Source Notes

The Story of The Wesleyan Church

 

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                                                                      Chapter 1

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12        For a description of the service of merger and the merging general conference, see The

Minutes of the First General Conference of The Wesleyan Church: Uniting Conference for the Pilgrim Holiness Church and the Wesleyan Methodist Church into The Wesleyan Church.  See also The Wesleyan Advocate, July 15, 1968.

 

12        The bodies they represented had met to adjourn for the last time: Minutes of the Thirty-third General Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America, 1968; Minutes of the Twenty-sixth International Conference of the Pilgrim Holiness Church, 1968. See also The Wesleyan Advocate, July 15, 1968, 14-15.

 

15        There are many lives of John Wesley in print.  A sound treatment can be found in Kenneth Collins’ A Real Christian: The Life of John Wesley (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999).

 

17        For Charles Wesley, see Assist Me to Proclaim: The Life and Hymns of Charles Wesley

            by John R. Tyson (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007).

 

19        For Francis Asbury, see John Wigger’s American Saint: Francis Asbury and the

            Methodists (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).

 

21        Tuesday meetings: Melvin E. Dieter, The Holiness Revival of the Nineteenth Century,

            Second Edition (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1996), 22-23.

 

21        The Shorter Way: Ibid., 23-32.

 

22        The Methodist Episcopal Church was the largest in the nation: John Corrigan and

Winthrop Hudson, Religion in America , Seventh Edition. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004), 142.

 

22        By 1860 every third church member in America was a Methodist: David Hempton,

            Methodism: Empire of the Spirit (New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 2005), 109, says that was true by 1850.  Among evangelicals, Methodism accounted for more than half (Nathan Hatch, “The Puzzle of American Methodism” in Church History 63 [June 1994], 178).

                         

 

 

                                                                Chapter 2

 

 

25        In 1791 he wrote to William Wilberforce: John Wesley, Works, Third Edition (Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press, 1978 reprint of the 1872 edition issued by the Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, London), 13:153.

 

25        Buying or selling the bodies and souls: Lucius Matlack, The History of American

Slavery and Methodism (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971 reprint of an 1849 publication), 33.

 

26        Methodist leaders reluctantly reversed themselves: The steps of compromise are

discussed in detail in Donald Mathews, Slavery and Methodism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965), 11ff, 26, 52, 62ff.

 

27        I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation: The entire article is reprinted in Wendell Phillips Garrison and Francis Jackson Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879: The Story of His Life, Told by His Children, I (New York: The Century Co., 1885), 225.

 

27        A presiding elder (district superintendent) from New England named Orange Scott: His biography, The Life of Rev. Orange Scott (Freeport, NY: Book for Libraries, 1971 reprint of an 1847 publication), was written by his abolitionist colleague and fellow-seceder from Methodism, Lucius Matlack.  For a summary treatment, see “Orange Scott: A Church is Born,” the first of eight biographical pamphlets of Wesleyan leaders written by Lee M. Haines for a denominational heritage emphasis.

 

28        Many expected that he would one day be a bishop: the statement about Scott in Mathews, Slavery and Methodism, 122, is typical of many others.

 

28        He subscribed to The Liberator: Lucius Matlack, Orange Scott, 75. 

 

28        A reckless incendiary: Ibid., 99.  See also 103.

 

28        His amendment was voted down: Ibid., 99.

 

29        The bishop removed him from his post: Ibid., 109-110.

 

29        He accepted an invitation to become one of The Seventy: Scott spent 1837-39 as

antislavery agent/lecturer for Garrison’s American Anti-Slavery Society (Ibid., 121ff).  When Garrison later went so far as to reject the U. S. government itself and to refuse to work for change within the political system, Scott was passionate in his disagreement and broke with Garrison over the controversial new approach.

 

30        It would be a sin for them to remain: The comment was made by Scott at Andover and

            quoted by Luther Lee in Matlack, Orange Scott, 212.

 

31        The self-described seceders: Luther Lee’s Wesleyan Manual begins, “The Wesleyan

Methodist Connection was at first comprised primarily of seceders from the Methodist Episcopal Church.”  Wesleyan Manual: A Defence (sic) of the Organization of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection (Syracuse, NY: Samuel Lee, Publisher, 1862), 7.

 

31        We take this step after years of consideration: True Wesleyan, January 7, 1843, 1.

 

31        Scott also published a book:  The rather full title of the later edition was The Grounds of Secession from the M. E. Church, or Book for the Times: Being an Examination of Her Connection with Slavery, and Also of Her Form of Government.  By O. Scott.  Revised and Corrected. To Which is Added Wesley Upon Slavery (New York: Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America, 1848).

 

31        The separating congregation in Utica, New York: True Wesleyan, March 18, 1843,

            44.

 

31        There appeared an announcement of a convention: True Wesleyan, January 14, 1843, 7.

 

32        They issued the expected call for a second convention: True Wesleyan, April 22, 1843, 62.

 

 

 

Chapter 3

                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   33        Pegler’s background is described in Autobiography of the Life and Times of the Rev.             George Pegler, Written by Himself (n.p.: published for the author, 1875), 17-22, 194-209.     On Pegler’s acceptance of the Utica pastorate, see p. 400.

 

34        Smith ‘s suspension is recorded in Matlack, History, p. 277, and referenced on p. 319.

For the full “ecclesiastical guillotine” letter, see Matlack, 281.

 

34        Prindle, who offered the first prayer in the denomination’s history: True Wesleyan, June 10, 1843, 90.  Prindle’s years of service as publisher and editor are recorded in Ira F. McLeister and Roy S. Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment (Marion, IN: The Wesley Press, 1976), 325.  (See pp. 50ff for narrative.)

 

34        Utica’s rudimentary Discipline: Pegler, p. 419.  Pegler implies that Utica’s Discipline was “in a crude condition” because the “mass-convention” tended to function as a committee-of-the-whole.  Time constraints hindered quality in that initial effort as well.

 

35        For description of the attendance at Utica, see Pegler, 406-07.  The actual roster of delegates is listed in Matlack, History, 334-35.

 

35        On 6,000 charter members, see Matlack, History, 338, 344.

 

35        The range of denominations at Utica is described in Pegler, 407.

 

36        On Scottites, see Mathews, “Orange Scott: The Methodist Evangelist as Revolutionary” in Martin Duberman, ed., The Anti-Slavery Vanguard: New Essays on the Abolitionists (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965), 96.  One example of name-calling was in Zion’s Herald, where the editor said the “True Wesleyans” were actually representatives of a “false Wesleyanism.”  The slur is mentioned in Jotham Horton’s reply in The True Wesleyan, Nov. 16, 1844, 182.

 

36        Our moral rules distinguish us most: Lee, Wesleyan Manual, 156.

 

37        Wesley’s antislavery commitment was stressed in The True Wesleyan, January 7, 1843, 2. 

 

37        Luther Lee explained his concept of a “connection” in his Wesleyan Manual, 155-56.

He emphasized the congregational slant of the design, even though it didn’t follow a true congregational model (157).

 

37        Orange Scott’s expressed preference for “Wesleyan Methodist Church”:  Ira F. McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 34.

 

38        Elementary Principles – Compare the 2008 Discipline of The Wesleyan Church (Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2008), 27-28, to the 1843 Discipline of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America (Boston: O. Scott, 1843), 9-10.  (Future references to the Discipline will be identified only by the year.)

 

38        Historical roots of the Methodist Protestant Church are summarized in the “Brief Historical Preface” to the Constitution and Discipline of the Methodist Protestant Church, Third Edition (Baltimore: 1839), iii-ix.

