OKLAHOMA PENTECOSTALISM: THE BLUE FRONT SALOON MISSION

The Blue Front Saloon was located at the corner of Grand Avenue and Santa Fe (7 Grand Avenue) in downtown Oklahoma City.

When it was established has yet to be discovered. It was mentioned as a wild locale in a newspaper account dated 1904. It was well known as a part of the rowdy "Hell's Half Acre" of Oklahoma City. Gunplay, gambling, prostitution and crime were rampent. The area had swiftly developed from its founding in 1889 and the town was filled with brick and morter structures within months of its birth. The saloon was described as being fronted by broad windows normally covered by blinds.

In 1906 a revival began in far off Los Angeles that would have a direct impact on the life of many in Oklahoma. An African American holiness minister would begin a series of services in an old warehouse that would cross denominational, gender, and race lines in promoting a spiritual experience bringing the Book of Acts alive to a new century. These people sought redemption and experienced signs and wonders akin to the Biblical examples. People from across the nation who had been ardently seeking deeper spiritual experiences when to California to see first hand what was happening there. Some were shocked and left and others were certain that as Amie Simple McPherson would later say, "This is that", this was the experience the prophets had foretold. Those believed spilled out across the land sharing the vital new message of renewal and renewed spirituality.

In 1907 the notorious but now closed saloon was leased by two Holiness ministers and became the Blue Front Saloon Mission. In August of that same year the two men, R.B. Beall and O.C. Wilkins received what was known as the 'baptism of the Holy Spirit' and spoke in other tongues. In November 1907, a well known prostitute, Martha Fleming aka "Old Zulu," received a spiritual experience in a meeting there and was baptized the next day in a nearby river. This is significant because it reveals that the racial barriers broken in California were also being done away with in early Oklahoma. Early day Oklahoma was in the larger society very racist due to a high number of southerners who had transplanted before and after the Civil War.

It became one of the first pentecostal churches in the central United States. Although no known photo of the saloon has been found, it may have looked like the saloon in Carnegie dated at about 1900. Unidentified photo.
In about 1907-08 it was being pastored by Rev. H.P. Lott. He had been in a revival in Billings, Ok in 1905 when one of the earliest recorded instances of speaking in tongues and the classical Pentecostal experience occurred in Oklahoma.

Under Lott's leadership the mission expanded to include a rescue home for 'wayward women'. This was a common outreach by churches and civic groups in a time when girls and women were often seduced and abandoned in a society that was often unforgiving of such falls from a moral high ground. The local prostitution business also sometimes used deceptive means to renew their 'stable' of workers. Young, naive girls coming to the city for the first time were often easy targets to lure into the trade or to assault and coerce into working in one of the houses or, as they were coyly called, 'resorts.'

Some Sources:
McGill, Albert. Satan Came Also. 1955
Paul, Harold. Dan T. Muse: From Printer's Devil to Bishop. 1975

W.H. TURNER: 2,000 YEARS OF PENTECOST

2,000 Years of Penteost
by W.H. Turner
In the “foreward” , Turner states a hope that similar small books will become a useful literature tool for Pentecostal evangelism. This brief book, one of many written by Turner, was about sixty-two pages and was used in his own travels as a speaker and evangelist.
The topics covered were surprisingly broad and the coverage quite inclusive indicating a wide reading of both history and religion. The chapters were “Pentecost in the Promises”, “Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles”; all cover the basic New Testament verses dealing with the birth of the Church and the arrival of the promised “Comforter” who provided motivation to the disciples in the book of Acts.
“Pentecost in the Post-Apostolic Age” covers several notable instances of deeper spiritual experiences among the Early Church Fathers and other leaders. “Pentecost in the Middle Ages”, examines the spiritual experiences of the Waldenese and the Albigenese, the Medicant Friars, the Quakers, and the Methodists. “Pentecost in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries”, continues by looking at Thomas Walsh, Martin Luther, Vincent Ferrer, Edward Irving and the MacDonalds. “Pentecost in Modern Times”, explores the Holiness roots of the Pentecostal movement and the early Tennessee, Kansas, and California origins. It also touches on leaders in other cultures, including Pandita Ramabi of India. “Pentecost in the Region Beyond” details the work across the globe.
The Turners served as missionaries to China for many years. They were interred for almost 2 years by the Japanese in World War II and that adventure is chronicled in other of his writings.

