Hélène Biolley’s Dining Room, a Parrot, and the Origins of French Pentecostalism

By the 1950s, Assemblies of God congregations were scattered across France. Here, French Assemblies of God pastor Clement Le Cossec is standing in front of the Assembly of God, Rennes, France, circa 1950.

This Week in AG History — June 30, 1974

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on PE-News, 29 June 2017

Hélène Biolley (1854-1947), a highly educated Swiss linguist, was a catalyst to the formation of the Pentecostal movement in France. In 1974, Assemblies of God missionary R. Kenneth Ware wrote a Pentecostal Evangel article about Biolley’s influence, noting that the French Pentecostal revival started in her dining room. Humorously, he also remembered her quipping that the first Pentecostal “martyr” in France was a parrot!

Biolley was part of the Coeurs purs (Pure Heart) movement — a revival in 19^th century Switzerland that encouraged Christians to examine their motives and cleanse their hearts from all wickedness. Biolley coupled this motivation toward inner holiness with social action, becoming active in the Temperance movement, which sought to rescue people from the destructiveness of alcohol.

Biolley moved to France in 1880 to work with a Temperance organization called the French Blue Cross Society. She settled in the harbor city of Le Havre, located on the English Channel, where in 1896 she opened a small Christian hotel and restaurant, Ruban Bleu. The establishment became a center for Temperance meetings, prayer services, and gospel outreach. According to Ware, “She served good meals but without alcoholic drinks, rented clean rooms, and talked about Jesus.”

Many missionaries and evangelists, including those from England, stayed at Ruban Bleu. In 1909, an Anglican vicar, Alexander Boddy, visited and testified about his baptism in the Holy Spirit. She was curious and wanted to learn more. She began inviting other Pentecostals, including Smith Wigglesworth and Gerrit R. Polman, to preach at Ruban Bleu. The dining room of Ruban Bleu became an important early Pentecostal ministry center in France.

Biolley became well known among missionaries for her linguistic skills. She provided French lessons in addition to room and board. Many missionaries headed to French-speaking African colonies first took language lessons from Biolley.

The Pentecostal movement remained relatively small in France until the early 1930s. For years Biolley had prayed that God would send missionaries to France. Her prayers were answered when Douglas Scott, an Englishman who felt a call to minister in Congo, arrived at Ruban Bleu in 1927. Biolley invited Scott to minister at Ruban Bleu. He prayed and preached with power, and several people were miraculously healed.

Biolley asked Scott to devote six months at her mission before going to the Congo. He agreed and returned to Le Havre in 1930, ultimately devoting the rest of his life to spreading the gospel across France. Scott sparked a significant Pentecostal revival and helped bring cohesiveness to the movement through the organization of the Assemblies of God of France in 1932.

The Pentecostal movement in France grew significantly during Scott’s 37 years of ministry in the country. However, it was not without opposition. Biolley made light of these difficulties, recounting the story of the first French Pentecostal “martyr” – a parrot which had learned many Scripture verses and slogans opposing alcohol consumption. A drunken sailor at a neighboring hotel and restaurant – apparently feeling conviction – killed the parrot to rid himself of the bothersome bird. In Biolley’s estimation, it was a “feathered martyr”!

When Hélène Biolley followed God’s call in 1880 to move to a new country and to start a Christian ministry center, she was a single woman in her twenties. Few people imagined that her ministry would amount to much. But in God’s providence, she was in the right place at the right time. Her linguistic skills, coupled with her hotel and restaurant, proved to be an important crossroads for visiting missionaries and evangelists. She prayed faithfully for 20 years for God to send Pentecostal missionaries to France. In her seventies, her prayers were answered, and revival sprang forth from the spiritual foundation that she had helped to lay.