 

38        Documentation of the sweeping changes instituted at Utica can be found in the 1843 Discipline, passim. See also True Wesleyan, July 1, 1843, 101ff.

 

39        For a discussion of equal lay representation, see William Warren Sweet, Methodism in American History (New York: Abingdon, 1954), 317.  Sweet called this “the Americanization of Methodism.”

 

39        The first denomination in America to make abstinence from alcohol a test of membership: Lee M. Haines, “Radical Reform and Living Piety: The Story of Earlier Wesleyan Methodism, 1843-1867” in Wayne E. Caldwell, ed., Reformers and Revivalists (Indianapolis, IN: Wesley Press, 1992), 51.

 

39        Anti-Masonic fervor in America at the time is well documented in histories of the period.  For religious opposition, see William Henry Brackney, “Religious Antimasonry: The Genesis of a Political Party,” an unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (1976), passim.  See also A. T. Jennings, History of American Wesleyan Methodism (Syracuse, NY: Wesleyan Methodist Publishing Association, 1902), 60-65, and Pegler, 420.

 

39        Edward Smith pushed for a general rule banning participation in secret societies:  Pegler, 420-422.

 

40        Antislavery, anti-intemperance, anti-everything wrong: September 27, 1842 letter from Scott to Cyrus Prindle cited in Matlack, Orange Scott, 202.

 

40        Boundaries of the initial six annual conferences: True Wesleyan, June 17, 1843, 93. 

 

41        14,600 members – McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 41.

 

41        Cyrus Prindle even proposed splitting the denomination: Pegler, 421.

 

42        Many New England Methodists were threatening to join the Wesleyans: Timothy Smith, Revivalism and Social Reform (New York: Abingdon, 1957), 185.  For confirmation by a Methodist historian, see Douglas Strong on the “Wesleyan Methodist Church” in Charles Yrigoyen and Susan E. Warrick, eds., Historical Dictionary of Methodism, Second Edition (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005), 328.

 

42        Wesleyan Methodism had grown to an estimated twenty thousandThe American Almanac of 1845, cited in Haines, “Radical Reform,” Reformers and Revivalists, 87.

 

43        The first Wesleyan Methodist school was opened at Leoni:  Haines, “Radical Reform,” Reformers and Revivalists, 74-76.

 

43        Worship in the Wesleyan Methodist Connection: 1845 Discipline, 67-68.  (The general conference was held in October 1844, but the Discipline is dated 1845.)

 

44        Rev. Orange Scott is no more: see The True Wesleyan, August 7, 1847 issue for Scott’s obituary.

 

45        (Scott) more than any other came to symbolize Methodist abolitionism – see Mathews, “Orange Scott: The Methodist Evangelist as Revolutionary,” 121.

 

 

 

Chapter 4

 

 

46        Disappointed in the churches . . . especially his own Methodist Protestant Church: Elizabeth Willits Crooks, Life of Rev. A. Crooks, A.M. (Syracuse, NY: Wesleyan Methodist Publishing House, 1875), 10-11.   

47        When their pastor condemned the pamphlet from the pulpit: Ibid., 23-24.

47        Forty of them formed an independent congregation: Ibid., 25.  See also Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South (Syracuse, NY: Wesleyan Methodist Publishing House, 1933), 26-29.

47        Brother Crooks arose: E. W. Crooks, Life of A. Crooks, 13-14.

47        The conference ordained Adam Crooks at that session: Ibid., 14.

47        On October 1 he set out: Ibid., 15.

48        His road would be rough: Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South, 31.

48        A Quaker named Richard Mendenhall: Ibid., 31-32.

48        The Quaker Belt: “North Carolina and the Civil War: The Home Front,” a website of the North Carolina Museum of History.  http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/exhibits/civilwar/about_section4c.html

48        The small congregation…began construction: Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South, 35.

49        Wesleyan Methodist ministers Jarvis Bacon and Jesse McBride: Ibid., 39ff, 44ff.

49        In their first camp meeting: E. W. Crooks, Life of A. Crooks, 38-41.

49        At least eight Wesleyan Methodist churches: Ibid., 36, 41.

49        Two dozen preaching points: Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South, 51-52.

49        Wesleyan Methodists in the region numbered five hundred: Ibid., 115.  In a letter to the American Missionary Association, McBride said he and his colleagues left almost 600 members when they were forced from the state.  See Clifton H. Johnson, “Abolitionist Missionary Activities in North Carolina” in The North Carolina Historical Review (1963), XL, 301.

50        Among the outreach efforts subsidized by the AMA: Johnson, “Abolitionist Missionary Activities in North Carolina,” 301.  For more on the American Missionary Association and its funding of antislavery missions, see Clifton H. Johnson, “The American Missionary Association, 1846-1861: A Study of Christian Abolitionism,” an unpublished dissertation (1958), and Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Lewis Tappan and the Evangelical War against Slavery (New York: Atheneum, 1971), 287-309.

50        Crooks was dragged from his pulpit: E. W. Crooks, Life of A. Crooks, 76ff.

50        Twice he and McBride were poisoned: Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South, 58-59.

50        Crooks survived an assassination attempt: E. W. Crooks, Life of A. Crooks, 73-74.

50        McBride was almost strangled to death: Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South, 63.

51        Micajah McPherson: Ibid., 107ff.  Lee M. Haines has sketched his life in a historical pamphlet entitled, “Micajah McPherson: A Layman with Convictions.”

51        The Hulen family: Ibid., 111.  See also Victoria Bynum, “The Inner Civil War in Montgomery Co., N.C.,” June 19, 2009, http://renegadesouth.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/the-inner-civil-war-in-montgomery-co-n-c/

51        Can you give your life for the cause: E. W. Crooks, Life of A. Crooks, 14.

52        Specifically prohibited by law from speaking on public property: Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South, 56-57.

52        Except those notorious fanatics commonly called true Weslians (sic): Church deed shared with the authors by Mary Louise Stancil.

52        George Pegler was invited to pastor the church: Pegler, 408ff.

52        A very plain style: Ibid., 409.

53        Frederick Douglass: Judith Wellman, The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Woman’s Rights Convention (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2004), 170.

 

53        The Great Lighthouse: Historical marker erected by the National Park Service reads in part, “Home to progressive thinkers and welcoming to reformist speakers, the Wesleyan Chapel was known as the ‘Great Lighthouse.’”

53        A notice in the local paper: Wellman, 189.

54        It was almost certainly an oversight: see Women’s Rights National Historic Park: Special History Study website, Chapter 2. http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/wori/shs2.htm

54        At least seven Seneca Falls Wesleyan Methodists were present and signed the Declaration: Wellman, 206.

54        The old building became a concert hall: NHP website, op. cit.

54        Despite some initial confusion: Haines, “Radical Reform,” Reformers and Revivalists, 58.

55        Holiness is not an abstraction: True Wesleyan, January 28, 1843, 15.

56        What may we reasonably believe . . . : Wesley’s Works, VIII, 299.

56        For the Holiness Revival see Dieter, The Holiness Revival of the Nineteenth Century, passim.

56        We intend . . . that the subject of Christian holiness: True Wesleyan, January 7, 1843, 2.

56        The first religious body to publish a formal theological statement on sanctification: Haines, “Radical Reform,” Reformers and Revivalists, 95-97.

 

 

 

Chapter 5

 

 

58        The denomination gave notice that it would continue to help escaping slaves: True Wesleyan, October 19, 1850, 166.

58        Luther Lee minced no words: Autobiography of the Rev. Luther Lee (New York: Garland, 1984 reprint of an 1882 publication), 336.

