A Pentecostal Warning from 1929: Don’t Make the Worship Service into a Form of Entertainment

The Orchestra at Bethany Temple in Everett, Washington, circa 1928-32, featured musicians such as Myrtle Peterson Robeck on piano (left) and Levi Larson on trombone (right).

This Week in AG History — June 1, 1929

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 01 June 2023

What role should music play in the church worship service? A 1929 Pentecostal Evangel article affirmed the value of music, while warning against the tendency to make the worship service into a form of entertainment.

The article observed that, in many quarters, “much of the worship offered to God is governed by what the people want rather than by the divine plan.” What is the “divine plan”? According to the article’s author, Canadian Pentecostal pioneer George A. Chambers, a worship service should include prayer, music, preaching of the Word, and an experience of the “real presence of God.”

Chambers was not opposed to the contemporary worship music of his day. He affirmed the joyful singing accompanied by numerous musical instruments for which early Pentecostals were known. He was concerned that, in some quarters, a certain professionalism was creeping into the church, which emphasized performance over the presence and power of God. He cautioned that musical performances sometimes overshadowed the other elements of the worship service.

According to Chambers, various musical numbers — including solos, duets, and orchestral selections — sometimes receive so much attention “that the Word of God is often relegated to 20 or 30 minutes’ time, and if its discussion is protracted beyond that the people show their disapproval by retiring from the service.” He noted that music often attracts people to church, but added, “Crowds are not always a sign of blessing and of God’s presence.”

Chambers’ concern for the church in 1929 seems quite applicable 94 years later. Noting that the earliest Pentecostals were known for their deeply spiritual services, he encouraged readers to rediscover the deep spirituality that birthed the Movement. He lamented the tendency to replace a reliance upon the Holy Spirit with a reliance upon modern methods and advertising, quipping, “It used to be ‘follow the cloud!’ Now in many places it is more or less ‘follow the crowd.'”

Chambers encouraged readers to read 1 Chronicles 13-15, which documented how Israel learned the importance of worshiping according to God’s plan. The church, he believed, could benefit from the lessons provided by Israel’s example. While there are many ways to organize a worship service, Chambers’ article reminds Pentecostals to rely on the Holy Spirit and to keep the necessary elements in balance.

Read Chambers’ article, “Doing a Right Thing in a Wrong Way,” on page 6 of the June 1, 1929, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel:

Also featured in this issue:

• “Diamond Cut Diamond,” by Harry J. Steil

• “Scriptural Warnings,” by P.C. Nelson

And many more!
Click here to view 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: www.iFPHC.org

Glenn Renick and the 1928 Revival in Hannibal, Missouri

Glenn Renick, Sr. (bottom left) conducting a baptism in the Middle Fabius River near the Gilead Bridge, east of Ewing, Missouri; 1922.

This Week in AG History —May 13, 1973

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 11 May 2023

When Glenn Allen Renick, Sr. (1895-1973) set out in January 1928 to plant a church in Hannibal, Missouri, conditions were not ideal. He had to contend with frigid weather, a poor meeting location, and a car that barely worked. But God brought dozens of people into the small mission, and the healing of a local woman attracted additional attention and favor in the community. Renick served as pastor in Hannibal for 37 years and also pioneered several other churches in northeast Missouri, including Nelsonville, Edina, and Ewing. He went on to serve as a district official and left his mark on the Assemblies of God in the Midwest.

Renick grew up in Franklin County, Missouri. After finishing high school, he served in World War I. He graduated from Southern California Bible Institute and was ordained June 9, 1923, at Long Beach, California. On April 18, 1929, he married Nina Christina Englund, who also was an ordained AG minister. She had served previously as a missionary in Brazil and pastored churches in northeast Missouri and Illinois. She was part of an evangelistic group with Adele and Richard Carmichael that started Bethel Assembly in Quincy, Illinois. Nina also attended the Midwest Bible School in Auburn, Nebraska.

A couple of testimonies stand out from Glenn Renick’s years of pastoring in Hannibal. Two Christians living on a farm near Hannibal rented an old store building on North Main Street and invited Renick to come and start a church. The rent was paid for two months, and then he would be on his own. He would have to live by faith.

The building had a potbelly stove for heat, and Renick would need to furnish it. He erected a platform out of tile and planks. He was able to get folding seats from an old tent, and he found a rug to place in the altar area.

On a cold day in January 1928, while driving an old Model T Ford (with no heat or windows), Renick had several stops to make in town to get things ready for the opening day, and he discovered that the brake shoe was ruined on one of his rear wheels, and only one lug was left to hold the wheel in place. The car had wooden spokes with steel rims. He took off the damaged brake shoe, but he was unable to repair the wheel, and his trip was only half over, but after praying the prayer of faith, he survived the bitterly cold weather and arrived home safe, with only one lug holding.

Renick started services on Jan. 25, 1928. Thirty-five people came to the altar and professed salvation at that first meeting. Many with evil habits professed that they were delivered after prayer. Later the meetings were moved to a house that had been converted into a church. The pulpit and altar were in the middle, and the preacher faced people sitting in two different rooms. The setting was primitive, but God answered prayers.

