August 29, 2025 · 7:50 am

Was the Dust Bowl of the 1930s a Sign of God’s Judgment on America? An Assemblies of God Leader Responds.

This Week in AG History — August 25, 1934

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 28 August 2025

In Luke 13:1-5, Jesus addressed the question, “Do tragic current events indicate God’s judgment for sin?” Jesus was referring to both a political crisis and the natural occurrence of a deteriorating tower that toppled and crushed 18 people. In the Aug. 25, 1934, Pentecostal Evangel article, “Is It Superstition?” General Superintendent E.S. Williams addressed a similar question: “Is the Dust Bowl a sign that America is under God’s judgment?”

1934 was a difficult year for much of the United States. The Great Depression was still in full swing with an unemployment rate of 21.7%. The new president, Franklin Roosevelt, had begun a redistribution of wealth that some feared would lead the United States to a more Communistic form of government. To top it off, 1934 saw the worst farming conditions in centuries with 71.6% of western North America in drought as the Dust Bowl reached its zenith. This combination of political crisis in the Great Depression and natural crisis in the Dust Bowl caused many Americans to ask, “Are we under the judgment of God for our sins?”

One particular sin that seemed to be on the mind of some was the Department of Agriculture’s slaughter of 6,000,000 pigs in an attempt to control the price of pork in 1933. Secretary of Agriculture, Henry A. Wallace, made the following statement, “My attention has been called to a statement by a minister out in the Corn Belt before the district conference of his faith. Concerning the actions of the New Deal he says: ‘… some of them are downright sinful as the destruction of foodstuffs in the face of present want.’ I have been used to statements of this sort by partisans, demagogues, politicians, and even newspaper columnists … But when a minister of the gospel makes a statement, we expect it to be the truth.”

In his opening paragraph, Williams addressed this directly: “… officials of the Department of Agriculture are a bit concerned over the spread of the superstition that the disastrous drought which had gripped our land was God’s way of punishing folks … (they) went on to say that this superstition started in the pulpits of Iowa.”

Williams took issue with the term “superstition” defining it as “a belief founded on irrational feelings, especially of fear.” He cautioned his readers that, indeed, they should “be careful … lest they reach rash and hurried conclusions” in their fear and concerns for the future of their livelihood and nation.

However, Williams also cautioned “At the same time it would be folly to blindly shut our eyes and refuse to inquire whether or not there may be back of present conditions a moral cause … Let us not be so foolish as to follow the worldly wise who know not God and for that reason may look upon wholesome fear and honest inquiry as but superstition.”

Williams believed that the root cause of the current troubles went much deeper than concern over agricultural direction: “Destruction of cattle and restriction of crops may have been a blunder; but we must look far deeper than to this alone if we would get to the bottom of our troubles. Our chiefest mischief as a nation is that we have departed from dependence upon and reverence for the living God.”

He bluntly asked the question of the drought, “Are these things mere accidents of an evolving nature or are they the voice of God?” Williams does not claim to know the answer to this question in its fullness on a national scale but he does counsel Evangel readers to use the current tragedy as occasion to examine their own need for repentance, encouraging them “if He shows you things which you ought to make right, make them right without delay, for, ‘except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.’”

Read the full article “Is It Superstition?” on page 2 of the Aug. 25, 1934, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

“A Famous Entertainer Becomes a Faith Missionary,” by Esther B. Harvey

“Aeneas, Jesus Christ Cures You,” by Lilian Yeomans, M.D.

“Congo Women Touched By Gospel,” by Mary Walker

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: https://ifphc.org/

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August 22, 2025 · 4:04 pm

Calling Christians to a Deeper Walk with God: Hattie Hammond, Pioneer Assemblies of God Evangelist

This Week in AG History — August 18, 1928

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 21 August 2025

Hattie Hammond (1907-1994) was one of the premier preachers of the early Pentecostal-holiness movement. How did she gain that reputation? It was by preaching a simple gospel message of wholeheartedly serving God.

Born and raised in Williamsport, Maryland, Hammond, at the age of 15, was saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit in a tent meeting conducted by John Ashcroft, the grandfather of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. Even at that young age, she boldly began witnessing to her teachers and classmates, which was the beginning of her lifelong calling as an evangelist.

She was ordained by the Assemblies of God in 1927, and soon had invitations to speak in large churches in Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, and other places.

She also became a popular camp meeting speaker and Bible teacher. Her simple messages prompted abandonment of worldliness and inspired walking into a “deeper life” of consecration and holiness to God.

In a sermon called “Drawing Nigh to God,” published in the Aug. 18, 1928, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, she encouraged people to develop a strong, devotional life: “As we enter into the presence of the Lord we should realize we are in the presence of a great, almighty, eternal God.” She also promoted waiting on the Lord: “We should not rush into His presence with haste, nor come as though we were coming into the presence of an earthly friend. We should take time to realize that He is God and beside Him there is none else.”