59        For Laura Smith Haviland, see her autobiography, A Woman’s Life-Work: Labours and Experiences of Laura S. Haviland (Cincinnati: Walden & Stowe, 1882), passim.  See also Lee M. Haines’ historical pamphlet, “Laura Smith Haviland: A Woman’s Life Work.”

59        Wesleyan Methodist churches operated as stations on the Underground Railroad: see Leslie Wilcox, Wesleyan Methodism in Ohio (no publication data given), 7; Autobiography of Luther Lee, Chapter XLII, “Work on the Underground Railroad”; Jim and Lois Watkins, “LaOtto Wesleyan Church History” (unpublished pamphlet); “History of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Fountain City, Indiana” (unpublished pamphlet); Wilbur H. Siebert, The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom (1967 reprint of 1898 publication), 205-220.  Most books on the Underground Railroad reference the Wesleyan Methodists.

60        Hiding escaping slaves inside a hollow log: Bobbie T. Teague, Cane Creek: Mother of Meetings (n.p., 1995), 74.

60        Luther Lee assisted as many as thirty slaves a month to freedom – Lee, Autobiography, 331.

60        Faces fashioned in the clay of an underground passageway; “’Faces’ of the Past,” passim; see also http://www.pacny//freedom_trail/wesleyanchpl.htm

61        William Lacy, a Wesleyan circuit rider: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 586; Lee M. Haines, “The Story of Wesleyan Methodism in Indiana, 1843-67” (unpublished manuscript, 1959), 7.

61        A representative and a senator in the Indiana legislature: Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South, 79.

61        Bacon died three years after returning home, and McBride survived him by only two years: Ibid., 76.

62        He was sixty-two when he began his ministry in North Carolina: ibid., 82.  Daniel Worth was among the ministers subsidized by the American Missionary Association; see Johnson, “Abolitionist Missionary Activities in North Carolina,” 305ff.

62        His first cousin Jonathan would be North Carolina’s governor a decade later: Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South, 77.

62        He was arrested in December 1859: For detailed examination of his case, see Michael Kent Curtis, who devotes an entire chapter to it in Free Speech, “The People’s Darling Privilege”: Struggles for Freedom of Expression in American History (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000), 289-99; Noble J. Tolbert, “Daniel Worth: Tar Heel Abolitionist” in The North Carolina istorical ReviewHHistorical Review (1962), XXXIX, 284-304; and Johnson, “Abolitionist Missionary Activities in North Carolina,” 305-320.

62        His $3,000 bond: Tolbert, “Daniel Worth,” 300. The amount of the bond is a matter of some dispute.  Lee M. Haines and Paul William Thomas put it at $3,400 in An Outline History of The Wesleyan Church, Sixth Edition (Indianapolis: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2005), 72.  Johnson has $2,800 in “Abolitionist Missionaries,” 319.  An article in the May 8, 1860, New York Times reports it as $3,000.

63        One of the first pulpits where he spoke: Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South, 102-103.

63        True Wesleyan Methodist Connection of Canada: Haines, “Radical Reform,” Reformers and Revivalists, 82.

63        Several Wesleyan Methodists went to Kaw Mendi: Ibid., 86-87.

63        Original home of the Amistad slaves: Wyatt-Brown, Lewis Tappan, 205-220.

64        They tended to lean instead toward Salmon Chase or Gerrit Smith: Abolitionists were disappointed that Lincoln was open to compromises on slavery; Lincoln, on the other hand, saw abolitionists as idealists who were making emancipation more difficult to achieve because of their refusal to negotiate.  See Allen C. Guelzo, Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer-President (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1999), 125ff, 189, 207, 219-220, 331, 393, 408.  See also Stephen B. Oates, With Malice Toward None: The Life of Abraham Lincoln (New York: Harper & Row, 1977), 38.

64        For them it was a continuation of the American Revolution: See, for example, the title of James M. McPherson’s Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

64        Some may think the proclaimation (sic) too mild and restricted: The American Wesleyan, October 1, 1862, 154.

64        Lucius Matlack, for instance, entered the war as a chaplain: American Wesleyan, October 23, 1861, 170.

65        The Illinois Conference ordained Mary A. Will: Haines, “Radical Reform,” Reformers and Revivalists, 59.

65        We think it can no longer be said that a church cannot be well governed by a woman: American Wesleyan, June 12, 1861, 94.

65        Mary Will’s ordination was, so far as can be determined, the second for a woman in American history: Olympia Brown is often cited as the second; in addition, her 1863 ordination has been called the first to be recognized by a full denomination, since Antoinette Brown was ordained by her congregation.  But Mary Will was ordained in 1861, two years before Olympia Brown, and although Will certainly faced opposition, her ordination was recognized by the denomination.

65        When her Congregationalist colleagues declined to preach the sermon: Beverly Zink-Sawyer, From Preachers to Suffragists: Women’s Rights and Religious Conviction in the Lives of Three Nineteenth-Century American Clergywomen (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), 69.

65        She had spoken at a Liberty Party convention in his church in Syracuse: Paul Leslie Kaufman, “Logical” Luther Lee and the Methodist War against Slavery (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2000), 165.

65        Perhaps the first ever in all of Christian history: See Beverly Zink-Sawyer, From Preachers to Suffragists, 70, n. 1.

 

67        Hiram McKee was included with Scott, Lee, Prindle, and others in a list of leaders hailed by George Pegler as “as great an array of intelligent men . . . as could be found in any denomination of equal numbers, in any part of Christendom” (Pegler, 422-423). President pro-tem of the Wesleyan Methodists’ second general conference in 1848, McKee served until balloting for officers was completed and then passed the gavel to newly-elected president Daniel Worth (McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 49). For his political influence, see Michael J. McManus, Political Abolitionism in Wisconsin, 1840-1861 (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1998), 83.  Thanks are due Mark Wilson for source material on Hiram McKee in Wisconsin.

67        The New England roots of the connection were weakening: Haines, “Radical Reform,” Reformers and Revivalists, 66-67.

68        For the Wesleyan Methodist roots of Wheaton and Adrian colleges, see McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 480ff.

 

 

Chapter 6

 

 

70        Jotham Horton . . . returned to Methodism in 1851: True Wesleyan, July 5, 1851, 106.

 

71        During the war, Lucius Matlack decided to return to Methodism: Haines, “Radical Reform,” Reformers and Revivalists,” 90-92.

 

71        The Methodist Protestants . . . became the first denomination to give the vote to laypersons in annual and general conferences: Charles W. Ferguson, Organizing to Beat the Devil (New York: Doubleday and Co., 1971), 199-200.

 

71        Wesleyan Methodists considered merger with the Protestant Methodists in 1859: Haines, “Radical Reform,” Reformers and Revivalists, 88.

 

71        A conference of non-episcopal Methodists . . . actually called for merger in June 1865: Ibid., 89.

 

72        It was soundly defeated by the annual conferences: Ibid., 90.

 

72        They set a timetable for certain financial goals: Ibid., 76.

 

73        Methodist Protestants . . . were awarded the college: Ibid., 78.

 

73        Wesleyan Methodists made two promises to themselves: Haines and Thomas, The Outline History, 75-76.

 

73        Something under a hundred Wesleyan Methodist ministers led perhaps two thousand members back into the Methodist Episcopal Church: In “Radical Reform,” 92-93, Lee Haines cites higher estimates of those leading the return effort but compares their figures on ministers to lower totals in annual conference reports.  Later the figure of approximately two thousand members is asserted in a letter to The American Wesleyan from L. C. Matlack, Luther Lee, Cyrus Prindle, and John McEldowney (October 22, 1873).  In his reply, Adam Crooks does not dispute the head count.  This edition of The American Wesleyan is missing from the denomination’s archival collection, but Joel Martin quoted both the letter and the reply in full in his Wesleyan Manual, 152-57.

