Amanda Benedict remembered after 82 years

Participants at the Amanda Benedict memorial service (l-r): Assistant Archivist Glenn Gohr; Rev. Hubert Morris of Central Assembly; FPHC Director Darrin Rodgers; Dr. James Bradford, pastor of Central Assembly; General Secretary George Wood; Jewell Woodward, adminstrative assistant to George Wood; National Prayer Center Director John Maempa; and Archivist Joyce Lee.

Front of marker

Back of marker

Photographs by Sharon Rasnake

As part of the celebration of 100 years of Pentecost in Springfield, Central Assembly chose to honor one of the early leaders in the church, Miss Amanda Benedict, who is remembered as a fervent prayer warrior.

Educated in New York, her home state, she later conducted a rescue home for girls in Chicago and was connected with a faith home for children in Iowa. She moved to Springfield, Missouri, sometime before 1910 and met Mrs. Lillie Corum while working as a door-to-door salesperson. The two ladies and others began praying together regularly, and soon Amanda Benedict received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. She had a burden for lost souls and that God might bless the gospel work in Springfield, Missouri.

Sister Benedict would fast and pray for days on end, until a burden was lifted or victory came. Often, like Napoleon, she would say, “There shall be no Alps!” She had a tremendous burden that God would make Springfield a center from which his blessings would flow to the ends of the earth. At one point she felt led to fast and pray for Springfield for one entire year — living only on bread and water.

Central Assembly of God in Springfield, MO: 100 years of ministry

This past weekend Central Assembly here in Springfield, Missouri (Pastor James Bradford), held an all-church banquet on June 1, 2007 and special services on Sunday, June 3rd. The banquet commemorated to the day, the 100th anniversary of the church. It was during the wee hours of the morning of June 1, 1907 when Lillie Harper Corum was baptized in the Spirit in her living room in Springfield, after praying with her sister, Rachel Sizelove, an evangelist who had come from the famed Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles.

Further details of this testimony and much of the early history of Central Assembly is contained in a book produced by the Corum Family called The Sparkling Fountain. The book is still available for those interested. (See the Seen in Print section of the FPHC website.)

FPHC Director Darrin Rodgers and Assistant Archivist Glenn Gohr sold copies of The Sparkling Fountain, and Central Assembly sold copies of its new history book, Windows Into Central’s 100 Years of Ministry: Ordinary People God Used to Build an Extraordinary Church. This brief history contains vignettes of some of the former pastors and important families in the church as well as a time line of significant events in the church’s history. Central, now located on the block south of the AG Headquarters, became the mother church for several of the 30 AG congregations now in Springfield.

Celebrating 100 years of Pentecost in Springfield, Missouri

Farmhouse where Lillie Corum was baptized in the Spirit in 1907

June 1, 2007 marks 100 years of Pentecost in Springfield, Missouri.

Just after the Azusa Street revival broke out in Los Angeles in 1906, Evangelist Rachel Harper Sizelove began writing glowing reports to her sister, Lillie Corum, who lived in Springfield, Missouri. Mrs. Corum started reading copies of William Seymour’s Apostolic Faith paper, and she earnestly began seeking and praying to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The next May, Rachel Sizelove traveled from Azusa Street to Springfield to visit her sister and family. And in an all-night prayer meeting, Lillie Corum was baptized in the Spirit at her farmhouse in the wee hours of June 1, 1907. She is credited with being the first person in Springfield to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And soon afterwards, the Corum family, rejected by their Baptist pastor, began holding prayer meetings in their home. This was the beginning of Central Assembly of God, the mother church in Springfield, Missouri.

Rare Kathryn Kuhlman transcripts donated to FPHC

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Produced by iFPHC

Kathryn Johanna Kuhlman (1907-1976), possibly the world’s most prominent female evangelist and faith healer (although at times she objected to these titles), was a catalyst for the emerging charismatic renewal in the 1950s and 1960s. Her life and ministry — and her impact on the broader Christian church — remain the focus of much popular and scholarly attention.

