Worldwide Church of God

Baptism and Ordination of

Herbert W Armstrong

Herbert W Armstrong’s Baptism and Ordination:

Setting the Record Straight

 

 

Herbert Armstrong originally named his organization the Radio Church of God (RCG). The name was officially changed to Worldwide Church of God (WCG) in 1968. For ease of story flow in this document, “WCG” will apply below to either one of these, depending on the date involved.

 

 

During the period of Herbert W Armstrong’s leadership of the Worldwide Church of God he was very adamant about how baptisms and ordinations were to be carried out… and why.

 

The group of leaders under Armstrong in the organization—its ordained ministry—received its authority through a closed system of hierarchy. It was strongly taught that an unbroken line of Sabbath-keeping ministers existed from apostolic times to the 20th century. No one was ever allowed by God to assume a position of “authority” in the Body of Christ unless he had “hands laid on him” from someone who came before him who had had hands laid on him … by someone who came before him who had hands laid on him … ad infinitum back to the first century. (For an overview of the problems in this “theory” even going back just one century, see Worldwide Church of God Family Tree.)

 

There could be no instance of a “self-proclaimed” minister. Within the WCG, virtually every one of the hundreds of ministers around the world had been either ordained in a ceremony by Herbert Armstrong himself, or ordained by someone who himself had been ordained by Armstrong. Or by someone who had been ordained by someone … who had been ordained by Armstrong. This chain of authority was one of the central features of the organization during Armstrong’s lifetime.

 

When it came time to baptize a new believer (with the required “full immersion” baptism), not just anyone could perform the ceremony of dunking the candidate. It needed to be one of this line of ordained ministers… since the “giving of the Holy Spirit” to a new Christian was envisioned as happening right after the ceremony, when the minister “laid hands on” the new believer and prayed for him to receive that Gift. Only at that point was the new person viewed as being “begotten by God” and having the promise of the resurrection from the dead.

 

The idea seemed to be that the hands of the minister were—perhaps even literally—a “conduit” through which the Spirit was given. And thus, of course, the person doing the baptism had to have the Holy Spirit himself, so that the transfer would occur. And he needed to have the “authority” from God to dispense this gift, an authority that only came through ordination.

 

(It was never quite clarified what one should do if the minister who baptized you later seemed to have turned out to have been a hidden apostate at the time of your baptism. Did that nullify your own baptism? Did you perhaps not have the Holy Spirit after all, as you may have believed you had for years? The consensus seems to have been that in such cases God allowed a special dispensation… that it depended more on your intent at the time, than the actual status of the minister. But this kind of situation does throw a monkey-wrench in the solidity of the assumptions about how baptism “works” regarding the Holy Spirit.)

 

 

Since belief in—and  beginning observance of—the seventh day Sabbath was believed to be absolutely necessary as a “proof” of the candidate’s “repentance” before baptism, it would seem logical that only a seventh day Sabbatarian could be the conduit for this process. Within the WCG, any prospective member who had been baptized previously in a non-Sabbatarian setting, even if it had been a full-immersion baptism, was generally expected to agree to “re-baptism” by a WCG minister.

 

It is therefore interesting to look at the circumstances surrounding the baptism and ordination of Herbert Armstrong himself.

 

 

 

Armstrong’s teachings about the history of the “True Church” since the first century indicated an unbroken series of “Church Eras.” The Seven Churches described in the beginning of the Book of Revelation were each believed to represent an “era” of Church History. The current era in the mid-20th century, was designated as the Philadelphian era, and the WCG was the only True Church in this era.  Armstrong declared that the church group that was represented by the Sardis Church was the Church of God, Seventh Day (CG7) denomination with which he came in contact in the 1920s. The Book of Revelation describes Christ as warning this “Church” that it was about to die off, and needed to repent and wake up.

 

Armstrong taught that this denomination was the only organization of its time that was the remnant of the True Church of God. His wife Loma had learned of the Sabbath from a CG7 woman, and through Loma he had become challenged to study the doctrine. He was soon convicted that he needed to embrace the seventh day Sabbath.

 

He spent several years fellowshipping among CG7 people, and he eventually became a preacher in some of their congregations. In later years he insisted that he had tried to “bring new truth” to that organization, that he had understood from Bible study under divine guidance.  (This was especially about the necessity to keep the annual biblical Holy Days). And because they did not immediately embrace this new truth, it was proof that institutionally they were dead, even though some of the members—especially those who went along with Herbert Armstrong to create his own Radio Church of God—were still spiritually alive. They were thus the nucleus of the brand new Philadelphian  Era.

