December 9, 2021 · 7:37 pm

Maria Gerber: How a Pentecostal Missionary Became an “Angel of Mercy” During the Armenian Genocide

This Week in AG History —December 4, 1915

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 09 December 2021

An estimated 800,000 to 1,500,000 ethnic Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire (present day Turkey) were systematically rounded up and killed by Ottoman authorities between the years 1915 and 1918. The Armenian Genocide, as it came to be known, is the second-most studied case of genocide, following the Jewish Holocaust.

Newspapers around the world reported on the suffering endured by the mostly Christian Armenians. Right in the midst of the conflict was Maria A. Gerber (1858-1917), an early Pentecostal missionary who had established an orphanage in Turkey for Armenian victims.

Gerber was born in Switzerland, where she was raised with 11 siblings by Mennonite parents. As a child, she did not have an interest in spiritual things, because she saw her mother weep when she read her Bible. She thought that Scripture must be the cause of sadness.

Gerber was a carefree child and loved to sing and dance. But, at age 20, she was stricken with multiple ailments, including rheumatic fever, heart trouble, tuberculosis, and dropsy. The doctor’s prognosis was not good — Gerber only had a short time to live.

Fear gripped Gerber’s heart. She had never committed her life to the Lord. She knew that if she died, she would not go to heaven. Gerber cried out, “Jesus, I want you to save me from my sins.” Immediately, she felt peace deep inside her soul. She was ready to die.

But God had other plans for the young girl. Gerber quickly recovered from her incurable illness, much to everyone’s surprise. Gerber’s mother had been so confident that her daughter was on death’s doorstep that she had already given away all of her clothing. Her mother scrounged around and found clothes for Gerber.

Gerber shared her testimony of salvation and healing at school and in surrounding villages. She found her calling. She read Matthew 28:18 and sensed that verse was meant for her: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me [Jesus]. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”

Gerber’s faith deepened as she blossomed into a young woman. She received training as a nurse, but in her heart she wanted to become a missionary. In 1889 a remarkable revival featuring healing and speaking in tongues came to her town in Switzerland. In her 1917 autobiography, Passed Experiences, Present Conditions, Hope for the Future, Gerber recounted the rapturous praise and numerous miracles that occurred in that early Swiss revival.

The young nurse wanted training for missions work and, in 1891, she headed for Chicago, where she attended Moody Bible Institute. By the mid-1890s, she heard about massacres of Armenian Christians that were occurring in the Ottoman Empire. Gerber and a friend, Rose Lambert, felt God calling them to minister to the Armenian widows and orphans.

Gerber and Lambert arrived in Turkey in 1898 and began working with the besieged Armenians. They began caring for orphans and purchased camel loads of cotton for widows to make garments for the orphans and for sale. Donors from America and Europe began supporting these two audacious women who had ventured into very dangerous territory to do the Lord’s work.

Gerber, in particular, found support among wealthy German Mennonites who lived in Russia. In 1904, they funded the construction of a series of large buildings to house hundreds of orphans and widows. Zion Orphans’ Home, located near Caesarea, became a hub of relief work and ministry in central Turkey. When persecution of Armenians intensified in 1915, resulting in the extermination of most Christian Armenians from Turkey, Zion Orphans’ Home was ready to help those in distress.

Gerber identified with the emerging Pentecostal movement as early as 1910. This should not be surprising, as she had experienced her own Pentecost 21 years earlier. The Assemblies of God supported her missions efforts, and numerous letters by Gerber were published in the Pentecostal Evangel. Assemblies of God leader D.W. Kerr, in the foreword to Gerber’s 1917 autobiography, wrote that he had known Gerber for 26 years and that her story will encourage readers “to greater self-denial and a deeper surrender.”

Gerber suffered a stroke and passed away on Dec. 6, 1917. Gerber’s obituary, published in the Pentecostal Evangel, stated that she was known as “the angel of mercy to the downtrodden Armenians.”

It would have been easy for Gerber to ignore the persecution of Armenians. The massacres were on the other side of the world. She could have stayed safe in America or in Europe. But Gerber followed God’s call and spent almost 20 years ministering to refugees who faced persecution and death. Few people today remember her name. But according to early Assemblies of God leaders, Maria Gerber personified what it meant to be Pentecostal.

Read one of Gerber’s articles, “Great Results Seen in Answer to Prayer,” on page 4 of the Dec. 4, 1915, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Divine Love: The Supreme Test,” by Arch P. Collins

• “What Think Ye of Christ?” by M. M. Pinson

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

Read Maria A. Gerber’s obituary in the Jan. 5, 1918, edition of the Pentecostal Evangel (p. 13).

[Edit: In paragraph four, “But, at age 12” was changed to “But, at age 20” on Sep 18, 2023]

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: www.iFPHC.org

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December 3, 2021 · 12:51 am

Charles W.H. Scott: The Assemblies of God Pioneer With a Heart for Church Planting

This Week in AG History — December 2, 1956

By Glenn W. Gohr

Originally published on AG News, 02 December 2021

Charles W.H. Scott (1904-1993) served the Assemblies of God with distinction as a church planter, executive presbyter, district official, and as an assistant general superintendent where he had oversight of a number of important AG ministries.

Born in Arundel, Quebec, Canada, Charles Scott attended public school in Montreal and attended two years at Rochester Bible Training School in New York (1922-1924). He also attended Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey (1925-1926). His first pastorate was in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1924. He was ordained with the Eastern District of the Assemblies of God on June 14, 1925. He married Gertrude V. Northrop in Rochester, New York, on Oct. 16, 1926.

In 1927 the Scotts pioneered a church at Altoona, Pennsylvania, followed by pioneer works at Tyrone, Roaring Springs, and Lebanon, Pennsylvania. While serving as pastor of Riverside Tabernacle, Flint, Michigan (1933-1941), through the vision and energy of the Scotts, several nearby towns received their first Pentecostal witness. These included Bethel Tabernacle (on the east side of Flint), Goodrich, Lapeer, and Owosso, Michigan. The Scotts also pastored in Atlantic City, New Jersey (1929-1933), where the Scotts broadcast the Sunshine Gospel Program, and Church of the Four-Fold Gospel (AG) in Battle Creek, Michigan (1941-1945).

