Tag Archives: History

December 19, 2025 · 10:14 am

Pentecostalism in Puerto Rico: A Movement Birthed by Refugees in 1916 Now Includes 25 Percent of Island Residents

This Week in AG History — December 16, 1916

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 18 December 2025

Puerto Rico is home to a vibrant, growing, and indigenous Pentecostal movement, consisting of an estimated 25% of the island’s population. Pentecostalism first came to Puerto Rico in 1916 via Hawaii, where a number of Puerto Rican families had migrated in search of employment on sugar plantations. After many Puerto Ricans living in Hawaii surrendered their lives to God during a Pentecostal revival in the early 1910s, several of them — including Salomon Feliciano, Juan Lugo, and Francisco and Panchito Ortiz — felt called to bring the Pentecostal message to their homeland.

The four Puerto Rican missionaries became credentialed with the Assemblies of God and helped spark a spiritual hurricane that reshaped the religious contours of the island. Feliciano and Lugo arrived in Puerto Rico in the fall of 1916, followed shortly afterward by the father-and-son team of Francisco and Panchito Ortiz. Lugo initially ministered in the barrio of Santurce, located in the capital city of San Juan. After a month, he moved his ministry focus to Ponce, a large city in the southern part of Puerto Rico.

The Pentecostal Evangel published numerous letters by the four missionaries. One letter by Feliciano and Lugo, published in the Dec. 16, 1916, issue, recounted both successes and challenges. They reported 43 converts and many others who felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Mainline Protestant ministers viewed the newcomers as a threat and tried to discourage them from starting a new church. Hostile government officials also interfered with the Pentecostals’ missions efforts. But the Pentecostal prayer meetings soon outgrew the home where they were held, and believers overcame public cynicism and hostility and organized the first Pentecostal church in Puerto Rico. Within several years, Pentecostal churches began popping up all over the island.

The Pentecostal movement in Puerto Rico, now 109 years old, was birthed by refugees who left their island homeland and migrated around the world in search of a better life. In Hawaii, they experienced a spiritual awakening, which changed the trajectory of their lives and propelled them to return to Puerto Rico as missionaries. While they faced opposition to the gospel, the missionaries did not shrink back. Indeed, Feliciano and Lugo concluded their letter by expressing confidence in God’s provisions in the face of trials: “When the world is against us, Jesus is with us.”

Read the article by Salomon Feliciano and Juan Lugo, “Salvation Coming to Many in Porto Rico,” on page 12 of the Dec. 16, 1916, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “I Fell in Love with the Nazarene,” by Sarah Haggard Payne

• “The Bible,” by D.W. 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: https://ifphc.org/

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April 11, 2025 · 1:17 pm

The Hurst Family Legacy: Assemblies of God Pastors, Missionaries, and Educators

D. V. Hurst, Wesley Hurst, Sr., and Wesley Hurst, Jr., circa 1950s.

This Week in AG History — April 12, 1964

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG-News, 10 April 2025

When Wesley R. Hurst Sr. (1884-1973) applied for credentials with the Assemblies of God in 1934, he could not have known the influence his family would carry within the movement both in the United States and around the world.

Hurst was raised in a Baptist church in Wisconsin, which his great-grandfather founded after coming to the United States from England in the 1860s. As a teenager, he was disappointed in some inconsistencies he saw in the lives of the church people. He was drawn more to the rough crowd of lumberjacks at the sawmill where he worked. His mother consistently prayed for him, and he eventually married a godly woman and God blessed them with a daughter.

But in 1911, his wife died of tuberculosis, leaving him with a two-year old baby. This began a very trying time for the young man, now working for a creamery company in Saskatchewan. Disturbed by news of the war in Europe, Hurst returned home in late 1914. He began reading his Bible late at night when no one could see him and going to church with his mother.

Finally, in December, an old preacher gave an invitation at the end of his sermon: “Anybody here want to give your heart to the Lord, raise your hand!” Tired of the life he was living, Hurst raised his hand and surrendered himself to Christ. He laid down his tobacco can and worked to quit swearing. He began to read book after book about living the Christian life.

In July 1915, he went to a Methodist meeting and the evangelist asked if anyone wanted to surrender their life to the Lord to be “a preacher or a missionary or something like that.” Again, the young Hurst raised his hand. By January 1916, he had his trunk packed for Aurora College in Illinois to study for the ministry.

While attending school, he married Frieda Wendtland, the daughter of a lay preacher in the Advent Christian Church. In addition to his daughter, Phyllis, four more children were born to Wesley and Frieda: Pauline, Wesley Jr., Duane, and Ruth.