 

73        Icons like Luther Lee, Lucius Matlack, and Cyrus Prindle: Haines, “Radical Reform,” Reformers and Revivalists, 91-92. 

 

74        All left because they honestly believed the connection had finished its work: In a letter to the readership of denominational periodical, the leaders of the movement to reunite with the Methodist Episcopal Church wrote, “Our work as a separate body is finished.”  American Wesleyan, February 13, 1867, 25.  See also the preceding issues dated January 16 and February 6 of the same year.

 

74        Crooks had spent an entire night in prayer: E. W. Crooks, Life of A. Crooks, 152-53.

 

75        Women were ordained in at least the Champlain and Michigan conferences as well: Maxine L. and Lee M. Haines, Celebrate Our Daughters: 150 Years of Women in Wesleyan Ministry (Indianapolis: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2004), 18.

 

75        When resistance arose, the denomination limited women: Ibid., 17-18.

 

75        All limitations were removed twelve years later: Ibid., 18.

 

75        God wants and the age demands an intensely reformatory Christianity: American Wesleyan, October 22, 1873, 3.  Even though their return to Methodism had occurred six years earlier, Luther Lee and his colleagues were still pressing Wesleyan Methodists  to follow their example when Crooks wrote this in 1873.

 

77        She belongs to humanity: http://www.notablebiographies.com/supp/Supplement-Fl-Ka/Haviland-Laura-S.html

 

77        The American Wesleyan stood resolutely for equal rights for all: American Wesleyan, January 10, 1866, 6.

 

77        North Carolinians invited Crooks back to the state in 1872: Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South, 118.

 

78        Adam Crooks died in 1874: E. W. Crooks, Life of Rev. A. Crooks, 254.

 

78        Two years earlier Laura Smith Haviland had returned to her Quaker roots: S. C. Stanley, “Laura Smith Haviland” in Daniel G. Reid et al., eds,  Dictionary of Christianity in America (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990), 513.         

 

79        Twenty thousand people attended the first holiness camp meeting: Melvin Dieter, “The Post-Civil War Holiness Revival,” Reformers and Revivalists, 164.

 

79        Two Free Methodist women led D. L. Moody into the experience: Dieter, “Post-Civil War Holiness Revival,” Reformers and Revivalists, 177.

 

 80       But the chief aim of the American Wesleyan: American Wesleyan, February 6, 1867, 23.

 

80        Most churches were still east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason-Dixon Line: Haines and Thomas (Outline History, 86) make that statement about the year 1867, but it was still true in 1877.

 

80        For quarterly conferences, revival campaigns, and camp meetings, see Haines and Thomas, Outline History, 77-78.

 

80        Families opened their homes: Haines and Thomas, Outline History, 76.

 

81        They were beginning to appreciate the potential of the Sunday school: Lee M. Haines, “The Grander, Nobler Work: Wesleyan Methodism’s Transition, 1867-1901,” Reformers and Revivalists, 141-42.

 

 

 

Chapter 7

 

 

83        Attendance was equivalent to almost half of the nation’s population: http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/; www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1996/spring/1890-census-1.html

 

84        It is a compromise of Christianity: Wesleyan Methodist, September 20, 1893. The parliament’s motto was taken from Malachi 2:10: “Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?”  John Corrigan and Winthrop S. Hudson, Religion in America, Seventh Edition (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004), 293.

 

84        Her great-grandfather was converted when he heard John Wesley preach: “Life of Clara Tear Williams: Spiritual Heritage of Kindness” (unpublished manuscript), 1.  See also Haines and Haines, Celebrate Our Daughters, pp. 24-26.

 

85        The song . . . was written when she was eighteen years of age: “Life of Clara Tear Williams,” 5.  Curiously the song was not included in the new 1897 denominational hymnal, even though it had been written six years earlier and Mrs. Williams was on the hymnal committee.  It first appeared in the hymnal of 1910.

 

85        Frank Graham wrote . . . after experiencing an earthquake: Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South, 256.

 

85        Frank Graham refused to copyright any of his music: Ibid.

 

86        Adam Crooks had purchased land in downtown Syracuse: Haines, “The Grander, Nobler Work,” Reformers and Revivalists, 139.

 

87        It added a third fulltime general official: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 102-104.

 

87        The Book Committee . . . became more a board of administration: Haines, “The Grander, Nobler Work,” Reformers and Revivalists, 138.

 

87        Papers of incorporation . . . identified the denomination as “The Wesleyan Methodist Connection (or Church) of America”: Ibid.

 

88        The Dollar Plan was an attempt to fund ministries on the general and annual conference levels: Ibid.

 

88        The denomination’s first campgrounds: Robert Black, “Becoming a Church: Wesleyan Methodism, 1899-1935,” Reformers and Revivalists, 195.

 

89        Founder Willard J. Houghton secured eleven acres on a hill – Kenneth L. Wilson, ed., Consider the Years: 1883-1983, Houghton College (unnumbered pages).

 

89        Holiness evangelist Mary Depew . . . was widely-known for the well-attended prayer meetings she held in her home at 4:00 a.m.: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 487.  Her life is profiled in Lee M. Haines’ historical pamphlet entitled, “Mary Depew: The Holy Spirit’s Evangelist.”

 

90        Wesleyan Methodism took its first step toward that goal in 1889: Norman N. Bonner and Alberta R. Metz, “The Wesleyan Church in Africa,” Reformers and Revivalists, 452.

 

90        Young Irwin Johnston was the first to die: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 383.

 

91        They had packed for their voyage . . . in coffin-shaped boxes: Paul Shea, “From Houghton to West Africa and Beyond,” an unpublished paper delivered at a faculty forum at Houghton College in 2002.  The story had been passed down through generations of Wesleyan Methodists.

 

91        At the conference he suffered an attack of African fever and died: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 109.

 

91        Among his papers was found this declaration: Ibid.

 

91        Twelve Wesleyan Methodist missionaries had died on the field, most of them in that region: Bonner and Metz, “The Wesleyan Church in Africa,” Reformers and Revivalists, 455.

 

91        Despite the losses the work continued: Ibid., 452-467.

 

92        Wesleyan missionaries set out to follow Christ’s pattern of preaching, teaching, and healing: Ibid., 452.  Variations on this “mission statement” are found in much of the early Wesleyan Methodist missionary literature, including George H. Clarke, American Wesleyan Methodist Missions in Sierra Leone, West Africa (Syracuse, NY: Wesleyan Methodist Publishing Association, 1911).

 

92        The work . . . was consolidated into a new West Tennessee Conference: McLeister and Nicholson, 632.

 

92        South Ohio was authorized as a new conference: Ibid., 568, 571-72.

 

 

 

Chapter 8

 

 

96        Two of these holiness evangelists . . . met in Cincinnati: Paul Westphal Thomas and Paul William Thomas, The Days of Our Pilgrimage (Marion, IN: The Wesley Press, 1976), 6, 13.  See also Lee M. Haines’ pamphlet, “Martin W. Knapp and Seth C. Rees: Two Pilgrims’ Progress,” one of a set of eight historical profiles of Wesleyan leaders.

 

97        Probably a much smaller crowd gathered . . . to hear his first sermon: Paul S. Rees, Seth Cook Rees: The Warrior-Saint (Indianapolis: The Pilgrim Book Room, 1934), 10ff.

 

97        Rees . . . formed a close connection with A. B. Simpson: Ibid., 23-24.  See also Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 12.