Scott served as a district presbyter for the Central District from 1938 to 1945 and was an executive presbyter from 1954 until his retirement in 1971.

When the Michigan district was organized in 1945, Scott was elected superintendent. During his time as superintendent, the Michigan District opened 90 new churches. Scott held that post for 12 years.

From 1957-1971, Scott served as an assistant general superintendent of the Assemblies of God. He was an executive director for Home Missions (now U.S. Missions), Benevolences, Ministers Benefit Association, Sunday School, the Education Department, and the Men’s department. One major home missions activity under his direction was new church evangelism. More than 900 new Assemblies of God churches were opened during his six years as director of Home Missions (1966-1971).

Scott’s first initiative as Home Missions director was called “Branch Out,” which encouraged local churches to branch out beyond their four walls and plant churches, as well as ministering to needy people groups. He focused on reaching Native Americans, the deaf culture, the blind, and those with drug and other addictions.

Under Scott’s leadership, the missions work in Puerto Rico was placed under the authority of the Home Missions Department. He and Curtis Ringness, director of Special Ministries, began to aggressively pursue building churches in Puerto Rico, and they were aided by a Spirit-filled businessman who donated two choice properties in Puerto Rico which were used for planting churches.

In the late 1950s, Burton Pierce, the director of the AG’s Men’s Fellowship, noticed that many young boys were drifting away from the local church. He declared, “Our number-one priority is to get men involved in soul winning and the discipling of boys.” In 1960, Scott suggested the name, “Royal Rangers,” for such a discipleship program, and two years later, the Royal Rangers program was inaugurated with Johnnie Barnes as the first Royal Rangers national commander.

In addition to church planting, Charles Scott was a large proponent of Christian higher education in the Assemblies of God. When Evangel College (now Evangel University) began classes in 1955, while still superintendent of the Michigan District, Scott served as the first chairman of the board of directors.

During 1959 Charles Scott and Cordas C. Burnett, national education secretary, compiled a thorough analysis on the need for a seminary in the Assemblies of God. This eventually led to the establishment of the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. Scott served as chairman of the board for American Indian Bible College (now SAGU-American Indian College) and also served as a board member for Central Bible College and Northeast Bible Institute (now The University of Valley Forge). Both Evangel College and American Indian Bible College honored him by naming campus buildings after him. He also served as chairman of the board for Hillcrest Children’s Home in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and Highlands Child Placement Services in Kansas City, Missouri.

At Scott’s retirement in 1971, Curtis Ringness said, “It is the prerogative of God, both to call and to qualify a man to be a successful minister of the gospel. Charles W. H. Scott has steadfastly maintained the distinction and dignity of his calling. His deportment has always been correct, his character pure, and his spirit excellent. The strength of his faith and his dedication to the cause of Christ have been an inspiration to all who know him.”

In later years, when approaching their seventies, the Scotts moved to Sun City, Arizona, to pioneer Evangel Church for nine years (1972-1981). The church began with services in private homes until a more permanent building could be established. At a time in life when most people plan to gear down activities, Charles Scott launched a fund-raising program to purchase property and construct a new building. The first services were held in the new church sanctuary on Easter Sunday of 1977. The church grew to about 150 people while Scott was pastor.

The Scotts moved back to Springfield, Missouri, in 1985 to live at Maranatha Village, where he passed away on Jan. 3, 1993. His wife, Gertrude, passed away in 1996.

General Superintendent G. Raymond Carlson said of Charles Scott, “His contribution to God’s work and the Assemblies of God cannot be measured by words. He had an illustrious career of service to the Lord and our Fellowship.”

Read Charles W. H. Scott’s article, “World Crisis and Coming Events,” on page 3 of the Dec. 2, 1956, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “God’s Plan for Palestine,” by Robert C. Cunningham

• “God is Still on the Throne,” by Ralph M. Riggs

• “Christian Conduct in View of Christ’s Coming,” by J. Bashford Bishop

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

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: www.iFPHC.org

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November 24, 2021 · 7:14 pm

Pentecostal Pioneer Katherine Voronaev Escaped USSR 61 Years Ago, Revealed Horrors of Persecution

Mugshot of Katherine Voronaev during her imprisonment in Soviet slave labor camps, circa 1930s

This Week in AG History —November 27, 1960

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 24 November 2021

Ivan and Katherine Voronaev, pioneer Assemblies of God missionaries to the Soviet Union, were exiled to Siberian prison camps in the 1930s and believed to be dead. But 61 years ago, Katherine was released and made her way to New York City. She shared her story in 1960 with Pentecostal Evangel readers, offering a rare glimpse into the life of persecuted Christians under Soviet rule.

The Voronaevs spent much of their adult lives as fugitives or in prison. Ivan and Katherine fled Russia, the land of their birth, in 1908 after Ivan was court-martialed and threatened with a politicized trial and likely death. His crime? Ivan, a young officer in the Tsar’s army, had recently converted to Christ and felt conviction that he should no longer fight as a professional warrior. He laid down his arms and told his superiors that, from then on, his only weapon “would be the Word of God — the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” The Voronaevs ended up in America in 1912 by way of Turkmenistan and Manchuria.

In the U.S., Ivan became a Baptist pastor and evangelist and ministered among Slavic immigrants in San Francisco and Seattle. In 1917, Voronaev moved to New York City to accept the pastorate of a small Russian Baptist congregation. Two years later, Voronaev’s daughter, Vera, was Spirit-baptized and spoke in tongues while attending Glad Tidings Tabernacle, an Assemblies of God church, with a friend. Voronaev began to study Scripture and became convinced that supernatural spiritual gifts did not cease, but continued to be available to Christians. Spiritually hungry, Voronaev prayed for and received a similar experience. In the summer of 1919, Voronaev and about 20 others formed a new Pentecostal congregation — the Russian Christian Apostolic Mission in New York.

Several months later at a home prayer meeting, Voronaev received a prophetic message, “Voronaev, Voronaev, go to Russia!” He ignored the message at first, but after he sensed the same message in his personal devotions, he made preparations to return to his homeland. This would not be an easy task. The Tsar recently had been overthrown, and political, religious, and social turmoil had produced much suffering in Russia. Voronaev joined the Assemblies of God and received official appointment as a missionary. With several Slavic families from his congregation, they made the arduous journey back to Eastern Europe.