In 1921, Hurst was ordained with the Advent Christian Church and pastored small rural churches in Illinois, Minnesota, and Nebraska. While pastoring in Illinois, he was given a book by James McConkey, The Threefold Secret of the Holy Spirit. This greatly impacted Hurst’s thinking and made him hunger for more of God.

While pastoring in Minnesota, a man came from California and told of a revival being led by a woman, Aimee Semple McPherson. Hurst started reading about these revivals that were taking place around the country. He sent a letter to some friends requesting that they pray that “God would fill me with the Holy Ghost.”

The Hurst family began having prayer meetings in the parsonage. One night after the meeting, a few were sitting in the living room. Suddenly, Frieda began to speak in tongues. They had never heard anyone do this before. A few days later, Hurst also received his baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

After this, he was called to pastor the Advent Church in Lincoln, Nebraska. The church soon found out that he was speaking in tongues and praying for the sick. They asked him to cease this behavior, but he did not feel it would be right to stop what God had begun in him. For the next several years, Hurst and his family held tent meetings, preaching this new message of salvation, baptism in the Spirit, and divine healing.

While continuing to hold meetings, Hurst became convicted that his children needed a solid church family where they could grow and serve God. In 1934, he joined the Assemblies of God, securing his ordination with the Nebraska District.

Hurst served the Assemblies of God, pastoring in Cambridge, Paynesville, and Moorhead, Minnesota, and in Superior, Wisconsin. As a pastor in the earlier days of the Movement, the Hurst family learned to live by faith. During the Great Depression, Hurst sent his $3 tithe to the national office of the Assemblies of God with a letter apologizing for his low giving but explained that every spare penny went into keeping the church out of debt.

Once when the food supply was low, Hurst went to the potato bin and shouted, “Glory!” into the box, praying in tongues, and asking God to provide for his family. While he was praising in the potato bin, a man came to the door. “I’m a Lutheran so I’ll never be coming to your church,” the man said, “but I got to thinking you might need some potatoes.” He dropped off two 100-pound bags of potatoes, which meant the Hurst family ate quite a few potatoes for a while.

Growing up in this environment, the Hurst boys — Wesley Jr. and Duane — watched their father preach and pray, seeing God’s faithfulness time and time again. Both attended North Central Bible College (now North Central University) and married fellow students.

Wesley Jr. pioneered much of the Assemblies of God work in Tanzania, East Africa, and later served as the field director for the Far East region of the Department of Foreign Missions (now Assemblies of God World Missions).

Duane served in the national office of the Assemblies of God in the Sunday School and Radio ministries, serving as announcer for Revivaltime radio and coordinator of the Spiritual Life Evangelism Commission. He went on to become the president of Northwest College (now Northwest University) and served as mayor of Kirkland, Washington.

In the April 12, 1964, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, Wesley Jr. wrote an article about his father’s faith entitled, “A Cherished Spiritual Heritage.” He wrote, “This is my heritage — the Pentecostal infilling, real and sufficient for today and every day. As a member of the second generation in this Movement of the Spirit, I cherish this heritage.”

Wesley Hurst Sr. passed on this Pentecostal heritage to his grandchildren, as well. Wesley Jr.’s sons entered the ministry – Randy Hurst as Communications director for Assemblies of God World Missions (a position his father once held) and Jhan as a missionary to Pacific Oceania. His daughter, Judy, served with her husband, Merlin Mitchell, in ministry at Central Bible College. Duane’s son, Rick, has also faithfully served God. Among Hurst’s great-grandchildren are Pentecostal missionaries, pastors, and faithful Christian businessmen and women, and one great-great grandchild is currently studying for the pastoral ministry.

Before the Hurst family ever left England, John Hurst, an English grocer, saw the state of the church in England and remarked, “The church used to have wooden candlesticks and golden preachers. It seems now to have golden candlesticks and wooden preachers.” He prayed for his descendants — never knowing that God would use his family to produce “golden preachers” for generations to come.

Read Wesley R. Hurst Jr.’s tribute to his father on page 14 of the April 12, 1964, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Does Jesus Really Care?” by Harold Kohl

• “The True Voice of Youth,” by Owen C. Carr

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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November 16, 2023 · 3:56 pm

Clement H. Austin: From the Saloons to Assemblies of God Railroad Evangelist

This Week in AG History — November 16, 1929

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 16 November 2023

Clement Henderson Austin (1889-1973) knew railroads almost as well as he knew the gospel. He spent decades working as a train engineer, but he became mired in a lifestyle of drunkenness, gambling, violence, and addictions to alcohol and tobacco.

After a dramatic conversion, Austin became an Assemblies of God evangelist. He spent the rest of his life sharing the gospel and his testimony. Austin’s story was published in a tract, which was republished in the Nov. 16, 1929, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Austin’s testimony began when he was 8 years old. His life began to unravel when his mother died. For years he carried this sorrow deep inside his soul, crying himself to sleep at night. He wondered why he could not have a mother, like other boys.

