Mom Beall, the founder of the Bethesda Missionary Temple and one of the most prominent ministers in the Latter Rain Movement of 1948, was born in Hubbell, Michigan on December 9, 1894. She died in Detroit on September 18, 1979.
Her memoir, entitled A Hand on My Shoulder: God's Miraculous Touch on My Life, was originally serialized in her large church's monthly publication, the Latter Rain Evangel, beginning in July 1951.
The book begins with Myrtle Dorthea Monville in Hubbell, where she was raised by loving Roman Catholic parents and where she would often feel a mysterious - but affirming - "hand on [her] shoulder," which she would later understand was a sign of God's providential leading in her life.
Readers are taken along as she moves south to Detroit and meets a co-worker at the Champion Sparkplug Company, Harry Lee Beall, who, of course, had no inkling that their courtship would years later result in him being married to the pastor of what was then one of America's largest churches.
It is thrilling to read her accounts of being baptized in the Holy Spirit; of the founding of Bethesda Missionary Temple (initially called, Bethesda Tabernacle) in June 1934; of Harry's dramatic, life-saving healing; of the Lord's directing her to ask a local merchant to buy her a church building (and he did - having received the exact amount of money necessary to do so the very day she asked!); of how Bethesda's intercessory prayer resulted in not one Bethesdan being lost on the battlefields of World War II; of her Detroit church's experience of what became known as the Latter Rain revival; of how the funds poured in to build a sanctuary seating about 1,800, resulting in the project being debt-free upon occupancy; of how her three children grew to be adults that served in the ministry alongside her; and much more. It is a simply told, but riveting, account of what the Lord can do in a life surrendered to him.
Sadly, there are not many books that chronicle the events of the Latter Rain Movement (most that do are featured in the right-hand column of this website); therefore, this is a most valuable book. If you loved the ministry of Mom Beall and/or are interested in the history of the Latter Rain Movement, I strongly urge you to get this book. In fact, do what I have done already this Christmas season - buy copies as gifts for family and friends. It is affordably available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle versions.
It is important to note that the memoir can be still be accessed online for free at this link.
In addition to the YouTube presentation of one of Mom Beall's sermons featured at the bottom of this post (it was delivered at one of her favorite churches, Word of Faith Temple in New Orleans, Louisiana), here are four more of her sermons available on YouTube (just click on a link and the sermon will begin playing):
- The Ministry of Deliverance
- By My Spirit, Saith the Lord
- A Covenant-Keeping God
- A Bruised Reed and A Smoking Flax
UPDATE 1/29/18 - Here is another sermon by Mom Beall:
UPDATE 9/15/20 - More sermons by Mom Beall:
- The Importance of the Anointing
- Make Straight Your Feet
- Discerning Which Kingdom
- He Remembers the Place of the Anointing
- Blessed Are They Who Are Not Offended in Me
- Don't Give Up!
- I Saw
- Digging Out the Wells
- Built According to the Pattern
- If Thou Wilt Believe
- His Word Works
- Yet Have I Not Seen the Righteous Forsaken
- Being About the Father's Business
- I Must Needs Go Through Samaria
- The Secret of Closing the Door
- A Place of Decision
- God Says, "Go Forward!"
Mom Beall's obituary · Fri, Sep 21, 1979 – Page 44 · Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) · Newspapers.com
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