FOR GOD AND COUNTRY. by Marilyn A. Hudson

In June of 1943, Joseph Goebbels gave his famous speech declaring the inevitable victory of Nazism. On the other side of the world, several groups of the IPHC were uniting to provide ministry, support, and a different type of victory to the vast numbers of men going into the war effort.

Prior to the war the denomination had adopted a pacifist stance, but as the dreadful war toll mounted after Dec. 7, 1941- and its force was felt in nearly every home in America - many attitudes changed (Synan, V. Oldtime Power, pg. 210).

The Rev. Samuel J. Todd, whose heart had been moved to do something, had already applied to the War Department for the Chaplaincy Corp (the IPHC's first chaplain was Lt. J. Vinson Ellenberg, quickly followed by Thomas E. Myers, Julius W. Green, Freeman Mashburn, and EL. Shirey, Synan, Oldtime Power, pg. 210). Then Todd was approached to head a "Service Men's Commission." He realized quickly that here was an equally great opportunity to minister to thousands of men in the American armed forces.

The Service Men's Commission requested the youth groups (called societies) join with the Home Missions Department and the Evangelism Department to develop a coordinated effort. The Commission board was comprised of: J.A. Synan, H.T. Spence, T.A. Melton, W.W. Carter, B.R. Dean, G. H. Montgomery, T.L. Aaron, J.W. Butler, Byron A. Jones, Virgil Gaither.Operating under the umbrella of the new Home Missions Department, the new commission was introduced via the pages of the P.H. Advocate: "We believe that this present world situation affords our church one of the greatest opportunities…to be a blessing to many young men in the armed forces… and we must take advantage of this opportunity…" (Advocate, June 17, 1943; pg. 7).

By November of that same year, Samuel Todd was already distributing a 4-page newsletter to service men. The November and December the pages of the Advocate were full of testimonies by men whom the new ministry had been able to connect with, and positively impact, in most perilous times.

by Marilyn Hudson, Author & Historian
Director of Library Services, Southwestern Christian University

DATEBOOK: OUT OF A YEARNING HEART TO HELP THE CHURCH

May 10-1944 Women’s Auxiliary formally organized in NC Conference, Lila Berry elected 1st Pres. Originally a “preacher’s Wives Club”.

Lila Berry, remarking on the first organization of Pentecostal Holiness women in May 10,1944, noted: “A small group of women (and nearly as many men) met in the historic little church in Falcon…I hardly think any of us knew just what we wanted , but out of a yearning heart to do something to help the church and a determination to find our places in God’s great harvest field, we met….” (Campbell, J. The Pentecostal Holiness Church, 1898-1948; pg.388-389). The first group was organized under the conference leadership of W. Eddie Morris in Falcon, N.C. and their first speaker was T.A. Melton. (Synan, Old Time Power, pg. 214). The first leader was Mrs. Lila Berry who set her sights on expanding the new outreach across the denomination and did so in the General Conference of 1945. The ministry touched a cord and provided a new and vital means of ministering to P.H. women – but to also reach out and impact their communities and the world.

WOMEN WITH THE GOOD NEWS

Another new work being added is - WOMEN WITH THE GOOD NEWS: The Rhetorical Heritage of Pentecostal Holiness Women Preachers - by Dr. Kristen Dayle Welch

Order from Amazon.com (click title for link) or direct from CPT Press.

The first book to share interviews with women preachers of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC), Dr. Welch explores rhetoric, gender, and religion in the biographies, autobiographies, and histories that detail what it means to be a Pentecostal woman preacher in Oklahoma. Archival materials provide a picture of Pentecostalism years before Oklahoma became a state in 1907, and a transcribed interview with the former Presiding Bishop of the IPHC, James Leggett, gives a contemporary view of what it means to be Pentecostal in the 21st century. A Christian scholar who grew up in the IPHC, Dr. Welch draws upon the field of rhetoric to use Jim Corder's theory of generative ethos to illuminate the way identity is constructed on individual, collective, and spiritual levels. She shows the role place plays in the development of faith and character in her chapter "We are of this Place: Oklahoma and Ethos." She concludes the book with an honest look at the administrative levels of the IPHC and ends with a note of hope for the future.

AUTHOR:Kristen Dayle Welch (PhD, University of Arizona) is Assistant Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center at Longwood University, Farmville, Virginia, USA.

