meetings often marked moves of God, with many people being first introduced to the Pentecostal message through Assemblies of God district camp meetings that drew thousands from across the United States.Thu, 28 May 2026 12:00:00 ZIf you attended meetings in the years of the early Pentecostal movement, you might remember a summer church event that included sawdust floors, crude benches, tents, and open tabernacles. Those early tents and brush arbors have since given way to air-conditioned auditoriums and indoor plumbing, but the rousing fellowship and memorable spiritual experiences continue to ensure that summer camp meetings have a place in the life of the church. <br /> <br /> Although the Assemblies of God has a long tradition with the camp meeting, the phenomenon predates the Pentecostal movement. It was in 17th-century Scotland that a group of Presbyterians, known as Covenanters, refused to recognize the right of the king to mandate religious conformity and were expelled from their churches. They began to hold illegal open-air meetings. Attendance at these meetings was declared a capital offense and many Covenanters were martyred for their stand. <br /> <br /> Some fled to Ireland and along with others formed the base of the Scots-Irish immigration of the 1700s. Many eventually settled south into Virginia and the Carolinas, with a large concentration in the Appalachian region. They brought with them their tradition of the extended outdoor meeting. <br /> <br /> It was one of these Scottish Presbyterian camp meetings in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in 1801 that brought thousands of Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists together for an outdoor meeting that featured revivalistic preaching, enthusiastic singing, and extended prayer meetings with a flood of religious enthusiasm. The revival fires of the Cane Ridge Camp meetings set off the Second Great Awakening that sparked a movement of camp meeting revivalism that shaped the course of Western American Protestantism. <br /> <br /> By the mid-19th century, the Baptists and Presbyterians largely abandoned the camp meeting for indoor protracted meetings. The Methodists, however, began to build permanent meeting sites for the purpose of joining together with other believers for Bible teaching, extended prayer, and exhortational preaching. These camp meetings became a staple for the Holiness Movement of the later 19th century.<br /> <br /> When the Pentecostal movement sprang out of the influence of the Holiness churches, it was natural to continue the camp meeting practice. Early Assemblies of God adherents, such as those in Wisconsin who rented Camp Byron in Fond du Lac County from the Methodist church, used these meetings for inspiration, fellowship, consecration, and response to the call of God.<br /> <br /> The May 29, 1937, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> served as a promotional tool for many of the scheduled camp meetings of that summer. In the article, “Let Us All Go to Camp Meeting,” <em>Evangel</em> readers are made aware of the many district camp schedules for that year, including Wisconsin-Northern Michigan, Kansas, Virginia, Texico, Northern California-Nevada, New England, Potomac, Northwest, West Central, Illinois, Yellowstone, Arkansas, Louisiana, Rocky Mountain, and the North Central districts. Speakers included W.I. Evans, E.S. Williams, Myer Pearlman, Otto Klink, Charles Price, Ralph Riggs, Howard Carter, and many other pastors and lay preachers, both male and female. <br /> <br /> These camp meetings were not limited to the members of the host district. The West Central District camp at Storm Lake, Iowa, reminded readers that “last year the crowd was estimated at six to seven thousand people … and we are expecting a larger crowd this year. More than half of the states in the union were represented at last year’s meeting.”<br /> <br /> The schedule varied by district, but the one listed by the Appalachian District, held at Pentecostal Park in Bristol, Virginia, was typical: Devotional at 7 a.m., children’s service at 9 a.m., Bible teaching at 10:30 a.m., preaching at 2:30 p.m., young people’s service at 6 p.m., and an evangelistic service at 8 p.m.<br /> <br /> While the meetings had some limited focus on certain demographics, the services were not segregated by age. Adults attended children’s services, and children attended alongside the adults. It was in these services that many children and young people were introduced to the leaders of the Pentecostal movement as they were exposed to anointed teaching in each service.<br /> <br /> Many Pentecostal laypeople trace their first exposure to the baptism in the Holy Spirit to these protracted meetings. Ministers and missionaries testify of receiving their call to lifelong service around the altar at camp meeting. Other benefits included the tight bond of fellowship established between those who attended different churches but found lasting relationships at camp, including missionary Melvin Hodges. Not only was he was introduced to a love for Bible teaching by a camp speaker, but camp also provided the opportunity, as it did for many others, to meet a future spouse. <br /> <br /> Although much has changed in our camp meeting presentation over the years, it remains an important chapter in our shared heritage. As the <em>Evangel</em> said in 1937, “It is blessed to be able to drop the daily tasks for a while and to go to some place where you can give yourself wholly to the things of God.”<br /> <br /> Read the article, “Let Us All Go to Camp Meeting,” on page 9 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1937/1937_05_29.pdf#Page11" target="_blank">May 29, 1937, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>. <br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “How Moody Used the Power,” by Zelma Argue<br /> <br /> • “The Result of One Day’s Travailing Prayer,” by Charles G. Finney<br /> <br /> • “God’s Condition for Revival,” by Beatrice Pannabecker<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1937/1937_05_29.pdf#Page11" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br class="t-last-br" />{7F5D58F7-C452-4AE9-89E6-D38F2BABED7A}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2018/05/This-Week-in-AG-History-May-12-1968<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/Col-Sanders_1400.jpg" alt="" />Col. Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, turned his life over to Christ in an AG church at the age of 75.Thu, 14 May 2026 12:00:00 Z<p><span style="color: black;">Colonel Harland Sanders (1890-1980) was best known for founding the iconic restaurant chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken. After he accepted Christ at age 75 in an Assemblies of God church in Louisville, Kentucky, the news of his conversion spread quickly. During the last 15 years of his life, Colonel Sanders shared his Christian testimony countless times. Fifty-eight years ago, the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> featured his story.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Sanders’ colorful life and personality earned him a storied place in American history. Young Sanders experienced a difficult childhood and home life. He began working as a farmhand at age 10, he left home at age 13, and he falsified his date of birth and joined the U.S. Army in 1906 at age 16. </span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Following his 1907 honorable discharge from the Army, Sanders held a succession of short-term jobs. He worked for a railroad, a ferry line, an insurance company, and a chamber of commerce, among other businesses. He was a hard-working entrepreneur, but his temperament led to frequent personality clashes. He studied law and worked as an attorney for three years in Arkansas, but his legal career ended after he got into a courtroom brawl with his own client.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">In 1930, Sanders started a restaurant located adjacent to the Shell Oil station in Kentucky that he managed. His cooking became a local sensation and, in 1952, he began franchising his secret “Kentucky Fried Chicken” recipe. Sanders became a well-known philanthropist and was given an honorary title of “Colonel” for his charitable work by the governor of Kentucky. The company grew rapidly to 600 franchises by 1963. Sanders, with his white suit and white hair and beard, helped market Kentucky Fried Chicken and became a familiar image across throughout the world.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Despite this success, Sanders felt troubled in his soul. Over the years, he had been active in church, but he had never wholly committed himself to God. He had developed a habit of cursing that had become ingrained in his lifestyle. He wanted to be free of the guilt and inner torment, but he did not know how to achieve the peace that he sought.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Then, one day in 1965, a stranger approached Sanders on the street and invited him to evangelistic services with the McDuff Brothers at Evangel Tabernacle Assembly of God in Louisville, Kentucky. Sanders visited the church and asked the pastor, Waymon Rodgers, whether God could give him an assurance that he would go to heaven, and whether God could deliver him from his habit of cursing. Rodgers responded affirmatively on both counts and led Sanders in a prayer to accept Christ. Sanders became a faithful member of Evangel Tabernacle.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Sanders frequently testified of his Christian conversion. In a 1979 interview on the PTL Club, Sanders noted that God both saved him and took away his desire to swear. Various Assemblies of God publications also featured Sanders’ testimony. In 1968, <em>Revivaltime </em>radio personalities C.M. Ward and Lee Shultz interviewed Sanders, which resulted in the publication of a small <em>Revivaltime</em> booklet, <em>Colonel Sanders Begins a New Life</em>.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">In the <em>Revivaltime</em> booklet, Sanders summarized his testimony:</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">“You can join the church. You can serve on committees. You can be baptized and receive Communion. You can become the superintendent of the Sunday School — and not be saved. I know. It happened in my life. There I was. I didn’t have enough spiritual power in my life to keep me from cussin’. I know there is an experience of salvation. It is my personal experience today. I know I am right with God. I know my sins are pardoned.”</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Forty-six years after his death, Colonel Sanders remains a larger-than-life figure in American culture. The company he founded, Kentucky Fried Chicken, continues to use Sanders’ image and life story in its marketing campaigns. But Sanders’ life represents much more than fried chicken; his story illustrates that the gospel can provide hope and new life to anyone — regardless of age or social background.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Read the article, “Colonel Sanders Begins a New Life,” on page 14 of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="May 12, 1968, issue" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1968/1968_05_12.pdf#Page5"><span>May 12, 1968, issue</span></a><span style="color: black;"> of the </span><em><span style="color: black;">Pentecostal Evangel.</span></em></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">• “The Pure Stream of Christianity,” by H. Paul Holdridge</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">• “Paul Slept Here,” by R.D.E. Smith</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">And many more!</span></p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Click here to read this issue now" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1968/1968_05_12.pdf#Page5"><span>Click here to read this issue now</span></a><span style="color: black;">.</span></p> <p><em><span style="color: black;">Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span style="color: black;"> archived editions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center" target="_blank" href="https://ifphc.org"><span style="color: purple;">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a><span style="color: black;">.</span></p> <br class="t-last-br" />{F71012FA-4809-48BF-9AB9-050A0478F811}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2022/05/This-Week-in-AG-History-May-5-1974<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/Don-Corbin-family_1400.jpg" alt="" />Don and Virginia Corbin served decades as AG missionaries to Africa and in missionary leadership, but they can trace their success to what God did in their families' past.Thu, 07 May 2026 12:00:00 Z<p>Don and Virginia Corbin, Assemblies of God missionaries to Africa, both received a heritage of service to God from their parents and, through God’s faithfulness, raised their own children to serve the Lord while experiencing the joys and challenges of missionary living. <br /> <br /> The Corbin family came into the Pentecostal movement though the ministry of two evangelist sisters, Zella and Lillian Green, when Don’s great-grandfather, Daniel Boone Corbin, received the infilling of the Holy Spirit, as did his son, John, in Couch, Missouri. John’s son, Cecil, was saved and filled with the Spirit in 1919. Cecil’s son, Don Corbin, was born in 1937 and committed his life to Christ at a youth camp service in the Southern Missouri District of the Assemblies of God during his high school years. <br /> <br /> Meanwhile, Virginia Jones was experiencing the adventurous life of a pioneer missionary kid in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), West Africa. Her parents, Harold and Margaret Jones, met at Southern California Bible Institute (now <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.vanguard.edu/" target="_blank">Vanguard University</a>) and sailed for West Africa in January of 1932. The third child in the family, Virginia, was born in 1936 and grew up speaking English and French on the savanna of Mossiland, where she developed a love for African culture and people. <br /> <br /> Corbin later attended Central Bible Institute (CBI, later Central Bible College) in Springfield, Missouri, in the 1950s where he was admitted to Burge Hospital for an appendectomy. There he was cared for by a student nurse named Virginia, who was preparing to return to her homeland of Upper Volta. They struck up a friendship, but the relationship was stalled because Corbin showed no interest in serving in Africa. <br /> <br /> While traveling with a CBI musical group, The Crusaders Trio, Don spent some time in the apartment of Talmage Butler, a missionary to Senegal. Butler kept the young singer up until 3 a.m. with stories of the need and open opportunities in West Africa. Before turning in for the night, the elder missionary looked at young Corbin and said, “I feel compelled of the Holy Spirit to ask you what you will do with your life, considering the great need in the world.” <br /> <br /> Through a gradual but persistent calling, Corbin surrendered his life to gospel work in Africa. He later was able to rekindle his friendship with Virginia, who had returned to Springfield for more education after using her nursing skills in Upper Volta. This time Corbin was ready to commit his life, not only to Virginia, but also to the land that she loved. <br /> <br /> After graduating from CBI, the Corbins took a pastorate in Covelo, California, and received ministerial credentials with the Northern California-Nevada District of the Assemblies of God. In 1964, they sailed for Senegal, a country that was particularly resistant to the Christian faith and dominated by Islam for nine centuries. They were asked to take leadership of a small church, Evangel Temple, in the capital of Dakar. It was the only evangelical church in the city of one million people. During their time there, they were able to establish the first Christian secondary school in the land and make friends with people in the Islamic government.<br /> <br /> In 1969, they moved to Kaolack, an important market town on the bank of the Saloum River. There they started a weekly radio broadcast giving greater credibility to the Christian message. When the government wanted to establish a radio station in the interior of the country, they asked Corbin to provide programming to fill in the time gaps. Soon they were broadcasting 50 Christian radio programs a week, using African voices, African music, and African proverbs to show people that Christianity was a faith for the African people. Many tribal chieftains heard the programming and invited them to come to their village to teach more. <br /> <br /> In the May 5, 1974, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>, Africa Field Secretary Morris Williams highlighted the Corbin family in an article titled, “The Mission House.” He told of the “huge barn of a place” that had a second floor that served as a home for Don and Virginia and their four children, Cherisse, Christine, Donald (Craig), and Cathy while the first floor was a bustling headquarters of missionary activity. Williams describes their home as “a refuge for birds, monkeys, dogs, games, toys … and a place to bring your school friends on a holiday; a place warm with love and understanding where you can roam at will and let your imagination run wild. This home is a beehive of activity, and no one has time to dwell on the shortcomings of the shell.” <br /> <br /> In 1975, Corbin became the area director for West and Central Africa with oversight of 11 countries: Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Zaire. Virginia helped to organize ministry to the multitudes of Africa women, taught in the Bible schools, and personally led all four of their children to faith in Christ. <br /> <br /> After Morris Williams retired, Corbin was the logical choice to serve as the next field director (now regional director) for Africa. The Corbins faithfully served in this position for the next 17 years, seeing the Assemblies of God churches in Africa grow exponentially. Upon retiring in 2002, they continued to teach in the African context and travel the United States raising awareness of the need for new missionaries to carry on the work of God on the African continent. All four of their children continue to serve the Lord in education, African mission work, and in caring for their parents, now in their 80s. <br /> <br /> When Daniel Boone Corbin came into the Pentecostal movement in the early 1900s and when Harold and Margaret Jones set foot on the shores of Africa in 1932, they could not have imagined that their grandchildren and great-grandchildren would carry on the Kingdom work that God had only begun in their lives. Continue to pray for the Corbin family, that God would raise up even yet another generation of workers in the whitened harvest fields of the world. <br /> <br /> Read the article, “The Mission House,” on page 8 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Registered/1974/FPHC/1974_05_05.pdf" target="_blank">May 5, 1974, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>. <br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue: <br /> <br /> • “The Ruined Place that Became a Garden” by Ron Snider <br /> <br /> • “Our Night of Miracles” by Medora Harvell </p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Registered/1974/FPHC/1974_05_05.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now.</a><br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.</p> <br class="t-last-br" />{92A1E35E-84C0-4C05-9289-CCF12ED0E4D5}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2017/04/This-Week-in-AG-History-April-27-1975<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/Stanley-Horton_1400.jpg" alt="" />Educator and author Stanley M. Horton influenced multiple generations for Christ, but some may be surprised to learn what he wrote that touched the most lives.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:00:00 Z<p><span>Stanley M. Horton (1916-2014), </span><span>the noted Pentecostal author and educator, was one of the most influential teachers of laypeople in the history of the Assemblies of God. He taught at the highest level in Assemblies of God institutions of higher education and authored the standard textbook on the Pentecostal understanding of the Holy Spirit, but it was through his “side job” as a writer of Sunday School material that he yielded his broadest influence.</span></p> <p><span>Horton’s Pentecostal background </span><span>goes back to the Azusa Street revival of 1906-1909. His mother, Myrle Fisher, was baptized in the Holy Spirit at the meetings at Azusa Street. She later married Harry Horton, who followed Myrle’s father, Elmer Fisher, as pastor of the Upper Room Mission, located just blocks from the Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa Street.</span> </p> <p><span>The family often attended Angelus Temple, the home church of Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. One of Horton’s childhood memories is being led to the Angelus Temple platform to lead in prayer for a children’s meeting. He sat on Sister Aimee’s lap until it was his turn to pray. </span> </p> <p><span>Exposure to some of the early leaders and ministries of the Pentecostal movement gave Horton an inside understanding of the relationship between the development of theological ideals and their practical application to Christian living.</span> </p> <p><span>From his youth, Horton exhibited unusual intellectual prowess. He graduated from high school in 1933 at age 16 and in 1937 received his undergraduate degree in science from University of California at Berkeley. He went on to earn a Master of Divinity from Gordon Divinity School, a Master of Sacred Theology from Harvard, and ultimately his doctorate from Central Baptist Theological Seminary in 1959.</span> </p> <p><span>In a day when Pentecostal scholarship was considered “an oxymoron,” Horton was a rarity. While many of his peers considered higher education to be a hindrance to the Spirit’s anointing, Horton felt that God had called him to </span><span>develop his intellectual abilities. If he did not fulfill that calling, he reckoned, he would be disobeying God.</span> </p> <p><span>Horton </span><span>went on to teach at the college and university level for 63 years and traveled the world as a lecturer until age 92. He authored dozens of books — many of which have been translated into multiple languages — and published more than 250 scholarly articles. His book, <em>What the Bible Says About the Holy Spirit, </em>still serves as the definitive text on the topic in seminaries and universities around the world.</span> </p> <p><span>However, it is possible that his broadest influence in the Pentecostal world came through the humblest of his writings. In the April 27, 1975</span><span>, issue of <em>The Pentecostal Evangel</em>, Horton was honored for serving as author of the <em>Adult Teacher </em>Sunday School quarterly for 25 years. Students in churches of every size and teachers of every level of ability would open these quarterlies each Sunday to glean a deeper understanding of biblical principles from the same pen that was writing university textbooks. </span> </p> <p><span>Balancing a heavy teaching load and raising three children, the scholar would stay up late into the night, at the beginning rate of $1 per hour, to develop lessons that would take the deepest theological truths and convey them in a manner that applied to the daily lives of farmers, factory workers, and businessmen and women. Bob Cooley, past president of the Evangelical Theological Society, former president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and </span><span>a 1949 student of Horton's, wrote, “If you read the adult quarterly, you can see that the lesson material grew out of an academic understanding of Scripture but was very practical . . . a technical understanding of the biblical text but a remarkable way of translating that into a body of applied theology.”</span> </p> <p><span>Horton’s sacrifice of time proved to be an investment in the lives of tens of thousands of Assemblies of God laypeople who would never attend one of his seminary classes</span><span>, but who were still able to receive theological training from one of the greatest minds of the Pentecostal movement — just by attending Sunday School.</span> </p> <p><span>Read the article, “A/G Editors Honor Stanley Horton for 25 Years of Writing Ministry,” on page 26 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1975-1977/04-27-1975.pdf" target="_blank">April 27, 1975, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel.</em></span><em></em></p> <p><span>Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p><span>• “Unveiling the Man of Sin</span><span>,” by Ian McPherson</span></p> <p><span>• “Build A Bridge of Friendship</span><span>,” by Marjorie Stewart</span></p> <p><span>• “Navajo Trails Assembly Outgrows Its Building</span><span>,” by Ruth Lyon</span></p> <p><span>And many more!</span></p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1975-1977/04-27-1975.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.  </p> <p><span><em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> arc</span><span>ved e</span><span>hiditions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org/" target="_blank" id="Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center"><span>Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a><span>.</span></p>{884751EB-044A-43C9-8835-8E92F3143A39}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2021/04/This-Week-in-AG-History-April-23-1961<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/TW-Harold-Jones_1400.jpg" alt="" />In the midst of great accomplishments, missionaries Harold and Margaret Jones also faced many challenges, but saw God prevail in reaching people for Christ.Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:00:00 ZHarold S. (1906-1970) and Margaret (Bishopp) Jones (1907-2003) were pioneer Assemblies of God missionaries to Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and South Africa. Harold, Margaret, and their three children endured hardships, but ultimately left a legacy that included a network of schools, a publishing ministry, and countless lives impacted by their service.<br /> <br /> Margaret attended Bethel Temple in Los Angeles. At 14 years of age, after hearing a missionary tell about the Mossi people in West Africa, she felt God calling her to be a missionary to the Mossi people.<br /> <br /> After graduating from high school, she attended Southern California Bible Institute (now <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.vanguard.edu/" target="_blank">Vanguard University</a>) where she became active in the Africa missions prayer group. There she met Harold Jones, who also had a call to be a missionary in Africa. They developed a friendship, and after graduation, Harold because the district Christ’s Ambassadors (AG youth ministries) president (D-CAP) for Kansas, his home state. Later, through correspondence, he and Margaret rekindled their friendship, which grew into love. Harold took the train to California, and they were married in March 1930.<br /> <br /> As newlyweds, the Joneses borrowed $100, bought a car, and drove back to Kansas to raise support to go to Africa as missionaries. Their first child was born in October 1931, and in January 1932 they sailed for West Africa on a freighter, along with the A. E. Wilsons, who were veteran missionaries. After 21 days, they were glad to arrive in Ivory Coast, and then five more days of travel took them over unpaved bush roads to Mossiland, which was their destination. The rest of 1932 was spent in language study, and Margaret also was expecting her second child who arrived in January 1933. He was born with the assistance of an African midwife and a French doctor at the mission station in Ouagadougou, Upper Volta.<br /> <br /> Harold Jones’ first assignment was to Yako in April 1933. Without a car, he covered an 80-mile circuit on bicycle, often in 100-degree heat, in order to reach the main preaching centers and outstations. Times were hard. Their oldest daughter was stricken with blackwater fever but was healed after much prayer. Margaret Jones also became ill during her third pregnancy and was told that she needed to return to the United States for the birth. A Mossi woman accompanied her and the two children on a trip to the coast. Then it took a month by boat to reach New York. From there they boarded a train to Los Angeles to stay with Margaret’s parents. The third child was born in Los Angeles in September 1936, and Harold did not get to see the new baby until nine months later.<br /> <br /> After a year of deputation to raise more funds, the Joneses and their three children left for France to study the French language. By 1938 they were back in Upper Volta, opening a new work in Koudougou. The Joneses held Bible readings and prayers and began work on a church building and a Bible school. They taught new believers to read and write in their own language, using lessons that were mimeographed in the Mooré language. After World War II, the Joneses started an Assemblies of God (Protestant) elementary school. That school was later expanded to include a high school as well as an orphanage for babies. It eventually became the center for a network of 32 schools throughout the country.<br /> <br /> Although he was a farmer’s son, Harold had also worked as a printer in Kansas. He established a small print shop in Koudougou and trained workers how to operate the presses and other printing equipment. Later this small print shop was transferred to the capital city of Ouagadougou and became the catalyst for Assemblies of God literature ministry in all of West Africa.<br /> <br /> The last six years of Harold Jones’ life was spent in ministry in South Africa, where he and Margaret worked with International Correspondence Institute. Harold passed away in 1970, at the age of 63. Afterwards, Margaret ministered in South Africa for six more years before retiring from missionary work.<br /> <br /> An article in the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> featured the print shop of Harold and Margaret Jones and literature for French-speaking Africa. Funds had been provided in 1956 to build the first building in French West Africa to be used solely as a publishing house and bookstore. This came to fruition under the ministry of Harold and Margaret Jones.<br /> <br /> In 1961, it was estimated that the Assemblies of God Publishing House and Book Store in Ouagadougou would soon “reach some 20 million people.” Scripture portions, songbooks, tracts and study books were being printed in five of the 22 French West Africa languages. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://youth.ag.org/participate/speed-the-light" target="_blank">Speed the Light</a> provided the funds for the press, folding machine, stitcher, and other equipment.<br /> <br /> Harold Jones reported: “The Mossi Old Testament has been translated and all books soon will be printed.” He was pleased to be able to say that these books and pamphlets were being printed in Africa, rather than saying “Printed in the U.S.A.” The Joneses also established the French Gospel Publishing House which was set up to print Sunday School materials, Bible studies, and youth papers and tracts in the French language all over the globe, and not just in West Africa.