This Week in AG History —June 3, 1944

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News 04 June 2026

What can Pentecostals learn from John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of Methodism?

Wesley, an Anglican priest in England, helped to lay the foundation for large segments of the evangelical and Pentecostal movements. Despite living in a nation that identified as Christian, he recognized that most people did not have saving faith. He pioneered new evangelism and discipleship methods, which upset some of the religious leaders of his day. He appointed itinerant, unordained evangelists who traveled and preached the gospel. He also encouraged the formation of small groups of Christians for the purpose of discipleship, accountability, and Bible study.

Wesley encouraged each person to experience God’s love. However, he insisted that if a person was truly saved, an experience with God must yield a transformed life. True Christians, he taught, would live holy lives. When the Holy Spirit transformed a person’s desires, this inner holiness would naturally be manifested in outward holiness.

In many ways, early Pentecostals identified themselves in the tradition of Wesley. The June 6, 1944, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel published an article that shared the “secret” of “Wesley’s power.” Three reasons existed, according to the article, which caused Wesley’s ministry to be so powerful.

First, Wesley believed that the Bible was “the very Word of God.” The Bible was the standard for everything, and he prayerfully consulted it for guidance.

Second, Wesley “preached with a living sense of divine authority.” He believed his sermons were given “by direct communication of the Spirit,” based on the Bible, and “applied logically, earnestly, passionately to the hearts of men.”

Third, Wesley “lived and preached in the presence and power of the Holy Ghost.” His deep spirituality was formed by living daily in the presence of God and by developing daily habits of “prayer and song, fellowship and meditation, study and preaching.”

Wesley taught that changed hearts should ultimately change society. He and his followers (known as Methodists) became leaders in social issues of his day, including the abolition of slavery and prison reform.

In the present era of social and family disintegration, Wesley’s admonitions point Christians back toward holiness and deep spirituality. He understood that humanity’s woes flow from the human heart, and he encouraged people to change society one heart at a time.

Read the entire article by Samuel Chadwick, “Wesley’s Secret of Power,” on page 4 of the June 3, 1944, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Direct Answers to Prayer,” by Frederick M. Bellsmith

• “Following Jesus,” by H.A. Baker

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/

This Week in AG History — May 29, 1937

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 29 May 2026

If you attended meetings in the years of the early Pentecostal movement, you might remember a summer church event that included sawdust floors, crude benches, tents, and open tabernacles. Those early tents and brush arbors have since given way to air-conditioned auditoriums and indoor plumbing, but the rousing fellowship and memorable spiritual experiences continue to ensure that summer camp meetings have a place in the life of the church.

Although the Assemblies of God has a long tradition with the camp meeting, the phenomenon predates the Pentecostal movement. It was in 17th-century Scotland that a group of Presbyterians, known as Covenanters, refused to recognize the right of the king to mandate religious conformity and were expelled from their churches. They began to hold illegal open-air meetings. Attendance at these meetings was declared a capital offense and many Covenanters were martyred for their stand.

Some fled to Ireland and along with others formed the base of the Scots-Irish immigration of the 1700s. Many eventually settled south into Virginia and the Carolinas, with a large concentration in the Appalachian region. They brought with them their tradition of the extended outdoor meeting.

It was one of these Scottish Presbyterian camp meetings in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in 1801 that brought thousands of Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists together for an outdoor meeting that featured revivalistic preaching, enthusiastic singing, and extended prayer meetings with a flood of religious enthusiasm. The revival fires of the Cane Ridge Camp meetings set off the Second Great Awakening that sparked a movement of camp meeting revivalism that shaped the course of Western American Protestantism.

By the mid-19th century, the Baptists and Presbyterians largely abandoned the camp meeting for indoor protracted meetings. The Methodists, however, began to build permanent meeting sites for the purpose of joining together with other believers for Bible teaching, extended prayer, and exhortational preaching. These camp meetings became a staple for the Holiness Movement of the later 19th century.

When the Pentecostal movement sprang out of the influence of the Holiness churches, it was natural to continue the camp meeting practice. Early Assemblies of God adherents, such as those in Wisconsin who rented Camp Byron in Fond du Lac County from the Methodist church, used these meetings for inspiration, fellowship, consecration, and response to the call of God.

The May 29, 1937, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel served as a promotional tool for many of the scheduled camp meetings of that summer. In the article, “Let Us All Go to Camp Meeting,” Evangel readers are made aware of the many district camp schedules for that year, including Wisconsin-Northern Michigan, Kansas, Virginia, Texico, Northern California-Nevada, New England, Potomac, Northwest, West Central, Illinois, Yellowstone, Arkansas, Louisiana, Rocky Mountain, and the North Central districts. Speakers included W.I. Evans, E.S. Williams, Myer Pearlman, Otto Klink, Charles Price, Ralph Riggs, Howard Carter, and many other pastors and lay preachers, both male and female.