Read R. Kenneth Ware’s article about Hélène Biolley, “Revival Started in the Dining Room,” on page 9 of the June 30, 1974, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

* “The Churches in Eastern Europe,” by Thomas F. Zimmerman

* “On Target with Mission France,” by Bill Williams

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

Five Lessons from the Great Cuban Revival of 1950-1951

Hands raised in prayer by those seeking salvation, Holguin, Cuba, February 1951

This Week in AG History — May 17, 1959

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on PE-News, 18 May 2017

The Pentecostal church in Cuba exploded in growth during a series of evangelistic and healing services throughout the island nation in 1950 and 1951. Several church leaders in Cuba, including Luis Ortiz, Dennis Valdez, Hugh Jeter, and Ezequiel Alvarez, hosted Pentecostal evangelist T. L. Osborn, and about 50,000 people made professions of faith in Christ. Jeter, an Assemblies of God missionary, wrote about this remarkable revival in the May 17, 1959, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Jeter wrote, “One of the greatest moves of God’s Spirit in our generation took place in the island of Cuba in 1950 and 1951. It was a common occurrence in many Cuban cities for crowds of 10,000 to 15,000 people to fill a baseball stadium or city park night after night to hear the gospel and to be prayed for.”

The revival effected immediate and lasting change. Jeter noted, “Thriving congregations suddenly came into existence in places where previously we had had no work at all. The entire stock of the Bible society was quickly sold out. The miraculous was continually in evidence and people were convinced that of a truth God was in our midst.”

What can we learn from the remarkable Cuban revival? Jeter identified five practical lessons:

1.  A revival can be judged by its results over time. While some people initially questioned whether the Cuban revival was genuine, over the years it became obvious that people who were converted had become faithful Christians. Small churches were strengthened, and new churches were planted. The Assemblies of God Bible school in Cuba, which had temporarily closed due to lack of students, was overwhelmed in the years following the revival with students who had a burning passion to share the gospel.

2.   True revival will be grounded in the Bible and will give glory to God and not to man. Jeter wrote, “Our principal evangelist, Brother Osborn, did not claim to have any special gift or revelation that would set him a class apart from the rest of us. He simply let us know what God had promised and inspired us to believe that God would keep His Word.”

3.  Effective “follow-up” is essential in order to integrate converts into churches. The best “follow-up,” according to Jeter, is not merely a systematic visitation of converts, but the continuation of the revival spirit in local churches. The same spiritual vibrancy that brought people to faith in Christ will also inspire people to be faithful in church.

4.  Church leaders must be willing and able to relocate their congregation if current buildings become inadequate. Pastors who showed flexibility regarding location could more easily retain converts simply because they could fit into the church.

5.  Technology can help to reach the unchurched and to communicate with the faithful. In the Cuban revival, radio was an important tool by which news of the revival spread quickly.

“Can this revival be duplicated elsewhere?” Responding to this question, Jeter suggested that “God is no respecter of people, or of nations.” He noted that revival came to Cuba following a long period of time during which believers developed their faith and prepared for a move of God. While recognizing that God is sovereign in bringing revival, he stated, “I know of no reason why it cannot happen anywhere else in the world.”

Read Hugh Jeter’s article, “Lessons from the Cuban Revival,” on pages 6, 7, and 22 of the May 17, 1959, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

* “Standing Together,” by Frank J. Lindquist

* “Led by the Holy Ghost,” by W. E. McAlister

* “Do the Deaf Speak in Tongues?” by Twila Brown Edwards

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

What Can Pentecostals Learn from the Prayer Revival of 1857?

Prayer Revival of 1857

This Week in AG History — September 14, 1969

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on PE-News, 15 September 2016

Early twentieth-century Pentecostal pioneers were hungry for authentic Christianity, and they looked to previous spiritual outpourings for inspiration and instruction. One of the revivals recounted by early Pentecostals — the Prayer Revival of 1857 — had occurred within their lifetime.