As a young teenager, Austin ventured onto the streets of Fort Worth, Texas, where he quickly adapted to the ways of the world. He started firing train engines at age 16, soon becoming a train engineer. A large young man, he learned how to fend for himself.

Saloons became a second home to young Austin. He started drinking and smoking, then gambling and stealing. He prided himself on his coarse speech, later calling himself “one of the ringleaders in oaths and smutty jokes.”

Austin recalled that he was “young and tender” when he started living on the streets. But as the years progressed, he noted, “my heart became more cold and hard.” He could feel “the enemy’s fangs” as they “sank into my soul and body.”

The coarse engineer married a young woman and they had a son. Austin tried to cover up his drunken and thieving ways by lying to his wife. But he knew that his life was spinning out of control, and he felt incredible guilt over the injustice he was committing against his family. He did not want his son to follow in his footsteps.

Austin had not been to church in 12 years. While Austin had tried to ignore God, he realized he needed to turn his life around, and he knew he could not do it alone. One night, while looking into the stars, he said aloud, “O God, help me to quit gambling.” Starting at that moment, Austin’s faith — birthed out of desperation — took root.

God seemed to chase after Austin. Two weeks before his conversion, Austin was running through a dark tunnel and heard a voice say, “Throw away your tobacco.” He did, and he never tasted it again.

In the meantime, Austin’s wife began attending revival services at a Pentecostal church in San Diego, California. At first, she did not tell Austin, afraid that he might mock her. But she could not keep quiet, and she told him about the miracles she witnessed. Cripples were leaving their crutches, and deaf people could hear again. He agreed to go hear the evangelist.

The revival services were being held in a small hall, which was packed with people. Austin recalled that “people sang as if they meant it,” and he could tell they had something that he was missing. A young sailor sat next to Austin, and when the evangelist called people to the altar, he tried to pull Austin forward for prayer. Austin knew that he needed to go forward, but he did not want to publicly admit that he needed God.

An intense battle ensued between Austin’s ears. He recalled hearing a voice tell him that he was “too big a sinner” to be on his knees in church. This voice, who Austin recognized as the devil, taunted him, telling him that his drinking buddies would laugh at him. But Austin looked past his suffering, had faith in God, and cried out, “O Lord, have mercy on me.”

After an emotional spiritual battle, Austin found himself lying on the floor. He felt spiritual oppression flee, and he felt a sweet peace sweep through his soul. Austin set his heart on Christ and never looked back.

Austin told his family, friends, and coworkers about his conversion. He returned money he had stolen and asked for forgiveness from those he had offended. “There is now no more drinking, no more gambling, no more taking the name of our Lord in vain, no more tobacco,” he wrote. Instead, “old things have passed away and all things have become new.”

Austin studied for the ministry at Berean Bible Institute, an Assemblies of God school in San Diego. He graduated in 1925 and was ordained as an Assemblies of God evangelist in 1926. He continued working as an engineer on the Rock Island, Southern Pacific, and San Diego and Arizona railroads, but he viewed his secular employment as a vehicle for his higher calling — to preach the gospel across the American Southwest. During the next half century, this large, gentle, earnest railroad engineer, armed with his testimony and a Bible, touched countless lives.

Read Clement H. Austin’s testimony, “Saved and Called to Preach,” on pages 12-13 of the Nov. 16, 1929, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Ten Reasons Why I Believe in Divine Healing,” by Thomas G. Atteberry

• “The Extra Portion,” by Mrs. Robert (Marie) Brown

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 5, 2023 · 3:49 pm

In 1927, the Assemblies of God Considered Adopting a New Name: Pentecostal Evangelical Church

This Week in AG History — October 8, 1927

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG News, 05 October 2023

At the 1927 General Council, the Assemblies of God considered a possible name change as one of two hot topics covered on the Council floor. Delegates also considered and adopted the formal constitution and bylaws of the Assemblies of God (which included several minor changes to the Statement of Fundamental Truths).

The Oct. 8, 1927, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel includes lively discussion of the reasons for a name change and, whether the AG was a denomination. Two years earlier, the 1925 General Council had rejected a proposed constitution and bylaws. A Revision Committee was formed to craft changes that would be more acceptable. In the process of making revisions, this committee explored the possibility of a new name.

J. Narver Gortner, the chairman of the committee, reported: “When the Revision Committee was looking for a name, we wanted to find one that would indicate what we are, one in harmony with our real character. And we all agreed that we are Pentecostal people. Then we are evangelical too, we believe in evangelization.”

The committee recommended changing the name “Assemblies of God” to “Pentecostal Evangelical Church.”

