“Mother” Alice Reynolds Flower: Lessons on Motherhood from an Assemblies of God Pioneer

This Week in AG History — May 11, 1952

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG News, 09 May 2024

Alice Reynolds Flower (1890-1991), the wife of AG pioneer J. Roswell Flower, is a shining example of motherhood. Affectionately known as “Mother Flower,” she preached, taught Sunday School, led prayer meetings, wrote articles, penned poetry, authored books, and lived a godly example in front of her six children and everyone she came in contact with.

As Mother’s Day approaches, it is good to consider an article that Mother Flower wrote for the Pentecostal Evangel in May 1952. It was also made available in tract form through the Gospel Publishing House and was widely distributed.

In “The Business of Coat-Making,” Mother Flower talked about Hannah, the mother of Samuel in the Old Testament. Samuel’s mother prayed diligently to have a son, and when her first-born son arrived, she dedicated him to God’s service. As a young boy, he went to live with Eli the high priest. The Bible record says, “Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice” (1 Samuel 2:19).

This verse held deep significance for Mother Flower. She liked to ponder how Samuel’s mother found a way to minister to her son, even though he was consecrated to service in the house of God. She imagined the joy Hannah had in every stitch of the garment she made each year. Mother Flower said, “To Hannah, making that coat was no ordinary bit of sewing; it was her one chance to express yearly in practical manner the love of her heart.” She continued, “And she did it faithfully, delivering each tiny garment personally to her Samuel there in the house of God.”

Mother Flower suggested that God never intended the business of coat-making to end with Hannah. She gave an example of her own mother, who provided spiritual “coats” for each of her daughters. First, she gave each of them a “coat of prayer.” Mother Flower shared her own testimony of her mother praying for her during her teen years, when she was struggling with a number of conflicts. Partly due to her mother’s prayers she surrendered her life to Christ and later was baptized in the Holy Spirit on Easter Sunday of 1907 at the age of 16.

Her mother also fashioned “coats of consistent living” for each of her children. She testified, “Her every walk before us stirred our hearts to follow God similarly.” Mother Flower said that fervor in the church is good, and laboring for others is commendable, but “making the coat of consistent living” is the most important task of a mother.

Another aspect of coat-making is the Word of God. Mother Flower gave a testimony that after her mother was miraculously raised from a deathbed experience and filled with the Holy Spirit, she started the family altar. Each morning the family gathered together to read God’s Word and pray, and her mother also helped the children to memorize Scripture. She compared her mother’s influence through the Word of God to Timothy in the New Testament whose faith was molded by his mother and grandmother.

The “coat of discipline” is also essential. She shared that, “No home is beautiful or happy without obedience, respect, honesty, and cooperation. The standard of righteous living as taught by the Word of God must be faithfully, constantly, consistently raised as a part of the family existence,” said Flower, “not a passing suggestion, but an essential detail of the family living, as is the eating, drinking, and sleeping.” Training up obedient, honest, respectful, and God-fearing children is vitally important.

One more coat that is essential is “Understanding Love.” She felt it imperative that a mother have occasional “heart-charts” and “seasons together before God” with each of her children. She said, a “mother must keep ever wisely stitching on this ‘coat of understanding’ if she would successfully fulfill her highest ministry in the home.”

Mother Flower’s admonition is for more mothers to pray diligently for their children on a daily basis, live a consistent Christian life, study the Word of God, offer guidance and training, and hem all of this in love and understanding.

Read more in “The Business of Coat-Making” on pages 3-4, 22 of the May 11, 1952, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Visions in the Night,” by Frank M. Boyd

• “Healed Through Mother’s Prayers,” by Allen Bowman

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/

Dr. Howard Thomas: The Remarkable Deliverance of a Tennessee Physician from Drug Addiction

This Week in AG History — May 3, 1970

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 02 May 2024

Dr. Howard Thomas (1927-2016) had a promising career as a physician, but a drug addiction almost destroyed his marriage and professional life in the early 1960s. After hitting rock bottom and ending up in a private sanatorium for treatment, he turned to Christ and experienced a radical transformation. Against all odds, Thomas was allowed to keep his medical license. He became a dedicated member of the Assemblies of God and frequently shared his testimony of his deliverance from addiction to drugs. The May 3, 1970, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel published his remarkable story. 

Thomas was raised in a rural Tennessee community where alcohol was a way of life and where religious influences were minimal. Recreational activities always seemed to include liquor bottles. Thomas partied hard, but he also worked hard. He married, attended college, studied diligently, and graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in 1954. 

Thomas and another doctor purchased a clinic in Henderson, Tennessee. Thomas and his wife, Ann, seemed to be living the American dream. They were respected members of their community, and their future was bright. 

However, the Thomases’ lifestyle of partying led them into trouble. They began attending private parties hosted by local professionals. Drug use and sexual sin were commonplace. 

Dr. Thomas recounted: “Practically all the people at these parties were church people. The parties got worse and worse. I would have to describe them as vile and vulgar. Yet on Sunday morning you could see these same people in the pews and teaching Sunday School classes and serving the churches.” 

The Thomases joined in the hypocrisy. They maintained a veneer of respectability, even while they adopted destructive lifestyles. Their hearts were far from God. Dr. Thomas later said, “Our morals got lower and lower.” 