The social conditions that led up to the Prayer Revival of 1857, in many ways, mirror those in America today. Harold A. Fischer, an Assemblies of God minister, retold the compelling story of this revival in the Sept. 14, 1969, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

By 1857, spiritual decline in America had become alarming. Church membership was decreasing and public figures were scoffing at religion. A time of prosperity had caused people to forget about God. Furthermore, the nation’s attention was riveted by the unfolding political drama that ultimately resulted in the Civil War.

Things began to change in 1857, when a financial meltdown caused thousands of merchants to go bankrupt and forced many banks to close. People from all social backgrounds were affected. People began to turn away from materialism in the midst of their suffering. “As ruin stared men in the face,” Fischer wrote, “their only refuge was God.”

A declining church pastored by a man with little ministry experience helped to spark a revival in 1857 that spread across the nation. Jeremiah Lanphier, a businessman, felt God’s call to the ministry. At age 49, he gave up his career and accepted the pastorate of Old North Dutch Church on Fulton and Williams Streets in the heart of lower New York City.

The congregation was facing a slow demise. Immigrants were moving into the community, and the church’s members were moving elsewhere. Lanphier did not sit down and allow the inevitable to happen. He canvassed the neighborhood, praying with people and inviting people to church. Few responded, however, and he grew discouraged.

But then Lanphier thought about the businessmen of the community, and how they might like to get away for a short break over the lunch hour. He widely advertised a noon prayer meeting for businessmen. Six showed up on the first day, Sept. 23, 1857. Attendance grew, and it soon became a daily event.

Several weeks later, a stock market crash caused one of the worst financial panics in American history. The church, located near the financial district, became a destination for bankers, lawyers, and businessmen whose world had been turned upside down. Up to 3,000 people flooded into the noon prayer meeting, and similar prayer meetings began to be held around the nation.  Over the next year, between 300,000 and one million people accepted Christ across America during what came to be called the Prayer Revival of 1857.

What can Pentecostals learn from the Prayer Revival of 1857? Church work should never be viewed as the primary domain of clergy. The 1857 revival was largely carried on by laity who, according to Fischer, received an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that empowered them for unexpectedly effective ministry. Prayer was also one of the hallmarks of this revival. Charles Finney observed during the revival that people seemed to prefer prayer meetings over preaching services. When God moves, it usually seems to coincide with passionate prayer.  Finally, when God truly touches peoples’ hearts, there will be social implications to that heart change. After the 1857 revival, laypersons began to organize Sunday schools, local chapters of the Young Men’s Christian Association, and city missionary societies. The revival was a catalyst that provoked Christians to develop ministries to serve and love people, which built up both the churches and the communities where they were located.

The revival waned after one or two years, but churches were left in a stronger position and better able to address the tragedies that would be inflicted by the Civil War only a short time later. According to Fischer, “the effect of such praying had left its mark.”

Read Harold Fischer’s article, “The Great Revival of 1857,” on pages 18-19 of the Sept. 14, 1969, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Why Assemblies of God Colleges are Different,” by T. E. Gannon

• “The Prohibited Love,” by Gordon Chilvers

And many more!

Click 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

Stephen Jeffreys: A Welsh Evangelist Brings Revival to Springfield, Missouri

This Week in AG History — August 25, 1928

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on PE-News, 25 August 2016

Stephen Jeffreys (1876-1943) was considered by many to be the greatest British evangelist since John Wesley and George Whitefield. He was affiliated with the Assemblies of God in Great Britain, but his ministry extended across the world. Jeffreys came to the headquarters city of the American Assemblies of God — Springfield, Missouri — for a 22-day revival in July of 1928. His message was plain and simple: “It is one thing to be religious. It is another thing to know the Lord Jesus.”

Before his conversion, Jeffreys was a coal miner in Maesteg, Wales. His interest in religion was limited to playing the flute in the church band. When the Welsh Revival broke out under the preaching of Evan Roberts in 1904, hundreds of coal miners experienced life-changing salvation. The pubs were deserted as men went straight from the mines to the chapels. After seeing the change in his coworkers’ lives, Jeffreys felt convicted for his own sinfulness. After a week of heavy conviction, he responded to the call of God and was gloriously converted on Nov. 17, 1904. In 1907, he received his own personal Pentecost and baptism in the Holy Spirit. This experience gave Jeffreys power to be a witness for his Savior.