Voronaev and his team of missionaries left the United States in 1920 and set up their headquarters in Odessa, Ukraine. They fanned out across the Soviet Union, preached the gospel, and established Pentecostal churches. In 1926, Voronaev organized the General-Ukrainian Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith, which provided fellowship for the growing number of churches. By 1928, the Union consisted of about 400 congregations with approximately 20,000 members.

U.S. Assemblies of God churches provided financial and prayer support, including money for bicycles for Slavic ministers. Voronaev regularly wrote English-language reports of the Slavic revival, which American supporters read in the Pentecostal Evangel.

The Voronaevs and their ministerial cohorts enjoyed about 10 years of freedom to evangelize across the Soviet Union. Then, in January 1930, authorities arrested all of the officers and many other leaders of the Union, including Voronaev.

Katherine Voronaev, in the 1960 Pentecostal Evangel article, recalled in painful detail how “the communists herded the 800 pastors and Christian leaders into freight cars as though they were cattle and shipped them to Siberia.” She continued: “The horrors of that journey were indescribable. They had no food nor water, no sanitation, no provision for rest, and poor ventilation. The survivors were then forced into slave labor.”

The Soviet authorities thought that the churches would die if their leaders were taken away. But new leaders emerged. Katherine Voronaev was among those who began ministering secretly, but three years later police came and arrested her and sent her to a slave labor camp located 2,000 miles away from her husband.

Katherine later made an appeal to be placed in the same slave labor camp as Ivan. The request was granted, and for three years they were able to live together in prison. They spent long days doing hard labor — Ivan in a forest and quarry, and Katherine doing cooking and scrubbing. But they could be together at night when, under the cloak of darkness, they would take long walks through the snow in a forest. They prayed and praised God during those times, and “heaven seemed very near.” Life was hard, but Katherine recounted that they were not unhappy. They had each other.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Assemblies of God made great efforts to secure the release of the Voronaevs. The Soviet government told the Americans that they would free Voronaev upon payment of a large sum of money. U.S. Assemblies of God members raised the money, which they gave to the Soviet government. Voronaev was temporarily freed in 1936, but almost immediately he was rearrested and was never heard from again.

Katherine was released from prison in 1935 and had a measure of freedom. For years she went from camp to camp, trying without success to locate her husband. She was imprisoned a final time in 1949, after she tried to write to her children who lived in America. She was charged with being a counterrevolutionary and a spy.

The Pentecostal Evangel article recounted Katherine’s time in solitary confinement: “Her captors tried to hypnotize and brainwash her, but without success. She would close her eyes and silently pray. Her rat-infested cell had a concrete floor upon which she was forced to sleep without any bedding and she was clad only in a few worn-out garments. She was watched by the soldiers constantly through a peep hole.”

Soldiers waited for Katherine to have an emotional breakdown, but she instead felt the presence of God and kept remembering God’s promise: “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Despite a year of brutal torture, the article recounted, “her spirit remained free and she kept a song in her heart.”

The 1953 death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin resulted in greater religious freedom, and Katherine was released from prison. But there was still great fear of reprisal, and she had to be very cautious. A son living in California discovered that Katherine was still alive and, through the intervention of the Eisenhower administration, Katherine was allowed to leave the Soviet Union in 1960 and come to the U.S. Upon her death in 1965, she still didn’t know whether her husband was alive or dead. After the fall of Soviet Union, documents were discovered that Ivan Voronaev had died in a slave labor camp in 1937.

The Voronaevs’ story wasn’t unique. Persecution separated consecrated believers from nominal Christians. Gustav H. Schmidt, Assemblies of God missionary to Slavic lands, wrote in 1934: “Anyone who is zealous for Jesus in Russia is marked for arrest and this makes Christian activity hazardous. Therefore we find no halfhearted Christians in Russia…Such who are not fully consecrated will not be able to stand the strain for any length of time but will step over into the enemy’s camp.”

Communist persecution not only failed to destroy Christianity; it helped to create a strong and vibrant Pentecostal movement numbering over one million adherents in the former Soviet Union.

Beginning in the late 1980s, when Mikhail Gorbachev began to allow persecuted religious minorities to emigrate, many put down roots in the United States. An estimated 500,000 Slavic Pentecostals from this recent wave of immigration now live in the United States, including children and grandchildren of immigrants who were born in the United States. While most are in congregations that are either independent or loosely affiliated with one of several Slavic Pentecostal unions, many are deciding to join the Assemblies of God.

In 2002, several Slavic Pentecostal churches in California joined the Assemblies of God and formed the Slavic Fellowship, which provided both a structure for Slavs to organize themselves within the Assemblies of God and also representation on the Fellowship’s General Presbytery. In September 2008, leaders of the Slavic Fellowship, in addition to other Slavic Pentecostals interested in affiliating with the Assemblies of God, came together in Renton, Washington, and organized the National Slavic District, which now has 69 affiliated churches.

The legacy of Ivan and Katherine Voronaev lives on in their spiritual descendants who now live in America. With deep faith burnished by decades of persecution, Slavic-American Pentecostals are poised to provide leadership in the broader church. And their leadership could not have come at a better time, as they have already proven their mettle in a culture that is hostile to biblical values.

Read the article by Ruth Demetrus, “Back from Siberia,” in the Nov. 27, 1960, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Progress of the Gospel in South India” by Christine Carmichael

• “Fito Stands Firm” by Adele Flower Dalton

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

Pentecostal Evangel archived editions are 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: www.iFPHC.org

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November 18, 2021 · 5:52 pm

Duncan Campbell and the Hebrides Revival (1949-1952)

Duncan Campbell and his wife, Shona

This Week in AG History —November 19, 1950

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 18 November 2021

The Pentecostal movement sees itself as a movement of revival. Pentecostals rejoice when they hear news of revivals in various places around the globe. This is evident in reports in the Nov. 19, 1950, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel about an ongoing revival in the Hebrides Islands off the coast of Scotland.