<br /> <br /> Read more in “Literature for French-Speaking Africa” on page 8 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1961/1961_04_23.pdf#Page8" target="_blank">April 23, 1961, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “Every-Day Evangelism,” by James A. Stewart<br /> <br /> • “Witnessing Through Gospel Tracts,” by Alma Ware Crosby<br /> <br /> • “Something Better Than Psychiatry,” by James La Valley<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1961/1961_04_23.pdf#Page8" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br class="t-last-br" />{27E544B8-9085-47CA-8AD2-618D3F4BA339}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2021/04/This-Week-in-AG-History-April-7-1934<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/Marguerite-Flint_1400.jpg" alt="" />Dedicated to God's service by her mother even before she was born, Marguerite Flint grew up and served as a missionary to India for more than four decades, including building a Pentecostal Bible school for girls and women.Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:00:00 Z<p>Marguerite Flint (1892-1963) once stated, “there are three reasons why I am a missionary. First, for my sake (because when we fail to hear the cry of the needy, we die); second, for their sakes (because millions of people in India are without Christ); third, for His sake (because Jesus died for India). There is every reason why I should be a missionary; there is no reason why I should not be.” Flint served Jesus and the people of India, faithfully, for more than 40 years, from 1915 to 1958. <br /> <br /> Born on a farm in Ohio, Flint was raised in a strong Methodist home with a mother who dedicated her to God’s service before birth, asking God for a son that would become a minister. There was a bit of disappointment when the baby was a girl, and Flint was raised with the knowledge that “my life was planned for me, I must either be a deaconess or a Methodist preacher’s wife.” Her mother often whispered to her, “Remember always, I have given you to God. You must not be like the other girls, you are HIS.” <br /> <br /> Although the family was Methodist, at age 8, Flint was converted in a Baptist evangelistic service and felt an earnest conviction to work for Jesus. As a young teen, she felt the need for more than she was receiving in her Methodist church and began to attend the Christian and Missionary Alliance church in Cleveland, where D.W. Kerr was the pastor. In 1912, A.B. Simpson spoke at a meeting and Flint felt a definite call to missionary work in India. In the spring of 1913, she experiencing the infilling of the Holy Spirit and left Ohio to attend Rochester Bible Training School in New York. It was there that she had a vision of Indian children, and the dream of building a Bible school for them was born. <br /> <br /> In 1915, Flint was ordained by D.W. Kerr, who had by that time become a leader in the newly formed Assemblies of God. She was the first Pentecostal missionary to go out from their church, arriving in Uska Bazar, India, in the fall of that year. After language study in Hindi, she was asked to take care of 10 orphans at Bettiah. While praying to know God’s will for this decision, the words of Exodus 2:9 became clear to her: “Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.” Out of this beginning, an orphanage and school for more than 200 girls was begun in Bettiah. In 1919, Flint received her official appointment as an Assemblies of God missionary. <br /> <br /> At the close of her second missionary term, Flint felt a clear calling to begin a Pentecostal Bible training school for girls and women. The Assemblies of God purchased property for a school in Hardoi and Flint developed its curriculum and served as its principal, remaining there for 24 years. <br /> <br /> In the April 7, 1934, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>, Flint gives report of a great revival taking place at the girls school. There had been a flood and an earthquake in the region that had caused many to pray for God’s help. During these days of prayer, Flint writes that “the Bible school this week has been the nearest thing to heaven I have seen in a long time … there were girls on their faces before God, girls alone in corners standing with the radiance of the holy place on their faces, girls in groups praying with the seekers, some singing in ‘other tongues’ and some groaning alone, but each pressing on to new blessing and new glory.” Classes were cancelled as the teachers and students sought God for a fresh renewal in the Spirit. Flint finished the report with the statement, “Oh, the transforming power of the Holy Ghost! How glad I am for Pentecost. We have a Pentecostal Bible school in very truth now and He is in our midst.” <br /> <br /> When Marguerite Flint returned to the United States in 1958, the students told her, “remember that we, whom you have trained, are going to carry on.” Hundreds of girls and women (and later boys) were trained for ministry and sent out into the cities and villages of northern India to fulfill the vision of their teacher. <br /> <br /> In a brief sketch of her life written in 1951, Flint wrote of her mother: “My dear mother went to be with the Lord when I was 18 and grieved that her early plans for my life seemed futile. I have often wondered, does she know now that the daughter she gave to God as a baby has seen 36 years on missionary service for the great land of India? I am sure heaven will be even sweeter for her, if that be possible, for the knowledge.” Heaven is certainly sweeter, not just for Flint’s mother, but for scores of Indians whose lives have been changed for eternity because of the faithful service of an early Assemblies of God missionary who was given to God’s service in the womb of her mother. <br /> <br /> Read the report, “Glorious Revival in India,” on page 6 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1934/1934_04_07.pdf#Page6" target="_blank">April 7, 1934, issue </a>of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.</p> <p> Also featured in this issue <br /> <br /> • “The Spirit of Christ,” by E.S. Williams <br /> <br /> • “Clouds Without Rain,” by Donald Gee <br /> <br /> • “The Man with the Withered Hand,” by Lilian Yeomans <br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1934/1934_04_07.pdf#Page6" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>. <br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.</p> <br class="t-last-br" />{113AFE59-D072-4A81-A6CC-C305F15A06E9}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2020/04/This-Week-in-AG-History-April-2-1949<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/Annie-Baillie_1400.jpg" alt="" />Missionary Annie Bailie experienced God's direction, protection, and provision in her ministry to China.Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:00:00 ZAnnie Bailie (1900-1986) immigrated from Ireland to the United States with her family in 1906, settling in Pennsylvania. She served as a tireless missionary for 58 years in southern China and Hong Kong, despite imprisonment and relocation during World War II, where she trained workers and built churches that would last through the Chinese Communist Revolution.<br /> <br /> Bailie’s parents prayed fervently that their nine children would find success and happiness in their new country, and that they would serve God wholeheartedly. When she was 14 years old, Annie, the youngest child, consecrated herself to Christ and a few years later was filled with the baptism in the Holy Spirit at a camp meeting.<br /> <br /> Annie Bailie took a job in a manufacturing plant to earn enough money to support her real passion — ministry. While in her early 20s, she passed out gospel literature on her lunch breaks, visited local hospitals on Saturdays, helped with street meetings, conducted a prison ministry, held Sunday School in rural areas, served in a young people’s group, and attended the many services at her church. Somehow, she also managed to find time to assist her brother in his outreach to African Americans. <br /> <br /> She felt God calling her to leave her home and travel acround the world to China. She was reluctant to go, explaining to God that she was a worker, not a preacher. She fought the inclination for several months but, in simple obedience to God, Bailie submitted herself to God’s call and boarded a ship for China on Oct. 28, 1928, sailing for the land that would be her home for the next 58 years.<br /> <br /> Arriving just in time to experience the early years of the Chinese Civil War, Bailie spent much of her first missionary term dodging the fighting and assisting local Christians to find safe places while discipling them to put their faith in Christ. <br /> <br /> Three years after her arrival, the situation became more difficult when Japan invaded mainland China. Bailie and those living with her slept in their clothes each night, always ready to make a quick escape to a safer place. One night, robbers came into their home and demanded money. A Chinese person living with Bailie told them that they were preachers, and that preachers did not have any money. While this conversation was happening, Ballie began to pray and soon found herself praying in tongues. This panicked the intruders and they hurriedly left with no further harm to the women.<br /> <br /> In 1934, the Holy Spirit spoke through a Chinese believer who knew no English, speaking in perfect English with instructions to go north. Bailie moved to Pak Noi, where she experienced many fruitful years of ministry, despite the heavy fighting and bombing of the city by the Japanese army. <br /> <br /> When non-Chinese residents were imprisoned, Bailie was able to avoid detection due to her mastery of the language, dark hair, and petite frame. A local villager, fearing retribution from their oppressors, ended up betraying her. Though she was placed in a Japanese internment camp in China, Bailie reported that her captors were not overly cruel. They allowed Chinese Christians to bring food to her and she was able to freely minister to others in the camp.<br /> <br /> In June 1942, Bailie and other Americans were released from the camps and returned to the United States. In 1947, after the end of World War II, she returned to Pak Noi to find that the village had been leveled but that the church was rebuilding. In 1947, through joint efforts between the Assemblies of God and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, Ecclesia Bible Institute was established and began to train workers to minister to the Chinese people with the gospel of Jesus Christ and the healing of the Holy Spirit. In a letter published in the April 2, 1949, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>, Bailie asked for prayer that more of the students would receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit. <br /> <br /> Bailie worked freely in Pak Noi until 1949, when forced to leave due to the Chinese Communist Revolution. She entrusted the church to the care of a local pastor and moved to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, she helped to establish and operate four schools, provided scholarships to young Christians, and returned to the ministry of hospital visitation and tract distribution like she had done in her early years in Pennsylvania. Many were saved, healed, encouraged, and filled with the Spirit due to her loving ministry. <br /> <br /> In the late 1970s, Bailie was able to return for a visit to her beloved friends in Pak Noi. She discovered that the government had recently returned the church building to the congregation, which was still being led by the pastor who Bailie had discipled and left in charge in 1949. Not only had the government returned the property, but it paid rent for the many years the church building had been used as a warehouse, giving the congregation enough money to renovate the church and to purchase Bibles for every member. <br /> <br /> After Annie returned to Hong Kong, her health began to deteriorate. She died at the age of 86 and, in accordance with her instructions, she was buried in Hong Kong, not far from the church she started almost 40 years before. <br /> <br /> Read Annie Bailie’s report, “In South China,” on page 11 of the<a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1949/1949_04_02.pdf#Page11" target="_blank"> April 2, 1949, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “The Salt and Light of the World,” by Donald Gee<br /> <br /> • “The Meaning of Spirituality,” by Myer Pearlman<br /> <br /> • “The Promise is Unto You,” by Stanley Frodsham<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1949/1949_04_02.pdf#Page11" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <em><br /> Photo: </em><span style="text-align: center;"><em>Ecclesia Bible Institute faculty and students, Shatin, Hong Kong, China, 1959.  Annie Bailie is in the front row, fifth from the right.</em><br /> <br /> </span> <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" />{582310AB-3F8A-4FA7-BD02-6231D9A24183}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2021/03/This-Week-in-AG-History-March-26-1938<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/Weidman_1400.jpg" alt="" />AG missionaries Paul and Virginia Weidman suffered great tragedies on the mission field, including the loss of their young son, Paul Jr.Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:00:00 ZPaul and Virginia Weidman, pioneer Assemblies of God missionaries to Africa, traveled in 1937 to Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), where they worked among the Mossi people. One of their sons, Paul Jr., learned the Mossi language quickly and was able to interpret for his missionary father. The Mossi loved this little boy, who played with their children and who became a bridge across the cultural and linguistic divides.<br /> <br /> Little Paul’s budding missionary career was cut short when he contracted blackwater fever and died on Feb. 8, 1938. Paul Jr., who was just under 7 years of age, was buried in a dirt cemetery near the town of Tenkodogo.<br /> <br /> Eighty-eight years ago, the March 26, 1938, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>shared Virginia Weidman’s account of this tragedy:<br /> <br /> “Saturday afternoon he lay in his bed and sang with all his heart (in the More language) “There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus.” Then he preached, as he so often did, saying, “Do not follow Satan’s road but follow God’s road, for it alone leads to heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In a short time extreme pain started. How we did call unto God for deliverance; yet He gave us grace to say, 'Not my will but Thine be done.' What a ray of sunshine he has been in our home! Only God can fill the vacancy. In times like this we are made to know that our Redeemer liveth.”<br /> <br /> Paul Jr.’s death was the first of several tragedies to befall the Weidmans as they pioneered the Assemblies of God in Upper Volta. Was this suffering worth it? Forty years later the Weidmans, who had retired from mission work, returned to Burkina Faso for a visit. An elderly Mossi pastor, who decades earlier had witnessed the death of Paul Jr., assured them, “It was not in vain, missionary. There are now churches everywhere.”<br /> <br /> Today, the Assemblies of God is the largest Protestant denomination in <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.eadbf.org/" target="_blank">Burkina Faso</a>, with more than 1 million members and adherents and almost 6,000 churches and preaching points.<br /> <br /> Read the article, “Little One Called Home,” by Virginia Weidman on page 7 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1938/FPHC/1938_03_26.pdf" target="_blank">March 26, 1938, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel.</em><br /> <br /> <em>Former General Superintendent George O. Wood, the nephew of Paul and Virginia Weidman, recounted the story of their missionary work in Burkina Faso in the 2007 edition of Assemblies of God </em>Heritage, <em>which is accessible as a free PDF download by <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org/Publications/AG-Heritage" target="_blank">clicking here</a>. </em><br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “Not Debarred from our Priestly Service,” by T. J. Jones<br /> <br /> • “Setting the Oppressed Free,” by Arthur W. Frodsham<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1938/FPHC/1938_03_26.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" />{38B3BC93-4C54-4C9E-8306-748C7F2346C8}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2019/03/This-Week-in-AG-History-March-13-1943<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/Paul-Kitch_1400.jpg" alt="" />Missionary Paul Kitch lost his wife and daughter to disease. Then, the ship he and his son were returning to the U.S. on was sunk by a German U-boat, leaving them adrift in a lifeboat on the Atlantic Ocean — could God possibly use these tragedies for good?Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:00:00 ZPaul L. Kitch (1910-2005) was an Assemblies of God missionary to Burkina Faso at a time when it was still known as French West Africa or Mossi land. He left the United States in 1938 with his wife, Bernadine, and young son, Paul, ready to give all he had for the cause of the furtherance of the gospel of Christ. It would cost him his wife, his daughter, and lead him on a 10-day adventure with 35 others in a lifeboat adrift in the Atlantic Ocean.<br /> <br /> Kitch graduated from Central Bible Institute in Springfield, Missouri, in 1931. It was there that he met and married his wife, Bernadine. They received ministry credentials with the Illinois District Council and sailed for mission’s appointment in French West Africa on March 30, 1938. After spending a few months in language school in France, they settled in Tenkodogo with the Mossi tribe. In August 1939, God blessed them with a baby girl, Lita Ann. <br /> <br /> As happened with so many early missionaries, typhus claimed the life of Lita Ann at the age of 2. Seven months later, her mother followed in death. At the time of Bernadine’s death, Kitch was so ill himself that it was an entire month before he was told that his wife had died. Paul Jr. was also very ill with typhus.<br /> <br /> Both Kitch and his son recovered and moved to Ouagadougou to convalesce for several weeks. In October 1942, it was decided that they should return to America to fully regain their health and seek God for direction. They boarded the S.S. West Kebar, an American cargo vessel with a crew of about 70 and nine other passengers.<br /> <br /> One night, after about three weeks on board, the Kitches were having devotions in their cabin when there was a great explosion. The lights went out. Young Paul asked his father if they were having another lifeboat drill. He replied, “Yes, son. We’re having a real lifeboat drill.” Going up on deck, they discovered that the ship had been torpedoed by a submarine. One of the four lifeboats was completely destroyed; another had been blown away from the ship. Kitch saw the third pulling away; another with about 15 already on board was still there.<br /> <br /> Within moments, 35 people crammed into the 28-foot lifeboat. Kitch asked if there was time to retrieve things from the ship, as all their worldly goods were on that boat. The captain responded that if they were within 50 to 75 yards of the ship when it went down it would suck them under with it. Kitch watched as they rowed away from everything he owned.<br /> <br /> A plan began to be made for their survival. The captain believed he had an idea of their whereabouts and set a course for land. Rations were to be handed out twice a day. In the mornings, they received two ounces of water, two small crackers, and one ounce of pemmican. Each evening, they received the same with a small chocolate square substituted for the pemmican. Since they had been reading <em>Robinson Crusoe</em>, Kitch encouraged his son to play the part of the characters in the book; embrace the adventure, and trust God to see them through.<br /> <br /> There were only four blankets among 35 people and the heavy rains caused them to be sopping wet and freezing during the nights and scorched in the tropic sun during the day. On the eighth day at sea, they spotted a ship passing by but their tiny lifeboat was not sighted.<br /> <br /> On the ninth day, they sighted land and on the 10th day a plane spotted them and alerted the coastal patrol. A sub chaser came out to meet them and took them to the island of Barbados, off the coast of Venezuela. The Barbados newspaper reported of their rescue, “The Sunday arrivals had been in a lifeboat for many days, yet 8-year-old Paul Kitch was in the best of health and spirits, and his first request was for ice cream.”<br /> <br /> For one month they stayed on the island and Kitch had the opportunity to speak in various churches and share of the faithfulness of God even amid great loss and danger. Later he learned that many of the believers had been praying that a Pentecostal missionary would come and visit them, and they rejoiced that God answered prayer in bringing him their way. <br /> <br /> In the March 13, 1943, <em>Pentecostal Evangel,</em> Kitch relays the story and recollects that “in the 30 days following our rescue I preached 25 times. It was remarkable how much strength and energy the Lord had blessed me with after the 10 days at sea.” Of about 80 persons on the S.S. West Kebar, more than half perished. <br /> <br /> Paul Kitch later remarried after returning to the United States and pastored Assemblies of God churches in Missouri. In 1985, 42 years after leaving the continent, Paul Jr. returned to West Africa with his wife, Delma, where they served in Togo and then South Africa.<br /> <br /> Read the full article, “Ten Days in a Lifeboat,” on page 1 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1943/1943_03_13.pdf#Page1" target="_blank">March 13, 1943, issue </a>of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> “For the Name of the Lord Jesus,” by William Long<br /> <br /> “The Sifting of the Church,” by D.M. Panton<br /> <br /> “Reaching Interned Japanese in Idaho,” by Marie Juergensen<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1943/1943_03_13.pdf#Page1" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.</a><br class="t-last-br" />{97F725E1-180B-4847-8BF7-099273699A63}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2018/03/This-Week-in-AG-History-March-6-1948<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/Robert-Brown-1400.jpg" alt="" />Read the rich history of God's pursuit of Robert A. Brown, a man who would help found Glad Tidings Tabernacle in New York City, for many years, the largest AG congregation. Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:15:00 Z<p>Robert A. Brown (1872-1948), with his wife Marie, founded Glad Tidings Tabernacle in New York City, which for many years was the largest congregation in the Assemblies of God. However, Brown began his life on the other side of the world and spent his youth far away from God. The March 6, 1948, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> published Robert's life story. </p> <p>Brown was born in a small town in Northern Ireland and grew into a tall, athletic, and popular young man. Seeking adventure, he moved to England and became a police officer. Brown went to the pubs, drank alcohol, and participated in the destructive habits of the world. He was an unlikely candidate to become a minister of the gospel. <span></span></p> <p>One of Brown's cousins in Ireland accepted Christ, became a zealous preacher, and began to pray for him. When Brown traveled back to Ireland to see his family, he decided to go hear his cousin preach. He thought he could make fun of his cousin's newfound faith. But Brown was deeply impressed by his cousin's earnest preaching and changed life. At the end of the service, his cousin came over to Brown and pleaded with him to turn his life over to God. Brown refused, but the Holy Spirit grabbed hold of his heart. The young policeman felt conviction for his sins and could not shake the sense that he needed to submit his life to God. For three days he experienced heavy conviction until, at last, Brown surrendered his life to the Lord in his family's old Irish farm house. </p> <p>Two of Brown's close friends were also converted, and together the three young men decided to immigrate to America. They arrived in New York City in 1898. Brown studied for the ministry and was ordained by the Wesleyan Methodist Church. He displayed genuine faith and he lived out the gospel story in his lifestyle. He was a bivocational minister, working as chief engineer at a government building while also engaging in church work. <span></span></p> <p>One day, in 1907, he decided to attend a service held a small Holiness mission in New York City. Two young women ministers, Marie Burgess and Jessie Brown (not related to Robert), led the service and were fearlessly preaching the Pentecostal message. Robert was moved by their preaching, but he refused to accept their contention that biblical spiritual gifts, such as speaking in tongues, were still available for Christians today. Yet he continued to attend their services, perhaps because of the spiritual power he sensed. <span></span></p> <p>The meetings led by Marie Burgess and Jessie Brown grew in attendance. The growing congregation relocated to larger quarters, and the female preachers asked Robert to give the dedication sermon. He did, and two drunken men accepted Christ that night. Robert still did not fully accept the Pentecostal message. He could not deny that God was present in the meetings. The gospel was being preached with miraculous results. Souls were being saved and bodies were healed. <span></span></p> <p>Robert was asked to preach again, and he decided to preach on Acts 2:4 and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. As Robert preached, he grew under great conviction that he needed to experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He received the experience a little while later, on Jan. 11, 1908. <span></span></p> <p>Love blossomed, and Robert's ministry colleague became his wife. He married Marie Burgess in 1909, and they established what became Glad Tidings Tabernacle. Robert had significant ministry and personality giftings. But, according to the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> article, he continually "expressed contempt" for the thought that he should rely on his gifts rather than on the Holy Spirit. He considered his gifts "unworthy substitutes for the power from on High." <span></span></p> <p>Robert loved the character "Valiant-for-Truth" in John Bunyan's classic book, <em>The Pilgrim's Progress</em> . He would often quote Valiant-for-Truth's famous line, "I am a pilgrim, and am going to the Celestial City." Similarly, Robert viewed himself as a pilgrim in a strange land, destined for heaven where his true citizenship lay. <span></span></p> <p>Robert Brown became an Assemblies of God executive presbyter in 1915 and served numerous leadership roles, in addition to pastoring one of the most influential churches. But the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> article recalled his spiritual influence as his greatest trait. Robert Brown, the article extolled, "always stood for the highest standards of righteousness and holiness." <span></span></p> <p>Read the article, "Called Home," on pages 3 and 11 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1948/1948_03_06.pdf#Page3">March 6, 1948, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>. </p> <p>Also featured in this issue: <span></span></p> <p>• "A Pentecostal Revival in the Congo," by Edmund Hodgson <span></span></p> <p>• "The Test of True Discipleship," by Robert A. Brown <span></span></p> <p>• "A Mighty Revival at C.B.I.," by Kathleen Belknap <span></span></p> <p>And many more!</p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1948/1948_03_06.pdf#Page3">Click here to read this issue now</a>. </p> <p><em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://ifphc.org">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.</p> <br class="t-last-br" />{D7A49877-FD0A-4739-B560-90DDD6BA9450}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2019/02/This-Week-in-AG-History-Feb-17-1963<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/Sidney-Goodwin_1400.jpg" alt="" />A freak accident took the life of newly appointed missionary Sidney Goodwin at the age of 27, but his sacrifice led to many others dedicating their lives to reach Ghana for Christ.Thu, 19 Feb 2026 13:00:00 ZWhen Assemblies of God missionary Sidney Goodwin (1936-1963) arrived in Ghana, West Africa, it was a homecoming he had been looking forward to for many years. Raised by missionary parents Homer and Thelma Goodwin, Sidney grew up in Ghana, knew its languages and customs, and loved its people. After studying in the United States, he returned to his family and friends shortly before Christmas of 1962 as a fully appointed missionary, bringing his own wife, Sandra, and their 3-year-old daughter, Gwenda. <br /> <br /> Excitement was in the air for Goodwin’s African friends. The presbyter for the Bawku area, where Sidney grew up, requested the entire Goodwin family to come to a village called Tili for a mass “welcome home” service and outdoor Christmas revival. On Christmas Eve, the Goodwin families arrived to find their friends had spared no expense to show their love and appreciation. Sidney and Sandra were presented with six live chickens, dozens of eggs, yams, and other fruits and vegetables. Water had been transported in abundance, a grass shelter had been erected, and an estimated 600 had gathered for the evening service.<br /> <br /> Because the service was to be held in the evening, Sidney brought along a portable light plant in the Speed the Light (STL) vehicle. When they tested it earlier in the day,it was not functioning properly, but as service time approached it seemed to be doing better, though still not up to par. Just as the service was scheduled to begin, Sidney went to check on the light plant.<br /> <br /> Suddenly, there was a flash of light and the church shelter went dark. Homer Goodwin rushed to the STL vehicle to find that the portable generator in the pickup tailgate had exploded. Sidney was trapped in the camper that covered the pickup bed. Homer quickly rolled Sidney onto the ground to extinguish the flames. There were no witnesses so there could only be speculation as to the cause of the explosion.<br /> <br /> The African church went immediately to prayer and Sidney was rushed to the hospital, 22 miles away. With burns over 60% of his body, the doctors did not offer the family much hope. For eight days, Sidney exhibited exceptional bravery, patience, and concern for those around him while many worked tirelessly to save his life. Ghanaian Christians trekked through the night over unmarked bush trails to donate blood to the boy they had loved since he was a child. One devoted African friend stayed at the door of Sidney’s room, 24 hours a day, sleeping on the cement floor. The Ghana Air Force, British Royal Air Force, and American embassy did all they could to supply much needed plasma from as far away as New York. Many cried out to God for help as three generations of Goodwin missionaries waited in the hospital for a miracle. <br /> <br /> Sidney realized the gravity of his situation and told his family that he loved them but needed to say good-bye. When his father insisted that God had more for him to do, Sidney replied, “Daddy, I’m not afraid to die. This is God’s will.” <br /> <br /> On Jan. 1, 1963, Sidney quietly slipped away and was buried the next day on the western edge of the Assemblies of God Mission plot in Bawku where he had played as a child. The area presbyter, Abiwini Kusasi, said to those who were gathered there, “Many years ago, when all of us Kusasis were in spiritual darkness, Reverend and Mrs. Goodwin came to bring us the light of the gospel. Our brother Sidney came with them as a baby. Through the years he prepared himself and had returned with his wife and baby to help us further. We do not understand why God has taken him, but we know God does all things well.”