In the divinely -charged atmosphere of revival, Jeffreys and his little brother, George, started to preach. They began sharing the message of Christ on the streets and their gifts soon led to invitations to fill the pulpits of many churches in Wales and England. Like the Wesley brothers of 150 years before, they also began to fill the greatest halls in Britain.

Jeffreys expected his converts to become new creatures in Christ. Many of his hearers, although already church members, became convicted of sin and experienced conversion. Hearkening back to his career in the coal mines, he would teach the people to sing “Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning.” This song could be heard late into the night as people were encouraged to live a life of total consecration to Christ. The response was so great that Jeffreys experienced opposition from both priest and pub owner alike, as he converted the religious and the irreligious to his brand of Pentecostal Christianity.

On a preaching tour in the United States in 1928, Jeffreys was invited to hold meetings at Gospel Tabernacle, a large auditorium used by Christians of various denominational backgrounds and located at the corner of Boonville and Lynn Street, in Springfield, Missouri. Reports of healings and conversions were soon reported by the Springfield Leader (now the Springfield News-Leader) as crowds thronged to hear the fiery preacher with the Welsh brogue. Crowds were estimated at three thousand in the daily meetings with seekers lining up as early as 5 a.m. for the 3 p.m. service.

The Aug. 25, 1928, edition of the Pentecostal Evangel reported that the messages were often addressed to “religious sinners” — church members who had not been born again. One woman who testified of salvation had been an active church member for fifty years before knowing the power of relationship with Christ. Jeffreys encouraged the converts to find a church where the Pentecostal message was preached, exhorting them, “I don’t believe in putting live chickens under a dead hen.”

A few weeks after the revival, the Pentecostal Evangel noted, “the membership is agreed that great and lasting benefit has been realized by the City of Springfield.”

After leaving Springfield, Jeffreys traveled to Los Angeles where the crowds grew to seven thousand in attendance. After a preaching tour of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, and Norway, Jeffreys returned home to Wales where his health suddenly began to fail. By the mid-1930s, arthritis had crippled his abilities to travel. He died on Nov. 17, 1943, the 39th anniversary of his conversion, only a few days after preaching his last sermon in Llanelly, Wales, on the theme of “the glory of God.”

Read a report of “Revival at Springfield, Mo.” on page 13 of the Aug. 25, 1928, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Land of the Bible in the Last Days,” by the Evangel editorial staff

• “How to Obtain the Gifts,” by Donald Gee of Melbourne, Australia

• “Fearing or Trusting,” by William Luff

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

Minnie Abrams: Lessons from the Pentecostal Revival in India

Minnie Abrams (right), sitting next to Jivubai, an Indian woman

This Week in AG History — May 19, 1945

By Darrin Rodgers
Originally published on PE-News, 19 May 2016

Minnie Abrams (1859-1912), in many ways, was a typical woman in the American Midwest in the late nineteenth century. However, everything changed when she heeded God’s call to the mission field. Abrams was reared on a farm in rural Minnesota and, in her early twenties, became a schoolteacher. After a few years in the classroom, however, she sensed that God was leading her in a new direction. She attended a Methodist missionary training school in Chicago and, in 1887, set sail for Bombay, India.

In Bombay, Abrams helped to establish a boarding school for the children of church members. Not content to stay within the walls of missionary compound, she learned the Marathi language so that she could engage in personal evangelism. Ultimately, she became a fulltime evangelist and began working with Pandita Ramabai, a leading Christian female social reformer and educator. Abrams worked with Ramabai at her Mukti Mission, a school and home for famine victims and widows.

