My Story: ...a self-portrait ~Written in 1998 (WIP)

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02/12/05

intro  chapter 1  chapter 2  chapter 3  chapter 4  chapter 5  chapter 6  chapter 7  chapter 8  chapter 9  chapter 10  chapter 11

My Story: [1] a self-portrait (Written in 1998)

intro  chapter 1  chapter 2  chapter 3  chapter 4  chapter 5  chapter 6  chapter 7  chapter 8  chapter 9  chapter 10  chapter 11

 

introduction[1]

                 As I age, I find many childhood memories exist as somewhat of a blur.  Other memories have lapsed to consist only as bits and pieces of long-term memory strings engraved in otherwise near-vacant areas, almost obliterated from memory.   As I approach the mid-life years of my life, I’m recognizing a desire to remember my history in writing, recording it for myself to reflect on and those in my family who are interested, especially my offspring whom I so deeply adore.  What love and laughter they have brought into our home!

“Impartation” is a word that intrigues me.  As I spend time with my children I impart a part of me into their lives.  Value systems, beliefs, thought patterns are all passed on.  A verse from Proverbs says,         “. . . as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”   Perhaps this is why I am interested in writing my story; since I can pass it on down the line.

I have much hope for my children and their future.  A significant hope for them is that they discover their “identify” early in their lives, proceed with that discovery to learn their “life purpose” and grow to become the building blocks of the Kingdom wherever their world may take them. To place their faith and trust in Him and become followers of God, whom they discover first from their parents and family.  My optimism extends to them becoming leaders in their church, maintaining His high standard and being a bold influence for others.  This rather than in contrast only being influenced by a dying, self-seeking and uncaring world around them.  Oh that they can be keenly aware of the dual message of the Cross, both in it’s vertical (personal) as well as it’s horizontal (others-centered) dimension.

                Discovering one’s “identity” apparently,  is a fundamental search for some people in their early years, sometimes extending past age thirty.  Sadly perhaps some never do actually find out who it is that they really are and why we are here.  In the writing of “my story”, not only am I recollecting bits and pieces of my history, but I am reflecting on my basic identity.  Not merely remembering who I am in it’s genealogical or socio-economic context but finding out who I am as a living, thinking, decision-making person. 

What ideas, people, passions and memories shape my life right now, and how did those ideas get in my head?  For reference’s sake, what are the memories that were associated with those years .  Perhaps also, what were the mistakes I made?  What were “hard-times”, and what purpose can hard-times in one’s life serve?  What could I have done better?  What aspect of my life could I have more excellently developed? 

                Another significant motivator for this study of my identity is my studies on my family genealogy.  What interest I have in my roots began on my Uncle Enos’ [2] kitchen table twenty five years ago in the mid-1970’s.  As a frequent visitor to Essex County during the summer months of vacation time, I grew to like my uncle.  Uncle Enos, like his father, (my grandfather) presented himself as seemingly simultaneously direct and gruff as well as so very kind to me.  I appreciated his honest approach, and sought to stay in his good books.  There was a sort of kinship/friendship relationship that we enjoyed, which no doubt had begun between my father and him, and continued throughout the years that I knew him. 

More years passed, and our early friendship continued through elementary school,  with Uncle Enos now teaching me how to collect stamps.  Many more years passed, our mutual interests again connecting with my interest in his study of family genealogy.  He trusted me enough to let me take his prized material away for photocopying, however I remember that it did take some convincing. Conscientiously I placed the originals on the photocopier taking care not to dog-ear the edges.  I all too well understood that the material represented countless hours of accurate research and charting. The information in the family charts he’d created later led Andrea, my parent’s and I on an fascinating and fruitful search for family roots, in the southwest of England after my parent’s met us in Europe on our return from living in Sudan.  From the information Uncle Enos researched, we were able to find the resting place of Phil Hart, my great, great grandfather’s tombstone in a church courtyard in Dittisham, in Southwest England near the river Dart.

For more than another decade, the photocopies lay dormant in a chest in my garage well after my uncle’s death, having only been occasionally referenced, when my career beckoned another move and I had to once again pack things up.  However, they were never forgotten, but there seemed never enough time to pursue them.

My interest in my roots again piqued when I discovered an inexpensive computer program that promised to be the tool to preserve what exploration had been done by my uncle, and allow me to perhaps put a finishing (or should I say continuing) touch on his study.  The computer allows me to expand my study to include the Dohms side of the family.

How refreshing it was to find Art and Herb Domes’ quite-exhaustive book documenting the origins of my mother’s side of the family.  Imagining what life was like in 19^th century days gone by was easy as I read through their research into my Dohms’ origins.

Clearly my family history has shown very humble beginnings. Not that I had been expecting to discover any link to aristocracy.  Yet, I was not disappointed to learn my ancestors were farmers and blacksmiths and the like;  hard working immigrants who knew happiness, good times, change, struggle, rejection, heartbreak, and evidently often early death. Knowledge of this allows me to feel a sense of appreciation for generations gone by.  Descending down the ancestral tree behind them, I enjoy a sense of continuity in knowledge of my origins. There is personal accountability and responsibility in being the next link in the long chain.  As well there is a certain measure of satisfaction as pieces of the puzzle come together and the ancestral identity picture begins to appear. 

Understanding family history is important to me.  However, how much more important it is to understand who it is that I am becoming!  God is most probably more interested in what I am becoming than knowing the previous victories or failures in my life, or where exactly it was that I came from geneologically.  Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery.  Curiosity and challenge grant desire to investigate this big wide world in which I live.  So many avenues beckon for my time and allegiance.  The avenue that I choose in each situation will thus narrow my choice for the next road on the pilgrim journey to who I am becoming while travelling on this earth.  As well, I have come to realize the troubles and trials that come my way on this journey are really just opportunities to see Creator God still at work!

Since choosing to become a christian as a child of nine, I think of God’s promise in His Word to me, “. . . He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it!”    I could not bear to hear the words of the apostle applied to my failure to follow Christ, “. . . You were running a good race - Who cut in on you?”.  Rather I would hear, “. . . forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

How important it is to remain true to one’s identity. When presented with new people and situations, I can’t forget who I really am, where I came from and what it is that motivates, inspires and dare I say “drives”me to what I am becoming!

Many of my memories were put into my laptop during the countless overnights I've spent in hotels while working for the airlines.  This narrative is at times an accounting process requiring simple recollection of straight facts.  Other times introspection is necessary to convey thought and decision patterns.  To add variety I’ve at times written in both first and third person.  Finally, I will share with you in Whom I’ve found my true identity.

Mark

Go To:  My Story - Chapter 1

[1] Note:   This narrative account first started in the summer of 1998 (with parts derived from various personal files created in 1996)

[2] Enos Howson - Lived on Malden Road, Windsor, Ontario until his homecoming on December 18,1986.

chapter one: early years / early memories

Manitoba       I, Mark James Howson was born on August 11, 1957 in Beausejour, Manitoba to parents who held a pastorate nearby in Lac Du Bonnet with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC).
	One of my earliest memories is of the house we lived in at Altamont, Manitoba, near Lac Du Bonnet until about 1959 or 1960 when I was about 4 years old, was a snow tunnel/cave that my Dad made from the snow in our front yard. I also remember a tire swing that Dad had made in the back yard at our house in Altamont.  These memories are refreshed and come to life when viewing old photos of our life there.

The Red Lake Area

Red Lake

From Lac Du Bonnet, our family moved to another pastorate in Rossburn, Manitoba, and then moved again to the Red Lake, Ontario area in approximately 1960, where my Dad worked for a number of years in the Madsen Gold mine, after deciding to temporarily leave the ministry.  I remember going to meet Dad at the bus stop, near our rented house.  There the bus would drop off the miners who commuted to their job in Madsen, from their home in Red Lake.  It was so exciting to walk down to meet Dad, hold his big hand and carry his lunchbox as we walked home!

In 1961, I remember the trauma of my first day at Kindergarten.  It was so hard to say goodby to Mom!  Staying in the class while she went home, was a milestone as gradually I was released out of the home into school life.  In my mind’s eye, I think I can almost feel the butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling I had when I revisit this long ago scene.  Also very vivid is a winter day during Grade one, when I froze my tongue to the metal rail after licking it!  Ouch!

 Another early memory that year was walking down to the local barbershop across the street from my school, and getting a real barber to cut my hair when my regular barber, (Dad) didn’t have the time.  Time sure went quicker than when Dad cut it! 

Another remembrance during this year was falling out of the family’s Volkswagen Bug.  Times then were many years prior to seatbelts being the norm, and folks never gave traveling without a seatbelt a second thought.  With Dad at the wheel, the family car was only a few yards from the house, when the passenger door opened as it went around the corner at low speed, spilling young Markus onto the snowy street.  He jumped up unhurt and ran to catch up with the car, and got reseated back in the passenger seat beside a surprised Dad!

Madsen

In 1963, the Howson family moved the eighteen miles from Red Lake to Madsen, Ontario where Mark’s parent’s pioneered a church in Madsen after seeing so many unchurched children resident there.  Month after month prior to each service, Dad would drive around the little town (population of probably 800) in his car, picking up the children from the local native and white population, and after the service would again drive the route dropping them off back at home.  There was no salary or other form of remuneration, but rather the payoff was that of seeing kids accepting Christ as Savior and the payoff that comes with knowing a mission and passion fulfilled!

Being so young then (7 years old),  I know little of my parent’s life previous to the Red Lake area, but so well I am aware that Mom and Dad have always had a passion to see precious children taught the Word of God, and it was clear to them that no one else was presenting the gospel in Madsen.  I use the word “passion” here in the context of their longing, desire, fondness, and love for those priceless children who needed to hear the story of Jesus.

My Dad was 40 years old in those days, and yet as I watch him grow old, (now at over 75 years old) his “passion” for the “lost” remains unchanged.  At 72 years of age, my Mom and Dad started a “Kids Club” for all the unchurched kids on their street in Saskatoon!  Being raised in a home by parents with such a passion for souls left a remarkable impact on another impressionable life: mine.   A wise observer [3] once wrote, “True greatness is measured only in terms of humility and service”.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons I think so highly of my father.  He continues to demonstrate consistent humility and untiring, unselfish service.  This humble reality is how he has lived a life of service in obedience to the Master’s Great Commission [4]:  “Go . . .  and make disciples of all nations . . .”

Our family continued to attend the Red Lake Assembly, and so scheduled church services in Madsen around the church schedule in Red Lake.  Between the two assemblies, the two Howson children attended a lot of church services during any given week.

One of the earliest entrepreneurial ventures I had was selling Christmas cards door to door in Madsen.

The Crusader

                Probably the most prominent memories that come from Red Lake, Ontario, are those of the very vibrant Red Lake Pentecostal church (a PAOC affiliate) we attended while living in that area.  Witnessing the genuine worship of this charismatic assembly definitely left an impression on young Mark.  It was during this time that Mark around 1964 at age 7 he joined the Pentecostal Crusader program at the Red Lake church. 

Aspects of Crusaders could be compared in parallel with the secular Boy Scout program. They had a special and distinct uniform to wear, badges to earn, salutes, codes to live by, and a special handshake (while saying “Aleph, -May the Lord watch between you and me, while we are absent one from the other”), honor codes, mottoes (“Always on Guard”), and had many other facets which were referenced to Ephesians 6:  “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God”.   The obvious difference in Crusaders, was that the emphasis was on spiritual development, in addition to other academic interests.  Group activities included campouts, wiener roasts, hikes, purposeful bible stories and crafts (example: building birdhouses, etc.).  All in all it was excellent exposure toward a disciplined, Christian life.

One of the Madsen memories was building treehouses (called “treeforts”), especially the one just behind the house.  The idea was to have fun in them with your friends, but it seemed that your “friends” would often destroy them when you weren’t there.  Another memory was cutting down trees in the “bush” with Dad to stockpile for use in the home’s woodburning stove during the bitter cold northern winter.  On our return, Mom would tell us to have a bath because we “smelled like the bush” after handling the pine and birch logs.

