Religious Life of Elvis

Dr. Jim Goff, a leading historian of Southern Gospel music and Southern culture, has authored an important addition to Elvis scholarship. The article, “Conflicted by the Spirit: The Religious Life of Elvis Presley,” is featured in the 2008 edition of Assemblies of God Heritage magazine. Goff’s sympathetic treatment of Elvis’ religious confliction portrayed a gifted individual with human frailties, with whom many readers will be able to identify.

Goff provided an overview of the subject and demonstrated his warm and engaging prose in the article’s introduction:

“In life and in death, Elvis Presley holds a fascination far beyond that of even the most successful singers and movie personalities. Worldwide, thirty years after his death, millions upon millions recognize him by his first name alone, the mention of which conjures up a surfeit of sight, sound, and memory. Less known is the real man, and especially the religious yearnings and conflicts that alternately soothed and convicted him. Ever enamored by gospel music, Presley was likewise influenced—and perhaps haunted—by the religious strictures of his youth. This early religious training was decidedly evangelical and Pentecostal in its orientation. Ultimately, it served as a religious umbrella under which the entertainer sought refuge in times of turmoil.”

Assemblies of God members have often felt mixed feelings toward Elvis. Many liked his music and were proud that he once sat in the Sunday school at Memphis First Assembly of God. At the same time, Elvis’ all-too public struggles caused concern and, at times, consternation.

The Assemblies of God does not claim Elvis as its own, but Elvis was impacted by the Assemblies of God and the broader evangelical and Pentecostal movements. This article does not aim to narrowly identify Elvis with a particular denomination, but offers a careful assessment of his background and religious proclivities.

This is the first published treatment of Elvis by an official publication of the Assemblies of God. Assemblies of God Heritage is published by the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC), which is the denominational archives and museum of the Assemblies of God. The article may be viewed on the FPHC website: www.iFPHC.org.

Jim Goff is the I. G. Greer Distinguished Professor of History at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. He is researching a book-length manuscript on the religious background and cultural ramifications of the Elvis Presley phenomenon and would appreciate any personal reflections that readers might share of having interacted with Presley in a religious environment. Please send these reflections to goffjr@appstate.edu.

Goff’s article has caused a stir in the blogosphere. See the following blog discussions: Averyfineline: Criticism and commentary on southern gospel music and culture ; and SGBogNews.

The 2008 edition of Assemblies of God Heritage is available for $8 on the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center website.

This blog post was adapted from an article by Darrin J. Rodgers, Director of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center and editor of Assemblies of God Heritage. Rodgers’ article was first published in Elvis Insiders, the official newsletter of Elvis Presley Enterprises. Reposted with permission.

2008 Heritage hot off the press

The 2008 annual edition of Assemblies of God Heritage magazine is hot off the press and will shortly be mailed to all credentialed Assemblies of God ministers. Additional copies may be ordered online or by phone: 877.840.5200 (toll free).

Download selected free articles from the 2008 edition from the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center website. If you like what you read, consider ordering the entire 2008 edition of Heritage for yourself, or as a gift for your friends or relatives. We think you will agree that Heritage magazine is a keepsake!

The 2008 edition features the following articles:

Dr. Charles S. Price: His Life, Ministry and Influence
This Oxford-educated pastor became one of the most noteworthy Pentecostal evangelists of the twentieth century.
BY TIM ENLOE

Teen Challenge: 50 Years of Miracles
What began as an outreach by David Wilkerson to the gangs of New York City has developed into one of the largest and most successful Christian drug-treatment programs.
BY DAVID BATTY AND ETHAN CAMPBELL

Conflicted by the Spirit: The Religious Life of Elvis Presley
The “King of Rock ‘n Roll,” the most famous Assemblies of God Sunday school prospect from the 1950s, experienced an all-too public struggle between his religious upbringing and the temptations of the world.
BY JAMES R. GOFF, JR.

Marjorie Walker, pioneer black Assemblies of God minister, honored

Rev. Marjorie Walker, possibly the first African-American female ordained by the Rocky Mountain District of the Assemblies of God, was recognized in a special service at her church in celebration of Black History Month. The service, held at Glad Tidings Assembly of God in Greeley, Colorado, also honored two additional faithful African-American church leaders, George and Clydene Osborne.