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

THE SEASON OF REVIVAL

Spring Time of the Soul: April's Revival History

Across the expanse of IPHC history the month of April stands out as a beacon of spiritual work.

April 14, 1906 the meetings began in Los Angeles in the Azusa Street Apostolic Mission. A year later on the front page of "The Apostolic Faith" newsletter, testimonials of experiences from around the globe burst out like colorful spring buds after a long spiritual winter.

One writer was the noted IPHC minister, F.M. Britton writing from Alvin, SC: "My wife and I have been in six wonderful meetings of late in which quite a number of saints have received the baptism with the Holy Ghost and all spoke with other tongues. Backsliders are being reclaimed and some honest souls being converted, quite a lot of sick ones being healed, and also many demon possessed persons are being delivered in Jesus' name from the power of Satan. Glory be to God!" {Source: Like as of Fire: a reprint of the old Azusa Street Papers, collected by Fred T. Corum, published 1981.) In those early years, revivals in Alabama, Tennessee, and elsewhere all blossomed in April.

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

THE STRATFORD (OK) PENTECOSTAL HOLINESS CHURCH

The Stratford Pentecostal Holiness School
(1913-1915)
Today, Stratford in south central Oklahoma is famous for vast peach orchards that make it the Peach Capital of Oklahoma. In the early years of the 1900’s another type of seed was planted in the fertile minds and hearts of the people living there.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the history of the IPHC is that, like the Methodists and the Holiness groups before, there was an appreciation for education from early days. Although depicted in popular novels and films as being uneducated or little more than simpletons many early Pentecostals knew the value of education. These people, in various parts of the country, were some of the earliest and most vigorous promoters of schools and training.

In 1913, the annual conference of the Pentecostal Holiness church met in the picturesque Delmar Gardens in Oklahoma City. There, in one of the lovely Victorian pavilions, W.D. York, who had continued to promote education,[1]spoke on behalf of the idea of a Pentecostal Holiness School in Stratford, Oklahoma. The address motivated the 251 members present that day to raise over seven hundred dollars for the school.

The Stratford school opened for its first term on February 24, 1914. It was a first through eighth grade grammar school with plans for a high school. Its faculty consisted of Dan W. Evans and Rexie Evans. The Board of Trustees included James Patterson, W.D. York, Dollie York, M.L. Dryden, and L.F. Menser. The York and Evans would figure prominently in the development of the IPHC in the heartland regions.

The dream was not to last long, however, by 1915 the school was closed down by an invasion of what early Bishop Dan T. Muse termed “unscriptural teaching” that had arrived in the area. The teachings were declared to be both “unscriptural” and “erroneous” in both the 1913 and 1914 annual conference meetings.[2] In this time period it is known that many Pentecostal groups were fleshing out what they believed about sanctification and this may have been the nature of the problem at Stratford.

Whatever the nature of this theological conflict, it was serious enough that the school soon closed. A short time later it was so destroyed in a severe storm that no thought of rebuilding was possible. Once, however, on a cold February day, a dream of solid and Christian education bloomed in the heart of the heartland and in the IPHC leaders who lived there.

----Source, adapted from the book One Night Club and a Mule Barn: The 60 Years of Southwestern Christian University History. (Mustang, OK: Tate Publishing, 2006).
[1] York, Advocate, pg. 5. In this article, York indicates that he sent for Dan Evans to come and teach at a school in Ong, Oklahoma and that then Evans was in Stratford in 1910-1912. The IPHC Archives has an early flyer and postcard for the school.
[2] Oklahoma Conference Minutes, 1913-1914; Historical Sketches by Dan W. Evans; referenced in papers of Dan T. Muse in the SCU Archives. An excellent volume covering the probable nature of the theological dispute is “The Rejected Blessing” by Jim Kerwin (Minneapolis: OTC, 2003.) The issue may have been an understanding of the nature of sanctification in the life of the believer.

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

PIONEER DECISIONS

Change is hard and produces some of the most deeply felt resistance and stress of any actions a person or organization can experience. Change, is however, a vital aspect of growth and its absence a sign of problems. In this cold winter time we can recall one episode where pioneer leaders faced the fear of change and followed God's guidance.