 

98        By age forty, Rees was pastor at the independent Emmanuel Church: Paul Rees, Warrior-Saint, 36-40.

 

98        A thunderous pulpit presence that earned him the moniker, “The Earth-Quaker”: Ibid., 46.

 

98        Physically, Knapp was Rees’ polar opposite: A. M. Hills, A Hero of Faith and Prayer, or Life of Rev. Martin Wells Knapp (Noblesville, IN: Newby Book Room, 1973 reprint of 1902 publication), 38-41; Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 9.

 

98        Knapp auctioned off some of his household goods to finance the publication of his first book: Hills, Hero of Faith and Prayer, 80.

 

99        The periodical he founded, The Revivalist, soared to a circulation of 25,000: Ibid., 80-83.

 

100      Both agreed that day to organize a new venture they called the International Holiness Union and Prayer League: Paul Rees, Warrior-Saint, 54ff; see also Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 13-17.

 

101      The organization did have a constitution: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 14-15.

 

101      Come-outers: For come-outism, see Melvin Dieter, “Primitivism in the Holiness Tradition,” Wesleyan Theological Journal, 30:1 (Spring 1995), 78-91.

 

102      Wesleyan Methodism suffered some losses to the anti-denominational brand of come-outism in Michigan, Indiana, and Kansas: Haines, “A Grander, Nobler Work,” Reformers and Revivalists, 132-33.

 

 

 

Chapter 9

 

 

105      Holiness that is not missionary is bogus: Paul S. Rees, The Warrior-Saint, 142.

 

105     Knapp was a spiritual entrepeneur: For Knapp’s cluster of inter-related ministries, see Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 6-9; see also Haines and Thomas, An Outline History of The Wesleyan Church, 137-43, and Hills, Hero of Faith and Prayer, 132ff, 233ff, 279ff.

 

106     He founded God’s Bible School: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 31-33.  See also L. R. Day, “A History of God’s Bible School in Cincinnati, 1900-1949” (unpublished thesis), passim.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

107      Boldness and creativity for the sake of the gospel: Well-told through photos and text in the GBS anniversary volume, God’s Clock Keeps Perfect Time (Cincinnati: Revivalist Press, 2000), edited by Kevin Moser and Larry Smith.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

109      The Cowmans . . . took the path of faith missions: Lettie B. Cowman, Charles E. Cowman: Missionary Warrior (Los Angeles: The Oriental Missionary Society, 1928), passim; Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our  Pilgrimage, 31, 36-39.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

 

109      Together these couples founded the well-known Oriental Missionary Society: Ibid., 38-39.

                                                                                   

109      Streams in the Desert: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 256.                                                                                                                                                                                                   See Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, Streams in the Desert (Los Angeles: Oriental Missionary Society, 1931).

 

110      Round-the-world missionaries: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 26-28, 33.

 

110      The ordination of Charles and Lettie Cowman: Haines and Thomas, Outline History, 139-40.

 

111      You could not tell the difference between a sanctified Quaker and a sanctified Baptist or Campbellite: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 30.

 

111      Among the early missionaries who went out from the Union were . . . Wesleyan Methodists: Ibid., 29.

 

111      All religious denominations are connected with this work: Ibid., 44.

 

112      Martin Wells Knapp contracted typhoid fever and died: Hills, Hero of Faith and Prayer, 291-314; Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 39-40.

 

113      World-wide Holiness Missions Fund: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 46.

 

113      Rees resigned as general superintendent: Ibid., 51. Seth Rees’ son and biographer simply stated, “Other tasks were calling” (Warrior-Saint, 63).

 

114      Nathan Wardner had served the denomination as president in six consecutive general conferences: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 112.  Wardner’s obituary appeared in The Wesleyan Methodist December 28, 1898, 8.

 

115      The Young Missionary Workers’ Band: Black, “Becoming a Church,” Reformers and Revivalists, 194.

 

115      The general conference of 1903 authorized a Woman’s Home and Foreign Missionary Society denomination-wide: Ibid.  See also Charles Stephen Rennells, History of the Michigan Conference, Wesleyan Methodist Church, and Women’s Home and Foreign Missionary Society: Centenary Edition, 1840-1940 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing Co., 1940), 101.

 

116      Free Methodist Bishop W. T. Hogue, addressing the body as a fraternal delegate, suggested . . . that the two holiness denominations consider merger: Black, “Becoming a Church,” 193; Wayne E. Caldwell, “A Merger Envisioned: Formation of The Wesleyan Church,” Reformers and Revivalists, 617-18.

 

116      North Carolina . . . was able to report only 220 members and a mere $123.56 raised: Nicholson, Wesleyan Methodism in the South, 135.

 

116      The only corpse he’d ever seen that refused to be buried: Ibid., 138.

 

117      God bless every Wesleyan Methodist who is a Prohibitionist: Wesleyan Methodist, July 18, 1900, 1.

 

117      The denomination officially endorsed the Prohibition Party: Minutes of the Sixteenth Quadrennial Session of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection (or Church) of America, 1903, 34.

 

 

Chapter 10

 

 

118      Kulp replaced Seth Cook Rees at the helm of the Union in the pivotal year of 1905: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 51-53.  See also “George B. Kulp and Eber Teter: Teen Soldiers, Church Leaders,” a pamphlet by Lee M. Haines which compares the contributions of those men to their respective denominations..

 

119      Kulp issued no denials about the Holiness Union moving toward denominational status: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 56ff.

 

119      The Manual was significantly expanded: Ibid., 53ff.

 

119      The Union now added a new objective: “Apostolic Holiness Manual,” 1905, 2-3.

 

120      The new Manual included a series of covenant questions: “Apostolic Holiness Manual,” 1906, 17-19.

 

120      A new corps of leaders: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 51.

 

121      The International Apostolic Holiness Church: Ibid., 56-57.

 

121      Creating more Bible schools was the fastest way to provide a steady stream of pastors: Ibid., 60-64.

 

123      The entrepreneurial spirit affected publishing too: Ibid., 64-67.

 

123      The leadership established an official mission board: The board became independent in 1922. Ibid., 68.

 

126      The legacy of Eber Teter: See the Lee Haines pamphlet, “George B. Kulp and Eber Teter: Teen Soldiers, Church Leaders.”  See also the memorial issue of The Wesleyan Methodist, August 15, 1928, 1-5, 14-15, which salutes his achievements and his influence in the denomination.

 

126      The southern school: Robert Black, How Firm a Foundation: Southern Wesleyan University, 1906-2006 (Indianapolis: Southern Wesleyan University, 2006), 7-46, 59.

 

127      The western school: John P. Ragsdale and Wayne E. Caldwell, “Ministerial Training and Educational Institutions,” Reformers and Revivalists, 385.

 

128      Marion College: Marjorie J. Elder, The Lord, the Landmarks, the Life: Indiana Wesleyan University (Marion, IN: Indiana Wesleyan University, 1994), 61ff.

 

128      New Wesleyan Methodist fields in India (1915) and Japan (1919): Virginia Wright, “The Wesleyan Church in Asia and Australia,” Reformers and Revivalists,” 509-12, 518-19. See also Black, “Becoming a Church,” Reformers and Revivalists, 199.

 

130      The Fundamentals: Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People (Garden City, NY: Image Books, 1975 edition of a classic work originally published by Yale University Press in 1972), II, 286-87.

 

130      Benjamin Hardin Irwin was a popular preacher in holiness circles: Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States (Grand Rapid, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971), 61-67.

 

130      The rise of Pentecostalism: Ibid., 55ff.

 

 

 

Chapter 11

 

 

132      Aaron Worth preached a memorable sermon: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 153-54.  See The Wesleyan Methodist, July 9, 1919, 8, for emphasis on antislavery, Prohibition, and women’s suffrage.