Family and work pressures took their toll, and Thomas began taking pills to help him stay awake. He learned to depend on stimulants and began injecting amphetamine. He soon moved on to harder drugs, including Demerol and morphine. When Ann was feeling ill, he gave her a shot of Demerol. Soon, she was also addicted. 

Life was spinning out of control. They tried to escape their problems by leaving Henderson and moving to Arizona, where he accepted a position as a company doctor. Their drug habit, however, was not solved by distance. Dr. Thomas, increasingly, was unable to focus sufficiently to perform surgeries, and Ann became mentally disturbed and could not be home alone. 

Ann’s condition deteriorated, and her parents came from Tennessee to help with the children. The family decided to move back to Tennessee, where Thomas opened up another practice. He thought he could “snap out of it” and that everything would be all right.  

However, Thomas could not kick his drug habit and things got worse. He developed festering abscesses on his hips and shoulders, and he had difficulty hiding his addictions. Ultimately, his parents had him committed at a neuropsychiatric hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He escaped from the hospital. He went on to hold a series of failed short-term positions as a doctor, until he deteriorated to the point of being unable to function. He slept in his car in the woods or in a gravel pit, and patients never knew where to find him. 

Dr. Thomas was recommitted at the Murfreesboro hospital, this time behind locked steel doors. He was devastated. He was confined for seven weeks, where he went through withdrawal. However, he still had cravings for drugs. He knew that he would return to his former lifestyle once he was free. In the meantime, Ann had filed for divorce. 

One day, in July 1965, a truck driver asked Thomas to attend a men’s religious retreat. Thomas tried to say “no,” but the truck driver was persistent. Thomas went, and the services were unlike anything he had ever seen.

The men were not trying to impress anyone. They were not playing church. They testified how God delivered them from lives of sin, they prayed, and they called on God in prayer. Thomas came to realize that these men had something that he desperately needed – he needed God’s power in his life.  

A Spirit-filled Methodist electrician and plumber led Thomas to the Lord at the meeting. Thomas later recalled, “I felt clean. I felt the same way as the other men. I was full of praise. I wanted to testify. My first thought was to go to Ann and tell her about Jesus. I knew she was lost.” 

Thomas returned from the retreat and told Ann that he accepted Jesus and was a new man. She was skeptical. Her mother warned her to not go back to him. He had promised for years that he would kick his addictions, but never did. 

Thomas began attending a local Methodist church, where the pastor invited him to share his testimony. Word spread throughout the region of Dr. Thomas’ remarkable deliverance from drugs, and he began to receive invitations to speak at schools and churches. He also reconciled with his wife, Ann. 

After accepting Christ, Thomas began reading the Bible. He became convinced from the Bible that Christ provided an experience subsequent to salvation – baptism in the Holy Spirit – that provided empowerment for daily living. He had heard some of the men at the retreat talking about the experience. He knew that he needed God’s power in his life. 

The Thomases met Ralph Duncan, an Assemblies of God pastor in Rutherford, Tennessee, and invited him to hold special services in Saltillo, the small town where they were living. Ann received the baptism in the Holy Spirit in those meetings, and she became a different person. She said, “Honey, it’s real. It’s real!” Dr. Thomas was likewise baptized in the Holy Spirit a short time later. 

Meanwhile, the Board of Medical Examiners had started the process of revoking Thomas’ license to practice medicine. Dr. Thomas made a full written confession of his addictions and misdeeds, and the board had no intention of giving him a second chance, based on his dismal record. 

At Dr. Thomas’ hearing, the board grilled the Thomases and their parents for two hours. The board asked Ann, “How can you be so sure that he won’t go back on drugs?” She replied, “You don’t know the power of God.”  

Stating it was against its better judgement, the board decided to permit Thomas to continue to practice medicine, on the condition that Ann write the board a letter every month assuring the board that everything is fine. 

Dr. Howard Thomas went to on to be a successful physician and a longtime Assemblies of God member. He frequently shared his testimony, including on television and radio. A widely-distributed booklet, Drugs, Despair, Deliverance: The Story of Dr. Howard Thomas, was written by C.M. Ward, the host of the Assemblies of God’s Revivaltime radio broadcast. In 1975, David Mainse interviewed Thomas for the Assemblies of God’s Turning Point television program. Thomas had so many ministry opportunities that he became credentialed as an Assemblies of God minister from 1975 to 1981. 

When Thomas went to be with the Lord in 2016, he and Ann had been married almost 70 years. While the first 20 years of their marriage was marked by addictions and destructive patterns, they spent their last 50 years as devoted Christians active in Assemblies of God churches. 

Thomas’ testimony provides insight into the problem of drug addiction. From personal experience, Thomas understood that institutional care is not the answer to the drug problem. He wrote, “A man can be taken off drugs, but as soon as he is returned to society, and the same pressures set in, that man will return to drugs.” 