These camp meetings were not limited to the members of the host district. The West Central District camp at Storm Lake, Iowa, reminded readers that “last year the crowd was estimated at six to seven thousand people … and we are expecting a larger crowd this year. More than half of the states in the union were represented at last year’s meeting.”

The schedule varied by district, but the one listed by the Appalachian District, held at Pentecostal Park in Bristol, Virginia, was typical: Devotional at 7 a.m., children’s service at 9 a.m., Bible teaching at 10:30 a.m., preaching at 2:30 p.m., young people’s service at 6 p.m., and an evangelistic service at 8 p.m.

While the meetings had some limited focus on certain demographics, the services were not segregated by age. Adults attended children’s services, and children attended alongside the adults. It was in these services that many children and young people were introduced to the leaders of the Pentecostal movement as they were exposed to anointed teaching in each service.

Many Pentecostal laypeople trace their first exposure to the baptism in the Holy Spirit to these protracted meetings. Ministers and missionaries testify of receiving their call to lifelong service around the altar at camp meeting. Other benefits included the tight bond of fellowship established between those who attended different churches but found lasting relationships at camp, including missionary Melvin Hodges. Not only was he was introduced to a love for Bible teaching by a camp speaker, but camp also provided the opportunity, as it did for many others, to meet a future spouse.

Although much has changed in our camp meeting presentation over the years, it remains an important chapter in our shared heritage. As the Evangel said in 1937, “It is blessed to be able to drop the daily tasks for a while and to go to some place where you can give yourself wholly to the things of God.”

Read the article, “Let Us All Go to Camp Meeting,” on page 9 of the May 29, 1937, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “How Moody Used the Power,” by Zelma Argue

• “The Result of One Day’s Travailing Prayer,” by Charles G. Finney

• “God’s Condition for Revival,” by Beatrice Pannabecker

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/

This Week in AG History — May 22, 1926

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 21 May 2026

David McDowell was part of the founding generation of the Assemblies of God. He served as an evangelist, pastor, district official, and assistant general superintendent, sharing his faith wherever he went.

David Henry McDowell (1882-1974) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up in a Christian home and was ordained with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) in Nyack, New York, in 1907. He began preaching the same year.

In 1907, McDowell attended a mid-summer convention of the CMA in Rocky Springs Park in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There were some marvelous outpourings of the Holy Spirit, and during these meetings, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit.

In August 1907, McDowell attended a CMA convention in Nyack in a barn that held over 400 people. He was scheduled to be the special speaker at one of the evening services for the young people. McDowell began speaking on Joel, chapter 2, and after about 15 minutes, he called for prayer, and the power of God fell on the audience. People swarmed to the altar, and the service lasted into the early hours of the next morning. It was there that he met Marie Burgess, an evangelist from Zion City, Illinois.

The next year, in 1908, Burgess invited McDowell to be the special speaker at the opening service of a mission she founded at 454 West 42nd Street in New York City, which was the start of what would later become Glad Tidings Tabernacle — one of the largest Assemblies of God congregations in the nation. The day was May 6, 1908, and McDowell was invited to preach each May for many years after that to help mark the beginnings of Glad Tidings Tabernacle.

McDowell was ordained with the Assemblies of God on June 29, 1914, while serving as a pastor in Tottenville, New York. He also served as a pastor in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Peckville, Pennsylvania. He served as secretary for the Eastern District Council from 1918 until 1920.

McDowell was elected assistant general superintendent at the 1923 General Council, and he moved his family to Springfield, Missouri, where he served from 1923-1929. One of the last tasks he filled in this office was to travel to Newark, New Jersey, to speak with W.I. Evans about filling the position of principal at Central Bible Institute (CBI).

Evans was serving as the principal of Bethel Bible Training School. That school was ready to close, so Evans was the perfect choice to fill the position. He was hesitant to leave the East, where he had served for many years, but after much prayer, it was decided to merge Bethel with CBI. Evans and his family moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he served for many years as principal and dean of students of CBI.

McDowell went on to serve as an evangelist and pastor in Des Moines, Iowa; Chicago; Jeannette, Pennsylvania; and Elizabeth, New Jersey. He also was pastor of the Spring Street Gospel Tabernacle in Alton, Illinois, for three years. In later years he traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada as a speaker at district and national events before he retired.

McDowell contributed a large number of articles to the Pentecostal Evangel and the Latter Rain Evangel. These included ministry reports, testimonies, and sermons. McDowell lived a full life of ministry, putting God first in everything.