“For a long time there has been widespread dissatisfaction concerning the name by which we have been known,” Gortner said. He found precedence for a name change in Scripture, since God changed the name of Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, and several others.

After continued discussion from a number of delegates, Harold Moss interjected.

“We as a people are evangelical, that is, we have a worldwide evangelistic program to get men and women saved through the blood of Jesus Christ,” Moss said. “But the name is not sufficient as there are other evangelical churches, so we need another name to draw a clear line of demarcation — Pentecostal Evangelical church. We are Pentecostal, thank God; and I am not ashamed.”

T. K. Leonard, who had originally suggested the name Assemblies of God in 1914, reminded everyone that “after days of meditation and trying to get an undenominational, nonsectarian name” the founders saw this as the “God-given name” for the Fellowship.

“When It was read to the audience, by one standing vote, unanimously, the whole body stood there and sang, ‘Praise God from whom all blessings flow,’ Leonard said. “And the whole house was filled with the power of God.”

The discussion of a possible name change went on for several days. At the close of the discussion, delegates decided to delay the suggested change until the next meeting of the General Council, to allow additional feedback and study on the matter. The constitution was adopted at the 1927 General Council, but not the name change. In the years since its founding, the name Assemblies of God had become familiar to the world at large. So with very little further discussion, when the General Council met two years later in 1929, the name Assemblies of God was retained and continues to be the name of the Fellowship, 109 years after its founding.

More information is available in the article, “The Assemblies of God: A Good Name,” in the fall 1994 issue of Assemblies of God Heritage.

The Pentecostal Evangel, “A Suggested Change of Name,” is on pages 5-7 and 9-10 of the Oct. 8, 1927, issue.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Continuous Revival,” by R.E. McAlister

• “A Fine New Church,” by Mae Eleanor Frey

• “God’s Call to Pentecostal Saints,” by Sara Coxe

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

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

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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August 10, 2023 · 12:22 pm

Small Beginnings: Early Pentecostal Revivals in Eastern Washington State

This Week in AG History–August 7, 1920

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 10 August 2023

The Pentecostal Evangel, an official organ of the Assemblies of God from 1914 to 2014, often published reports of small revival services and camp meetings taking place around the country. These reports, like the towns in which they took place, were often easy to overlook. Yet a deep spiritual work was taking place in these meetings that affected lives and communities for more than a century.

One such report was given by traveling evangelist John McConnell in the June 28, 1919, issue when he wrote that he was leaving Ferndale, Washington, for a camp meeting in Harrington, Washington, a small and insignificant village of farmers not too far from Spokane. In November of that same year, McConnell again reported of a second Harrington camp meeting that saw reaching results with many saved and about 35 receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, among them the pastor of a local Methodist church. He ends his report with, “The meeting closed with about 25 still seeking the Baptism. Pray for them.”

In the Aug, 7, 1920, Evangel, McConnell wrote that some of his associates were continuing with the camp meeting revival taking place at Harrington. This revival eventually impacted the breadth of Lincoln County, Washington, and saw the call of God on young lives that eventually filled the pulpits of Pentecostal and Assembly of God churches around the northwest region of the country.

But the revival didn’t have its roots in the McConnell campaigns. The real evangelist of what became known as the Lincoln County revival was a newspaper published by a small church in Los Angeles that was experiencing its own revival.

When the Azusa Street mission began publishing the Apostolic Faith paper in 1906, it was delivered to people hungry for a move of God all over the nation. In March of 1907, the Pittman family of Latah, Washington, was given a copy of this paper. The young daughter, Rose, was asked to read the paper aloud to the family after supper. While reading, Rose’s mother began to pray and repeat, “It’s the Lord.”

For the next few days, the events recorded in the paper were all the family could talk about. When they heard that a certain minister who had experienced the revival was coming to Spokane to conduct cottage prayer meetings, Mr. Pittman and a neighbor, Mr. Born, attended the meetings to see what it was all about. When they returned, Pittman was convinced it was a move of God after seeing Born receive the baptism in the Spirit and noting the working of the Holy Ghost in the meetings.

Mrs. Pittman and her daughters, along with a few others decided to go to Spokane the next Wednesday to attend the prayer meetings. When a neighbor called at the home on Tuesday night, they explained their journey of the next day. Before the neighbor left, Mrs. Pittman asked him to read from Scripture and lead in prayer. He took the Bible, read, and then said, “Let us pray and wait upon God until He does something for us.”

Just a few moments after he finished praying, Mrs. Pittman began to speak in tongues and the entire household was touched by the power of God. Rose, who had been skeptical to this point, prayed, “Lord, take everything, only let me have Jesus.” She also experienced the overwhelming power of the Spirit and began to speak in tongues.