In this sermon she also talks about the need for God, salvation, spending time with God in prayer, and the importance of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

She wrote, “The first thing necessary is that we become still, and know that the great I AM is God. Be still and know that it is God for whom we are waiting, that we are sitting in the presence of God, and that it is His great name upon which we are calling.” She concluded by saying, “We need the Holy Spirit to keep us true to the Cross, and to Jesus our Lover Lord, to be real overcomers.”

By the 1930s, Hattie Hammond had become one of the most powerful speakers in the Pentecostal movement. There are reports of remarkable miracles and healings which took place in her ministry.

She ministered all over the United States in colleges, conventions, Bible schools, churches of all denominations, and in more than 30 countries of the world.

Read Hattie Hammond’s article, “Drawing Nigh to God,” on pages 6-7 of the Aug. 18, 1928, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Elijah’s God Still Lives Today,” by Leonard G. Bolton

• “The Marks of Holy Ghost Converts,” by Stephen Jeffreys

• “Pentecost in Bulgaria,” by Martha Nikoloff

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

Pentecostal Evangel archived editions courtesy of 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/

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July 31, 2025 · 11:39 am

A Pentecostal Prayer For Missions from 1926

This Week in AG History — July 31, 1926

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 31 July 2025

The Assemblies of God has served as a missions-sending agency since its inception. At the inaugural General Council in 1914, 32 missionaries were formally recognized. From the very beginning, the growing movement kept its constituents informed about the needs and progress of its missionaries through regular updates in its weekly publication, The Pentecostal Evangel. A recurring theme in these reports was the vital importance of prayer.

In the July 31, 1926, issue of the Evangel, William M. Faux — the second director of Assemblies of God Missions, serving from 1923 to 1926 — reminded readers of the necessity not only of giving financially to missions but also of faithfully praying for those serving around the world.

Faux urged Pentecostal believers to recognize that a major part of their calling as a fellowship was to support missionaries — many of whom were laboring in distant lands under challenging and often harsh conditions. Throughout his reports, Faux structured his appeal around four key biblical phrases that traced the flow of the missionary call:

1. The cry from those in need of Christ: “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” (Acts 16:9)

2. The call from God in response: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8)

3. The response from God’s people: “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8)

4. The plea from those who are sent: “Brethren, pray for us!” (2 Thessalonians 3:1)

Having just returned from visiting missionaries in India, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, Faux had seen firsthand the immense challenges faced by those who had answered God’s call. Many lacked adequate housing, reliable resources, and co-workers to help carry the burden. He challenged his readers to understand that meeting these needs required more than money or logistics — it required the earnest, united, and unceasing prayers of the church.

“This is but stating a basic principle,” Faux wrote. “I mean prayer unitedly and unceasingly offered to God. Let none fear the possibility of his own church praying for missions too much. It is not possible to do so.”

For early Assemblies of God missions leaders, prayer was not simply an add-on to missionary support — it was the foundation. It provided strength, courage, and resilience to those on the front lines. Faux called for every pastor to embody a missionary spirit both in heart and practice, and for every assembly to become wholehearted supporters of the global mission.

Now, 99 years after Faux’s plea was first printed in the Evangel, the need for prayer remains just as urgent. Assemblies of God missionaries still rely on the Spirit-led intercession of the church. Faux’s voice echoes across the decades:

“Pray, beloved, pray for missions. Are more workers needed? Yes. Praying is the secret of securing them. Are more funds needed? Yes. Prayer is the force that opens men’s hearts to give to God their resources. Is greater spirituality needed? Yes, surely. Prayer is the agency that brings greater spirituality to the entire church (Matthew 9:38). Louder than the Macedonian cry ‘Come over and help us,’ which rang out to Paul, sounds the cry today, ‘Brethren, pray for us.’ Let the Scripture warning ring in our souls — ‘God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.’ Prayer is the greatest force that we can wield. It is the greatest talent which God has granted us. And this talent He has given to every Christian.”

Read the report, “Prayer for Missions,” on page 10 of the July 31, 1926, issue of ThePentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue

• “Two Questions at Pentecost,” by E.S. Williams

• Report on “Glad Tidings Temple and Bible Institute”

• “Glorious Revival in Russia,” by J.E. Varonaeff

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: http://www.iFPHC.org

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July 25, 2025 · 9:18 am

Zelma Argue: Pioneer Pentecostal Writer and Evangelist

This Week in AG History — July 24, 1937

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 24 July 2025

Zelma Argue (1900-1980) was the daughter, sister, sister-in-law, aunt, and cousin of great preachers. When her father, A.H. Argue, was asked on an evangelistic campaign, “Where is (your wife)?” his answer came quickly, “Oh! She’s at home raising the preachers.” As an evangelist with her family, Zelma ably filled the pulpit, but it seems she was even more productive with her pen. 

Upon her ordination and embarkment on the evangelistic trail in 1920, her family gave her a writing set and a portable typewriter. Over the next 60 years she put them to good use, penning eight books and writing for at least seven periodicals, including nearly 200 articles for the Pentecostal Evangel. Her first article, “Buying Gold,” appeared in the March 5, 1921, edition and her final article, “Threefold Purpose of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” was published on March 23, 1980, just two months after her death.