 

134      The Great Reversal: David O. Moberg popularized the phrase even more with his The Great Reversal: Evangelicalism versus Social Reform (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1972).

 

135      Sunday school numbers had exploded, registering 50 percent larger than the membership totals: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 159.

 

135      The general conference authorized creation of the Wesleyan Young People’s Society: Ibid., 164.

 

136      The tobacco question . . . was settled at last in 1927: Black, “Becoming a Church,” Reformers and Revivalists, 210.

 

136      Wesleyan Methodists adopted Hephzibah Orphanage: Alberta Metz, Touching Tomorrow: The Story of Hephzibah Children’s Home , Second Edition (Indianapolis: Wesleyan Publishing House, 1998).

 

138      The Holiness Christian Church: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 86-90.

 

138      Pentecostal Rescue Mission of New York: Ibid., 90-92.

 

139      The Pilgrim Church of California: Ibid., 92-95.

140      The World Wide Missionary Society: Ibid., 95-96.

141      The Immanuel Mission: Ibid., 97.

141      Bible Home and Foreign Missionary Society: Ibid., 97-98.

141      The Pentecostal Brethren in Christ: Ibid., 98.

142      People’s Mission Church:  Ibid., 98-104.  “Paul Westphal Thomas: Missionary Statesman” is profiled in a historical brochure by Lee M. Haines.

144      The 1922 General Assembly elected two general superintendents to replace him: Ibid., 107.

144      One of the chief mistakes: Ibid., 139.

145      The story of the Solteros: Ibid., 116-120.

146      They then elected Seth Rees as the third superintendent: Ibid., 115.

149      It was certainly a golden age for the Pilgrim Holiness Church: Ibid., 104-105.

149      They found the answer in storehouse tithing: Black, “Becoming a Church,” Reformers and Revivalists, 196-97.

 

Chapter 12

 

151      Both denominations moved ahead through difficult days: There is an interesting analysis of the churches during the Depression in Jerald C. Brauer, Protestantism in America (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1953), 266.   In his analysis of the churches during the Depression, Brauer noted that it was not the mainline churches that grew during those tough times but rather two more countercultural religious movements: those who majored on the Second Coming as the ultimate relief from the losses of the economic collapse (like Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses) and those whose focus was a transformative conversion experience and a life of holiness with freedom for emotional expression (a category in which he placed the holiness churches and Pentecostals).

 

151      Pilgrim consolidation and centralization: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 124ff.

 

152      Seventy-six-year-old Seth Rees was elected as the sole general superintendent: Ibid., 131.

 

153      Finch was removed from office: Ibid., 140-42.

 

154      The new plan of 1930 proposed unifying general church finances into a single budget: Ibid., 130-31, 133-35.

 

155      Seth Rees died on May 22, 1933: P. Rees, Warrior-Saint, 122ff.

 

156      Rees’ successor as solo general superintendent for the Pilgrims was . . . Walter L. Surbrook: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 140, 147-48.

 

156      The denomination observed its centenary in 1943: See the Centennial Edition of The Wesleyan Methodist, January 6, 1943, passim.

 

157      They appointed a committee of one – Roy S. Nicholson, Sr.: Virgil A. Mitchell, “The Wesleyan Methodists Chart a New Course, 1935-1968,” Reformers and Revivalists, 273.

 

157      Church growth: For Pilgrim statistics, see Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 146; for Wesleyan Methodist statistics, see McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 175, 214.

 

160      As many as five thousand in attendance on a Sunday (caption): Riverside Camp in Maine, founded by the Reformed Baptists, was actually a stop on the B & O Railroad.  In 1919 the official Reformed Baptist paper, The King’s Highway, announced an expectation of “4,000 or more” gathering on the grounds for Sunday services that year.  The camp’s website reports that Sunday attendance at times reached as high as 5,000.  See Maryella Kimball Banks’ account in God’s Little Acre.

 

160      In 1943 five hundred Pilgrim churches held a common rally day: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 160.

 

162      Card Call was established to raise money for new churches: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 181, 376.

 

163      The Home Missionary Department opened yet another Bible school: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 166.

 

163      Wesleyan Methodists provided eleven (chaplains) during the war: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 218.  For the first Pilgrim chaplains, see Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 263-64.

 

164      Wesleyan Methodist missionaries in Japan were forced to come home in April 1940: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 191.

 

164      A number of Pilgrims serving . . . in Japanese-occupied China were imprisoned: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 213.

 

164      The R. K. Storey family was trapped: Ibid., 213-14, 217-18.

 

165      Daisy Buby and Flora Belle Slater are prime examples: See their biographical files in the Wesleyan Archives and Historical Library.  Fields of service are listed in Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 348, 352.  Buby and Slater are also profiled in These Went Forth: Short Biographical Sketches of Pilgrim Missionaries, Revised Edition (Indianapolis: Pilgrim Holiness Church, n.d.).

 

 

 

Chapter 13

 

 

168      It passed overwhelmingly: See McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 209ff., for a breakdown of the entire reorganization package.  Virgil A. Mitchell looked back on the same momentous general conference with interesting perspectives in “Wesleyan Methodists Chart a New Course,” Reformers and Revivalists, 271ff.

 

169      Nicholson was the first southerner elected to general office: For a capsule description of his service prior to election to the presidency, see McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 181-83, 188, 197.

 

171      In 1949 Graham held a series of tent meetings in Los Angeles:  See Just as I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco/Zondervan, 1997.

 

171      A special jubilee edition of The Pilgrim Holiness Advocate: The Pilgrim Holiness Advocate, June 19, 1947.

 

172      On this benchmark birthday: Ibid., 10-11.

 

172      The conference turned to L. W. Sturk: For Sturk and the rest of the new slate of officials elected in 1946, see Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 222ff.

 

173      The Holiness Church of California: Ibid., 229-33.

 

174      A. L. Luttrull’s holiness Gospel Tabernacle: Ibid., 248.

 

175      There was even talk of a Pilgrim-Wesleyan Methodist merger in the 1940s: Ibid., 236; see also McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 204-205.

 

175      Wesleyan Methodist-Free Methodist merger talks: Ibid., 231-33.

 

175      Hephzibah Faith Missionary Association: Ibid., 224-25.

 

176      Its size and reputation grew significantly under the leadership of Stephen W. Paine: See Miriam Paine Lemcio, Deo Volente: A Biography of Stephen W. Paine (Houghton, NY: Houghton College, 1987).

 

176      The Pilgrim Holiness Church would have a liberal arts college: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 248-49, 264-65.

 

178      The Pilgrim Holiness headquarters (moved) to a “respectable” building on East Ohio Street in Indianapolis: Ibid., 157-58.

 

178      A Pilgrim controversy: Ibid., 247.

 

 

 

Chapter 14

 

 

182      Identity crisis: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 230 (and corresponding explanatory note 9 on p. 270), 245.

 

183      He led the church to adopt its first written constitution: Ibid., 255-56.

 

183      The Pilgrim Holiness Church found itself embroiled in a comparable controversy: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 287-88.

 

184      The two denominations grew closer geographically with the decision to relocate the Wesleyan Methodist headquarters: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 239ff.

 

185      Fire broke out in the historic old building in downtown Syracuse: Ibid., 335-40.

 

185      The size and complexity of the work prompted them to return to that model in 1958: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 260ff.

 

186      Wesleyan Methodists also chose to distribute the ever-increasing load of leadership among three general superintendents in 1959: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 250ff.  See also Mitchell, “Chart a New Course,” Reformers and Revivalists, 291ff.

 

186      Instead of the installation man planned, God planned his coronation: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 251.

 

186      Pilgrim missions were strengthened by a merger with the Africa Evangelistic Mission: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 282-83.

