First, the faith healer William Branham was never part of this movement - never. Some of the early Latter Rain preachers were influenced by Branham but he was never part of the LRM. Ernest Gentile, an author who participated in Latter Rain meetings beginning in 1950, writes:
"Branham is considered by many the initiator and pacesetter of the healing revivals in 1947, as well as the precursor of the entirely separate Latter Rain movement of 1948" (Your Sons and Daughters Shall Prophesy: Prophetic Gifts in Ministry Today).
The movement started at a bible school in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. This will be covered in a post down the road (UPDATE: the North Battleford story is now available in three articles on this website: "The North Battleford story", "Jim Watt recalls the LRM's earliest history", and "The Latter Rain Movement in its context").
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| Reg Layzell |
A pastor from Detroit, Michigan named Myrtle D. "Mom" Beall whose church (Bethesda Missionary Temple) was at that time affiliated with the Assemblies of God went out to Vancouver to see what the revival reports were all about. This what she wrote after attending those meetings:
"Everything we saw in the meetings was scriptural and beautiful. We left the meeting with a new touch of God upon our souls and ministry. We certainly feel transformed by the power of God. Never in our lives had we ever felt the power of God as we do now and we feel we are carrying something back to our assembly we never had before" (Sharon Star magazine).
Moses Vegh, a prophet who pastored and traveled the world during his ministry that spanned decades, writes:
"At that meeting the word of the Lord given to 'Mom' Beall, through the prophetic presbytery, was a powerful confirmation of all that the Lord had spoken to her about the 'armory' in Detroit" (The Chronicles of Moses: Acts of an Apostolic Journey)
Hugh Layzell, Reg Layzell's son, was an eyewitness of the prophecy and he confirms the story this way:
"After a day or two, the brethren agreed to minister to her in presbytery. Audrey and I remember this incident very well. As soon as she knelt before the presbyters, Ern Hawtin began to prophesy. He said, (something like this) 'Has not the Lord called you to build for Him an armory, where His last day army will be trained and equipped with the gifts of the Spirit in order to take the gospel to the ends of the earth in these last days?' This was, in effect, the very word she had received from the Lord concerning the Church in Detroit" (Sons of His Purpose: The Interweaving of the Ministry of Reg Layzell, and His Son, Hugh, During a Season of Revival)
When she got back to her church the next month the revival exploded there.
The momentum of the revival thus shifted from its early site in Saskatchewan to Vancouver and Detroit. From Vancouver the revival spread to west coast cities like Portland and Los Angeles, and Pentecostal historian Vinson Synan tells about the importance of Detroit to the LRM:
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| Myrtle Beall |
Following is a list of some of the ministers involved in the early days of the Latter Rain Movement (absent are the names: William Branham ... Earl Paulk ... Paul Cain - because they were not part of the Latter Rain Movement of 1948! Branham and Cain are more accurately associated with the Healing Revival that swept across the United States in the 1940s and 1950s ... back then Paulk was a minister in the Church of God denomination, Cleveland, Tennessee ... he would later go independent. What is true is that Branham's ministry was an influence on the North Battleford ministers, and Cain and Paulk came to have friends that were in the LRM. But the three were not part of the LRM).
~ highlighting indicates the individual is still alive ~
- Ern Hawtin (Saskatchewan)
- George Hawtin (Saskatchewan)
- P. G. Hunt (Saskatchewan)
- Herrick Holt (Saskatchewan)
- Jim Watt (Saskatchewan)
- Milford Kirkpatrick (Saskatchewan)
- George Warnock (Lethbridge, AB)
- Reg Layzell (Vancouver, BC)
- Hugh Layzell (Vancouver, BC and Uganda)
- Kayy Gordon (Vancouver, BC and the Arctic)
- James Routley, Chilliwack, BC
- A. W. Rasmussen (Edmonton, Alberta)
- Harold Allcock (Edmonton, Alberta)
- Jack Barker (Windsor, ON)
- Moses Vegh (Windsor, ON)
- Arthur Newkirk (London, ON)
- George Chambers (Kitchener, ON)
- B. G. Evans (Toronto, ON)
- Kenneth Mitchell (Montreal, QC)
- Cecil Cousen (Hamilton, ON)
- Charlotte Baker (Seattle, WA)
- Winston Nunes (Tacoma, WA)
- Bill Hamon (Toppenish, WA ... now in Florida)