Thomas also understood that psychiatry is limited in its ability to treat addiction. Psychiatrists recognized and analyzed Thomas’ addiction, but they could not cure the addiction. A cure required a change of heart. Addiction, Thomas came to realize, was a spiritual problem. He spent years attempting to treat his own addiction. However, Thomas found deliverance only after he placed his faith in Christ and allowed his heart and desires to be changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Read “I Was Hooked on Drugs,” by Howard W. Thomas, on pages 2-3 and 13 of the May 3, 1970, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Marriages Can Be Mended,” by C.M. Ward

• “From Black Magic to Christ,” by Armand Helou

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/

Elmer F. Muir: A Baptist Pastor Discovers the Power of the Holy Spirit in the 1920s

This Week in AG History — April 25, 1925

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 25 April 2024

A Pentecostal revival in the 1920s touched numerous Baptist ministers and churches, resulting in the cross-pollination of the two traditions. High-profile Baptists who became Pentecostal included Mae Eleanor Frey, an evangelist and author ordained by the National Baptist Convention in 1905, and William Keeney Towner, pastor of First Baptist Church in San Jose, California.

Many lesser-known Baptist ministers also embraced the Pentecostal movement, but their stories have been largely forgotten. Among these was Elmer F. Muir, a pastor who had experienced great discouragement in his ministry. He was spiritually refreshed by the winds of Pentecostal revival. He received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and testified that he experienced “the deep things of God.” Muir’s testimony was published in the April 25, 1925, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Elmer Ferguson Muir (1890-1947), the son of Scottish immigrants, was born in Dubuque, Iowa. He received a call to the ministry at age 21 while attending a revival campaign held by legendary evangelist Billy Sunday. Muir quickly discovered that the road to the ministry would be challenging. Muir had dropped out of high school, but his Presbyterian denomination required that ministers have a college degree. He enrolled at Coe College, a Presbyterian school in Iowa, where he recalled “burning the candle at both ends” both day and night for five years. He graduated from Coe College in 1917 and became a Baptist pastor.

Muir served as pastor of the Baptist church in Arkansas City, Kansas, in the early 1920s. He sometimes found the work of the ministry overwhelming. He described a revival campaign at his church: “It was one that was worked up instead of prayed down.” The experience wore him out. He wrote, “I never want to go through one again, it was dental work from beginning to end.”

Muir received a fine theological education. However, he came to realize that he needed more than mere knowledge “to bring about this great, wonderful program of God.” What did he need? He was uncertain. He recalled, “But how [the program of God] was to be brought about I had no conception.”

To add to his problems, a lady in Muir’s congregation kept asking him if he had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. He was not sure how to answer. At first, he responded that the experience was only for the early church. She kept pestering Muir for over two years until he relented. Finally, he agreed to preach one Wednesday night on the subject of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He titled the sermon, “Has the Church Lost Its Power?” But as Muir studied the Word of God, he came to realize that the lady in his congregation had been right — the baptism in the Holy Spirit was for him, and it could empower him in ministry.

Muir and his wife both sought and received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. At first, Muir was hesitant to tell his congregation. What would people say? Ultimately, he shared his Pentecostal testimony and was forced to resign from the church. He transferred his ministerial credentials to the Assemblies of God in 1925 and started a small congregation (now known as First Assembly of God, Arkansas City, Kansas). In 1927, he moved to San Diego, California, where he pastored Full Gospel Tabernacle. He also edited a book of articles by Pentecostal missionary Cornelia Nuzum, The Life of Faith. The book, originally published by Gospel Publishing House in 1928, remains in print 96 years later.

Elmer F. Muir decided to transfer his credentials back to the Baptist church in 1929. He resigned from the Assemblies of God in good standing and spent the rest of his ministry in Baptist churches. Muir’s ministry in the Assemblies of God lasted only four years, but it demonstrates the porous borders between the Assemblies of God and other evangelical denominations. The Pentecostal movement has helped to refresh many ministers and laypersons from other denominations, some of whom ultimately returned to their former churches. This cross-pollination between the Assemblies of God and other churches helped to build bridges across the denominational divides, laying the foundation for future generations who would be more concerned with building the kingdom of God rather than a particular denomination.

Read Elmer F. Muir’s powerful testimony, “Why I Am No Longer a Baptist Preacher,” on pages 2 and 3 of the April 25, 1925, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Our Great Equipment,” by A.H. Argue

• “A Notable Miracle,” by Amelia De Franchi

• “Healed of Paralysis,” by G.E. Wolfe

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

Click here to order a copy of Cornelia Nuzum’s classic book, The Life of Faith, which was edited by Elmer F. Muir.

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/

John and Ella Franklin: Pioneer Assemblies of God Missionaries to Guatemala

This Week in AG History–April 11, 1942

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 11 April 2024

John L. Franklin (1910-1999) was orphaned shortly after birth by the death of his mother, and he spent the majority of his young life in an orphanage. Yet even as a young boy he felt that God had laid His hand on him for a greater work — that of missionary service.

While attending Southern California College (now Vanguard University) in the early 1930s, this call grew ever stronger. Franklin believed he needed more of God’s power if he were to attempt such an undertaking. He began to seek for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. After a time of prayer and fasting, he traveled to a mountain top overlooking the city of Pasadena. There he committed to give himself fully to God for the cities of the world. The next morning in the college chapel service, Franklin started to praise the Lord in his usual manner when he found himself speaking in a language he did not know. He was consumed with a burden of prayer for nation after nation.