The trip to Spokane was cancelled as they were experiencing their own Pentecost right there in Latah. Neighbors came the following night for a prayer meeting and five more people experienced the baptism in the Spirit in the Pittman home.

The fire soon spread to Edwall, Washington, where R.D. Streyfeller, a minister, was leading home prayer meetings. Some of the Latah group intermingled with the Edwall group and soon a Methodist Sunday School teacher named Ben Hoffman along with the Bursch family began to seek after a move of God in their community of Harrington.

After the devastating effects of the Spanish flu in 1918, it was decided that a camp meeting seeking for an outpouring of God’s blessing on their community was in order. Thus, evangelist John McConnell reported that he was going to Harrington to conduct a camp meeting in July 1919.

The camp was held on the property of the Bursch farm. Conditions were primitive with no running water, except a small stream. Kerosene lanterns provided light as there was no electricity and cooking facilities were a simple open pit. But people came from miles around, some from as far as Canada. The gifts of the Spirit were in evidence and many repented of sin and received Christ as Savior. Two young women held Bible studies for the children in the farmhouse teaching them the truths of Scripture and explaining what was happening to the grown-ups in the tent out in the pasture. McConnell did most of the preaching, although others also participated.

There was much opposition to the revival and a division between neighbors and friends over what was taking place concerned all involved. Yet those who had life transformation could not deny what they saw and experienced. It was finally decided that an indoor facility was needed, and an old schoolhouse was repurposed as a place of worship. Soon so many were coming that a larger building was needed.

People gave sacrificially, including one family who gave the money they had saved to buy their own house, in order that the Harrington revival had a place to continue. They soon began to reach out, assisting other churches in surrounding communities.

The Harrington church officially joined the newly formed Northwest District of the Assemblies of God under the leadership of J.S. Eaton during the period of 1922 to 1924. Growth continued and in 1937 the Harrington church building was dismantled to build a larger building just up Highway 28 in Davenport, where an Assembly of God church still exists today.

Like the 1919 Evangel announcement from McConnell, the small towns of eastern Washington would have been easy to bypass. Yet the Lincoln County Revival, sparked by one family reading testimonies from a single copy of the Apostolic Faith paper, made its way to Edwall, Harrington, Rocklyn, Peach, Wilbur, Coulee City, Hartline, and Davenport, Washington, changing lives and communities. Many of the early ministers and missionaries of the Northwest District of the Assemblies of God can trace their roots to this camp meeting revival.

Read McConnell’s announcement on page 10 of the Aug. 7, 1920, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Questions and Answers,” by E.N. Bell

• “A Tribute to the Young Preachers,” by A.P. Collins

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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July 8, 2021 · 9:02 pm

Edith Mae Pennington: The Beauty Queen Who Left Hollywood for a Pentecostal Pulpit

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This Week in AG History —July 4, 1931

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 08 July 2021

Edith Mae Pennington (1902-1970) traded the glamour and fame of Hollywood for a Pentecostal pulpit. Her testimony, published in 1931 in the Pentecostal Evangel, shared her journey from small town America to Hollywood and back again.

Reared in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Edith accepted Christ at a young age in her family’s evangelical church. By high school, she had become a ravishing young woman and lost interest in spiritual things. She enjoyed popularity and, she wrote, “the love of the world gripped my heart.” She spent her time going to dances and engaging in the frivolities of the world. She did not intentionally reject God, but nonetheless drifted away from her faith.

After high school, Edith attended college. She intended to become a teacher but soon found herself on another path. She entered a beauty pageant in 1921 and beat out 7,000 other young women to capture the title, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the United States.”

Edith’s life would never be the same. Gifts and money were showered upon her, and she received numerous invitations to speak at luncheons and christen buildings and public works projects. “I was dined and feted, flattered, and honored,” she recalled. She wore expensive clothing, had a car and chauffeur, and regularly made guest appearances at theaters.

Even though Edith seemed to have everything, she felt empty on the inside. “It was very exciting, alluring, inviting — yet it did not satisfy,” she wrote. During her travels across America, she decided to try the screen rather than the stage. She settled in Hollywood, hoping for a change.

Edith’s mother was her constant companion, helping to protect her and line up events. But her mother’s most important work, perhaps, was accomplished in the prayer closet. Edith noted, “Mother would be behind the curtain praying for me at my request and her desire — for God to help me and not let me make any mistakes.”

These prayers were soon answered, but not before witnessing the depravity of Hollywood. Edith appeared in several motion pictures, but became increasingly “shocked” at the “wicked world” surrounding her. “I was horrified at the immorality and the things I witnessed,” she wrote, noting that she had “several narrow escapes which frightened me.” She realized that her hopes for fame and fortune had been misplaced. “My air castles shattered at my feet,” she cried.