<br /> <br /> The Feb. 17, 1963, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>carried the story of Sidney’s death. After the publication of the article, additional details were later provided by the family that gave a fuller picture of the incident.<br /> <br /> Sandra and Gwenda moved to the central Ashanti area with Sidney’s parents and his younger siblings. For two years they ministered as a family to the Ashanti people until, reluctantly, Sandra and Gwenda returned to the States for a furlough and the opportunity to seek God for the future. After receiving more education and ministerial ordination, Sandra moved to Tanzania, East Africa, where she taught in the Bible training school. <br /> <br /> Twelve years after Sidney was buried, Sandra and Gwenda returned to Ghana for the dedication of a memorial library at the North Ghana Bible School in his honor. Sandra was touched to hear story after story from pastors, evangelists, and leaders who told of passing by the young missionary’s grave each day on the path as they walked to school. Many of them, at different times, had paused to kneel there and dedicate their lives to continue the work the young man had begun. <br /> <br /> Sandra spent 20 years as a single parent and saw her daughter graduate from Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri. Sandra later married Myron Clopine and served the Assemblies of God as National Women’s Ministries Director from 1986 to 1994. She also provided leadership to the founding of the National Prayer Center and served as chaplain for Maranatha Village in Springfield. After Myron passed away, Sandra married David Drake, long-time professor at Central Bible College. The Goodwin/Clopine/Drake families have exemplified what God can do with a family willing to consecrate all to His service.<br /> <br /> Read the report on Sidney’s homegoing on page 8 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1963/1963_02_17.pdf#Page8" target="_blank">Feb. 17, 1963, issue </a>of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “A Dramatic Deliverance,” by Louise Nankivell<br /> <br /> • “Take My Best,” by G.F. Lewis<br /> <br /> • “Building Churches in India,” by Elton Hill<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1963/1963_02_17.pdf#Page8" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>. <br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.{1DBD848F-F981-40A4-A507-64C0FDEF59A0}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2019/02/This-Week-in-AG-History-Feb-10-1940<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/TW-Feb10-2026-tracts.jpg" alt="" />Since the 14th century, tracts have spread the gospel message, with the Pentecostal message coming to light through tracts as well since the early 1900s. Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:00:00 ZNearly every major religious revival since the invention of the printing press has seen prolific use of the small printed pamphlet known as the gospel tract. The Pentecostal revival has been no exception.<br /> <br /> While some religious movements, like the Wycliffites of the 14th century, made good use of the printed pamphlet even before the evolution of movable type, it was Gutenberg’s invention in the 15th century that helped make the religious tract a publishing phenomenon. Taken from the word “tractate” (meaning “treatise”), tracts have been used as a cost-effective way to reach large numbers of people with a simple message of persuasion.<br /> <br /> It was after Luther’s 95 Theses were translated into German and distributed in tract form that the Protestant Reformation gained traction with the common people. The Wesleyan revival depended heavily on the reprinting of John Wesley’s sermons and Charles Wesley’s songs in an inexpensive format that could be easily carried and disseminated by the circuit riding preachers of the Methodist revival. Charles Finney wrote and distributed the small booklets. D.L. Moody believed in them so much that he founded an association of students to print and distribute them from gospel wagons, which led to the creation of Moody Press.<br /> <br /> The American Tract Society was founded in 1825 and, during the Civil War, it joined forces with the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) to distribute tracts to soldiers in the Union Army. In the South, the Evangelical Tract Society was formed to meet the needs of the Confederate soldiers. Both societies reported an urgent need for more printed materials along with great response on the part of the soldiers. Many young men came to the saving knowledge of Jesus through their response to these tracts that made their way through the armies.<br /> <br /> From the beginning of their own revival movement, Pentecostals were prolific publishers. Some of the credit for the promotion of the Azusa Street revival belongs to a tract by journalist Frank Bartleman. Just days after the meetings began at Azusa Street, a great earthquake hit San Francisco. Bartleman believed that this great California earthquake was a message from God that people must repent and turn to God before it was too late. He wrote a tract titled <em>The Earthquake</em> and distributed more than 125,000 copies. This drew even more attention to the revival that was taking place in Los Angeles.<br /> <br /> The Assemblies of God, through Gospel Publishing House (GPH), began publishing tracts almost immediately upon its inception in 1914. GPH published tracts by their own Fellowship leaders, such as E.N. Bell, E.S. Williams, and Stanley Frodsham, as well as prominent preachers such as A.G. Ward and, later, his son, C M. Ward.<br /> <br /> In the Feb. 10, 1940, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>a call was published for “Ten Men Wanted.” “Good men – saved men who are burdened for blinded, misguided, indifferent, sin-hardened souls. Women…young people are wanted, too.” The advertisement went on to say, “Ten workers, with the Lord’s help can accomplish wonders. Let each contribute $1.00 toward a $10.00 37-pound order of our full gospel tracts” in order to “keep public literature containers well stocked with papers and tracts…” They were reminded to “anoint your efforts with earnest prayer. Carry tracts wherever you go, and you will do much good.”<br /> <br /> GPH tracts covered a wide variety of topics, such as the need for holiness and separation from worldliness through consecration to God. Many contained testimonies of how God had delivered people from sin and life-controlling addictions. Others told the simple message of the gospel in easily understood form, while many provided a doctrinal defense of Pentecostal distinctives.<br /> <br /> One Assemblies of God layman in Springfield, Missouri, Lester Buttram, felt the Lord telling him in 1926 to print My Word. Buttram felt that God put some strictures on him, however. He was never to charge for his productions and he would not promote one particular denomination. The 22-year-old man withdrew $7.10 from his bank account and went to a local printer with his message. The printer was so impressed that he offered to double the order and print $15 worth of Buttram’s tracts. This led to the formation of the Gospel Tract Society, which is still in business and based in Independence, Missouri.<br /> <br /> While most Pentecostals believe that the most effective evangelism technique is one-on-one relationship building, many still use tracts. With gospel tracts, believers are able to leave written and visual material in a variety of places, providing all kinds of people with a relevant message. <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://gospelpublishinghouse.com" target="_blank">Gospel Publishing House</a>, through My Healthy Church, continues to offer a variety of tracts for use in ministry.<br /> <br /> Read the call for tract distribution on page 3 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1940/1940_02_10.pdf#Page3" target="_blank">Feb. 10, 1940, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel.</em><br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “A Healthy Assembly” by Donald Gee<br /> <br /> • “Signposts on the Spirit-Filled Highway,” by Willard Peirce<br /> <br /> • “When God Is in It,” by Charles Elmo Robinson<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1940/1940_02_10.pdf#Page3" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>. <br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br class="t-last-br" />{107E69F0-CBCF-4673-93ED-2588BD43362E}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2021/01/This-Week-in-AG-History-Jan-27-1952<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/First-AG-Memphis_1400.jpg" alt="" />First Assembly in Memphis, Tennessee, already had a rich heritage by the 1950s, due in part to its pastors, including James E. Hamill.Thu, 29 Jan 2026 13:00:00 Z<p>James E. Hamill (1913-1994) never graced the cover of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> even though his work was extremely influential in his community and in the Assemblies of God. However, his life’s work was featured on the cover of the Jan. 27, 1952, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> — in the form of the church he pastored for 37 years. In the 119-year history of <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.famemphis.org/" target="_blank">First Assembly</a> of Memphis, Tennessee, the congregation has had only 10 pastors, seven of them in the first 25 years.<br /> <br /> While the church was Hamill’s life work, its history traces to the beginnings of the Pentecostal movement. The congregation was formed in 1907 when L.P. Adams, a well-educated attorney in Memphis, received the Pentecostal message from G.B. Cashwell. At the time, Adams pastored an independent Holiness church. Adams affiliated with the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), a largely African-American Pentecostal organization led by Charles H. Mason and headquartered in Memphis. The name of Adams’ congregation was Grace and Truth Church of God in Christ. Adams participated in the organizational meeting of the Assemblies of God in 1914 but did not join the Fellowship nor did he bring his church into it, preferring to remain in fellowship with Mason’s group.<br /> <br /> In 1919, Adams resigned from the pastorate and the congregation separated from the COGIC and was renamed Pentecostal Mission. H.E. Schoettley served as pastor from 1919 until 1923, when the church joined the Arkansas District Council of the Assemblies of God. Thirty-seven households signed the initial charter, bringing the church into the Assemblies of God. In 1926, the new pastor, Ira Smith, helped to form the Tennessee District Council, separating it from Arkansas, and was later elected district superintendent of the new district. <br /> <br /> During the 1920s and 1930s, the church experienced two splits over pastoral leadership, and found itself unable to pay a pastor. A 23-year-old student from Glad Tidings Bible Institute (San Francisco, California), named William Pickthorn, offered to lead the church without salary in 1934. Under his ministry, the church splits came back together into one congregation, which was rechristened, “First Assembly of God.” In 1943, when Central Bible Institute (Springfield, Missouri) extended an invitation to Pickthorn to serve as instructor, the church was advancing toward 500 in Sunday School attendance. <br /> <br /> An interim filled the pulpit for the next year and attendance dropped dramatically due to the lapse in leadership. The church extended an invitation to a young man from Mississippi who, at 31 years of age, already had experience pastoring in Columbia, Tennessee; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Hope, Arkansas. On Dec. 31, 1944, pastor James E. Hamill looked out at his new congregation and cast a vision for the coming years. Little did anyone know that it would be almost 40 years before he would step down from that pulpit. <br /> <br /> Seven years later, the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> highlighted the church in the Jan. 27, 1952, issue. The article reports that under Hamill’s capable leadership the church had grown to nearly 1,400 in Sunday School and was running over 1,000 in the morning services. Hamill stated in the article that the key to the church’s growth was, “spirituality, good organization, consecrated personnel, the consistent improvement of facilities, sound and sensible promotion of the program, and hard work!” </p> <p>Hamill also involved the church in cutting edge media promotions. Besides their involvement in the publication of a weekly community newspaper, <em>The Memphis Mirror</em>, the church began a local radio program, <em>Words of Life</em>, and in 1955, Hamill became the first preacher in the Mid-south to have a regular television program, <em>Christ is the Answer</em>, which enjoyed a 25-year run. <br /> <br /> First Assembly also became widely known for its music program under the capable direction of Hamill’s wife, Katheryne. As the home church of both the southern gospel quartet, The Blackwood Brothers, and Elvis Presley, the church experienced influence in the broader musical environment. When Katheryne retired from the church’s music ministry, she was followed by Paul Ferrin, who later became the national music director for the Assemblies of God. <br /> <br /> Hamill’s creative leadership often set new standards for Assemblies of God church organization. He was one of the first to ask a congregation to “subscribe” to the church’s operational and outreach budget, making monthly commitments of giving. This format saw the giving at First Assembly more than double in the 1960s. He was also one of the first to be intentional in hiring multiple staff and in 1972 founded one of the earliest Pentecostal private Christian day schools, First Assembly Christian School, still in operation. <br /> <br /> Hamill’s service to the local community and the national body of the Assemblies of God as general presbyter and executive presbyter helped to set the tone for pastoral ministry up until his retirement in the early 1980s. He was followed at Memphis First by Frank Martin, who served as pastor until taking appointment to Russia with Assemblies of God World Missions after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Thomas Lindberg became pastor in 1994, with John Johnson currently serving as a transition pastor. <br /> <br /> While local pastors rarely grace the covers of high-profile magazines, their influence on communities through the local church will only be measured in eternity. James Hamill and the nine other pastors who led First Assembly of God in Memphis, Tennessee, for over 119 years, discipled a general superintendent (Ralph Riggs), many national and district leaders, and scores of local influencers. They are also likely the only church that has hosted the national conference of two major Pentecostal bodies, hosting the Fifth Annual Convocation of the Church of God in Christ in 1917 and serving as host church for the 17th (1937) and 30th (1963) general councils of the Assemblies of God. <br /> <br /> Read the article on First Assembly Memphis, “On the Cover Page,” on page 4 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1950-1959/1952/1952_01_27.pdf#Page7" target="_blank">Jan. 27, 1952, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “The Escape from Sodom,” by E.T. Quanabush<br /> <br /> • “The Healer of Mental Sickness,” by Robert Cummings<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1950-1959/1952/1952_01_27.pdf#Page7" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.</p> <br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" />{EBC87B4C-BEA2-4D55-BE3D-FDD6967D5C5A}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2018/01/This-Week-in-AG-History-Jan-12-1918<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/Georgeandmartha-Kelly_1400.jpg" alt="" />Recently married and barely into their 20s, George and Margaret Kelley left everything behind to answer God's call to be missionaries to China.Thu, 15 Jan 2026 13:00:00 Z<p><span style="color: black;">George (1888-1975) and Margaret Kelley (1889-1933), two young pioneer Pentecostals, discovered that following God’s call could be exciting, fulfilling, and costly. The year 1910 was a whirlwind for the young couple. They married in January and soon afterward felt God calling them to serve as missionaries to China. They spent the bulk of the year traveling across the United States, raising financial support for their mission endeavor. Finances came together and, in November 1910, they arrived in Canton, China, where they  established a thriving Pentecostal mission.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">George and Margaret were barely in their 20s when they arrived in China; he was 22, she was 21. They did not have formal seminary or language training. However, they were determined to do whatever it took to fulfill God’s call on their lives. They learned Cantonese and began developing relationships with local residents. They met a Cantonese woman who led a small Pentecostal congregation of eight people who met in homes. She invited the Kelleys to pastor the flock, which grew significantly under their ministry.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Like many early Pentecostal missionaries, the Kelleys had to be entrepreneurs. They were not initially backed by a mission agency. They had to raise their own support; it was sink or swim. In 1915, they affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, an interracial denomination that provided missionaries with a network of churches that promised financial support. After that organization identified with the Oneness movement and rejected the doctrine of the Trinity, the Kelleys transferred their missionary appointment to the Assemblies of God in 1917.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">George Kelley became well known in Assemblies of God circles. He authored 74 articles in the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> about their mission work in China. In an article published 100 years ago — in the Jan. 12, 1918, issue of the <em>Weekly Evangel</em> (later <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>) — he described some of the challenges faced by missionaries.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">George lamented that some missionaries were impoverished and lived in unsanitary conditions. “We have many missionaries now living in quarters,” he wrote, “that would not be good enough for cattle at home.” However, he expressed gratitude that he and his family were able to live in a good house, and that God had provided sufficient finances to purchase a new building for their growing congregation.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Canton became home to the Kelleys. They spent more of their life in that Chinese city than they had spent in America. They experienced life and death in China. It was there that they had six sons, but only four survived into adulthood. Margaret contracted smallpox and died in China in 1933. George was remarried in 1935 to a Chinese Christian woman, Eugenia Wan, who was a noted Pentecostal evangelist and co-founder of a Bible school. </span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">In many ways, George and Margaret Kelley exemplified the consecrated service of early Pentecostal missionaries. What they lacked in formal training, they learned on the job. They became part of the community they served, experiencing the challenges and joys of life, as well as the grief of death, in Canton. The Kelleys, like so many other Pentecostal pioneer missionaries, determined to follow God’s call, no matter the cost.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Read the article by George M. Kelley, “Wise Counsel and Good News from Sainam,” on page 11 of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Jan. 12, 1918, issue" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1913-1919/1918/1918_01_12.pdf#Page11"><span>Jan. 12, 1918, issue</span></a><span style="color: black;"> of the <em>Weekly Evangel</em>.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">• “The Supernatural in Christianity,” by F. A. Hale</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">• “The Mexican Work,” by H. C. Ball</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">And many more!</span></p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Click here to read this issue now" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1913-1919/1918/1918_01_12.pdf#Page11"><span>Click here to read this issue now</span></a><span style="color: black;">.</span></p> <p><em><span style="color: black;">Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span style="color: black;"> archived editions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.</p> <br class="t-last-br" />{4B224B7C-4FC6-4E9D-BBEE-9B13220F78E3}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2017/01/This-Week-in-AG-History-Jan-9-1972<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2026-Article-Images/1400/Thurman-Faison_1400.jpg" alt="" />A 1971 message by Thurman Faison called for urban evangelism, emphasizing that the major cities of America influence the course of the nation.Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:00:00 Z<p><span>Riots and civil unrest marked American cities during the late 1960s and early 1970s.  When African-American Assemblies of God minister Thurman Faison addressed the 1971 meeting of the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America, he spoke to the social turbulence that was on everyone’s mind.</span> </p> <p><span>Faison’s message addressed the question, “How are we going to reach the Blacks of our inner cities?” The editors of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> felt the question needed the attention of their readers and reprinted his entire address in the Jan. 9, 1972, issue.</span> </p> <p><span>Having pastored in both Harlem and Chicago, Faison was well aware of the concerns facing the African American population of the inner cities. “The urban scene is a constant focus of the news media. What would reporting be without the demonstrations, riots, class struggles, and corruptions of the big cities!” He stressed that the Pentecostal church could not afford to neglect urban evangelism; the major cities of America influence the course of the nation.</span> </p> <p><span>While the Pentecostal movement had long been known for their strict stance on “sins of the flesh,” many Pentecostals remained relatively quiet with regard to the sins of pride and prejudice. Faison made the point to his largely white audience that “all unrighteousness is sin — be it prejudice or adultery — and that the righteous Lord loves righteousness.”</span> </p> <p><span>At that time, the Assemblies of God had engaged in little intentional outreach to the Black community in comparison to its missions efforts with other ethnic populations. In a 1970 interview, General Superintendent Thomas Zimmerman estimated that the Assemblies of God had “at least” 25 Black ministers and only a handful of churches in predominately Black neighborhoods (<em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>, April 26, 1970).</span> </p> <p><span>Faison called Pentecostals to rediscover and maintain their God-given identity and calling to preach the plain gospel of Christ.  He noted, “The world demands what they call ‘contemporary relevance.’” He defined  “<em>contemporary</em>” to mean “to happen along with,” and “<em>relevance” to</em> mean “to have a definite relationship or bearing upon the matters at hand.” He concluded that “the gospel-preaching church meets this standard of contemporary relevance.”</span> </p> <p><span>According to Faison, Christians must address pressing social issues: “God’s purposes have always … had a definite bearing upon the matters at hand.”</span> </p> <p><span>Faison knew the powerful impact of the Church in an inner-city community.  In 1969, he moved from Harlem to Chicago and worked closely with Illinois District Superintendent E.M. Clark to develop an Assemblies of God outreach to African Americans. The mostly white churches of the Illinois District helped Faison to purchase church property and a parsonage in Chicago’s South Side, along with radio time to promote the new church. This partnership of Blacks and whites proved to be a powerful ministry strategy. Southside Tabernacle (now <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://sswcchicago.org/" target="_blank">Southside Worship Center</a>), under the leadership of Pastor Titus Lee, continues to be a strong representation of the kingdom of God in Chicago.</span> </p> <p><span>In 1971, Faison stated that “the issues of yesterday are not the same today, nor will they be the same tomorrow.” Yet the headlines from 2026 reflect the same themes that he referenced in his time: demonstrations, riots, class struggles, and corruption in the big cities. Fifty-five years have passed, but many of the same social ills remain.</span></p> <p><span>Why should Pentecostals boldly proclaim Christ in small towns and inner cities, and to people of every race, class, and persuasion? Faison realized that social problems, ultimately, can only be solved with the gospel. He wrote: “The biggest issues will always be constant — the problem of sin in the human heart, the alienation of men from God, and the expressions of unrighteousness in word, thought, and deed.”</span> </p> <p><span>Read Faison’s entire address, "What Are We Going to Do About Our Cities?" on pages 8-9 of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Jan. 9, 1972, issue" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1972-1974/01-09-1972.pdf#Page8"><span>Jan. 9, 1972, issue</span></a><span> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.</span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>• “He Preached Through His Hands,” by Betty Haney</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>• “A Call to Sleeping Jonahs,” by Charles W.H. Scott</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>And many more!</span> </p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Click here to read this issue now" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1972-1974/01-09-1972.pdf#Page8"><span>Click here to read this issue now</span></a><span>.</span></p> <p>To listen to Donald Evans' story behind the impromptu footwashing ceremony at the 1994 racial reconciliation service known as the Memphis Miracle, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="http://agtv.ag.org/vp-don-evans">click here</a>.</p> <p><em><span>Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span> archived editions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center" target="_blank" href="https://ifphc.org"><span>Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a><span>.</span></p>{428076B1-28B5-4673-A389-6470E188D7AB}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2016/12/This-Week-in-AG-History-Dec-16-1916<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/TW-Puerto-Rico_1400.jpg" alt="" />When four Puerto Rican AG missionaries returned to their home country, it wasn't long before Pentecostal churches were established all over the island.Thu, 18 Dec 2025 13:00:00 Z<p><span>Puerto Rico is home to a vibrant, growing, and indigenous Pentecostal movement, consisting of an estimated 25% of the island’s population. Pentecostalism first came to Puerto Rico in 1916 via Hawaii, where a number of Puerto Rican families had migrated in search of employment on sugar plantations. After many Puerto Ricans living in Hawaii surrendered their lives to God during a Pentecostal revival in the early 1910s, several of them — including Salomon Feliciano, Juan Lugo, and Francisco and Panchito Ortiz — felt called to bring the Pentecostal message to their homeland.</span></p> <p><span>The four Puerto Rican missionaries became credentialed with the Assemblies of God and helped spark a spiritual hurricane that reshaped the religious contours of the island. Feliciano and Lugo arrived in Puerto Rico in the fall of 1916, followed shortly afterward by the father-and-son team of Francisco and Panchito Ortiz. Lugo initially ministered in the barrio of Santurce, located in the capital city of San Juan. After a month, he moved his ministry focus to Ponce, a large city in the southern part of Puerto Rico.</span></p> <p><span>The <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> published numerous letters by the four missionaries. One letter by Feliciano and Lugo, published in the Dec. 16, 1916, issue, recounted both successes and challenges. They reported 43 converts and many others who felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Mainline Protestant ministers viewed the newcomers as a threat and tried to discourage them from starting a new church. Hostile government officials also interfered with the Pentecostals’ missions efforts. But the Pentecostal prayer meetings soon outgrew the home where they were held, and believers overcame public cynicism and hostility and organized the first Pentecostal church in Puerto Rico. Within several years, Pentecostal churches began popping up all over the island.</span></p> <p><span>The Pentecostal movement in Puerto Rico, now 109 years old, was birthed by refugees who left their island homeland and migrated around the world in search of a better life. In Hawaii, they experienced a spiritual awakening, which changed the trajectory of their lives and propelled them to return to Puerto Rico as missionaries. While they faced opposition to the gospel, the missionaries did not shrink back. Indeed, Feliciano and Lugo concluded their letter by expressing confidence in God’s provisions in the face of trials: “When the world is against us, Jesus is with us.”</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Read the article by Salomon Feliciano and Juan Lugo, “Salvation Coming to Many in Porto Rico,” on page 12 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1916/FPHC/1916_12_16.pdf" target="_blank">Dec. 16, 1916, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>• “I Fell in Love with the Nazarene,” by Sarah Haggard Payne</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>• “The Bible,” by D.W. Kerr</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1916/FPHC/1916_12_16.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.  </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><em><span>Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span> archived editions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org/" target="_blank" id="Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center"><span>Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a><span>.</span></p> <br class="t-last-br" />{32C5294C-3D64-472F-8826-65173EA1ABB2}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2017/11/This-Week-in-AG-History-Dec-1-1968<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/WilliamBurton_1400.jpg" alt="" />He was born into privilege, but William Burton found it was his privilege to spend most of his adult life sharing the gospel message in the Congo.Thu, 04 Dec 2025 13:00:00 Z<p><span style="color: black;">William Frederick Padwick Burton (1886-1971) was an unlikely pioneer Pentecostal missionary. Willie, as he was known, enjoyed a privileged childhood. His mother was from English aristocracy, and his father was a ship's captain. <br /> <br /> As a youth, Burton was not interested in spiritual things. He attended good schools in England and traveled around the world, developing a broadly informed worldview. He excelled at cricket and tennis, and he became an accomplished artist. Realizing that art probably would not pay the bills, Burton focused on a more practical career path and studied electrical engineering at St. Lawrence College, Ramsgate.