Franklin soon became involved with evangelistic efforts on the Mexican border. From this experience he believed God was sending him to Guatemala in answer to the request from a small group of Pentecostal believers who were looking for help with discipleship and in reaching their neighbors. Assemblies of God missionaries Christopher and Inez Hines went to Guatemala in 1916 and stayed until 1925. No others had been sent in the interim to minister to their converts. Franklin and his new wife, Ella, responded to the call.

Bringing along their possessions — consisting of a mattress, an accordion, a typewriter, and a barrel of household items — they arrived in Jutiapa in April 1937. Securing a mule to ride out into the countryside, they located the five small congregations scattered among the mountains. These believers had prayed fervently for someone to come and lead them. They knew the Pentecostal message, but few had received the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The Franklins stayed with each group, in turn, sleeping in hammocks, bathing in mountain streams, drinking unsafe water, and eating many meals of beans and tortillas. They struggled with illness in growing accustomed to the new way of living, but were very happy to see God working in the lives of their new friends.

By early 1938, 300 people gathered together to form the first council of the Assemblies of God in Guatemala. John Franklin was named the first superintendent and Socorro Ramirez as secretary.

In 1941, Franklin opened a church in Guatemala City holding services every day for five months. The attendance was mostly children. On Good Friday of that year, God moved in a special way and seven people were filled with the Holy Spirit. This service sparked a revival, and the meeting room was always full after this. Soon a large evangelistic center was established in Guatemala City.

In a report in the April 11, 1942, Pentecostal Evangel, Franklin wrote of several healings and expressed thanks for the gift of a 1938 Chevrolet “in splendid condition and undoubtedly good for many years of service if Jesus tarries.” Even though the roads were primitive and, in many places, nonexistent, the car enabled them to carry abundant supplies and provisions. Franklin explained, “You cannot imagine how much easier it is than traveling by mule back.” (This was before the advent of the Assemblies of God Speed the Light program which purchases transportation for missionaries.)

Franklin also shared in the article the system of church planting they were using. “Each pastor is made to feel responsible for the villages surrounding the assembly of his charge … he is encouraged to evangelize and seek to bring other assemblies into being. In this effort he is assisted by his congregation which accompanies him on preaching trips to the new fields. Thus every pastor become an evangelist, and every member a pioneer worker.”

Church planting was not easy for the young Pentecostal movement in Guatemala. Franklin describes, “There is hardship entailed — hunger, fatigue, inconvenience of every kind. It means miles and miles of walking … intolerable heat at noonday and the chill of mountain heights because of scanty clothing or lack of sufficient covers at night. It means hours of torture because of insufferable plagues of mosquitoes or fleas. At times every effort to do good is repulsed and the works are reviled or threatened. Some have been stoned, others cruelly mistreated… it seems that a price must be paid for every victory gained — but how can we expect it otherwise? Our Lord paid a tremendous price for our salvation.” Franklin believed that there was no price too high for him or the believers he discipled to pay for the salvation of the people of Guatemala.

In 1977, 40 years after arriving in Guatemala, the Franklins retired from full-time ministry, returning to the United States. They made numerous short-term trips back to Guatemala to rejoice with the people who had become their family. From the five small groups of believers they found in 1937, God had blessed them with 600 established churches, 700 licensed ministers, and 55,000 Assemblies of God believers.

Read more of Franklin’s report, “A Harvest That Rewards the Sacrifice,” on pages 6-7 of the April 11, 1942, Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “A Plea for Wholehearted Service,” by P.C. Nelson

• “Shut Out – the Fate of the Foolish Virgins,” by James Salter

• “Portions for Whom Nothing is Prepared,” by Margaret Ann Bass

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/

Amanda Benedict: Pioneer Pentecostal Prayer Warrior in Springfield, Missouri

This Week in AG History — March 19, 1927

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG News, 21 March 2024

Amanda Benedict (1851-1925) is remembered as a fervent prayer warrior and one of the early participants in the Pentecostal movement in Springfield, Missouri. When she died, Assemblies of God leaders credited her prayers for the success of the local congregation and national ministries located in the city.

When Benedict moved to Springfield around 1910, she was 60 years old and had already served the Lord with distinction in a rescue home for girls in Chicago and in a faith home for children in Iowa.

Soon after moving to Springfield, while working as a door-to-door salesperson, Benedict met Lillie Corum. The two ladies got acquainted and, in conversation, Corum shared about her experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Corum had been baptized in the Spirit on June 1, 1907, under the ministry of her sister, Rachel Sizelove, who had brought the Pentecostal message from Azusa Street.

Benedict expressed interest in receiving this blessing and began seeking it. The two ladies began praying together regularly, and soon Amanda herself was filled with the Spirit. Corum, Benedict, Birdie Hoy, and a few others prayed fervently and helped with the beginnings of what became Central Assembly of God.

With a burden for lost souls, Benedict prayed and interceded for days on end, until she felt the burden lift or victory came. She often prayed all night in a grove of trees near the corner of Campbell Avenue and Calhoun Street, which later became the site of Central Assembly of God. She prayed many times for Springfield to make a spiritual impact on the world, and that God’s blessings would flow through Springfield 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.