January 31, 1911 in a small octagon shaped chapel called the Little Tabernacle of Falcon, two groups met to give the final word on a plan of consolidation between the original Pentecostal Holiness Church and the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church.

From the heartland came 32 Fire-Baptized Holiness people: F.M. Britton, G.O. Gaines, J.J. Carter, M.D. Sellers, H.P. Lott, E.D. Reeves, C.M. Wheeler, Mrs. F.M. Britton, J.H. Blake, S.D. Page, C.O.Daniels, Howard Sellers, Ralph Taylor, A.E. Robinson, J.H. Inman, J.M. Howell, J.H. Spain, J.T. Crumpler, J.A. James, M.H. Israel. From the east and the Pentecostal Holiness came six: A..H. Butler, G.F. Taylor, J.A. Culbreth, R.B. Jackson, J.T. Herring, and B.B. Pleasants. Nearly all are names that loom large in any study of the Pentecostal movement in North America. Many are names that can be found in the pages of the early newspaper of the 1906 Azusa Street Revival of California.

Lamps had burned into the late hours of the 30th as the assembled parties gathered night before, one in a school and one in a private home. The crisp southern air of the North Carolina night was taut with the sense that something momentous was occurring, something unprecedented in the new Pentecostal Movement. Visionary leaders and praying people had arrived at the idea in 1909 that their two groups, so alike in major beliefs and history, should come together as one stronger group. It was inspiring as men and women laid aside egos, vanity, and their own desires to seek and follow the will of God. To boldly step onto a new level of existence and ministry as the 20th century began.

As the document of government and belief was signed, the two groups broke out into song. As "Blest Be The Tie That Binds" soared through the little tabernacle the presence of God's spirit was strongly felt and long remembered. "Heaven descended, and the "old-time" power filled the place…" wrote A.E. Robinson (Synan, pg. 123). These groups could have clung to their identities, their individualism, their separate groups, but they recognized and responded to the call of the Spirit to take the next step in a future filled with many more important decisions.

--Sources:
Bundy, V. Mayo. A History of Falcon, North Carolina. Walsworth, 1980.
Campbell, Joseph. A History of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, 1898-1948. PHC, 1951.
Synan, Vinson. Oldtime Power: A Centennial History of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. LifeSprings, 1998.
by Marilyn Hudson, Author & Historian
Director of Library Services, Southwestern Christian University

CONVOY OF KINDNESS

There is a story from the end of WWII of a statue of Christ in a European city and where once the figure of Jesus had stood in the city square with hands outstretched, the bombs had left mere stubs. When asked why the town did not replace the hands, they said it was a reminder that Christ has no hands but ours.

In the late 1940's the women of the IPHC were organizing , and while some forecast this move would lead to nothing but "gossip fests", the women were quick to show, however, that they were able organizers with a heart for meaningful ministry. One of the first targets of the women was the Falcon Children's Home (North Carolina), soon to be followed by other benevolent ministries, such as the Carmen Home (Oklahoma). Dependent on sometimes sporadic support the women wanted to "remember the orphans."
For about the first ten years this covey of kindness made its way to the orphanage. Called a "cavalcade", "caravan", and "parade" the term "Harvest Train" developed later, coinciding with the "Feast of Ingathering" held on the denominational campuses.

In 1958 Charles Bradshaw wrote in the IPHC Advocate "…I realized that they too were aware of the fact that their pantries and storage rooms were full only when friends who love them came and brought supplies." (Oct. 28, 1958, pg. 5) during the Thanksgiving season it should be recalled that it is a time when its traditional spirit of national thanksgiving calls to each Christian to be the hands of Christ.

Sources: IPHC Advocate; Synan. The Old-Time Power, (1986); IPHC Helping Hand (Nov. 1956, pg. 1).

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

SPIRITUAL LEADERS PROMOTING A SPIRITUAL PROGRAM

A Christian…can learn mathematics, for example, from a teacher who is not a Christian; and truth is truth however learned. But while truth is truth however learned, the bearing of truth, the meaning of truth, the purpose of truth, even in the sphere of mathematics, seem entirely different to the Christian from that which they seem to the non-Christian; and that is why a truly Christian education is possible only when Christian conviction underlies not a part but all, of the curriculum of the school.
~ J. Gresham Machen, in Education, Christianity, and the State. (Jefferson, MD: Trinity Foundation, 1987. page 81).