Read David McDowell’s article, “Paul Preaching to Felix,” on pages 2-3 of the May 22, 1926, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Completely Cleansed,” by Arthur W. Frodsham

• “An Evangelist’s Story,” by Mae Eleanor Frey

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/

This Week in AG History —May 12, 1968

By Darrin J. Rodgers
Originally published on AG-News 14 May 2026

Colonel Harland Sanders (1890-1980) was best known for founding the iconic restaurant chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken. After he accepted Christ at age 75 in an Assemblies of God church in Louisville, Kentucky, the news of his conversion spread quickly. During the last 15 years of his life, Colonel Sanders shared his Christian testimony countless times. Fifty-eight years ago, the Pentecostal Evangel featured his story.

Sanders’ colorful life and personality earned him a storied place in American history. Young Sanders experienced a difficult childhood and home life. He began working as a farmhand at age 10, he left home at age 13, and he falsified his date of birth and joined the U.S. Army in 1906 at age 16. 

Following his 1907 honorable discharge from the Army, Sanders held a succession of short-term jobs. He worked for a railroad, a ferry line, an insurance company, and a chamber of commerce, among other businesses. He was a hard-working entrepreneur, but his temperament led to frequent personality clashes. He studied law and worked as an attorney for three years in Arkansas, but his legal career ended after he got into a courtroom brawl with his own client.

In 1930, Sanders started a restaurant located adjacent to the Shell Oil station in Kentucky that he managed. His cooking became a local sensation and, in 1952, he began franchising his secret “Kentucky Fried Chicken” recipe. Sanders became a well-known philanthropist and was given an honorary title of “Colonel” for his charitable work by the governor of Kentucky. The company grew rapidly to 600 franchises by 1963. Sanders, with his white suit and white hair and beard, helped market Kentucky Fried Chicken and became a familiar image across throughout the world.

Despite this success, Sanders felt troubled in his soul. Over the years, he had been active in church, but he had never wholly committed himself to God. He had developed a habit of cursing that had become ingrained in his lifestyle. He wanted to be free of the guilt and inner torment, but he did not know how to achieve the peace that he sought.

Then, one day in 1965, a stranger approached Sanders on the street and invited him to evangelistic services with the McDuff Brothers at Evangel Tabernacle Assembly of God in Louisville, Kentucky. Sanders visited the church and asked the pastor, Waymon Rodgers, whether God could give him an assurance that he would go to heaven, and whether God could deliver him from his habit of cursing. Rodgers responded affirmatively on both counts and led Sanders in a prayer to accept Christ. Sanders became a faithful member of Evangel Tabernacle.

Sanders frequently testified of his Christian conversion. In a 1979 interview on the PTL Club, Sanders noted that God both saved him and took away his desire to swear. Various Assemblies of God publications also featured Sanders’ testimony. In 1968, Revivaltime radio personalities C.M. Ward and Lee Shultz interviewed Sanders, which resulted in the publication of a small Revivaltime booklet, Colonel Sanders Begins a New Life.

In the Revivaltime booklet, Sanders summarized his testimony:

“You can join the church. You can serve on committees. You can be baptized and receive Communion. You can become the superintendent of the Sunday School — and not be saved. I know. It happened in my life. There I was. I didn’t have enough spiritual power in my life to keep me from cussin’. I know there is an experience of salvation. It is my personal experience today. I know I am right with God. I know my sins are pardoned.”

Forty-six years after his death, Colonel Sanders remains a larger-than-life figure in American culture. The company he founded, Kentucky Fried Chicken, continues to use Sanders’ image and life story in its marketing campaigns. But Sanders’ life represents much more than fried chicken; his story illustrates that the gospel can provide hope and new life to anyone — regardless of age or social background.

Read the article, “Colonel Sanders Begins a New Life,” on page 14 of the May 12, 1968, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Pure Stream of Christianity,” by H. Paul Holdridge

• “Paul Slept Here,” by R.D.E. Smith

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/

This Week in AG History —May 5, 1974

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 07 May 2026

Don and Virginia Corbin, Assemblies of God missionaries to Africa, both received a heritage of service to God from their parents and, through God’s faithfulness, raised their own children to serve the Lord while experiencing the joys and challenges of missionary living.

The Corbin family came into the Pentecostal movement though the ministry of two evangelist sisters, Zella and Lillian Green, when Don’s great-grandfather, Daniel Boone Corbin, received the infilling of the Holy Spirit, as did his son, John, in Couch, Missouri. John’s son, Cecil, was saved and filled with the Spirit in 1919. Cecil’s son, Don Corbin, was born in 1937 and committed his life to Christ at a youth camp service in the Southern Missouri District of the Assemblies of God during his high school years.

Meanwhile, Virginia Jones was experiencing the adventurous life of a pioneer missionary kid in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), West Africa. Her parents, Harold and Margaret Jones, met at Southern California Bible Institute (now Vanguard University) and sailed for West Africa in January of 1932. The third child in the family, Virginia, was born in 1936 and grew up speaking English and French on the savanna of Mossiland, where she developed a love for African culture and people.