In 1915, Benedict moved to Aurora, Missouri, where she started a Pentecostal church that became affiliated with the Assemblies of God. After pastoring in Aurora for almost a decade, she died in 1925 at the age of 74. At her funeral service at Central Assembly of God in Springfield, church members, Bible school students, and others gave inspiring testimonies of her life.

Stanley Frodsham, the editor of the Pentecostal Evangel, reported that Benedict helped to launch a tent meeting in the early days of revival in Springfield and “spent whole nights praying under the canvas.” Among other things, “She prayed for a Pentecostal Assembly in Springfield.” And on the very site where she prayed, the first building for Central Assembly was erected. Frodsham and others believed that Central Assembly of God, Central Bible College, and the Assemblies of God national office, all located in Springfield, resulted largely from Benedict’s fervent, effectual prayers.

Benedict was buried without a grave marker in Eastlawn Cemetery in Springfield. In 2007, 82 years after her death, a marker was finally placed on her grave. The marker features a fitting tribute: “She prayed and fasted for the city of Springfield.” On the back is a Scripture verse: “Pray without ceasing” 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

Frodsham published a sermon by Benedict, titled, “Abundance for All,” a couple of years after her death. The sermon compared the blessings of the baptism in the Holy Spirit to a multitude of savory items held in a locked bakery. She said, “I would fail to satisfy a vigorous physical appetite to look through the windows of a locked bakery.” She continued: “Just so it is unsatisfying to a healthy spiritual appetite to see what Pentecost meant in the years that are past, and yet not partake of it now in this present day.” She felt that the baptism in the Holy Spirit was necessary to receive all the blessings of God. She said, “Pentecost means appetite and a free table loaded with solid food and with dainties hitherto unknown.”

She exhorted the reader to depend on God and ask Him for this blessing: “If you are a seeker of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, see to it that you receive with the God-appointed sign, promised by Christ himself (Mark 16:17), that the disciples received when they were first filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:4).”

Read “Abundance for All,” by Amanda Benedict on page 5 of the March 19, 1927, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Holy Ground,” by James H. McConkey

• “Judgments of God and Revival Fires in Poland,” by Gustave H. Schmidt

• “Job,” by Ernest S. Williams

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/

Raymond Hudson: From Ministry in Texas and New Mexico to Assemblies of God General Treasurer

This Week in AG History — March 10, 1974

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG News, 14 March 2024

Raymond H. Hudson (1918-2010) is remembered as a faithful pastor, evangelist, district officer, and Assemblies of God National Office executive. His final appointment was general treasurer of the Assemblies of God. He was highly esteemed by his colleagues. General Secretary Joseph R. Flower said, “Brother Hudson’s gentle demeanor and infectious wit and sense of humor, combined with a depth of spirituality, have made inroads into the hearts of all with whom he has had contact.”

Hudson was born in Celina, Texas, and grew up as the son of a sharecropper in McKinney and Limestone County, Texas. At age four or five, he was already sensing the call of God on his life. He remembered standing at the top of the stairs in his home with a little New Testament and preaching to an imaginary congregation. That urgency to preach never left him.

“I can never think of a time when I didn’t want to be a preacher,” Hudson said.

Life was simple and hard. There was no electricity in their home. Hudson liked to tell the story that they had running water: “I ran to the well and back with the water bucket.” That was the running water. There were also cows to milk every day. Hudson learned to pick cotton in his boyhood years. By the age 13, he was the fastest cotton picker in the area. No one could equal his speed and agility.

In 1926, A.E. Davis first brought the full gospel message to the nearby community of Thornton, Texas. It was during his ministry that a miracle happened in the Hudson household. Raymond’s mother, Lessie May, became critically ill with diabetes. She had reached the last stages of the disease when she requested special prayer. She could hardly make it onto the platform, but when she was prayed for, she received an instant healing.

Hudson said, “She threw her hands in the air, shouted, and ran across the platform.” This experience affirmed to young Raymond that God answers prayer.

Although he had long sensed the call of God on his life, he did not fully surrender to Christ until he was 14. Two years later, he received the baptism in the Holy Spirit in a prayer meeting, and two years after that, at age 18, he accepted his first pastorate in Thornton, Texas, in 1936. It was there that he met Onie Marie Stewart, who later became his wife.

After three years of pastoring, he felt a need for a greater understanding of God’s Word. So he resigned his church to attend Shield of Faith Bible Institute in Fort Worth (now Nelson University). Onie Marie was also attending the Bible school, and their friendship blossomed. He graduated in 1943. During his last year of school, he began pastoring the Assembly of God in Perrin, Texas. While pastoring at Perrin, he married Onie Marie Stewart on Oct. 15, 1943. Hudson was ordained by the Texas District Council of the AG on June 9, 1944, and his wife also became an AG minister.

Following his ministry in Perrin, Hudson pastored a short time in Aubrey, Texas, before accepting an invitation in 1946 from First Assembly in Hobbs, New Mexico, where he pastored for nine years. During his tenure there, Hudson helped the church to grow from 40 to over 300, and a new church facility was constructed.

In April 1955, Hudson was elected superintendent of the New Mexico district, where he served for 13 years (1955-1968). During that period, he oversaw the building of new district offices and established a home missions program to reach out to both the Anglo and the Native American people of New Mexico. He also set up a Church Builders Plan in New Mexico which served as a working model for the Church Loan Department at the AG National Office for many years.