One Baptist woman, Mrs. Crawford Adams, was afflicted with a toxic goiter and had a rapid heartbeat. She often would faint and lay unconscious for periods of time. One night she asked her husband if she could come to the Pentecostal services, and he consented. She came forward and was anointed and prayed for. Then it seemed as if she fainted and appeared to be in a coma.

Renick, Mrs. Adams’ husband, and others were concerned. After a while she lifted her hand and color came back into her face. She began to speak in a beautiful language.

Afterwards she testified, “When I was anointed with oil and hands were laid upon me, I felt the power of God strike me, and it seemed as though crystal-clear water flowed through my body, beginning at my head. The same power reversed itself and came through my body again, beginning at my feet. When it reached my throat, I felt something snap. My heartbeat became normal. I was healed.”

That healing was widely known and discussed in the community. It led many people to the church services in the coming days, and others were healed and delivered through prayer.

The radio and newspaper became friendly toward the Pentecostals, and many doors opened for ministry. Renick was able to move the services from the house to a vacant downtown theater, and the Assembly of God in Hannibal continued to grow. In later years, a number of evangelists came to the church including Dolores Dudley, Anna Charlotte Berg, Frank Lummer, Harvey McAlister, and many others.

Renick also served as assistant superintendent of the West Central District (now divided into the Iowa and Northern Missouri districts) for several years, and then served as superintendent of that district from 1951 to 1952. He was superintendent of the Northern Missouri district from 1964 to 1967. He served as a general presbyter for many years. He also traveled for many years as an evangelist, and started churches in Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri.

While in Hannibal, he was active in community affairs, serving as Missouri department chaplain of the American Legion. As a veteran of World War I, he became a lifetime member of Hannibal Post 55 of the Legion. He also served as the president of the Hannibal Ministerial Alliance.

Glenn Renick passed away March 8, 1973, at the age of 78. His wife survived him and lived to be 103. They had two sons, Harry and Glenn Renick Jr. Glenn Renick Sr. and his wife, Nina, are both buried in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens, Springfield, Missouri.

When Glenn Renick arrived in Hannibal, Missouri, to plant a church in 1928, it initially seemed that everything went wrong. But God turned a situation that did not seem very promising into a testimony of God’s power to transform hardship into something beautiful.

Read, “Former District Leader is With Christ,” on page 26 of the May 13, 1973, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Evangelism Begins at Home,” by Ruth Steelberg Carter

• “Pentecostal Balance,” by Thomas F. Zimmerman

• “The Sounding of a New Day,” by Ray Gannon

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

Louise Nankivell: Pioneer Assemblies of God Evangelist

This Week in AG History — April 29, 1951

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 27 April 2023

Louise Nankivell (1896-1972), a female Assemblies of God evangelist, was frequently dubbed by newspaper articles as “the second Aimee Semple McPherson.” Her public ministry stretched from 1923 until 1962, when illness forced her to retire from travel. She continued to write for the Pentecostal Evangel until just a month before her death in 1972.

A native Chicagoan, Nankivell had no formal theological education. After her marriage to Alfred Nankivell in 1916, the two worked together in street evangelism, with Louise playing an organ while her husband sang. After hearing her address the crowd in one meeting, her husband began urging her into full-time ministry with him as her musical support.

After receiving ordination with the World’s Faith Missionary Association (WFMA) in 1924, the Nankivell duo traveled around the United States often drawing crowds in the thousands. In one meeting in Clarksburg, West Virginia, a crowd of more than 3,000 attended with many gathering outside the auditorium to listen through the doors. Many healings took place in these meetings and thousands professed faith in Christ as a result.

Nankivell was known for preaching a strong holiness message against the ills of society — divorce, common-law marriages, evolution, and other fundamentalist causes of the day — and often wore a long white robe with one single rose pinned to her dress. In one newspaper advertisement she advised the readers of the Brooklyn Daily Times that, “Bright lights, white lights, footlights, dancelights, spotlights, cannot illuminate the way to heaven. Jesus Christ is the greatest light that ever came into the world, and He is the remedy for all our ills.”

A typical week’s meetings included the topics of the end times, the work of Christ on the cross, focus on physical healing, and the inclusion of her testimony along with a defense of women’s authority to preach, posing the question, “Why were spiritual powers given to women if not for use?” Often she would leave out a “question box” for attendees and take time in her meetings to personally address their questions and concerns. Services always included her husband leading in worship or providing musical accompaniment.

In 1940, Nankivell transferred her ordination to the Assemblies of God. After attending the 1941 General Council, she became gravely ill and was not given much hope to recover. She was out of the pulpit for more than a year until one Saturday night Christ appeared to her in a vision. From that time on, she vowed to never preach in any attire other than sackcloth. While many did not understand this vow and she was often criticized as “dramatic,” she believed that standing on the platform in a sackcloth dress was a reminder to herself of her humility and dependence on Christ and a reminder to those around her of the need for repentance.