In October 1949, the Free Church Presbytery of Lewis met for a discussion of the spiritual state of their communities in the Hebrides Islands. The hearts of these evangelical ministers were deeply concerned at the drift from the church, especially among the young people of their island. They passed a resolution which was later published in the Stornoway Gazette: “The Presbytery affectionately plead with their people to … make serious inquiry as to what must be the end, should be there be no repentance; and they call upon every individual as before God to examine his or her life in the light of that responsibility which pertains to us all, that haply, in the Divine mercy, we may be visited with the spirit of repentance and may turn again unto the Lord.”

In the congregation in Barvas, prayer meetings began to be held in a barn three nights each week often lasting until four or five o’clock in the morning. During one of those meetings, a young man rose to read Psalm 24, asking his praying companions, “Brethren, we have been praying for weeks, waiting upon God. Now I would like to ask ‘Are our hands clean? Are our hearts pure?’” In the wee hours of the morning, a spirit of conviction swept through the barn and the men prayed earnestly in repentance.

That same morning Peggy and Christine Smith, both in their 80s, joined in prayer in their cottage a few miles away. Each sensed an intense presence of the Lord and Peggy said to her younger sister, “This is what God has promised: I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon dry ground. Sister, we are dealing with a covenant-keeping God.” So convinced was she that she sent a message to their minister, James Murray MacKay, to send a wire to the Faith Mission in Lewis to ask a Christian evangelist, Duncan Campbell, to come to their island.

Campbell replied that he could not come as he was already ministering elsewhere. He soon found that his scheduled convention was canceled, and he arrived in Lewis within 10 days. Arriving at 9 p.m., he was taken to the church for an immediate service in Barvas. The elders assured him that expectancy was high and that they believed God was going to do something in their meeting.

Yet the meeting was quite ordinary. After the end of the service at about 11 p.m., several stayed to seek God in fervent prayer. When they disbursed at 3 a.m., they found that something extraordinary happened during their prayer time. As they walked along the road, they found men and women crying out to God for mercy. Many had awakened in the night convicted that they must become right with God. The next day, without any advertisement, the church was crowded before the minister arrived. A stream of lorries (buses) brought people from all corners of the island. In the service, people began to cry out to God for mercy. After Campbell dismissed the service, many stayed to pray. Others who had left found themselves drawn back into the church. They prayed and sang until 4 a.m. when a messenger came that people were gathered at the local police station at the other end of the parish in great distress. The police requested that someone come and pray with them.

Campbell reported, “We went to the police station and I shall never forget the scene that met our eyes … scores of men and women under deep conviction of sin. On the road, by the cottage side, behind a peat stack, they were crying to God for mercy. Yes, the revival had come!”

This continued for five weeks with Campbell preaching in one church “at 7 p.m., in another at 10 p.m., in a third at twelve, back to the first church at 3 a.m., then home between five and six, tired but thankful to have found himself in the middle of what God was doing.” After this, the revival began to spread beyond Barvas and into neighboring parishes. The outstanding characteristics of the revival were a deep sense of the reality and presence of God accompanied by a deep sense of conviction of sin.

The revival affected both the church and the community. The Stornoway Gazette reported, “More are attending the prayer meeting in Lewis today than attended public worship on the sabbath before the outbreak of this revival.” It was also reported by Campbell that in the community “social ills were swept away as by a flood in the night.” Dance halls and drinking houses were closed. Family worship was prioritized in the homes and prayer meetings were well attended five or six nights a week.

Duncan Campbell summed up his thoughts on the revival in an address to the Keswick Convention of 1952: “We may organize. We may plan. But until we get on our faces and do business with a covenant-keeping God, we shall not see revival. We can have our conventions and our conferences, recalling the wonderful times we have had. But what we want – and desperately need – is a fresh manifestation of the mighty power of God, bringing men into conviction over sin and causing them to seek the Savior.”

Read the article, “Revival in the Hebrides,” on page 2 of the Nov. 19, 1950, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Giving Thanks Always for All Things” by J. Narver Gortner

• “Harvest Secrets” by Lettie Cowman

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

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: www.iFPHC.org

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November 11, 2021 · 3:42 pm

Assemblies of God Chaplains: 80th Anniversary of Serving United States Men and Women in Uniform

  • Assemblies of God chaplain A. C. Lane (standing on far left), with American servicemen in New Guinea during World War II.

This Week in AG History —November 11, 1944

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 11 November 2021

When President Woodrow Wilson declared the United States’ first observation of Armistice Day on Nov. 11, 1919, he envisioned a world that would “work out in peace a new and juster set of international relations.” However, history would show that the world was not yet done with international war. Twenty-five years after that first declaration, the Pentecostal Evangel reported on Nov. 11, 1944, that nearly 12,000,000 men had taken up arms and were serving their country in war-time military service. The Assemblies of God provided several ministry avenues to these servicemen but one of the most critical was to “give our prayers and our wholehearted support to those who are in by far the most strategic position to sustain them — the United States chaplains.”

As early as 1917, the Assemblies of God began work among servicemen when a motion by Raymond T. Richey, of Houston, Texas, to “adopt every available means consistent with scriptural teaching and example to cooperate with every approved agency for revivals among our soldiers” was approved by the General Council. 

However, at the 1941 General Council in Minneapolis, which took as its theme “Our Place in the Present World Crises,” the need became apparent that a more complete plan for providing ministry to servicemen was needed. This plan came to include quarterly publications for military personnel, service centers near military bases and the creation of resources for local churches to minister to soldiers. The Assemblies of God also felt the need to provide some of its ministers as U.S. Military Chaplains. 

The qualifications for chaplains were very high. In December of 1941, Army Regulation 605-30 stated that an applicant must be “a male U.S. citizen, between the ages of 23 and 34, regularly ordained and in good standing with an organization which holds an apportionment of chaplain appointments, a graduate of both four-year college and three-year theological seminary, and have three years of ministerial experience.” 