- Thomas Wyatt (Portland, OR)
- Edie Iverson (Portland, OR)
- Max Wyatt (Salem, OR)
- Violet Kiteley (Oakland, CA)
- Ernest Gentile (San Jose, CA ... now in Fort Sumner, NM)
- Earl Lee (Los Angeles, CA)
- Leonard Fox (San Bernardino, CA)
- David Schoch (Long Beach, CA)
- M. D. Beall (Detroit, MI)
- Patricia Beall Gruits (Detroit, MI)
- James Lee Beall (Detroit, MI)
- Harry M. Beall (Detroit, MI)
- Vera Bachle (Detroit, MI)
- Manley Higgins (Detroit, MI)
- Owen Shackett (Tacoma, WA)
- Martha Belle Barber (Detroit, MI)
- Paul Stuzman (Roseville, MI)
- Elton Weatherly (Ypsilanti, MI)
- Finley Dafoe (Fraser, MI)
- E. H. Blomberg (Hibbing, MN)
- Joseph Mattsson-Boze (Chicago, IL)
- Clair D. Hutchins (Chicago, IL)
- Stanley Lund (Chicago, IL)
- Raymond Hoekstra (Indianapolis, IN)
- L. O. McKinney (Cleveland, OH)
- Ollie McCubbin (Sandusky, OH)
- Helen Tong (Sandusky, OH)
- Ivan Spencer (Lima, NY)
- Carlton Spencer (Lima, NY)
- Sixto Lopez (Lima, NY)
- Elmer Frink (Lima, NY)
- Taylor Huntley Frazier (Manhattan, NY)
- Fred Poole (Philadelphia, PA)
- Elizabeth Bacon (Philadelphia, PA)
- Adam McKeown (Scranton, PA)
- Paul and Lura Grubb (Memphis, TN)
- Stanley Frodsham (Springfield, MO)
- Bill Britton (Springfield, MO)
- William Kitchen (Oklahoma City, OK)
- A. D. Marney (Tulsa, OK)
- William Marshall (Baton Rouge, LA)
- Carl Neal (Baton Rouge, LA)
- Charles E. Green (New Orleans, LA)
- George Rigler (Dallas, TX)
- Garlon Pemberton (Houston, TX)
- Modest Pemberton (Houston, TX)
- Harry Hodge (Beaumont, TX)
- Bruce Stallwood (Nigeria)
- Paul Stern (Kenya)
- Art Dodzweit (Uganda)
- Bud Sickler (East Africa)
- Constance Eady (India)
- Ray Jackson (New Zealand & Australia)
- Rob Wheeler (New Zealand & Australia)
- Kevin Conner (Australia)
- Peter Morrow (New Zealand)
- Donald Murphy (Miami, FL … later in Atlanta, GA)
- Erskine Holt (Muncie, IN)
- Paul Cannon (Muskegon, MI)
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| Example of Latter Rain ministers (1952) |
Brother Thackeray - Thank-you so much for all your work and love of Christian history. I'm a descendant of Bethel Temple/Offiler - through Dick Benjamin - Abbott Loop Christian Center - by way of a church plant in Minneapolis, MN. All this history is awesome and so inspiring to rev up the engines for more REVIVAL!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Lord bless you for this work!!! A sis In Christ - Toni Young
thank you for the encouragement Toni! you hit the nail on the head - while we enjoy researching about and keeping an accurate of those things the Lord has done in the past, we also eagerly anticipate what He's going to do yet! many blessings Toni!
ReplyDeletePastor Harry Morse was part of the Latter Rain movement. He lived in Oakland, California. Does anyone have any memories of him ? I am in the process of writing his biography.
ReplyDeleteHave you interviewed Violet Kiteley for the book? If Pastor Morse was involved in the LRM surely she interacted with him and would have valuable insights for the biography.
DeleteTHE HAWTON BROS, CAME DOWN TO DR THOMAS WYATTS.."WINGS OF HEALING TEMPLE" IN PORTLAND, ORG.. THEN TO OAKLAND, EARL LEE'S..IN L.A., CAL, THEN TO REV. OBEA DOWELL'S CH.(MY UNCLE) IN SAN DIEGO, CALIF. THEN THE REVIVAL ALSO SPREAD, TO PASTOR FRED MARCUM..IN HOUSTON, TX,..TO HARRY HODGE'S SABINE TAB, IN BEAUMONT, TX,... THEN TO PASTOR A D MARNEY'S .. "RAY'S OF FAITH TAB., IN TULSA...AND ON...LEAVING FIRES OF THE LATTER RAIN REVIVAL...IN THE WEST & SOUTH! I WAS THERE, WITH MY FATHER EVANG. BUFORD DOWELL SR...BY THE GRACE OF GOD! -KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE! BUFORDDOWELL@GMAIL.COM
ReplyDeleteI was so excited to find this information today. My dad has told me about this revival and in fact pastored a church in Big Bear Lake Ca. he was ordained by Pastor Leonard Fox in San Bernardino, Ca. I am reading a wire bound book titled "Music Ministry" by Mike and Viv Hibbert that my parents had. So I googled Pastor Charlotte Baker to see what would come up, and wow I found a lot of information. I just read some of it to my dad and he was shocked that it is on the internet. He had met and heard Pastor Baker speak years ago. So thank you for sharing all of this with all of us!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you found this site - and that you enjoy it! When I started writing all of this there was not much on the internet about many of these ministers (and sadly, what I was able to find was often not accurate). I have more articles to write, but just need to find the time. Thanks for reading here!
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