 

But because Armstrong made it clear in many of his writings that at first he fellowshipped among this denomination, it has been typical for WCG members to have assumed that he was baptized by a minister in the CG7. After all, that “unbroken line” of Sabbatarian ministers would seem to require that he had.

 

But this assumption is incorrect.

 

Throughout his ministry, in most of his writings, Armstrong avoided discussing any details about his own baptism ceremony, which is no doubt why assumptions about the topic grew up in the minds of many of his followers. He didn’t even include any details about it in his Autobiography, which was presented in installments in issues of the Plain Truth magazine from 1957 through 1968. Most WCG members of the 1970s and later weren’t around in 1960 when, perhaps for the only time, he wrote clearly in public material about the event. And before the Internet with its vast collection of old WCG materials available these days for public perusal, most would not have stumbled over the account shown below.

 

 

Baptism

 

 

Good News magazine, August 1960   page 4   (regarding events of 1927)

 

But I was still puzzled about water baptism. My parents, and ancestors for 200 years and more, had been “Quakers.” I had been brought up in that church, though I didn’t know much about what they believed. I did now that they did NOT believe in water baptism.

 

So I next studied that question diligently, in the Bible. I went to four preachers for help, but relied solely on the Bible for final decision. A Seventh-Day Adventist preacher seemed coldly legalistic, lacking spiritual warmth. A Church of God (seventh-day, Stanberry, Missouri) preacher didn’t want to be bothered and was insulting. A Quaker minister was friendly, but had to admit, finally, that he himself questioned his church’s doctrine on this point and only went along with it because other “holy men of God” (as he called them) in his church did. A Baptist minister had the best and clearest explanation, and was warm and friendly and, I felt, more spiritual in a sane and sensible way. So I asked him to baptize me, not into his church, but into Christ. For this I had to obtain permission from the rather august and dignified Board of the Church. On being baptized I knew God then and there gave me HIS HOLY SPIRIT!

 

 

In other words … Armstrong was not baptized by a Sabbatarian. AND—there is no mention of any process of “laying on of hands” and a special prayer regarding the dispensing of the Holy Spirit connected with his baptism.

 

If he were to have applied for membership in the WCG forty years later in 1967,

he would have very likely been required to be re-baptized!

 

 

 

Ordination

 

After his baptism, Herbert Armstrong subsequently fellowshipped and cooperated extensively with members and leaders of the Church of God, Seventh Day, in Oregon. Within two years of his baptism, he was giving sermons and leading Bible studies among several small congregations. And he wrote a number of articles for the denomination’s national evangelistic magazine The Bible Advocate.

In 1931, he was ordained.  

Thirty years later, Armstrong was adamant about how someone became a “minister” in the true Church of God. An article titled “Must God’s Ministers Be Ordained by the hand of Man?” in the January, 1960 Good News magazine, pp. 5-8,11, went into great detail explaining that God NEVER allowed someone to declare himself a minister, but ALWAYS required someone “with authority” to “ordain” anyone who would serve in a ministerial role. Jesus ordained the original Apostles, they ordained the earliest leaders in the Church, and from then on to the 20th century in every generation there were people who were part of this unbroken line.

This doctrinal position was absolutely necessary to keep order in Armstrong’s own organization. If all converts accepted this concept, it would prevent “outsiders” from coming in and “stealing sheep” from the organization.  This article was originally published in the GN of May 1954, and then reprinted again in October 1962. That would seem to indicate that perhaps, indeed, some attempts at sheep stealing may have been going on—it must have been considered a VERY important article!

 

Because one of the key doctrines of the WCG was always the observance of the seventh day Sabbath, it was also considered impossible that any true minister of Jesus Christ down through history would not be a Sabbatarian. And thus an unbroken line of Sabbath-keeping ministers throughout the past 2000 years leading directly to Herbert Armstrong was considered beyond question—even though proving this with historical documentation was always very sketchy.

 

(Click to go to the full text of the “Must God’s Ministers…” )

 

In the article HWA wrote about his own ordination ...