The church’s pastor, Rev. David Meek, shared their stories in an article about the event published in the Greeley Tribune:

“The Rev. Marjorie Walker, a retired nurse, was the first black woman to be ordained in the Rocky Mountain District of the Assemblies of God Church. Last September, she retired at the young age of 81 from ministering at retirement homes in Greeley for 30 years. She is still an associate pastor at Glad Tidings and loves to lead people to Jesus. We love to hear her sing those great Southern Gospel songs, and she learned to play the harmonica at age 76 after her husband, Sid, went to be with Jesus.”

“George and Clydene Osborne are vital members as they greet people, sing in the choir and pray for the sick. George is a board member, directs the Men’s Ministry and preaches every Friday night at the Weld County Jail, leading men to love, serve and follow Jesus. They have been married 49 years, which is a miracle of God, as George use to be heavy drinker of beer, before Jesus delivered him!”

Rev. Meek recounted that the Assemblies of God grew out of a worldwide Pentecostal revival that took place one hundred years ago. One of the focal points of this emerging revival was the interracial congregation at the Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa Street, Los Angeles, led by African-American pastor William J. Seymour. Meek noted that at Azusa Street, “The rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated, and all races worshipped and sought God together.” The Azusa Street revival (1906-1909) has become a symbol of racial reconciliation, not just for Pentecostals but for all Christians. This interracial unity was not just evidenced at Azusa Street, but also in churches today, such as Glad Tidings Assembly of God in Greeley.

Panorama Magazine (a publication of the Greeley Tribune) also published an article about Rev. Walker in 2007.

The Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center is very interested in acquiring materials documenting African-American Pentecostal history. If you have old photographs, publications (periodicals, tracts, books, congregational histories, etc.), and other treasures that would help historians, church leaders, and people in the pew to better understand African-American Pentecostal history, please consider depositing them at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (email: archives@ag.org).

Fred Smolchuck (1917-2008), Slavic Pentecostal leader, passes away

Fred Smolchuck had a passion for spreading the gospel and the Pentecostal message to Slavic people. A founding member of the former Ukrainian Branch of the Assemblies of God, he served as a pastor and district official in Michigan, and he authored 16 books. His life is inextricably intertwined with the history of the Slavic churches in the Assemblies of God. He passed away peacefully in Springfield, Missouri, at the age of 90 on February 23, 2008.

Born February 26, 1917, in Boston, Massachusetts, Smolchuck was the son of Ukrainian immigrants to America. A series of tragic events, beginning with the death of Fred’s seven-year-old sister, led the Smolchuck family to accept Christ. Fred was saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit at the age of ten. He and his parents joined the Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian Pentecostal Church of Chelsea, Massachusetts. In 1934, he enrolled at Zion Bible Institute in Rhode Island, graduating in 1936. A year later he married Stella Hanko.

Rev. B. V. Robison to celebrate 100th birthday

On February 2, 2008, Rev. Bernice Vance (B. V.) Robison will achieve something that few Assemblies of God ministers can claim – he will celebrate his 100th birthday. Reared in the Waurika and Terral areas in Oklahoma, Robison later moved to Texas, which became his home state. In 1927, at the age of 19, he began traveling with Floyd Hawkins. Together, they held revivals in towns and communities across Texas, bringing the Pentecostal message to many people for the first time. Numerous Assemblies of God churches were organized as a result of their efforts.

In 1929 Robison married Lillie Mae Holdridge. Following a 1930 revival campaign held in Freeport, Texas, he remained to pioneer a church, which became First Assembly of God. In the early days of the Assemblies of God, most pastors were bi-vocational, and they were expected to be competent in multiple skills. Robison’s natural building abilities meant that, in each of his pastorates, he would erect a church building.

After a hurricane destroyed the first building he erected for the Freeport congregation, he built a second one. To date, five Assemblies of God congregations have been birthed from the Freeport church. In 1935 he moved to Sherman, Texas, to serve as one of the early Assemblies of God pastors in that city. In 1939 he returned to south Texas to pastor the assembly in Cuero. His first project there was to build a new church building. The congregation worshiped in that building until 1993.