After hearing news of revival in Australia (1903) and Wales (1904-1905), Abrams, Ramabai, and others began seeking a restoration of the spiritual power they read about in the New Testament. They formed a prayer group, and about 70 girls volunteered to meet daily, study the Bible, and pray for revival. Beginning in 1905, several waves of revival hit the Mukti Mission. The prayer group grew to 500, and many of the girls reported spiritual experiences that seemed to repeat what they found in the Book of Acts. Some prophesied, others received visions, and yet others spoke in tongues. Abrams wrote about the revival, which became the foundation for the Pentecostal movement in India, in the July 1909 issue of the Latter Rain Evangel. Her account was republished in the May 19, 1945, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

According to Abrams, the revival came to India because of deep prayer, consecration, and repentance. During the daily prayer meetings, the girls memorized Scripture, became deeply aware of their own sinfulness, and hungered for righteousness and an outpouring of God’s Spirit.

Abrams recalled, “I cannot tell you how I felt in those days of repentance at Mukti when the Holy Spirit was revealing sin, and God was causing the people to cry out and weep before Him.” The girls who had been touched by revival did not stay put; they fanned out into surrounding villages and brought the gospel to anyone who would listen.

Abrams recounted that revival at the Mukti Mission included not just remorse over sin, but also incredible joy that followed repentance. She wrote that “ripples of laughter flowed” in prayer meetings, that some of the girls began dancing in the back of the room, and that they were filled with a “deeper joy.”

According to Abrams, the early Indian revival provided valuable lessons for Christians everywhere. She also gave a warning to readers that is just as applicable today as it was in 1909: “the people of God are growing cold and there is a worldliness and an unwillingness to hear the truth and to obey it.”

How can we have revival today? Abrams offered the following admonition: “If you want revival you have to pour your life out. That is the only way. That is the way Jesus did. He emptied Himself; He poured out His life; and He Poured out His life’s blood.” Minnie Abrams wrote convincingly and convictingly from experience. She and countless other Pentecostal pioneers followed Christ’s example and poured their lives into serving others and building God’s kingdom.

Read the entire article by Minnie Abrams, “How Pentecost Came to India,” on pages 1 and 5-7 of the May 19, 1945, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:
* “Speaking in Tongues,” by Howard Carter
* “The Tarrying Meeting,” by Stanley H. Frodsham
* “An Anniversary Testimony,” by A. H. Argue
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 after the Azusa Street Revival, Donald Gee Offered this Warning about Miracles

This Week in AG History — April 28, 1957

By Darrin Rodgers
Originally published on PE-News, 28 April 2016

Miracles have played an important role in the histories of both the early church and the Pentecostal movement. However, just as the Apostle Paul had to correct excesses in the first century church at Corinth, 20th century Pentecostal leaders were faced in some quarters with an overemphasis on miracles. British Assemblies of God leader Donald Gee (1891-1966) wrote an article, published in the April 28, 1957, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, in which he affirmed the miraculous but also called for balance.

“The unvarnished story of the New Testament reads like a refreshing gust of fresh air,” Gee wrote. The New Testament “not only blows away the stuffiness of our unbelief, but also cools the fever of our fanaticism.” Gee taught that miracles should be part of “any truly Pentecostal revival,” but he also warned against extremism.

Miracles naturally attract a crowd. But Gee observed that the existence of miracles did not necessarily signify repentance or a change of heart. He urged readers to pay greater attention to the “less spectacular ministries” that are necessary to disciple believers.

Writing only 50 years after the Azusa Street Revival, Gee wrote that he had witnessed “a constant swing of the pendulum” regarding the emphasis on miracles in the Pentecostal movement. When revival breaks out and miracles occur, it is almost predictable that some people will go to extremes in chasing after miracles. Then, predictably, others will react to the extremists by being more orderly and conservative.

Pentecostals should be neither unbalanced fanatics nor overly cautious regarding miracles, according to Gee. Instead, he identified “a strong central body of believers, constituting the very heart of the Pentecostal churches, who do not want extremes either way.” These balanced believers desire “leadership based on the Word of God,” Gee wrote, rather than based on personality or preference.