Dr. Stanley Horton Donates Work to Collection

Dr. Stanley M. Horton, recognized as a pivotal shaper of pentecostal theology in the 20th century, has graciously donated a copy of the biography written by Lois E. Olena with Raymond L. Gannon with a Foreword by George O. Wood.

Stanley M. Horton is well known and respected as a gifted leader—a history-maker whose impact will be felt on future generations forever.

Discover how God used his writings and teachings to affirm the doctrinal destiny of Pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God in the twentieth century and up to the present. You’ll enjoy the adventures and miracles of his childhood set against the backdrop of early Pentecostalism. You’ll also learn how he went on to unite passionate faith and disciplined scholarship in a beautiful balance.

Leaders young and old will be inspired by the humble grace of this faithful servant of Christ. Paper.

RECENT DONATION

A person wishing to remain anonymous has donated the funds for this book to be added to the PRC. What a treat to add this book, by a one time interim president of the institution, to this growing collection.

AN EYEWITNESS REMEMBERS THE CENTURY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Dr. Vinson Synan.

Premier Pentecostal historian Vinson Synan shares for the first time his engaging personal assessment of and involvement in the extraordinary events of the last 100 years that gave birth to the charismatic and Pentecostal movements. Because of his unique position and participation in most of these events, Synan offers a rare and fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the phenomenal events that took place when the Holy Spirit fell at Azusa Street; the subsequent formation of the Pentecostal denominations; the surprising birth of the charismatic renewal; the emergence of charismatic Catholicism; the Toronto Blessing; and beyond.

FEATURED TITLE: Heaven Below

Grant Wacker, academic from Duke University, has written Heaven Below. In this lively history of the rise of pentecostalism in the United States, Grant Wacker gives an in-depth account of the religious practices of pentecostal churches. He also provides an engaging picture of the way these beliefs played out in daily life in both positive and negative ways as people struggled to establish 'heaven below'. Utilizing numerous primary resources, the work details both the scope and diversity of the early Pentecostal movement but also the common threads of faith and vitality the movement embodied.

R.O.CORVIN

Dr. R.O. Corvin was born in Ada, Oklahoma and was the first president of Southwestern Christian University (then called simply Southwestern Pentecostal Holiness College). He served from 1946 to the 1960's when he left to head up the School of Religion at the new Oral Roberts University. During this time period ORU's School of Religion functioned as the recognized theological seminary for the Pentecostal Holiness Church (now the IPHC).

After leaving ORU, he established several modular and correspondance training programs and wrote over 90 lessons which continued to impact leaders and church members the world over.

His books, thesis, and dissertation, including most of his training manuals from his correspondence programs, are in the SCU Pentecostal Research Collection.

His Educational Background:

B.A. Newberry College

M.A. University of South Carolina

Th.B. Holmes Bible College

B.D. Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary

D.R.E. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Ph.D. University of Oklahoma

Books In The PRC Collection at Southwestern Christian University:

David and His Mighty Men * (1950)

A Survey of Southwestern Christian University* (1956) 

Looking at the Future Through the Eyes of Daniel* (1973)

Religious and Educational Backgrounds in the Founding of Oral Roberts University* (1967)

Faith and Action of Old Testament men: New Testament Men, Great Women of the Bible, Theology and Morals,... *(1981)

Corvin, R.O. David and his Mighty Men. Eerdmans, 1950

Other Sites:

http://www.bible-ebooks.com/page5.html

THOMAS AARON, A.B., B.D.(1897-1951)

Thomas Aaron served as the President of King's College after the school moved to Kingfisher and followed as the second President of King's College (Dr. George Ryder) and was followed in turn by Clarence H. Williams (1930-1935). Aaron had degrees from Oglethorpe University, Atlanta Theological Seminary, and Holmes Bible and Missionary Institute. In 1933 he was chosen to take the helm of Emmanuel College from G.F. Taylor. The Georgia campus would be home for many years, til ill health caused his retirement in 1949. Yet, for a short time he led a growing school on a 120 acre campus in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma and left a legacy that would lead to the development of Southwestern College in 1946.

EARLY PENTECOSTAL SCHOOL PAVED THE WAY FOR SCU

A persistent myth has been that pentecostals are anti-education. The image above serves to illustrate that this was far from the case for many segments of the pentecostal movement. The value and import of a good education was firmly rooted in some groups and regions. The difference was that pentecostals also desired a strong and vital spiritual environment to support and nuture students in the process.