Argue wrote with a passion, challenging readers that the Christian life must carry an ever-increasing surrender to God’s service. While her words were oftentimes hard, she wrote in such a way that the resulting effect did not convey condemnation but conviction. Her common topics were intimacy with God, revival, prayer, worship, and the importance of soul-winning. 

In an article in the July 24, 1937, Pentecostal Evangel, “The Next Towns Also: A Plea for Fresh Efforts at Direct Evangelism,” Argue examines the practical application of the words of Jesus in Mark 1:38, “Let us go into the next towns also…” In this passage, Christ is at the beginning of His ministry and has reached a zenith of popularity in Capernaum; so much so that He found the need to search for a solitary place, prompting Peter to remind Him that “all men seek for thee!” 

Argue makes the proposition that Jesus was at a crisis point in ministry — one that we often face, as well. If He chose to stay in Capernaum it seemed that all would be going His way. If He chose to move on, He had no idea the reception He would face in another town. In addition, if He focused on others, what would happen to those whom He left behind? Argue states, “but in solitude He had heard from above. His answer was ready: ‘Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth.’ These last words seem to suggest that He had been pondering deeply and had only reached His conclusion by recalling what He must never forget: the goal set before Him.” 

Argue illustrates the importance of consistently reaching out into new fields by comparing the church to a lively home where there are little children for whom to care. She argues that the home with babies is a much happier spot than a home where all the inhabitants were adults who “had little to do but sit around and disagree” with each other. She plainly states that an assembly with a stream of new blood constantly pouring into it was God’s best for a contented home church: “Fresh kindling catches fire better than burnt-over wood!” 

The genius of Argue’s writing is that she not only points out the need for reaching beyond current borders but offers practical solutions that can be easily and quickly implemented. She says that in “railroad stations and other public places I never see a box of Christian Science literature that I do not feel that we should have a box of Evangels.” She encourages churches to consider moving evening services into a tent for the summer or renting out a building in another part of town when having a guest speaker so that new ears are exposed to the gospel message. 

Fifty years before they were widely popular, she encourages “Branch Sunday Schools” conducted in neighborhoods outside the church building to reach children and their families. Argue also admonishes churches to consider having meetings at different times of the day and week to reach those whose schedules or lifestyle is not conducive to Sunday or evening services. She also suggests that church take advantage of technological advances, like radio programming, to expand to new fields. 

She pleads with readers that “not only foreign fields, but our next towns, our neighborhoods, our next-door neighbors, may present fields of opportunity … if someone will leave the well-tilled and well-reaped field, and search out those not yet reached, as Jesus Himself sought so faithfully to do.” His vision includes “the next town,” and ours must, also. 

The Argue family has blessed the Pentecostal movement with great Pentecostal preachers, such as David Argue (former Assemblies of God Executive Presbyter) and Don Argue (the first Pentecostal to serve as president of the National Association of Evangelicals). However, few would contest that some of the best preaching in the Argue family came through the pen of Zelma Argue. 

Read the full article, “The Next Towns Also,” on page 2 of the July 24, 1937, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel. 

Also featured in this issue:

• “Spiritual Promotion,” by W.E. Moody

• “Pioneering in Nicaragua,” by Melvin Hodges

• “Healed of Pneumonia and Tuberculosis,” by Eunice Bailey

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: http://www.iFPHC.org

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July 17, 2025 · 1:58 pm

Otto Klink: From Atheist and Socialist Activist to Assemblies of God Evangelist

This Week in AG History — July 18, 1931

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 17 July 2025

Otto J. Klink (1888-1955) was a German-born American Pentecostal evangelist who traveled the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, preaching salvation through Jesus Christ and warning his listeners about the dangers of socialism, atheism, and modernism.

Born in Hersfeld, Germany, he was educated in Berlin, where he learned French, Latin, and Greek, alongside his native German. His family were members of the Lutheran church; however, in 1905, 17-year-old Otto attended a Holiness tent meeting. Kneeling in the sawdust, he claimed God’s promise of salvation and felt a distinct call to enter the ministry.

Klink was willing to serve God but did not want to be associated with the Holiness people. He decided to study for the Lutheran ministry and entered the University of Berlin, where he studied the works of Marx, Engels, and La Salle. He came to believe that salvation was achieved by good character and social action — particularly through elevating the lot of the poor and underprivileged.

One night while attending a Socialist political gathering, he made a speech that was interpreted as encouraging rebellion against the German Crown Prince for his mistreatment of the working class. He was arrested and sentenced to two months in prison. Upon completion of his prison term, he found that his name had been removed from the University of Berlin attendance list. Klink interpreted these events as evidence that his belief in God had failed him. He made the intentional decision to embrace an atheistic worldview.