In the April 29, 1951, Pentecostal Evangel, a report was given by Pastor Leonard Norville of First Assembly of God in Fort Worth, Texas: “For nearly three weeks in February we witnessed many wonderful works at the hand of our mighty Christ in saving the lost, delivering the bound, and healing the sick and afflicted. We were privileged to have evangelist Louise Nankivell with us … We thank God for these meetings … Our faith has been strengthened to a great degree and God is more real than He has ever been in our lives.”

While there were many reports of miraculous healing in Nankivell’s meetings, Pastor Kopp of Los Angeles commented, “Lest any should think that the preaching of the Word is neglected … let me say that she brought powerful and informative messages from the Word of God, which resulted in great altar calls.”

Nankivell continued to hold ordination with the Assemblies of God while also being closely associated with the Voice of Healing ministry of Gordon Lindsay in the 1950s. She was the only woman included in his book of evangelists, Men Who Heard From Heaven. While drawing large crowds, she avoided many of the pitfalls that can come with large-scale evangelistic ministries.

After traveling together for more than 40 years, Alfred and Louise Nankivell retired from full-time evangelism due to health concerns. Alfred died in 1970, after having been a faithful companion and ministry support for 54 years. Louise followed him in death two years later. Her last article in the Pentecostal Evangel called for readers to live lives full of faith, completely surrendered to the will of God, no matter the cost.

Read Leonard Norville’s report of the Nankivell meetings on page 13 of the April 29, 1951, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Sufficiency of Simple Trust in God,” by James Salter

• “A Chinese ‘Cornelius,’” by Glenn Horst

• “’Until,’ or Christian Persistency,” Elizabeth Sisson

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

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

For more information on the ministry of Alfred and Louise Nankivell, see Heather-Gail Rhoden Belfon’s article, “The Life and Ministry of Louise Nankivell,” in the Summer 2004 issue of Assemblies of God Heritage Magazine.

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

The Revivaltime Choir: Over 1,300 Central Bible College Students were “Young Evangelists” in this Radio Ministry

This Week in AG History —April 15, 1962

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 13 April 2023

When people reflect on Revivaltime, the long-standing weekly radio broadcast of the Assemblies of God, they often think of the much-acclaimed speakers, C.M. Ward and Dan Betzer. But the ministry of the Revivaltime choir, made up of students from Central Bible College (CBC) who volunteered to sing on the program each week, was just as important. 

The Assemblies of God released the first Revivaltime broadcast on Easter Sunday, 1950. Three years later, on Dec. 20, 1953, the program was broadcast from the Bowie Hall auditorium at CBC and began airing on the ABC Radio Network with C.M. Ward as the speaker. Through the years, it is estimated that more than 1,300 people ministered as choir members and musicians under the leadership of Cyril McLellan, Revivaltime’s longtime music director. Although McLellan trained for and expected musical excellence, the emphasis of every practice and broadcast was prayer and a desire for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. 

The choir practiced during the week. Then on Sunday afternoons, beginning in January 1962, a bus transported the students from CBC to the auditorium at the Assemblies of God national office. After rehearsing, the choir was joined by the rest of the team for prayer, and then C.M. Ward (and later Dan Betzer) would offer a few inspirational thoughts to the choir before starting the live broadcast. Two songs which became a hallmark of every program were “All Hail the Power” and “There’s Room at the Cross.” 

A variety of songs and traditional hymns rounded out the musical selections for the Revivaltime program, with the choir often presenting a sermon in song which augmented the preaching. Whether it was a live radio broadcast in the Assemblies of God national office auditorium or when the choir was on tour, the choir members often dispersed into the congregation, connect with people, and pray for their needs. Ward often referred to the choir as “these young evangelists.” 

Each year, two or three times as many talented CBC students auditioned for the choir than could be used. Those selected willingly gave up many hours each week to prepare for the half-hour broadcast. The students only met a small fraction of their audience, and they seldom would see the results of their ministry in music and prayer. Yet there are many testimonies of persons who have been saved, healed, encouraged, and helped by their singing.

An article in the Pentecostal Evangel from 55 years ago titled, “Why They Sing for Revivaltime,” gave some background on why the students gladly sang for Revivaltime. The article includes testimonies from choir members as well as people in the audience. 

Why did they sing for Revivaltime? One factor listed, in addition to their love for singing, is that the students found that “working with the talented choir director, Cyril McLellan, is a rewarding experience.” They also caught on to the vision of the ministry they could have through Revivaltime. 

Gwen Hestand, a sophomore, testified, “I chose Revivaltime as an outlet for ministry because the broadcast’s very foundation is to meet human need wherever it exists and to present Christ as the answer to that need.” 

“There’s no other ministry where so many people in so many places can be reached at one time,” said Carl Guiney, another sophomore.

David A. Ferrell, a student who had served as an evangelist, shared: “The Revivaltime choir is the greatest opportunity I have ever had to help so many. To read letters from those in distress and to go before the throne of God with these requests is the most rewarding work I’ve done.” 