 

187      Jamaica and a second mission in India were introduced as a result of the addition of Vivian A. Dake’s Missionary Bands of the World: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 242-43.

 

187      The postwar work in Japan was . . . led by David T. Tsutada: Virginia Wright, “The Wesleyan Church in Asia and Australia,” Reformers and Revivalists, 521-23.

 

187      Eastern Pilgrim president R. D. Gunsalus went so far as to suggest multiple mergers: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 270-71.

 

188      In a series of steps, Wesleyan Methodism established an official relationship with Asbury Theological Seminary: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 529-30.

 

188      The Wesleyan Young People’s Society gave way to Wesleyan Youth in 1955: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 474.

 

188      The Pilgrims added “and Youth” to the name of their General Department of Sunday Schools: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 228-29.

 

189      Youth camps proliferated: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 471.

 

189      The first mid-quadrennial Wesleyan Youth convention: Ibid., 477-78.

 

189      CYC was an activity-oriented program patterned after Scouting: Ibid., 465; Armor D. Peisker, “The Pilgrim Holiness Church Maturing and Expanding, 1930-1968,” Reformers and Revivalists, 353; Mitchell, “Chart a New Course,” Reformers and Revivalists, 310.

 

191      Wesleyan Methodists had already issued their own statements in 1955 and 1964: Minutes of the Twenty-ninth General Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, 1955, 42; The Wesleyan Methodist, April 29, 1964, 2.

 

192      The Pilgrim Holiness Church also issued a declaration of support for civil rights in 1964: The Pilgrim Holiness Advocate, June 13, 1964, 2.

 

193      The merger proposal was defeated: Wayne E. Caldwell, “A Merger Envisioned,” Reformers and Revivalists, 630ff.

 

 

 

Chapter 15

 

 

195      One matter that proved unexpectedly difficult to settle was the name: Caldwell, “A Merger Envisioned,” Reformers and Revivalists, 637ff.

 

196      A devastating tornado struck the new Wesleyan Methodist headquarters in Marion: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 288-92.

 

196      Tornado aftermath (caption): The headquarters employee whose reply, “We still have God,” inspired so many was Ruth Bowman – not to be confused with the Pilgrim missionary of the same name who is mentioned on p. 108.

 

197      Should the denomination hold off on rebuilding and wait for merger: Caldwell, “A Merger Envisioned,” Reformers and Revivalists, 642.

 

198      On June 14, 1966, the conferences convened simultaneously: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 332; McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 293.

 

199      A financial fiasco: Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 288-89.

 

200      They organized the Reformed Baptist Alliance as a holiness denomination: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 301-04.  Leader and co-founder George W. MacDonald is the subject of another of the brochures by Lee M. Haines in the series entitled “Our Wesleyan Heritage.”

 

200      In 1901 they ordained the first woman minister in the Dominion of Canada: Vesta Dunlop Mullen, The Communion of Saints: Ordained Ministers of the Reformed Baptist Church, 1888-1966 (private printing, 2006), 338-41.

 

201      The Alliance joined the denomination as an annual conference: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment,  301-04, 554.

 

202      The two documents in the hands of the delegates . . . were the proposed constitution and the basis for merger: See Minutes of the Thirty-second General Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, 1966, 145ff.

 

203      Plans called for the Wesleyan Methodists to vote first: Caldwell, “A Merger Envisioned,” Reformers and Revivalists, 647-48. 

 

203      Pilgrims approved the merger by a similar margin: Ibid.  See also Thomas and Thomas, Days of Our Pilgrimage, 305ff.

 

204      The conference placed Allegheny under discipline: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 296-97.

 

204      The delegates voted 141-0 to reorganize the Tennessee Conference: Haines and Thomas, Outline History, 119.

 

204      Allegheny . . . cut its last ties with the denomination: McLeister and Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment, 310.

 

204      In Tennessee, separating congregations formed a tiny denomination: Ibid.

 

204      In Ohio, eleven churches joined with twenty-two churches in Alabama to form the Bible Methodist Church: Ibid.

 

204      Representatives of the separatist groups met in Knoxville, Tennessee: The Wesleyan Advocate, February 1, 1967, 17.

 

205      The combined boards of the merging denominations began final preparations: Caldwell, “A Merger Envisioned,” Reformers and Revivalists, 649.

 

205      324 from each: Ibid., 652.

 

 

 

Chapter 16

 

 

208      The Pilgrim Holiness Church and the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America had their common origin in the Wesleyan Revival: Minutes of the First General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1968, 66.

 

208      The churches were also comparable in size in 1968: The worldwide membership figures at merger (more than 65,000 for the Wesleyan Methodists, just under 57,000 for the Pilgrims) are taken from the final statistical tables of each antecedent denomination.  See Minutes of the Twenty-sixth International Conference of the Pilgrim Holiness Church, 1968, 31; Minutes of the Thirty-third General Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, 1968, 109 (for North America) and 121 (for world missions).  The statement on p. 15 of the Wesleyan Methodist minutes which gives the “home and overseas membership total” as 48,362 is in error.  That figure approximates the North American membership only.

 

209      Co-conveners Walter L. Surbrook . . . and Roy S. Nicholson: Black, “The Emerging Synthesis: The Wesleyan Church, 1968-92,” Reformers and Revivalists, 667.

 

209      The conference approved a resolution from the Joint Polity Committee: Minutes of the First General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1968, 67.

 

210      Bernard H. Phaup, Melvin H. Snyder, J. D. Abbott, and Virgil A. Mitchell were chosen: Black, “The Emerging Synthesis,” Reformers and Revivalists, 667.

 

211      The delegates proceeded to elect a balanced slate of general officers: Ibid.

 

215      In the first issue: The Wesleyan Advocate, August 12, 1968, 2.

 

216      Two Historic Traditions (poster art): Beneath slaves in chains on the left, Ed Wallace depicted (in descending order) Orange Scott, Eber Teter, Mary Lane Clarke, O. G. Wilson, and Roy S. Nicholson.  A contemporary couple (or at least contemporary for 1977, the year this superb poster was created for a denomination-wide Heritage Year emphasis) anchors the Wesleyan Methodist side on the bottom left.  The Pilgrim legacy on the right is headed by an anonymous evangelist; beneath (again, in descending order) are Martin Wells Knapp, Seth Cook Rees, George B. Kulp, Hazel Kilbourne, and Walter Surbrook.  At bottom right stands a couple in period attire from the early days of the movement. A dove, representing the Holy Spirit, hovers over all.

 

217      The new United Stewardship Fund would take a different approach: Minutes of the First General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1968, 48, 55, 58.

 

 

 

Chapter 17

 

 

219      Christianity Today reported on the Pilgrim Holiness-Wesleyan Methodist merger: Christianity Today, July 19, 1968, 52.

 

220      Their choice was certainly properly qualified: Minutes of the First General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1968, 49, 74; Black, “The Emerging Synthesis,” Reformers and Revivalists, 667 and accompanying n. 11, 687; and The Wesleyan Advocate, August 26, 1968, 15.

 

221      The Miltonvale-Bartlesville merger was especially sensitive: Black, “The Emerging Synthesis,” Reformers and Revivalists, 670.

 

221      The greater losses were suffered by the Pilgrim side of the family: Ibid., 669-70.

 

222      The general board selected the former Wesleyan Methodist headquarters in Marion, Indiana: Ibid., 669.

 

222      In 1972 the building was sold for $220,000: Ibid.

 

223      By 1972 the fifty-nine districts had been reduced to forty: Haines and Thomas, Outline History of The Wesleyan Church, 183.

 

223      Local congregations were asked to change their names and church signs: Minutes of the First General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 63.

