By Glenn W. Gohr Originally published on AG News, 04 July 2024
Ben Hardin (1893-1958), one of the foremost evangelists in the early years of the Assemblies of God, spoke at countless churches, camp meetings, and General Council meetings.
Wherever he traveled, and whatever he did, he always had a heart for evangelism — to win the lost at any cost and to preach revival meetings wherever he was needed. He stayed true to the motto that he lived by. It was written in his Bible, and he often declared it to others: “The will of God — nothing more — nothing less — nothing else!”
Thomas Bennett Hardin (who always went by Ben) was born Dec. 10, 1893, at McKeesport, Pennsylvania. He was brought up in the Methodist Church and later joined the Assemblies of God.
As a young man, he worked as a clerk in the offices of the U.S. Steel Corporation along with Ben Mahan, who became his lifelong friend and brother-in-law. In 1914, at Mahan’s invitation, Hardin attended a revival in Glassport, Pennsylvania, where he made a commitment to Christ. Soon afterwards, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Feeling a calling into full-time ministry, Hardin was ordained with the United Free Gospel and Missionary Society on May 30, 1917. That same year he married Ethel Elizabeth Toms of Pittsburgh.
After their marriage, Hardin pastored a small church at Pittsburgh and helped his brother-in-law, Ben Mahan, establish a church in Jeannette, Pennsylvania. It was during this period that the church members gave the two men nicknames — Big Ben and Little Ben. Hardin was not as tall as Mahan. These nicknames remained with them for the rest of their lives.
By May 1918, Hardin and his wife joined the Assemblies of God and were approved to be missionaries to Africa. Before they left for the field, Hardin felt directed instead to focus on being a pastor and evangelist, instead of going into foreign missions. New credentials were issued for pastor and evangelist status on July 11, 1919.
Hardin engaged in extensive evangelistic work across the U.S. and sometimes filled in as a pastor. One of the churches he filled in for was the Stone Church in Chicago. He filled in for a few months and then was voted in as pastor, serving for two years. When he was doing evangelistic work elsewhere, his wife would fill the pulpit at the Stone Church. During this time, he held meetings for Ernest S. Williams at Highway Tabernacle in Philadelphia and for Harry Collier at the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Washington, D.C.
Hardin moved to San Bernardino, California, in 1936 and became an executive presbyter of the Southern California district, and later served as district superintendent for five years (1939-1944). He also served on the board for Southern California College (now Vanguard University) and was chosen as a delegate to the constitutional convention of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).
From 1944 to 1948, while pastoring the Assembly of God Tabernacle in San Diego, he had a powerful ministry with servicemen. Hundreds of naval and marine servicemen came to the servicemen’s center at the church, and many were saved.
Hardin also pastored in Santa Ana from 1948 to 1953. He helped to oversee the building of a 400-seat facility which was dedicated in 1950. When Hardin passed away on March 28, 1958, he had labored in the vineyards of the Assemblies of God for almost 40 years and had much fruit to show from his life of ministry.
Read, “Every Man in His Place,” a devotional by Ben Hardin, on pages 2-3 of the July 5, 1941, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “He Led Them All the Night,” by W.F.P. Burton
• “Ye See the Day Approaching,” by P.C. Nelson
• “The Man With the Razor Tongue,” by Stanley H. Frodsham
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: https://ifphc.org/
“A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time” (Isaiah 60:22). Alice Luce, an educator and missionary to Spanish speakers along the U.S.-Mexican border, referred to this verse in 1927 when describing the burgeoning Hispanic work in the Assemblies of God.
Luce noted that, only 12 years earlier, Henry C. Ball started a small Pentecostal mission among refugees from the Mexican Civil War who settled in Ricardo, Texas. What began as a small work quickly blossomed into an important and growing part of the Assemblies of God.
Luce tallied the existence of over 100 Spanish-speaking congregations that served between 2,000 and 3,000 converts. Two Spanish language Bible schools were begun the prior year, one by Ball in Texas and another by Luce in California. These two schools, now known as Christ Mission College (San Antonio, Texas) and LABI College (La Puente, California), continue to serve an important role by training Spanish-speaking ministers.
But the Spanish work in the Assemblies of God made an impact that stretched into the broader Christian tradition. In 1916 Ball published a Spanish language hymnal, Himnos de Gloria, that enjoyed wide distribution among Christians of all denominational stripes in the Western hemisphere. No fewer than 115,000 copies had been sold as of 1927. Ball’s monthly periodical, La Luz Apostolica, had a circulation of 2,000. In 1924, Casa Evangélicas de Publicaciones (Gospel Publishing House), was formed in San Antonio, Texas, and churned out countless pieces of Spanish language literature that circled the globe.
Luce wrote that the Spanish-speaking churches could make a “special claim.” She identified three things that, taken together, set apart the missions work among the Hispanics. First, she believed that the Bible commanded Americans to be a witness to Mexicans. She wrote that Jesus commanded Christians to testify “first in Jerusalem (which for us means the town where we live), next in all Judea (which would represent our home country), and then in Samaria, which must represent Mexico, our nearest neighbor. These were all to be evangelized before the disciples should proceed to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
The second special claim of Hispanic ministry, according to Luce, was its “great fruitfulness.” She wrote, “from a purely business point of view this work has a special claim upon us, because its converts are numbered by the thousand, most of them receive the Baptism of the Holy Ghost soon after they believe.” Importantly, she noted that the Hispanic work quickly became indigenous: “new missions are continually springing up, the message of full salvation being carried from place to place by the converts themselves.”