A listener in Alabama reported, “I receive a wonderful blessing from the message and beautiful music.” From Oregon came this testimony: “I enjoy the singing so much. I like to sing along with the choir.” 

Revivaltime was not just a radio broadcast, it was a ministry that touched lives through the message and songs. The choir prayed often. Their focus was not on performance, but on ministering the gospel through song. 

Read, “Why They Sing for Revivaltime,” on pages 16-17 of the April 15, 1962, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel. 

Also featured in this issue: 

• “The Cross in Christian Experience,” by Gordon D. Fee 

• “The Last Supper,” by Violet Schoonmaker

And many more! 

Click here to read this issue now. 

Pentecostal Evangel archive 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: www.iFPHC.org

C. M. Ward: The Man Behind the Revivaltime Radio Broadcast

This Week in AG History —March 11, 1973

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 09 March 2023

Charles Morse Ward (1909-1996) is best remembered as the speaker for the Revivaltime radio broadcast from 1953-1978. He also pastored local churches, was a camp meeting speaker, and served as a Bible school professor and president.

Born in Ontario, Canada, C.M. Ward was the son of A.G. Ward, a circuit rider Methodist preacher in Western Canada, who was influenced by Pentecostal meetings in Winnipeg, Canada. When A.H. Argue returned to Winnipeg with the message from the Azusa Street revival, A.G. Ward was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1907. A.G. Ward became one of the founding members of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC). As a young college student, C.M. moved to Springfield, Missouri, with his family when his father assumed the pastorate of Central Assembly of God.

C.M. Ward graduated from Central Bible Institute (later Central Bible College) in 1929. While ministering in Kansas, he met and married Dorothy Hymes — a union that lasted 67 years. Soon after their marriage, Ward became pastor of a struggling church in Woodstock, Ontario. Following a campaign held by Charles S. Price in Victoria, British Columbia, the PAOC recommended Ward to become the pastor of Metropolitan Church, where those services had been held. It was a small church in an upstairs hall in a rough part of town. Ward started holding street meetings and soon began drawing large crowds. Many of the people from the street meetings began attending the church. After brief stints working in Toronto as editor of the PAOC’s Pentecostal Testimony and in Minneapolis on the faculty of North Central Bible Institute (now North Central University), Ward devoted himself to full-time evangelism, and moved to the United States.

In 1943, he went to the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Bakersfield, California, where he served as pastor for nine years. He used radio extensively while in the pastorate in Bakersfield, which later made him a unanimous choice to be appointed as radio speaker for the Assemblies of God.

In December 1953, Revivaltime went on the ABC Network with Ward as its speaker. Within a year, Ward’s dynamic ministry caused the broadcast to be given major ratings by ABC officials, who listed it as the top religious program in many parts of the country. Audiences were captivated by his biblically based sermons, his invitation to the “long, long altar,” and the Revivaltime choir singing Ira Stanphill’s “There’s Room at the Cross for You.”

Thousands came to Christ, attracted to the message of the gospel by Ward’s crisp and clear sermons. Sprinkled with skillfully told stories from the Bible, biographies, literature, and history, he captured the attention of the sophisticated as well as the common person. Ward’s radio audience crossed denominational lines, and his voice became familiar to English-speaking people overseas. Over the next 25 years, Ward preached more than 1,300 weekly radio broadcasts on over 650 stations. No one took Pentecostal evangelism more successfully to the airwaves than C.M. Ward.

Ward also published the broadcast radio sermons in 23 annual volumes called Revivaltime Pulpit, as well as numerous other books and over 250 booklets. More than two million copies of his popular Revivaltime Miniature series were distributed with testimonies from men such as the late Colonel Sanders, Dr. Wernher von Braun, Colonel Frank Borman, Governor Richard Askew, and J.C. Penney.

In 1967 he joined the faculty of Central Bible Institute as assistant professor of homiletics and became a frequent speaker at camp meetings and other events.

In 1973, Ward moved to the West Coast to take the appointment of president of Bethany Bible College (later Bethany University), continuing to be Revivaltime speaker (and commuting to Springfield) until 1978, when he retired from the radio broadcast.

His main autobiography, The C.M. Ward Story, was published in 1976. Two other autobiographical sketches are Things I Didn’t Learn in Bible School (1982) and “In Perils of … Brethren … ” (1991). Ward received more than 50 awards, including being Central Bible College alumnus of the year in 1961. In 1969, he received an honorary doctorate from Northwest College (now University) in Kirkland, Washington. He also was named to the national Religious Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1993.

C.M. Ward passed away on July 12, 1996, in Modesto, California. His wife, Dorothy, passed away on April 17, 2007. Both are buried in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens in Springfield, Missouri.