After a brief period pastoring First Assembly in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and a short time working at Southwestern Bible College in the area of development, Hudson was invited to head the Stewardship Department at the AG National Office. The Hudsons moved to Springfield, Missouri, in 1969. He traveled extensively with estate planning and stewardship seminars. Then in 1972, Hudson was appointed as church loan officer. In that capacity, he set up the Church Builders Plan on a national level, which provided low-cost debt retirement loans to churches. He headed the Church Loan Department until October 1973.

Because of his years of service in church finance, Hudson was nominated and elected to serve as general treasurer (1973-1988). In that position, he had oversight of several departments — Audit, Benevolences, Central Mail, Church Loan, Finance, Stewardship, and Deferred Giving and Trusts. He was chairman of the board for Hillcrest Children’s Home and Highlands Child Placement Services. He oversaw Aged Ministers Assistance and Disaster Relief for the Assemblies of God. He also served on boards for Evangel College (now University) and Maranatha Village.

After 15 years as general treasurer, Hudson and his wife retired and moved to Hobbs, New Mexico, where he had time to enjoy fishing and other pastimes.

Looking back on his life of ministry, Hudson shared a pearl of wisdom: “Every person needs to recognize that life and all its resources and the responsibilities that come with our jobs constitute a trust given by the Lord. We need to sharpen our skills to the finest degree and ask the Lord to help us do our very best.”

Read one of Raymond Hudson’s sermons, “Entertaining a Royal Guest,” on pages 4-5 of the March 10, 1974, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “It’s Just the Beginning,” by Paul Radke

• “New Life Singers in Japan,” by Jim Braddy

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/

Giving out of their Poverty: Florence Steidel and the Lepers of New Hope Town, Liberia

This Week in AG History — March 4, 1951

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 07 March 2024

In 1950, an Assemblies of God congregation of lepers in New Hope Town, Liberia, caught the vision of missions and desired to help those who were less fortunate than themselves. On Christmas Eve, they took up an offering of $2.65, which they sent to the Leper Home of Uska Bazaar in North India.

Assemblies of God missionary Florence Steidel (1897-1962) wrote a letter recounting the sacrificial spirit of the congregation. The letter, published in the March 4, 1951, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, explained that the offering was quite generous, given the meager wages earned by the lepers (7 to 10 cents per day).

Steidel had founded New Hope Town in 1947 with $100 and the help of lepers. Tribal chiefs gave her 350 acres of land upon which she could build a town for people with the skin-eating disease who were unwelcome in their own communities. Steidel, a nurse who came to the mission field in 1935, took a class in elementary building construction. She rallied those with leprosy to work alongside her in building roads and houses. From 1947 until 1962, she oversaw the construction of a well-laid-out town, including 70 permanent buildings and six main streets.

While the lepers were diseased, they were not helpless. Steidel established a school to train them to become carpenters, weavers, brick makers, and clinic workers. They also planted 2,500 rubber trees, which helped the town to become economically self-sufficient.

Steidel realized that economic poverty has roots in poor spiritual and social conditions, which she worked to ameliorate. And only four years after establishing New Hope Town, its residents were already giving of their very limited resources to help others.

Steidel is remembered as one of the missionary heroes of the Assemblies of God. She melded compassion with proclamation of the gospel. Her work among the lepers helped to give credibility and strength to the Assemblies of God in Liberia.

Read the article by Florence Steidel, “I Still Have Strong,” on page 9 of the March 4, 1951, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue

• “Pentecost’s Lost Coin,” by Paul Gaston

• “Our Greatest Need,” by Robert J. Wells

• “Words of Life,” by Wesley R. Steelberg

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/

Lilian Yeomans: From Physician to Drug Addict to Pentecostal Evangelist and Educator

This Week in AG History–February 17, 1923

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 15 February 2024

Lilian B. Yeomans (1861-1942), a Canadian physician, became one of the most prominent healing evangelists in the early Pentecostal movement. Her remarkable ministry resulted from her own deliverance from the downward spiral of drug addiction. After she found spiritual and physical healing in the power of Jesus Christ, she committed herself to introducing others to the “Great Physician.”

The daughter of a Civil War surgeon, Yeomans was born in Ontario to a nominal Anglican family. Following in her father’s footsteps she entered medical school, first in Canada and then in the United States, graduating from the University of Michigan Department of Medicine in 1882. 

Serving as the first female doctor in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Yeomans specialized in women’s and children’s health alongside her general medical practice. She was also active in humanitarian work and had a pressing social calendar.

Believing in the power of medical drugs to assist in health for daily living, she began to prescribe herself medication when she was stressed or having difficulty sleeping. Doses of sulphate of morphine and chloral hydrate provided occasional relief from the excessive strain of anxiety or overwork. However, the relief lasted only briefly and she found her occasional doses becoming a daily habit and then a life-controlling addiction.

In her book, Healing from Heaven, she described how drugs gradually took over her life: “I thought I was toying with the drug but one day I made the startling discovery that the drug, or rather the demon power [in] back of the drug, was playing with me.”

When she realized the hold the drugs had on her, she began to try to stop using them. She tried decreasing the dosage and even disposing of large amounts of the drugs in her possession. She later estimated that she had tried to conquer the habit at least 57 times through varying means, including self-control and willpower, quack medicine, and Christian Science mind-control.