In 1942, again feeling the call of God to a city without an Assemblies of God witness, Robison moved 28 miles to Victoria, Texas. World War II was raging,

Rev. James K. Bridges to resign

Dr. George O. Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, sent the following announcement to Assemblies of God Headquarters employees by email at 3:58 pm on Friday, January 4, 2008.
____________________________________________________

I want to share with you that Rev. James K. Bridges, our general treasurer for the past 14 years, has announced he will step down from this office on March 31, 2008.

Brother Bridges indicates he felt the timing to be appropriate for several reasons: “(1) we have gotten beyond the General Council event; (2) the new ELT members have had several months to settle into their positions; (3) a newly-appointed General Treasurer by the Executive Presbytery will have a year and a half to get settled into office before the next General Council when the office is up for election; and (4) it is time for us to return to Texas where all of our children and grandchildren reside.”

Brother Bridges was elected general treasurer at the 45th General Council in 1993. In this office, he oversees the Division of the Treasury, which is responsible for handling all finances sent to the national office for the world ministries of the church.

He has served with distinction in a variety of ministry since 1952 when he began his ministry in the South Texas District. A graduate of Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Texas, he served pastorates in Houston, Dallas, Greenville, and Waxahachie, Texas, as well as Wichita, Kansas. He served in district leadership in the North Texas District, including sectional presbyter, executive presbyter, general presbyter, assistant superintendent and superintendent of the district from 1981 until his election to the office of general treasurer.

From 1968-71, Brother Bridges was vice president of academic affairs at Southwestern Assemblies of God University, and served as chairman of the school’s board of directors from 1985-1993. SAGU conferred the honorary doctor’s degree upon him in 1991.

Brother Bridges is a person of impeccable integrity. His depth of Christian character commands everything he does. He has served this church so well. It has been my distinct joy to serve with him in executive leadership since 1993. I shall miss his wise counsel and steadfast commitment to the church, its doctrines, and ministries.

We wish him and Joyce God’s richest blessings in the years ahead. I am confident he will continue to be active in ministry wherever God leads.

The General Council Bylaws call for the Executive Presbytery to fill the unexpired term of an executive officer. Please pray for God’s wisdom as we seek to do this.
____________________________________________________

For more information about Rev. Bridges’ life and ministry, read the article, “Reflecting on a Godly Heritage: The Important Roles Parents, Grandparents, and In-laws Played in the Life of James K. Bridges,” published in the Fall 1994 issue of Assemblies of God Heritage magazine. The issue has been digitized and may be viewed on the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center website.

Rev. Bridges and his wife, Joyce, gave their testimony at the Assemblies of God Headquarters chapel service on November 27, 2007. Click here to view the chapel service.

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Christmas testimonies from beyond the grave

In the West, Christmas has become a symbol of excess. For most Christians in other times and places, however, Christmas has been a reminder that God came down to meet each one of us at our point of need.

The following Christmas testimonies are from some of our Assemblies of God saints who blazed the trail that we now tread. Listen to how they celebrated Christmas, compare it with your own celebrations, then reflect about how God met each one of these dear saints at the point of their need. You will see that God didn’t always meet needs with provisions; sometimes He provided lessons.

C. M. Ward was the voice of the Revivaltime radio broadcast from 1953 to 1978. He and his fiancée, Dorothy, set their wedding date for Christmas Day, 1929. Of course, one month before their wedding, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. Ward couldn’t afford to buy a wedding ring, much less presents, for their first Christmas. He later learned that times of deprivation like this birthed one of two things: either desperation or despair. Desperation spurred people to work hard and be creative, while despair caused people to simply give up.

Daniel W. Kerr was the primary author of the 1916 Statement of Fundamental Truths. One of the early parsonages he and his family lived in was actually an abandoned log chicken house that Kerr made into living quarters. One Christmas, his two children each received one penny in their stockings. And for Christmas dinner — they boiled potatoes. With our material prosperity, we sometimes forget that many go without. When God does provide for our needs, but not our wants, do we express gratitude or do we grumble?