Thirdly, Luce wrote, “This Latin American work appeals to us in a special way because it can be done so easily and with so little expense.” This ministry did not require a passport or fundraising, just “the trouble to get a few Spanish tracts and go from door to door in the Mexican quarter of your own town.”
When Luce quoted Isaiah 60:22, she implied that the growing Spanish-speaking constituency in the Assemblies of God would become “a strong nation.” Her prediction came true. In 2023, 23% of Assemblies of God adherents (686,429 people) in the United States were Hispanic.
Read the entire article by Alice E. Luce, “The Latin-American Pentecostal Work,” on pages 6 and 7 of the June 25, 1927, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “Living in the Lord’s Banqueting House,” by A. G. Ward
Photo description: 14th district council of the Latin American District Council of the Assemblies of God sitting and standing outside Getsemani Assembly of God in El Paso, Texas; November 18, 1942. Squatting in the front row (l-r): Paul Finkenbinder(?), Frank Finkenbinder, Demetrio Bazan, Rodolfo Orozco (Mexico), unidentified, Kenzy Savage, Josue Cruz, 3 unidentified. Juan Orozco, Mexican superintendent (large man wearing a suit and tie, standing, right of center, behind the last boy squatting in the front row). The sign reads: GETSEMANI / ASAMBLEAS DE DIOS / CATORCENA REUNION DEL / CONCILIO DE DISTRITO LATINO AMERICANO / DE LAS ASAMBLEAS DE DIOS / NOV. 17, 18, 19– SESIONES 10 a.m. 3 Y 7:30 p.m. / BIENVENIDOS TODOS. Pentecostal Evangel archived editions courtesy of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: https://ifphc.org/
Harold Ray Carpenter (1939-2024), along with his faithful wife, Myrna, served as missionaries in Bolivia, French Guiana, and Ecuador, and trained hundreds of young people in the United States and in South America for missions service. Reading seven languages and preaching fluently in four, Carpenter served the Assemblies of God missions program for nearly 60 years.
Living in Paris, Arkansas, the Carpenter family attended the Assembly of God church until they moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas, when the family stopped attending church. Despite having little encouragement from his parents, Carpenter continued to attend church and in 1952 gave his life to Christ. In 1954, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit and felt a call to ministry. Never one to let moss grow under his feet, the 14-year-old began looking for places to preach. Teaming up with his teenage cousin, Tommy Carpenter, they went anywhere that someone would listen to them.
In a Christ’s Ambassador’s youth meeting later that same year, Carpenter heard a message from Psalm 2:8, “Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” The young man saw a vision of himself riding a mule around a mountain and viewing a small village in Ecuador. He heard the Lord say to him, “You will serve me here.” From that moment on, he never thought of doing anything else.
He continued to preach all through high school and took every Spanish class and course on Latin American history he could find that was offered in Fort Smith. In 1956, he wrote to the Assemblies of God missions department to let them know he was ready to go: “I will be a senior in high school when school starts again. I feel that God has called me to be a missionary to Ecuador, particularly to the Jivaro Indians. It would please me very much if you could send me some information about mission work in Ecuador.”
Carpenter received a letter back from Secretary for Latin America Melvin Hodges stating that Ecuador was the only Spanish-speaking country of South America where the Assemblies of God did not have missionaries and encouraged him to go to the library to learn more about the Jivaro Indians. He then gave him a “to-do list”: graduate high school, attend Bible school, and get some practical experience in ministry. He also recommended that the young man get married.
During his senior year of high school, Carpenter received credentials with the Arkansas district. However, when he told his father that he was going to Bible school, his father became angry and beat him. That night, Carpenter took a suitcase and hitchhiked to Dallas where he took a summer job to earn money to attend Southwestern Bible Institute (SBI, now Nelson University) in Waxahachie, Texas. There he met Myrna Haldaman and they were married in 1958.
Upon Harold’s graduation with a three-year degree from SBI, the Carpenters began pastoring in Magazine, Arkansas in 1960 to receive practical ministry experience. When he contacted Hodges to let him know that he had done all the things asked of him, Hodges recommended that he return to SBI to complete one more year of schooling for a bachelor’s degree. When this was done in 1962, the young couple traveled to Springfield, Missouri, and went directly to the home of Hodges where Carpenter showed him the letter and said, “Okay, I’m ready to go.”
Hodges felt that the 22-year-old needed a little more experience, so the Carpenters went back to Arkansas where they pastored in Violet Hill and Harriet for two more years. During this time, Carpenter worked as a machinist, molder, and schoolteacher while pastoring.
In June of 1964, the Carpenters finally received full appointment as Assemblies of God missionaries with the Arkansas district and were approved for itineration. During these years, there was only one other Assembly of God missionary from the Arkansas district who was also itinerating. The veteran missionary, Jay W. Tucker, took the young Carpenter under his wing and traveled with him, introducing him to pastor after pastor.
After traveling together for two months, Carpenter drove the Tucker family to the airport for their return to the Belgian Congo. That morning, the newspaper carried an article about uprisings in the Congo. Carpenter asked his mentor if he thought this was a good time to go, concerned that with all the upheaval “you might not come back again.” Tucker looked at the young, enthusiastic missionary-in-training and said, “Harold, I was called to go. Nothing was said about coming back.”