In her despair, Edith turned to God. She began attending church and heard the gospel preached by the power of the Holy Spirit. She felt conviction for her sins and “awakened to the startling realization that I was a sinner, lost and undone.” She began to read the Bible, which seemed to make everything “brighter” and her “soul lighter.” However, she hesitated to make the decision to become a true follower of Christ.

Edith knew that she would have to leave her lifestyle behind if she recommitted herself to Christ. She understood that there would need to be a parting of ways: “One way led to a career, fame, and fortune, but there was sin, the world, and a lost soul at the end. The other way revealed the Cross, and Jesus the Savior who had died for me that peace, joy, and forgiveness might be mine.”

Initially, Edith tried to have both God and the world. She went to church and also went to theaters and parties where sin abounded and where God was dishonored. She was miserable and ultimately recognized that she needed “deliverance from the bondage of the world.”

She visited churches that she described as “nominal,” and they were unable to help her find victory from her bondage to sin. She knew she wanted to live for the Lord, but she could not seem to separate herself from the destructive paths of the world. She experienced painful cognitive dissonance. She liked dressing like a Hollywood starlet, but deep inside she knew that she could not serve both God and flesh.

Finally, Edith decided to visit a Pentecostal church. She had heard that Pentecostal churches believed in the power of God. And Edith knew that she needed God’s power. She attended several Sunday evening services at a Pentecostal church in Los Angeles in October 1925. One evening, after a message in tongues seemed to be a direct rebuke from God, she ran to the altar and fully surrendered her life to God. She began to weep uncontrollably and then experienced unexplainable peace and quietness. She recalled, “I was happy, and felt so free, so light, so clean.”

The next night Edith returned to church. This time, she decided not to wear her characteristically gaudy jewelry. She received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and felt God call her to preach the gospel. Edith returned to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where, in 1930, she became the pastor of the Assemblies of God congregation.

Edith Mae Pennington spent the rest of her life in ministry as a pastor and noted evangelist. Throngs of people would come to hear “The Most Beautiful Girl in the United States” share how she left the lights of Hollywood for the light of the Cross. Edith’s decision to forsake the world and to follow Christ changed the course of not only her life, but thousands of others.

Read the article by Edith Mae Pennington, “From the Footlights to the Light of the Cross,” published serially in the July 4, 1931, and July 11, 1931, issues of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in the July 4, 1931, issue:

• “The Overflowing Stream,” by P. C. Nelson

• “Is Life Worth Living?” by Myer Pearlman

And many more!

Click these links to read the July 4th and July 11th issues 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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August 30, 2018 · 5:31 pm

AG Missions Publications Then and Now

P3236This Week in AG History —August 30, 1959

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 30 August 2018

The Pentecostal revival that birthed the Assemblies of God in 1914 brought with it a revival of dedication to the mission that each believer must “go into all the world and preach the gospel.” There was an urgency to take the message to the ends of the earth and, along with that, was born a pressing need to communicate the progress of this effort, along with its needs and concerns.

The first official weekly publication of the Assemblies of God, the Christian Evangel (later renamed the Pentecostal Evangel), began publishing updates and needs from the 32 recognized missionaries approved at the first General Council in April 1914. J. Roswell Flower, the first general secretary and, in 1919, the first missions secretary, also served as the editor of the Evangel and sought to use the publication to bring increased cooperation from the churches in support of the missions effort.

In 1944, under the direction of editor Kenneth Short, a separate quarterly publication devoted exclusively to missions was created. The Missionary Challenge (later changed to World Challenge) carried a format that highlighted a variety of updates from the field, emphasized a field in focus, provided a daily prayer devotional plan, and a prayer list for each missionary’s birthday. It also included a “Junior Challenge” with a story written specially to communicate to children the need for world missions.

As more departments of the General Council were created, the publication was used to highlight reports and opportunities provided by the Women’s Missionary Council (WMC), Boys’ and Girls’ Missionary Crusade (BGMC), Light for the Lost (LFTL), and Speed the Light (STL).

In March of 1959, World Challenge announced that the missions publication would merge with the denominational weekly, the Pentecostal Evangel, in order to increase the circulation of missionary articles.

However, the Aug. 30, 1959, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel features the relatively new promotions secretary of the Foreign Missions Department, J. Philip Hogan, announcing a new missions publication in an article titled, “Why Another Missionary Magazine?”

The new periodical was called Global Conquest after the new initiative approved by the missions department. Hogan gave three reasons for the decision to return to a separate missions publication: 1. The 1960s promised to be an era of “stepped-up communications” and the voice of missions must assert itself to be heard amongst the competing voices; 2. The commitment of the Assemblies of God was to communicate with each donor what was happening with their investment; and 3. Missions deserved “priority status” so as not to be lost among other reports featured within the larger Evangel publication.