 

Finally, brethren, though I have mentioned it in the Autobiography, many may not realize the significance of the fact that I personally was fully ORDAINED by the laying on of hands after fasting and prayer of those in authority in GOD’S CHURCH. It was in the summer of 1931. I had held a short evangelistic campaign for the Oregon Conference, Church of God (Stanberry, Mo.), six months before, after three and a half years of receiving instruction in the Gospel from Christ, thru His written Word. In the summer of 1931 those in authority in this Church of God asked me to enter the full time ministry, starting with a tent campaign in Eugene, Oregon. And for this ministry I was ORDAINED, by fasting and prayer and lying on of hands of the presbytery -- those in authority in God’s Church. This Church is now clearly identified, in the light of carefully documented historical research, as the “Sardis” era of the Church described prophetically by Jesus in Revelation 3:1-6.

 

 

More details of this story of his ordination were told in his writings at least twice, and there are significant differences in the way he chose to “spin” the features of this event between these two. See the details in the section below.

 

 

The Autobiography

 

Herbert Armstrong began penning The Autobiography of Herbert Armstrong in the mid-1950s, and it was published in installments in issues of the Plain Truth magazine over a number of years, starting in 1957. In this original version of his Autobiography he was quite specific about the details of his ordination. In the December 1959 Plain Truth he tells the story of that fateful day.

 

In the Autobiography installment in that issue, he mentions that in the summer of 1931, the Oregon Conference of the Church of God, Seventh Day (HQ Stanberry, MO) folks had invited another minister named R.L. Taylor to hold an evangelistic campaign.

 

Taylor’s “credentials” are described by HWA only as a “former Seventh Day Adventist minister” who was a dynamic speaker. HWA notes in the 1959 version of events that it was that man, Taylor, who personally, specifically requested at a Conference meeting that Armstrong be ordained so that Armstrong could officially assist Taylor in the campaign. And in the 1959 version HWA notes that the Conference “agrees” to Taylor’s suggestion that HWA be ordained.

 

HWA clearly notes in this version that R.L. Taylor was at the ordination ceremony along with “one or two” other ministers. He goes on to describe all of the members also joining with the ministers in laying hands on him. He also specifically mentions a prayer by “one of the ministers” involved during the ceremony.

 

 

The fascinating thing about this is that, in the later bound edition of the Autobiography which was made available to all Worldwide Church of God members in 1973, the participation of Taylor in all of these events is totally minimized... and in some cases eliminated!

 

 

This is very strange, as most of the 1973 bound version, at least in this section, is just a word-for-word reprint of the old Plain Truth installments. (The section of the Autobiography that contained this description was first released as part of the bound Volume 1 of the Autobiography in 1967. Since I have not been able to find a copy of that edition on the Net, I do not know if the changes showed up first in that edition or not. The changes are in the 1986 bound edition of the Autobiography that is available on the Net. If any reader has the 1967 edition of the book and can clarify this matter, I would be pleased to be able to receive relevant information. See the Info/Contact page on the navigation bar above. It would be interesting to know how early Armstrong made these “adjustments” to his own history. I am inclined to think that he may have made the changes for the 1973 edition, rather than the 1968 edition, due to the “church politics” of the time in 1973.)

 

The 1973 version has it that it was the Oregon brethren who, as HWA puts it in this version, “wanted to team” Taylor up with Armstrong... the erroneous implication (at least in respect to the way HWA portrayed it himself in 1959) being that it was the brethren’s suggestion that this happen, rather than that Taylor requested it.

 

Everything in this section is word for word the same as the 1959 version... until the sentence that talks about the brethren wanting to “team them up.”  Taylor’s specific request is no longer mentioned at all.

 

 

When it comes to the section on the ordination itself, the half sentence that mentions Taylor being there, and the other ministers being present, has obviously been just “edited out” for the 1973 version of the Autobiography. Before and after that section, the passages are word for word the same. But the sentence as it stands in the bound edition just remarks about the brethren laying hands on him.

 

 

And when it comes to the point of the “other minister” praying during the ceremony, that half sentence also is missing in the bound version. Again, everything else in the surrounding passage is identically word-for-word between the two versions of the Autobiography. Thus there is no mention of any “ministers” being present at the ordination ceremony in the bound version.  

 

 

What is particularly poignant about this omission is Herbert Armstrong’s choice of wording. The original, written in 1959, says, “The meeting was being held outdoors. I do not remember where—except it was in the general rural area of Jefferson. I do not remember other circumstances, except that one or two other ministers were there in addition to Elder Taylor.”