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">In 1905, while in college, Burton attended an evangelistic service with a visiting American evangelist, Reuben A. Torrey. After hearing Torrey’s message, Burton became convinced that he was not a true Christian. Despite being a member of the Church of England, Burton came to realize that he had a very superficial faith. <br /> <br /> One night, Burton knelt by his bed, confessed his sins, placed his faith in God, and peace flooded his soul. Change was immediate in Burton’s life. He joyfully shared his newfound faith, he made restitution to those he had wronged, and he began what became lifelong disciplines of studying the Bible and praying.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Burton’s commitment to live wholly for God led him to identify with the Pentecostal movement. He heard about the Pentecostal revival in America and Scandinavia, so he and a friend decided to investigate the Pentecostal claims that biblical spiritual gifts, such as speaking in tongues, healing, and prophecy, were still available to believers. They formed a group that met almost every night for the entire year of 1910, studying the Bible and praying for God’s power in their lives. Before the year was out, Burton and many others had been baptized in the Holy Spirit.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Burton felt God’s call to full-time ministry. He stepped out in faith and, in 1911, quit his engineering job and became known as a “tramp preacher.” For three years he walked across the English countryside, preaching in homes and on village greens. During this formative period, he led numerous people to the Lord, witnessed miracles, developed his ministry gifts, and helped the young English Pentecostal movement to grow.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Ultimately, Burton felt called to serve as a missionary to Africa, where he would spend the rest of his life. He left England in 1914, just as World War I was breaking out, and spent a year preaching at various mission stations in South Africa. He was joined in 1915 by James Salter (the brother-in-law of noted healing evangelist Smith Wigglesworth), and together they journeyed to the Congo. He married Hettie Trollip in 1918. When the Congo Evangelistic Mission (later called the Zaire Evangelistic Mission) was formed in 1919, Burton became its first field director. Importantly, he was an early advocate for indigenous leadership of churches.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Burton employed his significant giftings as a builder, engineer, teacher, and artist to advance the gospel. He authored 28 books, including an important collection of Congo fables and proverbs. Burton’s engaging stories about African missions were widely read on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> introduced Burton to American readers in 1916 and, over the course of his life, published over 90 articles by him. Burton also raised money by selling his critically-acclaimed paintings and ink drawings of Congolese landscapes and life.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">When Burton went to be with the Lord in 1971, the Congo Evangelistic Mission had grown to almost 2,000 churches. He had spent the majority of his life in Africa, far from the life of privilege he knew in England. While Willie Burton initially sacrificed a certain level of social status to become a Pentecostal preacher, he ultimately became a larger-than-life figure in the history of African Pentecostalism. </span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Read one of William F.P. Burton’s articles, “Receiving Power from on High,” on pages 6-7 of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Dec. 1, 1968, issue" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1968/1968_12_01.pdf#Page6"><span>Dec. 1, 1968, issue</span></a><span style="color: black;"> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">• “Eternal Security: Is It Conditional?” by Henry H. Ness</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">• “God’s Interruptions,” by Kenneth D. Barney</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">And many more!</span></p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Click here to read this issue now" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1968/1968_12_01.pdf#Page6"><span>Click here to read this issue now</span></a><span style="color: black;">.</span></p> <p><em><span style="color: black;">Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span style="color: black;"> archived editions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center" target="_blank" href="https://ifphc.org/"><span style="color: purple;">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a><span style="color: black;">.</span></p>{BE252C8F-D0A1-4510-B9BD-96951D4DB6AA}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2017/11/This-Week-in-AG-History-Nov-12-1967<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Old-Buddy-Barrells_1400.jpg" alt="" />Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge (BGMC) is an incredible missions program for children, but how did it begin?Thu, 13 Nov 2025 13:00:00 Z<p><span style="color: black;"><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://bgmc.ag.org" target="_blank">BGMC</a> is a vibrant Assemblies of God missions program for kids that has a rich history. Originally called Boys and Girls Missionary Crusade, but now known as Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge, BGMC was first introduced at the National Sunday School Convention in Springfield, Missouri, in March 1949. Before that time there was a missions program in place for adults, and a missions program for youth called “Speed the Light,” but nothing for the kids. The concept was developed by Hart Armstrong (1912-2001), a former missionary and editor of Gospel Publishing House Sunday School materials.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">BGMC is a program used to promote missions among kids and also raise funds for various missionary projects. It especially focuses on sending out Sunday School and training literature for missionaries to distribute. The first BGMC offering was received in October 1949, and BGMC giving that first year reached $1,290.39.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Barrel banks were chosen as the collection containers because at that time anything sent to a foreign field was packed in sturdy wooden barrels. This evolved into Buddy Barrel becoming the mascot or symbol for BGMC.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">The program started with small wooden barrel banks that kids took to their homes in order to collect coins for missions. After collecting coins throughout the month, on a designated Sunday, each Sunday School child would return his or her barrel to give that money in an offering for BGMC. The method has changed from small wooden barrels to larger plastic barrels. The current Buddy Barrel bank is made of transparent plastic. The concept of Buddy Barrel has also evolved into a life-like puppet mascot (a large barrel with a face) that helps to encourage kids to give to BGMC.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">The money for BGMC comes from kids giving in Buddy Barrels and adults receiving special offerings. The money is used to support various Assemblies of God missionary projects and ministries. Since 2001, BGMC has been the official children’s missions education program for the Assemblies of God.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">In 1950, Frances Foster was appointed to oversee the BGMC program. She remained in this position for 21 years. In 1952, BGMC began to emphasize a specific mission field every year. Throughout the year, emphasis is placed on one field and its missionaries, with a special offering taken up on BGMC Day, which includes the adults in the church.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Fifty-eight years ago, Foster, the BGMC coordinator, wrote an article, “BGMC Comes of Age,” in the Nov. 12, 1967, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>. She mentioned that it had been 18 years since the start of BGMC. She said, “Two considerations prompted this missionary program for Assemblies of God children 12 years and under.” One was the “urgent need of a children’s missionary program.” The other consideration was a great need for gospel literature overseas.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">According to Foster, “Missionaries needed literature to strengthen their teaching ministry,” as well as for evangelizing. Overseas Bible schools had meager libraries or none at all. Foster asserted, “One of the biggest areas of need was for translating and printing Sunday School literature in foreign languages and dialects.” This is important. Literature sometimes goes where a missionary cannot go and it can remain even after a missionary must leave. Now missionaries can use BGMC funds for anything they need to help them spread the gospel. Only the lack of funds can curtail the impact and effectiveness of BGMC.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">At the time of Foster’s article, BGMC giving had reached almost $2 million in 18 years. Since it was started 76 years ago, BGMC has raised more than $200 million for missions.</span><em><span style="color: black;"></span></em><span style="color: black;"></span> </p> <p><span style="color: black;">Read “BGMC Comes of Age,” on pages 26 and 27 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1967/1967_11_12.pdf#Page26" target="_blank">Nov. 12, 1967, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel.</em></span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">• “Keep Thyself Pure,” by Wilson A. Katter</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">• “Evangelistic Center Dedicated in Pretoria, South Africa” by Vernon Pettenger</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">And many more!</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;"><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1967/1967_11_12.pdf#Page26" target="_blank" id="Click here to read this issue now"><span style="color: black;">Click here to read this issue now</span></a></span><span style="color: black;">.</span></p> <p><em><span style="color: black;">Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span style="color: black;"> archived editions courtesy of the </span><span style="color: black;"><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org/" target="_blank" id="Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center"><span style="color: purple;">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a></span><span style="color: black;">.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;"></span><em><span style="color: black;">Portions of this article adapted from the BGMC website.</span></em></p>{C6F1B54C-C56A-495B-BCC6-8AEB09EE792B}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2019/10/This-Week-in-AG-History-Oct-25-1930<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/j-narver-gortner_1400.jpg" alt="" />J. Narver Gortner was a prominent Methodist minister, but an encounter with the Holy Spirit and the healing of his wife led him to become an AG minister who ultimately greatly impacted the doctrine of the Assemblies of God.Thu, 23 Oct 2025 12:00:00 ZMost people today probably associate the name Gortner with Marjoe Gortner (1944- ), the child evangelist-turned-movie star. Early Assemblies of God members, however, would associate the name with his grandfather, J. Narver Gortner (1874-1961). J. Narver, the son of a Methodist missionary, became a prominent early leader in the Assemblies of God.<br /> <br /> J. Narver’s father was an old-fashioned Methodist preacher who taught the importance of holy living and who believed that God still performs miracles. His father yielded to a call to serve as a missionary in Liberia. The Gortner family sailed for Liberia in 1887, but their life as African missionaries was short-lived. J. Narver’s father died in 1888, and his grieving widow and two sons went back to America, where they settled on the family farm in Nebraska. <br /> <br /> The sorrowful experience in Liberia might have caused J. Narver to reject the thought of entering the ministry. However, he felt a pull toward the pastorate and enrolled at Garrett Biblical Institute (now Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary) in Evanston, Illinois. He began pastoring his first church, a Methodist congregation in Inman, Nebraska, at the age of 19.<br /> <br /> J. Narver pastored several churches in Nebraska. Numerous people accepted Christ under his ministry and he rose in prominence in the Methodist Church. In 1911, his wife, Della, became deathly sick. J. Narver accepted the pastorate of a church in southern California, hoping that the change in climate would bring a measure of relief to Della.<br /> <br /> Della did get better, but her healing did not come from the weather. Rather, she attributed her healing to the prayers of several Christians, including Pentecostal pioneer and medical doctor Finis Yoakum. She often testified that before she was healed, she had subsisted for 14 months primarily on raw eggs and malted milk. After she was healed, she could eat beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, and anything else she wanted.<br /> <br /> Della’s healing caused the Gortners to view Pentecostals favorably. Pentecostals were generally considered part of the broader Holiness and Wesleyan movements, with which the Gortners also identified. However, Pentecostals also placed an emphasis on the baptism in the Holy Spirit with an evidence of speaking in tongues, which was not emphasized in Gortner’s Methodist church.<br /> <br /> In 1914, J. Narver read about a Pentecostal camp meeting slated to be held in Cazadero, in the California Redwoods. Carrie Judd Montgomery, an early Pentecostal healing evangelist, was going to minister at the camp. He had read Montgomery’s periodical, <em>Triumphs of Faith</em>, and wanted to experience a Pentecostal service for himself.<br /> <br /> J. Narver attended the camp and received a powerful experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. He also was healed of a long-standing painful spinal condition after evangelist Smith Wigglesworth, another speaker at the camp, prayed for him.<br /> <br /> The 40-year-old Methodist pastor was both exhilarated and in a quandary. He wanted to testify about his baptism in the Holy Spirit and his healing. However, he thought it would likely cost him his position as a Methodist pastor and denominational official. <br /> <br /> Gortner went home and the next Sunday morning told his Methodist congregation in Arroyo Grande what had happened to him. They listened with interest, Methodist officials did not remove him from the pastorate, and his fears subsided. He remained in the Methodist church until 1919, when he decided to become more involved in the young Pentecostal movement.<br /> <br /> Gortner transferred his ordination to the Assemblies of God and quickly rose in prominence in his new church. In 1920, he became the first superintendent of the Central District of the Assemblies of God, and the following year he became a member of the Executive Presbytery, a position he held for 26 years. He also served as a pastor in Oakland, California (1927-1937), and president of Glad Tidings Bible Institute in San Francisco (1941-1947). He authored five books and over 250 articles published in the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> According to historian Carl Brumback, Gortner was a very influential theologian and church leader in the Assemblies of God from the 1920s through the 1940s. Brumback viewed J. Narver Gortner, Samuel A. Jamieson, and P.C. Nelson as a “doctrinal trio” which had “a great part in molding the conservative nature of the Assemblies of God.” In 1927, Gortner championed the idea of changing the name of the Assemblies of God to The Pentecostal Evangelical Church. Gortner was not ashamed of being Pentecostal and thought the term Pentecostal should be in the name of the Fellowship. He also built bridges across the denominational divides and played a significant role in the formation of the National Association of Evangelicals.<br /> <br /> In its early decades, the Assemblies of God benefited significantly from an influx of veteran ministers from other denominations whose lives had been touched by the work of the Holy Spirit. J. Narver Gortner was one such minister, and his influence can still be felt through the countless lives that he touched through his ministry and writings.<br /> <br /> Read Gortner's testimony, "Methodist Preacher Filled With the Spirit," on pages 6 and 7 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1930/1930_10_25.pdf" target="_blank">Oct. 25, 1930, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • "Is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit a Necessity?" by P.C. Nelson<br /> <br /> • “The Initial Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” by Donald Gee<br /> <br /> • “Was the Apostle Paul a Madman?” by Charles A. Shreve<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1930/1930_10_25.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org/" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br class="t-last-br" />{DF5144CC-5319-4E41-8CA5-2EB775AF8F7C}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2018/10/This-Week-in-AG-History-Oct-11-1953<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/speedthelight_1400.jpg" alt="" />Christ Ambassadors (CA) Director Ralph Harris had a vision for a unique way for Assemblies of God youth to support missions.Thu, 09 Oct 2025 12:00:00 Z“Never mind, it will soon blow over.” These skeptical words greeted the enthusiasm of Christ’s Ambassadors (CA) Director Ralph Harris when he recounted that Assemblies of God young people had given over $100,000 in 1945 to the new missions fund, “<a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://stl.ag.org">Speed the Light</a>.” Not many adults believed that the youth of their churches could sustain their excitement for providing missionary transportation vehicles in far-off countries.<br /> <br /> The idea for the fund had come to Harris only a month after taking his new post as national youth director. It was 1944 and young people were beginning to come to grips with the changes in their world following World War II. Vehicles had been hard to come by as many automobile manufacturers stopped producing civilian vehicles in favor of military vehicles.<br /> <br /> Harris knew the youth of America could identify with those who were without transportation. Harris also knew that the war had exhibited to young people the power of vehicles being used for destructive purposes. They had watched news reels of airplanes, jeeps, and boats destroy and be destroyed. Was there a way to show the world that the same vehicles that had been used to bring desolation to a nation could also be used to bring the good news of the hope of the gospel? Could the young people of the Assemblies of God lead the way in this effort?<br /> <br /> General Superintendent E.S. Williams offered a less-than-positive response to Harris’s idea of using offerings from CA groups to purchase airplanes and motorcycles for missions. Williams later reported that his first thoughts were, “Jesus didn’t use a motorcycle. And Paul didn’t fly a plane.”<br /> <br /> However, while Williams was very conservative in his approach to money, he was also a man in touch with God. While Harris was still trying to sell his idea, Williams felt the Holy Spirit reminding him that Jesus and Paul might not have used those vehicles, but they likely would have if they had been available. Within an hour of approaching his boss, Harris had the approval to begin promoting his new idea.<br /> <br /> The program needed a name so Harris offered a prize to the young person that submitted the best name. Ernestine Houston of Arizona sent in the moniker “Speed-the-Light” (STL) and was awarded $15 in Gospel Publishing House materials for coining the new name, which is still used 81 years later.<br /> <br /> Harris set the astronomical goal of $100,000 for their first year, 1945. CA members were told that if they each gave $1 their goal could be met. It was greeted with skepticism on the part of some leadership, but the Assemblies of God youth came through with $113,375.39. Their first major purchase was a small amphibian plane for the work in Liberia. It was the first non-military plane to ever fly into that country and caused quite a stir. The Liberians were so excited to see the plane that for many years they charged no duty fees on any STL equipment brought into the country.<br /> <br /> Appeals soon began to pour in from all over the world. Boats were needed in the Bahamas, a jeep in Costa Rica, mules were requested in Nigeria, and bicycles in Upper Volta. The Assemblies of God discovered that one missionary, properly equipped, could do the work of 10 who lacked resources. Missionaries were going farther, faster, and easier than they ever had before.<br /> <br /> Harris knew he had to keep the challenge fresh so he proclaimed the third Sunday of October “Dollar Day” when a special offering would be sent in from each CA group totaling $1 for each young person who attended the church. The <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> lent its support to the project, running articles highlighting STL on that Sunday.<br /> <br /> One young man, Loren, was 17 when STL was born. He later testified that STL built a bridge for him to different parts of the world as he read the updates in the <em>Evangel </em>articles and had the opportunity to contribute to something that was larger than himself. He was learning that he could impact an entire world for the good. He later became a pastor in Nebraska who supported STL in his local church until God called him to spend 12 years in Nicaragua, using his own STL vehicle. He later served as the field director for Latin America and, in 1997, Loren Triplett retired as executive director of Assemblies of God World Missions. It started with giving $1 to Speed the Light’s Dollar Day.<br /> <br /> Since that first year in 1945, the youth of the Assemblies of God have given over $395 million to STL. The third Sunday of October is still STL Day in the Assemblies of God. J. Philip Hogan, referring to the skeptic who told Harris that this excitement in the youth would “soon blow over,” wrote on STL’s 40th anniversary in 1984, “He was right! It has blown all over the world!”<br /> <br /> Read stories and view photos from “Dollar Day” in the article, “Keep ‘Em Rolling,” on page 7 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1950-1959/1953/1953_10_11.pdf#Page7">Oct. 11, 1953, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “Family Worship and the Promise of Power,” by Norman V. Williams<br /> <br /> • “Pentecostal Principles,” by James D. Menzies<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1950-1959/1953/1953_10_11.pdf#Page7">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://ifphc.org">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.{83C52730-07B2-4FB4-B174-3F9C887DC3C7}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2019/09/This-Week-in-AG-History-Sept-23-1944<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Melvin-Hodges_1400_2025.jpg" alt="" />In a time of war and fear, Melvin Hodges urged Christians to avoid racial hatred as it was not compatible with Christ's love.Thu, 25 Sep 2025 12:00:00 Z“Is it possible to maintain calm and serenity in the midst of the world-shaking storms that are raging today?”<br /> <br /> Melvin Hodges (1909-1988), an Assemblies of God missionary to Central America, posed this question in 1944 in the <em>Pentecostal Evangel.</em> The Second World War was on everyone’s mind, and Hodges described the seemingly intractable conflicts around the world. “Nations are locked in a struggle for their very existence,” he wrote, and countless people are killed “as opposing systems of government struggle [to maintain] their way of life.”<br /> <br /> How should the Christian respond to such conflict? Hodges encouraged believers to exhibit “calmness and steadfastness.” Believers will stay “on a true course regardless of the storms that rage,” according to Hodges, if they have faith in the promises of God and submit to God’s will.<br /> <br /> Significantly, Hodges also admonished readers to reject the racism that had permeated vast segments of the world. Hodges wrote, “We must not be moved from the love of God in our hearts toward all men by the spirit of racial hatred being fostered today. Some hold the Jew responsible for all the ills of the world. Others are moved to intense hatred of the enemy nations. Again, some manifest bitterness toward certain racial groups in America.”<br /> <br /> According to Hodges, blaming people groups or nations “is a false diagnosis of the ills of this sick world.” Instead, he identified the world’s woes as being rooted in “the evil nature of all unregenerate mankind.”<br /> <br /> Hodges is perhaps best known for his promotion of indigenous church missions theory — the belief that churches should be self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating, rather than controlled by outside missionaries. Hodges’ article, though, also pertains to what are usually regarded as missionary-sending nations, offering a critique of racism in America and Europe, as well as in non-Western nations.<br /> <br /> It would have been easier for Hodges to remain silent when confronted by racial hatred in his own culture. By speaking out, he risked marginalization. But Hodges believed that racial hatred and God’s love were incompatible, and that Christians must not assign blame for social problems to racial or cultural groups. This wise counsel continues to be true today.<br /> <br /> Read “Call to Calmness and Steadfastness” by Melvin Hodges on page 8 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1944/1944_09_23.pdf#Page8" target="_blank">Sept. 23, 1944, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “Why I Came to Egypt Thirty-Four Years Ago,” by Lillian Trasher<br /> <br /> • “V Day,” by Lester Sumrall<br /> <br /> • “Family Worship,” by Walter Scott<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1944/1944_09_23.pdf#Page8" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br class="t-last-br" />{6F87C966-9C3B-41DF-879F-4A95A6D85D0D}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2017/09/This-Week-in-AG-History-Sept-9-1973<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/American-Indian-College_1400.jpg" alt="" />Missionary Alta Washburn's love for God and Native Americans led her to found what is now known as American Indian College.Thu, 11 Sep 2025 12:00:00 Z<p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">American Indian College was pioneered in 1957 in Phoenix, Arizona, by a white female Assemblies of God missionary, Alta Washburn, who recognized the urgent need to train Native American leaders. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">At the time, the U.S. census reported about 500,000 Native Americans living in the nation. Many were migrating from rural reservations to urban areas, and various denominations started ministries to Native Americans. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">Alta Washburn and her husband began serving the Apache Indians on the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona in 1946. They understood firsthand the importance of developing indigenous leaders. As whites, their ministry on the reservation was limited. But Native American migration to the cities opened new ministry opportunities. They moved to Phoenix in 1948 and started All Tribes Assembly of God, which became an important spiritual and social refuge for Native Americans from various tribal backgrounds who often felt out of place in their new surroundings.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">Washburn believed that she was called to empower Native Americans to become pastors and leaders in their own communities and tribes. She had a vision to plant Native American churches throughout Arizona. An important part of this vision was the establishment of a Bible school to train pastors. The school she founded, initially called All Tribes Indian Bible Training School, opened its doors on Sept. 23, 1957. Washburn remained as president of the school until 1965. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">The Sept. 9, 1973, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> highlighted the history of the school. The article noted that the school emphasized study of the Word of God and training in practical ministry. One of the most visible student ministries was the Tribalaires, a traveling group of students who sang and ministered in churches across the nation.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">Simon Peter, a Choctaw, became the school’s first Native American president in 1978. The school changed its name several times over the years -- American Indian Bible Institute (1967), American Indian Bible College (1982), and American Indian College (1994). In 2016, American Indian College became a campus of <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.aicag.edu/" target="_blank">Nelson University</a>, retaining its name and mission, while benefiting from the resources and faculty of the larger school.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">Since its origins 68 years ago, American Indian College has grown significantly and now serves nearly 25 tribes as well as other ethnicities. Alta Washburn’s vision for a school to train Native American leaders has made a lasting mark, not only on the deserts of Arizona, but across the nation, wherever its graduates have served as pastors, missionaries, evangelists, and church workers.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">Read “Indian Youth Train for Ministry,” on pages 14 and 15 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1972-1974/09-09-1973.pdf">Sept. 9, 1973, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel.</em></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">• “What We can do for our Colleges,” by Albert W. Earle</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">• “I Like My Problems” by Ralph Cimino</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">• “Jesus is Always in Vogue,” by J. Robert Ashcroft</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><span style="color: black;">And many more!</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Click here to read this issue now" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1972-1974/09-09-1973.pdf"><span>Click here to read this issue now</span></a><span style="color: black;">.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 10pt;"><em><span style="color: black;">Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span style="color: black;"> archived editions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center" target="_blank" href="https://ifphc.org"><span style="color: purple;">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a><span style="color: purple;">.</span></p> <br class="t-last-br" />{EED68548-D512-4C9A-89CD-B2758F1BE4DB}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2017/08/This-Week-in-AG-History-Aug-25-1934<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/tw-dust-bowl-1400.jpg" alt="" />In 1934, the Great Depression coupled with an incredible drought -- was it a sign of God's judgement?Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:00:00 Z<p><span style="color: black;">In <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2013:1-5&version=NIV" target="_blank">Luke 13:1-5</a>, Jesus addressed the question, “Do tragic current events indicate God’s judgment for sin?” Jesus was referring to both a political crisis and the natural occurrence of a deteriorating tower that toppled and crushed 18 people. In the Aug. 25, 1934, <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> article, “Is It Superstition?” General Superintendent E.S. Williams addressed a similar question: “Is the Dust Bowl a sign that America is under God’s judgment?”</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">1934 was a difficult year for much of the United States. The Great Depression was still in full swing with an unemployment rate of 21.7%. The new president, Franklin Roosevelt, had begun a redistribution of wealth that some feared would lead the United States to a more Communistic form of government. To top it off, 1934 saw the worst farming conditions in centuries with 71.6% of western North America in drought as the Dust Bowl reached its zenith. This combination of political crisis in the Great Depression and natural crisis in the Dust Bowl caused many Americans to ask, “Are we under the judgment of God for our sins?”</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">One particular sin that seemed to be on the mind of some was the Department of Agriculture’s slaughter of 6,000,000 pigs in an attempt to control the price of pork in 1933. Secretary of Agriculture, Henry A. Wallace, made the following statement, “My attention has been called to a statement by a minister out in the Corn Belt before the district conference of his faith. Concerning the actions of the New Deal he says: ‘... some of them are downright sinful as the destruction of foodstuffs in the face of present want.’ I have been used to statements of this sort by partisans, demagogues, politicians, and even newspaper columnists … But when a minister of the gospel makes a statement, we expect it to be the truth.”</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">In his opening paragraph, Williams addressed this directly: “… officials of the Department of Agriculture are a bit concerned over the spread of the superstition that the disastrous drought which had gripped our land was God’s way of punishing folks … (they) went on to say that this superstition started in the pulpits of Iowa.”</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Williams took issue with the term “superstition” defining it as “a belief founded on irrational feelings, especially of fear.” He cautioned his readers that, indeed, they should “be careful … lest they reach rash and hurried conclusions” in their fear and concerns for the future of their livelihood and nation.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">However, Williams also cautioned “At the same time it would be folly to blindly shut our eyes and refuse to inquire whether or not there may be back of present conditions a moral cause … Let us not be so foolish as to follow the worldly wise who know not God and for that reason may look upon wholesome fear and honest inquiry as but superstition.”</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Williams believed that the root cause of the current troubles went much deeper than concern over agricultural direction: “Destruction of cattle and restriction of crops may have been a blunder; but we must look far deeper than to this alone if we would get to the bottom of our troubles. Our chiefest mischief as a nation is that we have departed from dependence upon and reverence for the living God.”</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">He bluntly asked the question of the drought, “Are these things mere accidents of an evolving nature or are they the voice of God?” Williams does not claim to know the answer to this question in its fullness on a national scale but he does counsel <em>Evangel </em>readers to use the current tragedy as occasion to examine their own need for repentance, encouraging them “if He shows you things which you ought to make right, make them right without delay, for, ‘except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.’”</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Read the full article “Is It Superstition?” on page 2 of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Aug. 25, 1934, issue" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1934/1934_08_25.pdf#Page2"><span>Aug. 25, 1934, issue</span></a><span style="color: black;"> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel.</em></span></p> <p><span style="background: white; color: black;">Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p><span style="background: white; color: black;">“A Famous Entertainer Becomes a Faith Missionary,” <em></em>by Esther B. Harvey</span></p> <p><span style="background: white; color: black;">“Aeneas, Jesus Christ Cures You,<em>” </em>by Lilian Yeomans, M.D.</span></p> <p><span style="background: white; color: black;">“Congo Women Touched By Gospel,” by Mary Walker</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">And many more!</span></p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Click here to read this issue now." target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1934/1934_08_25.pdf#Page2"><span>Click here to read this issue now</span></a><span style="color: black;">.</span></p> <p><em><span style="color: black;">Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span style="color: black;"> archived editions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center" href="https://iFPHC.org" target="_blank"><span style="color: #996600;">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a><span style="color: black;">.</span></p> <br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" />{C223A592-0BFA-4451-BDBD-7679284BF496}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2016/08/This-Week-in-AG-History-Aug-18-1928<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Hattie-Hammond-1400.jpg" alt="" />Hattie Hammond's passion for Christ and simple gospel message resonated with people, making her one of the most popular early AG evangelists.Thu, 21 Aug 2025 12:00:00 Z<p><span>Hattie Hammond (1907-1994) was one of the premier preachers of the early Pentecostal-holiness movement. How did she gain that reputation? It was by preaching a simple gospel message of wholeheartedly serving God.</span></p> <p><span>Born and raised in Williamsport, Maryland, Hammond, at the age of 15, was saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit in a tent meeting conducted by John Ashcroft, the grandfather of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. Even at that young age, she boldly began witnessing to her teachers and classmates, which was the beginning of her lifelong calling as an evangelist.</span></p> <p><span>She was ordained by the Assemblies of God in 1927, and soon had invitations to speak in large churches in Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, and other places.</span></p> <p><span>She also became a popular camp meeting speaker and Bible teacher. Her simple messages prompted abandonment of worldliness and inspired walking into a “deeper life” of consecration and holiness to God.</span><span style="line-height: 1.42857;"></span></p> <p><span>In a sermon called “Drawing Nigh to God,” published in the Aug. 18, 1928, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>, she encouraged people to develop a strong, devotional life: “As we enter into the presence of the Lord we should realize we are in the presence of a great, almighty, eternal God.” She also promoted waiting on the Lord: “We should not rush into His presence with haste, nor come as though we were coming into the presence of an earthly friend. We should take time to realize that He is God and beside Him there is none else.”</span></p> <p><span>In this sermon she also talks about the need for God, salvation, spending time with God in prayer, and the importance of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.</span><span style="line-height: 1.42857;"></span></p> <p><span>She wrote, “The first thing necessary is that we become still, and know that the great I AM is God. Be still and know that it is God for whom we are waiting, that we are sitting in the presence of God, and that it is His great name upon which we are calling.” She concluded by saying, “We need the Holy Spirit to keep us true to the Cross, and to Jesus our Lover Lord, to be real overcomers.”</span><span style="line-height: 1.42857;"></span></p> <p><span>By the 1930s, Hattie Hammond had become one of the most powerful speakers in the Pentecostal movement. There are reports of remarkable miracles and healings which took place in her ministry.</span></p> <p><span>She ministered all over the United States in colleges, conventions, Bible schools, churches of all denominations, and in more than 30 countries of the world.</span></p> <p><span>Read Hattie Hammond’s article, “Drawing Nigh to God,” on pages 6-7 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1920-1929/1928/1928_08_18.pdf" target="_blank">Aug. 18, 1928, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.</span></p> <p><span>Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p><span>• "Elijah’s God Still Lives Today," by Leonard G. Bolton</span></p> <p><span>• "The Marks of Holy Ghost Converts," by Stephen Jeffreys</span></p> <p><span>• "Pentecost in Bulgaria," by Martha Nikoloff</span></p> <p><span>And many more!</span></p> <p><span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1920-1929/1928/1928_08_18.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.</span></p> <p><em><span>Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span> archived editions courtesy of </span><span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.</a></span></p>{9499D029-AC65-4A27-9B4B-13695098BCF3}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2020/08/This-Week-in-AG-History-Aug-11-1945<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Upper-Room-missions_1400.jpg" alt="" />Few realize that the Azusa Street Mission wasn't the only Pentecostal mission during the revival — The Upper Room Mission and its leaders also played key roles in the revival.Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:00:00 Z<p>When the Pentecostal movement began to take root at the Azusa Street Mission in 1906 under the leadership of William J. Seymour, there were other missions springing up in Los Angeles that joined with what God was doing at the small African American church. One of those was The Upper Room Mission, led by Elmer Kirk Fisher (1866-1919) and George Brown Studd (1859-1945). <br /> <br /> Fisher was a pastor at Calvary Baptist church in Los Angeles when a revival erupted in the nearby First Baptist Church led by Pastor Joseph Smale. As a result of the revival, Smale began the New Testament Church of Los Angeles and Fisher soon joined him as associate pastor.<br /> <br /> When revival services began at the Azusa Street Mission under the direction of Seymour, Smale supported the movement until October 1906, when he felt that the church needed more order. At this time, Fisher began the Upper Room Mission on Spring Street and began a close relationship with Seymour. Congregants flowed freely between the Upper Room Mission and the meetings on Azusa Street. <br /> <br /> Studd was born to a well-to-do family in Wiltshire, England. While studying at Eton, his father became an evangelical Christian and, in 1878, Studd and his three brothers were converted to the Christian faith. He later went on to Cambridge where he served as captain of the cricket team and achieved fame in the English sporting world. When his brother, C.T. Studd, went to China as one of the “Cambridge Seven” missionaries, George visited him and made a full commitment to Christ. He soon moved to California where he became involved with the Pentecostal movement at Azusa Street in 1907, making arrangements for the small mission to pay off its deed and become debt-free. <br /> <br /> Studd, an accomplished preacher and teacher, was asked by Fisher to take leadership of the noon meetings at the Upper Room. The two soon began working closely together, while maintaining their relationship with Seymour. In June 1909, they began to publish a paper, <em>The Upper Room</em>, which they continued until May 1911. <br /> <br /> The official publication of the Assemblies of God, <em>The Pentecostal Evangel</em>, reprinted excerpts of the paper published by Fisher and Studd in the Aug. 11, 1945, issue. Reports are shared from India, Holland, Germany, South Wales, North China, Chile, South Africa, and England with stories of Pentecostal experiences among Methodists, Catholics, and Anglicans. <br /> <br /> Among the excerpts is a statement from George Studd describing seven characteristics reported by those who came in contact with the Pentecostal people and the Pentecostal movement: <br /> <br /> 1. They always exalt Jesus Christ and honor His precious blood. <br /> <br /> 2. They honor the Holy Spirit; they give Him room to work and expect His operations. <br /> <br /> 3. They are earnestly looking for the coming of the Lord. It is almost a watch-word in their lives and in their services that ‘Jesus is coming so soon.’ <br /> <br /> 4. They are certainly a missionary people. They have a burning desire to spread the gospel far and near; and to this end they pray, and give, and go as only Pentecostal people can. <br /> <br /> 5. They really do trust God for money, seldom taking collections and never begging. At the call of God they get up and go to the end of the earth without a board at their back to guarantee them salary or anything else.<br /> <br /> 6. The spirit of praise, of worship, and of prayer that is manifested in their private lives and meetings is phenomenal, to say the least. <br /> <br /> 7. Their joy and liberty in the Spirit are very marked. To those who are not too loaded down with prejudice, this is a very attractive and convincing feature of the Pentecostal experience. Who does not want to be happy and free in God? <br /> <br /> The editors of the 1945 <em>Evangel</em> added their own thoughts to these reprints from 36 years previous: “It is a very easy thing to drift away from the simplicity that characterized the Pentecostal movement in its early days, and it will do us all good to read and re-read” these testimonies. <br /> <br /> Pentecostals are now 80 years removed from the 1945 reprint. It is still good for us to “read and re-read” the testimonies of what God has done and seek for a refreshing and renewal that will continue to characterize the modern Pentecostal movement. <br /> <br /> Read excerpts from the The Upper Room in, “The Early Days of Pentecost” on page 2 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1945/1945_08_11.pdf#Page5" target="_blank">Aug. 11, 1945, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>. <br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue: <br /> <br /> • “The Challenge of ‘Tongues’ Today,” by Donald Gee <br /> <br /> • “Bountiful Provision for All,” by Stanley Frodsham <br /> <br /> • “The Fine Linen: Of What Does It Consist?” by J. Narver Gortner <br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1945/1945_08_11.pdf#Page5" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>. <br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.</p>{24D6D2FF-6AD7-4499-A6C4-3188D8F3442C}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2017/07/This-Week-in-AG-History-July-24-1937<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Zelma-Argue_1400b.jpg" alt="" />Zelma Argue may not be a household name, but her ministry — especially her writing — impacted thousands for Christ.Thu, 24 Jul 2025 12:00:00 Z<p><span>Zelma Argue (1900-1980) was the daughter, sister, sister-in-law, aunt, and cousin of great preachers. When her father, A.H. Argue, was asked on an evangelistic campaign, “Where is (your wife)?” his answer came quickly, “Oh! She’s at home raising the preachers.” As an evangelist with her family, Zelma ably filled the pulpit, but it seems she was even more productive with her pen.</span> </p> <p><span>Upon her ordination and embarkment on the evangelistic trail in 1920, her family gave her a writing set and a portable typewriter. Over the next 60 years she put them to good use, penning eight books and writing for at least seven periodicals, including nearly 200 articles for the <span class="apple-converted-space"></span><em>Pentecostal Evangel. </em>Her first article, “Buying Gold,” appeared in the March 5, 1921, edition and her final article, “Threefold Purpose of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” was published on March 23, 1980, just two months after her death.</span></p> <p><span>Argue wrote with a passion, challenging readers that the Christian life must carry an ever-increasing surrender to God’s service. While her words were oftentimes hard, she wrote in such a way that the resulting effect did not convey condemnation but conviction. Her common topics were intimacy with God, revival, prayer, worship, and the importance of soul-winning.</span> </p> <p><span>In an article in the July 24, 1937, <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>, “The Next Towns Also: A Plea for Fresh Efforts at Direct Evangelism,” Argue examines the practical application of the words of Jesus in Mark 1:38, “Let us go into the next towns also…” In this passage, Christ is at the beginning of His ministry and has reached a zenith of popularity in Capernaum; so much so that He found the need to search for a solitary place, prompting Peter to remind Him that “all men seek for thee!”</span> </p> <p><span>Argue makes the proposition that Jesus was at a crisis point in ministry — one that we often face, as well. If He chose to stay in Capernaum it seemed that all would be going His way. If He chose to move on, He had no idea the reception He would face in another town. In addition, if He focused on others, what would happen to those whom He left behind? Argue states, “but in solitude He had heard from above. His answer was ready: ‘Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth.’ These last words seem to suggest that He had been pondering deeply and had only reached His conclusion by recalling what He must never forget: the goal set before Him.”</span> </p> <p><span>Argue illustrates the importance of consistently reaching out into new fields by comparing the church to a lively home where there are little children for whom to care. She argues that the home with babies is a much happier spot than a home where all the inhabitants were adults who “had little to do but sit around and disagree” with each other. She plainly states that an assembly with a stream of new blood constantly pouring into it was God’s best for a contented home church: “Fresh kindling catches fire better than burnt-over wood!”</span> </p> <p><span>The genius of Argue’s writing is that she not only points out the need for reaching beyond current borders but offers practical solutions that can be easily and quickly implemented. She says that in “railroad stations and other public places I never see a box of Christian Science literature that I do not feel that we should have a box of <span class="apple-converted-space"></span><em>Evangels</em>.” She encourages churches to consider moving evening services into a tent for the summer or renting out a building in another part of town when having a guest speaker so that new ears are exposed to the gospel message.</span> </p> <p><span>Fifty years before they were widely popular, she encourages “Branch Sunday Schools” conducted in neighborhoods outside the church building to reach children and their families. Argue also admonishes churches to consider having meetings at different times of the day and week to reach those whose schedules or lifestyle is not conducive to Sunday or evening services. She also suggests that church take advantage of technological advances, like radio programming, to expand to new fields.</span> </p> <p><span>She pleads with readers that “not only foreign fields, but our next towns, our neighborhoods, our next-door neighbors, may present fields of opportunity … if someone will leave the well-tilled and well-reaped field, and search out those not yet reached, as Jesus Himself sought so faithfully to do.” His vision includes “the next town,” and ours must, also.</span> </p> <p><span>The Argue family has blessed the Pentecostal movement with great Pentecostal preachers, such as David Argue (former Assemblies of God Executive Presbyter) and Don Argue (the first Pentecostal to serve as president of the National Association of Evangelicals). However, few would contest that some of the best preaching in the Argue family came through the pen of Zelma Argue.</span> </p> <p><span>Read the full article, “The Next Towns Also,” on page 2 of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1937/1937_07_24.pdf#Page2" target="_blank" id="July 24, 1937, issue"><span>July 24, 1937, issue</span></a><span> of the<span class="apple-converted-space"></span><em> Pentecostal Evangel.</em></span> </p> <p><span>Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p><span>• “Spiritual Promotion,”<span class="apple-converted-space"><em></em></span> by W.E. Moody</span></p> <p><span>• “Pioneering in Nicaragua,<em>”<span class="apple-converted-space"></span></em> by Melvin Hodges</span></p> <p><span>• “Healed of Pneumonia and Tuberculosis,” by Eunice Bailey</span></p> <p><span>And many more!</span></p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1937/1937_07_24.pdf#Page2" target="_blank" id="Click here to read this issue now"><span>Click here to read this issue now</span></a><span>.</span></p> <p><em><span>Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span> archived editions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://iFPHC.org" target="_blank" id="Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center"><span style="color: #996600;">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a><span style="color: #996600;">.</span></p>{150E440D-7900-4389-8DF6-73A6B6DDB5FA}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2019/07/This-Week-in-AG-History-July-18-1931<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Otto-Klink_1400_2025.jpg" alt="" />Before turning back to Christ and becoming a powerful AG evangelist, Otto Klink was an atheist who served in the office of Kaiser Wilhelm II in Germany.Thu, 17 Jul 2025 12:00:00 ZOtto J. Klink (1888-1955) was a German-born American Pentecostal evangelist who traveled the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, preaching salvation through Jesus Christ and warning his listeners about the dangers of socialism, atheism, and modernism. <br /> <br /> Born in Hersfeld, Germany, he was educated in Berlin, where he learned French, Latin, and Greek, alongside his native German. His family were members of the Lutheran church; however, in 1905, 17-year-old Otto attended a Holiness tent meeting. Kneeling in the sawdust, he claimed God’s promise of salvation and felt a distinct call to enter the ministry. <br /> <br /> Klink was willing to serve God but did not want to be associated with the Holiness people. He decided to study for the Lutheran ministry and entered the University of Berlin, where he studied the works of Marx, Engels, and La Salle. He came to believe that salvation was achieved by good character and social action — particularly through elevating the lot of the poor and underprivileged. <br /> <br /> One night while attending a Socialist political gathering, he made a speech that was interpreted as encouraging rebellion against the German Crown Prince for his mistreatment of the working class. He was arrested and sentenced to two months in prison. Upon completion of his prison term, he found that his name had been removed from the University of Berlin attendance list. Klink interpreted these events as evidence that his belief in God had failed him. He made the intentional decision to embrace an atheistic worldview. <br /> <br /> Finding jobs difficult to get in Germany due to his prison record, he asked his father for money to sail to America. Arriving in 1909, he began writing for a German language newspaper in New York City. He later recounted how he became involved with an anarchist society in New York City called The Red Mask, and that he was part of a plot to assassinate President William Taft at Bronx Park. His failure to carry out the plot led to his dismissal from the society. He returned to Germany, where through the assistance of influential friends he was able to secure a position in the office of Kaiser Wilhelm II.<br /> <br /> Due to political unrest in Germany, Klink sought to return to the United States. He did so just three months before World War I broke out in Europe in 1914. In 1917,  he married a young Pentecostal girl named Ida Ball. Ida prayed earnestly for her new husband to receive Christ and to be healed of the anger and bitterness within him toward God. On the last night of a 10-day revival meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, with evangelist Paul Barth, Klink felt God say to him that this was his last chance. He prayed through to salvation that night and, in 1921, he received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He received ministerial credentials with the Assemblies of God in 1923.<br /> <br /> In the 1930s, Klink began to speak out strongly against the policies of the Nazi Party in Germany. Klink ministered alongside Myer Pearlman, the Jewish Assemblies of God Bible teacher and author, at the 1937 Wisconsin district camp meeting. Klink spoke of a great persecution of the Jewish people in Germany and prophesied disaster for Adolph Hitler if he continued his course of action.<br /> <br /> Klink wrote several booklets, including, <em>Why I Am Not An Atheist</em>, and <em>Why I Am Not A Modernist</em>, along with a monthly column in the <em>C.A.</em> (Christ’s Ambassadors) <em>Herald</em> called “Otto-graphs” — a collection of world news and events of interest to young readers. He also authored several featured articles in the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>. His article in the July 18, 1931, issue, “The Language of the Blood of Christ,” is a prime example of his use of historical illustrations and world events to provide a deeper understanding of the gospel message of salvation.<br /> <br /> For more than 30 years, Otto and Ida Klink traveled the country in evangelistic meetings, making their home in the Miami, Florida, area where Ida also began a children’s home that provided care for up to 40 children. The Klinks moved to California in 1951 and opened a gospel supply house, which they operated until his death in 1955.<br /> <br /> At the height of his preaching ministry, an article published in the <em>Enid </em>(Oklahoma) <em>Gospel Tabernacle</em> newspaper described the former employee of the German Kaiser as having “one of the most powerful, soul-gripping messages ever delivered from an American pulpit — a combination of fire and level headedness — whirlwind oratory and calm common sense that has made him an outstanding figure in American evangelism.”<br /> <br /> Read Otto Klink’s article, “The Language of the Blood of Christ,” on page 1 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1931/1931_07_18.pdf#Page1" target="_blank">July 18, 1931, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “Freedom From the Dominion of Sin,” by E.S. Williams<br /> <br /> • “How I Received the Baptism,” by H.C. Ball<br /> <br /> • “Proving God as Healer,” by Mattie Kerr<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1931/1931_07_18.pdf#Page1" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>. <br /> <em><br /> Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" />{E7F2981E-A6E1-4E68-B66E-2678D546BD9A}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2016/06/This-Week-in-AG-History-July-1-1916<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/American_Infantry_Chauchat_1400.jpg" alt="" />Questions arise during difficult times. British pastor Leonard Newby responded to several difficult questions arising from World War I in this 1916 "Pentecostal Evangel" article.Thu, 03 Jul 2025 12:00:00 Z<p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>One hundred years ago, the summer of 1916 was bloody. The Great War, later dubbed World War I, had been raging for two years. Nearly every nation in Europe was embroiled in conflict. Political and economic turmoil and famine resulted in the death of millions.</span><span></span><span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Just a few years earlier, everything had seemed so different. Politicians and mainline church leaders had been confident that scientific, technological, and social advances would make war a thing of the past. These progressives aimed to perfect humanity through education and social change. They equated Christianization with Westernization, replacing the biblical notion of a transformative encounter with God with a "social gospel" that de-emphasized conversion in favor of cultural education.</span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>The outbreak of war shattered these illusions of social progress. Progressives in America were divided on how to cope with this new reality. But for Pentecostals, the war merely confirmed what they already knew — humanity was deeply stained by sin and only Christ, not culture, could save.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>The pages of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> during the war years were filled with warnings against confusing the Christian faith with national identities. The July 1, 1916, issue was no exception. In an article titled, "Light on this Present Crisis," British pastor Leonard Newby responded to several difficult questions arising from the war.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Newby related a question: "Is it not an awful thing for one Christian nation to be fighting another Christian nation?" Newby disagreed with the assumption that a nation could be Christian. He wrote, "There is not, and never has been, such a company of people as a CHRISTIAN NATION, and never will be until the Lord comes." Rather, he explained, "The people of God who form the mystical body of Jesus Christ are a small company of people scattered among the nations."</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Newby warned against those who advocated a "social gospel" without need of personal conversion: "They are preaching the Universal Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, instead of the need of regeneration and redemption through the blood of His Cross."</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Newby also responded to the question, "Does not this war show the failure of Christianity?" Newby stated that it did not. According to Scripture, Newby insisted, "Christianity is one thing, civilization is quite another." He wrote, "What men and women need is not civilization merely (although God knows how much in some quarters that is needed) but they need TO BE BORN AGAIN (St. John 3:3), not to be veneered, but to become the subjects of a mighty spiritual revolution from within."</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Newby's concern that Christians not confuse their faith with nationalism reflected not only the beliefs of the Assemblies of God at the time, but also those of many other premillennial evangelicals. This view sometimes had the effect of preventing significant cultural engagement by believers. Over time, many within the Assemblies of God became leaders in the broader society, leading to further reflection about the proper relationship between Christians and national identity. However, the primary point of Newby and other early Pentecostals remains valid today: earthly allegiances should pale in comparison to the Christian's heavenly citizenship.