Corbin later attended Central Bible Institute (CBI, later Central Bible College) in Springfield, Missouri, in the 1950s where he was admitted to Burge Hospital for an appendectomy. There he was cared for by a student nurse named Virginia, who was preparing to return to her homeland of Upper Volta. They struck up a friendship, but the relationship was stalled because Corbin showed no interest in serving in Africa.

While traveling with a CBI musical group, The Crusaders Trio, Don spent some time in the apartment of Talmage Butler, a missionary to Senegal. Butler kept the young singer up until 3 a.m. with stories of the need and open opportunities in West Africa. Before turning in for the night, the elder missionary looked at young Corbin and said, “I feel compelled of the Holy Spirit to ask you what you will do with your life, considering the great need in the world.”

Through a gradual but persistent calling, Corbin surrendered his life to gospel work in Africa. He later was able to rekindle his friendship with Virginia, who had returned to Springfield for more education after using her nursing skills in Upper Volta. This time Corbin was ready to commit his life, not only to Virginia, but also to the land that she loved.

After graduating from CBI, the Corbins took a pastorate in Covelo, California, and received ministerial credentials with the Northern California-Nevada District of the Assemblies of God. In 1964, they sailed for Senegal, a country that was particularly resistant to the Christian faith and dominated by Islam for nine centuries. They were asked to take leadership of a small church, Evangel Temple, in the capital of Dakar. It was the only evangelical church in the city of one million people. During their time there, they were able to establish the first Christian secondary school in the land and make friends with people in the Islamic government.

In 1969, they moved to Kaolack, an important market town on the bank of the Saloum River. There they started a weekly radio broadcast giving greater credibility to the Christian message. When the government wanted to establish a radio station in the interior of the country, they asked Corbin to provide programming to fill in the time gaps. Soon they were broadcasting 50 Christian radio programs a week, using African voices, African music, and African proverbs to show people that Christianity was a faith for the African people. Many tribal chieftains heard the programming and invited them to come to their village to teach more.

In the May 5, 1974, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, Africa Field Secretary Morris Williams highlighted the Corbin family in an article titled, “The Mission House.” He told of the “huge barn of a place” that had a second floor that served as a home for Don and Virginia and their four children, Cherisse, Christine, Donald (Craig), and Cathy while the first floor was a bustling headquarters of missionary activity. Williams describes their home as “a refuge for birds, monkeys, dogs, games, toys … and a place to bring your school friends on a holiday; a place warm with love and understanding where you can roam at will and let your imagination run wild. This home is a beehive of activity, and no one has time to dwell on the shortcomings of the shell.”

In 1975, Corbin became the area director for West and Central Africa with oversight of 11 countries: Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Zaire. Virginia helped to organize ministry to the multitudes of Africa women, taught in the Bible schools, and personally led all four of their children to faith in Christ.

After Morris Williams retired, Corbin was the logical choice to serve as the next field director (now regional director) for Africa. The Corbins faithfully served in this position for the next 17 years, seeing the Assemblies of God churches in Africa grow exponentially. Upon retiring in 2002, they continued to teach in the African context and travel the United States raising awareness of the need for new missionaries to carry on the work of God on the African continent. All four of their children continue to serve the Lord in education, African mission work, and in caring for their parents, now in their 80s.

When Daniel Boone Corbin came into the Pentecostal movement in the early 1900s and when Harold and Margaret Jones set foot on the shores of Africa in 1932, they could not have imagined that their grandchildren and great-grandchildren would carry on the Kingdom work that God had only begun in their lives. Continue to pray for the Corbin family, that God would raise up even yet another generation of workers in the whitened harvest fields of the world.

Read the article, “The Mission House,” on page 8 of the May 5, 1974, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Ruined Place that Became a Garden” by Ron Snider

• “Our Night of Miracles” by Medora Harvell

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/

This Week in AG History —April 27, 1975

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 30 April 2026

Stanley M. Horton (1916-2014), the noted Pentecostal author and educator, was one of the most influential teachers of laypeople in the history of the Assemblies of God. He taught at the highest level in Assemblies of God institutions of higher education and authored the standard textbook on the Pentecostal understanding of the Holy Spirit, but it was through his “side job” as a writer of Sunday School material that he yielded his broadest influence.

Horton’s Pentecostal background goes back to the Azusa Street revival of 1906-1909. His mother, Myrle Fisher, was baptized in the Holy Spirit at the meetings at Azusa Street. She later married Harry Horton, who followed Myrle’s father, Elmer Fisher, as pastor of the Upper Room Mission, located just blocks from the Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa Street. 

The family often attended Angelus Temple, the home church of Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. One of Horton’s childhood memories is being led to the Angelus Temple platform to lead in prayer for a children’s meeting. He sat on Sister Aimee’s lap until it was his turn to pray.  