Knowing that her drug addiction could soon kill her and not having confidence that she was ready to die, she turned to the Bible. She thought, I have tried everything that will-power and medical science and suggestion and all the rest can do, and there is absolutely no hope for me unless it lies between the covers of this Book.

In early January 1898, Yeomans moved into a Christian healing home in Chicago, Illinois, led by John Alexander Dowie. Her sister, Charlotte Amy, accompanied her as caretaker. Dowie did not believe in the use of doctors and immediately confiscated all her medicine, leaving her to face drug withdrawal using nothing but the power of prayer.

For almost two weeks, Yeomans felt herself close to death. On Jan. 12, someone encouraged her to try to get up and go to church. Believing the effort would kill her, she declined until she felt the voice of God telling her to get up and go. With the aid of her sister, she got out of bed and made the strenuous walk, feeling no difference in her body. However, on returning back to her room she began to feel better, as if God was waiting on an act of faith on her part to be the catalyst for healing.

After this experience with God through divine healing, Lilian and her sister both felt that they owed their lives to Him in service. They moved north of Winnipeg to do missionary work with the Cree Indians. As the only doctor in the area, she treated both physical and spiritual needs. This work brought her into daily contact with the drugs she swore she would never use again. The constant pressure of her work and the demands of the people could easily have been too much to handle for the former morphine addict. Yet she found her healing complete, testifying that God enabled her to handle the drug in its proper use without feeling the desire for it herself.

When A.H. Argue brought the Pentecostal message to Manitoba, Canada, in 1907, Yeomans received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and soon became a fixture in the burgeoning Pentecostal movement in Calgary and later in the United States.

Yeomans was also a prolific writer. She wrote six books published by Gospel Publishing House, almost 100 articles published in the Pentecostal Evangel, and numerous tracts. 

In an article in the Feb. 17, 1923, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, Yeomans contrasted the limitations of human medical remedies to the power of God, which can heal all diseases. She wrote, “[In] Back of disease lies a cause, and that cause no drug can reach. We know from the Bible that the cause of sickness – a process ending, if unchecked, in death – is sin … and this cause can be reached by one remedy only, the Precious blood of Jesus Christ.”

When Yeomans passed away at the age of 81, she had served as physician, missionary, evangelist, author, Bible school teacher, counselor, and encourager. She touched countless lives, preaching the gospel with a passion and conviction that only comes from knowing through firsthand experience that Jesus Christ is the Great Deliverer. 

Read Yeomans’ article, “Divine Healing,” on page 5 of the Feb. 17, 1923, Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Soul Food for Hungry Saints,” by A.G. Ward

• “Deliverance to the Captives,” by Smith Wigglesworth

• “Little Is Much When God Is In It,” by Mrs. Cyril Bird

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

For a deeper look at Dr. Yeomans life see, “Encountering the Great Physician: The Life and Ministry of Dr. Lilian B. Yeomans,” by Desiree Rodgers in the 2015-2016 issue of Assemblies of God Heritage.

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/

O.W. Eubanks: The Highway Patrolman Who Pioneered a Black Assemblies of God Church in Rural Mississippi

This Week in AG History — February 8, 1976

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News, 08 February 2024

Opal W. Eubanks joined the Mississippi Highway Patrol during the race riots of 1964. A large, broad-shouldered white man, he relished the opportunity to strike fear in the hearts of African-Americans who were in trouble with the law. By his own admission, he was a foul-mouthed sinner who liked “rough stuff.”

A radical conversion to Christ in the early 1970s altered the course of Eubanks’ life, and his hardened heart became tender toward African-Americans in his rural community. He and his wife, Thelma, ultimately pioneered an Assemblies of God congregation consisting mostly of African-Americans, which they pastored for 21 years. He shared his story in the Feb. 8, 1976, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Eubanks’ conversion occurred in the midst of deep personal suffering. His 20-year-old daughter had recently been killed in an automobile accident, and he had been experiencing excruciating back pain. He realized that he was far from God, and his father-in-law, a Pentecostal preacher, encouraged him to seek the Lord and repent of his sins.

Eubanks began attending an Assemblies of God church, where he accepted Christ, was healed of his back pain, and was baptized in the Holy Spirit. He was a new man, and everyone could see the difference.

After being filled with the Holy Spirit, he started witnessing to people. His Bible became his constant companion in his patrol car, and he never grew tired of sharing how the Lord changed his heart and life.

One night, at a roadblock on Interstate 59, he stopped two African-American men who had beer in their car. He had to charge them with illegal possession of liquor, as it was a dry county. He also witnessed to them about the Lord, telling them that “liquor was a tool of the devil.”

One of the men, Joe Pickens, came to see Eubanks several days later. He tearfully confessed that his life was messed up and accepted Christ. Before long, Pickens and his four daughters all had made definite decisions to follow the Lord and had experienced Spirit baptism.

News of the conversions spread through the largely African-American rural community of Bay Springs, Mississippi, where racial segregation still held sway. Patrolman Eubanks had been known for his tough ways, and people took note when he began ministering Christ’s love to African-Americans as brothers in Christ.