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Read the entire article by Leonard Newby, "Light on this Present Crisis," on pages 6, 7, and 9 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1913-1919/1916/1916_07_01.pdf#Page6">July 1, 1916, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>• "Further Incidents from the Early Days in Azusa Mission," by B.F. Lawrence</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>• "The Baptism of the Holy Ghost," by H.M. Turney</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>And many more!</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1913-1919/1916/1916_07_01.pdf#Page6" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><em><span>Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://ifphc.org">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br /> </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 16px;">_{<em>Pictured: </em>}<em>_{<span>An old French couple welcomes liberating American soldiers in 1918, after four years of German occupation.</span>}</em></span></p> <p>_{<span><em>Image by Lt. Adrian C. Duff [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons</em></span>}</p> <br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" />{ADD5FD9E-8304-4B29-AA6D-F05FE4DE3DDA}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2020/06/This-Week-in-AG-History-June-24-1950<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Garrigus_1400_2025.jpg" alt="" />Alice Garrigus proved age isn't a limitation when God calls as at the age of 52 she helped pioneer the Pentecostal movement in Newfoundland -- where she ministered for the next 39 years.Thu, 26 Jun 2025 12:00:00 ZAlice Belle Garrigus (1858-1949) was only five feet tall, unmarried, and 52 years of age when she sensed God call her in 1910 to help pioneer the Pentecostal movement in Newfoundland. <br /> <br /> Born into an Episcopalian family in Rockville, Connecticut, Garrigus spent the first half of her life in various locations in New England.<br /> <br /> When she was 15, she began teaching in rural schools. Desiring further schooling she returned to Normal School and then spent three years (1878-1881) at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College). Leaving the seminary a year before graduation, she resumed teaching. Through the influence of a colleague, Gertrude Wheeler, Garrigus accepted Christ as her Savior in 1888. Both women left on a 10-month excursion to Europe.<br /> <br /> Returning to the United State, Garrigus again taught school, but she was spiritually restless. She wanted a deeper walk with God and began reading Hannah Whitall Smith’s <em>The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life</em>. “This I read,” Alice wrote, “often on my knees — praying fervently: ‘Oh God, if there be such an experience, won’t you bring me into it?’”<br /> <br /> Garrigus and Wheeler then joined the Congregational Church. Her friend Gertrude later went to Africa as a missionary and died there. About 1891, Garrigus gave up her teaching profession to work in a home for destitute children and women. Next she moved to Rumney, New Hampshire, where she came in contact with the First Fruit Harvesters Association, a small evangelical denomination focused on the evangelization of New England. Garrigus served as an itinerant preacher with the First Fruit Harvesters between 1897 and 1903.<br /> <br /> During 1906, Garrigus reread the Bible and earnestly sought to understand what made Jesus’ disciples different following the Day of Pentecost. Around this same time, she heard about the revival taking place at the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles.<br /> <br /> In 1907, at a Christian and Missionary Alliance camp meeting at Old Orchard, Maine, she met Frank Bartleman, a veteran of the Azusa Street revival and an unofficial chronicler of the Pentecostal movement. Bartleman “stood for hours,” wrote Garrigus, “telling us of the deeper things of God.” After he left the camp meeting, Garrigus, Minnie Draper, and others met in an old barn to pray, and there Alice Belle Garrigus received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. She continued preaching at Rumney and Grafton, Massachusetts, and other places, but began feeling impressed to found a mission in St. John’s, Newfoundland.<br /> <br /> One of her protégés at Bridgeport, Connecticut, was Charles Personeus, superintendent of the John Street Mission. Personeus wrote, “When Miss Garrigus was with me in the John Street Mission, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and that changed the mission to First Pentecostal Mission.” In 1917, Charles Personeus and his wife, Florence, went to Juneau, Alaska, as missionaries for the Assemblies of God.<br /> <br /> Together with the W. D. Fowlers, a missionary couple she had known since 1889, Alice Belle Garrigus traveled to Newfoundland, arriving in the capital city of St. John’s in December 1910. The three established Bethesda Mission in a rented building in the downtown area on New Gower Street, which opened on Easter, April 16, 1911. Garrigus’ preaching at Bethesda emphasized conversion, adult water baptism, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the imminent return of Christ. Numerous lives were changed because of the ministry at Bethesda. After little more than a year, the building was purchased, and by the next year the building was enlarged to accommodate the increasing number of people attending the services. In 1912, the Fowlers had to leave Newfoundland for health reasons, and that left Garrigus in charge.<br /> <br /> The Pentecostal movement in Newfoundland grew slowly during the next decade, since Garrigus’ ministry remained centered in the St. John’s area.<br /> <br /> After a crusade in 1919 by evangelist Victoria Booth-Clibborn Demarest, interest in Pentecostalism grew. New converts started new missions, and one of these, Robert C. English, eventually became co-pastor with Garrigus at Bethesda Mission.<br /> <br /> Alice Belle Garrigus’ work with Bethesda Mission eventually led to the founding of a Pentecostal organization in Newfoundland. On Dec. 8, 1925, the “Bethesda Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland” was chartered. The word “Bethesda” was dropped in 1930.<br /> <br /> The first general superintendent of this organization was Robert C. English, followed by Eugene Vaters, A. Stanley Bursey (all three who worked closely with Garrigus), and others. In 1949 the people of Newfoundland voted to become Canada’s newest province, and this organization and the number of churches has continued to grow. The current name is The Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland and Labrador (PAONL). It is a member of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship and has strong ties with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, the Assemblies of God, and other denominations within the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA).<br /> <br /> Alice Garrigus’ nearly 40 years in Newfoundland were very busy. She remained there for the rest of her life and continued to be a principal figure in the Pentecostal church, serving as an evangelist in charge of Bethesda Mission and also holding a number of executive positions in the PAONL. She passed away in August 1949 at Clarke’s Beach, Newfoundland, at the age of 91. Soon after her passing, a Pentecostal campground was established and called Camp Emmanuel. The Garrigus Memorial Tabernacle at the camp was named in her honor and dedicated in 1955.<br /> <br /> A. Stanley Bursey, a former PAONL general superintendent, wrote: “We, who have had the opportunity to appraise her work and the result of same, can only conclude that when God calls, He makes no mistakes.”<br /> <br /> Alice Belle Garrigus was a prolific writer. In 1950, the<em> Pentecostal Evangel </em>published an article by her, titled “Eating on the Heap,” which discusses Jacob and his father-in-law, Laban, making a covenant that was solidified with a mound of stones called “a heap.” Afterwards they ate together on the heap to show that past wrongs and hurts would be forgotten and that love would prevail.<br /> <br /> Read “Eating on the Heap,” on page 3 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1950-1959/1950/1950_06_24.pdf#Page13" target="_blank">June 24, 1950, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “I Sat Where They Sat,” by J. Narver Gortner<br /> <br /> • “The Passing and the Permanent,” by Robert C. Cunningham<br /> <br /> • “Missions — New and Old,” by H.C. Ball<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1950-1959/1950/1950_06_24.pdf#Page13" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <em><br /> Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br class="t-last-br" />{8E696C8B-7527-479F-9496-1AE398FD3843}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2018/06/This-Week-in-AG-History-June-9-1968<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Arthur-Berg_1400-2025.jpg" alt="" />The Pentecostal message isn't just for adults — it touches the hearts of children and young people just as well!Thu, 12 Jun 2025 12:00:00 Z<p>Arthur F. Berg (1896-1983), a pioneer Assemblies of God missionary and pastor, recognized the importance of taking seriously the spiritual lives of children. He learned this from his own experience. At age 14, Arthur surrendered his life to Christ and was baptized in the Holy Spirit during a revival sparked by visiting Pentecostal leader William Durham. Interestingly, it was primarily young people who responded to the gospel — countless children were saved, 25 were baptized in the Holy Spirit, and 30 followed the Lord in water baptism. <br /> <br /> For the rest of his life, Berg would share his testimony about this 1911 revival, which spiritually shaped him. The <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> published his story in 1968.<br /> <br /> Berg was born in an era when children were expected to be seen and not heard, and many traditional church services offered little to inspire or attract young people. However, early Pentecostal services — featuring testimonies, lively sermons, and peppy gospel songs — were often very accessible to young people. Countless people — both young and old — surrendered their lives to Christ in early Pentecostal services, which were known for their clear presentation of the gospel, coupled with the power of the Holy Spirit.<br /> <br /> So it was with Berg. He was raised in a Christian home, but it was not until he experienced the Holy Spirit’s permeating presence during the Pentecostal revival that Berg finally committed his life to Christ. He described the revival as “glorious,” and that “hearts were melted together in the love of God.” The presence of God was so strong in those meetings that young people who normally did not want to attend church did not want to leave the revival services.<br /> <br /> “The convicting power and pull of the Holy Spirit was so strong, so irresistible,” Berg recalled, “that I found myself at the altar weeping and praying my way through to a definite experience of old-fashioned salvation.” He went on to experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit and, he wrote, “exuberant glory flooded my soul.”<br /> <br /> The revival led Berg to consecrate his life to Christian ministry. He married his childhood sweetheart, Anna, who shared a similar calling. He was ordained by the Assemblies of God in 1919, they served as missionaries in Belgian Congo from 1922 to 1926, and for the next 33 years they pastored congregations in Sisseton and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was also instrumental in starting the World Missions Plan, a program that encouraged Assemblies of God churches to systematically give money to home and world missions.<br /> <br /> When William Durham went to Minneapolis in 1911, he was on a mission to talk with Pentecostal pastors regarding disagreements over the doctrine of sanctification. While the impact Durham made on adults on that trip is unknown, the revival services he led left a lasting mark on several dozen young people. One of them, Arthur Berg, became a noted pioneer Assemblies of God pastor and missionary.<br /> <br /> Read the article, “How a Boy Received the Baptism,” on pages 24-25 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1968/1968_06_09.pdf#Page24">June 9, 1968, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “Who is My Neighbor?” by Everett Stenhouse<br /> <br /> • “Children Need to be Nurtured,” by Jerry Stroup<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1968/1968_06_09.pdf#Page24">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://ifphc.org">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.</p> <br class="t-last-br" />{C6853C74-E810-4396-B277-EDF27681FC62}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2015/06/This-Week-in-AG-History-June-5-1948<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Garlock_1400.jpg" alt="" />Missionary to Africa H.B. Garlock vigorously condemned racial discrimination and segregation, calling racial discrimination "inhuman, un-Christian, and unpardonable."Thu, 05 Jun 2025 12:00:00 ZHenry B. Garlock, an Assemblies of God missions leader in Africa, reported in a 1948 <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>article on his extensive travels throughout Africa. Christianity was growing more rapidly across the African continent than anywhere else in the world, according to Garlock, largely because of the heroic efforts of indigenous Christian leaders. Moreover, at a time of heightened international political and racial tension, Garlock provided an eloquent condemnation of colonialism and racial discrimination.<br /> <br /> Garlock detailed how the Assemblies of God was growing across Africa, due in large part to African church leaders such as Jasper Toe in Liberia, Edward Tchie in Gold Coast (now Ghana), Gabriel Oyakhilome in Nigeria and Benin, Latan Kalambuli in Nyasaland (now Malawi), and Nicholas Bhengu in South Africa. These leaders were “jewels” in Garlock’s estimation, who overcame great odds to share the message of the cross in their part of the world.<br /> <br /> Garlock provided readers with a vivid description of the colonialism and oppression on the African continent. He recounted how he saw African individuals slapped, cuffed, kicked, abused, and treated with cruelty and injustice. He shared how thousands were forcibly conscripted or coerced into labor in mines or on roads, under exploitive conditions and for extremely low wages. He also noted that the commodities that the white man enjoyed such as cocoa, tea, coffee, rubber, mahogany, palm oil, gold, and diamonds, represented the forced labor, hardship, and suffering of African workers — many of whom were exploited or unjustly compensated for their labor. <br /> <br /> Responding to these inhumane conditions, Garlock condemned racial segregation and discrimination. He expressed that to discriminate against any person created in the image of God based on skin color is a grave injustice — inhuman, un-Christian, and morally indefensible. He furthermore likened the plight of the African to Christ, noting that the African people carry profound burdens, often overlooked by the world but seen and shared by Christ.<br /> <br /> Notably, Garlock condemned racial segregation and discrimination at a time when racial strife was increasing in America. Anticipating criticism from some American readers who might call him a “race baiter,” Garlock acknowledged the existence of racial tensions in the United States. “Whose fault is it?” Responding to this rhetorical question, Garlock suggested: “Our fathers have eaten green apples and their children have the stomach-ache” — a proverb reflecting Garlock's belief that the country was still grappling with the consequences of generational injustice — wrongs committed in the past were continuing to shape the present.<br /> <br /> Garlock carefully contrasted oppressive colonialism to the indigenous church principle practiced by the Assemblies of God. Garlock encouraged readers to pray for Africa and to support Assemblies of God missionaries who worked alongside indigenous African churches. This cooperative missionary spirit yielded a strong and growing church, and in 2024 the Assemblies of God had over 14 million adherents in Africa.<br /> <br /> Read H.B. Garlock’s article, “Africa and Her People,” on pages 2-3 and 12-14 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1948/FPHC/1948_06_05.pdf" target="_blank">June 5, 1948, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “Healing for All,” by J.M. Mullens<br /> <br /> • “Prostrated under Divine Power,” by J. Narver Gortner<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1948/FPHC/1948_06_05.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.{FE3192C3-2EC8-4E0F-B4AA-C99699A4E931}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2018/05/This-Week-in-AG-History-May-19-1945<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Howard-Carter_1400_2025.jpg" alt="" />God used Howard Carter, who was imprisoned at the time, to bring clarity to the gifts of the Spirit. Thu, 22 May 2025 12:00:00 ZHoward Carter (1891-1971) was an early British Assemblies of God leader who planted congregations, trained ministers, and traveled the world encouraging missionaries. He also gave to the Pentecostal movement some of its most lasting teaching on spiritual gifts. <br /> <br /> Carter was raised by a godly mother in the Anglican church but did not show much interest in religion. He was a mediocre student who stuttered and did not find a place of belonging until he discovered his talent as an artist. He gained the highest awards in the Royal Society of Artists’ examinations and began a career as a draftsman, a job at which he excelled.<br /> <br /> As a young man, he began to experience disillusionment as he realized that the finest works of art fade in time. Even the great English cathedrals with their soaring buttresses and stained glass windows would one day disappear. Carter wanted to give himself to something that could impact eternity.<br /> <br /> A friend invited him to visit the Church of Christ, where he was impressed with the informal and friendly services. He accepted Christ and was baptized. He became involved in Friday night meetings with the YMCA, where he met a man whose preaching and exuberant praise during prayer intrigued him. The man invited Carter to join him in Pentecostal meetings that were taking place in a room over a shop outside of Birmingham. Carter listened to the messages and observed the Pentecostal worship services and believed immediately that what he was seeing coincided with the experience of the early church in the New Testament. <br /> <br /> He began to seek the Pentecostal experience but struggled with the concept that speaking in tongues was a necessary aspect of receiving the infilling of the Holy Spirit. In a May 19, 1945, article in the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>, Carter described a deep experience with God when he felt the manifestation of the Spirit in a way that left him spiritually enthralled but did not include speaking in tongues. He recalled, “For a time, this was conclusive evidence to me that the speaking with other tongues was not the evidence of the Baptism … people asked me if I had received the Holy Spirit. I would confidently affirm that I had, yet in my spirit I felt a lack … it was as if I had seen a great deluge of rain falling over a country parched by the sun and greatly refreshing it for the time, but leaving no river flowing through it.”<br /> <br /> It was a full year later when Carter experienced the fullness of the Spirit with the evidence of tongues. “From that day on in the year 1915 to the present, I have never ceased to speak with other tongues … not only did the showers fall …but a river has flowed ever since, from which I have been able to slake my thirst daily.”<br /> <br /> Interestingly, Carter’s faith developed deep roots while in prison during World War I. Like many Pentecostals in this period, Howard Carter was a pacifist. When Britain passed the Military Service Act in 1916, Carter registered as a conscientious objector. Because he made his living as a draftsman and not as a minister, even though he was pastoring a small Pentecostal work at the time, he was not allowed to claim his religious affiliation as an exemption to military service. On March 16, 1917, Carter was sentenced to 112 days hard labor, locked in solitary confinement, and given a diet of bread and water.<br /> <br /> It was during his imprisonment that a lifelong quest to unlock the mysteries of the gifts of the Spirit began. Having nothing to study but his Bible, he spent his confined hours praying and searching through the entirety of the Scriptures, seeking to develop a fuller understanding of spiritual gifts, a topic he felt had been neglected by church theology for centuries. The teaching he developed during this time enabled him to construct a balanced and scriptural teaching on the gifts of the Spirit, which was his greatest contribution to the Pentecostal movement.<br /> <br /> Carter went on to direct a Pentecostal Bible school for 27 years, and he was a founding member of the British Assemblies of God, serving first as vice-chairman and then as chairman. During his years as the leader of that movement he made it a goal to visit every Assemblies of God missionary on the field, including taking a two-year missionary journey with his young American protégé, Lester Sumrall.<br /> <br /> Resigning his position with the British Assemblies in 1945, Carter continued to travel the world, encouraging missionaries and leading many into the Pentecostal experience through his teaching on spiritual gifts. In 1955, at the age of 64, the confirmed bachelor married Ruth Steelberg, widow of the general superintendent of the U.S. Assemblies of God, Wesley Steelberg. The newlyweds embarked on a world preaching tour, inspiring others to move out in faith and exercise the gifts of the Spirit. They ministered together until Carter’s death in 1971.<br /> <br /> Carter’s life motto can be summed up in the prayer he penned in 1923 after attending the great campaign in London of successful evangelist Stephen Jeffreys. As he contrasted his mundane ministry of Bible school teacher with the successful evangelistic crusade he wrote in the front of his Bible, “Let me never lose the all-important truth that to be in Thy will is better than success, and grant that I may ever love Thyself more than Thy service.”<br /> <br /> While Carter was never considered a great evangelist, he was a solid teacher and an encourager who made an eternal impact that will outlast even the beautiful architecture of Westminster Abbey.<br /> <br /> Read Howard Carter’s article, “Speaking in Tongues as the Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” on page 2 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1945/1945_05_19.pdf#Page2">May 19, 1945, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “How Pentecost Came to India,” by Minnie Abrams<br /> <br /> • “The Tarrying Meeting,” by Stanley Frodsham<br /> <br /> • “An Anniversary Testimony,” by A.H. Argue<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1945/1945_05_19.pdf#Page2">Click here to read this issue now</a>. <br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://ifphc.org">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.</a>{676F379F-168C-437C-B3CB-54C6C5E9DFC0}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2016/04/This-Week-in-AG-History-April-24-1960<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Charlie-Lee_1400_2025.jpg" alt="" />An award-winning artist, Native American Charlie Lee chose instead to become an AG minister and witness God take messed up lives and turn them into masterpieces for His glory.Thu, 24 Apr 2025 12:00:00 Z<p><span>Charlie Lee (1924-2003), a talented young Navajo artist, won widespread recognition and numerous awards for his paintings and sketches of life on the reservation. Despite his success, Lee felt dissatisfied with his life. In the fall of 1947, an Apache school friend invited him to visit an Assemblies of God church at the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona, where he found new life and accepted Christ on New Year's Day, 1948.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Feeling called to the ministry, Lee enrolled at Central Bible Institute in Springfield, Missouri. He graduated in 1951 and traveled extensively as an evangelist among Native Americans. In 1953, Lee and his wife, Coralie, returned to his home state of New Mexico and pioneered Mesa View Assembly of God in Shiprock. Lee wanted to share the hope he had found in Christ with other Native Americans. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Lee continued to paint, mostly depictions of Native life, but his primary concern was ministry. Within 10 years, his congregation grew to several hundred people, mostly converts who had previously been addicted to alcohol or other drugs.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Lee became one of the best-known Native American pastors within the Assemblies of God. His congregation in Shiprock, in 1976, became the first Native American church on a federally recognized reservation to make the transition from being a supported mission to a fully indigenous, self-supporting, General Council-affiliated church. While some non-Christians criticized Lee for neglecting his art in favor of ministry, Lee responded that he derived a “greater thrill” from seeing the “Master Artist” painting on the canvas of people’s lives.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Read Lee’s testimony, "Navajo Artist Builds a Church for His People," which was published on pages 8 and 9 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1960/1960_04_24.pdf#Page8">April 24, 1960, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel.</em></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>Also featured in this issue: </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>• "Africa As I Saw It," by C.C. Crace </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>• "Busy Mother Ministers to the Blind," by Maxine Strobridge </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>• "Has God Forgotten?" by Meyer and Alice Tan-Ditter </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span>And many more! </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1960/1960_04_24.pdf#Page8">Click here to read this issue now</a>. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 16pt;"><em><span>Pentecostal Evangel </span></em><span>archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="http://ifphc.org">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br /> </span></p>{E5C2D16C-7B39-4D3F-9A29-9647E9157428}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2020/03/This-Week-in-AG-History-March-29-1959<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Augustus-Wogu_1400.jpeg" alt="" />Incredibly, a single issue of the Pentecostal Evangel is credited in part for the creation of the Nigerian Assemblies of God.Thu, 27 Mar 2025 12:00:00 ZA great revival in Nigeria that led to the formation of the Assemblies of God in that nation can be traced back to a single issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel,</em> which somehow found its way from America to Africa in the early 1930s. Histories of the Assemblies of God of Nigeria credit the periodical for sparking a hunger for the baptism in the Holy Spirit among Nigerians.<br /> <br /> The March 29, 1959, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>recounted this story of the origins of the Nigerian Assemblies of God. “It is not known how the magazine came into their possession,” according to the article, “but it is known that they were deeply stirred by the accounts of healing and of believers being baptized in the Holy Spirit.”<br /> <br /> The Nigerians who first read this “missionary” issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> were members of a small Holiness denomination, Faith Tabernacle, which had headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Faith Tabernacle leaders in America told the Nigerians to stay away from the Pentecostals. But as the Nigerians searched Scriptures, they saw that the Pentecostal message was biblical. They started praying, and many were healed and filled with the Holy Spirit. “Overjoyed, these newly baptized believers went from place to place testifying and preaching to all who would hear,” the article reported, “with the result that converts were won and small church groups were formed in various places.”<br /> <br /> Augustus Ehurie Wogu, a prominent civil servant with the Nigerian Marine Department, was one of the early converts. Wogu, along with Augustus Asonye, G.M. Alioha, and others, helped to lay the foundation for the young Pentecostal movement in Nigeria.<br /> <br /> Nigerian Pentecostals made contact with the American Assemblies of God, which published the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>. American church leaders put them in contact with a missionary laboring in the Gold Coast (now Ghana), W. Lloyd Shirer. Shirer helped to organize the Assemblies of God in Nigeria in 1939.<br /> <br /> The Assemblies of God in Nigeria has experienced phenomenal growth. In 1959, the fellowship had 293 churches with 14,794 adherents. By 2024, this tally increased to 14,794 churches and outstations with 2,341,668 members and adherents. And all of this happened because someone whose name is now forgotten sent an issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>to a place which had no Assemblies of God missionaries.<br /> <br /> Read, “Pentecostal Progress in Nigeria,” on pages 22 and 23 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1950-1959/1959/1959_03_29.pdf" target="_blank">March 29, 1959, issue</a> of the<em> Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “Resurrection and Missions,” by Robert L. Brandt<br /> <br /> • “Ministry on the Danish Islands,” by Victor G. Greisen<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1950-1959/1959/1959_03_29.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br class="t-last-br" />{B69F5030-CCF5-4095-8532-04EC5680A5D4}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2019/02/This-Week-in-AG-History-Feb-22-1919<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/AlbertNorton_1400.jpg" alt="" />Early AG missionary Albert Norton was bold in his belief that compassion and preaching the Word of God must go hand-in-hand.Thu, 20 Feb 2025 13:00:00 ZOne hundred years ago, Assemblies of God missionary Albert Norton witnessed the tragic starvation and suffering of countless people in India. He responded to this humanitarian crisis in a <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> article, in which he argued that Christian preaching must be accompanied by works of compassion.<br /> <br /> Norton’s experience in India gave him a different perspective than many other Christians in America. At the time, there was a growing divide within Christianity between evangelicals and theological liberals. In the early 20th century, many mainline Protestant churches were in the process of redefining the Christian faith. New academic theories undermined the authority of Scripture, and a faith in science replaced faith in the God of miracles as described in the Bible. These theological liberals pioneered a “Social Gospel” movement defined by doing good works, even as they left behind the seemingly antiquated notion that “Truth” could be found in Scripture.<br /> <br /> In America, evangelicals and Pentecostals often responded to the Social Gospel movement by reasserting biblical truths. Some tried to reform older denominations from within; others formed new, purer churches. Some backed away from social action, concerned that an emphasis on good works could distract from what they believed was the more important duty to preach the Word.