Finding jobs difficult to get in Germany due to his prison record, he asked his father for money to sail to America. Arriving in 1909, he began writing for a German language newspaper in New York City. He later recounted how he became involved with an anarchist society in New York City called The Red Mask, and that he was part of a plot to assassinate President William Taft at Bronx Park. His failure to carry out the plot led to his dismissal from the society. He returned to Germany, where through the assistance of influential friends he was able to secure a position in the office of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Due to political unrest in Germany, Klink sought to return to the United States. He did so just three months before World War I broke out in Europe in 1914. In 1917,  he married a young Pentecostal girl named Ida Ball. Ida prayed earnestly for her new husband to receive Christ and to be healed of the anger and bitterness within him toward God. On the last night of a 10-day revival meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, with evangelist Paul Barth, Klink felt God say to him that this was his last chance. He prayed through to salvation that night and, in 1921, he received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He received ministerial credentials with the Assemblies of God in 1923.

In the 1930s, Klink began to speak out strongly against the policies of the Nazi Party in Germany. Klink ministered alongside Myer Pearlman, the Jewish Assemblies of God Bible teacher and author, at the 1937 Wisconsin district camp meeting. Klink spoke of a great persecution of the Jewish people in Germany and prophesied disaster for Adolph Hitler if he continued his course of action.

Klink wrote several booklets, including, Why I Am Not An Atheist, and Why I Am Not A Modernist, along with a monthly column in the C.A. (Christ’s Ambassadors) Herald called “Otto-graphs” — a collection of world news and events of interest to young readers. He also authored several featured articles in the Pentecostal Evangel. His article in the July 18, 1931, issue, “The Language of the Blood of Christ,” is a prime example of his use of historical illustrations and world events to provide a deeper understanding of the gospel message of salvation.

For more than 30 years, Otto and Ida Klink traveled the country in evangelistic meetings, making their home in the Miami, Florida, area where Ida also began a children’s home that provided care for up to 40 children. The Klinks moved to California in 1951 and opened a gospel supply house, which they operated until his death in 1955.

At the height of his preaching ministry, an article published in the Enid (Oklahoma) Gospel Tabernacle newspaper described the former employee of the German Kaiser as having “one of the most powerful, soul-gripping messages ever delivered from an American pulpit — a combination of fire and level headedness — whirlwind oratory and calm common sense that has made him an outstanding figure in American evangelism.”

Read Otto Klink’s article, “The Language of the Blood of Christ,” on page 1 of the July 18, 1931, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Freedom From the Dominion of Sin,” by E.S. Williams

• “How I Received the Baptism,” by H.C. Ball

• “Proving God as Healer,” by Mattie Kerr

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: http://www.iFPHC.org

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July 10, 2025 · 12:11 pm

Thomas and Louise Hindle: Pioneer Assemblies of God Missionaries to Inner Mongolia

This Week in AG History — July 9, 1921

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 10 July 2025

Thomas and Louise Hindle served as pioneer Assemblies of God missionaries to Inner Mongolia. They suffered harsh weather, bandits, the death of three of their six children, and a World War II Japanese concentration camp. They persevered and, during their 34 years of missionary service, helped plant the Pentecostal church in what is now northern China.

Raised on a farm in Canada, Thomas Hindle (1870-1969) experience a life filled with hardship. He was the youngest of five children, and his widowed mother worked hard to keep them together. His school life was irregular due to needed farm chores. He often went to school in the winter months and worked on the farm during the summer. Because of this, his early education included little more than reading and simple arithmetic.

The Canadian winters were cold, and Thomas and his brothers constantly struggled to provide wood to heat their home. The boys had to work to help provide for the family’s needs. When he was 9 years old, Thomas began working on a neighboring farm, where he worked for his board and clothes. When he was 15, he went to live with a farmer for two years. He learned basic farming methods that later helped him on the mission field.

Thomas went back to school and proved himself academically. At age 19 he passed the entrance examination for Barrie Collegiate Institute in Barrie, Ontario. His schooling was interrupted when he ended up doing hard labor for several months in a rough camp for the Canadian Northern Railway. During this time, he learned lessons in self-discipline and getting along with others. After graduating, he worked several years as a schoolteacher. He continued his education and, in 1909, received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in science from McMaster University.

In the meantime, Thomas had become involved in the Hebden Mission in Toronto, which was a key congregation in the spread of the early Pentecostal movement in Canada. In 1907, at the age of 37, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit and was ordained by the Hebden Mission. In 1909, he married Louise Siegrist (1886-1964), who was a graduate of Bible Training School in Toronto.

Called into missions work, Thomas and Louise left for Hong Kong in 1909 without the backing of any missions board, and they continued traveling to Inner Mongolia in 1910. Inner Mongolia (now a region of northern China) was an obscure and isolated area that stretched between Outer Mongolia and China proper. At the time when the Hindles arrived, the local population was chiefly a nomadic tent-dwelling people who traveled from place to place seeking pasture for their flocks and herds. They endured cold, harsh winters and frequently encountered bands of robbers. Starvation and epidemics were common, and the people clung to local beliefs. Few westerners could survive living in Inner Mongolia.