 

Yet fourteen years later, with the original right in front of him to “jog his memory,” he states bluntly, “The meeting was being held outdoors. I do not remember where—except it was in the general rural area of Jefferson. I do not remember other circumstances.”  Period. Full stop. With the text of the original in front of him mentioning Taylor and the other ministers, from which he is copying 99% of the content of this Autobiography entry, he claims he is unable to remember anything else about the event. Including, of course, the prayer by one of the ministers.

 

For someone who peppered his whole autobiography with alleged word-for-word dialogues from thirty and more years in the past, it is amazing that he can’t remember this aspect of what he describes in the same passage as the “the most momentous event of my entire life.” He was able to remember explicit details of conversations he had when he was a teenager, but not even able to remember that a minister gave a prayer at his ordination—with the fact in print right before his eyes!

 

See the appendix at the bottom of this page

to see the changes just as they appear within the original text.

 

Obviously, we cannot “read the man’s mind” and know exactly what he was thinking when he made these revisions. But it surely appears from this extremely unusual “editing job” that he intended to minimize the role any other minister had in his “calling.” That way it would appear that it was just God laying it on the hearts of some brethren to ordain him and launch him on his own ministry... rather than that he was “recruited” by a man as an “assistant” for a specific evangelistic campaign in a small town in Oregon.

 

This might make it seem too much like he was in some way accountable to that man—especially since within the Worldwide Church of God that certainly was true. The man who had the “authority” to ordain you was obviously over you in the hierarchical structure.

 

Evidently he had changed his mind since his insistence in the 1960 Good News article about the extreme importance of the fact that he had been ordained  … “by fasting and prayer and lying on of hands of the presbytery -- those in authority in God’s Church.”

 

At the end of the description of his ordination, in both versions, he noted the following:

 

And let it be made plain here: I was ordained by, and under the authority of, the Oregon Conference of The Church of God, separately incorporated, not by the Stanberry, Missouri, headquarters.

 

He made this same basic claim numerous times to the members of the Radio Church of God/Worldwide Church of God over the years. It was obvious to most that the purpose of the claim was to indicate that the “central organization” was not “God’s Church” and thus he was never a part of it and never “left” it. He always spoke and wrote of only being connected to what he portrayed as a local, “totally independent” group identified as the “Oregon Conference of the Church of God, Seventh Day.” But his claims ring hollow next to the documentation of the time. For, in fact, he was at one point part of the national leadership of a branch of the Church of God, Seventh Day.

 

 

Robert Coulter Comments: A Different Perspective

Minister Robert Coulter was at one time the president of the Church of God, Seventh Day. He was an early associate of Herbert Armstrong back in the 1930s. In 2008 he gave a presentation to a group of former Worldwide Church of God members in Texas, followed by a Question and Answer session, addressing some of the history surrounding Herbert Armstrong and his relation to the CG7. Below are excerpts from a report on that meeting from the Journal—News of the Churches of God newspaper.

 

[Mr. Coulter said,] “When Mr. Armstrong received a ministerial license from the Oregon State Conference, he was receiving it by the authority of the general conference, because the Oregon State Conference, even though it was incorporated locally, was actually authorized and operated under the auspices of the conference whose headquarters at the time was Stanberry, Mo.

“So either he was ignorant of that or did not want to admit it. That’s the only explanation I have for that.”

Although Mr. Armstrong “gives the impression” in his autobiography that by 1933 he had severed all ties with the CG7, “here is something that I don’t think is revealed,” Mr. Coulter began.

He said Mr. Armstrong was a close associate of Andrew N. Dugger [co-author of Dugger and Dodd’s History of the True Church]and that Mr. Armstrong looked upon Mr. Dugger as a mentor.

In 1933 Mr. Dugger “led a rebellion in the Church of God (Seventh Day)” after failing to gain office during a conference of August 1933. “On Nov. 4, 1933, Andrew Dugger and several colleagues organized a separate conference at Salem, W.Va., to compete with the conference at Stanberry, Mo., which was the original one organized in 1884.”

Mr. Dugger and friends tried to create the illusion that the new Salem headquarters was the legitimate successor to the original organizers of the CG7, Mr. Coulter said.

“As evidence, [Mr. Dugger] used the name General Conference of the Church of God, and he issued a volume of the magazine that carried the same volume and number as the magazine that was published in Stanberry, Mo.”