A report about C.M. Ward accepting the presidency of Bethany Bible College is featured on page 28 of the March 11, 1973, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Born to Be …,” by William E. Pickthorn

• “How to Be a Happy Christian,” by Fred Smolchuck

• “When Grandmas Talk to Jesus,” by E. S. Caldwell

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

John Wright Follette: Encouraging a Deeper Life in Christ

This Week in AG History —March 2, 1940

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 02 March 2023

John Wright Follette (1883-1966) was a gifted Bible teacher and author who spoke in many conferences and retreats. His messages encouraged believers to press into God, seeking more of Him, in order to guard against sin and live a more holy or “deeper life” in the Spirit. He spoke often about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but emphasized the importance of Christian maturity. Follette wrote: “Many in Pentecost today seem to have missed the idea or purpose of the latter rain and instead of falling into line with God for a deeper life, ripening, maturing, and drying [as grain for the harvest], they are occupied with the incidentals. These incidentals [manifestations and gifts] are all very essential but only to the end—growth.”

One of Follette’s sermons on spiritual life appeared in a 1940 article in the Pentecostal Evangel. He articulated the importance of following after God’s purposes and plans on a daily basis. “Christians many times fail (and their faith is harmed),” he said, “because they try so hard to accomplish things that God has no idea of doing.” He described the Christian life not as a series of “disjointed affairs, but instead declared there is definite purpose in the Christian walk for which each of us were created. “Were we as sincere and careful in the matter of spiritual purpose as we are about materials ends,” said Follette, “I am sure we should grow in grace and save ourselves many a ‘spiritual headache.’”

In conclusion, Follette stated, “God does not thank you or reward you for doing a thousand things (good and religious) which do not relate to His will.” Instead, he emphasized, “Seek His will — do that and you cannot but glorify Him.”

To better understand Follette and his teachings, it is important to learn his background. Follette was a descendant of French Huguenots who first settled the Catskill Mountains in the early 1600s. His ancestors helped to establish the community of New Paltz, New York. He received his college and ministerial training at the New York Normal School in New Paltz, Taylor University, and Drew Theological Seminary.

Although he was raised in the Methodist Church, after receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit, he was ordained in 1911 by the Council of Pentecostal Ministers at Elim Tabernacle in Rochester, New York. Follette affiliated with the Assemblies of God in 1935 and became a favorite speaker at many church conferences, camp meetings, summer Bible camps, and missionary retreats around the world. He also taught at Elim Bible Institute in Rochester and at Southern California Bible College (now Vanguard University).

Follette was a prolific writer. More than 100 of his articles and poetry appeared in the Pentecostal Evangel and other periodicals. Many of his writings were put into book form after his death. His works include Smoking Flax and Other Poems (1936); Broken Bread (1957); Arrows of Truth (1969); This Wonderful Venture Called Christian Living (1974), Fruit of the Land (1989), and several other books and tracts. Follette died in New Paltz, New York, at the age of 82.

Read the article, “The Spiritual Purpose in Life and Method of Attainment,” on pages 2, 3, and 7 of the March 2, 1940, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Holiness Unto the Lord,” by A. H. Argue

• “What God Says About Foolish Talking,” by Mrs. Cornelia Nuzum

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

Oskar Jeske: German Pentecostal Pioneer in Poland and Survivor of Soviet Prison Camps

PHOTO: Oskar Jeske (center) with wife, Anna, and Polish workers.

This Week in AG History — February 24, 1974

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 23 February 2023

Oskar Jeske (1902-1989) was a Pentecostal minister born in Poland to German parents. His life intersected with much of the tumultuous history of Eastern Europe in the first half of the 20th century, yet God proved himself faithful and led Jeske to a fruitful ministry, despite war, prison, and separation from family.

Prior to World War I, the Polish nation was divided among the empires of Germany, Russia, and Austro-Hungary. Jeske’s parents taught him their native tongue of German while he learned Polish, the language of the land of his birth. However, the Russian Czar was the legal king of Poland, and so education was also carried out in Russian. He would later learn English to further his education as a minister.

As a young boy, Jeske was surrounded by religion. The Polish Catholic church and Russian Orthodox church controlled much of the civic affairs. Jeske’s mother was converted to evangelical Christianity in a revival among German speakers in 1907 and began taking her son with her to the meetings, despite much persecution from the established church in their community. Jeske showed little interest in his mother’s faith until one Sunday in June 1916 when his mother was unable to attend the church meeting. Jeske did not intend to go to the meeting, but when he came upon the farmhouse where it was taking place, he heard the sound of someone in the woods crying out for God to “save the lost.” Jeske had a sudden conviction that “the lost” was himself. That day he made a commitment to follow Christ – no matter what came his way.

Prior to this, Jeske wanted to be a schoolteacher but soon announced to his mother and grandparents that he wanted to be a minister. He immediately began sharing his testimony in any meeting that would allow him. In 1924, Pastor G. Herbert Schmidt brought to their meetings the understanding of the baptism in the Holy Spirit with accompanying gifts of the Spirit. To Jeske, this teaching simply confirmed what they already knew in their meetings. Miraculous provision and healing had been the norm in their Christian experience as had heard many, particularly children, pray in languages they had not learned.