Many ministers from the Assemblies of God, as well as other denominations, wished to serve their country as chaplains but found the educational requirements prohibitive. Due to the overwhelming need, educational and experiential requirements were at times waived or relaxed until the end of the crises. The first Assemblies of God Chaplain was Clarence P. Smales, who received his commission in June of 1941. During World War II, 34 Assemblies of God ministers left their churches, homes, and families to serve their country in providing spiritual care for military personnel. Of these, two were awarded the Purple Heart and three the Bronze Star. 

The Servicemen’s Department of the Assemblies of God (created in 1944) provided these chaplains with needed equipment not provided by other sources, such as public address systems, short wave radios, Bibles, and communion sets. 

In the Nov. 11, 1944, article, “Hard But Glorious,” Assemblies of God Navy Chaplain Joseph Gerhart tells of a seaman needing an immediate removal of an appendix. The operation was set to be carried out on the dining room table, and the roughness of the sea added to the peril. The ship’s doctor had not performed an operation for several years, adding to the young man’s apprehension. The sailor had been attending Chaplain Gerhart’s services but did not come from a church that believed in divine healing. Gerhart reports that he “prayed that God would heal his body … the boy began to improve immediately and the doctor came in after a while and said that the operation would not be necessary.” The boy was back on his feet the next day, much relieved at foregoing the surgery. 

On this 25th anniversary of Armistice Day (renamed Veterans Day in 1954) the Evangel editors called their readers to assist these chaplains by use of the most powerful weapon the church has in its arsenal: prayer. “We are sure you feel with us the urgent necessity of sparing no effort — for the reward is great! We must not let them down! … PRAY!” 

Read the full article “Hard But Glorious” on page 9 of the Nov. 11, 1944, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel. 

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Apostolic Message, Method and Might,” by H. B. Garlock

• “That Blessed Hope,” by D. A. Clark

• “A Trophy of God’s Grace,” by D. W. Murphy, missionary to North India

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

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: www.iFPHC.org

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November 4, 2021 · 6:45 pm

William Burton McCafferty: Pioneer Assemblies of God Minister, Evangelist, and Educator

This Week in AG History — November 4, 1916

By Glenn W. Gohr

Originally published on AG News, 04 November 2021

William Burton McCafferty (1889-1963) overcame privation and persecution to become a pioneer Assemblies of God minister, evangelist, and educator.

At age 21, McCafferty attended an interstate camp meeting at Fort Worth, Texas. There he answered the altar call and was saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit and also healed from a disease which had suffered since birth.

It is no wonder he felt called into full-time ministry in whatever avenue the Lord directed. First he began itinerant preaching. He attended a short-term Bible school in Fort Worth directed by D. C. O. Opperman in February 1912 and was ordained that same year by his pastor, A. P. Collins. Among his travels he felt it was important to join with other Pentecostals who met at Hot Springs, Arkansas, in April 1914. By attending, he became a charter member of the Assemblies of God.

Living as an itinerant pastor, he often had to work odd jobs in order to survive. Life wasn’t easy, and at times he suffered persecution. “I recall those early days vividly,” declared McCafferty. “We had no money…. It took days to make some trips which today can be completed in hours.” He told of living in a boxcar and working hard in a lumber camp to get a meal. At one job he picked cotton for six bits per hundred and dinner. The dinner was the best part of the deal. On another occasion he and a coworker were traveling around looking for an opportunity to preach. McCafferty said, “Walking on the hot sand made my coworker wince, for he had no soles in his shoes. The tin sardine can lids which he used for soles became unbearably hot.” At a tent meeting in Remlig, Texas, some vandals sliced the tent ropes and before they left town, a man threatened McCafferty and his coworker with a knife.

Although he was short in stature (5 feet 4 inches tall), he stood tall for the Kingdom of God. He ministered in quite a number of camp meetings and revivals, pastored churches, and was a long-time instructor at what is now Southwestern Assemblies of God University. In 1915 he married Catherine Flagler at Overton, Texas. She supported him in his ministry. She served many years as a dean and secretary of records, and later as alumni secretary for Southwestern. The McCaffertys’ only child died young, but they became Mother and Dad to hundreds of students at the school.

McCafferty pastored churches in Davis City, Iowa, Greenwood, Arkansas, Wichita Falls and Fort Worth, Texas, among others. He served as a presbyter in three states: New Mexico, Arkansas, and Texas. In 1916, when he was living in Iowa, he was assistant superintendent of the West Central District of the Assemblies of God.

He wrote nearly 200 articles for the Pentecostal Evangel, as well as contributing to a number of other early Pentecostal papers. His writings included reports of revivals and articles on Christian living, Pentecostal beliefs, eschatology, and theology, as well as poetry.

He was connected with Southwestern for thirty-two years, teaching many courses on Bible and doctrine. Subjects he taught there included the Old Testament, New Testament, Pauline Epistles, Messianic Prophecy, Bible Doctrine, Dispensational Truths, Systematic Theology, and Homiletics. He also wrote two volumes on the Pauline Epistles and produced two unpublished works on dispensationalism and on Messianic prophecy. In retirement he was honored as Dean Emeritus. General Treasurer James K. Bridges recalled, “He was such a versatile person. There was nothing he couldn’t teach.” Joe Adams, former treasurer of the North Texas District said, “In stature he was small, but in biblical knowledge and teaching he was a giant.”

Read an article by McCafferty published 105 years ago, “And Knowledge Shall Be Increased,” on page 5 of the November 4, 1916, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Works of God,” by Bennett F. Lawrence

• “What It Costs to be a Missionary,” by Jessie Hertslet

• “Encouragement from West Africa,” by Harry E. Bowley

And many more!
Click here to read this issue now.

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: www.iFPHC.org

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October 28, 2021 · 9:10 pm

Myer Pearlman: The Story Behind One of the Foremost Assemblies of God Theologians of the 1930s and 1940s

This Week in AG History — October 27, 1934

By Glenn W. Gohr

Originally published on AG News, 28 October 2021

Myer Pearlman (1898-1943) was one of the foremost educators and writers in the early Pentecostal movement. Born into a Jewish family in Edinburgh, Scotland, he moved with his family to Birmingham, England, at age 7. He received his common-school training at the Birmingham Hebrew School and excelled in his studies. At age 14 he mastered the French language on his own and later used this knowledge to act as an interpreter for the U.S. Army during World War I.