… “Now, on Nov. 4, which was a Sabbath, 1933, a group of men, members, gathered in Salem, W.Va., and they had prayer and so on, and they wrote 140 names of different ministers and prominent laypeople in the church, both in the United States and places abroad. There were names from Mexico, Norway and other countries which were placed in a box.”

The gathered members entreated God and drew names for the board of 12 and the board of 70. Among the 70 was the name of Mr. Armstrong.

Then they voted on who would serve on the board of seven.

The Salem conference sent to the 70 men a form letter for each man -- including Mr. Armstrong -- to fill out and return.

The form letter read in part:

“Dear Brethren: I am anxious to begin the ministry which has fallen to me by lot in the body and am determined by the help of the Lord to live and to teach the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus as found in the holy Scriptures, and as outlined in the constitution of the Church of God with world headquarters in Jerusalem, Palestine. Will you please record my acceptance and have a credential issued to me according to my ministry in the Body.”

Mr. Armstrong returned his copy undated to 1142 Hall St., Salem, W.Va., marked to the attention of the office of the “Salem church.”

The significance of all this, said Mr. Coulter, is that the Salem conference offered Mr. Armstrong a credential and Mr. Armstrong accepted it, “which means that they considered him to be a member of the church. Notice the words ‘Church of God with headquarters in Jerusalem, Palestine.’”

Clean and unclean

Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Coulter continued, did not receive his credential immediately because “there were some ministers in the Salem organization who needed to have him clarify his position on the clean and unclean foods.”

When Mr. Armstrong replied that he believed in abstaining from unclean meats for health reasons but not because he believed eating unclean meats was a sin, the conference issued his credential.

Mr. Coulter gave a summary of several reports Mr. Armstrong sent to conference officials:

 He sent a report dated March 23, 1936, describing the completion of six weeks of meetings at the Eldridge School House 12 miles east of Eugene, Ore.

 He reported he was broadcasting on a radio station out of Eugene.

 He sent word of a successful tent meeting at an unnamed location.

 He reported in September 1936 broadcasting on radio regularly and making plans to hold a campaign on the Pacific coast of Oregon.

 He reported March 22, 1937, that he had expanded his radio work by adding three stations, which now covered the entire Willamette Valley.

 His report dated July 12, 1937, indicated that he was holding an evangelistic campaign in Eugene.

 

It was the leadership of this church group, with HQ in W. Virginia, that rejected his teaching about the annual Feasts, and withdrew his credentials in 1937 because of it. Robert Coulter describes the situation surrounding that circumstance:

 

Between receiving his ministerial credentials in November 1933 and the spring of 1937, Mr. Armstrong began to advocate the observance of “the annual Hebrew festivals,” Mr. Coulter said.

Since the CG7 had never taught the need to observe the festivals, church leaders decided to convene a conference in Detroit, Mich., May 5-10, 1937, to discuss them.

“They invited [Mr. Armstrong] to come to that meeting and explain his position on the observance of the annual Hebrew festivals.”

Mr. Armstrong didn’t attend, but he did send a long article to be read at the conference to explain his position.

Mr. Coulter’s childhood pastor and mentor, the late Kenneth H. Freeman, was the man the ministerial body of the conference selected to read Mr. Armstrong’s statement.

“It was probably quite a lengthy document, from what I understand,” Mr. Coulter said. “Elder Freeman told me he read the document and after he got through reading it some of the other ministers accused him of supporting Elder Armstrong’s position ... He read it with such feeling.”

Mr. Freeman responded that he was not supporting Mr. Armstrong’s position. Rather, he was trying simply to do a good job of reading the statement.

The ministers at the conference discussed Mr. Armstrong’s statement and decided to “ask Herbert Armstrong to cease and desist from teaching in the future the observance of the Hebrew festivals.”

However, Mr. Armstrong continued to teach that Christians should keep the feast days.

“So the ministerial council then revoked his credentials in the spring of 1938, and that ended his relationship with the Church of God (Seventh Day).”

Mr. Coulter concluded that Mr. Armstrong was an active minister of the Salem branch of the CG7 from 1933 to 1938.