Global Conquest continued as the official missions initiative, along with the free quarterly publication of the same name, until 1967 when it was determined that some governments interpreted this title as a threat to nationalism and the name was changed to Good News Crusades, in support of the mass evangelism efforts of city outreaches, also called Good News Crusades, taking place on the field. The publication was increased from quarterly to bi-monthly.

In 1979, it was realized that “crusades” might also carry a bad connotation in some countries and Good News Crusades was replaced by a monthly magazine, Mountain Movers. This periodical was sent free of charge to every Assemblies of God missions donor for almost 20 years. Joyce Wells Booze served as its initial editor. Under her leadership, there was a concerted effort to provide short articles written by missionaries on a reading level that would appeal to all ages.

Mountain Movers was merged into the Pentecostal Evangel in 1998 when the decision was made to utilize the first Sunday edition of each monthly Evangel solely as a missions magazine. This practice continued until the Pentecostal Evangel ceased publication in 2014.

Even without the weekly Evangel, Assemblies of God leaders felt it was vital to continue a steady stream of communication about the needs and concerns of the worldwide evangelistic mission of the church. Worldview magazine was commissioned in 2015 as a subscription periodical released monthly to continue to fulfill the imperative of the mission enunciated by Hogan in 1959: to ensure that world evangelism is priority status in the Assemblies of God.

Read the announcement of the publication of Global Conquest on page 7 of the Aug. 30, 1959, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Pentecost in the Philippines,” by Alfred Cawston

• “Miracles in A Missionary’s Life,” by C. M. Ward

• “Reaching the Children for Christ,” by Leonard and Genevieve Olson

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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March 28, 2018 · 1:53 pm

2017/2018 Assemblies of God Heritage Magazine – Now Available Online and in Hard Copy!

Doug Clay Heritage Magazine 2018

Assemblies of God General Superintendent Doug Clay, holding the 2017/2018 edition of Assemblies of God Heritage magazine

The 2017/2018 edition of Assemblies of God Heritage magazine is hot-off-the-press and is in the mail to all licensed and ordained Assemblies of God USA ministers and subscribers! Selected articles are also accessible for free on the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center website.

This edition features six inspiring articles about events, ministries, and heroes of the faith that helped to shape the Assemblies of God:

  • Celebrating the Hispanic Assemblies of God Centennial
  • The Sparkling Fountain: Early Pentecostalism in Springfield, Missouri
  • A History of Bible Quiz in the Assemblies of God
  • From Macedonia to Missouri: The Journey of Alexander Vazakas
  • Daniel Warren Kerr: Thinking, Speaking, and Acting Scripturally
  • Fortieth Anniversary of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center

Access these articles for free on the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center website. You can also order a hard copy of Assemblies of God Heritage for yourself or as a gift. The 2017/2018 edition is available for $8 each, or $5 each on orders of 5 or more. Over 100 different back issues are available, as supplies last, for only $3 each. To order, click here or call toll free: (877) 840-5200.

________________________

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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March 31, 2016 · 6:19 pm

2015/2016 Assemblies of God Heritage – Now Available Online and in Hard Copy!

WoodHeritage 2016The 2015/2016 edition of Assemblies of God Heritage magazine is hot-off-the-press and is in the mail to all Assemblies of God USA ministers and subscribers! Selected articles are also accessible for free on the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center website.

This edition uncovers the stories of Assemblies of God pastors, evangelists, and missionaries who hailed from a variety of religious and social backgrounds. Despite their differences, they shared a worldview that, at its heart, was a transformative experience with God.

Some, like Dr. Lilian Yeomans, were well-known. A Canadian medical doctor who became addicted to her own drugs, Yeomans nearly died before experiencing a transforming encounter with God. She went on to become a noted faith healer and author. Her gripping story of addiction and deliverance speaks directly to one of the great social problems in America today.

Others, such as “Aunt” Fanny Lack, engaged in local ministry. A member of the Hoopa Indian Tribe, Lack converted to Christ at a Pentecostal revival in 1920—at age 100. She was delivered from a tobacco addiction and was also healed of physical infirmities (she was blind and lame). She became a stalwart member of the Hoopa Assembly of God and was a remarkably active lay minister until about age 109. Newspapers across the nation picked up Lack’s fascinating story, but she had been largely omitted from scholarly histories. That is, until now.

This edition also includes the inspiring stories of missionaries Anna Sanders, Barney Moore, and Emile Chastagner, as well as pastors Samuel Jamieson, Joseph Wannenmacher, and Elmer Muir. What did these early Pentecostals share in common? Each faced deep personal struggles, but when they placed their trust and faith in God, they discovered renewed meaning and opportunities in life.