[1] Started Narrative in 1998

[3] Janet Erskine Stewart

[4] Matthew 28

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Go to: My Story - Chapter 2

intro  chapter 1  chapter 2  chapter 3  chapter 4  chapter 5  chapter 6  chapter 7  chapter 8  chapter 9  chapter 10  chapter 11

 

chapter two: northern ontario

 Manitouwadge

            After sensing God’s leading in their ministry, Mom and Dad packed up our family and moved across Northern Ontario to the mining community of Manitouwadge, where my father secured full-time work in the machine shop at “Geco”, one of the local copper mines owned by Inco.  The real reason my father moved there was to shepherd the local PAOC assembly as Pastor, after the previous pastor had up and left, leaving the assembly in tatters.

There are certain characteristics that appear particular to “northerners”.  I suppose it takes a certain type of individual to exist in a harsh, isolated environment. By way of observation, northerners seem to love the outdoors, they’re tough, set in their ways, opinionated, resilient and to be sure possessing of lots of spirit!   Here is a brief history of the area I found in the newspaper.

"Frontier Is Pushed Back At Manitouwadge" "Whole New Mining Area May Be Added to North".

Such headlines in 1955 proclaimed the birth of what was then touted to be the beginning of a "bustling new backwoods metropolis with every 20th century comfort and convenience".

Newspapers across Canada carried various stories about Manitouwadge, a rich new mining area, as Willroy and Geco Mines began a copper development that was to last more than four decades.

"Manitouwadj," an Ojibway word meaning "Cave of the Great Spirit", Gives one the key to early inhabitants of the area. The nomadic Ojibway Indians left a distinct impression on the culture of Manitouwadge as well as two legends as to how the town came to be known as such. According to the first, The Great Spirit Manitou was sailing down a stream in a canoe that had a rudder attached. He noticed a huge Canada goose flying overhead and being hungry, quickly drew an arrow from his quiver, put it in his bow and shot the bird.

The giant bird fell, tearing the rudder from the canoe. When the waters settled, the giant bird, a large fish and the rudder of the canoe were lying on the land. Manitou feasted that night and in the morning, was so filled with a sense of well-being he at once set about creating the area of Manitouwadj. Into the depressions formed in the ground by the huge Canada goose, the large fish, the rudder from his canoe and his moccasined feet, he poured water to make lakes. Hills were formed from the ground pushed up in the commotion. Copper rings around the arrow shaft were used to form ore bodies. The wood shaft of the arrow was made into deciduous trees, while the rudder wood formed the coniferous trees. To commemorate his stay, the mighty Manitou named the place Manitouwadge, meaning "Lodge of the Great Spirit". Another legend, dating back to the 1800s, suggests copper ore was first found at the end of the last lake in the chain. Copper was extracted albeit in crude fashion by settlements of Ojibway Indians, camped along the North Shore of Lake Superior.

A young Indian brave ventured into a previously undiscovered opening in the hillside, while portaging the area. Intrigued, he shouted and was frightened to hear his voice echo back to him. He hastily returned to his companions to tell of his discovery of the "Wadge" (cave) of the Great Spirit, Manitou. Thus the lake became known to the Indians as Manitouwadge, Cave of the Great Spirit.

Three prospectors Roy Barker, Bill Dawd, and Jack Forster were instrumental in the development of Manitouwadge as a mining community. Following establishment of the Noranda (Geco Division) and Wilroy Mines in the early 1950s, Manitouwadge was organized as an Improvement District in late 1954. Steady growth followed and on Jan. 1, 1975, the Improvement District was raised to township status.

In 1968, the Ontario Paper Company moved its centre of area operations from Heron Bay South to Manitouwadge. During 1975 to 1976 the Woodlands Division of the American Can Corporation began closing its bush campsites. The result was a slow growth in population until 1978 (as workers relocated to town), when the Willroy mine closed and the population decreased. With the closure of Geco Mine in 1996, forestry became the primary industry in the immediate area, but the base of the economy and growth in Manitouwadge had by the time of Geco's closure, been given new life, with the discovery of gold in the Hemlo area. Many miners from the Hemlo operations made the town their home. With the discovery, Manitouwadge once again experienced steady growth, and today continues to be a friendly community where dedicated individuals carry on the efforts of the early pioneers and where a handshake seals friendships. Just as it did for three prospectors by a remote lake in Northern, Ontario nearly 50 years ago.

  

The church in Manitouwadge was located in the basement of the large parsonage there, and had been kept going for a few years by a somewhat “set-in-their-ways” albeit faithful core group of churchgoers.  My parent’s once again concentrated their efforts in their area of specialty - the Sunday School, where they found a ready group of followers, many of whom were ripe for God’s work in their lives.  Some of the more unpleasant duties there included removing some Sunday School teachers from teaching positions, who shouldn’t have been in leadership, yet in such a way as to not drive them away from the church.
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section added in 2017:
I'm a paoc preacher's kid raised to be very separate from the world.  I'm 60 years old now and I think my mom and dad were the best things ever!  I experienced the 'us/them' too, & stayed home alone many times while my friends partied.  Yet today feel way more 'connected' for this growing up experience. Went to 'Crusaders' on Wed, prayer meeting on Thursday, youth-group on Friday, got my suit, shirt and shoes ready on Sat., Had the first Sunday church (Sunday-school)at 9:30am, then the 11am worship service, then went with dad to the paper/logging camps (I was the music guy with the accordian) for a 2 pm and later a 3:30pm Sunday afternoon service, then rush home to be in time for the 7pm evangelistic service.  ...the next day (Monday) dad would go back to his 'real' job working at the mine, and the church-week for him would start later that night with kid's club!!!   Honesty, it rarely occurred to me that this wasn't normal.  Dad just loved ministry and serving people. Everybody loved him He was an awesome dad and was busy working for the Lord until the day he died at almost 90.

end of 2017add
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                One of my favourite memories from Manitouwadge was rebuilding the engine in the family car.  Dad had bought a 1963 Plymouth Belvedere when we lived in Madsen.  After years of service, Dad is rebuilding the “Big Six” engine as he calls it.  I watch every move with curious interest, realizing Dad is not a mechanic, yet having enough faith in his expressed intentions at attempting a rebuild.  I’m holding wrenches, running for the next tool, conveying messages to Mom in the process and generally learning, assisting where I can.  I otherwise have no idea of how an engine works. Yet suddenly I become aware of  another world out there.  One of big-end bearings, piston rings, ring compressors, cylinder honing, valve reseating and the like.

Bundled in old parkas, we are laying on our backs, wedged between the metal of the car’s bottom and the concrete of the floor in that cold garage.  My dog “Baron”,  a Shepherd/Labrador cross lays there as well looking somewhat bored, complaining from time to time at the temperature.  Systematically, Dad explains how each system and sub-system works in unison to produce the power we took for granted at the steering wheel.  I am fascinated as the how and the why is finally unveiled to me!  More fascinating is the grand excitement when after rolling the car out of the garage, the engine roars to life a few weeks later.  With a boyish grin from ear to ear, Dad steps back if only momentarily to admire his mechanical aptitude, while Mom cheers from the house window.  With enthusiasm I sense his excitement.   “But wait” he says, “we have to adjust the tappets and the ignition timing before we go for a spin!”  My Dad can do anything!

                I guess part of the indelibleness of the story, is that this car was the first “big” car we owned as a family.  While my Dad fondly recalled his series of  Studebakers, I could not, because all I knew of were a series of little Volkswagens!  I remember driving this beautiful just-purchased Plymouth out of Russell Motors’ garage down in the big city of Winnipeg.  Although purchased second-hand, it was a memorable occasion to drive way down to Winnipeg in our little red Volkswagen bug, and come back to northern Ontario driving the “big” white Plymouth, which in later years was painted burgundy at the Mennonite garage back in Red Lake.

                When our family moved to Manitouwadge, I entered Grade Six where it was compulsory to take French.  As this was my first exposure to French, I had an especially difficult time trying to play catch-up with the rest of the class who had been studying it for quite a few years.  I soon developed an apathetic attitude to Miss Benoit, who had very little patience for my lack of enthusiasm.  The fact that my friend Ron Firth felt the same way about her, strengthened my resolve to have little interest in French class, and that probably was why I spent a lot of time out in the hall.  I remember French class as the class that I went to to read my Hardy Boy Mystery Series!  I would have to say that Miss Benoit and I blocked each other’s goals - so to speak, - in the ensuing clash!

                Ryan, my son loves to hear me tell the story of “Baron”.  Baron came into our lives when our neighbors, the Zotters, were looking to find homes for their dog’s new litter of puppies.  I remember it took some convincing before Mom and Dad agreed to us having our own dog.  He was actually not our first dog though, as my brother Charles had owned a dog who soon after coming to live with us was hit by a car.  Baron was named after a photographer’s German Shepherd who along with his master, a Mr. Boose, a friend of Uncle Enos’s from Windsor,  came to stay with us for a few weeks while photographing the area.  I got quite attached to that Shepherd and so much wanted to have a dog all my own.  Besides, with the $8.00 per week in cold, hard cash I brought in after school delivering the Fort William Times Chronicle newspaper, I now had the means to pay for his keep. 

                So with that desire and the means to accomplish it, the stage was set.  Much discussion ended in me swearing I’d take good care of him, and clean up all the messes.  From time to time I regretted that promise, but I regardless, faithfully did my cleanup duty. 

I well remember the snowy day when Charles and I went over to the Zotter’s to choose from the litter.  The puppies were a German Shepherd/black Labrador cross, and I picked Baron for both his chest markings and his seemingly subdued personality.  Although he fit into the palm of my hand, I nonetheless decided to try him out on the leash for the short walk home.  Evidently, it was the first time he had seen snow, and he only wanted to stop and lick it, and so put his feet straight out refusing to walk.  I remember him basically “skiing” for the most of the way home, as I tugged on the leash urging him to walk!  That was the first of many memories between the dog and us as we grew to love this little guy dearly.       Boys and dogs are perhaps destined to enjoy each other’s company!  Baron loved to be wherever we were, and since I was charged with mess cleanup he became mine, and we enjoyed a deep friendship. Well at least as deep a friendship that a boy can have with a dog.  After school he was usually with me, and I taught him to do tricks that some other dogs couldn’t.  One of his favourite was to learn how to climb up the ladder on the big slide at the Lion’s beach on Manitouwadge Lake and slide down again and again.  Once he got the hang of it he would do that over and over on his own without prompting.

I was at least a bit enterprising as a young teenager. One of my first enterprises (not including the lemonade and hot dog stands) was cutting neighborhood lawns in the summer and shoveling their driveways in the winter.  Both required some initiative in a door-to-door marketing effort.  I would borrow Dad’s lawnmower and push it around town looking for summer employment.  After a winter snowfall, I would borrow Dad’s shovel, again going door to door, politely asking if folks wanted their driveway shoveled.  Armed with nothing more than a snow-scoop, for anywhere between $2 - $5.00 a customer,  I would find someone to hire me to do their work.  Baron would usually not be far away, investigating the surroundings. 

When business seemed to get a bit slow, Baron and I would give chase over the hard snowdrifts to any one of the numerous cats we encountered during our door-to-door marketing effort, (more often at the homes who stated they did not require their driveway shoveled).  Somewhere in our rounds, Baron and I made good friends with Toby, a large, friendly Husky, who so very well knew the full meaning of  “Sic-em”.  He was usually not tied up, and the three of us would have the greatest excitement night after night terrorizing the local feline population, giving full chase at my command of “Sic-em” [1].   Baron thus soon learned the command from the Husky’s example, and was all too eager in compliance.  Just say the word, Mark - you’re wish is my command!