From earliest days, the IPHC considered education and a well-trained ministry of great import. Its early leaders were all men who were trained and capable. They had a goal of balancing quality education with the vital spiritual energy of Pentecost.

The great IPHC leader G. H. Montgomery noted in 1938 that, “Education is bound to come in for more and more prominence in our ranks…Spiritual leaders will promote a spiritual program. We cannot afford to commit spiritual suicide by opposing education. Neither can we afford to let anything take the place of the Holy Spirit in the church and our ministry…” PH Advocate (Feb. 3, 1938).

Articles appeared, by S.N. Greene and others, noting the need for ministerial training and education for the creation of a clergy of which churches need not be ashamed. R.O. Corvin later added, “No denomination will rise above its highest educational institution….If we want a growing, spiritual…church, we must have a school of higher learning with those characteristics…”Advocate (July 26, 1945). A year later, Montgomery was pondering, as were many in that time period, “Do We Need a Seminary?” Advocate (Feb.15, 1946).

In 1966, the denomination had its first seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The General Conference finally named the program at ORU as the official PH Seminary but, with Roberts leaving the denomination in 1968, the celebration was short lived. (Synan, Old Time Religion ).

In 1987, the dream of a Graduate School arose seriously once more as Jack Goodson and IPHC leadership began a plan to unify the education program of the denomination. This dream was further realized with the appointment of Dr. Garnet Pike as Dean of the I.P.H.C. Graduate School in 1992. In September of 1993, the denominations first graduate school opened its doors on the campus of Southwestern Christian University. It allowed students to become part of a milestone in denomination history. The school offered a Master of Ministry focusing on practical equipping for successful ministry and taught by some of the finest leaders in the country. The impact of the program on ministers has proven true the words of G.H. Montgomery “…Spiritual leaders will promote a spiritual program.”

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

CHARLES EDWIN JONES - AUTHOR AND RESEARCHER

Charles Edwin Jones has held archival, library, and teaching positions at the University of Michigan, Houghton College, and Brown University.
He has also written:
-Perfectionist Persuasion
-A Guide to the Study of the Holiness Movement
-A Guide to the Study of the Pentecostal Movement
-Black Holiness (Scarecrow, 1974, 1983, and 1987).
No studies into the holiness, pentecostal or charismatic movements of the 19th and 20th centuries would be complete without referring to the vital work of this researcher.

THE GENTLEMAN OF GOD: J.H.King (1869-1949)

On July 1, 1900, a young minister named J.H. King, aged 31 years, then member of the Fire-Baptized Holiness Association of the United States and Canada was elected by unanimous ballot to be the new General Overseer. This group, with mission and evangelist work in the central and western United States in 1911 would became part of the pedigree of the present IPHC.

J.H. King was born in 1869, converted in 1885 and soon felt a definite call into the ministry. He served as a Methodist minister until he united with the Fire-Baptized Holiness Association in Royston, Georgia in 1898. Early works in Oklahoma and elsewhere would bear strong fruit years later as the “full gospel” Pentecostal Holiness Church emerged from the seeds planted under his leadership in the FBHA. His well-noted humility, intelligence, education, and leadership qualities would mean that he would be chosen to lead the new merged organization of the Pentecostal Holiness Church.

He added to the doctrinal development and instruction of the church through writings that have become classics in Pentecostal history: Passover to Pentecost (the first hardback published by the IPHC), Christ: God’s Love Gift, and Yet Speaketh: a memoir. His legacy was a strong, yet humble, spirit, a deep faith, and excellence in leadership and integrity.

Bishop King’s life was an example that God will use those who dedicate themselves, prepare themselves, and then make themselves available to God’s will. Shortly before his death he was quoted as saying, “One thing I know; I will not die unless it is God’s will for me to go. If I die, I know that it will be God’s will for me now.” Bishop J.H. King, a Gentleman of God, died as he had lived: following the will of his Creator.

For more information, see also Campbell, Joseph. The Pentecostal Holiness Church (1951) and King, J.H. Yet speaketh (1949).

by Marilyn Hudson, Author & Historian

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.