<br /> <br /> Outside America, missionaries such as Albert Norton were often surrounded by great suffering and felt compelled to minister in both word and deed.<br /> <br /> In a 1919 <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>article, Norton wrote the following bold statement:<br /> <br /> “A Christianity that coldly sits down, and goes on its routine of formal work, and allows its fellowmen to starve, or to be obliged to go through all the hard sufferings and exposure connected with famine, without effort to help them, might as well quit its preaching.”<br /> <br /> Norton, who was witnessing an unfolding human tragedy, asked that “all missionaries, Mission Boards and Committees, and all Christian Workers to do what they can to save their brothers and sisters in India from dying of starvation or from the kindred train of evils following famine.”<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>editor Stanley H. Frodsham responded and devoted the entire front page of the Feb. 22, 1919, issue to the desperate situation in India. He asked readers to send famine relief to Gospel Publishing House, which he promised would “be promptly sent to the field.”<br /> <br /> Frodsham provided three justifications for this request to save bodies as well as souls. First, he stated that Scripture required it, quoting <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+19%3A17%2CProverbs+24%3A11-12&version=NIV" target="_blank">Proverbs 19:17 and 24:11-12</a>. Second, he noted that the Methodist church had asked its members to forego luxuries for a few months and to instead provide money for Indian relief. He challenged Pentecostals to do likewise.<br /> <br /> Third, he noted that the future of the church depended upon rescuing those who are starving now. He again quoted Norton, “There are young men and women in India today, who were saved as famine orphans several years ago, and now they are filled with the Holy Spirit, and being greatly used in the extension of Christ’s kingdom.” Meeting the physical needs to the starving today would yield preachers tomorrow. He continued, “How unutterably sad it would have been if they had been allowed to die of starvation.”<br /> <br /> Early Pentecostal missionaries such as Norton had very limited physical resources to share, but they still recognized the need to minister in both word and deed. When the Assemblies of God, at its 2009 General Council, added compassion as the fourth element for its reason for being — joining worship, evangelism, and discipleship — this was an affirmation of a long-standing practice.<br /> <br /> Read Frodsham’s entire article, “Plague and Famine Raging in India,” on pages 1-2 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1913-1919/1919/1919_02_22.pdf#Page1" target="_blank">Feb. 22, 1919, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “Run to Help the Dying,” by A.E.L.<br /> <br /> • “Hints Regarding Divine Healing,” by Florence Burpee<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1913-1919/1919/1919_02_22.pdf#Page1" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.{40C40A6B-66DB-4619-B575-5A2886681864}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2020/02/This-Week-in-AG-History-Feb-8-1930<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/Aunt-Fanny-Lack_1400.jpg" alt="" />Aunt Fanny Luck was 100 years old when she was healed and became a Christian, and for the next decade she shared her testimony wherever she went.Thu, 06 Feb 2025 13:00:00 Z<p>When “Aunt” Fanny Lack, a 100-year-old Hoopa Indian woman, accepted Christ and was healed in 1920, she became a local sensation on the Hoopa Indian Reservation in northern California. She was among the earliest Native American Pentecostals, and was almost certainly the oldest. She became a faithful member of the Hoopa Assembly of God and shared her testimony wherever she went. Lack lived for at least nine more years, and during this time she received considerable attention by the press for her longevity and remarkable life story.<br /> <br /> Aunt Fanny was revered among members of her tribe for her age, for being a link to their past, and for her Christian testimony. Pentecostals also identified her as one of their own, and her story was published in the Feb. 8, 1930, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel.</em><br /> <br /> Born in about 1820, Aunt Fanny recounted the sacred stories of her ancestors. She herself had lived longer than most everyone else. She remembered, as a girl, seeing the first white men come to her small village. She initially thought they were creatures sent from the Thunder Sky by the Great Spirit. Afterward, she witnessed white soldiers massacre many Native Americans in her village. She survived the massacre and forgave the white men who killed her people.<br /> <br /> Sometime later, Aunt Fanny’s husband was hunting with a white man and saved him from being killed by a bear. He shot the bear through its heart with a flint-pointed arrow. The man, grateful for his life, gave a gun to Aunt Fanny’s husband. The gun made him the envy of others in the tribe. Aunt Fanny also learned to chew and smoke “pedro” tobacco from the white men. She became an addict.<br /> <br /> Aunt Fanny accepted Christ under the ministry of a Mexican-American Pentecostal evangelist, A.C. Valdez, who visited her reservation in 1920. When she became a Christian at her advanced age, others in the tribe took notice. Before her conversion, she was badly stooped over and was partly paralyzed in her mouth and an arm. After she accepted Christ, she was healed and could stand straight and would regularly walk 8 to 10 miles each day. Numerous articles about Aunt Fanny appeared in newspapers across the United States throughout the 1920s. She shared her Christian testimony wherever she went, according to these press reports.<br /> <br /> According to a lengthy 1925 article in the <em>Times Standard</em> newspaper published in Eureka, California, Aunt Fanny walked between five and eight miles to attend services at the Hoopa Pentecostal mission. The mission (now known as Hoopa Assembly of God) affiliated with the Assemblies of God in 1927. The article also noted that Aunt Fanny was able to overcome her tobacco addiction shortly after converting to Christ. The article reported: “Aunt Fanny . . . believes devoutly in healing, and attributes the fact that she is now able to stand straighter than in former years to Divine healing.”<br /> <br /> J.D. Wells, an early Assemblies of God missionary to Native Americans, shared Aunt Fanny’s story with readers of the Feb. 8, 1930, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>. At the time, she was 109 years old and continued to present a strong Christian witness. He wrote, “Everyone on the reservation welcomes Fanny for a stay at their home, as they feel that God will bless their household while she is present, and this seems to be a truth.”<br /> <br /> Read the article, “A Veteran Enters the Lord’s Army,” by J.D. Wells, on pages 10-11 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1930/1930_02_08.pdf" target="_blank">Feb. 8, 1930, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “The Need of the Hour,” by Flem Van Meter<br /> <br /> • “Divine Healing,” by J.N. Hoover<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1930/1930_02_08.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> See also: “Aunt Fanny Lack: The Remarkable Conversion, Healing, and Ministry of a 100-Year-Old Hoopa Indian Woman,” by Matt Hufman and Darrin Rodgers, published in the 2015/2016 edition of <em><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org/-/media/FPHC/Heritage-Magazine/2015_2016.pdf" target="_blank">Assemblies of God Heritage</a></em>. </p> <p><em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.</p>{0C3B7A1B-8004-4698-96FE-162223DE35C2}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2020/01/This-Week-in-AG-History-Jan-31-1931<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2025-Article-Images/1400/ThisWeek_Jan31-1400.jpg" alt="" />Samuel A. Jamieson was a non-Pentecostal minister and church planter who encountered the Holy Spirit and became one of the Assemblies of God's founding fathers.Thu, 30 Jan 2025 13:00:00 ZSamuel A. Jamieson (1857-1933), one of the founding fathers of the Assemblies of God, previously served as a denominational leader in the Presbyterian church in Minnesota. Despite having all the outward signs of ministerial success, Jamieson felt that inside he was spiritually dry. Jamieson shared his testimony in the Jan. 31, 1931, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Jamieson, a graduate of Wabash College and Lane Theological Seminary, was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1881. A pastor and church planter, he also served as superintendent over home missions for five Minnesota counties. He organized 35 Presbyterian congregations and 25 new churches were built under his direction.<br /> <br /> Jamieson appeared to be a model minister, but he continued to grow more and more spiritually weary. What could he do? Jamieson and his wife, Hattie, had reached a point of desperation when they heard about the Azusa Street Revival (1906-1909) in Los Angeles, which was a focal point of the emerging Pentecostal movement. They believed it might be an answer to their prayers.<br /> <br /> In 1908, Hattie Jamieson went to Atlanta, Georgia, where she attended services at the Pentecostal Mission for over three months. She was Spirit-baptized, and she testified that “He [God] flooded my soul with peace and joy.” She returned home and encouraged her husband to resign his position and also seek the Baptism.<br /> <br /> Jamieson rejected his wife’s plea, fearing that identifying with the Pentecostals would be costly. “For me to give up my position of honor and my good salary,” he wrote, “would eventually lead me to the poorhouse.” Hattie continued to reason with him, saying that he needed to be “willing to pay the price” to follow God.<br /> <br /> Finally, after three years, Jamieson relented. He began praying earnestly and, he recalled, “the Lord soon removed from my mind all hindrances to tarrying for the Baptism.” In 1911 he resigned his position in Duluth, Minnesota, and joined with Florence Crawford’s Apostolic Faith Mission in Portland, Oregon. The following year, they moved on to Dallas, Texas, where Jamieson was Spirit-baptized under the ministry of healing evangelist Maria Woodworth-Etter.<br /> <br /> Jamieson attended the organizational meeting of the Assemblies of God in April 1914, and he became a noted pastor, educator, and executive presbyter in the Fellowship. He served as principal of Midwest Bible School (Auburn, Nebraska), which was the first Bible school owned by the General Council of the Assemblies of God. He also authored two books of sermons published by Gospel Publishing House: <em>The Great Shepherd </em>(1924) and <em>Pillars of Truth</em> (1926).<br /> <br /> Jamieson, in his 1931 article, wrote that the baptism in the Holy Spirit changed his ministry in the following three ways. First, Jamieson realized that he had been relying upon his academic training rather than upon the Holy Spirit in his sermon preparation. He literally burned up his old sermon notes, humorously noting, “they were so dry that they burned like tinder.” Second, Jamieson wrote, “After I received my Baptism the Bible was practically a new book to me. I understood it as I never had done before. Preaching under the anointing became a delight, and my love for souls was very much increased.” Third, Jamieson wrote, “It increased my love for God and my fellow men, gave me a more consuming compassion for souls, and changed my view of the ministry so that it was no longer looked upon as a profession but as a calling.”<br /> <br /> Samuel A. Jamieson’s testimony beautifully captures the early Pentecostal worldview. This worldview, at its core, included a transformational experience with God that brought people into a deeper life in Christ and empowered them to be witnesses. Jamieson concluded his 1931 article with the following admonition: “To those who would read this narrative I would suggest that if you want to succeed in your Christian work you should seek the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.” Jamieson hoped that his testimony would spur others to seek what he had found.<br /> <br /> Read the article, “How a Presbyterian Preacher Received the Baptism,” by S.A. Jamieson, on page 2 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1931/1931_01_31.pdf" target="_blank">Jan. 31, 1931, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “The Thrilling Experience of a Congo Missionary,” by Alva Walker<br /> <br /> • “The Pentecostal People and What They Believe,” by Stanley H. Frodsham<br /> <br /> • “After Twenty Years in Egypt,” by Lillian Trasher<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1931/1931_01_31.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" />{80BD9DF6-F7B2-492F-AD38-E3A5DFDA379E}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2016/12/This-Week-in-AG-History-Dec-13-1941<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2024-Article-Images/1400/William-Long-prophecy-chart_1400.jpg" alt="" />A minister, William E. Long, apologized for the pride and errancy of his youth, but his later words ring true even today as he urged pastors to not neglect the preaching of the second coming of Christ.Thu, 12 Dec 2024 15:00:00 Z<p><span>On the first Sunday after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Assemblies of God church members opened their weekly magazine, the<em> Pentecostal Evangel</em>, to an article by Iowa evangelist (and later Kansas City pastor), William E. Long, asking them, “Can ye not discern the signs of the times?”</span> </p> <p><span>Long lamented that when he was younger he possessed more Bible knowledge than he did in later years. When he started in ministry he confidently thought he “knew” the identity of the Antichrist and believed he could easily ascertain the meaning of the 144,000 of Revelation 14 and the Man-child of Revelation 12. He recalled the sermons he had heard proffering various identities of the Beast of Revelation, among whom were Kaiser Bill, Woodrow Wilson, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler.</span> </p> <p><span>Long also recalled the fear of a dear old saint greatly disturbed about a sticker on the back of his car displaying a Blue Eagle (the symbol of President Roosevelt’s “National Recovery Administration”). She met him in front of the church in tears and, pointing to his sticker, exclaimed, “Oh, Brother Long, you have taken the Mark of the Beast!” </span> </p> <p><span>Looking back as an older, more experienced preacher, Long had good advice for the <em>Evangel</em> readers of 1941 and for Pentecostal believers today. He cautioned against two extremes in handling biblical prophecy. The first being that we would be “carried away with every foolish idea that blows our way.” As Pentecostals we are anxious to see the prophecies of the Bible fulfilled and, in our enthusiasm, can fall prey to absurd and short-sighted teachings.</span> </p> <p><span>The second extreme is that these “wild, weird ideas” would lead to a reluctance to preach prophetic sermons. Neglecting biblical prophecy is just as alarming as the first extreme, according to Long. He pleaded, “We must keep preaching the second coming of the Lord and not quit just because some have read into the Bible prophecies things that were not there.”</span> </p> <p><span>After World War I, the “war to end all wars,” Long stated that many American preachers have “stood before large audiences and said they wouldn’t insult their audience by believing there would be any more wars.” Saying we have “beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks,” these preachers forgot Jesus said that right up until the time of the end “there shall be wars, and rumors of wars.” Having heard their president declare war on Japan that very week, his words took on a somber tone for <em>Evangel</em> readers.</span> </p> <p><span>Long also pointed to Jesus’ proclamation that the Jews “shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9) and reminds his readers that “in America today there are clubs and beaches and areas with signs which say, 'For Gentiles Only.'" Even though Long and the rest of the Western world did not yet know the fullness of the atrocities of the Jewish Holocaust happening at that very moment, he warned this would be a sign of the nearness of Christ’s return.</span> </p> <p><span>He also mentioned that Pentecostals should learn from the Jews who watch for the appearance of Messiah. “The Jews are looking for Him and praying that Messiah will come. But let us ask ourselves this question: are we really anxious for Jesus Christ to return? We in America are not so anxious to have Him come. We have good jobs, we live in luxury, we have comfortable homes, we still enjoy peace.”</span> </p> <p><span>Long ended his exhortation to remember the urgency of Christ’s second coming with an application from His first coming. He directed readers to Luke 2 and Simeon, a man who lived his entire life longing to see Jesus, yet who only saw the Lord for a few short moments. “Why lament because we did not have the privilege of knowing Jesus as the shepherds did, and Simeon, and John? We are going to be in His presence <em>forever</em>! … My prayer is, ‘Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!’ Is that your prayer, too?”</span> </p> <p><span>Read Long’s article, “Signs of the Times,” on pages 2 and 3 of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Dec. 13, 1941, issue" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1941/1941_12_13.pdf"><span>Dec. 13, 1941, issue</span></a><span> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>. </span></p> <p><span>Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p><span>• "Are You a Fruit-Bearing or a Withered Branch?," by Clara A. Grace</span></p> <p><span>• "A Scientist Meets the God of Science," by James R. Graham Jr.</span></p> <p><span>• "News from our School and Orphanage in Syria"</span></p> <p><span>And many more!</span></p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Click here to read this issue now" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1941/1941_12_13.pdf"><span>Click here to read this issue now</span></a><span>.</span> </p> <p><em><span>Pentecostal Evangel</span></em><span> archived editions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center" target="_blank" href="https://ifphc.org"><span>Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a><span>.</span></p>{C9570651-A392-4FD5-A44D-08B916568AE8}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2020/12/This-Week-in-AG-History-Dec-2-1916<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2024-Article-Images/1400/Eddie-Driver-crop-1400_2024.jpg" alt="" />Pastor Eddie Driver, a lawyer and then Baptist minister, later became a leader in the Pentecostal movement, and established the first Church of God in Christ in the Western United States.Thu, 05 Dec 2024 13:00:00 ZA small notice about an ongoing revival at the Saints Home Church in Los Angeles might have escaped the attention of readers of the Dec. 2, 1916, issue of the <em>Weekly Evangel </em>(the magazine of the Assemblies of God and the predecessor to the<em> Pentecostal Evangel</em>). Unless the reader was familiar with the pastor and the congregation, the revival report would have been indistinguishable from countless similar articles. The congregation’s pastor, Eddie R. Driver, reported spiritual progress: “God is blessing these meetings with a full house, souls are being saved and baptized with the Holy Ghost, the sick are being healed, and there is a great outpouring of God’s choicest blessings accompanying every service.”<br /> <br /> Eddie Driver (1868-1944) was an African-American businessman and attorney (he was licensed to practice general and corporation law in Memphis in 1892). He accepted the call to preach in 1893 and became a Baptist pastor. Several years later he became friends with Charles H. Mason, the influential African-American Holiness Baptist pastor who went on to found the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). Driver joined Mason’s organization, became Chairman of the COGIC Council of Elders, and drafted the COGIC’s original articles of incorporation.<br /> <br /> In 1914, Mason asked Driver to move from Memphis to Los Angeles to establish a COGIC congregation. Driver complied and became pastor of an existing Pentecostal congregation, the Apostolic Mission at 14th and Woodson streets. The congregation had roots in the interracial Azusa Street Revival (1906-1909), which had been a focal point in the emerging Pentecostal movement. As the Azusa Street revival fires grew dim, numerous small Pentecostal missions popped up across the City of Angels. The Apostolic Mission was one of those new congregations.<br /> <br /> Driver organized the congregation as Saints Home Church of God in Christ in 1914, the first COGIC located in the western states. Driver personified the interracial nature of early Los Angeles Pentecostalism. He had a mixed ethnic heritage and could pass as an African-American, a Mexican, or a Filipino. The congregation’s leadership consisted of Blacks, whites, Mexicans, and Filipinos.<br /> <br /> Something else about the 1916 article in the <em>Weekly Evangel</em> merits attention. Driver was promoting the ministry of a white evangelist, Thomas Griffin, who had been holding services at Saints Home Church. Griffin, an Irish Catholic who immigrated to the United States, accepted Christ and became a prominent Pentecostal evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century.<br /> <br /> Large portions of early issues of the <em>Weekly Evangel </em>were dedicated to small revival reports such as the one submitted by Driver. What was the racial makeup of these early congregations that promoted their activities in the <em>Evangel</em>? No one knows. It would require significant research to discover the identities of these early Pentecostal leaders and congregations. What we can know, as this article demonstrates, was that the early Pentecostal revival crossed the racial and ethnic divides.<br /> <br /> Read the article, “Notes from the Field,” on page 14 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1916/FPHC/1916_12_02.pdf" target="_blank">Dec. 2, 1916, issue</a> of the <em>Weekly Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “Faith in Action in the Mission Field,” by Paul Bettex<br /> <br /> • “God’s Prayer House,” by Elizabeth Sisson<br /> <br /> • “Three Christian Soldiers,” by C.W. Doney<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1916/FPHC/1916_12_02.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Weekly Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.{B2D14F01-0306-4DD6-8800-1DD5426F7B05}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2019/11/This-Week-in-AG-History-Nov-29-1930<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2024-Article-Images/1400/Fargo-Gospel-Tabernacle_1400.jpg" alt="" />Topeka and Azusa Street are well-known for the origins of the Pentecostal movement, but they weren't the only places where the Holy Spirit was evident.Fri, 29 Nov 2024 13:00:00 ZFew Assemblies of God congregations in 1930 could boast an attendance of 1,000 people in a service. Yet when Fargo Gospel Tabernacle dedicated its new building on Oct. 8, 1930, over 1,000 people attended the services. The Nov. 29, 1930, issue of <em>The</em> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> reported on the event held in North Dakota’s largest city, then with a population of 28,619. British-born, Oxford-educated evangelist Charles S. Price was the dedication speaker, and long-time local pastor John Thompson also delivered a sermon in the Swedish language.<br /> <br /> Fargo Gospel Tabernacle (now <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.northview.life/" target="_blank">Northview Church</a>) was organized in 1926, and by 1933 claimed approximately 500 members. How did this congregation grow so quickly in this northern city known for its large Scandinavian immigrant population? At least two factors played a part in the church’s rapid development.<br /> <br /> First, Fargo Gospel Tabernacle was built upon the foundation of earlier Pentecostal revivals and churches in the region. The congregation’s most significant Pentecostal predecessor was the Swedish Free Mission, which was located in neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota. <br /> <br /> John Thompson previously served as pastor of the Swedish Free Mission before becoming a member of Fargo Gospel Tabernacle in his later years. The Swedish Free Mission was a leading congregation in a network of Scandinavian congregations in Minnesota and the Dakotas in which speaking in tongues and healing commonly occurred as early as the 1890s. Many early members of Fargo Gospel Tabernacle had been previously involved in this indigenous Scandinavian-American Pentecostal revival.<br /> <br /> Second, Fargo Gospel Tabernacle was organized by a Norwegian immigrant, Henry H. Ness, who proved particularly adept at unifying existing Pentecostals and engaging the local community in high-profile activities. <br /> <br /> Ness was a gifted orator and organizer, he held a number of successful evangelistic events, and he also produced two weekly radio programs, the <em>Sunshine Hour</em> and the <em>Back Home Hour</em>, broadcast over local radio station WDAY. Ness left Fargo in 1933 and moved to Seattle, Washington, where he pastored an Assemblies of God congregation, Hollywood Temple, and also founded <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.northwestu.edu/" target="_blank">Northwest University</a>.<br /> <br /> Today, Northview Church is the second largest Assemblies of God congregation in North Dakota, with Sunday morning attendance of about 1,800 people.<br /> <br /> The history of early Pentecostalism in Fargo demonstrates that the Pentecostal movement did not originate solely among English-speakers in revivals at Topeka, Kansas (1901), or Azusa Street, Los Angeles, California (1906-1909). Rather, people from various national and denominational backgrounds, all of whom had experienced a common touch of the Holy Spirit, coalesced to form what we know today as the Pentecostal movement. While revivals at Topeka and Los Angeles were among the most prominent points of Pentecostal origin, early Scandinavian Pentecostal revivals in Minnesota and the Dakotas remind us of the movement’s diverse origins.<br /> <br /> Read the report of the dedication of Fargo Gospel Tabernacle on page 21 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1930/1930_11_29.pdf" target="_blank">Nov. 29, 1930, issue</a> of <em>The Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • "The Three Phases of Sanctification," by Donald Gee<br /> <br /> • "Is it Possible to be Happy?" by J. Narver Gortner<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1930-1939/1930/1930_11_29.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>. <br /> <br /> For additional information about early Pentecostal revivals among Scandinavian immigrants to the United States, see the recently published book, <em><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.amazon.com/Revising-Pentecostal-History-Scandinavian-American-Pentecostalism/dp/B0DNG3CD4T/" target="_blank">Revising Pentecostal History: Scandinavian-American Contributions to the Development of Pentecostalism</a></em> (2024), which includes an article by Darrin Rodgers, the director of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, about the history of Scandinavian-Americans in the Assemblies of God. <br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.<br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" /> <br class="t-last-br" />{8888FF77-AE85-48E8-88A2-94312BD52852}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2020/11/This-Week-in-AG-History-Nov-14-1914<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2024-Article-Images/1400/Stone-church-1400_2024b.jpg" alt="" />The story behind the second General Council's resolution committing the new Fellowship to, “the greatest evangelism that the world has ever seen.”Thu, 14 Nov 2024 13:00:00 Z<p>One hundred and ten years ago, hundreds of Assemblies of God pastors, evangelists, and missionaries traveled to Chicago to attend the second General Council. Held Nov. 15-29, 1914, at the Stone Church, this meeting’s stated purpose was “to lay a firm foundation upon which to build the Assemblies of God.”<br /> <br /> The Assemblies of God had been organized just seven months earlier in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The young Fellowship grew quickly as existing independent ministers joined its ranks. They appreciated the vision for fellowship, accountability, and structure, while maintaining the autonomy of the local congregation. This growth caused founding chairman E.N. Bell to call for a second meeting, in order to make urgent decisions about the future of the new organization.<br /> <br /> The Stone Church, one of the largest Pentecostal congregations in America, could easily accommodate the expected 1,000 participants. Delegates to the meeting made several important structural changes. They decided to move the headquarters from Findlay, Ohio, to St. Louis, Missouri, which would provide a more central location in a larger city. Delegates voted to expand the number of executive presbyters from 12 to 16, making the leadership more representative of the constituency. New leadership was also elected and Gospel Publishing House was authorized to expand its operations.<br /> <br /> But the most far-reaching decision at the second General Council was one that was not on the original agenda. Assemblies of God leaders planned to take a missionary offering at the conclusion of the General Council. They had written articles encouraging people to bring money to give to missions. But the pastor of the Stone Church decided that the final offering should instead go to his own church, to help defray expenses related to hosting the council. Assemblies of God leaders, although frustrated with this turn of events, did not oppose the pastor’s request. Instead, they decided to issue a strongly-worded resolution in which they committed the Assemblies of God, from that point forward, to the cause of world evangelization. L.C. Hall drafted the resolution, which read:<br /> <br /> “As a Council, we hereby express our gratitude to God for His great blessing upon the Movement in the past. We are grateful to Him for the results attending this forward Movement and we commit ourselves and the Movement to Him for the greatest evangelism that the world has ever seen. We pledge our hearty cooperation, prayers, and help to this end.”<br /> <br /> This iconic resolution, unanimously adopted by the delegates, has been widely quoted as illustrating how support for missions is part of the DNA of the Assemblies of God.<br /> <br /> There is more to the story. In the spring of 1915, something shocking was discovered about the Stone Church pastor, R.L. Erickson, who had refused to let the offering go to missions. The May 29, 1915, issue of the <em>Weekly Evangel</em> alerted readers that Erickson had been removed from the ministerial list due to moral failure. In a lengthy article, E.N. Bell detailed how Erickson’s “greed” was evidence of poor moral character, which also manifested itself in other harmful ways in his life and ministry. In Bell’s estimation, Erickson’s greed led him to take the offering meant for missions, which led to the adoption of the strong statement in support of missions. What Satan meant for harm, Bell wrote, God could turn into good. And 110 years later, the Assemblies of God remains committed to “the greatest evangelism that the world has ever seen.”