He immigrated to the United States (New York City) in 1915 and enlisted in the Army Medical Corps when he was 19. After the war, he moved to California where one night he felt drawn inside the Glad Tidings Mission (now Glad Tidings Church) in San Francisco. The people were singing an inspirational hymn called “Honey in the Rock.” After several months of attending the church, Pearlman was converted to Christ and baptized in the Holy Spirit.

He graduated from Central Bible Institute (CBI) in Springfield, Missouri, in 1925, and was immediately asked to join the faculty. In 1927 he married Irene Graves, whose father, F. A. Graves, had composed “Honey in the Rock.”

Pearlman was a premier Assemblies of God theologian in systematic theology of his era. He wrote extensively and taught a variety of courses, but he is best known for his synthesis classes on the Old Testament and New Testament. He was fluent in Hebrew, Greek, French, Spanish, and Italian.

In addition to his teaching career, Pearlman was a prolific writer. For many years he prepared the Adult Teacher’s Quarterly and Adult Student’s Quarterly. He contributed articles to the Pentecostal Evangel, and during World War II he edited Reveille, a devotional publication for American servicemen. He also authored Seeing the Story of the Bible (1930), Why We Believe the Bible Is God’s Book (1931), The Life and Teachings of Christ (1935), Through the Bible Book by Book (1935), The Heavenly Gift (1935), the Minister’s Service Book (1941), Windows Into the Future (1941), Daniel Speaks Today (1943), and several other books. Several of Pearlman’s books are still in print and are available through the Gospel Publishing House. 

Pearlman also wrote the weekly Sunday School lesson for the Pentecostal Evangel from December 1932 to May 1935. A sample lesson found in the Oct. 27, 1934, issue is called “Christian Growth.” The lesson emphasizes that Christians first need to follow Christ’s example of being about His Father’s business (Luke 2:42-52) and then move forward in the plans of God for our lives and His church (2 Peter 1:5-8). In a nutshell, those two elements promote healthy Christian growth. Pearlman emphasized, “There is no standstill in the spiritual life; if we are not advancing we are retreating.”

Myer Pearlman was well-loved by his coworkers and by the faculty and students at CBI. Unfortunately, due to overwork and health issues, Pearlman passed away at the young age of 44. He is buried in Greenlawn Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri.

The 1942 CBI yearbook, The Cup, was dedicated to him, and later the school library was named after him. The yearbook praised Pearlman for “his sterling Christian character and capable ministry.” The dedication continued: “We have seen the Christ whom he serves in his godly life, and the underlying element of human understanding and humility of heart expressed in his kindly dealings with the students. His knowledge and versatility qualify him for the wide sphere of service in which he so ably participates. His ready wit and originality have given us many gems which we shall cherish, while his sparkling humor has been a source of delight to all.”

Read Myer Pearlman’s article, “Christian Growth,” on page 9 of the Oct. 27, 1934, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “How Shall I Curse Whom God Hath Not Cursed?” by Lilian Yeomans

• “Seed Thoughts,” by Alice E. Luce

• “Questions and Answers,” by E. S. Williams

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

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: www.iFPHC.org

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October 21, 2021 · 8:04 pm

Edgar Kroll was a Scientist, a Skeptic, and a Presbyterian Elder. Then He Encountered the Power of the Holy Spirit.

This Week in AG History —October 21, 1962

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 21 October 2021

Adam Edgar Kroll (1918-1993) was a Presbyterian layman with little use for the miraculous claims of Christianity until he experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in a charismatic prayer meeting under the leadership of Presbyterian pastor James H. Brown. In 1962, the Pentecostal Evangel shared Kroll’s story, documenting that an Assemblies of God prayer meeting played a role in his conversion.

Kroll received his Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Temple University in 1942. He went to work with E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (now DuPont, after its merger with Dow Chemicals) in their military explosives division. After receiving his Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from Lehigh University in 1946, he was promoted to supervisor of the research division of the Polychemicals Department, holding the 1956 patent for the polymerization of tetrafluoroethylene.

As a youth, Kroll recalled going to church for special holiday services but never to Sunday School. He confessed, “I was well grounded in science and mathematics, but I did not know a word of Scripture. In fact, some of the things I heard about Christianity I found extremely hard to believe. My greatest stumbling blocks were the ‘miracles’; because, like many who study natural phenomena, I rejected the supernatural.”

After settling into marriage and his profession, Kroll began to think about metaphysical things, such as “What is man?”, “What is he born for?”, and “After death, what?” Philosophy, psychology, and psychiatry did not provide the answers for which he was searching.

In the early 1950s, Kroll and his wife thought it would be a good idea to take their young son, Barry, to a Presbyterian Sunday School. Not wishing to make the drive to the church twice each Sunday, Kroll stayed during the Sunday School hour and attended a men’s Bible class. However, it seemed the more he learned about the Bible, the more he thought he would need to commit intellectual suicide to believe its teaching.

Despite his skepticism, Kroll and his family continued to attend the church and, due to his intellect and standing in the community, he soon became an elder in the church and a Sunday School teacher, even filling the pulpit at times when the minister was absent.

In 1961, Barry Kroll experienced a genuine salvation and began to pray for his family. He learned that Revivaltime, an Assemblies of God evangelistic radio program, would pray for anyone who sent in their name. In November, Barry sent the name of Edgar Kroll, asking for prayer for his father’s salvation. Soon after submitting this prayer request, Barry received the infilling of the Holy Spirit in a January 1962 prayer meeting, and in a few weeks his mother and younger sister were also filled with the Spirit.

The prayer meetings Barry was attending were being held at the Upper Octorara Presbyterian church in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania. They were led by Presbyterian minister, James H. Brown (1912-1987), who experienced a dramatic conversion to Christ in a Pentecostal meeting after serving more than 10 years in the pastorate and as theology professor at Lincoln Theological Seminary.

When Brown was baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues in the late 1950s, he asked Assemblies of God leader David du Plessis for advice. “Stay in your church and renew it,” was the counsel he received. Taking this advice to heart, he continued to conduct traditional Presbyterian services on Sunday, while adding an informal Saturday evening prayer meeting to the church schedule. In time, the Saturday prayer meetings attracted hundreds of enthusiastic worshipers, including the Kroll family.