In just three months, Jay W. Tucker was brutally killed by Congolese rebels. His story, shared so painfully by his wife, Angeline, greatly impacted the Arkansas district with a zeal to see their veteran missionary replaced on the field. With this newly added determination, the Carpenters were fully funded just one month later and left in December 1964 for language school in Costa Rica.
Over the decades spent in missions service, Carpenter continued to prepare himself for ever deepening ministry, receiving another bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas, as well as two master’s degrees and a doctorate in missiology, all while planting churches, building Bible schools, and serving in national leadership. Along the way, he also managed to contract typhoid, malaria, tropical sprue, cholera, hepatitis, and tuberculosis. The toll on his body only made him more determined to work while the opportunity was before him.
In 1982, Carpenter began serving as a professor of missions at Central Bible College (CBC) in Springfield, Missouri, seeking to train those who would eventually replace him on the field. Much as he received training and encouragement from Tucker during those months together in 1964, Carpenter traveled with many students giving them practical missions experience. Alongside the class content of missions philosophy, Carpenter shared stories that often left his students in both tears and laughter. He retired from CBC in 2002 and then continued to teach graduate courses for the European Theological Seminary and the Latin American Theological Seminary.
Throughout his ministry, he preached on five continents and in 51 countries. In the fall of 2023, at age 84, he traveled to Mexico for ministry. Upon his return home, he began seeking God for the next assignment when, in January 2024, he was killed in an automobile accident in Springfield, Missouri, having fulfilled the promise he made to Melvin Hodges in 1962, “I purpose to make missions service my life’s work and I’m ready to go.”
Read the report of the missions class of 1970, including Harold and Myrna Carpenter, on page 31 of the June 21, 1970, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: https://ifphc.org/
What did early Pentecostals teach about the theology of work? Some observers have claimed that early Pentecostals were so focused on the spiritual life that they neglected careful reflection about other aspects of daily life. However, early issues of the Pentecostal Evangel tell a different story. In a 1921 article, D.W. Kerr, an executive presbyter of the Assemblies of God, wrote an insightful article titled, “A Pentecostal Businessman.”
Kerr explained at length why Pentecostals should be well-equipped to serve in all areas of life, including in business. Kerr wrote that “the Lord will pour His Spirit in such fullness” in order to equip believers “for life and for service in all the varied spheres and the diversified forms of human toil and labour under the sun.” According to Kerr, spirituality should not be divorced from work. Pentecostal spirituality should be so all-encompassing that it makes a positive impact upon the labors of the faithful.
Kerr was an influential theologian and church leader. Five years earlier, Kerr served as the primary drafter of the Assemblies of God’s “Statement of Fundamental Truths.” In this article, Kerr disagreed with the notion that religion should be separate from “social, domestic, or business affairs.”
Drawing heavily from Scripture, Kerr identified character qualities that should describe all Pentecostals: “prompt and punctual, courteous and obliging, tender and affectionate, affable and sober, devoted and self-sacrificing.” A Pentecostal engaged in business, according to Kerr, should also be full of “vision, action, and determination,” and also demonstrate humility and dependence upon God.
Pentecostal businesspeople should exhibit these qualities, Kerr wrote, wherever they go. He wrote, “whether in the home, or society; or on the busy thoroughfares, and commercial centers; whether at the accountant’s desk, or on the board of exchange; or in the places of barter, buying and selling and getting gain; that in all these places of business activities, a Pentecostal business man can adorn himself and his calling.”
Importantly, Kerr suggested that the Pentecostal businessperson can effectively witness his or her faith by living out these character qualities in the marketplace. A person’s inner spiritual life, he suggested, is revealed by outward actions, habits, and character. Kerr’s admonitions continue to encourage Pentecostals to cultivate biblical values in all spheres of life.
Read the entire article by D.W. Kerr, “A Pentecostal Businessman,” on pages 8 and 11 of the June 11, 1921, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “The Pruning of the Vine,” by Alice E. Luce
• “A Plea for our Missionaries,” by Frank Lindblad
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: https://ifphc.org/
William Theodore Gaston (1886-1956), better known as W.T. Gaston, was an early general superintendent of the Assemblies of God. He was born in Boone County, Arkansas (near Eureka Springs). His mother dedicated him to the Lord and affectionately called him her “little preacher boy.” Unfortunately, she died when William was about 3 years old, and he was cared for by other members of the family until he reached adulthood. He was converted at an early age and felt the call of God on his life.
As a teenager, he began testifying and witnessing, eventually becoming an evangelist. At age 20 he married Artie Mattox, the daughter of a fairly prosperous mercantile store owner. Gaston started out in full-time ministry at the age of 23. He participated in many early camp meetings including the organizational meeting of the Assemblies of God at Hot Springs in April 1914.
Gaston’s early ministry involved many hardships and sacrifices as he and his wife raised a large family. It has been said that he virtually “walked over” Arkansas in the early days of his ministry, as walking was his only means of transportation. He often went to small, out-of-the-way places to preach the gospel, and many times he was away from his family for weeks at a time. In addition to evangelistic work, he also pastored churches in Tahlequah and Tulsa, Oklahoma, and in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. From 1919 to 1920 he was the pastor of Central Assembly in Springfield, Missouri. He also pastored First Assembly in San Diego and helped with Berean Bible School, which was connected with the church.