                One of the things I did with my friends during these years was to build soapboxes, or go-carts.  Basically, our definition of a go-cart was a set of baby carriage wheels which we nailed to a homemade steerable wooden frame. We would get the wheels from the last trip we made to the local town dump! It was a rudimentary and fairly spartan creation which we would pull to the top of the nearest big hill and race down with.  Many a summer day was spent working on our carts.  

Somewhere in my introduction to wheels, my Dad began to teach us how to steer the family car.  I learned to steer the Belvedere and later the Polara over the bush roads around Manitouwadge firstly by sitting on his lap, then when I could see over the dash, Dad sat beside me.  That was cool - and I felt proud!!

                Manitouwadge was where I met my first girlfriend, Linda Schwarzhoff.  I think our dates consisted mostly of sitting beside each other in church and then in the car when Dad drove her home!  Mom used to remind us . . .. . . “boys be faithful to God and to your church”.

Another friend I remember was Ronnie Firth.  He was the son of an electrician, and so he knew all about things electrical.  His Dad built him a scale model train set that covered their basement and I loved to run it with him.

Another Manitouwadge memory is taking swimming lessons at the Lions Club Beach.  I remember being an awkward swimming student, scared to put my head under water.  It took many years before I was comfortable around water.

I started high school while in Manitouwadge.  One of the memories during that time was the 1972 Russia-Canada hockey series, when they allowed the whole school to assemble in the gym to watch Canada win the last game.  Paul Henderson, who I later met at my church in Brampton, was the hero, having scored the final two goals late in the game to win the series which had been tied. 

I also remember doing very well in my typing class.  In fact of all the courses I took during my school years, I feel it was my typing course that was the most useful and practical to my life.  I was actually very good at typing and I think I was the second fastest in the class!

When I was about thirteen years old, I got an after paper route and delivered newspapers for the Fort William (prior to being called “Thunder Bay”) newspaper, I believe it was called the Times Chronicle.  After school and Saturdays, I walked all over Manitouwadge with the heavy newspapers and got a sore shoulder from the weight.

A few days before I was to start a new summer job at the grocery section of “The Hudson’s Bay Company”,  my parents informed us we were moving to Amherstburg, Ontario, not far from where my dad’s family home was.

Amherstburg

                The first evening after moving to Amherstburg, we lost Baron.  We’d gotten in late from the long drive from up north, and I wanted to tie him up, but not having a rope, Dad didn’t think we had better keep him in the parsonage for the night.  We were grief-stricken when Baron was nowhere in sight by the morning.  Not being able to find him despite a lengthy search, we think he went exploring and lost his way home.  A few years later however, we spotted him near the outskirts of town, now belonging to someone else, and not recognizing me at all.  By then we’d gotten over the loss, so it was somewhat bittersweet to see him again, and there was one less mystery.

                Southern Ontario was quite a bit different from my life to date, which had been spent up in northern Ontario.  There were big cities to replace the small towns I’d grown accustomed to, and fields of vegetables instead of “bush”.  I had had some exposure to southern Ontario as I would spend most summers visiting my grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins who lived there.  I also remember at least two summers working for Funk’s Seed Corn, in Cottam, Ontario, detasseling corn plants.

                I had to transition to a new high school and find a new set of friends, and as I was sixteen by now, I needed to find a job.  Some of the jobs I had were working for Weismer’s Auction Barn for a few weeks, near Amherstburg.  When Mr. Weismer, the auctioneer would phone me to help him, I would go with him in his truck throughout Essex County, gathering up articles from people who were participating in the auction, and then later in the evening hold them up for the auctioneer to auction off.  I remember working hard at one house loading up our truck with used goods for the auction, when I dropped a huge glass ashtray I was carrying because my hands were already too full.  I think I upset the auctioneer with that little accident, because I don’t think he ever phoned me to work with him again.

                However, I don’t remember worrying about it too much because I soon found my first “real” bigtime job, working for Dominion Food Stores, where I worked for almost three years.  My job at first was an after-school job packing groceries, and carrying them out to the customer’s cars.  My most famous carry-out customer was The Honorable Eugene Whelan, who lived just outside Amherstburg and at the time was Canada’s Agricultural minister.  Later I was put on full-time at Dominion and got to stock shelves, a job which I relished compared to packing grocery bags at the “front-end”. 

No doubt the biggest purchase to that date I had made with my own dollars was the 1972 Honda CB350 motorcycle I bought.  I remember being so very excited when I brought it home!  I think I paid about $ 800.00 for it.

I later brought home the proverbial “basket case”.  I remember literally carrying in my new (well, new to me) 1967 650 Triumph Bonneville in boxes and boxes of miscellaneous parts.  I had purchased all the pieces from Power Cycle in Windsor.  Apparently, someone wanted to rebuild the bike but didn’t finish.  I took the engine all apart and rebuilt it.  I got British Motorcycles in Windsor to help with various aspects of the project.  I remember it featured  .040” overbore cylinders, a TR6 single carb head and long front forks.  It was the last year of the 4-speed transmission series.  Although when I first purchased it in parts, I had plans to “chop” it into a real custom machine.  However, reality set in once I started into the project, and I realized I was in well over my head, and didn’t have the experience or money to complete the project.

However, before I could sell the custom frame I had bought with the package, the Windsor police detectives came to our house and knocked on our door.  The police informed me that I had allegedly purchased a stolen motorcycle frame with altered serial numbers.  The officers took my bike out of our house before my very eyes, put it in the trunk of their cruiser, and took it to Windsor to be held as evidence in a case against the owner of the bike shop.  I was somewhat surprised and depressed.  I had to testify in the court case that I had purchased the motorcycle from him.  I remember swearing my oath to tell the truth on a black bible.  I was a bit scarred!

However, sometime later the frame was released back to me.  Apparently, the police weren’t able to secure a successful prosecution against him.  I sold the custom frame back to Power Cycle and I bought a “stock” frame.  With all these parts, I finally mounted the engine and parts in the frame and took the whole bike to British Motorcycles and they rewired it and got it up and running for me. 

I worked at Dominion until my cousin Graham Hauser helped get me a much better paying job where he worked, driving a catering truck from site to site in Windsor, at a company called Metro Catering.  The company slogan was “Metro Catering - Where coffee is King!”   I will agree that they had about the best tasting coffee I’d ever tasted, and I have been a connoisseur of good coffee ever since!  I remember making $19,000.00 per year, not bad then for an eighteen year old!  I sold coffee, sodas, donuts and sandwiches, not to mention several dozen other things that the trucks sold.  I had a regular route that I went on from day to day, and sometimes on Saturdays.  As Windsor was primarily an automobile manufacturing city, many of the sites the catering truck went to were involved in car and car-parts production, as well as construction sites.  I saw alot of different types of people in a day and for the most part I would say that I associated with a cross-section of rough and tough blue collar workers.  I would get up every workday at 3:30 am to shower, eat breakfast and drive the twenty miles from Amherstburg to pick up the truck in Windsor. There I would load it with fresh supplies, and then drive to my first call of the day.  By the time I got back home to Amherstburg, it was around 5:00 or 6 pm.

I stayed on at Metro for almost three years.  While it was profitable, after the second year I no longer felt challenged by the job.  What Metro Catering enabled me to do was to afford my first car a 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass and flying lessons!  Soon after starting with Metro Catering, I began to look a bit farther down the road and realizing I didn’t want to be a caterer all my life, I decided to look into getting on to something more challenging. After a while I finally moved to Windsor, away from my parents “nest” and into my first apartment and on my own for the first time!

[1] “Sic-Em”: best pronounced with a double emphasis placed on the “s”.

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 Next: My Story - Chapter 3

chapter 2  chapter 3  chapter 4  chapter 5  chapter 6  chapter 7  chapter 8  chapter 9  chapter 10  chapter 11

chapter three: starting a career

Windsor

                In 1972 when I was age 16, Rev. Peter Lukannen (a PAOC pastor from Longlac Manitoba) came to Manitouwadge one winter.  He gave both my dad and I, 15-minute rides in his one-passenger Piper Cub on skis around the local lake.  That ride planted the desire for me to want to someday get my pilot’s license.  I was sold!

                In the fall of 1975, several years later, I remember watching a small airplane cruise overhead while driving down Highway 401 in the family car to a family gathering in Watford, Ontario.  That little airplane got me dreaming again of my desire to learn how to fly, and on returning from that family outing, began making inquiries about flight training. A few weeks later I enrolled in flying lessons at the Windsor Flying Club.

                With meeting my first instructor, I started a friendship that has continued through the years. Len Houser, who later was hired on at Air Canada,  was the first to introduce me to flying lessons.  I enjoyed the thrills and sensations of flying immensely.  After my first solo flight, I felt as if I was walking on air for several days at a time. 

Leaving Home and Spreading My Wings

               It took many years and lots of effort to shape my flying lessons into a career.  It also took me to many new destinations, and new situations.  Along the way, I have stayed true to the values and faith in God that was taught by my parents, making a conscientious effort to not being wrongly influenced by those around me.  However, this has not been very easy or popular, especially when I was younger.  The world's influence is staggering; - little wonder then that the apostle urges us in Romans 12, ". . . don't let the world squeeze you into it's mold!".

              However, along the way there have been numerous christian influences apart from my parents that have stood out more than others.   To these men I remain so very grateful.  Their influence on my life has been worthy of much more than this passing mention. Notably, radio pastor Chuck Swindoll and his Insight For Living Radio Broadcast.  I have been listening to him since 1985, and have always been immensely inspired and greatly encouraged during some of the times in my life when my feelings seemingly were at their lowest.  Also, Bill Gothard  and his Institute of Basic Life Principles, helped create a greater love for God’s word, and an understanding of basic life issues better.  James Dobson, from Focus on the Family has been an excellent sounding board for many issues as I faithfully have listened to his wise counsel through the years.

             I left Windsor in 1979 to take a helicopter course at Ranger Lake Helicopters in Sault St. Marie.  While I elected not to pursue helicopters full time, I very much enjoyed the flying the Bell 47-G2.  It was the same type of helicopter that appeared in the M.A.S.H. television series openings.

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Next: My Story - Chapter 4

chapter 3  chapter 4  chapter 5  chapter 6  chapter 7  chapter 8  chapter 9  chapter 10  chapter 11

chapter four: now i’m flying!

First Solo

            I'd enrolled in flight training for my Private Pilot’s license at the Windsor Flying Club in the Spring of 1976, and by 1977 I’d earned it.  Next on the list was a night rating, followed by a commercial pilot’s license.  In 1979, jobs in aviation were not plentiful, so I enrolled with Ranger Lake Helicopters in Sault St. Marie, Ontario to try my hand at chopper flying.

Copter’s

            While enjoying helicopters, it just didn’t have the same appeal compared to that of flying airplanes had, to say nothing of finding that the apparent few isolated job prospects were found only in remote northern areas, which was just not my forte.  Shortly before the final checkride was to have happened following 55 hours training on the Bell 47-G4 [1], a fellow student damaged the tail harp on the machine while wheeling it out the hangar door.  There was only one training aircraft, so with finances dwindling and repairs to the damaged helicopter weeks away, I got into my ’72 orange Olds and combed all the northern commercial operators of light airplanes within driving distance, to find employment as a pilot on floatplanes.               

First Flying Job - Derry Air

                While speaking to one operator after another, there appeared to be no jobs available.  Finally, in a small, isolated Ontario town called Gogama[2], I found a tourist outfitter/operator looking for someone to do brush clearing, dock building, loading and unloading, general maintenance work and yes! . . . even a bit of flying.  So I hired on at $400. Per month, including room and board. 

The boss and the chief pilot, gave me a checkout on the somewhat underpowered 138 HP, pontoon equipped Piper Cub (PA12) and a float rating.  This was the first in a series of flying jobs in a career that has spanned a few decades and thousands of hours spent in many an airplane cockpit!