In April 1962, six months after requesting prayer from the Assemblies of God Revivaltime prayer meeting, Barry and his sister convinced their father to join them at the Saturday night prayer meetings at the Presbyterian church. After attending for three weeks, Edgar Kroll responded to an altar call and the self-professed skeptic and church elder gave his life to Jesus Christ.

In a report in the Oct. 21, 1962, Pentecostal Evangel, Kroll states, “While still on my knees with my hands lifted to God in praise, I began speaking in an unknown language. I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. After this glorious experience, my son told me that he had written to Revivaltime requesting prayer for my salvation. I know now that intercessory prayer led me to the meeting in Parkesburg.”

The Kroll family continued to attend their Presbyterian church but the experience of salvation and baptism in the Spirit changed their family. Barry Kroll wrote to the Revivaltime staff, “When Christ came into our home, He ruined us … for the world. Families without Christ do not have the slightest idea of how glorious life can be with Him.”

The Krolls were among the first generation of people who were Spirit-baptized in mainline churches during the charismatic movement. Some of the new charismatics ended up joining the Assemblies of God or other Pentecostal churches, while others, such as the Krolls, remained in their churches and brought new spiritual life to their congregations.

The Upper Octorara Presbyterian neo-Pentecostal prayer meetings, under Brown’s ministry, continued for more than 20 years, seeing thousands of clergy and laity baptized in the Spirit. In 1960, Brown was invited to address a gathering at Evangel College (now Evangel University) in Springfield, Missouri, where he shared the story of this Presbyterian charismatic revival.

The Assemblies of God and the broader Pentecostal movement left a remarkable imprint on countless mainline churches during the charismatic movement. The story of Adam Edgar Kroll, who was simultaneously a skeptic of Christianity and a Presbyterian elder, demonstrates how the power of the Holy Spirit can bring unbelievers to embrace the gospel.

Read the report of A. Edgar Kroll’s conversion, “Scientist Saved After Prayer at Last Year’s World Prayermeeting,” on pages 12 to 13 of the Oct. 21, 1962, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Baptism with the Holy Spirit” by Hardy Steinberg

• “Home Missions from a New Viewpoint” by Pauline Mastries

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

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: www.iFPHC.org

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October 15, 2021 · 5:01 pm

How Tears of Grief Birthed the Assemblies of God in Lakhimpur, India

This Week in AG History —October 14, 1922

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 14 October 2021

Herbert H. Cox (1884-1926), an early Assemblies of God missionary in India, experienced the death of a son on the mission field. A few weeks after young Alkwyn’s death, Cox wrote a letter in which he described the grief that he and his wife felt. The letter, published in the Oct. 14, 1922, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, provides insight into the often-difficult lives of early missionaries.

Alkwyn’s death occurred at a stressful time in the Coxes’ ministry. Earlier that year, the family had moved to Lakhimpur, India, where they were trying to start an Assemblies of God mission. Things were not going well. Herbert wrote, “When we first came to this place it seemed if the whole community was against us. We could not go out without being sneered at.”

Life did not seem fair. But Cox explained that he and his wife trusted God through the difficulties. “It pleased the Lord to take from us, a few weeks ago, our youngest son,” Cox wrote. “We did not understand it, but submitted to His will in it all.” The missionaries turned their burden over to the Lord and did not allow their grief to turn into despair.

Alkwyn’s death softened the hearts of the residents of Lakhimpur. Herbert wrote, “But now the people have become so friendly and salute us wherever we are. The walls of prejudice have been broken and now we have an open door for the gospel.”

The Cox family had sown seeds of the gospel in Lakhimpur, but the gospel did not take root until the missionaries had watered those seeds with their own tears of grief.

Cox seemed to anticipate their suffering. He delivered a sermon, “The Power and Grace that Makes Martyrs,” in 1919 at the Stone Church, a large Assemblies of God congregation in Chicago. In his message, Cox described how his spiritual formation came not from a Bible school, but at the Gurney Iron Foundry in Toronto, Canada, where he had worked for 10 years before entering Nyack Missionary Training Institute.

Cox’s co-workers at the foundry led rough lives. The drugs of alcohol and tobacco went into their mouths and profanity came out. They wanted nothing to do with religion. Cox had to decide whether to take the easy route and keep his faith to himself, or to share Christ and suffer persecution. He chose the latter.

Cox testified, “He wants us to witness right where we are working these days. Of course you get your persecution. I have been knocked to the ground and held down by four men and a knife threateningly branded. I have been smitten across the mouth, but I still have the love of Jesus in my soul.”

Cox was grateful for these formative experiences of suffering. He wrote, “God made me ready in the foundry to witness [of] Jesus.” He shared his faith at the foundry, and some of his colleagues accepted Christ and their rough lives became hewn for the ministry. His first convert became a missionary and was responsible for the building of 27 churches in Nigeria.

What caused young Herbert Cox to embrace the way of suffering? He spent significant time studying the Word of God, and he took to heart the life and teachings of the Apostle Paul. Cox noted that Paul was persecuted, jailed, reviled, hungry, and thirsty. Yet this did not deter him from wanting to follow Paul’s example. In his 1919 sermon, Cox admonished listeners to be fully consecrated to Christ and His mission: “Lord, give us some Apostle Pauls today. We are in need of them. I believe God wants us to follow in the steps of this great man of God.”

Herbert Cox followed the example of the Apostle Paul and gave everything for the cause of Jesus Christ. Cox contracted smallpox while ministering in Dhaurahra, India. On Feb. 6, 1926, he joined his son, Alkwyn, in heaven.

Read the article, “Lakhimpur: A Virgin Field of One Million Souls,” by Herbert H. Cox, on page 10 of the Oct. 14, 1922, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Like Precious Faith,” by Smith Wigglesworth

• “Be Filled with the Spirit,” by W. T. Gaston

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

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: www.iFPHC.org

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October 8, 2021 · 8:02 pm

Fred Vogler: From Australia to Assemblies of God U.S. Missions Pioneer

This Week in AG History — October 4, 1941

By Glenn W. Gohr

Originally published on AG News, 7 October 2021

Fred Vogler (1888-1972), an immigrant from Australia, impacted the Assemblies of God in many ways, including serving as the first director of what is now U.S. Missions.