After serving as general superintendent from 1925 to 1929 (during his tenure the title was changed from general chairman to general superintendent), for a short time he pastored a church in North Hollywood, and from there he was called to Bethel Temple in Sacramento, where he ministered for nine years. He was also widely known as an inspiring camp meeting preacher.
In 1944, he was elected to the office of district superintendent for Northern California and Nevada, where he served for 12 years until his death in 1956.
Gaston was noted for his generosity and for his encouragement and instruction of young ministers. He also took a special interest in the Christ’s Ambassadors program (now National Youth Ministries). He was vitally interested in education, being associated with three Assemblies of God Bible colleges. He helped with Berean Bible Institute in San Diego, was an early instructor at Central Bible College, and served on the board of Bethany Bible College in Santa Cruz, California.
Ninety-five years ago this week, Gaston wrote an article offering practical helps and hints for young ministers and Christian workers.
He extolled the value of a solid Bible education, yet he emphasized that “we can only learn to preach by preaching.” He believed that practical experience was an essential part of ministerial training.
He also stressed that a person in ministry must have the calling and anointing of God in order to succeed. He said, “A God-ordained ministry is taken from among those with inherent ability for particular service, upon whom the Lord has laid His hand and placed His gift and anointing.”
Another word of advice involved preaching. Gaston said, “We should remember that sermons that are really blessed to ourselves and others after all may not be quite perfect.” The key he said is to “learn something from every sermon you preach or hear.”
Gaston promoted the idea that if someone is called to preach, then he or she needs to go out and preach and not wait for circumstances to change. “Jesus said, ‘Go into all the world and preach,’” said Gaston, but there “is no inference that He expects us to wait for the world to send for us.” The conclusion from this, according to Gaston, is that “we may go on the streets, into jails, private home, or country schoolhouses. Go someplace — any place — but preach.”
After offering several more tidbits of advice for Christian workers, Gaston closed with these remarks: “Ordinary men, with concentration of purpose and unflagging zeal and devotion, have often accomplished extraordinary things. Shall we not stir into flame the gifts that are in us, and move forward with renewed determination to be and to do our best for the Lord and a world in need?”
Read more in “Helps and Hints for Christian Workers” on pages 5 and 7 of the June 8, 1929, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “Darkness and Dawn,” by Blanche Appleby
• “The Beauties of the Redeemer,” by Perry W. Hadsock
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: https://ifphc.org/
H. Maurice Lednicky, former president of Central Bible College, has a wide variety of ministry experiences. This year marks 60 years of being ordained, and 50 years from when he was elected head of the National Youth Department. He held three pastorates, was active in radio and television ministry, and has spoken at many camps, conventions, and ministers’ meetings across the U.S., as well as training conferences overseas.
Lednicky was born and raised in Houston, Texas, the son of Rev. and Mrs. C. F. Lednicky. He says that he was called into the ministry at a junior boys Sunday school class at age 9. He preached his first sermon when he was 13. Lednicky attended Southwestern Assemblies of God College (now Nelson University), where he met his wife, Marcia Louise Allen. They were married at First Assembly of God in Bastrop, Louisiana, on September 1, 1962. She is the daughter of Rev. and Mrs. James E. Allen. She is also the sister of Marigold Cheshier and a first cousin of Cecil Janway, longtime Louisiana District Superintendent.
Maurice Lednicky graduated with a Bible and Theology degree from Southwestern in 1963, and he was valedictorian of his class. He was ordained with the Assemblies of God on June 10, 1964, and then was an evangelist for one year.
His first pastorate was First Assembly (Crossett, AR), where he served for 3 years. He served as Arkansas District Christ’s Ambassadors President from 1967-1972. Next, he pastored First Assembly (Bastrop, LA), for two years before he was elected secretary of the National Youth Department in 1974. From 1976-1980 he pastored First Assembly (North Little Rock, AR), before serving as president of Central Bible College for 21 years (1980-2001).
Upon his retirement from Central Bible College, Lednicky encouraged students to exhibit seven words in their Christian walk by having: holiness in both heart and behavior; humility before God and men; integrity in every activity; discipline before God and men; gentleness toward others; appropriateness in decisions and behavior; and adaptability in life. He said, “If you observe these very basic principles in your life and ministry, your experience will be one of peaceful contentment in the blessings of a loving God.”
Sharon Faisson, who served as Lednicky’s administrative assistant at CBC, commented, “He loved and cared for all of us who served with him, as well as the students—always making time for anyone who walked into the office and needed prayer, or just an encouraging word.” He coined the phrase, “God’s choice servant” when speaking of someone he admired. “I can say without hesitation,” declares Sharon, “Brother and Sister Lednicky were then, and continue to be, two of God’s choicest servants!”
Lednicky is a man of principle and a man of his word. One time he was scheduled to speak at a small, rural church one weekend. He had given his word that he would be there. In the meantime, a friend of his offered him and his wife a free, all-expense paid trip to Hawaii for a week which would have conflicted with this speaking engagement. Someone else probably would have tried to reschedule. But being a man of integrity, he turned down the trip to Hawaii so that he could fulfill his prior obligation. Berl Best, former director of admissions at Central Bible College, says, “Dr. Lednicky was always very consistent in his leadership style.”