The Hindles did their best to minister to the local population, learning the language, and adapting to the culture. They befriended their neighbors and won a few converts along the way. When war broke out between Mongol soldiers and a group of bandits, the Hindles had to flee for safety in Kalgan, China, without their possessions. A teacher lived in their house during their absence, and even though bandits had come twice at different times, their belongings were intact when they returned.

The Hindles affiliated with the Assemblies of God in 1914 and served as appointed Assemblies of God missionaries to Mongolia from 1918 to 1943. They experienced many hardships, including the death of three children: a new-born baby, 9-year-old Clifford, and their young daughter, Clara. They had three other children: George, Lillian, and Huldah.

Several times in their missionary service, the Hindles encountered robbers, but with prayer, God intervened in a big way. Once Hindle testified that a bandit chief with over 800 followers sent a letter demanding $500, a few ounces of opium, and several hundred skins. Hindle said to God, “It is You they are after, not me.” He assembled a band of Christians to pray. He was advised to take the children and flee, but he said, “No. God wants me to stand here, and here I die if need be.”

About the middle of the morning, Hindle heard that half of the bandits had left. He said to the Christians, “You have prayed half of them away, now pray the other half away.”

Shortly after praying, Hindle heard bullets being fired five times in a row, and very near their compound. It turned out that some Chinese soldiers had noticed the bandits. They got into formation to do battle, and then the bandits dispersed. This was an answer to prayer.

Another time Hindle reported, “At break of day, my wife called me to get up as there was an armed man in the yard. He was the leader of a band of over 20 armed robbers, and all of his followers were riding hard after him and coming straight for our house.” They prayed. And then the leader changed his plans and made a signal for the group to pass them up and go on to the next village.

But this was not all. The rear guard of five men continued into their camp. They asked for something to drink, so the Hindles gave them food and tea. Then this group of robbers said they wanted to hear the gospel. So, the Hindles continued on with their morning prayers, and then Thomas shared the gospel with them. He told them that Jesus loved them and He died to save them from sin. He also said that people who trusted God were not afraid to die. The Hindles then sang hymns in Chinese.

This seemed to touch the hearts of the men, and they rode off like gentlemen. One man’s hat blew off, and Hindle returned it to him, saying that Jesus loved him. He was startled by the reply: “Yes, and I love Jesus, too.” He could tell the man meant it, and this seemed to be a turning point for him to quit robbing, and to commit his life fully to God. He invited the man to come back to the mission, and he would tell him more about Jesus.

The Hindles returned for their first furlough to Canada in 1916. They served two additional terms in Mongolia and returned for a third term in 1939, but the Japanese had taken over the country, so they were not allowed to enter. They instead ministered at Truth Bible Institute in Peiping, China, where Louise was matron, and Thomas was acting principal.

Upon the outbreak of World War II, the Hindles were arrested and endured five and a half months in a Japanese concentration camp. Thomas was 73 years old at the time. They were freed from the camp in December 1943 and repatriated to Canada. After this, they retired to Woodstock, Ontario.

Early in their missionary work, Thomas and Louise Hindle sensed God impress Psalm 126:6 on their hearts: “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” The Hindles endured deprivation, death, and suffering in their missionary work. They had given their best to help the people of Inner Mongolia, and they learned to trust in God’s provisions and to live by faith.

Read “Surrounded by Robbers,” on page 29 of the July 9, 1921, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Gift of Tongues,” by Hermon L. Harvey

• “Divine Healing,” by Samuel M. Croft

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: https://ifphc.org/

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June 26, 2025 · 2:02 pm

Alice Belle Garrigus: Pentecostal Pioneer in Newfoundland

This Week in AG History — June 24, 1950

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 26 June 2025

Alice Belle Garrigus (1858-1949) was only five feet tall, unmarried, and 52 years of age when she sensed God call her in 1910 to help pioneer the Pentecostal movement in Newfoundland.

Born into an Episcopalian family in Rockville, Connecticut, Garrigus spent the first half of her life in various locations in New England.

When she was 15, she began teaching in rural schools. Desiring further schooling she returned to Normal School and then spent three years (1878-1881) at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College). Leaving the seminary a year before graduation, she resumed teaching. Through the influence of a colleague, Gertrude Wheeler, Garrigus accepted Christ as her Savior in 1888. Both women left on a 10-month excursion to Europe.

Returning to the United State, Garrigus again taught school, but she was spiritually restless. She wanted a deeper walk with God and began reading Hannah Whitall Smith’s The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. “This I read,” Alice wrote, “often on my knees — praying fervently: ‘Oh God, if there be such an experience, won’t you bring me into it?’”

Garrigus and Wheeler then joined the Congregational Church. Her friend Gertrude later went to Africa as a missionary and died there. About 1891, Garrigus gave up her teaching profession to work in a home for destitute children and women. Next she moved to Rumney, New Hampshire, where she came in contact with the First Fruit Harvesters Association, a small evangelical denomination focused on the evangelization of New England. Garrigus served as an itinerant preacher with the First Fruit Harvesters between 1897 and 1903.