In 1928-29 the above image appeared in the "King's College, Illustrated Catalog". King's College had been started in Checotah, Ok in 1925 and continued there until the school moved into the vacated, Kingfisher College, located just outside Kingfisher and they operated there from 1927 to 1935. Dan W. Evans was instrumental in the development of a Pentecostal Holiness school in the region. In 1925 the school opened in Checotah, named for pioneer preacher and leader, Bishop J. H. King. King had been a leader first in the Fire Baptized Holiness Association and in Oklahoma as early as 1906.

In 1926, the school moved to Kingfisher with only about 100 students but by 1928 they had over 300 and had to turn away as many as 100 due to lack of space. Aaron was aided in his role as President by Dan T.Muse, Dan W. Evans, Lycurgis Lynch, Dr. George Ryder and others. In 1930, Clarence Williams took over the helm as leader and served in that role until the school closed in the middle of the Great Depression.

The curriculm served K-12 and offered course tracks in Business and Theology (including foreign missions). Music instruction was a highlight with a band, orchestra, classes in brass, strings, piano, guitar, vocal and other skills.

[SCU Archives; "One Nightclub and a Mule Barn: (2006)]

VIRTUAL EXHIBIT: 'A.A. ALLEN PRAYER CLOTH' pamphlet

[From the private collection of M.A. Hudson]

THE LIBRARY IN PENTECOSTALISM: PART 1

THE LIBRARY IN PENTECOSTALISM: TWO OKLAHOMA INSTITUTIONS, PART 1. MARILYN A. HUDSON, MLIS.
(2009)

The Christian School Movement was instrumental in providing a model and impetus for the development of library collections in private educational institutions by the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In broad strokes the usual progress of academic libraries, including those in the Bible School movement, progressed through five basic phases: The Reference Shelf, The Doctrine Center, The Warehouse, The Resource Center, and the Information Center.

In the Reference Shelf phase, the focus is on the study of the Bible as primary text and a life in pastoral, missionary, or other Christian service work. In this stage of development the institution saw themselves largely as a people of the book – one book, the Bible. Classes were often limited to the Bible text and lecture notes. The required library resources were limited to dictionaries, atlases, histories, commentaries, or language studies supporting that more narrow focus. The “library” might be a shelf in a common room, an office, or the hallway of a dorm. The chief goal of this stage was praxis oriented. Spiritual workers were crucially needed, so people must be equipped, and sent out in mission to reach the world. This was an acquisition of a minimum set of skills for one specific purpose and seldom included a broad educational experience. Most Pentecostals viewed education as too close to the ‘cold’ formalized churches out of which many early Pentecostals had come. Few Pentecostal groups, notes author Grant Wacker, even required any education for recognition as a minister until after the first twenty years.

In the next phase, Doctrine Center, the development of the library often focused on limiting materials to a particular doctrinal viewpoint, publishing house, or set of authors for the reinforcement of the guiding philosophy or theology of the school as ministry vocational centers. In this stage the school, and Its library, establishes a place in its world. Similar institutions are looked at, comparisons made, and need for higher quality education recognized to better fulfill its mission.

Many of the schools were seeking after religious, state, or national accreditation to expand or enhance their influence in the Warehouse Phase. Collection develop was ‘by the pound’ with book drives, donation emphasis, and other open door gifting policies. During this time period, for example, the North Central Accreditation process focused more on the quantity of materials in a library as opposed to the quality of the collection and this allowed growth by book counts to guide the development of some libraries. In this phase, general education courses became more important as schools broadened to include junior college offerings. The library has assumed the form of a library, sometimes with professionally trained staff, policies, and services. In this phase, non-librarians made many of the administrative decisions, with faculty or committees sometimes exercising more control as to collection development or budget than the “librarian" Lingering from the Doctrinal phase is often an emphasis on control of the information, views or ideas presented.

Expanding programs and new technologies converged to create new mediums of learning and information storage in the technology boom of the 1960’s. Nationally, this phase occurred as science-fiction became fact with the increased use of books on tape, televised instruction, films, overhead projectors, tape recorders, microfilm readers, and main frame computers such as the IBM 357 and the IBM 1401. This heady introduction of technology, where some even envisioned instruction without classrooms, created the “Resource”, “Media” or “Learning Center” phase.