Following Christ did not make their lives perfect. Some (such as Joseph Wannenmacher) experienced physical healing; others (such as Emile Chastagner’s wife) did not. And, as Anna Sanders discovered, becoming a Christian does not necessarily take away the pain or consequences of a divorce. In spite of these difficulties, she went on to become a revered founder of the Assemblies of God in Mexico.

Many readers will be surprised to learn that Bethel Gospel Assembly, the historic African-American congregation in Harlem, was started by a young German woman, Lillian Kraeger, in 1916. Kraeger was heartbroken that her white Assemblies of God congregation rejected the membership applications of two black girls on account of their race, and she did not want them to fall away from the Lord.

The congregation grew to become the largest in the United Pentecostal Council Assemblies of God (UPCAG), the African American denomination which entered into an agreement of cooperative affiliation with the Assemblies of God in 2014. Bethel Gospel Assembly, which is now jointly affiliated with the UPCAG and the Assemblies of God, has long viewed its own history and mission as one of racial reconciliation. The congregation’s story is important, particularly in this age of racial discord.

Finally, an article about spiritual manifestations in early Pentecostalism may raise eyebrows. Some early Pentecostals, for instance, claimed to have extra-biblical spiritual gifts, including levitation and writing in tongues! Early Pentecostal church leaders learned valuable lessons regarding discernment of spiritual gifts, and these lessons continue to be helpful today.

Access these articles for free on the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center website. You can also order a hard copy of Assemblies of God Heritage for yourself or as a gift. The 2015/2016 edition is available for $8, and over 100 different back issues are available, as supplies last, for only $3 each. To order, click here or call toll free: (877) 840-5200.

________________________

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 10, 2015 · 7:42 pm

Revivaltime: How Radio Helped Shape Assemblies of God Identity

Revivaltime

Revivaltime broadcast, circa 1958. Bartlet Peterson announcing for Revivaltime; C.M. Ward (seated at table on left); Cyril McLellan (directing Revivaltime choir); C.T. Beem (standing behind piano)

This Week in AG History — December 11, 1960

By Darrin Rodgers
Originally published on PE-News, 10 December 2015

Revivaltime, the Assemblies of God weekly broadcast heard on the ABC radio network from 1953 to 1995, was one of the Fellowship’s most successful national ministries. Its hosts, C. M. Ward (1953-1978) and Dan Betzer (1979-1995), became two of the best-known Assemblies of God personalities, known to millions of listeners “coast to coast and around the world,” as the program’s familiar introduction intoned.

Ward established the 30-minute program’s format. Each program began with the song, “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name,” sung by the Revivaltime choir. The song became so ingrained into the program’s identity that some have called it the “unofficial anthem” of the Assemblies of God. The reading of a biblical text and a sermon came next, followed by an invitation to kneel at the “radio altar” while the choir sang Ira Stanphill’s “There’s Room at the Cross for You.”

The program saw almost immediate success. For decades, over 10,000 letters from listeners poured into the Revivaltime offices each month. By 1960, church officials estimated that Revivaltime’s U.S. radio audience was 12 million people — 12 times as large as the Sunday morning attendance at Assemblies of God churches in America. Add to that the numerous Revivaltime broadcasts in other countries, and the magnitude of the program’s influence quickly becomes obvious.

Ward and Betzer engaged audiences with sermons employing simple, direct language and powerful illustrations and human-interest stories. They also modeled the charismatic gifts on the air, sometimes exercising a “word of knowledge” — communicating messages under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to specific unknown listeners. Countless thousands of people wrote in and credited Revivaltime for playing a role in a relative’s salvation, a healing, or other divine interventions.

Revivaltime and other national ministries — such as Christ’s Ambassadors (the ministry to youth and young adults), Royal Rangers (the Scout-like boys ministry), and Missionettes (now National Girls Ministries) — helped to give the Assemblies of God a sense of national identity and branding. While the focus in the Assemblies of God remained on the local church, these national ministries provided generations of Assemblies of God members with a sense that they were a part of a larger community of believers.

The December 11, 1960, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel celebrated the seventh anniversary of Revivaltime, featuring C. M. Ward, D. V. Hurst (national secretary of Radio), and Bartlett Peterson (Revivaltime executive director) prominently on the cover. Together, these three men and hundreds of others labored to develop Revivaltime into a ministry that not only helped to evangelize and disciple believers, but also helped shape the identity of the Assemblies of God.

Read articles about Revivaltime’s seventh anniversary on pages 2 and 12 of the December 11, 1960, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Security of the Believer,” by Myer Pearlman

• “Predestination: What Does the Bible Teach about this Mysterious Subject?” by Ralph M. Riggs

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

Listen to classic Revivaltime radio episodes by clicking here.

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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