With so many coming to Christ and feeling a call to minister, it became clear that training was needed. Danzig Bible Institute was created in 1930 to train ministerial students from many of the Eastern European nations to shepherd the growing Pentecostal movement. Jeske studied under teachers such as Leonard Steiner of Switzerland, Donald Gee and Howard Carter from Britain, and T.B. Barratt of Norway. But the one that caught his eye the most was American missionary, Anna Bukczynski. Romance was strictly forbidden at the school, but Bukczynski was offering English lessons, and these lessons not only helped his studies but allowed him to be with her several times a week. They married in June of 1932, and together began working in the churches to encourage the believers. But their newly found bliss would be short-lived as Germany, under the Nazi flag, invaded Poland from the west on Sept. 1, 1939, and Russia responded with a counter-invasion from the east 17 days later.

As a German living in Poland, Jeske worked to minister to the hurting people around him. The fighting devastated the Polish land and people as they lived in the tug-of-war area between Germany and Russia. When Hitler’s forces were expelled in 1945 and the Russians took control of Poland, remaining ethnic Germans were rounded up and placed in prison camps, including Oskar Jeske. Because Anna was an American citizen, their children were considered Americans and only Oskar was sent to a labor camp in the Ural Mountains of Russia.

Loaded onto cattle cars, the prisoners taken with Jeske spent 31 days on the torturous journey east. It was six months before he would ever be allowed to change the clothes he was wearing at his arrest. For five years, he subsisted in brutal conditions, surviving beatings, forced labor under starvation conditions, and disease.

Through this, his faith did not waver, and he was able to provide spiritual comfort to his fellow prisoners and pray with many dying men while also teaching others how to live without losing hope. But after five years, when he was finally to be given a trial on the charge of being a German spy, he was placed in solitary confinement and found himself so frightened and exhausted that he could no longer pray. He felt in his spirit that God had finally forsaken him.

In this lonely, cramped cage he tried to pray in German but he could not find the right words. He tried again in Polish but could not exhaust his emotions. He tried in Russian and in English but came to the end of his knowledge of the languages. But then the Holy Spirit invaded his prison cell, and he began to pray in a language he had never learned. The presence of God so filled his heart and mind with joy and assurance that God would never leave nor forsake him – even if he received the standard sentence under Stalin’s government of 25 more years of hard labor.

When he faced the charge of being a spy at the Soviet war tribunal, he found that it was his knowledge of languages that served as the chief evidence against him. Why would anyone learn German, Polish, Russian, and English unless it was to engage in espionage? Returning to his cell, he began to pray again as he awaited sentencing. The court interpreter heard him praying in tongues and asked what language he was speaking now. Jeske replied, “In a heavenly language.” The interpreter laid her hand on him and said, “I don’t think you should be afraid. Your God will help you.”

God did provide that help. Jeske was released and returned to western Germany. While it took another six years for him to be able to reunite with his wife and children who could not leave the eastern occupied lands, Jeske was eventually reunited with Anna and their two children – after 12 years apart. The German District of the Assemblies of God paid for a trip to the United States to reunite Anna with her American family and together the Jeskes ministered in the German Branch of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada until Anna’s death in 1976, followed by Oskar’s death in 1989.

You can read a review of Oskar Jeske’s autobiography, Revival or Revolution, on page 7 in the Feb. 24, 1974, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Limits of Omnipotence” by Bill Popejoy

• “Qualify Yourself for Ministry” by Silas L. Gaither

• “Reasonable – According to the Spirit” by Stanley M. Horton

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/

Frank M. Boyd: Pioneer Assemblies of God Theologian and Educator

This Week in AG History —February 5, 1984

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 09 February 2023

Frank Mathews Boyd (1883-1983) is remembered as one of the early theologians of the Assemblies of God. He was born Dec. 24, 1883, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and spent much of the next one hundred years traveling the nation ensuring that Pentecostal ministers had access to a quality ministerial education.

In 1906, Boyd traveled to Oakland, California, for a job opportunity. While there, he attended a Bible study concerning the second coming of Christ. The study of the end times convicted him as to his own life purpose. He made a commitment to follow Christ and soon felt a call to full-time ministry.

Boyd received his formal theological training from three evangelical schools. After graduating from the Missionary Training Institute at Nyack, New York, in 1911, he attended Biblical Seminary in New York and also earned his bachelor’s degree at Los Angeles Pacific College. In the early days of the Pentecostal movement, local churches often ordained men and women for ministry and Boyd was ordained in 1912 by Bethel Pentecostal Assembly in Newark, New Jersey. He later served as the principal of their Bethel Bible Training School in Newark. When the Assemblies of God was formed in April of 1914, Frank Boyd was one of its first ministers, transferring his papers to the organization in August of that year.

In 1917, Boyd married Helen Calvert at Tottenville, Staten Island, New York. This began an adventure of traveling, teaching, and mentoring students for ministry. When the General Council opened its first national school in Springfield, Missouri, in 1922, Boyd was asked to serve as the first dean of Central Bible Institute (CBI). Boyd was also involved in administrative leadership at Glad Tidings Bible Institute and Southern California College during the 1930s and 1940s. For two years, he served as a marketplace chaplain at Severance Tool Industries in Saginaw, Michigan, before being called to return to Springfield for educational ministry at both CBI and the national office of the Assemblies of God.