Exposure to some of the early leaders and ministries of the Pentecostal movement gave Horton an inside understanding of the relationship between the development of theological ideals and their practical application to Christian living. 

From his youth, Horton exhibited unusual intellectual prowess. He graduated from high school in 1933 at age 16 and in 1937 received his undergraduate degree in science from University of California at Berkeley. He went on to earn a Master of Divinity from Gordon Divinity School, a Master of Sacred Theology from Harvard, and ultimately his doctorate from Central Baptist Theological Seminary in 1959. 

In a day when Pentecostal scholarship was considered “an oxymoron,” Horton was a rarity. While many of his peers considered higher education to be a hindrance to the Spirit’s anointing, Horton felt that God had called him to develop his intellectual abilities. If he did not fulfill that calling, he reckoned, he would be disobeying God. 

Horton went on to teach at the college and university level for 63 years and traveled the world as a lecturer until age 92. He authored dozens of books — many of which have been translated into multiple languages — and published more than 250 scholarly articles. His book, What the Bible Says About the Holy Spirit, still serves as the definitive text on the topic in seminaries and universities around the world. 

However, it is possible that his broadest influence in the Pentecostal world came through the humblest of his writings. In the April 27, 1975, issue of The Pentecostal Evangel, Horton was honored for serving as author of the Adult Teacher Sunday School quarterly for 25 years. Students in churches of every size and teachers of every level of ability would open these quarterlies each Sunday to glean a deeper understanding of biblical principles from the same pen that was writing university textbooks.  

Balancing a heavy teaching load and raising three children, the scholar would stay up late into the night, at the beginning rate of $1 per hour, to develop lessons that would take the deepest theological truths and convey them in a manner that applied to the daily lives of farmers, factory workers, and businessmen and women. Bob Cooley, past president of the Evangelical Theological Society, former president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a 1949 student of Horton’s, wrote, “If you read the adult quarterly, you can see that the lesson material grew out of an academic understanding of Scripture but was very practical . . . a technical understanding of the biblical text but a remarkable way of translating that into a body of applied theology.” 

Horton’s sacrifice of time proved to be an investment in the lives of tens of thousands of Assemblies of God laypeople who would never attend one of his seminary classes, but who were still able to receive theological training from one of the greatest minds of the Pentecostal movement — just by attending Sunday School. 

Read the article, “A/G Editors Honor Stanley Horton for 25 Years of Writing Ministry,” on page 26 of the April 27, 1975, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Unveiling the Man of Sin,” by Ian McPherson

• “Build A Bridge of Friendship,” by Marjorie Stewart

• “Navajo Trails Assembly Outgrows Its Building,” by Ruth Lyon

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.  

Pentecostal Evangel arcved ehiditions 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/

This Week in AG History — April 23, 1961

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 23 April 2026

Harold S. (1906-1970) and Margaret (Bishopp) Jones (1907-2003) were pioneer Assemblies of God missionaries to Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and South Africa. Harold, Margaret, and their three children endured hardships, but ultimately left a legacy that included a network of schools, a publishing ministry, and countless lives impacted by their service.

Margaret attended Bethel Temple in Los Angeles. At 14 years of age, after hearing a missionary tell about the Mossi people in West Africa, she felt God calling her to be a missionary to the Mossi people.

After graduating from high school, she attended Southern California Bible Institute (now Vanguard University) where she became active in the Africa missions prayer group. There she met Harold Jones, who also had a call to be a missionary in Africa. They developed a friendship, and after graduation, Harold because the district Christ’s Ambassadors (AG youth ministries) president (D-CAP) for Kansas, his home state. Later, through correspondence, he and Margaret rekindled their friendship, which grew into love. Harold took the train to California, and they were married in March 1930.

As newlyweds, the Joneses borrowed $100, bought a car, and drove back to Kansas to raise support to go to Africa as missionaries. Their first child was born in October 1931, and in January 1932 they sailed for West Africa on a freighter, along with the A. E. Wilsons, who were veteran missionaries. After 21 days, they were glad to arrive in Ivory Coast, and then five more days of travel took them over unpaved bush roads to Mossiland, which was their destination. The rest of 1932 was spent in language study, and Margaret also was expecting her second child who arrived in January 1933. He was born with the assistance of an African midwife and a French doctor at the mission station in Ouagadougou, Upper Volta.

Harold Jones’ first assignment was to Yako in April 1933. Without a car, he covered an 80-mile circuit on bicycle, often in 100-degree heat, in order to reach the main preaching centers and outstations. Times were hard. Their oldest daughter was stricken with blackwater fever but was healed after much prayer. Margaret Jones also became ill during her third pregnancy and was told that she needed to return to the United States for the birth. A Mossi woman accompanied her and the two children on a trip to the coast. Then it took a month by boat to reach New York. From there they boarded a train to Los Angeles to stay with Margaret’s parents. The third child was born in Los Angeles in September 1936, and Harold did not get to see the new baby until nine months later.