Next, Multi’s, Instruments, & Floats, Ski’s in the Bush !

I earned my multi-engine rating on Beechcraft Travelair aircraft at the Winnipeg Flying Club at St. Andrews, Manitoba in 1979.

            Later in 1979, my off-airport experience continued with another tourist lodge operator, Huron Air, flying tourists and local Indians up to isolated northern lakes from a base in Armstrong [3], Ontario flying Cessna 185 float aircraft. After that season on floats, I went back to the Winnipeg Flying Club and got the all important instrument flight rating during the late fall / early winter months of 1979/80.  The IFR rating was the start of a whole new world of flying. 

Parson’s Airways Northern Ltd.

                 

Although Howard Friesen the owner invited me back to Armstrong for the following summer season as his chief pilot, I declined and found employment up at Flin Flon, Manitoba with Parson’s Airways Northern Ltd. for the balance of the winter months.  After a few weeks at the main base in Flin Flon, the boss sent me up to an isolated Indian reservation called Pukatawagen, located on the Churchill River, in Manitoba.

Pukatawagan, (population 3,500) proved to be a real cross cultural learning experience.  At the time, Pukatawagan held the notorious reputation of having the highest crime rate per capita in all of Western Canada.  The Parson’s pilot sent up about a year previous to my arrival, had been found in the remains of the burned out pilot’s residence with a bullet in his back, apparently a revenge killing for the pilot reportedly taking advantage of his sister.        However, despite that and fending off drunks who wanted to charter the Cessna 185 aircraft on wheelskis in the middle of the night,  many charter trips were flown off of the hard-packed snow on the river for the duration of the winter season.  How very sad it was though to witness the ravaging effects of alcohol among these wonderful, friendly people!

    Warm memories remain of my northern customers.  Memories of one of the Indian trappers paying for his charter flight with beaver pelts, which in turn I cashed in at the local Hudson’s Bay store.  I was reluctent to accept them as payment, but after taking the skins to the local "Bay" store, the charter was paid for.  There were essentially 3 categories for rating their furs; prime, below prime, and above prime, and the store manager paid accordingly.  I remember a prime beaver fur netting somewhere around $50.00 at the time. 

    Willy Dumas, a local Pukatawagan Indian would often charter my aircraft down to Flin Flon, and on the way out of town would ask him to buzz local friends down below with the airplane.  Sometimes it would take a bit of convincing - usually a ten dollar bill would do the trick though!  The customers food of choice on flights out of Flin Flon towards the reserve would be unequivocally Kentucky Fried Chicken, pop and potato chips.  Tangy smells would quickly fill up the small 6-seat cabin as soon as the doors were closed.

[1] Designed in 1947, the small helicopter with a top speed of around 60 mph, was a good training aircraft in it’s day. The TV series “MASH” used pictures of Bell 47 helicopters in their opening theme shots.

[2] Gogama, Ontario is situated north of Sudbury, Ontario

[3] Armstrong, Ontario is located north of Thunder Bay, Ontario about 125 air miles.

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Next:  My Story - Chapter 5

chapter five: turboprops!

                One of most pilot’s goals is to progress to advanced aircraft, and so eventually have a choice at living in larger cities and thus improve one’s lot in life through an increasing standard of living, all the while doing what he/she enjoys the most - flying aircraft!  I was no exception, and continued to send out resumes in a search for a larger aircraft to fly and more things to learn.  I was soon contacted by Calm Air, then of Lynn Lake, Manitoba, who were continually looking for pilots and copilots to crew their DeHavilland Twin Otters. 

I moved up still farther north to Lynn Lake and hired on as a copilot on the Series 100 & 200 Twin Otter.  This was a quantum leap in aircraft technology for the young bush pilot, and he was so proud of his new job!  While many people consider the Twin Otter or Dash 6 , as it is sometimes called, to be somewhat of a bush aircraft, there is a vast of technological difference between this aircraft and the small Cessnas previously flown, including twin  550 HP turboprop engines, and having amazing aerodynamic properties.

You no longer flew alone, but had a flying partner (Captain and First Officer) to make double sure that the aircraft was operated in a safe manner.  Having another crewmember looking over one’s shoulder was a whole new world.  You now had to operate as a team instead of a one man band.  New skills were learned as one progressed in his career!  Frankly though, from time to time I also found an increased frustration level, especially if one had to work closely all day with someone he did not necessarily appreciate!  A few painful learning times were experienced to say the least!

              When Mom and Dad came to visit me in Thompson, MB,  I was able to take Dad up to Churchill, MB and Rankin Inlet, NWT with me for a few days.  I think Dad also came for a ride with me up to Chesterfield Inlet, NWT and Whale Cove, NWT.   The starter cord on my Ski-doo broke while Dad was visiting me, and I was frustrated that we couldn’t go for a ride together.  Since it was so cold, Dad probably didn’t care.

                 While in Rankin, Dad spoke at the local native Pentecostal church which was run by a minister from Edmonton.  That minister was later killed in his Aztec, taking some students to their Bible school.  Apparently, it was a weather-related accident.  Brian Childs, one of our pastors in Kelowna, later married this pastor’s widow.

             Since I was friends with Keith, the local airport fuel man, Dad and I were invited to his house for dinner.  Although he was originally from England, he had an Eskimo wife who prepared food native-style.  We were served caribou steaks with vegetables the night of our visit.  During the meal, Dad got talking about various types of wild meat.  That got Keith talking about a few delicacies he had, one of which was “rotten walrus”.

              Basically the recipe for “rotten walrus” is to set it on the shelf until it turns green, and then to freeze it.  Apparently, at least according to Keith, they  “eat it like candy”.  As we were leaving, he again mentioned to us that we had to try his “rotten walrus” before we left.  I politely refused, but my Dad wanted to make a good impression so he said he’d try a bit of it.  Keith walked over to his freezer and cut off a piece with his knife and gave it to Dad, who put it in his mouth..  We said goodnight to them, and left for the walk home.  Once we got outside, Dad who had kept the slice of “rotten walrus” in the corner of his mouth, began to spit it out onto the ground.  I sure thought that was funny!  Dad claimed it was the worst thing he’d ever tasted!

             After a year or so, another airplane the Beechcraft King Air 90 was added to the list of airplanes flown as a copilot, and soon the Chief Pilot Ok’d me for my Twin Otter Captaincy in 1982.  With an increased responsibility also came a great increase in income!  Routes flown for Calm Air included nearly all of Manitoba and most of the western coastal areas of the Northwest Territories especially around the northern base of Rankin Inlet, NWT.

           I also went on to fly the B-90 Beechcraft King Air turboprop, and in the 80's the AC 690 Grumman Turbo Commander, which I loved.  The Turbo Commander job was for an investment brokerage, Gordon Capital in Toronto, under the non-descript alias of Starline Aviation.  I flew around many of the top business leaders of the time including 3 future prime ministers, Jean Chretien, Paul Martin, and John Turner.  While employed with this brokerage, I was able to fly their business jet, the Citation as well.  Years later, the experience with the business flights was beneficial in other ventures I was involved with.

Kelowna Capital News, January 26, 1994 Executive Charter Launched    The operators of a new executive plane charter service say hiring a sleek, five-seat Cessna Conquest to get you and friends or business associates of Kelowna and back is not the expensive luxury one might think.    “It’s really quite affordable,” says chief pilot Mark Howson of Southern Interior Flight Centre (SIFC), the Kelowna Airport-based company which started up the charters recently as Kelowna’s first professional executive service.    “And there’s the market for such a service in Kelowna now with its rapid growth and status as a business centre.”    Based on five persons in a charter group, the price is $ 226 each return Kelowna-Vancouver, compared to $353 for full-fare economy on a commercial flight - the fare most business people have to pay. (Other destinations are calculated on a $3 per air mile formula, meaning a return flight to Calgary would be $311 each based on a group of five, Victoria $256 and Edmonton $437.    For every hour in the air, the group can have the plane wait for the return flight for two hours on the ground.    For example, since the Kelowna-Vancouver flight is an hour each way, the plane will wait four hours at Vancouver International Airport for free for the return flight.  Additional waiting hours are $50 each.    “We say it’s ideal for a group traveling for either business or pleasure,” adds Howson.  “It could be a group going to a business meeting or some friends heading to a concert or sporting event.”    While one other Kelowna company does offer a small passenger plane charter service, Howson says SIFC’s is the first and only ‘executive’ service.    With leather seats, a bar and club seating (seats facing each other for conversation), Howson says the inside of the plane is “first class”.

I really have enjoyed flying the Beech 1900D.  While many of my first officers begin their career on this aircraft, it has taken me many years to get to it and so perhaps I may appreciate it more than the others I work with!    Also the regional commuter schedule seems to fit family life!

Next: My Story - Chapter 6

chapter six: mission “africa”

                The aviation business is a cyclical business.  That is to say, the welfare of most commercial operators follows close behind whatever the economy happens to be doing at the time. 1984 was one of the tougher years in Canadian aviation history,  and early in 1984, I began to find out more about and even applied for, working for Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).  While based at the company base in Thompson, Manitoba, I remember getting down on my knees at my bedside with the resume sealed in the envelope, earnestly  seeking God’s will through prayer about this part of my life.  I then remember walking down to the mailbox to post the letter.  I’d learned of MAF through a Calm Air mechanic[1] and pastor’s son who had just returned from a year in Ethiopia on a World Vision / MAF partnership program. 

                In 1984, not long after I applied to MAF,  I was laid off from Calm Air and after a few months stay with Aunt Eleanor (Webber) in Winnipeg, I  was flown down to Redlands, California[2] for an interview with MAF.  After a week’s orientation with MAF, I was offered a position as Twin Otter[3] captain for their Ethiopia program.  However, I did not rush into accepting the offer. 

                The lush California citrus groves were an amazing site for a young Canadian northern bush pilot, more accustomed to pine, birch and arctic tundra.  I recollect the kind treatment from the sincere, mature, christian MAF recruiters at headquarters.  They left quite an indelible impression as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.  These were the folks that still carried on the work that martyr Nate Saint had begun with the Aucca Indians in Ecuador,  South America decades earlier.

                However, joining MAF still was not an easy decision to make.  Venturing from one’s familiar surroundings and family in Canada for unknown lands and challenges beyond, would need a lot of thought.  MAF had described it as a  6-month contract.  “Contract”, meant commitment; - staying with the program whether or not one would enjoy the experience.  Six months to a young man seemed like an eternity.  I promised to call MAF soon after I’d gotten back to Canada.  Somewhere over the Midwest, halfway home from California, in the back of the jetliner, the decision-wrestling stopped.  The answer was “Yes, I’ll dare to trust the Lord and go to Ethiopia”.  I remember being at peace with my decision. This affirmative response to Ethiopia apparently surprised the recruiter[4]. He’d been sure Mark was going to say “No”.

Landing in Jinka, Southwestern Ethiopia

Ethiopia proved to be such a very positive time of growth for Mark.  So many horizons were expanded.  So many challenges both professionally and personally were met.  I remain convinced that God placed so many people of great character in my way for my benefit.  To observe missionaries pouring out decades of their life as servants of mighty God was a sight that never can be forgotten.

                 To hear and sense their heart’s desire to see things accomplished for God among mere African peasants was so precious to behold.   To be a part of their bible studies and sense excitement and deep appreciation for the Word of God and a deep sense of purpose for their lives was something never to forget.  Whoever said that “You’ll be the same person 10 years from now, except for the books you read and the people you meet”, said it right!