Books were, it was believed ,old fashioned, outmoded, and soon to be obsolete in the bright Utopia of a technologically rich future. A “library” was musty, old books in dark gothic library ivory towers of knowledge and its tradition as a ‘book-based’ warehouse had no place in the modern age. The future was student-directed, automated, and on demand and this trend would emerge again with the rise of personal computers and forecasts of a book and paperless future. This phase did produce a false dichotomy based on format and threatened to curtail the influence of the library as a vital part of the learning environment.

Technology advanced at an accelerated pace, challenging everyone to keep up with changes in methods, philosophies, concepts, practices, and functions. The computer moved from the large storeroom where it had shuffled raw statistics and records onto the desktop. The library reasserted itself as an “information center” incorporating a variety of new and emerging formats and as much an idea as a physical place. The library was an integral part of a serious academic institution and one crucial to the primary goal of an education program. The library was a frontrunner in the access, delivery, use, and preservation of information in a world where paradigms shifted daily and innovation left educators breathless.

In this phase libraries identified the need for ‘information literacy’ to replace the old standby of ‘bibliographic instruction’. It was no longer sufficient to show students where the ‘tools’ of information were but to also instruct them in the effective and ethical use of the data once it was found. The ongoing challenges of microcomputers, instant messengers, digitization, and a myriad of emerging technologies insure the role of information managers to broker access, retrieval, organization and use of information in the future while holding to the timeless values of the written word and personal interaction.

THE LIBRARY IN PENTECOSTALISM: PART 2

The Library in Pentecostalism: Two Oklahoma Institutions. By Marilyn A. Hudson, M.L.I.S. (2009)

[in process]

The British journalist, Holbrook Jackson, once wrote, “Your library is your portrait” and those words are indeed true. The place of the library in education is a strong barometer of the character and ability of a group to not merely exist but thrive.

As early as 1906, the Pentecostal movement had educational efforts in Oklahoma. In Beulah, Beckham County, Emmanuel Bible College was established as holiness school but became Pentecostal after 1907 and until the school closed in 1910. The annual conference of the Pentecostal Holiness Church met at the Delmar Gardens in Oklahoma in 1913 and from that, the Stratford Pentecostal Holiness School was established. The school in southern Oklahoma opened in 1914 but after a severe storm in 1915, the school closed soon due to a storm that destroyed the building. A school in Wagoner, near Seminole soon followed but also closed. In 1924, in Checotah Kings College opened, soon moved to Kingfisher, and closed in 1935 . Although, most of the institutions were elementary and high school in scope, they provide the foundation upon which later institutions would build.

Southwestern Pentecostal Holiness College/ Southwestern Christian University
Despite Oklahoma being one of the strongest centers of the Pentecostal doctrine west of the Mississippi, higher education for ministry meant several years in Georgia where the only denominational school existed. Several young Pentecostal men, including Oral Roberts, R.O.Corvin, C.H. Williams, Sam Greene, C.E. Neukirchner, Paul Finchum, L.E. Turpin, and many others, had a dream of a school in Oklahoma. These men had strong ties to Oklahoma and shared an entrepreneurial streak. They were representative of a new and younger brand of leadership emerging in the movement and in society.

The original Southwestern Pentecostal Holiness College opened in 1946 in Oklahoma City with a library of some eight hundred books, mostly from the private collection of the president.
For a time the books were located in a corner of the remodeled barn known affectionately as ‘McGrew Hall.” The first librarian was also the campus counselor, Noami Watts, but Marie Ellis (Mrs. Clayton Ellis) soon joined her. Mrs. Ellis would serve the campus longer than anyone else associated with the library.

As the college experienced rapid growth in the early 1950’s, the meager collection and space were sorely taxed. In 1953, Oral Roberts, evangelist, Southwestern College Board Member, occasional faculty, and one of the co-founders of the institution, arranged the donation of $70,000 for construction of a combined library and administration building.

Growth continued as the school pushed toward its original mandated target of becoming a junior college to service the denomination. Local community clubs hosted book drives and the collection grew in volumes if not in content. In 1966, following a donation of $50,000 from Mrs. Zula Light of Rolla, Kansas, the doors of the new Light Library opened. The New facility the Irwin Learning Resources Center added 15,000 square feet to create a multi-media resource center (with studio, private learning rooms, and distant learning equipment) and the much expanded library.