During his second term at CBI, Boyd noted a need for the training of students who were not able to move from their homes and attend ministerial training schools. To help meet this need, Boyd founded Berean School of the Bible (now part of Global University) in 1947 as a correspondence school. Boyd authored many of Berean’s original textbooks using his instructor’s notes from CBI classes.

Frank and Helen Boyd traveled during their years of educational ministry and taught for one year at Central Bible Institute in Japan. After Boyd retired in 1963, CBI named and dedicated “Boyd Hall” in 1968, which served as the first home for many newly married ministry students.

Boyd also served the Fellowship as a prolific author, especially writing on Bible prophecy, including The Budding Fig Tree (1925), God’s Wonderful Book (1933), The Kenosis of the Lord Jesus Christ (1947), Introduction to Prophecy (1948), Signs of the Times (1950), The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (1951), Ages and Dispensations (1955), and Studies in the Revelation of Jesus Christ (1967).

One of his theological contributions was to promote a modified form of dispensationalism that fit Pentecostal teachings. He also wrote over 100 articles for the Pentecostal Evangel. Many of these were responses he posted for a weekly question-and-answer column.

Helen Boyd served on staff at each of the Bible schools where her husband ministered, mentoring students at CBI as a teacher and dean of women. She also was a proofreader and wrote Sunday School quarterlies for the Gospel Publishing House. After 63 years of marriage, Helen passed away in 1980.

On Dec. 24, 1983, Frank Boyd celebrated his 100th birthday with a party held at Maranatha Village, the Assemblies of God retirement community in Springfield, Missouri. He passed away on Jan. 13, 1984. Frank and Helen Boyd are buried in Eastlawn Cemetery in Springfield.

A report about Frank M. Boyd’s 100th birthday celebration is featured on page 12 of the Feb. 5, 1984, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “A Righteousness That Will Stand,” by Stanley M. Horton

• “The 39th Year,” by Stephen V. Rexroat

• “Tribute to a Missionary Teacher,” by Charles T. Clauser

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

50 Years Ago: The Assemblies of God Participated in Key 73, the Interdenominational Evangelism Emphasis

This Week in AG History —January 14, 1973

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 12 January 2023

Fifty years ago, the Assemblies of God participated in Key 73, an interdenominational effort to reach everyone in North America with the gospel.

Evangelism has always been an integral part of the Assemblies of God. In the early years of the Fellowship, traveling evangelists moved from town to town to hold revival meetings in churches, storefront buildings, schoolhouses, brush arbors, tents, and on street corners. Others evangelized door-to-door and through Bible studies, children’s meetings, Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and radio programs. Over time, national outreach programs were developed, including Children’s Ministries, Girls Ministries, Royal Rangers, National Youth Ministries, and Chi Alpha Campus Ministries.

From time to time the AG promoted various evangelistic emphases, such as the Council on Evangelism (1968), Council on Spiritual Life (1972), “Nothing’s Too Hard For God” (2007), and localized literature witness campaigns.

Key 73 was one such evangelistic program in which the Assemblies of God participated during the early 1970s. Over 130 denominational groups pledged their support to the common goals of this outreach.

The first planning meeting for this project took place in 1967 when representatives from various denominations gathered near the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Arlington, Virginia, in what was called the “Key Bridge Consultation.” The organizers felt they needed six years of preparation to carry on this wide-scale evangelistic thrust. Thus “Key 73” became the name of the project.

The goal was to actively carry out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) by reaching every home in North America in 1973 with a witness to Christ. It was hoped that issues like disunity, cynicism, and selfishness would fade away and be replaced with God’s love. Key 73 coincided with other interdenominational spiritual movements, such as the charismatic renewal and the Jesus People movement.

After three years of planning, Theodore A. Raedecke, secretary of evangelism for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, was appointed executive director for the interdenominational project. He said, “We feel that coordinated, concerted focus on evangelism is long overdue.” Key 73 sought to promote Christian witness at individual, congregational, and national levels. The program coincided with the fifth year of the Assemblies of God’s Plan of Advance, another evangelism emphasis which included a five-year plan of intentional soul-winning through the enablement of the Holy Spirit.

Members of the executive committee for Key 73 included Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ, Victor Nelson of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, John D. Waldron of the Salvation Army, Thomas F. Zimmerman of the Assemblies of God, and many others.

The Assemblies of God encouraged its churches and members to participate in Key 73 in several specific ways: a week of prayer (Jan. 7-14); Bible readings from God’s Word For Today and the Pentecostal Evangel; a spring community contact campaign called “Try Jesus”; spot TV and radio announcements from the AG Radio-TV Department; Spiritual Life (June 3) and Outreach (Sept. 2) Evangels; Revivaltime promotions; various evangelism and literature witness campaigns across the country; and evangelism outreaches promoted by local churches. Outreach also included ministering to various ethnic groups, people living in inner-cities and in correctional institutions, and people who cannot see or have hearing impairments.