Next: My Story - Chapter 7

chapter seven: things wrought by prayer

 

Sweet Hour of Prayer

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! That calls me from a world of care, And bids me at my Father's throne Make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often found relief And oft escaped the tempter's snare By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!	Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! The joys I feel, the bliss I share, Of those whose anxious spirits burn With strong desires for thy return! With such I hasten to the place Where God my Savior shows His face, And gladly take my station there, And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! Thy wings shall my petition bear To Him whose truth and faithfulness Engage the waiting soul to bless. And since He bids me seek His face, Believe His Word and trust His grace, I'll cast on Him my every care, And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!	Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! May I thy consolation share, Till, from Mount Pisgah's lofty height, I view my home and take my flight: This robe of flesh I'll drop and rise To seize the everlasting prize; And shout, while passing through the air, "Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!"

                It has been said, “Faith may move mountains, but prayer moves the hand of God!”   Throughout my life, whether by personal experience or through learning the lives of bible heroes in Scripture, I have been awestruck many times where it has made been so clear to me how God has divinely intervened on behalf of those who called on Him, and thereby changing the course of events.

Salvation for the Wayward

Red Lake Men’s Fellowship - circa 1960’s Front Row (L to R): Cliff Cassidy, Fred Harder, Wes Howson, Ivan Bjorkand, Tony Gugliotta, Tony Parisi  Second Row (L to R): Paul Cassidy,  Delbert Duncalf (?), Unknown, Gerry Larson, Fred Howson

One of the first examples in my experience with God was as a child in the 1960’s, attending Red Lake Pentecostal Assembly, in northwestern Ontario with my parents.  I vividly remember a well appreciated man in our assembly, who regularly, and persistently cryed out to God for his wayward son.     Cliff Cassidy, operated several jewelry stores in the area.  I admired him for his apparent exemplary, consistent walk with God, his leadership skills in the church, which were clearly relational in nature, and his basic kindness to me.

When a visiting evangelist would happen by,  he would take him out and buy him a new suit and give him a gold watch from his store. He sometimes extended credit to the natives when most would not, and so enjoyed relations with them as well.  However, besides being a great all around guy, he had a discernable passion for the Lord, and for the lost, especially for the salvation of his son, Paul who he informed us had become wayward.

                I had always thought Paul was kind of a cool guy and in a way I sort of looked up to him as one of the “big guys” in our church. Perhaps I looked up to him because he was about 10 years older and seemed so much more mature than I was.  Perhaps it was how tough he was in the “street-fighting” type of horseplay I saw him engage in after church, when our parents were either socializing or praying.  I really don’t know.  However, I do know that for some reason I respected him

                So knowing a bit about Brother Cassidy’s son (Christians called each other Brother and Sister back then) I began to develop a tenderness to the cry of his heart, even though I was only a lad.  As my father was pioneering a Sunday School in Madsen, a small town not far from Red Lake, we would take in all of our own services in the Madsen church, Sunday afternoon and Children’s Hobby Club on Monday evenings, as well as all the services and programs of the Red Lake Assembly - a total of at least 7 or 8 services in a given week.  Since most of the services were at the Red Lake Assembly, Cliff would be found praying for Paul during the morning and evening Sunday services as well as the mid-week service, always with tears of earnestness streaming down his face. 

On one particular Sunday morning, even as just a child of about 10 or 11 years old, my spirit began to weigh heavy as I listened again to this father’s cry for his son.  I must say that I have not often felt God’s Spirit move in my life, prompting me to prayer, the way he did that day, and nothing similar has happened subsequently.

Somehow in my own simple childlike faith, a heavy burden had been placed upon my heart to pray non-stop all the remainder of that Sunday for this teenager’s salvation.  Thirty years later I still can remember in my mind’s eye that scene as I vigorously, intensely prayed all afternoon for God to save Paul. As I remember it, it seemed that nothing else mattered to me that day.   I remember simply trusting God and petitioned him over and over again for his salvation.

We drove the 18 or so miles home to our house in Madsen, where I continued to pray expectantly, yet non-verbally - immersed in my own private call to God for his answer. Similarly, later that afternoon on the drive back to the Red Lake church for the evening church service I continued to intercede, somehow sensing God was going to answer.

Well you can imagine my delight when to everyone’s surprise, Paul walked into that Sunday night service and slumped into one of the back rows, looking as cool as a late teen of 19 can look.  He hadn’t attended the church in a long while, so he certainly had everybody’s attention.  I remember being ecstatic when I saw him!  I remember the tears in my eyes, I remember the excitement in my stomach, I remember saying to myself determinedly,  “God is going to save him”, yet I continued to pray for him during the service, not wanting to let go until he was at the altar and the battle was won.  Later during that service, I witnessed Paul making his way to the altar and committing his life to God, as God was so faithful in his response to me.   I remember going into the foyer and sending cries of rejoicing heavenward.  “God your so REAL, Thank you, Lord, Thank You Jesus.”

Despite witnessing what I felt was a direct answer to my prayer, I kept that prayer battle to myself as a personal victory, not sharing it with anyone, probably due to shyness more than anything else.  Soon after that time at the altar, Paul went off to Bible School, and as years wore on, my Dad went on to pastor another community in Manitouwadge, Ontario, and we thus left that active assembly at Red Lake and went separate ways.  I however would from time to time hear reports of Paul’s ministry through our denominations’ publication, “The Testimony”, and would remind myself of “that time in Red Lake when God answered my prayer.”

 I never saw Paul Cassidy again until probably about 25 years later, when I quite coincidentally sat beside him in a small Baptist church near Stowe, Vermont, and was introduced to “the other guy from Canada”, by the local pastor who didn’t know either of us.  At the time, I was employed as a corporate pilot to a stockbroker, and flew business jet and turboprop aircraft with Gordon Capital all over the US, Canada and the Bahamas.  During the mid-1990’s the firm was an aggressive New York and Toronto Bay Street stockbroker.  The wealthy president could afford regular private airplane trips, and would enjoy time away in the pretty countryside of Vermont nearly every weekend where he had his country mansion with all the trimmings.  My co-pilot and I would fly him there in his private aircraft getting him away from the pressure of the high demands of his job.

My parents had taught me to attend the Lord’s house on Sunday, even when we were on our vacation.  I have thus always sought out a church when I was away from my own church, especially for Sunday services (although my co-worker’s thought it was kind of a strange practice).  That is probably a similar reason as to why Paul was in the same church.  He was in Stowe, Vermont for some time together with his wife.  I was quite surprised to see someone that I knew, when I thought I was quite a long way from home.

As I said good-bye to them, I briefly hesitated, but decided to tell Paul and Judy about “that time in Red Lake when God answered my prayer.”  That was the first time I had told anyone the story.   At the time Paul, now a minister with the Pentecostal Assemblies, was pastoring a church in Waterloo, Ontario, and went on to pastor in Ottawa, and later was my own pastor at Evangel in Kelowna, BC!

Now I am not so spiritually naïve as to think that I had won the battle on the strength of my prayer alone.  At best that would be highly inaccurate, and at worst quite false and a show of arrogance.  I also know how Cliff and without doubt his wife Greta, and many others prayed without fail month after month on their son’s behalf.  More accurately, prayer from my behalf probably only added “more fighting angels” to the battle, perhaps in effect tipping the balance in favour of victory.

In his christian novel, “This Present Darkness”, Frank Peretti describes with graphic detail the conflict in the unseen real world of angels and demons.  Demons dispatched to torment Christians and destroy the work of God, are in turn beaten back by fighting angelic beings dispatched by the prayers of the saints.  The net effect of the novel is to help the christian understand how important prayer is in the life of the christian, and how battles literally tip in the balance when enough people pray.  Spiritual kingdoms rise up and strongholds are brought down on the strength of a church’s prayer life.

Resources for the Needy

                At about age 33, I was challenged by an instructor of a course I had taken to read the biography of George Mueller.  It was a powerful biography, and one that challenged my prayer life like none before. 

George Mueller founded and operated a series of large orphanages in England during the 1800’s.  What was especially impressive about George Mueller, was his consistent, unwavering, and persistent faith in God, and particularly his commitment to God through his prayer life.  He demonstrated  to Christians how God could provide funds and resources in direct answer to prayer.  He received millions of dollars in this way, not having asked anyone but God for the answer to his prayer. 

His biography told how many times he would sit down at the table with all the children and helpers, seemingly unfazed by the fact that there was no food on the table, or otherwise in sight.  After pausing to give thanks to the Lord for the meal, a knock on the door would come, and when the door was answered, someone would be bringing a cooked turkey with the trimmings!  Story after story was told about how George Mueller demonstrated that one could trust God with both trivial and important issues!

George Mueller’s methods for determining the will of God:    “I seek to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in a given matter.  When you’re ready to do the Lord’s will, whatever it may be, nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome.  Having done this, I don’t leave the result to feeling or simply impression.  If I do so, I leave myself liable to great delusion.

I seek the will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, God’s Word.  The Spirit and the Word must be combined.  If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also.  If the Spirit guides us, He’ll do it according to the Scriptures, not contrary to them.

Next, I take into account providential circumstances.  These often plainly indicate God’s will in connection with His Word and Spirit.  I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me.

Thus, through prayer, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment, according to the best of my ability and knowledge.  If my mind is thus at peace, and continues after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly.  I have found this method always effective in trivial or important issues.”

Next:  My Story - Chapter 8

chapter eight: the entrepreneur!

Protection for the Determined

The year prior to starting Okanagan Business Flights, my entrepreneurial project, my wife and I hosted a young adults bible-study in our home.  While doing a character study on the life of Nehemiah,  I was inspired by this great restorer of the city of Jerusalem over 400 years before the birth of Christ.  What a man!  What determination!  What a prayer life!.  At every step of his project, his path of faith was marked by fervent prayer to the Living God!   

Kelowna Capital News article    Executive flights ready for takeoff    The Valley has a new plane charter business with Okanagan Business Flights taking to the air.    “You don’t have to be Bill Gates or Ross Perot to be able to afford charter air transportation,” says owner-pilot Mark Howson.    Howson, who’s based at Kelowna Airport, says at $ 1,324.00 for the round trip to Vancouver, six executives can travel in club class luxury for $200 each, less than the scheduled airlines regular short notice prices.    The Cessna 421 Golden Eagle plane seats six and has two crew.

         Having visited Jerusalem in December of 1983, I had walked along the top of the Jerusalem city wall, and so relived each chapter of Nehemiah in vivid detail, my remembrance of that visit being still very much alive.  Despite tremendous odds, Nehemiah pressed onward in his cause.  Imagine his tenacity in the face of opposition, blending prayer and watchfulness with faith and action.       

“ But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. . . .Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work” . . . .”Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome”

. . . When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work. From that time on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor.  The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall.  Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. Neh. 4:9-18”

Help to the Helpless

At other times, scripture teaches that there is a time to wait quietly before the Lord as Moses did despite being pursued by Pharaoh’s army.  

“As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them.  They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. . . . Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid.  Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.  The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.  The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Ex. 14:13,14.”

Years have passed since studying this story through the radio ministry of Chuck Swindoll, I still can not help but be inspired by this great scene.  As only Chuck could say it, “ . . when hemmed in on all sides - between the devil and the deep, Red sea - we are forced to look up.”

            The reason I mentioned the above bible stories, was because they were not unlike some of the victories and some of the adversaries and adversities I encountered in my entreprenerial venture.  The condensed version of the Okanagan Business Flights story goes something like this.  The firm I was working for was bought out by a dishonest employer.  I prayed and was encouraged through a bible study on Nehemiah I did as a small home group leader.  I had mad a decision to leave my employment and begin a small charter airline.  Not long afterward,  I sensed God's overwhelming love for me one day while driving and praying about my situation.  It gave me the confidence that God was with me no matter what the outcome of my venture was going to be.   A business plan was put together and my plan began to take shape, based on a business course I'd taken at the local college.