After retiring from CBC, Dr. and Mrs. Lednicky served for 17 years as appointed AG missionaries. They traveled for five years with a teaching ministry in Thailand. Then for five years Dr. Lednicky pastored the International Christian Assembly, an English-speaking Assemblies of God congregation in Bangkok, Thailand. The Lednickys moved back to the United States in 2010, where they continued traveling to Africa and other countries for short-term missionary assignments. The Lednickys now have ministered in over 65 nations and reached out to many different culture groups. Lednicky also has made a difference through speaking engagements and writing, soon to be a total of 13 books.
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: https://ifphc.org/
A.H. (Andrew Harvey) Argue (1868-1959) was a pioneering figure in the Pentecostal movement in North America, serving as a pastor and evangelist in Canada and the United States. He also played a significant role in the discussions leading up to the establishment of the Assemblies of God and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.
Argue was born near Ottawa, Ontario, in 1868 to a Methodist family. His father moved the family to North Dakota, where Argue was converted in a Salvation Army meeting. In this meeting he also met Eva Phillips, whom he later married. The young couple spent five years farming in North Dakota before moving to Winnipeg, a city that was experiencing an economic boom with the expansion of the Canadian West. Argue and his brothers began a thriving real estate business in Winnipeg that allowed him to be a self-supporting lay evangelist in the Methodist church.
Alongside his Methodist heritage, he received a conviction that personal holiness was integral to the Christian life. Argue also embraced a belief in divine healing through the ministry of A.B. Simpson. While preaching a camp meeting in Thornbury, Ontario, he read a written account of the Pentecostal revival taking place at Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California. He shared it with a colleague at the camp meeting and they both felt that “it could be possible” that God would give the gift of tongues to His people in the last days.
Returning to Winnipeg, Argue began to learn all he could about the new Pentecostal revival. In April 1907 he traveled to Chicago to visit W.H. Durham’s mission. He later described the experience: “I waited on God for 21 days … During this time I had a wonderful vision of Jesus … I was filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance.”
Argue began to share his testimony of Spirit baptism when he arrived home in Winnipeg. Upon hearing of Argue’s experience, people began to come to him and say, “we have walked with God for years, but your testimony has made us realize there is more for us. Where can we tarry for this deeper experience?” He and Eva immediately began opening their home for “tarrying meetings” — a time devoted to waiting on God. These meetings grew into ever larger quarters until the first Pentecostal church in Winnipeg was formed.
Argue sold his real estate business and invested the proceeds in income-producing ventures which allowed him the financial freedom to travel for ministry. From this beginning he quickly launched out into the evangelistic circuit. He devoted the rest of his life to the Pentecostal ministry in all parts of Canada and much of the United States. Thousands were saved, healed, and baptized in the Holy Spirit through His powerful preaching and praying. Due to his wise investments, he was often able to return the offerings he received as an evangelist back to the local church.
Argue wrote more than 40 articles for the Pentecostal Evangel from 1914 to 1959. In one of his articles, published in the May 24, 1941, issue, he answered the question of what he would do “if I had only one hour to live.” He stated, “my parting counsel would be: walk with God.” Using the examples of Enoch, Noah, and Elijah who “walked with God,” Argue said that these three men experienced protection and guidance as to what to do during difficult times due to their walk with God. He also encouraged the Evangel readers to “walk softly” with both God and man, walking in gentle holiness before God himself and walking with graciousness toward others.
Argue lived into his 90s, dying in 1959. He and Eva were blessed with seven children, although the eldest died at 4 years of age. They lived to see the others saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and used in ministry. His grandson, Don Argue, served as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and was president of North Central University and Northwest University.
Read more of Argue’s article on page 5 of the May 24, 1941, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “My God Shall Supply All Your Need,” by Marie Burgess Brown
• “A Light for the Blackout,” by Margaret Ann Bass
• “Liberian Christmas Convention,” by A.J. Princic
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: https://ifphc.org/
The Assemblies of God celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1964. During that year, a number of pioneers of the faith shared their testimonies in the Pentecostal Evangel. One of these was J. Edgar Barrick (1894-1983), who served as a pastor and missionary with the Assemblies of God.
Jacob Edgar Barrick was born in Shaw, West Virginia. He attended school and spent his childhood in Cross, West Virginia. Although he was raised in the Methodist Church, he did not come into contact with any Spirit-filled or Pentecostal people until 1913. At that time a revival was taking place in the Methodist Church at Kitzmiller, Maryland. He was living in another town, two miles away. Many people were attending the meetings, where people were encouraged to come to the altar to be saved and sanctified. This was no ordinary revival. Soon three Methodist preachers were filled with the Holy Spirit, along with some of the members of the church.
Barrick decided to attend one of the meetings, and as he sat in the service, one of the ministers began speaking in a strange language. Sitting directly in front of him was a young man, who when he heard the tongues speaking, he began to laugh. One of the ministers on the platform said to him, “Young man, this is the moving of God, and this is no place to laugh.” Barrick waited until the service ended, and then he walked back to the boarding house where he was staying. He never went back to that revival.
At the close of that revival, the deacon board of the church decided not to accept the speaking in tongues. This meant that those who had been filled with the Holy Spirit were no longer welcome to worship in the church. The small group of Spirit-baptized believers then started cottage prayer meetings, and the Lord began to bless and add to their numbers.
One night during a prayer meeting, a neighbor lady heard them praying and called the police. She said, “These people are praying for the fire to fall, and I do not want the fire to burn my house.” The police came, arrested the men, and took them to jail, but allowed the women to finish the prayer meeting. The men sat in jail and prayed and sang praises to God all through the night. The next morning, they were released to await a court trial which ended with these Spirit-filled men winning the case.