During 1906, Garrigus reread the Bible and earnestly sought to understand what made Jesus’ disciples different following the Day of Pentecost. Around this same time, she heard about the revival taking place at the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles.

In 1907, at a Christian and Missionary Alliance camp meeting at Old Orchard, Maine, she met Frank Bartleman, a veteran of the Azusa Street revival and an unofficial chronicler of the Pentecostal movement. Bartleman “stood for hours,” wrote Garrigus, “telling us of the deeper things of God.” After he left the camp meeting, Garrigus, Minnie Draper, and others met in an old barn to pray, and there Alice Belle Garrigus received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. She continued preaching at Rumney and Grafton, Massachusetts, and other places, but began feeling impressed to found a mission in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

One of her protégés at Bridgeport, Connecticut, was Charles Personeus, superintendent of the John Street Mission. Personeus wrote, “When Miss Garrigus was with me in the John Street Mission, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and that changed the mission to First Pentecostal Mission.” In 1917, Charles Personeus and his wife, Florence, went to Juneau, Alaska, as missionaries for the Assemblies of God.

Together with the W. D. Fowlers, a missionary couple she had known since 1889, Alice Belle Garrigus traveled to Newfoundland, arriving in the capital city of St. John’s in December 1910. The three established Bethesda Mission in a rented building in the downtown area on New Gower Street, which opened on Easter, April 16, 1911. Garrigus’ preaching at Bethesda emphasized conversion, adult water baptism, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the imminent return of Christ. Numerous lives were changed because of the ministry at Bethesda. After little more than a year, the building was purchased, and by the next year the building was enlarged to accommodate the increasing number of people attending the services. In 1912, the Fowlers had to leave Newfoundland for health reasons, and that left Garrigus in charge.

The Pentecostal movement in Newfoundland grew slowly during the next decade, since Garrigus’ ministry remained centered in the St. John’s area.

After a crusade in 1919 by evangelist Victoria Booth-Clibborn Demarest, interest in Pentecostalism grew. New converts started new missions, and one of these, Robert C. English, eventually became co-pastor with Garrigus at Bethesda Mission.

Alice Belle Garrigus’ work with Bethesda Mission eventually led to the founding of a Pentecostal organization in Newfoundland. On Dec. 8, 1925, the “Bethesda Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland” was chartered. The word “Bethesda” was dropped in 1930.

The first general superintendent of this organization was Robert C. English, followed by Eugene Vaters, A. Stanley Bursey (all three who worked closely with Garrigus), and others. In 1949 the people of Newfoundland voted to become Canada’s newest province, and this organization and the number of churches has continued to grow. The current name is The Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland and Labrador (PAONL). It is a member of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship and has strong ties with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, the Assemblies of God, and other denominations within the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA).

Alice Garrigus’ nearly 40 years in Newfoundland were very busy. She remained there for the rest of her life and continued to be a principal figure in the Pentecostal church, serving as an evangelist in charge of Bethesda Mission and also holding a number of executive positions in the PAONL. She passed away in August 1949 at Clarke’s Beach, Newfoundland, at the age of 91. Soon after her passing, a Pentecostal campground was established and called Camp Emmanuel. The Garrigus Memorial Tabernacle at the camp was named in her honor and dedicated in 1955.

A. Stanley Bursey, a former PAONL general superintendent, wrote: “We, who have had the opportunity to appraise her work and the result of same, can only conclude that when God calls, He makes no mistakes.”

Alice Belle Garrigus was a prolific writer. In 1950, the Pentecostal Evangel published an article by her, titled “Eating on the Heap,” which discusses Jacob and his father-in-law, Laban, making a covenant that was solidified with a mound of stones called “a heap.” Afterwards they ate together on the heap to show that past wrongs and hurts would be forgotten and that love would prevail.

Read “Eating on the Heap,” on page 3 of the June 24, 1950, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “I Sat Where They Sat,” by J. Narver Gortner

• “The Passing and the Permanent,” by Robert C. Cunningham

• “Missions — New and Old,” by H.C. Ball

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: https://ifphc.org/

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June 19, 2025 · 9:16 am

Herman G. Johnson: Assemblies of God Pioneer in North Dakota

This Week in AG History — June 17, 1979

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG-News, 19 June 2025

Herman Gottfred Johnson (1896–1987) was an extraordinarily gifted and faithful leader. Despite having only an 8th grade formal education, he served the Pentecostal movement over 60 years of ministry as an evangelist, church planter, pastor, and as the revered superintendent of the North Dakota District.