           I began to pray for some startup funds.  An unsolicited letter arrived in the mail  with a promise of $ 20,000.00 for cashflow and through tears I began to thank God for the start of the answer to my prayers.  I submitted an application for a government grant (Self-Employment Assistance program), and through the course of the year I was given $ 18, 000.00 towards my business, and it included further training on accounting and marketing.  Another individual gave me $ 49,000.00 unsolicited, for a deposit on an aircraft.  I soon submitted my business plan for bank approval to get the balance of the needed funds, but when it was rejected, there was more prayer.  Another individual, again unsolicited, arranged an operating loan for $ 50,000.00.  With these funds now in hand the bank was ready to loan the required balance.  Soon an aircraft was located in Florida and purchased, which I flew to Kelowna from Miami in the summer of 1996.

           I immensely enjoyed my own business.   After operating OBF Ltd. for a year though, several things became clear to me.  First of all, I was spending nearly all of my waking hours working on my business. This was all to the detriment of my family life as Baby Ryan was now with us, and I didn't want my time all taken up with the business and have none left for my family.  I hadn't counted on paying such a high price in this regard.   Second of all, although I was seeing repeat business starting to happen, I was finding that maintenance costs were much higher than I'd imagined.    I made a decision to seek employment as a pilot working for someone else and then lease the company aircraft to an operator in Northern Manitoba, Skyward Aviation, for ambulance use.   Years have passed since making this difficult decision, and I know it was for the best.  Several years later, this aircraft was sold and I flew it down to the new owner in Carlsbad, California.  This venture had been bittersweet, as it was probably the most fulfilling job I've had in aviation, flying business people all over western Canada and the USA. 

Next: My Story - Chapter 9

chapter nine: the search!

                On July 27, 1991 during a simple ceremony in a rented Port Credit, Ontario church,  I slipped a tiny, elegant diamond ring on my bride’s hand.  As the minister (my dad) united Andrea and I in marriage, a few friends and family looked on.  As the minister drew near to facilitate the promises we were making that day before God, etched forever in my memory is the way Andrea looked at me, her big bright eyes beaming through tears, and silently mouthed the words, “It’s happening”.  Our search for a “Significant Other” was finally concluding before this very altar.  Only the two of us were aware that inside our gold bands were inscribed the scripture reference 1 John 4:19 which says, “We love, because He first loved us.”  As christians, those words summarized the reason that there had been the coming together of these two lives.  Moreso for me, this ceremony marked the end of a long, long search for someone to share my dreams with.   And what an absolute fine prize my search was rewarded with!  My dear Andrea enrichens and complements every aspect of my life!  I believe that she was a remarkable gift from God to me.  When we married I felt like I’d just found a missing piece of my heart!

                 So how do I pass on to those following behind me, a least a few of the secrets learned in my search?  Do I remain silent, then hope and pray that those following in my footsteps will stumble across their mate too, perhaps “coaching” them only when they ask me.  (What if they never ask me?)  Or rather should I tell my story, point out the pitfalls that I have identified and perhaps remind them of what God says in His Word regarding the subject, and after arming them with that information, then release them to God’s providence and protection?  Thus this is how it happened for me and this is my love story.

     Thinking back to my kindergarten years, I recall my first interest in the opposite sex.  I remember being infatuated with a 4 year old classmate, who seemed to enjoy me tickling her toes as we sat around the floor in a circle.  However, by the time I entered my teen years, I was very shy and quite introverted in my expressions of interest toward the opposite sex, and often preferred to allow the gals to initiate, or at least indicate their interest in any social interaction, with only friendship as an ultimate goal before I showed too much interest. 

However, as one emerges out of puberty, the attraction for the opposite gender markedly increases, especially approaching the late teen years.  It then is worth undergoing even the embarrassing awkwardness, (including the big risk the “special” person would say “no”) of asking someone special out for the first date, just to spend time together.  What fun times full of innocent laughter can be derived from time spent together on a date with that special person!  Yet what peril can befall a young person when no limits are placed on the physical progression between the sexes beginning with the first touch. 

Given the current trends in divorce and marriages today as we approach the end of the 1990’s, it is obvious our society is in grave danger.   With the divorce rate now at 50% in Canada,  I shudder to think of what the state of the family will be in when my children are of marrying age.  I am saddened to realize that most children today in our society will be clueless as to what family life is all about.  Most will never themselves be passed on any value system, let alone a godly example.  Most will soon grow up in single parent families.

Finding the right match in a mate for many is described as difficult as best.  Many in fact,  not ever find a suitable mate at all.  Some rather settle for second best in place of waiting for God’s timing.  By second best, I mean that often people settle for someone who is a poor match, or someone who comes with lots of baggage from previous relationships.  I’m so very grateful that I married a woman without a mountain of baggage.  Sadly, some for whatever reason are unable to find a mate at all and are thus single for the duration of their life.  Just as sadly, many find the right mate but through, carelessness, neglect of nurturing, or premature intimacy allow the right person to slip through their hands, as water slips through a sieve.  Perhaps this occurs through divorce, or through ignorance of simply not understanding how to deal with conflict.  Conflict by the way is not necessarily unhealthy, and is inevitable in human relationships.  An unrealistic or a too-high list of expectations also becomes a barrier to finding a reasonable match.

While in my mid-20’s, I began reading a series of books, (probably more than thirty in all) by relevant christian authors who offered advice on “dating-mating-relating” issues and were geared to help young people make decisions.  In retrospect, I’m eternally grateful to these authors and the wisdom they imparted to my impressionable, searching mind.  They instilled me with the confidence of knowing that someday I would be married to someone very significant who would want to care about me, and would want to trust me with her dreams.  Someone who was worth waiting for.  They taught me the importance of “standing alone” during the many (sometimes painful) years (shall I say more than a decade) of waiting.  I'm offering this chapter as a help to whoever may find it helpful as their own story unfolds.

Author Elisabeth Elliot[1] writes in her book “Keep A Quiet Heart”: 

A Man Moves Toward Marriage (E. Elliot)

Letters keep coming from both men and women who are in a quandary about how one ought to move toward marriage. While I was sitting here, rereading some of them, a man phoned with a question about the same subject. I wonder what is happening. Why so much confusion? Here's one of the letters:

"I'm a male Christian who needs help. I just ended a long-term 'relationship' with a non-Christian girl. I made plenty of compromises during those years, and by God's grace I hope next time will be better. I read your book The Mark of a Man and was shown things I never knew before which blew my mind. I'm excited about the idea of sharing life with a girl in a way which would honor Jesus. At the same time I get scared about making bad moves, when to initiate, and financial fears about supporting a family if I'm a missionary, which at the moment I'm being directed to. These things may seem silly but they're real to me. Could you address some issues which could benefit us guys who see marriage as a blessing and not as years of imprisonment?"

No, the questions do not seem silly to me--far from it. They are vital questions, and I'm glad there are men to whom they matter enough to pray about and ask counsel for.

I think one reason for confusion is the notion which arose, before the men who are now in their twenties and thirties were born, about the "equality" of the sexes. It is a word that belongs to politics but certainly not to courtship, a realm which concerns human beings in their entirety.

Another reason for confusion is misunderstanding the order which God established in the beginning. I've tried to explain that divine arrangement in two books: Let Me Be a Woman and The Mark of a Man. If men would be men, women could do a better job of being women (and vice versa, of course, but the buck really stops with the men). What does it mean to be a man?

Christ is the supreme example. He was strong and He was pure, because His sole aim in life was to be obedient to the Father. His very obedience made Him most manly--responsible, committed, courageous, courteous, and full of love. A Christian man's obedience to God will make him more of a man than anything else in the world. Consider these qualities:

Responsibility. He must work out the salvation that God has given him "with a proper sense of awe and responsibility, for it is God who is at work" in him, giving him the will and the power to achieve His purpose (Philippians 2:12, 13, PHILLIPS). Man was made to be initiator, provider, protector for woman.

Commitment. He must be a man of his word, no matter what it costs. My father's strong counsel to my four brothers: Never tell a woman you love her until you are ready to follow that immediately with, "Will you marry me?" In other words, a man's love for a woman, if deep and abiding, leads to a lifetime commitment to her. Many heartaches would be avoided if he held back any expressions of love until he is ready to make that commitment. Once promised, he never goes back on that word.

Courage. A man must be willing to take the risks of rejection (she might say No), blame, and all that commitment costs.

Courtesy. A Christian's rule of life should be: my life for yours. He is concerned about the comfort and happiness of others, not of himself. He does not seek to have his own needs met, his own image enhanced, but to love God, to make Him loved, and to lay down his life to that end. In small ways as well as great, he shows the courteous love of the Lord.

Purity. He must be master of himself if he is to be the servant of others. This means "buffeting" his body, bringing it into subjection, as Paul did. It means restraint, discipline, the strength to wait. It means an utter yielding to the will of God as revealed in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 and 1 Thessalonians 4:2-8.

As I have heard the sad stories and studied what I call "The Dating Mess" of today, it appears to me that men have generally overlooked another vital matter which ought to precede all overtures in the direction of a prospective wife. If we assume that a man is an adult when he is eighteen (or twenty-one at the latest), he should by that time be giving marriage some serious thought. He should get down to brass tacks with God to find out if this may be a part of His agenda for him. This will take time, and it might help if during this period he simply quits dating and starts praying. As long as the answer is uncertain, don't date. Does this sound extreme? It wasn't my idea. I learned it from a group of young men who have chosen this way. It is a guaranteed way of avoiding sexual activity (always illicit outside of marriage), of preserving one's wholeness and holiness, and of preventing the heartbreaks we see on every hand.

I urge you to trust God. He wants to give you the best. He will help you. He has promised to guide. He knows what you need. Ask Him to show you whether, when, and whom you should marry.

And don't be alone in this. Ask counsel of your spiritual superiors who are wise, who know how to pray and how to keep silence. Take their counsel seriously. If they have suggestions as to a possible mate, take those very seriously. My own parents prayed for godly spouses for all six of us, and actually named before God the very people that four of us married.

Read Genesis 24, study the principles Abraham's servant followed. Pray silently. Watch quietly.

Before you start dating, draw clear guidelines for yourself as to "how far to go." The only truly safe line is a radical one, but it works: hands off and clothes on. If you think you can put the line somewhere else, remember that a little thing leads on to a bigger thing. A touch leads to a hug which leads to a kiss which leads to play which leads to consummation. That was how God intended the whole thing to work, but the idea of the "whole thing" was marriage and babies.

Can you trust yourself to quit once you start? The Bible says, "Flee youthful lusts." Don't toy with them.

When God has guided you as to the whether, the when, and the whom, then you must choose to love and not to fear. The Will of God always involves risk and cost, but He is there with grace to help and with all the wisdom you need. Every deliberate choice to obey Him will--depend upon it--be attacked by the enemy. Never mind. Nothing new about that. Be a man and stick with it. 

Christian authors pointed out so clearly the importance of prayer in my life, and how God’s Word was extremely relevant to my case.  They helped map out my needs, intellectual, spiritual, physical, emotional.  They helped me understand how each of the genders think,  what drives and needs are characteristic to either sex.  Books helped informed me for example that since I was a first-born male, studies on birth order [2] suggested that I might want to consider that the best choice was perhaps someone who is a last-born or youngest girl in her family.

Perhaps because of  my extensive study of dating-mating and relating issues, I was able to somewhat accurately identify the “right” person when God finally brought her my way.  But what do I actually mean when I say I wanted to find the “right” person?  Chuck Swindoll, my favourite bible teacher maintains it is actually more important to “be” the right person, than to find the right person.  Ah, yes!  In my reading I also discovered he was right!

When I was nineteen,  I had my first real “girlfriend”.  We began an somewhat rocky, off and on relationship that lasted about a year, roughly coinciding with my beginning relationship with aviation until I obtained my commercial pilot’s license.  I found I had gained a new sense of significance to know that someone out there cared enough (about me) to want to spend time exclusively with me.  Someone wanted to share my hopes and dreams! - which at that time consisted mostly of my car, an orange 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass coupe, and my airline aspirations, then embodied in the form of a Piper Cherokee. 