After a year of deputation to raise more funds, the Joneses and their three children left for France to study the French language. By 1938 they were back in Upper Volta, opening a new work in Koudougou. The Joneses held Bible readings and prayers and began work on a church building and a Bible school. They taught new believers to read and write in their own language, using lessons that were mimeographed in the Mooré language. After World War II, the Joneses started an Assemblies of God (Protestant) elementary school. That school was later expanded to include a high school as well as an orphanage for babies. It eventually became the center for a network of 32 schools throughout the country.

Although he was a farmer’s son, Harold had also worked as a printer in Kansas. He established a small print shop in Koudougou and trained workers how to operate the presses and other printing equipment. Later this small print shop was transferred to the capital city of Ouagadougou and became the catalyst for Assemblies of God literature ministry in all of West Africa.

The last six years of Harold Jones’ life was spent in ministry in South Africa, where he and Margaret worked with International Correspondence Institute. Harold passed away in 1970, at the age of 63. Afterwards, Margaret ministered in South Africa for six more years before retiring from missionary work.

An article in the Pentecostal Evangel featured the print shop of Harold and Margaret Jones and literature for French-speaking Africa. Funds had been provided in 1956 to build the first building in French West Africa to be used solely as a publishing house and bookstore. This came to fruition under the ministry of Harold and Margaret Jones.

In 1961, it was estimated that the Assemblies of God Publishing House and Book Store in Ouagadougou would soon “reach some 20 million people.” Scripture portions, songbooks, tracts and study books were being printed in five of the 22 French West Africa languages. Speed the Light provided the funds for the press, folding machine, stitcher, and other equipment.

Harold Jones reported: “The Mossi Old Testament has been translated and all books soon will be printed.” He was pleased to be able to say that these books and pamphlets were being printed in Africa, rather than saying “Printed in the U.S.A.” The Joneses also established the French Gospel Publishing House which was set up to print Sunday School materials, Bible studies, and youth papers and tracts in the French language all over the globe, and not just in West Africa.

Read more in “Literature for French-Speaking Africa” on page 8 of the April 23, 1961, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “Every-Day Evangelism,” by James A. Stewart

• “Witnessing Through Gospel Tracts,” by Alma Ware Crosby

• “Something Better Than Psychiatry,” by James La Valley

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/

This Week in AG History — April 12, 1964

By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 16 April 2025

Ralph W. Harris, a talented youth leader, pastor, and editor, was full of the zest for life and had creative genius which helped to shape and mold the Assemblies of God for decades.

Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Ralph William Harris (1912-2004) graduated from Central Bible Institute with bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He married Estelle Overton in 1938 and pastored churches in Michigan, Washington, and Missouri. In 1943, he was appointed to establish a national office in Springfield for the Assemblies of God youth program, Christ’s Ambassadors. The next year, in 1944, he founded Speed the Light, a highly successful youth program that gathers funds to provide transportation for missionaries.

From 1948 to 1954, Harris pastored Fremont Tabernacle in Seattle, Washington. In 1950, as a means to promote reading the Bible, he recruited 1,189 people to each hand-write a chapter of the Bible. Writers of all ages from nearly 30 denominations participated in this project to complete a large, handwritten edition of the Bible. The local newspaper provided weekly updates of the progress and even President Truman sent a congratulatory note upon the Bible’s completion.

Invited back to Springfield, Missouri, Harris served as editor-in-chief for Church School Literature from 1954 to 1976. His leadership shaped Sunday School curricula in the Assemblies of God for more than two decades. He also served as a part-time faculty member at Central Bible College for many years.

In 1983, at the age of 71, Harris took on an overwhelming project that would bring great excitement to his life. He became executive editor for The Complete Biblical Library. This ambitious project entailed the coordination of authors and researchers from around the world. He oversaw translations into Swedish, Danish, Finnish, and Dutch. The project included a study Bible, a Bible dictionary, commentaries on various books of the Bible, and was fully illustrated with photographs and drawings.

Harris was recognized in Who’s Who in the Midwest, Who’s Who in the United States, Who’s Who in Religion in the United States, Who’s Who in Editors and Writers of the World and Who’s Who in the World. He was also named Central Bible College Alumnus of the Year in 1968.

After his retirement in 1976, Harris remained active. His numerous trips to the Holy Land aided him in ultimately leading many trips to the Middle East as a tour director as well as writing numerous books about Bible lands. Harris also wrote articles for the Pentecostal Evangel, Christ’s Ambassadors Herald, Advance, Assemblies of God Heritage, and a number of other publications.