Three unique and significant notebooks focusing on Kathryn Kuhlman’s ministry during the years 1949 to 1952 have been donated to the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center (FPHC).

A new convert, Gay Luchin, took shorthand notes during Kuhlman’s meetings in Pittsburgh and spent many hours transcribing her eye-witness notes, placing them in three notebooks. The donation also includes correspondence from Kuhlman to Luchin, in which she encouraged Luchin in her work to develop these accounts.

Luchin’s notebooks contain well over 1,000 carefully-recorded pages of typescripts, detailing Kuhlman’s unvarnished thoughts on theology, social issues, politics, ethics, and spirituality. This major donation, unexamined by the scholarly world, promises to throw new light upon an era of Kuhlman’s life that heretofore has been sparsely documented.

The FPHC invites you to visit Springfield to view these items for yourself. They are being released today, May 9th, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kathryn Kuhlman. Please call for an appointment.

Posted by Darrin Rodgers

Eureka Springs Assembly celebrates 100 years

The 100th anniversary celebration of First Assembly of God in Eureka Springs, Arkansas takes place this weekend (March 30-April 1, 2007). The theme of the three-day event is “Celebrating 100 Years of Pentecost and More.” The public is invited to attend any or all of the services. The church is located on Ark. Hwy. 23 on the south side of Eureka Springs.

Former pastor Bob Willhite is preaching on Friday night at 7 p.m. Then a number of former pastors will be on hand Saturday morning at 11 a.m. for the church’s radio program, “Christian Perspective,” hosted by pastor Gene Gilmore on KTCN, 100.9 FM. A barbecue is planned for Saturday afternoon and a 7 p.m. concert with Louisiana-based New Liberty Quartet.

Sunday activities include a special Sunday school class on “The Church and Its Mission” taught by three former pastors. Rev. Glenn Beaver, secretary-treasurer of the West Texas District AG, is the speaker for the 10:30 a.m. service. Afterwards a time capsule will be placed on the grounds of the church, followed by an afternoon luncheon.

That evening, Rev. Eugene Rose will preach, and a commemorative gift of $35,000 will be given to Missionary Kerry Mauldin for the construction of a new church building in India.

Eureka Springs Assembly of God is one of several AG churches in the nation currently celebrating 100 years.

Adapted from an article in the Carroll County News Weekend Edition.

Additional information can be found in “Centennial Churches: A Survey” in the 2007 issue of Heritage.

Posted by Glenn Gohr

The Couriers

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SplashCast with Flickr photos
Produced by iFPHC

The wait is over! The 2007 annual edition of Assemblies of God Heritage has been mailed to all Assemblies of God ministers plus subscribers. In the feature article, leading gospel music historian Jim Goff recounts the story of the Couriers – Assemblies of God boys who changed the world of gospel music by helping to shift its emphasis from entertainment toward ministry. Operating first as a quartet and later as a trio, the Couriers are celebrating five decades of music ministry as three of the long-time members, Dave, Duane, and Neil continue to travel and minister in song.

Also visit the eBay store of Mrs. Don Baldwin (Don Baldwin was a former Couriers member), featuring Couriers memorabilia for sale.

To view the photoset of the Couriers at Flickr click on the link below:

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Posted by Darrin Rodgers

Review: The Azusa Street Revival and Its Legacy

The Azusa Street Revival and Its Legacy, edited by Harold D. Hunter and Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. Cleveland, TN: Pathway Press, 2006.

The Azusa Street Centennial (Los Angeles, 2006) brought together approximately 45,000 Pentecostal pilgrims who traveled from all corners of the globe to celebrate, worship and reflect on the paths that led them to where they are in their spiritual journeys. Right in the heart of the celebration, historians gathered in an academic track where they presented a series of papers highlighting the most up-to-date scholarship on the history and legacy of the Azusa Street revival. Two leading Pentecostal historians, Harold D. Hunter and Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., assembled the majority of these papers, now available in The Azusa Street Revival and Its Legacy.