I was however soon horrified to find out that she wanted to get married and get out of her parents’ hair!  At the time, nothing could have been further from my plans as marriage was!  As much as I liked her, the time was not right for me to commit to a marriage while I was still plotting my career strategy.  Although the relationship deteriorated, it was well over a year before I was able to say I had recovered from the emotional pain of the loss of the relationship.   The pain seemed never destined to dull: but ultimately it does and you go on to other things.  She went on to marry about a year subsequent to our breakup, and I decided to pursue a helicopter course in northern Ontario at Sault Saint Marie. 

Love at first sight?

                 It was 1990.  I had driven from my apartment in Brampton to Toronto to attend Stone Church’s Monday evening young adults service, attended by around 150 other young people.  The greeter at the door, an attractive, blonde, young lady greeted me as I walked through the door to the old church sanctuary.  I was immediately drawn to her, sensing we would be seeing a lot of each other, and even a strong hunch that we would end up together as man and wife! 

A brief conversation ensued, as we exchanged the familiar and basic greeting data of name,  vocation and miscellany other details one opens a first-time greeting with.  After finding my seat, I watched her as she continued in her role at the door, then made her way to her seat for the evenings’ service.  Hmm!

                As one plays the dating game, one of the rules, albeit unspoken, is that you don’t reveal your desires too early, at least not until there are some signs that the other person has arrived at somewhat similar conclusions as you have.

Andrea came into my life as a young, feminine, bouncy, desirable carefree young lady school teacher who had made the most of her twenty-five years.  In her decisions, she had not been careless in selecting of friends, had worked hard in her pursuit of academic excellence, had served before the leaders of the land (literally, as a “Page” in Canada’s federal parliament) during her time in the House of Commons, and had been an international traveler long before I caught up with her in Toronto, living in several European nations for several years.  Also, as I found out, she had decided to remain pure in her relationships with those of the opposite gender.  Perhaps this is why only a few minutes after first meeting Andrea, I had detected a particular vibrancy about her, that immediately caught my attention.

True to my hunch, Mark and Andrea became friends, and soon thereafter, they began dating.  The first date was a flight in Mark’s airplane, while simultaneously taking it out for scheduled maintenance function.  We flew the Turbo Commander up to Parry Sound one August evening, stopping for a walk near the airport.  The memory lingers, still ever-fresh.  Hundreds of fireflies flashed their beacons in the moonless Muskoka summer evening sky.  We chased them for a while as we walked the road to the highway.  I sensed Andrea’s spirit, as we began our first few awkward steps toward friendship, before flying back to Toronto (Pearson) a few hours later. 

A few nights later, we attended a Toronto Blue Jays / Texas Rangers (baseball) game, watching from a corporate booth that Mark’s company had at the Toronto Skydome.  I don't think we watched more than mere seconds of that game.  I do remember we talked for hours there on the bench.

 As the relationship progressed, it was time to meet her parents.  I flew out to Kelowna in Jan 1991, and there visited with Andrea’s Mom and Dad.  That weekend we did some skiing at Silverstar and Big White.  It was a wonderful weekend for us both.  As a major snowstorm was approaching the Okanagan Valley, my visit there was cut short to enable me to get to Vancouver to ensure I'd be able to get my flight back to Toronto.  Just before driving back to Vancouver for the plane to Toronto, I realized that the time was drawing close to a having a conversation with Andrea's dad that I'd been thinking of for some time.  However, because of the developing snowstorm, the time had come for it sooner than I'd planned on, and I hadn't quite worked out the way the words were to come out.  Andrea was unaware of what I was going to talk to her Dad about.    I asked Andrea to have her Dad to come downstairs so I could thank him for accommodating me on my visit to Kelowna.  What I really wanted to do was to ask permission to marry his daughter!  When he came downstairs and I motioned him into his shop in the back basement room of their orchard home.

Trying not to sound as nervous as I really was, I told him that I thought a lot of his daughter, and wanted to know if he would allow me to marry Andrea.  His reply put me at ease, and went something like  ". . . .we've taught our daughters to make their own decisions, and so that if it was all right with Andrea, then it was all right with him”.  Before going out the door, I smiled and asked him not to tell Andrea that I’d asked him about it for the time being (until we were engaged). 

It was later on that year (March 1991) when I proposed to Andrea.  Nothing wild or fancy, but we'd been driving to Ottawa and chatting about many things, when I thought it was the right time to ask her.  I stopped the car by the side of the road and asked, "Will you marry me?"  She cried.

This “compound” picture of Andrea and I was taken a few minutes after I asked Andrea to marry me.  The picture was actually made from two photos which were digitally joined together on my computer.  I took a photos of Andrea, and Andrea a picture of me.  We had stopped near a lake along the road from Ottawa to Kingston.

[1] Elisabeth Elliot is the former wife of MAF missionary pilot Jim Elliot who was martyred during his work amoung the Aucca Indians of the Amazon in South America in the 1940’s. “Keep A Quiet Heart” was published in 1997.

[2] Birth Order:  the study of how various placing by birth in one’s family (regarding oldest, middle and youngest born children of each sex), may help determine how well you interact/relate with people; this is a variation on the principle that “opposites attract -but don’t get too different” theme.  Personalities are thus complemented, mostly due to the way we interact with people in our present world.  It also relates to how we interacted with siblings in our family growing up.  Example: Two first-borns may tend to be in greater conflict with each other, while two last borns may tend towards greater passivity, and neither of these complement, and may not necessarily be ideal.

Next: My Story - Chapter 10

Chapter ten: the truth on fire!

                In his autobiography (A Man Called Mr. Pentecost),  David J. du Plessis recalled his 1956 meeting with a number of ecumenical leaders from across America.  “Please tell us,” asked one of the churchmen of this well-known pentecostal:

What is the difference between you and us.  We quote the same Scriptures you do, and yet when you say those words they sound so different.  We say the same things that you do, but there seems to be a deeper implication in what you say.  You have said nothing with which we want to differ and yet there seems to be a distinct difference somewhere.

The “distinct difference” in the pentecostal theology of missions is found in du Plessis’s reply:

         Gentlemen, comparisons are odious, and I do not with to injure anyone’s feelings or hurt your pride.                  

          But the truth as I see it is this: You have the truth on ice, and I have it on fire!

The Explosion of a Missionary Movement

                I would be quite remiss and “my story” incomplete should I not include at least a few paragraphs about the pentecostal movement I was born into.  In fact quite a few paragraphs are rather in order.  Having been raised a Pentecostal pastors son, I have more than a passing interest into learning about the background factors which caused both Mom and Dad to realize God’s will and to decide on enrollment into Pentecostal Bible schools.  My father enrolled in Eastern Pentecostal Bible College (EPBC), at that time located in Toronto, while simultaneously my mother enrolled in what was then Central Bible School in Winnipeg. 

                 Exactly what happened to bring this movement to it’s beginnings, and what are some of the details of this movement that has shaped my life to such an enormous degree?  How did it come to be known as the denomination with the fastest growth rate [1]?  My parents were products of pentecostal colleges and “went forth as workers” as it used to be said of those called.  I thus better understand who I am, and better appreciate my family heritage and consequent values having done some reading on the subject.  Since I could not hope to explain completely the pentecostal heritage I was born into, I have done some reading to help me understand the history of the Pentecostal Movement. 

                 In the book, “Azusa Street and Beyond” [2], insight is given to this turn of the century phenomenon birthed by the Holy Spirit.  Here is some material excerpted from this book which in fact I enjoyed so much that nearly the entire first chapter and beyond has been reproduced here below. The book begins with following newspaper clipping dated 1906, and goes on to discuss the Pentecostal Movement.  The newspaper article reveals the scorn and opposition of clergymen and the secular press at the time.

                 Breathing strange utterances and mouthing a creed which it would seem no sane mortal could understand, the newest religious sect has started in Los Angeles.  Meetings are held in a tumble-down shack on Azusa Street, near San Pedro Street, and the devotees of the weird doctrine practice the most fanatical rites, preach the wildest theories and work themselves into a state of mad excitement in their peculiar zeal. (Los Angeles Times 1906)

                 Estimates of its size in 1906 ranged from 13,000 to 15,000.  By the mid-1920’s it had, in the USA alone, increased ten-fold.  By the time of its 50-year mark had reached at least 10 million worldwide and had become known as “The Third Force in Christendom.  Time magazine reported that this movement had 51 million adherents in 1982, along with “another 11 million charismatic fellow-travelers within the major Christian bodies.”

                The “Pentecostal Explosion” at the advent of the twentieth century was not an isolated event.  Although Azusa Street seemed to be a focal point, especially from 1906 to 1908, the movement cannot be said to have been centered in any one place.

Leaderless leadership

             No main personality can be said to be the originator of the movement.  This, said widely respected pentecostal spokesman Donald Gee, is:

 . . . one highly significant feature of the Movement that distinguished it in a striking was from most of those that have gone before.  The Pentecostal Movement does not owe its origin to any outstanding personality or religious leader, but was a spontaneous revival appearing almost simultaneously in various parts of the world.  We instinctively connect the Reformation with Luther, the Quakers with George Fox, Methodism with Wesley, the Plymouth Brethren with Darby and Graves, the Salvation Army with William Booth, and so on.  But the outstanding leaders of the Pentecostal Movement are themselves the product of the Movement.  They did not make it; it made them (1949)

                 One well-known product of the movement, David du Plessis, emphasized the leadership of the Holy Spirit in the twentieth century as in the first-century church, and underlined Gee’s emphasis that “there is no man who can claim to have been the founder of this great worldwide Christian revival” (1958).

                 This phenomenon of “leaderless leadership” and “denominationless dynamics” was not the result of a “new emphasis on any special doctrine.  Rather, the emphasis is upon an experience”.  Pentecostals have been known for their insistence upon the necessity of experiencing God through the Holy Spirit.  They have historically seen the Holy Spirit himself as the originator and impetus for world mission.  Gee said that the central attraction of the movement:

             . . . consisted purely of a powerful individual spiritual experience.  The stress was not on any system of doctrine, for Arminians and Calvinists found themselves on the same platforms, and teachers with diverse views upon Holiness and Eschatology were conscious of a new, deep fundamental unity in spirit.  Neither was the emphasis upon any ideas about Church government for Episcopalians, Methodists, Brethren, Salvation Army members, and indeed some from practically every section of the Church, participated in the Movement.  There was no particular cult or method practiced for if there was one thing above another that marked the meetings it was their amazing diversity.

Pentecostal ecumenism

                 The explosion that temporarily resulted in a “pentecostal ecumenism” was later to solidify into more neatly marked doctrinal and governmental boundaries, but for the meantime, says Larry Christenson, “Pentecostal Christianity in its formative period had strong ecumenical tendencies.  The spontaneity and vitality of its experience spread without too much regard for denominational boundaries.

A Student Movement

                 . . . it could also be described as a “student movement” of sorts  The event that preceded Azusa Street by five years and actually precipitated the revival in Los Angeles began at the outset of the century in a student atmosphere.  Was it not in a Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, where Charles Parham’s students searched the Scriptures for evidences of a pentecostal experience?  Was it not a student (Agnes N. Ozman) upon whom the Holy Spirit came during that prayer/study vigil?  Was it not also a student who later came to Parham’s second school in Houston, Texas?  This student

             . . . was destined to become another key figure in the story of the Pentecostals:  W.J. Seymour, an ordained Negro minister.  It was Seymour who carried the Pentecostal message to California, to one of the most famous addresses in Pentecostal history:  312 Azusa Street, Los Angeles (Sherrill 1964)

Internal Elements

                 Additional reading from two main sources can inform us as to the inner dynamics that made this explosion possible.  One of them Christenson, delineates four basic elements that were present in early pentecostalism.   First, he says, was the priority of event “Pentecostal Christianity tends to find its rise in events which are heralded as a demonstration of supernatural power and activity.”  There was, in the second place, a mood of expectancy.  Pentecostal Christianity, he notes, “is Christianity standing on tiptoe, expecting something to happen.”  The third element was fullness of life in the Holy Spirit, a fullness in which “the Holy Spirit is the initiator of rich and varied Christian experience.  No personal testimony is adequate, no worship service complete, without clear-cut evidence of the presence and the activity of the Holy Spirit.”  Finally, already introduced earlier, there was the paradox of ecumenism and exclusivistic tendencies. 