 

 

Comparison

 

PLAIN TRUTH   December 1959 p. 9  excerpt from article:    Autobiography of Herbert Armstrong   

 

[This version is interspersed with the changed sections that vary that are in the bound edition of the Autobiography. The bound edition’s paragraphs are indented and in red. Within the black PT version, words, phrases, or sentences that were left out to make the bound version are highlighted blue. Words, phrases, or sentences added to the bound version are highlighted blue within the red passage. A complete copy of the excerpt from the bound version is appended on the end.]

 

 

In early summer of that year [1931] a former S. D. A. minister, a Robert L. Taylor, came to Oregon from California. It was practice among these Church of God people to hold all-day meetings about once a month. It was at one of these meetings that Mr. Taylor preached. We were all quite impressed. “He’s a better preacher than any of the leading ministers from Stanberry,” seemed to be the common exclamation. Indeed we were all rather “swept off our feet” by his preaching.

 

After a few weeks, the brethren of this “Oregon Conference,” which had been formed the preceding November, wanted Elder Taylor to hold an evangelistic campaign. They were becoming anxious to see a little “life” in the work of the Church.

After a few weeks, the brethren of this “Oregon Conference,” which had been formed the preceding November, wanted to team Elder Taylor with me to hold an evangelistic campaign. They were becoming anxious to see a little “life” in the work of the Church.

 

They found Elder Taylor very receptive to the idea. By this time a modest balance had accumulated in the new Conference treasury. You will remember that the object in forming this State Conference was to create a local state treasury and keep their tithes and offerings in the state, instead of being sent to Stanberry, Missouri. These were days of rapidly descending economic depression, but several of these brethren were vegetable gardeners. They were doing very well financially.

 

“Brethren,” said Elder Taylor, “I will be glad to undertake this evangelistic campaign, and I suggest holding it in Eugene. But I want to request that Brother Armstrong be put full time into the ministry, and join me in the campaign. We can speak on alternate nights, and the one who is not speaking can lead the song service.”

Elder Taylor said he would be glad to undertake this campaign with me, suggesting it be held in Eugene—for reasons I was to learn later. We decided to speak on alternate nights, the one not speaking to lead in the song service.

 

This was hardly persecution from this minister. But then, he was new among us. He was not one of the “Stanberry” ministers. There was plenty of opposition and persecution to come. The members of the Conference agreed instantly with Mr. Taylor’s suggestion. I had been well liked and loved by these brethren. In fact, I always continued in the affection of the lay brethren except when, later, other ministers got to them behind my back in my absence.

 

ORDAINED Christ’s Minister

 

Mr. Taylor’s suggestion meant a complete change in my life. In former years the idea of becoming a minister was the very last thing I should have wanted to do. But by June, 1931, I had been preaching a great deal for three and a half years. By this time my whole heart was in it.

 

Being ordained and entering the ministry full time meant a complete change in my life. In former years the idea of becoming a minister was the very last thing I should have wanted to do. But by June, 1931, I had been preaching a great deal for three and a half years. By this time my whole heart was in it.

 

I had come to see, at the Seattle salesmen’s convention, that this aluminum sales job was not permanently compatible with the Christian life. I was unable to adopt some of the high pressure methods which the top-ranking salesmen employed. I knew I could never make more than a bare existence for my family. And anyway, by this time I think I recognized that God had called me to His ministry. I had remained in this aluminum sell- ing only because I realized I was acquiring valuable knowledge about food and diet, and the causes of sickness and dis- ease. But now I had devoted a year to this study. There was no point in continuing.

 

The decision was not difficult. God had now brought me to the place where I really “heard” the voice of Christ as if He were saying, “Come, and follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men.”

 

It was decided by the officers of the Conference that on the next all-day meeting I was to be ordained, so I could join Elder Taylor in the campaign in Eugene.

It was decided by the officers of the Conference that on the next all-day meeting I was to be ordained.

 

I shall never forget that moment of my ordination. The meeting was being held outdoors. I do not remember where-except it was in the general rural area of Jefferson. I do not remember other circumstances, except that one or two other ministers were there in addition to Elder Taylor.

The meeting was being held outdoors. I do not remember where—except it was in the general rural area of Jefferson. I do not remember other circumstances.

 

But I do remember the ordination itself. It was one of those once-in-a-life- rime experiences like being married, and being baptized. Only this seemed to me to be the most momentous event of my entire life.

 

Not only the ministers present, but all the brethren-as many as could get their hands through to my head-laid their hands on me-on my head, my shoulders, my chest and my back.