Gee’s repeated admonitions to avoid unbiblical extremes earned him the moniker, “The Apostle of Balance.” Gee was nurtured in the fires of the early Pentecostal revivals, and he was one of the Pentecostal movement’s foremost advocates. So when he spoke about the need for balance, Pentecostals of all stripes listened.

Read the entire article by Donald Gee, “After That — Miracles,” on pages 8-9 of the April 28, 1957, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

* “A Great Faith,” by Louis M. Hauff

* “Power in the Word,” by Mrs. C. Nuzum

* “Missions in Northern Alaska,” by B. P. Wilson

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

1937 Campus Revivals at Central Bible Institute and Southeastern Bible Institute

This Week in AG History — April 10, 1937

By Darrin Rodgers
Originally published on PE-News, 7 April 2016

Seventy-nine years ago, two Assemblies of God colleges experienced unusual seasons of revival. The April 10, 1937, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel reported that Central Bible Institute (which became Central Bible College, Springfield, Missouri) and Southeastern Bible Institute (now Southeastern University, Lakeland, Florida) experienced “times of refreshing.”

L. R. Lynch, reporting on the revival at Central Bible Institute, wrote “For days we had expected something to happen. The air seemed laden with heavenly power. Nobody knew what to do to insure God’s best for us. Everybody was eager to learn more about Jesus.”

Lynch related that students began making public confessions, prompted by piercing messages that revealed the darkness of sin. Finally, he wrote, “the flood-gates of heaven were opened for us. God heard our humble cries. When we reached the foundation-rock, the heavenly fire blazed from the supernatural glory, while shouts of praise and thanksgiving rose from exultant hearts.”

The revival at Central Bible Institute lasted five days, during which 17 people were baptized in the Spirit and 16 felt a call into “different fields of labor, including India, China, Africa, and South America.”

Edgar Bethany reported about a similar revival at Southeastern Bible Institute. Bethany wrote, “Morning chapel service which ordinarily lasts from eight to nine could not be terminated. Volumes of prayer mingled with tears and at times strong crying, ascended to the throne of grace. Messages and wonderful interpretations were given by the Spirit. It resulted in a breaking up in practically every heart.”

What was the long-term impact of these spiritual outpourings? Lynch surmised that revival’s “true value” is something that “only eternity can reveal.”

Read the two articles on page 11 of the April 10, 1937, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:
* “Blessed is He, Whoever Shall Not Be Offended,” by Stanley Frodsham
* “It Happened to Me: A Presbyterian Minister Receives the Baptism,” by E. R. Robertson
* “The Shekinah: Is the Fiery, Cloudy Pillar Ours Through Confession or Contrition?” by Zelma Argue

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

Barney Moore: Saved in a Methodist Revival with Signs and Wonders in 1901

Barney and Mary Moore, circa 1919

This Week in AG History — January 17, 1931

By Darrin Rodgers
Originally published on PE-News, 14 January 2016

When Barney S. Moore (1874-1956) converted to Christ in 1901, it was during a revival with signs and wonders in a Methodist church. His testimony, published in the January 17, 1931, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, recounted that the Methodist missionary at the revival “was preaching nearly everything that is now preached in Pentecost.”

Moore recalled that, as the congregation was in quiet prayer, the “heavens opened and a rushing mighty wind” filled the small Methodist church. About one-third of the congregation fell to the ground, overwhelmed by God’s glory and the power of the Holy Spirit. Moore experienced something unexpected — he began speaking in a language he had not learned. At first the pastor was uncertain how to respond to the revival and the gift of tongues. But they soon realized they had experienced something akin to the spiritual outpouring in the second chapter of Acts. At the end of the revival, Moore counted 85 people who had decided to repent of their sins and follow Christ.

At the encouragement of his pastor, Moore attended Taylor University (Upland, Indiana) and studied for the ministry. At his first pastorate, in Urbana, Illinois, in 1904, the power of God fell again. During the revival, he wrote, a lady in his church spoke in tongues she had not learned, which Moore deemed to be classical Hebrew and Latin.