In 1974, Eubanks started holding a Bible study, which developed into a thriving congregation. In the first two years, about 45 people accepted Christ under Eubanks’ ministry. The congregation, Bay Springs Assembly of God, was organized in 1975. The Sunday School superintendent was a redeemed bootlegger.

At the time, it was unheard of in that community for a white man to pioneer or pastor a church of African-Americans. Eubanks realized that he was breaking cultural mores. However, he insisted that God’s values must trump cultural values: “If a man is a child of God, then he’s your brother. I don’t care what color he is, you have a duty to witness to him.” Eubanks recounted “grumbling and opposition to the church,” but noted that it was “nothing that God couldn’t handle.”

Eubanks served as pastor of Bay Springs Assembly of God until 1996. Sammy Amos, an African-American, followed Eubanks and is now in his 27th year as pastor. Amos echoes Eubanks’ vision for the church: “We only care about souls, we don’t judge people according to their color.”

Amos noted that Bay Springs Assembly of God continues to be an interracial lighthouse in the rural community, where most churches are still segregated. The congregation includes black and white members and is known for its outreach and deliverance ministries. The largely African American church started by a white highway patrolman continues to demonstrate to the world that God can indeed change hardened hearts.

Read the entire article by O.W. Eubanks, “Highway Patrolman Pastors New Black Church in Mississippi,” on pages 8-9 of the Feb. 8, 1976, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The New Bedroom Evangelism,” by C.M. Ward

• “Don Argue Named Vice President of A/G Graduate School”

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/

Sullivan and Addie Chainey: Unsung Pioneers of Assemblies of God Deaf Ministry

This Week in AG History — January 29, 1961

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG News, 01 February 2024

Sullivan (1889-1973) and Addie (1889-1964) Chainey are unsung pioneers of deaf ministry in the Assemblies of God. Sullivan Chainey is believed to be the first deaf person to serve as a missionary to the deaf in the Assemblies of God.

Born in Sherman County, Texas, Sullivan Chainey moved with his parents to southwest Missouri when he was a young boy. He was living in Springfield, Missouri, when he married Addie Lee Breedlove in October 1910. They raised a large family, and both of them were deaf. In order to support his family, he worked various odd jobs during his lifetime. He worked as a painter for the Springfield Wagon Company, a laborer for the railroad, a laborer in a tailor shop, and a presser in a garment factory.

The Chaineys came to know the Lord because of a woman doing visitation work. Elsie Peters (who is believed to be the earliest AG appointed missionary to the deaf) knocked on their door one day in 1919, not knowing they were deaf. They carried on a conversation using a pad and pencil. Because Peters seemed to have a genuine interest in knowing them, Addie started teaching her a few things about sign language. Peter’s regular visits opened their hearts to the gospel, however, she soon moved to Texas.

After a few years, Peters returned to Springfield and began conducting regular services for the deaf, and the Chaineys began attending. Soon both Sullivan and Addie made a commitment to Christ.

In his testimony, Sullivan shares, “I had no religious background. When five years old, my mother started me to using tobacco, thus all my life prior to my conversion, I was bound by snuff chewing, tobacco, and a pipe.” But the Lord changed all that.

The Chaineys both received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and soon they felt the call to minister to the deaf in southwest Missouri. They started visiting some of the nearby cities. The first town they went to was Monett. They felt impressed to stop at one particular house. When they knocked on the door, they discovered that eight deaf people lived there. They began to share the Bible with these people, and they asked the Chaineys to come back and hold regular services for the deaf.

They next time they went to Monett, they found many more deaf people had gathered for the services. In addition to holding house meetings in Monett, the Chaineys began to visit deaf people in other nearby towns, becoming itinerant deaf ministers in southwest Missouri. They felt compelled to answer God’s call to “Go.”

For many years the Chaineys drove weekly to small towns and communities in southwest Missouri, holding services in homes of the deaf wherever they could. Hundreds of deaf people were reached with the gospel message, thanks to their efforts. Some of the towns they ministered to included Monett, Joplin, Exeter, Carthage, Webb City, Cassville, Seligman, and Granby.

In one testimony, Sullivan shared: “We held our first services in Webb City on November 20, 1955, in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Beegle. There were 28 deaf attending both the morning and afternoon services. All of the deaf eagerly ‘listened’ as the Word of God was preached to them,” said Sullivan, who notes they were assisted by Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Johnson, also of Springfield.

The Chaineys worked out a schedule of visitation among these towns and rotated the place of services. They also visited some deaf people who were confined to their homes. Some of the people who attended their services would travel as much as 60 miles, testifying that they never had heard the story of Jesus until the Chaineys came.

The Chaineys lived in what some people describe as the “buckle of the Bible belt” — meaning that Christianity was a pervasive influence in the region. However, Christians, like others in society, often overlooked the deaf. When the Chaineys discovered new life in Christ, they set out to share their newfound faith with others who were deaf. The Chaineys’ story testifies that God can empower those who are marginalized in society to do redemptive work in their own communities and beyond.

Read, “Thirteen Years of Deaf Ministry,” by Sullivan Chainey, on page 11 of the Jan. 19, 1961, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “I Found the Messiah,” by Moses Proshansky

• “Revivaltime Originates at Kenosha, Wisconsin,” by D.V. Hurst

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/