All the brethren—as many as could get their hands through to my head—laid their hands on me—on my head, my shoulders, my chest and my back.

 

I am sure it was the weight of the experience, from a spiritual and emotional standpoint, rather than the physi- cal weight of hands and arms-but it seemed 1 was entirely weighted down with the heaviest load I had ever stood up under, as one of the ministers asked God in prayer to ordain me into the ministry of Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

I am sure it was the weight of the experience, from a spiritual and emotional standpoint, rather than the physical weight of hands and arms—but it seemed I was entirely weighted down with the heaviest load I had ever stood up under.

 

To me this was symbolic of the tremendous responsibility that now came down on my head and shoulders. And let it be made plain here: I was ordained by, and under the authority of, the Oregon Conference of The Church of God, separately incorporated, not by The Stanberry, Missouri, headquarters.

 

 

Autobiography    bound edition 1973

 

R. L. Taylor Arrives

In early summer of that year [1931] a former S.D.A. minister, a Robert L. Taylor, came to Oregon from California. It was practice among these Church of God people to hold all-day meetings about once a month. It was at one of these meetings that Mr. Taylor preached. We were all quite impressed.

“He’s a better preacher than any of the leading ministers from Stanberry,” seemed to be the common exclamation. Indeed we were all rather “swept off our feet” by his preaching.

After a few weeks, the brethren of this “Oregon Conference,” which had been formed the preceding November, wanted to team Elder Taylor with me to hold an evangelistic campaign. They were becoming anxious to see a little “life” in the work of the Church.

They found Elder Taylor very receptive to the idea. By this time a modest balance had accumulated in the new Conference treasury. You will remember that the object in forming this State Conference was to create a local state treasury and keep their tithes and offerings in the state, instead of being sent to Stanberry, Missouri. These were days of rapidly descending economic depression, but several of these brethren were vegetable gardeners. They were doing very well financially.

Elder Taylor said he would be glad to undertake this campaign with me, suggesting it be held in Eugene—for reasons I was to learn later. We decided to speak on alternate nights, the one not speaking to lead in the song service.

This made it necessary that the Oregon Conference ordain me to the ministry.

ORDAINED Christ’s Minister

Being ordained and entering the ministry full time meant a complete change in my life. In former years the idea of becoming a minister was the very last thing I should have wanted to do. But by June, 1931, I had been preaching a great deal for three and a half years. By this time my whole heart was in it.

I had come to see, at the Seattle salesmen’s convention, that this aluminum sales job was not permanently compatible with the Christian life. I was unable to adopt some of the high pressure methods—in the interest of the salesman’s commission, but not in the customers’ interest—which the top-ranking salesmen employed. I knew I could never make more than a bare existence for my family. And anyway, by this time I think I recognized that God had called me to His ministry.

I had remained in this aluminum selling only because I realized I was acquiring valuable knowledge about food and diet, and the causes of sickness and disease. But now I had devoted a year to this study. There was no point in continuing.

The decision was not difficult. God had now brought me to the place where I really “heard” the voice of Christ as if He were saying, “Come, and follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men.”

It was decided by the officers of the Conference that on the next all-day meeting I was to be ordained.

I shall never forget that moment of my ordination.

The meeting was being held outdoors. I do not remember where—except it was in the general rural area of Jefferson. I do not remember other circumstances.

But I do remember the ordination itself. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences like being married, and being baptized. Only this seemed to me to be the most momentous event of my entire life.

All the brethren—as many as could get their hands through to my head—laid their hands on me—on my head, my shoulders, my chest and my back.

I am sure it was the weight of the experience, from a spiritual and emotional standpoint, rather than the physical weight of hands and arms—but it seemed I was entirely weighted down with the heaviest load I had ever stood up under.

To me this was symbolic of the tremendous responsibility that now came down on my head and shoulders.

And let it be made plain here: I was ordained by, and under the authority of, the Oregon Conference of The Church of God, separately incorporated; not by the Stanberry, Missouri, headquarters.

 

 

Unless otherwise noted, all original material on this Field Guide website
is © 2001-2011 by Pamela Starr Dewey.

Careful effort has been made to give credit as clearly as possible to any specific material quoted or ideas extensively adapted from any one resource. Corrections and clarifications regarding citations for any source material are welcome, and will be promptly added to any sections which are found to be inadequately documented as to source.

 

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