Not only was Harris led by the Spirit with creativity in his articles, but he also showed another form of creativity in drawing pictures for articles published in the Live Sunday School paper. He also wrote Now What?, a popular booklet for new converts; Spoken by the Spirit; Acts Today; Dan to Beer-Sheba, and several study guides on various topics. He and his wife, Estelle, also won trophies for their Putt-Putt golf playing. Ralph Harris was a talented individual who accomplished much.

Ralph Harris wrote a parody on the Gettysburg Address in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Assemblies of God. Read, “Two Score and Ten Years Ago,” on page 15 of the April 12, 1964, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “I Remember,” by Frank Gray

• “The True Voice of Youth,” by Owen C. Carr

• “Teens Witness to Millions,” by Lee Shultz

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

Photo caption: Church School Literature Department editorial staff, 1956. (L-r): Donald Johns, Stanley M. Horton, Ellis Martin, Dorothy Morris, Ralph W. Harris (editor-in-chief), Nicholas Nikoloff, and Mary Virginia Bryant.

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/

This Week in AG History —April 7, 1934

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg
Originally published on AG News, 09 April 2026

Marguerite Flint (1892-1963) once stated, “there are three reasons why I am a missionary. First, for my sake (because when we fail to hear the cry of the needy, we die); second, for their sakes (because millions of people in India are without Christ); third, for His sake (because Jesus died for India). There is every reason why I should be a missionary; there is no reason why I should not be.” Flint served Jesus and the people of India, faithfully, for more than 40 years, from 1915 to 1958.

Born on a farm in Ohio, Flint was raised in a strong Methodist home with a mother who dedicated her to God’s service before birth, asking God for a son that would become a minister. There was a bit of disappointment when the baby was a girl, and Flint was raised with the knowledge that “my life was planned for me, I must either be a deaconess or a Methodist preacher’s wife.” Her mother often whispered to her, “Remember always, I have given you to God. You must not be like the other girls, you are HIS.”

Although the family was Methodist, at age 8, Flint was converted in a Baptist evangelistic service and felt an earnest conviction to work for Jesus. As a young teen, she felt the need for more than she was receiving in her Methodist church and began to attend the Christian and Missionary Alliance church in Cleveland, where D.W. Kerr was the pastor. In 1912, A.B. Simpson spoke at a meeting and Flint felt a definite call to missionary work in India. In the spring of 1913, she experiencing the infilling of the Holy Spirit and left Ohio to attend Rochester Bible Training School in New York. It was there that she had a vision of Indian children, and the dream of building a Bible school for them was born.

In 1915, Flint was ordained by D.W. Kerr, who had by that time become a leader in the newly formed Assemblies of God. She was the first Pentecostal missionary to go out from their church, arriving in Uska Bazar, India, in the fall of that year. After language study in Hindi, she was asked to take care of 10 orphans at Bettiah. While praying to know God’s will for this decision, the words of Exodus 2:9 became clear to her: “Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.” Out of this beginning, an orphanage and school for more than 200 girls was begun in Bettiah. In 1919, Flint received her official appointment as an Assemblies of God missionary.

At the close of her second missionary term, Flint felt a clear calling to begin a Pentecostal Bible training school for girls and women. The Assemblies of God purchased property for a school in Hardoi and Flint developed its curriculum and served as its principal, remaining there for 24 years.

In the April 7, 1934, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, Flint gives report of a great revival taking place at the girls school. There had been a flood and an earthquake in the region that had caused many to pray for God’s help. During these days of prayer, Flint writes that “the Bible school this week has been the nearest thing to heaven I have seen in a long time … there were girls on their faces before God, girls alone in corners standing with the radiance of the holy place on their faces, girls in groups praying with the seekers, some singing in ‘other tongues’ and some groaning alone, but each pressing on to new blessing and new glory.” Classes were cancelled as the teachers and students sought God for a fresh renewal in the Spirit. Flint finished the report with the statement, “Oh, the transforming power of the Holy Ghost! How glad I am for Pentecost. We have a Pentecostal Bible school in very truth now and He is in our midst.”

When Marguerite Flint returned to the United States in 1958, the students told her, “Remember that we, whom you have trained, are going to carry on.” Hundreds of girls and women (and later boys) were trained for ministry and sent out into the cities and villages of northern India to fulfill the vision of their teacher.

In a brief sketch of her life written in 1951, Flint wrote of her mother: “My dear mother went to be with the Lord when I was 18 and grieved that her early plans for my life seemed futile. I have often wondered, does she know now that the daughter she gave to God as a baby has seen 36 years on missionary service for the great land of India? I am sure heaven will be even sweeter for her, if that be possible, for the knowledge.” Heaven is certainly sweeter, not just for Flint’s mother, but for scores of Indians whose lives have been changed for eternity because of the faithful service of an early Assemblies of God missionary who was given to God’s service in the womb of her mother.