<br /> <br /> Read the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1914/FPHC/1914_11_14.pdf" target="_blank">Nov. 14, 1914, issue</a> of the <em>Christian Evangel</em>, which published the minutes from the first General Council and encouraged readers to attend the second General Council.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “The Work in Africa and Egypt,” by Frank M. Moll<br /> <br /> • “The Unanswered Prayer,” by Harry Morse <br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1914/FPHC/1914_11_14.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>. </p> <p>Also read E.N. Bell’s article, “The Great Outlook,” in which he details the events surrounding the adoption of the resolution regarding missions, on pages 3 and 4 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1915/FPHC/1915_05_29.pdf" target="_blank">May 29, 1915, issue</a> of the <em>Weekly Evangel</em>.</p> <p><em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>, <em>Christian Evangel,</em> and <em>Weekly Evangel </em>archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>. </p>{F40840AC-2ADC-4918-86D4-2E94B8978E40}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/Spiritual-Life/2024/11/Grateful-for-Veterans<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2024-Article-Images/1400/Veteran_1400.jpg" alt="" />On this Veterans Day, we remember and honor those who risked their lives to protect the freedoms Americans enjoy.Mon, 11 Nov 2024 15:30:00 ZOn this Veterans Day, we reflect on those who risked their lives to protect the freedoms Americans enjoy. Veterans Day dates back more than a century. An armistice, or cessation of hostilities, effectively ended World War I when it went into effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month: Nov. 11, 1918. From that day forward, each Nov. 11 was marked as Armistice Day in remembrance of those who served. The day became a national holiday in the U.S. in 1938 and the name was later changed to Veterans Day to honor those who served in all wars. <br /> <br /> Today, Americans honor veterans as well as men and women on active duty in the military. With gratitude for their service, we pray for God’s peace and presence to be with them and their families. <br /> <br /> Here is a collection of inspirational quotes to reflect on this Veterans Day. <br /> <br /> “The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.” — President George Washington<br /> <br /> “The willingness of America’s veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude.” — Jeff Miller, former U.S. representative<br /> <br /> “The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” — President Abraham Lincoln<br /> <br /> “Our veterans accepted the responsibility to defend America and uphold our values when duty called.” — Bill Shuster, former U.S. representative<br /> <br /> “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with lots of pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.” — President Woodrow Wilson<br /> <br /> “Freedom is never free.” — anonymous<br /> <br /> “Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude.” — President Harry S. Truman<br /> <br /> “Fallen heroes represent the character of a nation who has a long history of patriotism and honor.” — Michael N. Castle, former U.S. reprentative<br /> <br /> “We remember those who were called upon to give all a person can give, and we remember those who were prepared to make that sacrifice if it were demanded of them in the line of duty, though it never was. Most of all, we remember the devotion and gallantry with which all of them ennobled their nation as they became champions of a noble cause.” — President Ronald Reagan <br /> <br /> “On this Veterans Day, let us remember the service of our veterans, and let us renew our national promise to fulfill our sacred obligations to our veterans and their families who have sacrificed so much so that we can live free.” — Dan Lipinski, former U.S. representative<br />{9691EA7D-FF28-4405-AA1A-091BD31365FB}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2020/10/This-Week-in-AG-History--Oct-29-1949<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2024-Article-Images/1400/Wannenmacher-2024_1400.jpg" alt="" />Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God operated on Joseph Wannenmacher's diseased body, transforming him physically and spiritually.Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:00:00 ZAs a young man, Joseph P. Wannenmacher (1895-1989) was a rising star in the Milwaukee musical scene. But a miraculous healing in a small storefront mission in 1917 forever changed his life, and he went on to become a well-loved Assemblies of God pioneer pastor. He shared his powerful testimony in the Oct. 29, 1949, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Like many other Milwaukee residents, Wannenmacher was an immigrant. He was born in Buzias, Hungary, to a family that was ethnically German and Hungarian. The Wannenmachers moved to Milwaukee in 1903, but his father was unable to adapt to American ways so they returned to Hungary after 10 months. In 1909, they returned to Milwaukee to stay.<br /> <br /> From an early age, music helped define Joseph Wannenmacher’s life. In Hungary, he was surrounded by some of the nation’s best musicians and became a noted violinist. In Milwaukee, at age 18 he organized and conducted the Hungarian Royal Gypsy Orchestra (named after a similar group in his homeland), which performed at many of the region’s top entertainment venues.<br /> <br /> Wannenmacher seemed to have it all. He could afford fashionable clothing, a gold watch, and diamond-studded jewelry. But underneath his successful veneer, Wannenmacher was haunted by his own human frailties.<br /> <br /> Wannenmacher knew that he was dying a slow, painful death. His flesh would swell, develop blisters, and rot. Doctors diagnosed his condition as bone consumption. His sister had already died of the same malady. Anger boiled up in Wannenmacher as he grappled with the unfairness of life. He developed a sharp temper and, try as he might, he could not find peace.<br /> <br /> Wannenmacher was raised in a devout Catholic home, so he turned to his faith to help him deal with his physical pain and bitterness. He frequently attended church and offered penance, but these practices did not seem to help.<br /> <br /> He then turned to Luther’s German translation of the Bible, which someone had given to him, and began reading it voraciously. In its pages he discovered things he had never heard before. He read about Christ’s second coming, salvation by faith, and Christ’s power to heal. Perhaps most importantly, he learned that God is love. Up until that point, he had conceived of God as “Someone away up there with a long beard and a big club just waiting to beat me up.” But then, at age 18, he began to discover the gospel for himself.<br /> <br /> In the midst of this spiritual awakening, Wannenmacher’s health was weakening. He could barely hold his violin bow in his hand, and the pain was almost unbearable. Then one morning in 1917 he heard about a group of German-speaking Pentecostals who prayed for the sick. The next service was scheduled for that afternoon, and Wannenmacher made a beeline for it. He wrote, “It was a dilapidated place, but the sweet presence of God was there.”<br /> <br /> The small band of believers had been fasting and praying that God would send someone who was in need of salvation and healing. The service was unlike anything Wannenmacher had ever seen before. He watched the people get on their knees and cry out to God. Their outpouring of genuine faith moved Joseph’s heart.<br /> <br /> The pastor, Hugo Ulrich, preached that sinners could be saved simply by trusting in Christ. It seemed too good to be true, Wannenmacher thought. Faith then came into his heart, and he started laughing for joy. The pastor thought Wannenmacher was mocking him, but Wannenmacher didn’t care. At the end of the service, Wannenmacher came forward to the altar and experienced a powerful encounter with God.<br /> <br /> Wannenmacher described his time at the altar: “the power of God just struck me and shook for fully half an hour…the more His Spirit operated through my bones, through my muscles, through my being, the hotter I became. The more God’s power surged through me, the more I perspired. The Lord simply operated on that poor, diseased body of mine.”<br /> <br /> He described this experience as being in the “operating room” of God. Later in the service, as he knelt at the altar rail in silent prayer, it seemed like heaven came down. He recalled, “As I waited there in God’s presence … [God’s] hands went down my body from head to toe, and every spirit of infirmity had to go. I got up, and I was a new man.”<br /> <br /> A few days later, Wannenmacher was baptized in the Holy Spirit. He soon launched into gospel ministry and shared his testimony wherever he went. He played his violin and sang gospel songs during the lunch hour at the Harley Davidson plant, where he sometimes worked. He testified about his healing in hospitals, street corners, and other places. Everywhere he went, he prayed with people, and many accepted Christ and were healed. Wannenmacher’s family jokingly referred to his violin as the “healing violin,” because numerous people experienced healing as he played songs such as “The Heavenly City.”<br /> <br /> In 1921 he married Helen Innes and started Full Gospel Church in Milwaukee. He went on to found six additional daughter churches in the area. He also served as the first superintendent of the Hungarian Branch of the Assemblies of God, which was organized in 1944 for Hungarian immigrants to America. After pastoring Full Gospel Church (renamed Calvary Assembly of God in 1944) for 39 years, he retired in 1960.<br /> <br /> Throughout his ministry, Wannenmacher emphasized the importance of the Word of God. In his <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> article, Wannenmacher compared reading the Bible to the mastery of music. “You have to practice and play music over and over again before you have mastered it,” he wrote, “and you have to apply yourself to those wonderful teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, too, in order to make them yours.”<br /> <br /> While Joseph Wannenmacher went to be with the Lord in 1989, his legacy lives on in the churches he founded and in the people whose lives he touched. Calvary AG is continuing to reach people in the Milwaukee area and was renamed <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.honeycreekchurch.org/" target="_blank">Honey Creek Church</a> in 2015. Joseph and Helen’s three children, John, Philip, and Lois (Graber), were involved in Assemblies of God ministries. Philip served as pastor of <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.centralassembly.org/" target="_blank">Central Assembly of God</a> (Springfield, Missouri) from 1970 to 1995. Philip’s daughter, Beth Carroll, serves as director of Human Resources at the Assemblies of God national office. On the floor just above Beth’s office, Joseph’s “healing violin” is on display in the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center museum.<br /> <br /> Joseph Wannenmacher’s story reminds believers that history never really disappears. People, events, and themes from the past tend to resurface in the present, but it often takes discernment to see them. God radically transformed Joseph Wannenmacher’s heart and healed his body, and the world has never been the same.<br /> <br /> Read Joseph P. Wannenmacher’s article, “When God’s Love Came In,” on pages 2-3 and 11-13 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1949/1949_10_29.pdf" target="_blank">Oct. 29, 1949, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel.</em><br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “Life’s Supreme Objective,” by D.M. Carlson<br /> <br /> • “Ministering to the Needy,” by J.H. Boyce<br /> <br /> And many more!<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1949/1949_10_29.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <br /> <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.{6294454A-06C9-4793-AFE8-CCAC5792C609}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2017/10/This-Week-in-AG-History-Oct-20-1957<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2024-Article-Images/1400/Thomas-Barratt-1400.jpg" alt="" />When his former denomination revoked his ministerial credentials due to his newly experienced Pentecostal baptism, Thomas B. Barratt led the Pentecostal movement in becoming the second largest Protestant church in Norway.Thu, 17 Oct 2024 12:00:00 Z<p><span style="color: black;">Thomas Ball Barratt (1862-1940), born to a Methodist family in England, became the most prominent Pentecostal pioneer in Norway. Barratt was recognized at a young age for being a gifted writer, artist, and composer of music. He could have succeeded in numerous professions. But following a life-changing encounter with God, the young Barratt dedicated his life to sharing the gospel.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">When Barratt was four years old, his parents immigrated to Norway, where his father worked as a miner. At age 11, Barratt’s parents sent him back to England to attend a Methodist school, where he committed his life to God during a revival. After he moved back to Norway at age 16, he became a member of Stavanger Temperance Society and became a joyful advocate of heartfelt faith and godly living.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">When Barratt returned to Norway, he initially began working as his father’s assistant. However, Barratt’s artistic abilities opened other doors. He studied under Norway’s greatest composer, Edvard Grieg, and under noted artist Olaf Dahl. By age 17, he began preaching in Methodist churches. He became an ordained Methodist deacon (1889) and elder (1891) and pastored several churches.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">With a deep interest in spiritual things, Barratt became a prominent proponent of revival in Norway. Through the Oslo City Mission, which he founded in 1902, and its periodical, <em>Byposten</em>, Barratt encouraged people to draw close to God.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">In 1906, Barratt traveled to America to raise funds for the Oslo City Mission. Although he failed to raise much money, he returned to Norway with something else that would change the trajectory of his ministry. Barratt had heard testimonies about the emerging Pentecostal revival at the interracial Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles, and his heart grew hungry for a deeper experience of God. Just before going back to Norway, he stopped at the Holiness Mission in New York City, where some of the gospel workers had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. These newly baptized Pentecostals prayed with Barratt. He spent an extended period of time seeking God at the altar. After he “emptied” his soul of self, he received the Pentecostal experience with the evidence of speaking in tongues.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Upon his return to Norway, Barratt began promoting the Pentecostal message. He endured criticism by those who mocked the reported emotionalism of the Azusa Street Mission. The Methodist Church revoked his ministerial credentials, and his mission and newspaper were given to his assistant. Barratt had to start over, building up his ministry from scratch. Despite these impediments, Barratt kept his focus on the gospel and not on his critics. Crowds thronged to hear Barratt wherever he went. He founded the Filadelfia Church in Oslo, which grew to about 2,000 members. Pentecostal churches were soon organized across the nation. Under the leadership of Barratt, the Pentecostal movement in Norway became the second largest Protestant church in Norway, second only to the Lutheran church. Barratt’s influence also spread to North America, where he traveled on occasion and preached in English to American and Canadian audiences.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">The story of T.B. Barratt is a reminder of the global scope of the Pentecostal movement. Barratt, an Englishman raised in Norway, identified with the Pentecostal revival during a visit to the United States. Barratt’s testimony also demonstrates that early Pentecostals prioritized the spiritual life. Barratt modeled heartful, joyful faith, which he lived out in a godly lifestyle. From his earliest days of ministry as a Methodist to his latter years as a Pentecostal statesman, he consistently emphasized the importance of deep faith. Barratt was willing to take risks to follow God’s will. And because he did, the religious landscape in Norway has never been the same.</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">The <em>Pentecostal Evangel </em>featured the story of Thomas Ball Barratt in 1957, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Pentecostalism in Norway. Read the article, “Norway’s Pentecostal Jubilee,” on page 20 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1950-1959/1957/1957_10_20.pdf#Page20">Oct. 20, 1957, issue </a>of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel.</em></span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">Also featured in this issue:</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">• “Athirst for God,” by A.M. Alber</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">• “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” by James A. Stewart</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;">And many more!</span></p> <p><span style="color: black;"><a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1950-1959/1957/1957_10_20.pdf#Page20">Click here to read this issue now</a>.</span></p> <p><em><span style="color: black;">Pentecostal Evangel </span></em><span style="color: black;">archived editions courtesy of the </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" id="Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center" target="_blank" href="https://ifphc.org/"><span style="color: purple;">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</span></a><span style="color: black;">.</span></p> <br class="t-last-br" />{2A2E09E7-F6BE-46F2-B745-5BDAF11A6F44}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2020/10/This-Week-in-AG-History--Oct-2-1955<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2024-Article-Images/1400/Calvin-Holsinger_1400.jpg" alt="" />J. Calvin Holsinger pioneered Chi Alpha, the Assemblies of God ministry to college students, because history showed students led many of the greatest revival movements.Thu, 03 Oct 2024 12:00:00 Z<p>College campuses birthed many of the world’s great Christian revival and reform movements. This fact was not lost on J. Calvin Holsinger, who pioneered Chi Alpha, the Assemblies of God ministry to college students.<br /> <br /> In a <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> article published nearly 70 years ago, Holsinger recounted how Martin Luther, a professor at Wittenberg University, helped to spark the 16th century Protestant Reformation. He also noted that the great Methodist revival of the 18th and 19th centuries began when John Wesley, an Oxford University professor, gathered students for prayer and Bible study. The students in this “Holy Club,” as it came to be called, helped to spread revival across England and, ultimately, around the world.<br /> <br /> Even the 20th century Pentecostal movement, Holsinger observed, had origins on a college campus. When students at Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, gathered in 1900 to study the Book of Acts, they experienced a profound spiritual outpouring that helped to birth the worldwide Pentecostal movement.<br /> <br /> Why should the Assemblies of God support ministries to college students? To Holsinger, the answer to this question was obvious: history shows that students led many of the greatest revival movements. He asked, “It has been true in the past; why not today?”<br /> <br /> Holsinger, at the time, was a professor at Central Bible Institute in Springfield, Missouri, and served as campus adviser for the National Christ’s Ambassadors Department, which was the youth organization of the Assemblies of God. He also led a college ministry at Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University), one of a handful of AG campus ministries at non-Assemblies of God schools around the nation.<br /> <br /> In 1953, Holsinger began developing plans for a national AG campus ministry at non-Assemblies of God schools. He developed manuals that defined the new organization’s purpose and mission, and he conceived a name — Chi Alpha. In 1955, the fledgling national campus ministry featured three services to college students: a <em>Campus Ambassador</em> magazine offered free to all Assemblies of God college students; local chapters on college campuses; and college chaplains.<br /> <br /> By 2024, Chi Alpha had grown to 277 active chapters on campuses in the United States, served by over 1,400 affiliated staff. Chi Alpha is now the fourth-largest evangelical campus organization in the United States, after Baptist Collegiate Ministry, Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ), and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.<br /> <br /> Read the article by J. Calvin Holsinger, “A Campus Witness,” on pages 17 and 20 of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1955/FPHC/1955_10_02.pdf" target="_blank">Oct. 2, 1955, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.<br /> <br /> Also featured in this issue:<br /> <br /> • “Witnessing of the Acts 1:8 Variety,” by Robert L. Brandt<br /> <br /> • “Witch Doctor Saved!” by John L. Franklin.<br /> <br /> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/DigitalPublications/USA/Assemblies%20of%20God%20USA/Pentecostal%20Evangel/Unregistered/1955/FPHC/1955_10_02.pdf" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now</a>.<br /> <em><br /> Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a>.</p>{92252F5B-8302-4E53-AEE7-EB5D4F43A39F}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2015/09/This-Week-in-AG-History--Sept-18-1960<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2024-Article-Images/1400/Genoal-Wright_1400.jpg" alt="" />Genoal Wright contracted polio as a young man, but when God answered his prayer to allow him to live, Wright kept his promise to continue to preach, even though it meant preaching from a wheelchair.Thu, 19 Sep 2024 12:00:00 Z<p>When Genoal Wright (1932-1976) contracted polio in 1954, his future suddenly seemed uncertain. He pastored the small Assembly of God in Traskwood, Arkansas, and he was dating a young lady named Velma. But polio reduced him to dependence on an iron lung, and he lost the use of his legs.</p> <p>While laying in the hospital, connected to the iron lung, the young minister made a promise to the Lord: "If God would let me survive, I will continue to preach, even if it had to be from a wheel chair." Wright was soon able to breathe on his own, although his legs remained paralyzed. Wright kept his promise, and he continued to pastor with the aid of a wheelchair. Furthermore, the love that Velma and Genoal shared proved stronger than the polio, and they married in 1955.</p> <p>Wright accepted the pastorate of the Oak Grove Assembly of God in Malvern, Arkansas, where his strong preaching made an impact on the community. His lack of legs barely slowed Wright down. He preached and visited church members across the community.</p> <p>The Wrights enjoyed their ministry in Malvern, but Genoal felt restless. Ever since he was called into the ministry at age 17, he had wanted to pioneer a church. When two families began attending church from Jones Mill, a rural community 12 miles away, he saw an opportunity to fulfill his dream. He began holding Friday prayer meetings in Jones Mill, and several people there accepted Christ.</p> <p>Wright began to pray about the possibility of resigning his church to minister full time in Jones Mill. Such a move did not seem to make sense. He would have to start the church from scratch, with minimal financial support and few parishioners. As a paraplegic, he had few options to support his family. Staying at Oak Grove with a nice pastoral salary seemed the wiser move. But the more he prayed, the more the Lord impressed on his heart that he needed to go to Jones Mill. He believed that, if God was calling him, God would also supply the financial need.</p> <p>In 1959, the Wrights took the plunge, resigned the Oak Grove pastorate, and started the Shorewood Hills Assembly of God in Jones Mill. Seven people attended the first service in June 1959. Within four months, about 15 people had made the congregation their home. The church continued to grow and, in 1966, dedicated a new building. Wright served as pastor until his death in 1976.</p> <p>Genoal Wright did not allow polio and paraplegia to derail his life and ministry. In an era when Americans with disabilities had relatively few accommodations, Wright demonstrated that God can empower a paraplegic to be an effective minister and church planter.</p> <p>The <a href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1960/1960_09_18.pdf#Page18">Sept. 18, 1960, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> featured Genoal Wright's story. Read the article by Ruth Lyon, "Polio Victim Pioneers Church," on page 18.</p> <p>Also featured in this issue:</p> <p>• "God Has No Grandsons," by David J. DuPlessis</p> <p>• "Educated to Serve," by C.M. Ward</p> <p>• "He Walked with God," by George Holmes</p> <p>And many more!</p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1960-1969/1960/1960_09_18.pdf#Page18" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now.</a></p> <p><em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center</a><strong><a href="http://ifphc.org">.</a></strong></p> <br class="t-last-br" />{B5B59F06-DC3E-4E36-BA7F-F24D2DAA4721}https://news.ag.org/Article-Repository/News/2015/09/This-Week-in-AG-History-Sept-6-1947<img src="https://news.ag.org/-/media/PENews/Images/2024-Article-Images/1400/Scull-1400.jpg" alt="" />An ordained Methodist minister, a somewhat skeptical Samuel S. Scull visited Los Angeles in 1907 to check out the reported Pentecostal outpouring -- his life would never be the same!Thu, 05 Sep 2024 12:00:00 Z<p>Samuel S. Scull (1863-1964), sometimes called "the father of Pentecost in Arizona," recounted the early days of the Pentecostal revival in the Sept. 6, 1947, issue of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel.</em></p> <p>Scull, born in a log cabin in Pennsylvania in 1863, was ordained by the Methodist Church in Iowa in 1895. His pastoral ministry was cut short, however, when he became afflicted with tuberculosis. Upon the advice of his doctor, in 1903 he moved to Arizona, where he supported his family by selling fruit.</p> <p>Despite his sickness, Scull felt he could not abandon his call to ministry. He became a leader at the Life Line Mission, a small Holiness congregation in Phoenix, when he heard reports in the summer of 1906 of the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles.</p> <p>According to Scull, the news generated "great interest among spiritual people in Phoenix and vicinity." In the summer of 1907, Scull made a pilgrimage to the Arroyo Seco camp meeting in Los Angeles to check out the emerging Pentecostal revival.</p> <p>Recalling his visit, Scull wrote: "I was much prejudiced at first and disposed to be critical, and saw much that I did not like." However, "the overwhelming sense of the presence of God" at the Pentecostal meetings caused him to overcome his initial skepticism. He wrote, "The very atmosphere seemed charged and the awe of God overshadowed all." He continued, "I had never heard such raptured praise. I heard praise in many strange tongues, some interpreted by people who knew the language, but most in an unknown tongue interpreted in the same way as they were given; that is, by Spirit utterance. Soon I was thoroughly convinced of the genuineness of the work and realized that God was bringing us back to Pentecost of the upper room, and, as far as possible, renewing the power as of the early church."</p> <p>Scull witnessed miracles, which caused him to cast his lot with the Pentecostals: "The sick were healed, devils cast out, the lame walked, the blind received their sight. I saw that God was going that way and resolved to gladly follow Him, though I knew it would cost me much."</p> <p>Scull returned to Phoenix and shared what he had seen. Some at the mission did not want anything to do with the Pentecostal revival, and the mission soon disbanded. Ironically, Scull had not yet personally experienced Spirit baptism with the evidence of speaking in tongues.</p> <p>In December 1907, he traveled to Denver, where he met Maria Woodworth-Etter, the Holiness healing evangelist who later embraced the Pentecostal message. She agreed to hold services for Scull in Phoenix. The meetings with Woodworth-Etter established the Pentecostal movement in Phoenix.</p> <p>Scull recalled, "The meeting opened Jan. 2, 1908, with about 75 present. The situation was peculiar. The pastor had not received the Pentecostal baptism, neither had the evangelist, and yet we were holding a Pentecostal meeting." Scull continued, "The first Wednesday night a little girl fell under the power and lay for two hours lost to her surroundings. She came out speaking in one of the most beautiful tongues I ever heard. She had been in heaven and had wonderful things to tell of her experiences there. We needed no other advertising; they packed the house, standing room and all, and filled the street outside. For eight weeks the tide ran high. From 75 to 100 were saved and an equal number received the Pentecostal baptism, so wonderfully God wrought."</p> <p>According to Scull, "a great number of people were healed of all manner of diseases and infirmities; and Phoenix, then a small town, was profoundly moved. Our halls were filled with sinners and our altars drew many to seek the Lord."</p> <p>These spiritual victories brought opposition. Scull wrote, "Friends whom I had thought be tried and true, refused even to shake hands with me. The Methodist Church, of which I was an official member, being an ordained elder, dropped me from its membership ... we were egged at the altar and had to put heavy screen wire over the windows to keep from being maimed or killed by rocks weighing four or five pounds which were thrown through the windows. But the power and glory of God made these things seem of small concern."</p> <p>What can later generations learn from early Pentecostals in Arizona? Writing 40 years after the Azusa Street revival, Scull warned that the church will lose its "glory and power" unless it gets a "vision of a mightier Pentecost" and prays for a "fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit."</p> <p>Read Scull's article, "Pentecost Comes to Arizona," in the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1947/1947_09_06.pdf#Page7" target="_blank">Sept. 6, 1947, issue</a> of the <em>Pentecostal Evangel</em>.</p> <p>Also featured in this issue:</p> <p>• "God's Holy Fire," by John Wright Follette</p> <p>• "A Divided House," by Ernest S. Williams</p> <p>• "The Last Prayer Meeting," by Seth C. Rees</p> <p>And many more!</p> <p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://archives.ifphc.org/pdf/PentecostalEvangel/1940-1949/1947/1947_09_06.pdf#Page7" target="_blank">Click here to read this issue now.</a></p> <p><em>Pentecostal Evangel</em> archived editions courtesy of <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ifphc.org/" target="_blank">Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.</a></p>