In 1914, three ministers, A.B. Cox, R.A. McCauley, and D.R. Moreland, came to the town to hold a tent meeting. It was not long before the tent was filled with people every night, many of whom came out of curiosity. One evening a large group of young people, including Barrick, decided to go down to the tent meeting. They had heard that strange things were happening, so they stood outside the first night and listened. The second night they decided to go inside as the singing and testimonies had attracted their attention. It was not long before they were all under deep conviction.
In two weeks, 30 of the young people were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. People came as far as 15 miles by horse and buggy to witness the outpouring of God’s Sprit. By the close of this tent revival, around 125 people had been saved, and many were filled with the Holy Spirit.
The night Edgar Barrick was baptized with the Holy Spirit at that meeting, he felt a call to preach the gospel. He tried to reason with God. He told Him he would be happy just to work in the church. But the burden continued, and in the fall of 1917, he answered the call by entering Beulah Heights Bible Training Institute in North Bergen, New Jersey, where he graduated in 1919.
One evening, three weeks after he entered school at Beulah Heights, he was praying with some other young men in the auditorium before going to their rooms to study, and the Lord spoke again to Barrick’s heart. At that time Barrick had a vision of the heathen villages of India, and he sensed God asking him if he would be willing to go. Having already made a commitment to attend Bible school, he was ready to say “Yes” to the call to the mission field.
Just a few days before graduation from Bible school, Barrick received a letter asking if he would pastor his home church in Kitzmiller, Maryland. He served his home church for over a year, and then he was called to pastor a church in Cumberland, Maryland.
About this time, Edgar Barrick married Virginia May Twigg on Sept. 25, 1918, at Cumberland, Maryland. Upon graduation from Bible school, Barrick received a preaching license from the Eastern District of the Assemblies of God in 1919, when Robert A. Brown was chairman. He later was ordained by the Potomac District on Jan. 29, 1920, while he was pastoring in Kitzmiller. His wife, Virginia, was licensed with the Potomac District in 1921.
Both of the Barricks felt called into missions to India. They were appointed as Assemblies of God missionaries to North India on Sept. 27, 1921. By April 16, 1922, Barrick, his wife, and their 2-year-old son were in India. Two more children were born while they were on the mission field.
Times in India were not easy. They both attended language school, and a few months after their arrival, Edgar came down with a fever which kept him bedridden for nine weeks. After much prayer, he recovered. They first worked with missionaries Almyra and Olga Aston at Bara Banki.
In a missionary report in April 1923, Barrick said, “Words cannot be found to express the need in the many villages as we see it from day to day. Hundreds of poor, starving, diseased children in each village, seemingly left to make their way through life the best they can.”
The native homes were made of mud with grass for a roof. The Barricks were determined to share the gospel in this needy mission field. “Yet through these conditions we are glad that the story of the Cross is listened to with interest, and we believe that some seed is falling into good ground,” he wrote.
By May of 1923, the Barricks had opened a new mission station at Rae Bareli, where they worked with missionary Paul Andreasen. Some of the hardships they faced included heavy sandstorms and the Bubonic Plague among the people they ministered to. They also endured flooding during the rainy season.
A 1924 report by the Barricks stated in part: “It takes much patience, labor, and wisdom to deal with these dear people. We were hindered in the beginning for several months on account of sickness, but we still feel encouraged to press on and do our best for Him.”
In June of 1925, Barrick reported that beginning in March he became sick with smallpox. He was dangerously ill and said, “This of course cast a heavy gloom over our home as our thought went back to our missionaries who have gone home to be with Jesus through this dreadful disease.”
Telegrams were sent out for the saints to pray. W.K. Norton responded to this call and secured a capable nurse from Lucknow to help with his care. The nurse said there was little hope of recovery, for he had a very severe form of the disease.
While his fever was raging, Barrick felt the Lord speak to his heart: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God.” At one point Barrick was almost totally covered with smallpox, including his mouth and tongue. But around his eyes there were no pox. Otherwise, he might have suffered blindness.
Barrick said many of the townspeople prayed for him, including some Muslims and Hindus.
“One of the native men who came to see me asked if I wasn’t ready to curse India for putting this disease upon me,” Barrick recalled. He responded: “No, it only makes me love her more, and puts a deeper longing in my heart to see her people turn to a Christ who is able to save them from sin.” Miraculously, he recovered.
In 1933 Barrick reported that he had been ministering in Moghul Sarai, India. He wrote, “The Lord has blessed our efforts in this new field. Our congregation here at the station has increased from 12 people to nearly 50 in the five months we have been here.”
Another report in 1938 said that they had been sharing printed gospel tracts with many people who came to the train station. There were 36 passenger trains that would pass through the town every 24 hours. Many of the people were receptive to the gospel. After four and a half years at this mission station, his congregation in a little chapel building had grown to 65 people.
The Barricks spent 38 years as missionaries in India, and it all began when some men of God came to hold a Pentecostal tent meeting in Barrick’s hometown.
Barrick said, “I thank God for that night in 1914 when, at the age of 19, I was saved in that tent meeting.” Seven nights later he was baptized in the Holy Spirit in the dining room of the home where he was staying. Barrick said, “During that time, the Lord honored me by calling me to preach the gospel. No greater privilege can come to anyone.”