Born to Swedish Baptist parents near Regan, North Dakota, Johnson accepted Christ as his Savior at the age of 11. Recognizing his dedication and natural leadership, his church appointed him as clerk when he was just 13. In the 1920s, when the Pentecostal message reached the Regan area, the Johnson family joined a revival that brought many into the experience of Spirit baptism, including Herman, who received the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

At 26, Johnson felt a clear call from God to devote the rest of his life to Pentecostal ministry. He began preaching in small towns, often traveling by bobsled to reach remote congregations. His leadership potential quickly became evident, and within a year he was elected secretary/treasurer of the newly formed North Central District of the Assemblies of God.

In 1924, evangelists brought a small group of believers in Kulm, North Dakota, into the Pentecostal faith, and Johnson became their first pastor. Like many pastors of the era, who pioneered “outstations” in nearby towns, he started a preaching point in Lisbon, North Dakota.

In 1927, Johnson married Ellen Ackerson. Together they pastored churches in Minot and Bismarck. Early in their ministry, they made a vow to follow God’s call wherever it led, never asking about financial support. Though this often meant hardship, they never wavered in their commitment.

When the expansive North Central District (comprising the Dakotas, Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsin) was divided for more effective ministry, Johnson was elected the first district superintendent of the new North Dakota District (now Ministry Network) in 1936. His appointment was announced in the district periodical, which noted the new superintendent “will be expected to travel constantly” — a responsibility Johnson embraced wholeheartedly.

At the time, the North Dakota District included only a handful of churches, often separated by long, difficult travel — especially in winter. Johnson’s reports in the district newsletter reveal a full and demanding schedule: visiting congregations, encouraging pastors, filling pulpits, scouting locations for new churches, securing properties, and recruiting pastors. By the time he stepped down as superintendent, the district had grown to over 60 churches, with Johnson frequently serving as an interim pastor to help new congregations get established.

A visionary leader, Johnson believed the district needed its own campground. He secured property at Lakewood Park in Devils Lake. A report from the 1938 camp meeting noted the surprising turnout despite drought conditions: “Devils Lake is aptly named, for it is drying up and as far as we know no fish live in its waters — but, praise the Lord, the enemy cannot prevent the Latter Rain from falling, for we experienced showers of spiritual rain.”

He also founded a Bible training school at Lakewood Park, which later became Trinity Bible College and Graduate School (now located in Ellendale, North Dakota). When the General Presbytery encouraged the Assemblies of God to care for the elderly, Johnson led the North Dakota District in establishing nursing homes. After retiring from district leadership, he even served as administrator of the Carrington home.

After leaving the district office in 1951, Johnson returned to the pastorate, leading churches in Jamestown, New England, and Mandan, and managing the Carrington retirement center. In their 70s, Herman and Ellen moved to Washington State and took on a new ministry as visitation pastors — continuing into Herman’s 90s, long past the age when most retire.

Amid their leadership responsibilities, Herman and Ellen raised six children — five sons and a daughter. In the June 17, 1979, Father’s Day issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, their son Clayton wrote: “I have seen the callouses of Christ on his tough yet gentle hands — the carpenter’s hands that fashioned a score of churches across the American prairie and shaped six lives at home.” Another son, David, added: “In all these years we have never heard them argue. Each lives for the other, and together for God.” Many years later, Daniel said of his father: “He was not well-known, not in this world. No park or boulevard bears his name. But I am grateful for a father who taught us to look at life like the Colorado homeowner, fire racing toward his house: ‘What should I take and what really matters.’”

In addition to their impact on the North Dakota District, the Johnsons left a lasting legacy to the Assemblies of God in their family. Sam Johnson became a long-term missionary and Joseph preached around the world as an evangelist. The legacy came full circle when their pastor son, Daniel, then himself age 90, was invited to preach the 100th anniversary service at the church his father founded in Kulm. The legacy continues through their grandchildren, who have built schools in Africa and India, led ministries for homeless teens, and served in active ministry roles alongside their spouses — furthering the kingdom of God.

Read the Father’s Day tribute to Herman Johnson, “He Struck A Light in Unnumbered Lives,” on page 4 of the June 17, 1979, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “What Shall I Do for My Son,” by Dan Betzer

• “A Theology of Ministry,” by Ronald Cottle

• “What to Do at the Breaking Point,” by Homer Keener

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: https://ifphc.org/

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June 12, 2025 · 2:42 pm

Arthur F. Berg: How a Powerful Revival Among Children Birthed a Future Pastor and Missionary

This Week in AG History — June 9, 1968

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 12 June 2025

Arthur F. Berg (1896-1983), a pioneer Assemblies of God missionary and pastor, recognized the importance of taking seriously the spiritual lives of children. He learned this from his own experience. At age 14, Arthur surrendered his life to Christ and was baptized in the Holy Spirit during a revival sparked by visiting Pentecostal leader William Durham. Interestingly, it was primarily young people who responded to the gospel — countless children were saved, 25 were baptized in the Holy Spirit, and 30 followed the Lord in water baptism.

For the rest of his life, Berg would share his testimony about this 1911 revival, which spiritually shaped him. The Pentecostal Evangel published his story in 1968.