 

224      The new Discipline introduced an age limit of thirty on membership in Wesleyan Youth: Discipline of The Wesleyan Church, 1968, 409.

 

225      They had called for the creation of a new position: Minutes of the First General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1968, 70-71.

 

226      A church-wide conference on evangelism: See The Wesleyan Advocate, January 26, 1970, 11; February 9, 1970, 2-3, 5.

 

226      The 1970s were designated as the decade of evangelism: The Wesleyan Advocate, July 27, 1970, 5-6.

 

226      The Department of Youth sponsored its first denominational convention at Dayton: Haines and Thomas, Outline History of The Wesleyan Church, 189.

 

228      Both denominations were taking a step back: Black, “Emerging Synthesis,” Reformers and Revivalists, 672.

 

 

 

Chapter 18

 

 

231      Key 73, a cooperative interdenominational evangelistic campaign: See “Key 73 Guidelines for Wesleyans” in The Wesleyan Advocate, July 10, 1972, 20.

 

231      The Wesleyan Hour, a weekly radio program with a national audience: Black, “Emerging Synthesis,” Reformers and Revivalists, 678.

 

232      A denominationally-sponsored evangelism effort featuring John Maxwell: The Wesleyan Advocate, August 29, 1977, 12; Minutes of the Fourth General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1980, 291.

 

232      GRADE: In his report to the 1984 General Conference, General Secretary of Extension and Evangelism Joe Sawyer noted that almost half of all Wesleyan churches in North America were using the GRADE program.  Minutes of the Fifth General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1984, 311.

 

235      The St. Louis convention was a turning point for Wesleyan youth ministry: Haines and Thomas, Outline History of The Wesleyan Church, 189.

 

235      The next three youth conventions . . . averaged 7,500 in attendance: Black, “Emerging Synthesis,” Reformers and Revivalists, 676.

 

235      That figure was topped by the 1990 convention: Ibid.

 

235      YES Corps . . . and LIFE CORPS: Ibid.

 

237      The last year Sunday school attendance was larger than worship was 1979: See attendance appendices in The Story of The Wesleyan Church.

 

239      A group of denominational scholars had been gathered to study the matter: Twelve Wesleyan scholars produced No Uncertain Sound: An Exegetical Study of I Corinthians 12, 13, 14 (Marion, IN: Wesley Press, 1975).

 

240      The general superintendents’ statement was upheld by a decisive voice vote: Minutes of the Third General Conference, 1976, 46. The general superintendents’ ruling may be found on pp. 161-62 of the same Minutes.

 

240      The Caribbean provisional general conference was organized in 1974: The Wesleyan Advocate, May 27, 1974, 10-12.

 

241      In 1975 the Philippines provisional general conference was established: The Wesleyan Advocate, June 9, 1975, 5.

 

242      The number of larger Wesleyan churches, and the size of those churches, began to increase significantly during those years: See “Twenty-five Largest Churches” appendices in The Story of The Wesleyan Church.

 

 

 

Chapter 19

 

 

245      In 1980 . . . the new church approved a major revision of their articles of religion and constitution: Minutes of the Fourth General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1980, 47-59.

 

247      The general board voted in 1986 to relocate to Indianapolis: The Wesleyan Advocate, June 16, 1986 and December 15, 1986.  For a report to general conference, see Minutes of the Sixth General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1988, 224-26.

 

251      The youth department launched the Fellowship of the Called: Minutes of the Sixth General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1988, 291.

 

252      PACE ’86 . . . focused on soul-winning: Ibid., 286-87.

 

253      A special urban/ethnic study conference was established: The Wesleyan Advocate, January 7, 1985, 16.

 

254      The Wesleyan Church in the Philippines became an independent body: Minutes of the Sixth General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1988, 44, 55-56, 105-06.  See also The Wesleyan Advocate, June 5, 1989, 19-20.

 

255      In the same year, the church’s presence was established in West Germany: The Wesleyan Advocate, October 17, 1988, 5.

 

 

 

Chapter 20

 

 

259      The Standard Church . . . and the Evangelical Christian Church: Minutes of the Tenth General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 2004, 158.

 

259      The general conference decided not to fill his position: Minutes of the Seventh General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1992, 34, 98-99.

 

260      Also in 1996 the issue of church membership was addressed: Minutes of the Eighth General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1996, 47, 52-54, 105-08.  The Membership Study Committee report is on pp. 354ff of the same Minutes.

 

261      In 1988 the church outside the North American general conference launched 2,000 by 2000: Minutes of the Sixth General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1988, 272.

 

262      In Russia, Wesleyans joined other evangelicals in the massive CoMission project: Wesleyans were among eighty-three evangelical organizations and denominations who accepted the invitation to teach morality and ethics in Russian schools.  The invitation also opened the door for evangelism and church planting, although with some restrictions and, as it turned out, for a limited time. See Minutes of the Eighth General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1996, 312.

 

264      Indiana Wesleyan University . . . has become the second-largest evangelical university in the United States: See the university website, www.indwes.edu.

 

265      United Wesleyan College closed its doors in 1990: For a report, see The Wesleyan Advocate, November 1989, 26.

 

265      The creation of World Hope International as a compassionate ministries partner of The Wesleyan Church: The ties between World Hope and The Wesleyan Church were recognized and celebrated at the 1996 General Conference.  See Minutes of the Eighth general Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 1996, 53.

 

266      Could World Hope help with the complicated medical and organizational logistics: Correspondence from Jo Anne Lyon, October 25, 2011.

 

268      The most challenging campaign has been the fight against human trafficking: For more on World Hope’s on-going campaign against human trafficking for sexual exploitation, forced labor, begging networks, armed conflict, or body parts, see their website – www.worldhope.org.

 

 

 

Chapter 21

 

 

269      They would be on a Leadership Development Journey: The Wesleyan Advocate, January 2002, 8; October 2002, 8-9.

 

271      In 2003 more than 8,000 attending the youth convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, focused on the subject of servanthood: Minutes of the Tenth General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 2004, 238.

 

272      Earle Wilson retired in 2008 after twenty-four years as a general superintendent: Minutes of the Eleventh General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 2008, 39, 193.

 

272      Jo Anne Lyon became a general superintendent of The Wesleyan Church: Ibid., 42.

 

274      A denominational Center for Women in Ministry was established: Official launch was April 11, 2007.  The organizational meeting of the Board of Directors was held September 10-11 of that year.

 

276      12Stone Church: As calculated by Outreach Magazine, September 15, 2010 and September 15, 2011.

 

276      newhope church . . . is also one of the nation’s fastest-growing churches: Ibid.

 

277      World Missions became Global Partners: Minutes of the Eleventh General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 2008, 38-39, 166.

 

277      Caribbean Wesleyans achieved full general conference status: Minutes of the Tenth General Conference of The Wesleyan Church, 2004, 43-44, 48, 99-100. The ceremony of induction is in the same Minutes, pp. 270-77.

 

278      During this period the Wesleyan-sponsored radio program, The Wesleyan Hour, would also end: Wesleyan Life¸ Summer 2008, 8.

 

278      By the fall of 2009 The Wesleyan Church had its own denominational seminary: Wesleyan Life, Summer 2009, 31.

 

279      A new headquarters building was constructed: The Wesleyan Advocate, April 2004, 5-7.

 

280      In 2010 the general board approved a pilot program: Minutes of the One Hundred Sixteenth Session of the General Board of The Wesleyan Church, May 4-5, 2010, 510-11.

 

282      Billy Graham once told a Wesleyan congregation: Old Fort Wesleyan Church, Old Fort, North Carolina.  The church is near his home in Montreat, North Carolina.