Mary Weems Chapman’s passport photo, 1921. This Week in AG History — April 18, 1925 By Darrin J. Rodgers Originally published on AG-News, 18 March 2024 When veteran missionary Mary Weems Chapman (1857-1927) felt God’s call to return to India, her family told her she was too old. But she persevered and became the first Assemblies of God missionary to South India. A veteran Free Methodist missionary before identifying with the Pentecostal movement, Mary was well-known in Holiness circles for her preaching, teaching, and writing. But she was perhaps best known for her advocacy of ministry to girl ..read more

This Week in AG History–April 5, 1953 By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg Originally published on AG News, 04 April 2024 Frederick Martin Lehman (1868-1953) was a German-born hymn writer, pastor, and publisher who accepted the message of the Pentecostal movement after many years as a holiness preacher. His songs encouraged congregations to press in to holiness and consecration. One of them, “The Love of God,” is consistently listed as one of the great sacred songs of the 20th century and has been published in hundreds of hymnals and translated into scores of languages, yet his Pentecostal connection ..read more

This Week in AG History–March 30, 1969 By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg Originally published on AG News, 28 March 2024 When Clement Le Cossec (1921-2001) was growing up in Brittany, a province in northwest France, his mother warned him, “Be careful! If you are not good, the [Roma, formerly known as] Gypsies will come and steal you away!” Frightened, Le Cossec promised his mother he would be good, so that he would never have to live with the Roma. Yet, God had a plan for him, and when this French pastor died in 2001, more than 2,000 Roma from across Europe attended his funeral, mourning the loss o ..read more

This Week in AG History — March 19, 1927 By Glenn W. Gohr Originally published on AG News, 21 March 2024 Amanda Benedict (1851-1925) is remembered as a fervent prayer warrior and one of the early participants in the Pentecostal movement in Springfield, Missouri. When she died, Assemblies of God leaders credited her prayers for the success of the local congregation and national ministries located in the city. When Benedict moved to Springfield around 1910, she was 60 years old and had already served the Lord with distinction in a rescue home for girls in Chicago and in a faith home for c ..read more

This Week in AG History — March 10, 1974 By Glenn W. Gohr Originally published on AG News, 14 March 2024 Raymond H. Hudson (1918-2010) is remembered as a faithful pastor, evangelist, district officer, and Assemblies of God National Office executive. His final appointment was general treasurer of the Assemblies of God. He was highly esteemed by his colleagues. General Secretary Joseph R. Flower said, “Brother Hudson’s gentle demeanor and infectious wit and sense of humor, combined with a depth of spirituality, have made inroads into the hearts of all with whom he has had contact.” Hudson ..read more

This Week in AG History — March 4, 1951 By Darrin J. Rodgers Originally published on AG-News, 07 March 2024 In 1950, an Assemblies of God congregation of lepers in New Hope Town, Liberia, caught the vision of missions and desired to help those who were less fortunate than themselves. On Christmas Eve, they took up an offering of $2.65, which they sent to the Leper Home of Uska Bazaar in North India. Assemblies of God missionary Florence Steidel (1897-1962) wrote a letter recounting the sacrificial spirit of the congregation. The letter, published in the March 4, 1951, issue of the Pentecosta ..read more

This Week in AG History–February 26, 1938 By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg Originally published on AG News, 29 February 2024 Beulah Buchwalter (1907-1942), an Assemblies of God missionary in Gold Coast (now Ghana), served from a place of weakness made perfect in God’s strength. Despite needing rest, she volunteered during World War II to stay an additional term without furlough since no one was able to travel to take her place in Africa. When she died at age 34, she left behind the resources needed for an entire people group to read the Bible in their own language. Born into a minister’s home in ..read more

This Week in AG History–February 18, 1979 By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg Originally published on AG News, 22 February 2024 Loren Triplett, with his wife, Millie, invested their lives in ministry — first as pastors, then missionaries, and even after Loren served as director of AG World Missions, they continued their passionate quest to see the lost won to Christ. Loren O. Triplett (1926 – 2016), the son of pioneer Pentecostal church planters, led the Assemblies of God into world-wide growth as director of its world missions efforts. He lived by the motto: “You don’t measure yourself by your succ ..read more

This Week in AG History–February 17, 1923 By Ruthie Edgerly Oberg Originally published on AG News, 15 February 2024 Lilian B. Yeomans (1861-1942), a Canadian physician, became one of the most prominent healing evangelists in the early Pentecostal movement. Her remarkable ministry resulted from her own deliverance from the downward spiral of drug addiction. After she found spiritual and physical healing in the power of Jesus Christ, she committed herself to introducing others to the “Great Physician.” The daughter of a Civil War surgeon, Yeomans was born in Ontario to a nominal Anglican f ..read more

This Week in AG History — February 8, 1976 By Darrin J. Rodgers Originally published on AG-News, 08 February 2024 Opal W. Eubanks joined the Mississippi Highway Patrol during the race riots of 1964. A large, broad-shouldered white man, he relished the opportunity to strike fear in the hearts of African-Americans who were in trouble with the law. By his own admission, he was a foul-mouthed sinner who liked “rough stuff.” A radical conversion to Christ in the early 1970s altered the course of Eubanks’ life, and his hardened heart became tender toward African-Americans in his rural community. He ..read more