Read the report, “Glorious Revival in India,” on page 6 of the April 7, 1934, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue

• “The Spirit of Christ,” by E.S. Williams

• “Clouds Without Rain,” by Donald Gee

• “The Man with the Withered Hand,” by Lilian Yeomans

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

This Week in AG History — April 2, 1949

By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg

Originally published on AG News, 2 April 2026

Annie Bailie (1900-1986) immigrated from Ireland to the United States with her family in 1906, settling in Pennsylvania. She served as a tireless missionary for 58 years in southern China and Hong Kong, despite imprisonment and relocation during World War II, where she trained workers and built churches that would last through the Chinese Communist Revolution.

Bailie’s parents prayed fervently that their nine children would find success and happiness in their new country, and that they would serve God wholeheartedly. When she was 14 years old, Annie, the youngest child, consecrated herself to Christ and a few years later was filled with the baptism in the Holy Spirit at a camp meeting.

Annie Bailie took a job in a manufacturing plant to earn enough money to support her real passion — ministry. While in her early 20s, she passed out gospel literature on her lunch breaks, visited local hospitals on Saturdays, helped with street meetings, conducted a prison ministry, held Sunday School in rural areas, served in a young people’s group, and attended the many services at her church. Somehow, she also managed to find time to assist her brother in his outreach to African Americans.

She felt God calling her to leave her home and travel acround the world to China. She was reluctant to go, explaining to God that she was a worker, not a preacher. She fought the inclination for several months but, in simple obedience to God, Bailie submitted herself to God’s call and boarded a ship for China on Oct. 28, 1928, sailing for the land that would be her home for the next 58 years.

Arriving just in time to experience the early years of the Chinese Civil War, Bailie spent much of her first missionary term dodging the fighting and assisting local Christians to find safe places while discipling them to put their faith in Christ.

Three years after her arrival, the situation became more difficult when Japan invaded mainland China. Bailie and those living with her slept in their clothes each night, always ready to make a quick escape to a safer place. One night, robbers came into their home and demanded money. A Chinese person living with Bailie told them that they were preachers, and that preachers did not have any money. While this conversation was happening, Ballie began to pray and soon found herself praying in tongues. This panicked the intruders and they hurriedly left with no further harm to the women.

In 1934, the Holy Spirit spoke through a Chinese believer who knew no English, speaking in perfect English with instructions to go north. Bailie moved to Pak Noi, where she experienced many fruitful years of ministry, despite the heavy fighting and bombing of the city by the Japanese army.

When non-Chinese residents were imprisoned, Bailie was able to avoid detection due to her mastery of the language, dark hair, and petite frame. A local villager, fearing retribution from their oppressors, ended up betraying her. Though she was placed in a Japanese internment camp in China, Bailie reported that her captors were not overly cruel. They allowed Chinese Christians to bring food to her and she was able to freely minister to others in the camp.

In June 1942, Bailie and other Americans were released from the camps and returned to the United States. In 1947, after the end of World War II, she returned to Pak Noi to find that the village had been leveled but that the church was rebuilding. In 1947, through joint efforts between the Assemblies of God and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, Ecclesia Bible Institute was established and began to train workers to minister to the Chinese people with the gospel of Jesus Christ and the healing of the Holy Spirit. In a letter published in the April 2, 1949, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, Bailie asked for prayer that more of the students would receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

Bailie worked freely in Pak Noi until 1949, when forced to leave due to the Chinese Communist Revolution. She entrusted the church to the care of a local pastor and moved to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, she helped to establish and operate four schools, provided scholarships to young Christians, and returned to the ministry of hospital visitation and tract distribution like she had done in her early years in Pennsylvania. Many were saved, healed, encouraged, and filled with the Spirit due to her loving ministry.

In the late 1970s, Bailie was able to return for a visit to her beloved friends in Pak Noi. She discovered that the government had recently returned the church building to the congregation, which was still being led by the pastor who Bailie had discipled and left in charge in 1949. Not only had the government returned the property, but it paid rent for the many years the church building had been used as a warehouse, giving the congregation enough money to renovate the church and to purchase Bibles for every member.

After Annie returned to Hong Kong, her health began to deteriorate. She died at the age of 86 and, in accordance with her instructions, she was buried in Hong Kong, not far from the church she started almost 40 years before.

Read Annie Bailie’s report, “In South China,” on page 11 of the April 2, 1949, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.

Also featured in this issue:

• “The Salt and Light of the World,” by Donald Gee

• “The Meaning of Spirituality,” by Myer Pearlman

• “The Promise is Unto You,” by Stanley Frodsham

And many more!

Click here to read this issue now.

Photo: Ecclesia Bible Institute faculty and students, Shatin, Hong Kong, China, 1959.  Annie Bailie is in the front row, fifth from the right.

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/