Berg was born in an era when children were expected to be seen and not heard, and many traditional church services offered little to inspire or attract young people. However, early Pentecostal services — featuring testimonies, lively sermons, and peppy gospel songs — were often very accessible to young people. Countless people — both young and old — surrendered their lives to Christ in early Pentecostal services, which were known for their clear presentation of the gospel, coupled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

So it was with Berg. He was raised in a Christian home, but it was not until he experienced the Holy Spirit’s permeating presence during the Pentecostal revival that Berg finally committed his life to Christ. He described the revival as “glorious,” and that “hearts were melted together in the love of God.” The presence of God was so strong in those meetings that young people who normally did not want to attend church did not want to leave the revival services.

“The convicting power and pull of the Holy Spirit was so strong, so irresistible,” Berg recalled, “that I found myself at the altar weeping and praying my way through to a definite experience of old-fashioned salvation.” He went on to experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit and, he wrote, “exuberant glory flooded my soul.”

The revival led Berg to consecrate his life to Christian ministry. He married his childhood sweetheart, Anna, who shared a similar calling. He was ordained by the Assemblies of God in 1919, they served as missionaries in Belgian Congo from 1922 to 1926, and for the next 33 years they pastored congregations in Sisseton and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was also instrumental in starting the World Missions Plan, a program that encouraged Assemblies of God churches to systematically give money to home and world missions.

When William Durham went to Minneapolis in 1911, he was on a mission to talk with Pentecostal pastors regarding disagreements over the doctrine of sanctification. While the impact Durham made on adults on that trip is unknown, the revival services he led left a lasting mark on several dozen young people. One of them, Arthur Berg, became a noted pioneer Assemblies of God pastor and missionary.

Read the article, “How a Boy Received the Baptism,” on pages 24-25 of the June 9, 1968, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Who is My Neighbor?” by Everett Stenhouse

• “Children Need to be Nurtured,” by Jerry Stroup

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: https://ifphc.org/

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June 5, 2025 · 2:47 pm

Read This Powerful Condemnation of Racial Discrimination and Colonialism by an Assemblies of God Missions Leader in 1948

This Week in AG History — May 5, 1963

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 05 June 2025

Henry B. Garlock, an Assemblies of God missions leader in Africa, reported in a 1948 Pentecostal Evangel article on his extensive travels throughout Africa. Christianity was growing more rapidly across the African continent than anywhere else in the world, according to Garlock, largely because of the heroic efforts of indigenous Christian leaders. Moreover, at a time of heightened international political and racial tension, Garlock provided an eloquent condemnation of colonialism and racial discrimination.

Garlock detailed how the Assemblies of God was growing across Africa, due in large part to African church leaders such as Jasper Toe in Liberia, Edward Tchie in Gold Coast (now Ghana), Gabriel Oyakhilome in Nigeria and Benin, Latan Kalambuli in Nyasaland (now Malawi), and Nicholas Bhengu in South Africa. These leaders were “jewels” in Garlock’s estimation, who overcame great odds to share the message of the cross in their part of the world.

Garlock provided readers with a vivid description of the colonialism and oppression on the African continent. He recounted how he saw African individuals slapped, cuffed, kicked, abused, and treated with cruelty and injustice. He shared how thousands were forcibly conscripted or coerced into labor in mines or on roads, under exploitive conditions and for extremely low wages. He also noted that the commodities that the white man enjoyed such as cocoa, tea, coffee, rubber, mahogany, palm oil, gold, and diamonds, represented the forced labor, hardship, and suffering of African workers — many of whom were exploited or unjustly compensated for their labor.

Responding to these inhumane conditions, Garlock condemned racial segregation and discrimination. He expressed that to discriminate against any person created in the image of God based on skin color is a grave injustice — inhuman, un-Christian, and morally indefensible. He furthermore likened the plight of the African to Christ, noting that the African people carry profound burdens, often overlooked by the world but seen and shared by Christ.

Notably, Garlock condemned racial segregation and discrimination at a time when racial strife was increasing in America. Anticipating criticism from some American readers who might call him a “race baiter,” Garlock acknowledged the existence of racial tensions in the United States. “Whose fault is it?” Responding to this rhetorical question, Garlock suggested: “Our fathers have eaten green apples and their children have the stomach-ache” — a proverb reflecting Garlock’s belief that the country was still grappling with the consequences of generational injustice — wrongs committed in the past were continuing to shape the present.

Garlock carefully contrasted oppressive colonialism to the indigenous church principle practiced by the Assemblies of God. Garlock encouraged readers to pray for Africa and to support Assemblies of God missionaries who worked alongside indigenous African churches. This cooperative missionary spirit yielded a strong and growing church, and in 2024 the Assemblies of God had over 14 million adherents in Africa.

Read H.B. Garlock’s article, “Africa and Her People,” on pages 2-3 and 12-14 of the June 5, 1948, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Healing for All,” by J.M. Mullens

• “Prostrated under Divine Power,” by J. Narver Gortner

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: https://ifphc.org/

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