John Kolenda was a German District pastor and missionary to Brazil. His daughter, Graceann, recalled that “Dad always practiced and taught us to put God first, others second, and ourselves last.” She explained that, to her and her young sibling, “This seemed entirely wrong.” Two days before Christmas, Kolenda took his children aside and said that — absent a miracle — there would be no Christmas presents that year. After providing for the needy children in the Sunday school and for other people, he explained, there was nothing left to give his own children. Graceann recalled that her parents prayed in an unusually fervent manner that evening. The next day an unexpected check arrived in the mail, which provided for a memorable Christmas. When the situation seems hopeless — do we still pray to God to intervene?

Rev. R. L. Brandt (1917-2007) is remembered

Robert Louis Brandt was born May 29, 1917, at Tower City, North Dakota, the oldest child of Alfred and Etta Brandt. He passed away in Billings, Montana on September 27, 2007 at the age of 90. He served the Assemblies of God Fellowship as pastor, author, Bible school president, executive presbyter, National Home Missions Secretary, and superintendent of two districts.

Raised on a farm near Rock Lake, North Dakota, Brandt accepted Christ at Lake Geneva Bible Camp near Alexandria, Minnesota at age 16 and soon felt a calling to the ministry. After completing high school, he attended North Central Bible Institute (now North Central University) in Minneapolis and went on to pastor churches in Stanley (1939-1945) and Grand Forks, North Dakota (1945-1951). He married Marian Williams in 1940, and they became parents of three children.

Brandt’s ministry expanded when he was elected North Dakota District Superintendent (1951-1958), resigning to become the National Home Missions Secretary for the Assemblies of God (1958-1965). He then became pastor of First Assembly of God in Billings, Montana (1965-1970) and Montana District Superintendent (1970-1983). He served faithfully for 20 years as executive presbyter of the Northwest Region from 1981 to 2001. He also served on many boards and committees, including the board of directors for North Central Bible College, Central Indian Bible College, and Northwest University.

A gifted author, he contributed articles to the Pentecostal Evangel, Pulpit, Enrichment, and wrote several theological texts including Praying With Paul, The Spirit Helps Us Pray, Attitudes of the Beatitudes, The Pentecostal Promise, among others, and a number of Sunday school quarterlies. He also traveled as an evangelist to many countries including Puerto Rico, Thailand, Java, Canada, and South Korea. He is remembered as a leader, board member, teacher, preacher, and author, but most of all, he is remembered as a faithful servant of God.

George O. Wood on enduring core values

Photos: Dr. George O. Wood, speaking at the AGTS chapel, September 14, 2007. Used with permission of AGTS.

The Assemblies of God (USA) elected new leadership at its 52nd General Council in Indianapolis, Indiana in August 2007. What does this mean for our Fellowship?

Dr. George O. Wood, General Superintendent-Elect, gave the following acceptance speech at the commissioning service of the new Executive Leadership Team, which took place Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at the national headquarters in Springfield, Missouri. In his message, Dr. Wood identified five “enduring core values” of the Assemblies of God. These values, he promised, will guide him as he seeks to lead the Assemblies of God to fulfill its three-fold mission to worship, evangelize, and make disciples.

____________________________________

ENDURING CORE VALUES
by Dr. George O. Wood
September 18, 2007

At this past General Council, you extended to me the grace of responsibility in serving as the next general superintendent. I am humbled by your confidence in me and ask you to pray for me and the other leaders as we begin this journey of serving you.

People have been asking me, “George, what’s your vision for the Assemblies of God? What are you going to focus on

The Ed Cole Library

The family of the late Dr. Edwin Louis Cole (1922-2002), a men’s ministry pioneer and former Assemblies of God minister, has established The Ed Cole Library in order to make materials from his life and ministry more accessible to a global audience. The website, http://www.EdColeLibrary.org, includes scanned images of Dr. Cole’s personal sermon outlines and notes, his ministry itinerary, and additional resources for pastors and men. In June 2006, The Ed Cole Library deposited Dr. Cole’s original sermon outlines and notes at the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center for preservation and research purposes.

Dr. Cole founded his ministry to men, Christian Men’s Network (CMN), 30 years ago in 1977. This year the LIONS ROAR ‘07 conference will be celebrating the 30th Anniversary of this powerful ministry to men. The conference starts on Monday, October 1, 2007. Darrin Rodgers, Director of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, wrote the following letter to those in attendance.