Read “I Remember,” by J. Edgar Barrick, on page 9 of the May 17, 1964, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “College and Christian Dynamics,” by J. Robert Ashcroft
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: https://ifphc.org/
Alice Reynolds Flower (1890-1991), the wife of AG pioneer J. Roswell Flower, is a shining example of motherhood. Affectionately known as “Mother Flower,” she preached, taught Sunday School, led prayer meetings, wrote articles, penned poetry, authored books, and lived a godly example in front of her six children and everyone she came in contact with.
As Mother’s Day approaches, it is good to consider an article that Mother Flower wrote for the Pentecostal Evangel in May 1952. It was also made available in tract form through the Gospel Publishing House and was widely distributed.
In “The Business of Coat-Making,” Mother Flower talked about Hannah, the mother of Samuel in the Old Testament. Samuel’s mother prayed diligently to have a son, and when her first-born son arrived, she dedicated him to God’s service. As a young boy, he went to live with Eli the high priest. The Bible record says, “Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice” (1 Samuel 2:19).
This verse held deep significance for Mother Flower. She liked to ponder how Samuel’s mother found a way to minister to her son, even though he was consecrated to service in the house of God. She imagined the joy Hannah had in every stitch of the garment she made each year. Mother Flower said, “To Hannah, making that coat was no ordinary bit of sewing; it was her one chance to express yearly in practical manner the love of her heart.” She continued, “And she did it faithfully, delivering each tiny garment personally to her Samuel there in the house of God.”
Mother Flower suggested that God never intended the business of coat-making to end with Hannah. She gave an example of her own mother, who provided spiritual “coats” for each of her daughters. First, she gave each of them a “coat of prayer.” Mother Flower shared her own testimony of her mother praying for her during her teen years, when she was struggling with a number of conflicts. Partly due to her mother’s prayers she surrendered her life to Christ and later was baptized in the Holy Spirit on Easter Sunday of 1907 at the age of 16.
Her mother also fashioned “coats of consistent living” for each of her children. She testified, “Her every walk before us stirred our hearts to follow God similarly.” Mother Flower said that fervor in the church is good, and laboring for others is commendable, but “making the coat of consistent living” is the most important task of a mother.
Another aspect of coat-making is the Word of God. Mother Flower gave a testimony that after her mother was miraculously raised from a deathbed experience and filled with the Holy Spirit, she started the family altar. Each morning the family gathered together to read God’s Word and pray, and her mother also helped the children to memorize Scripture. She compared her mother’s influence through the Word of God to Timothy in the New Testament whose faith was molded by his mother and grandmother.
The “coat of discipline” is also essential. She shared that, “No home is beautiful or happy without obedience, respect, honesty, and cooperation. The standard of righteous living as taught by the Word of God must be faithfully, constantly, consistently raised as a part of the family existence,” said Flower, “not a passing suggestion, but an essential detail of the family living, as is the eating, drinking, and sleeping.” Training up obedient, honest, respectful, and God-fearing children is vitally important.
One more coat that is essential is “Understanding Love.” She felt it imperative that a mother have occasional “heart-charts” and “seasons together before God” with each of her children. She said, a “mother must keep ever wisely stitching on this ‘coat of understanding’ if she would successfully fulfill her highest ministry in the home.”
Mother Flower’s admonition is for more mothers to pray diligently for their children on a daily basis, live a consistent Christian life, study the Word of God, offer guidance and training, and hem all of this in love and understanding.
Read more in “The Business of Coat-Making” on pages 3-4, 22 of the May 11, 1952, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “Visions in the Night,” by Frank M. Boyd
• “Healed Through Mother’s Prayers,” by Allen Bowman
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: https://ifphc.org/
Dr. Howard Thomas (1927-2016) had a promising career as a physician, but a drug addiction almost destroyed his marriage and professional life in the early 1960s. After hitting rock bottom and ending up in a private sanatorium for treatment, he turned to Christ and experienced a radical transformation. Against all odds, Thomas was allowed to keep his medical license. He became a dedicated member of the Assemblies of God and frequently shared his testimony of his deliverance from addiction to drugs. The May 3, 1970, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel published his remarkable story.
Thomas was raised in a rural Tennessee community where alcohol was a way of life and where religious influences were minimal. Recreational activities always seemed to include liquor bottles. Thomas partied hard, but he also worked hard. He married, attended college, studied diligently, and graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in 1954.
Thomas and another doctor purchased a clinic in Henderson, Tennessee. Thomas and his wife, Ann, seemed to be living the American dream. They were respected members of their community, and their future was bright.
However, the Thomases’ lifestyle of partying led them into trouble. They began attending private parties hosted by local professionals. Drug use and sexual sin were commonplace.
Dr. Thomas recounted: “Practically all the people at these parties were church people. The parties got worse and worse. I would have to describe them as vile and vulgar. Yet on Sunday morning you could see these same people in the pews and teaching Sunday School classes and serving the churches.”
The Thomases joined in the hypocrisy. They maintained a veneer of respectability, even while they adopted destructive lifestyles. Their hearts were far from God. Dr. Thomas later said, “Our morals got lower and lower.”
Family and work pressures took their toll, and Thomas began taking pills to help him stay awake. He learned to depend on stimulants and began injecting amphetamine. He soon moved on to harder drugs, including Demerol and morphine. When Ann was feeling ill, he gave her a shot of Demerol. Soon, she was also addicted.