Moore was ordained in 1906 by the Metropolitan Church Association, a small Holiness denomination. Before long he heard about the Azusa Street Revival (1906-1909) in Los Angeles, which had become a focal point of the emerging Pentecostal movement. He immediately recognized the similarity between his own spiritual experiences and what was happening at the Azusa Street Revival. He cast his lot with the Pentecostals.

In 1914, Moore and his wife, Mary, followed God’s call to serve as missionaries in Japan. They established a thriving mission and, in 1918, affiliated with the Assemblies of God. When a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in 1923, devastating Yokohama and Tokyo and killing 140,000 people, the Moores turned their efforts toward relief work. Moore wrote a widely-distributed book, The Japanese Disaster: or the World’s Greatest Earthquake (1924), and spent years raising money to help the suffering Japanese people.

The testimony of Barney Moore demonstrates that early Pentecostals did not emerge in a vacuum. They were heirs to earlier revival traditions, including those in Methodist and Holiness churches. Moore was careful to document that his experience of speaking in tongues came before the broader Pentecostal movement came into being. His story also shows that early Pentecostals, when confronted by human suffering, were among those who demonstrated Christ’s love not just in word, but in deed.

Read Barney Moore’s article, “Glorious Miracles in the Twentieth Century,” on pages 2-3 of the January 17, 1931, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:
• “The Gift of Faith,” by Donald Gee
• “Evidences of God’s Grace in Japan,” by Jessie Wengler
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

Pentecost Came to Madagascar in a Revival of Signs and Wonders

Rev. Rasoamanana, president of the Assemblies of God of Madagascar, and his wife, 1978.

This Week in AG History — November 15, 1930

By Darrin Rodgers
Originally published on PE-News, 12 November 2015

The Pentecostal movement came to Madagascar, the island nation off the southeast coast of Africa, in 1910 in a great revival with signs and wonders. The revival began when a 60-year-old woman, Ravelonjanahary (known to English-speakers as Ravelo), who was believed to be dead, suddenly sat up during her own funeral. This caused quite a stir in her community, and she became known as “the resurrected one.”

Eighty-five years ago, the Pentecostal Evangel published an account of Ravelo’s resurrection and the ensuing revival. After being raised from the dead, Ravelo was baptized in the Holy Spirit and felt God tugging at her heart to share her testimony and to preach the gospel. Ravelo initially rejected this call to the ministry. She reasoned, “I cannot speak, I am not clever.” But she heard God’s voice again, saying, “Go! Preach in My Name and heal the sick.”

Ravelo obeyed God’s voice and began ministering in a simple manner. She went from town to town, sharing God’s Word and her testimony. Before praying for a sick person, she would ask, “Have you repented? Have you given up your idols?” Ravelo’s ministry met with remarkable results. All across the countryside, people were healed and began to follow Christ.

At the time, Madagascar was a French Protectorate, and the French governors were hostile to Christianity. They introduced laws restricting the religious freedom of natives of Madagascar, showing particular opposition to Protestants. Ravelo persevered in spite of opposition from the government and society elites.

Local newspapers covered the revival, often defending Ravelo against attacks. One newspaper editorial noted that scoffers questioned whether Ravelo had really been raised from the dead. The editorial reasoned that proof of Ravelo’s resurrection was unnecessary, because the miraculous healings under her ministry were profound, frequent, and undeniable. Another newspaper defended her against charges of sectarianism, stating that she was not trying to build up one particular church.

People who were healed and who became Christians crowded into Lutheran, Reformed, Pentecostal, and other churches. Ravelo’s revival spilled into the broader Protestant church world, and to this day it is common for Madagascar Protestant churches of all stripes to encourage healing, exorcism, and biblical spiritual gifts.

The great revival sparked by Ravelo’s resurrection helped to lay the foundation for the Assemblies of God in Madagascar. In 2014, the Assemblies of God reported 102,000 adherents in the island nation.