Vogler was born in Boonah, Queensland, Australia, and immigrated in the spring of 1905 with his parents and four of his 12 brothers and sisters, along with some 60 other Australians, to Zion City, Illinois, which was founded as a Christian community about 30 miles north of Chicago. They became affiliated with healing evangelist John Alexander Dowie, who also was originally from Australia. The Voglers learned about him through his magazine, Leaves of Healing, which reported on many testimonies of divine healing.

Fred Vogler was 17 when he arrived in Zion City, and previously he had been saved and felt called to preach. He had contact with the Salvation Army while still living in Australia, but he discovered a new dimension of Christian experience in Zion City. He attended some cottage prayer meetings that Charles Parham conducted there. This led him to be baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1907, and he joined with other young people who spent many hours waiting on the Lord. He also began to diligently look for opportunities for Christian service. Vogler was among a group who had weekly prayers meetings and who traveled on Sunday afternoons to nearby Kenosha, Wisconsin, to hold street meetings.

Early in 1908, Vogler (who had been working as a carpenter), left his employment to evangelize with Bennett Lawrence. A few months later, J. Roswell Flower joined them for meetings in the Indiana towns of Mooresville, Farmersburg, and Worthington. They also evangelized in other places, often without any advance arrangements. In spite of opposition at times, Vogler recalled, “God gave us the victory.”

In 1909, Vogler and Flower went to Kansas City, Missouri, to assist in tent meetings sponsored by A.S. Copley, an influential Pentecostal editor and preacher. There was opposition from some holiness preachers who strongly opposed Pentecostalism. But in the end, the sympathetic crowd sided with Vogler and Flower. One sister said, “God bless these young men! We ought to help, not condemn them.”

On April 7, 1910, Vogler married Margaret Boyer, who also had been part of the young people’s group at Zion City, Illinois. She had ministered for a while with a gospel team directed by William Manley, another influential early Pentecostal. For two years after their marriage, the Voglers lived in Zion City, where Fred was employed as a carpenter, and the Voglers were active in the local Christian Assembly as well as evangelism in the surrounding area.

In 1912, the Voglers left Zion for Plainfield, Indiana, where they enrolled in a new “faith” school called Gibeah Bible School, which was conducted by D.W. Myland. There they kindled friendships with J. Roswell and Alice Reynolds Flower and Flem Van Meter who also attended this Bible school.

After three terms at the school, the Voglers took over as pastors of a mission in Martinsville, Illinois, where they stayed for seven years. While living there, Fred Vogler was ordained by J. Roswell Flower and Ed Armstrong, becoming affiliated with the Assemblies of God on June 1, 1914.

Vogler also was a building contractor, which helped to support his growing family. Flower and others knew of his abilities, and in 1920, Vogler was enlisted to build the first wooden structure for Central Assembly in Springfield, Missouri. This building later housed the first two years of Central Bible Institute.

During his time in Springfield, Vogler visited his sister in Topeka, Kansas. He saw a great need for evangelism in the capital city of Kansas, so he began planning to pioneer a work there as soon as he finished the building project in Springfield.

Vogler moved his family to Topeka, where he rented a basement room across the street from the governor’s mansion. By day he worked as a carpenter/contractor building a large contracting firm in Topeka, and the rest of the time he devoted to establishing a church in cooperation with the fledgling Kansas district. In 1921 he accepted the added responsibility of serving as secretary-treasurer of the Kansas district.

In 1923, the Kansas district elected Fred Vogler to the office of superintendent, a role he filled for 14 years (1923-1937). In 1927, his beloved wife, Margaret, passed away, leaving him with five young children. He married Nettie Voelkel in 1931, who became a wonderful helpmate to him and a mother to his children.

In 1937, Fred Vogler was elected to the office of Assistant General Superintendent and moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he served 14 years as an executive officer for the Assemblies of God. As part of his duties, he became the first executive director of the Home Missions and Education Department. When the two areas were separated in 1945, he became the director of the Home Missions Department (now called U.S. Missions). Under his leadership, many churches were built in Alaska as well as other places across the U.S. He also had a burden for reaching Native Americans, which led to a number of Indian mission churches springing up in many areas. He also supervised the formation of the Ministers’ Benefit Association which later was called Aged Ministers’ Assistance, and in 1947 he headed the newly formed Department of Benevolences.

In 1954, Vogler retired from his executive duties and moved to Belleville, Illinois. He passed away there in 1972 at the age of 84. His wife, Nettie, passed away in 1982 at the age of 91. Three of Vogler’s children followed their parents into ministry. His only son, David, was an ordained Assemblies of God minister. Daughter Kathryn spent two years in home missions work, received ordination, and was an appointed missionary to India. Daughter Mary Vogler was an ordained minister who was active in child evangelism and in teaching at Great Lakes Bible Institute in Zion, Illinois. The two younger daughters, Ruth Riegle and Alice Howard, became active lay workers.

Commemorating this pioneer evangelist, pastor, builder and church executive, who influenced a full range of ministries, the Pentecostal Evangel observed, “His accomplishments were great because he had vision and was willing to give himself without reservation to see the vision fulfilled.”

During World War II, Fred Vogler, as executive director of Home Missions, talked about many critical issues the U.S. was facing, including crime, alcohol, and spending, as well as some religious statistics. He identified 60 million people in the United States without any church affiliation and 13 million children without any religious training. With so many people without God, he said, “We have a great field right here in America.” He expanded on this thought by saying, “We are not responsible to God for past generations, neither are we responsible to God for future generations, but we are responsible to God for the generation that now lives.” Vogler recognized the need for missionaries abroad, but he also saw a real need to evangelize and win the lost in the United States, especially during the crisis in the 1940s.

Read the article, “Home Missions in the Light of the Present World Crisis,” on page 2 of the Oct. 4, 1941, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Place of Youth in Our Movement,” by Wesley R. Steelberg

• “The Gospel in India” by Maynard L. Ketcham

• “A Call to Missionary Work,” by J. Bashford Bishop

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

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

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