Life was spinning out of control. They tried to escape their problems by leaving Henderson and moving to Arizona, where he accepted a position as a company doctor. Their drug habit, however, was not solved by distance. Dr. Thomas, increasingly, was unable to focus sufficiently to perform surgeries, and Ann became mentally disturbed and could not be home alone.
Ann’s condition deteriorated, and her parents came from Tennessee to help with the children. The family decided to move back to Tennessee, where Thomas opened up another practice. He thought he could “snap out of it” and that everything would be all right.
However, Thomas could not kick his drug habit and things got worse. He developed festering abscesses on his hips and shoulders, and he had difficulty hiding his addictions. Ultimately, his parents had him committed at a neuropsychiatric hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He escaped from the hospital. He went on to hold a series of failed short-term positions as a doctor, until he deteriorated to the point of being unable to function. He slept in his car in the woods or in a gravel pit, and patients never knew where to find him.
Dr. Thomas was recommitted at the Murfreesboro hospital, this time behind locked steel doors. He was devastated. He was confined for seven weeks, where he went through withdrawal. However, he still had cravings for drugs. He knew that he would return to his former lifestyle once he was free. In the meantime, Ann had filed for divorce.
One day, in July 1965, a truck driver asked Thomas to attend a men’s religious retreat. Thomas tried to say “no,” but the truck driver was persistent. Thomas went, and the services were unlike anything he had ever seen.
The men were not trying to impress anyone. They were not playing church. They testified how God delivered them from lives of sin, they prayed, and they called on God in prayer. Thomas came to realize that these men had something that he desperately needed – he needed God’s power in his life.
A Spirit-filled Methodist electrician and plumber led Thomas to the Lord at the meeting. Thomas later recalled, “I felt clean. I felt the same way as the other men. I was full of praise. I wanted to testify. My first thought was to go to Ann and tell her about Jesus. I knew she was lost.”
Thomas returned from the retreat and told Ann that he accepted Jesus and was a new man. She was skeptical. Her mother warned her to not go back to him. He had promised for years that he would kick his addictions, but never did.
Thomas began attending a local Methodist church, where the pastor invited him to share his testimony. Word spread throughout the region of Dr. Thomas’ remarkable deliverance from drugs, and he began to receive invitations to speak at schools and churches. He also reconciled with his wife, Ann.
After accepting Christ, Thomas began reading the Bible. He became convinced from the Bible that Christ provided an experience subsequent to salvation – baptism in the Holy Spirit – that provided empowerment for daily living. He had heard some of the men at the retreat talking about the experience. He knew that he needed God’s power in his life.
The Thomases met Ralph Duncan, an Assemblies of God pastor in Rutherford, Tennessee, and invited him to hold special services in Saltillo, the small town where they were living. Ann received the baptism in the Holy Spirit in those meetings, and she became a different person. She said, “Honey, it’s real. It’s real!” Dr. Thomas was likewise baptized in the Holy Spirit a short time later.
Meanwhile, the Board of Medical Examiners had started the process of revoking Thomas’ license to practice medicine. Dr. Thomas made a full written confession of his addictions and misdeeds, and the board had no intention of giving him a second chance, based on his dismal record.
At Dr. Thomas’ hearing, the board grilled the Thomases and their parents for two hours. The board asked Ann, “How can you be so sure that he won’t go back on drugs?” She replied, “You don’t know the power of God.”
Stating it was against its better judgement, the board decided to permit Thomas to continue to practice medicine, on the condition that Ann write the board a letter every month assuring the board that everything is fine.
Dr. Howard Thomas went to on to be a successful physician and a longtime Assemblies of God member. He frequently shared his testimony, including on television and radio. A widely-distributed booklet, Drugs, Despair, Deliverance: The Story of Dr. Howard Thomas, was written by C.M. Ward, the host of the Assemblies of God’s Revivaltime radio broadcast. In 1975, David Mainse interviewed Thomas for the Assemblies of God’s Turning Point television program. Thomas had so many ministry opportunities that he became credentialed as an Assemblies of God minister from 1975 to 1981.
When Thomas went to be with the Lord in 2016, he and Ann had been married almost 70 years. While the first 20 years of their marriage was marked by addictions and destructive patterns, they spent their last 50 years as devoted Christians active in Assemblies of God churches.
Thomas’ testimony provides insight into the problem of drug addiction. From personal experience, Thomas understood that institutional care is not the answer to the drug problem. He wrote, “A man can be taken off drugs, but as soon as he is returned to society, and the same pressures set in, that man will return to drugs.”
Thomas also understood that psychiatry is limited in its ability to treat addiction. Psychiatrists recognized and analyzed Thomas’ addiction, but they could not cure the addiction. A cure required a change of heart. Addiction, Thomas came to realize, was a spiritual problem. He spent years attempting to treat his own addiction. However, Thomas found deliverance only after he placed his faith in Christ and allowed his heart and desires to be changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Read “I Was Hooked on Drugs,” by Howard W. Thomas, on pages 2-3 and 13 of the May 3, 1970, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Do you have Pentecostal historical materials that should be preserved? Please consider depositing these materials at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC). The FPHC, located in the Assemblies of God national offices, is the largest Pentecostal archive in the world. We would like to preserve and make your treasures accessible to those who write the history books.
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Phone: 417.862.1447 ext. 4400 Toll Free: 877.840.5200 Email: archives@ag.org Website: https://ifphc.org/
Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center 