What were the results of this concerted evangelism initiative? Key 73 resulted in the distribution of 35 million Bibles and in the formation of 50,000 home Bible study groups. Key 73 provided reinforcement for the ongoing Christian renewal movements in the early 1970s by organizing churches to help meet people’s spiritual needs.

T.E. Gannon, the national director of the Division of Home Missions (now U.S. Missions), wrote an article about Key 73 and its impact. Read, “New Church Evangelism Plays a Vital Role,” by T.E. Gannon on page 15 of the Jan. 14, 1973, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “How to Develop a Devotional Life,” by Ralph W. Harris

• “Why the Bible is Reliable,” by Stanley M. Horton

• “Satan’s Army of 200,000,000,” by C.M. Ward

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

The Assemblies of God’s Historical Position Against Antisemitism

Richard Bishop, standing with his wife, Evelyn, at the Victory Servicemen’s Center in Seattle, Washington, where their church assisted regularly during World War II; circa 1944.

This Week in AG History — December 29, 1963

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 29 December 2022

“From the Middle Ages to modern times there have been many instances of discrimination, persecution, and even atrocities committed against the Jews by so-called Christians or Christian nations.” This opening statement of Richard W. Bishop’s article “How A True Christian Regards the Jews” in the Dec. 29, 1963, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel sets the course for his defense of the Assemblies of God historical position on antisemitism.

Antisemitism (a prejudice and/or discrimination against Jews as individuals and as a group) has played a part in the relationship between Christianity and Judaism since the early days of the Christian movement. Initially, Christianity was viewed as a Jewish sect; but as more Gentiles converted, including the Roman emperors, Christianity became the dominant religion of the empire. Many of the Early Church fathers, with the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Messiah, saw the purposes of Judaism as being fulfilled in Christ.

During the Middle Ages a pattern of discrimination crept into Christian society. Various localities passed laws prohibiting Jews from holding government positions, serving as court witnesses, or marrying Christians. Beginning in the 11th century, the Crusades had a direct impact on the Jewish/Christian relationship, as thousands of Jewish communities experienced looting, rape, and murder at the hands of Christian soldiers. During the 14th century outbreak of Bubonic Plague, Jews were accused of poisoning the water sources of Christian villages and an estimated 100,000 Jews were murdered as retaliation. In some European cities they were herded into ghettos and forced to wear a distinctive symbol on their clothing to mark their racial identity.

In 1903, Russian secret police published a forged document, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” purporting to expose a Jewish conspiracy for world domination. This was exposed as a forgery in 1921, but not before many people embraced its contents. Alongside such documents, the rise of social Darwinism led to the increase of belief in the superiority of some races and the inferiority of others.

After the Holocaust of World War II, the real-life consequences of antisemitism were made clear to many Christians. In 1945, the General Council of the Assemblies of God passed the following resolution: “WHEREAS, We have witnessed in this generation an almost universal increase in antisemitism and this has resulted in the greatest series of persecutions perpetrated in modern times, and WHEREAS, Even in the United States of America there has been an alarming increase in antisemitism; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That the General Council hereby declare its opposition to antisemitism and that it disapproves of the ministers of the Assemblies of God identifying themselves with those who are engaged in this propaganda.”

When Bishop, at that time serving as pastor of Calvary Temple in Chicago, published his article in 1963, there had been several recent reports of antisemitism in the newspapers. Bishop posed the question to Evangel readers, “Have these acts been committed by true Christians?” He answered his own question with “an emphatic No!”

Bishop, reflecting the position of the Assemblies of God, outlined three attitudes that mark a true Christian toward the Jewish people. The first is a sense of gratitude. “Christians are indebted to the Jews for both the Old and the New Testament … [and] also [for] their Savior.” He also counted a debt owed to the “dedicated Jews who brought the Christian message to the Gentiles and not the other way around.”

The second attitude should be a sense of kinship. “Jews and Christians have much in common … Both acknowledge the same God. Both accept the Old Testament … Both emphasize love for God and for one’s neighbor …Both expect the Messiah … There is not to be one Messiah for the Jews and another for the Gentiles.”

Bishop says a third attitude must be one of a sense of deep concern. “The desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. This is the desire of every genuine believer … For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek (or Gentile); for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.”

Bishop, who later went on to teach Bible, history, and homiletics at Northwest Bible college in Kirkland, Washington, and finished his career as professor of practical theology at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri, argued that these attitudes must be the response of every true believer in Christ. “There is a radical difference between a true believer and one who is a Christian only in name or by profession … a real Christian manifests love for all men. He loves the Jewish people and prays for their welfare.”

Last month the Assemblies of God released a statement again condemning antisemitism in all forms.

Read the article, “How a True Christian Regards the Jews,” on page 12 of the Dec 29, 1963, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “New Power for the New Year” by Hardy Steinberg

• “A Crack in the Walls” by Delmar Guynes

• “Prayer Brings Revival to Lagos” by Robert Webb

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