Read the entire article, “How Pentecost Came to Madagascar: A True Story of a Great Revival,” in the November 15, 1930, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “War, the Bible, and the Christian,” by Donald Gee

• “Praying William: A Liberian Convert Testifies in His Own Words”

• “Healed of Bright’s Disease and Dropsy,” by Frank B. Anderson

And many more!

Click here to read 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

C. M. Hanson and the Pre-Azusa Pentecostal Revival among Scandinavian-Americans

This Week in AG History — August 22, 1954

By Darrin Rodgers
Originally published on PE-News, 20 August 2015

Carl M. “Daddy” Hanson (1865-1954), a spiritual father to many early Pentecostals on the northern Great Plains, earned his Pentecostal stripes on both sides of Azusa Street. He experienced the Pentecostal distinctive of speaking in tongues in the nineteenth century, and he became an early leader in the Assemblies of God in the first half of the twentieth century.

The son of Norwegian immigrants to Minnesota, Hanson was converted while a student at Augsburg Seminary and became an evangelist affiliated with the Scandinavian Free Mission (now known as the Evangelical Free Church). The Scandinavian Free Mission, in the 1890s and early 1900s, witnessed a significant revival in which many people experienced salvation, healings, and biblical spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues.

This revival made a deep impression on Hanson, who himself was healed of a terminal illness in 1895. A short time later, he held services in Grafton, North Dakota, where people had a great hunger for God. There, he saw a young Norwegian girl, enraptured in the presence of God, speak in a language she had not learned. Hanson pondered what it meant, studied Scripture, and came away convinced that that the prophecy in Joel 2:28 was coming true before his eyes: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions” (KJV).

Hanson continued as an itinerant evangelist. His daughter, Anna Berg, recalled, “My father began giving testimony wherever doors were open to him: in churches, schoolhouses, homes, and missions. The response was amazing. Everywhere people were saved. This was usually followed by a consuming desire for more of God’s power in their lives.”

In about 1899, Hanson received the gift of speaking in tongues. In 1904, he opened a rescue mission in Minneapolis, where he sought to give physical and spiritual help to those who were drunken, homeless, and destitute. He traversed the region, raising support and seeking young people to work with him at the mission.

Hanson soon identified with the emerging Pentecostal movement in Chicago, which had its roots in the 1906 Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles. Chicago Pentecostal leader William Durham ordained Hanson in 1909, and Hanson transferred his ordination to the Assemblies of God in 1917. In 1922, when the Assemblies of God organized churches and ministers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas into the North Central District, participants unanimously elected Hanson to serve as the district’s first chairman.

Hanson and his wife, Mathilda, had 13 children, two of whom became Pentecostal missionaries. Esther M. Hanson served at L. M. Anglin’s orphanage in China, and Anna C. (Mrs. Arthur F.) Berg served in Belgian Congo prior to pastoring in Sisseton and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Former Assemblies of God General Superintendent G. Raymond Carlson also traced his family’s Pentecostal experience back to Hanson’s ministry. It was in Carlson’s maternal grandparents’ home in Grafton, North Dakota, that Hanson first saw someone speak in tongues.

Hanson’s story reminds us that the modern Pentecostal movement emerged from a variety of sources. Revivals at Topeka and Azusa Street may have been two of the most visible focal points of early twentieth-century American Pentecostalism, but prior revivals, including those among Scandinavian settlers in the northern Great Plains, provided precedents and leaders for the emerging movement.

The Pentecostal Evangel published a memorial tribute to Hanson on page 12 of the August 22, 1954, issue.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Tony, the Miracle Boy”

• “Maybe I’m Wrong,” by John Garlock

• “Ride on, King Jesus,” by Zelma Argue

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

Read more about Hanson in the article, “Carl M. Hanson: Scandinavian Harbinger of Pentecost,” in the Spring-Summer 2006 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