Oral Roberts University
The Library of ORU opened September 1965 with some 60,000 volumes and plans to add as many as 500,000. In addition, the facility would be home to a unique special collection devoted to works from around the world on the Holy Spirit. Although largely known at the time as an evangelist with his own large ministry, Oral Roberts was a member of the Pentecostal Holiness Church until he joined the Methodist Church in 1968. In 1966, the Pentecostal Holiness Church even named the ORU Graduate School of Theology as the official Pentecostal Holiness seminary, however, when Roberts left the denomination this was revoked.

At the time of its opening and first few years, the school and its library were firmly in a Pentecostal perspective. ORU was an example of planned development with results that were truly a showcase of that day and today. Implementing many innovations of the time, in both library services and education, it was a noteworthy development.

The library, reflecting a new view, was imbedded in a larger learning resources center. That concept included specialized areas for using the latest technology to assist learning. As was common at the time resources, were viewed and arranged by their format. As a result, a library held only books and could therefore not hold the new technologies. A new term was needed, one that would better reflect the new, space-age, modern, and progressive developments. When ORU opened it touted an emphasis on the new “Programmed Learning” approach and included on demand film, audio, electronic tutoring. Discussion or study groups, in addition to the traditional book based library resources, made the library a mode. This would change in the subsequent information revolution as the library redefined itself but the ill-defined ‘learning resources’ concept would linger on.

They are the books, the arts, the academes,
That show, contain and nourish all the world.
- William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost

Sources:

Holbrook, Jackson, http://thinkexist.com/quotation/your_library_is_your_portrait/208916.html,
Hudson, et all. One Nightclub and a Mule Barn: The First Sixty Years of Southwestern Christian University. Tate, 2005.
Hudson, et al. One Nightclub and A Mule Barn: The First Sixty Years of Southwestern Christian University. Tate, 2005.
Yearbooks, Southwestern College and Oklahoma City Southwestern College, SCU Archives, 1946 to 1976.
“School Launches $1 Million Program of Advancement.” The Oklahoman (Jan. 8, 1963)12.
“College Gets $50,000 Gift.” The Oklahoman (March 24, 1966):29; “City College to Dedicate New Library.” The Oklahoman (Nov. 17, 1966):52. Oral Roberts University Outreach (2:2, Spring 1965): 8.

HIS EYE IS ONE THE SPARROW

DEC. 2008 / HEADLINES FROM HISTORY

“HIS EYE IS ONE THE SPARROW”

K.E.M. SPOONER was born Jan.8, 1884 in Barbados to an Anglican family. He died in the Rustenburg Hospital in Africa 28 February 1937.

He was in NYC in 1906 when God impressed on him the message, ”I want you to go to Africa.” This had not been in his plans but a woman he had meet sought him out and said she felt God was calling him to Africa. He promised to pray about it but still not convinced he attended services at the Gospel Tabernacle and an elderly woman came to him and told “Young man God wants you to go to Africa.” “It shocked me so, I could not reply. I went home praying and presenting my inabilities to God….I asked…He should let me know through some one else.”

The next day an elderly man and repeated the words of the women, “Young man , God wants you to go to Africa.” Within days, someone had moved on his behalf to arrange schooling to train him for service. Although, eager to go to Africa now, the time was not right and he admitted that he needed the lessons. “Had I gone to Africa without this most valuable training, I would have been an absolute failure.”

A series of miracles helped the Spooners to clear their debts and pay for the trip to Africa. His wife Geraldine Malista had said echoing the Bible: “Where you go I go.” The day they sailed a woman laid a bundle of bills. ‘All things are possible to him that believeth!” he said in praise as they boarded. “And do it was that,” he recounted, “on December 11, 1914, we left New York for England on our way to Africa.” He arrived in Africa in January of 1915

In1922 he, along with Mr. Rhodes, and native workers organized the South Africa Conference of the Pentecostal Holiness Church. He was elected Assist, Superintendant and served from that time until his death.

In his obituary in the “Rustenburg Herald” he was called a “mediator between two races….a good citizen who was held in esteem by Europeans…and loved and respected by all natives who knew him.” His favorite hymn was “His Eye Is On The Sparrow.” His life as a pioneer Pentecostal of African descent, as pioneer Pentecostal Holiness Missionary, and as a man with a heart for God gave witness that, indeed, God’s eye was on the sparrow because, “he watches over me.”

SOURCES:

Spooner, Kenneth E.M. A Sketch of Native Life in South Africa.
Spooner, Geraldine M. (Mrs. Kenneth),A.E. Robinson, and P.F. Beacham. Sketches of the Life of K.E.M. Spooner, Missionary, South Africa.