                A second source for further study is Chapter 5 of Nichol’s Pentecostalism in which he articulated some fifteen “Causes for the Initial Success of Pentecostalism  (1966).”  In summary form they are:

 1.       A world conditioned to expect the supernatural.

2.       Christians previously prepared to expect manifestations of the Spirit.

3.       Emphasis upon experience rather than doctrine or church government.

4.       Pentecostals’ self-image as a revitalization movement within the Christian Church.

5.       An early thrust toward nominal Christians and lethargic believers rather than to the unconverted.

6.       An appeal to the lower strata of American society.

7.       Taking initiative in going to people rather than waiting for them to come to them.

8.       The use of mass meetings to create a sense of belonging to a community.

9.       The effective use of newspaper/periodicals to disseminate the pentecostal message.

10.    A democratic tendency which drew people of all classes with no discrimination.

11.    Emphasis upon divine healing.

12.    Meeting psychological felt-needs of people.

13.    The conviction of early adherents that God had raised them up for a special work.

14.    A tremendous spirit of sacrifice.

15.    The principle of establishing indigenous churches

Motivation

                To say that early pentecostals were motivated and driven by a power beyond themselves would be a classic understatement!  Their lifestyle and message proceeded from a conviction that God was in their midst and had chosen them for a special work.  It was this certainty, “the sense of reality that emanated from them, which undoubtedly attracted people.  The Pentecostals were convincing, someone has said, because they themselves were convinced”.  Their conviction is measured on at least three levels of their experience:  theological motivation, evangelistic zeal, and supernatural recruitment.

Theological Motivation

                Early pentecostals were marked by their exactness in following a literal interpretation of Scripture.  They sought to be people led by “The Book” and by the Holy Spirit.  They saw themselves in the midst of a literal fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32 [3].  Whatever criticism is offered against their subjective interpretation of Scripture and their high value upon experience, pentecostals have always valued Scripture as God’s Word for today.  One of the earliest Azusa Street alumni, Frank Bartleman, recalled, “In the beginning of the Pentecostal outpouring I remember preaching for three hours one evening in the heart of New York City.  And then the people wanted more.  Those were days of great hunger for the Word of God”.  A Church of God minister, C.M. Padgett wrote in the December 14, 1918, issue of the Church of God Evangel about the
“Results of Sanctification.”  One of them, he said, will be:

             The Word of God will be prized above all reading, to your soul it will be the book of books; other reading matter will be secondary.  The newspaper will not be allowed to crowd out the Word of God. (1918).

             Agnes Ozman, whose baptism in the Holy Ghost on January 1, 1901, signaled the beginning of the modern Pentecostal Movement in America, was deeply motivated by the Scriptures.  During her active involvement in mission work - visiting elderly, praying for the sick, preaching and testifying - she realized:

 . . . a need within.  And for about three weeks my heart became hungry for the baptism of the Holy Ghost.  I wanted the promise of the Father more than ever I did food or sleep.  On New Year’s night, January 1, 1901, near eleven o’clock, I asked that prayer be offered for me and hands be laid on me to fulfill all scripture, that I might receive the baptism which my whole heart longed to have.

                 Immediately after her controversial baptism in the Holy Ghost and its surrounding publicity, Agnes Ozman and her Bible school colleagues went to the Scriptures:

             So we blessed God and gave thanks for all things, made a study of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost.  We found the sign given when the former rain of the Spirit was poured out was talking in tongues and magnifying Jesus as in Acts 2:4.

                 But if their experience was informed by the Word, their passion was fired by the Spirit.  They followed the precedent of holiness teachers such as Torrey, Moody, and Simpson who saw that “the divine purpose in the baptism in the Holy Spirit was an enduement with power for witnessing and service” (Gee 1961).  The pentecostals believed that the new experience of the Holy Spirit was more than and separate from their experience of sanctification.  The original statement of faith from the first issue of The Apostolic Faith (Seymour’s paper from the Azusa Street Mission) had a statement to that effect.

             The Baptism with the Holy Ghost is a gift of power upon the sanctified life . . . Too many have confused the grace of Sanctification with the enduement of Power.

                 Numerous testimonies match the story of pioneer preacher Aaron A. Wilson, who “felt the call to preach from a child, but when filled with the Spirit such a burden for lost souls came upon me!’

                Motivation for lost souls and the preaching of the gospel to all the world flowed from a life in the Spirit and the literal instruction and modeling of Scripture, particularly the book of Acts.  It was also literal words of Scripture and the prevailing mood of premillennialism that provided yet another theological motivation: an eschatological urgency.

                Eschatological urgency is at the heart of understanding the missionary fervor of early pentecostalism.  Damboriena has accurately observed, “Understood as the theology of ‘last things,’  eschatology belongs to the essence of Pentecostalism” and other analysts, both sympathetic and non-sympathetic, have documented the symbiotic relationship between premillennialism, dispensationalism and the Pentecostal Movement.

                The early pentecostal preachers believed that they were proclaiming the “End Time message”.  Their early records revealed:

              . . . a close and abiding association between the baptism in the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues for an enduement of power in Christian witness, a fervent belief in the premillennial return of Christ and His command to evangelize to the uttermost parts of the world.  This Baptism, viewed as the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy for “the last days” seemed to heighten the imperative for world evangelism.

                 These pioneers envisioned a revival that was going to touch and inspire every part of the Christian Church, for they were representative of so many of its sections.  Above all things, says Gee, “Their hearts glowed with the expectation and conviction that this was destined to be the last revival before the coming of the Lord and that , for them all earthly history would soon be consummated by the “Rapture”.  In telling the story of the West Central Council of the Assemblies of God, Eugene N. Hastie takes note of a number of early missionaries from the council who went before the formation of a missions board.  On group, the Crouch family, left in 1912 for Egypt on a one-way trip!  “The Crouch party,” says Hastie, “went mostly at their own expense, expecting to remain there until the rapture, which they believed was very near at hand”

                A look inside the Azusa Street paper, The Apostolic Faith, reveals interesting glimpses of the urgency reflected in their times. Though somewhat lengthy, the following quotations provide observers with the eschatological worldview of early pentecostals.  This series covers a time period from September 1906 to January 1908:

Many are the prophesies spoken in unknown tongues and many visions that God is giving concerning His soon coming.  The heathen must first receive the gospel.  One prophecy given in an unknown tongue was interpreted, “The time is short, and I am going to send out a large number in the Spirit of God to preach the full gospel in the power of the Spirit”

             Similarly, another instance seems to be typical of the messages given in those early days.  Headlined under “The Second Chapter of Acts,” it reads”

             A preacher’s wife, who at first opposed Pentecostal truth, went home and read the second chapter of Acts, and while she read, the Spirit fell upon her and she began to speak in tongues . . . As she was on the way to the church she met a brother whom she had been instrumental in leading to the Lord.  He is a foreigner and as soon as she saw him, she began to pour out here soul in French.  He was amazed and said, “When did you learn French?”

                “What did I say?” she asked.

                “You said: ‘Get ready! Jesus is coming soon!’”

Evangelistic Zeal

                 Early pentecostal missionaries were characterized with the watchword, “They went everywhere preaching the gospel.”  Gary B McGee an Associate professor at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary claimed, “The history of  Pentecostalism cannot be properly understood apart from its missionary vision.” Evangelism and missions typified the movement, said Assemblies of God historian Stanley H. Frodsham who asserted, “This Pentecostal revival has also been decidedly missionary from the beginning”.

                Azusa Street participants were flung from Los Angeles and other centers of pentecostal worship into the far corners of the world.  In the years 1906 -1908 pentecostal missionaries began pressing “to the regions beyond”:

                 Whole families volunteered for the Word, sold their possessions, and started for the field.  They were possessed with a passion to go to the ends of the earth for their Lord, and no sacrifice seemed too great for them that the gospel might be proclaimed and the coming of the Lord might be hastened.

                This early evangelistic zeal was characterized by a spontaneity in sending forth personnel without prearranged financial help.  Missionaries went strictly “by faith.”  This was still before consolidation and the structural “means” of missions.  The following story of an early Pentecostal Holiness missionary typifies scores of stories which could be recounted:

                 Soon Miss Almyra Aston was also ordained by the Oklahoma Conference which met at Oklahoma City August 25, 1911, and sent to India.  She had only ten dollars toward her fare when she started for California, but God miraculously supplied her need and on January 3, 1912 she sailed for Hong Kong.  Here she intended to stay until God saw fit to provide passage to India, which He did, and in due time she arrived at her destination where she labored for several years.

Canadian Origins

                 While attending Sunnyside Camp at Sylvan Lake, Alberta in the summer of 1999,  I learned somewhat startling tidbits of the heritage of our Canadian Pentecostal Movement.  John Raymer a fourth generation Pentecostal was preaching on his subject of “impartation”.  I have paraphrased his rendition of the story here as well as I can remember.

         “In 1906, some members of an Evangelical Missionary church from the Kitchener-Waterloo area, journeyed by train all the way down to Los Angeles (long distance travel was not a small feat in itself for 1906) in order to witness first hand the happenings at the Azusa street revival.  Upon returning to their church in Canada, these people were hungry for all God had in store for them and were eager to continue seeking God the way the people at the Azusa Street revival were.  When they found that other people would not support their pentecostal expression nor allow room for the work the Holy Spirit wanted to do, a meeting of the powers that were in that church resulted in a vote being cast against this new pentecostal expression.

This story is told in the PAOC archives and apparently verified by those that were there, that as the men walked somberly out of the meeting having been voted down, a white dove flew in the open window, circled the inside of the church three times and then flew out the open window again!  This church apparently is still standing, but through the years attendance fell and a dryness reportedly has come over it!  Those that walked out of the meeting were the early PAOC fathers who have since gone on to see the PAOC used mightily of God while the other people in that church had literally voted themselves out of God’s blessing.”

Pentecost Has Come

The Apostolic Faith Magazine [4]

September 1906                       First Issue

Los Angeles Being Visited by a Revival

of Bible Salvation and Pentecost as

Recorded in the Book of Acts

 

       The power of God now has this city agitated as never before.  Pentecost has surely come and with it the Bible evidences are following, many being converted and sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues as they did on the day of Pentecost.  The scenes that are daily enacted in the building on Azusa Street and at missions and churches in other parts of the city are beyond description, and the real revival is only started, as God has been working with his children mostly, getting them through to Pentecost and laying the foundation for a mighty wave of salvation amoung the unconverted.

          The meetings are held in an old Methodist church that had been converted in part into a tenement house, leaving a large, unplastered barn-like room on the ground floor.  Here about a dozen congregated each day, holding meetings on Bonnie Brae in the evening.  The writer attended a few of these meetings and being so different from anything he had ever seen and, not hearing any speaking in tongues, he branded the teaching as third-blessing heresy and thought that settled it.  It is needless to say that writer was compelled to do a great deal of apologizing and humbling of himself to get right with God.

          In a short time God began to manifest His power and soon the building could not contain the people.  Now the meetings continue all day and far into the night and the fire is kindling all over the city and surrounding towns.

          Proud, well-dressed preachers came in to “investigate.”  Soon their high looks are replaced with wonder, then conviction comes, and very often you will find them in a short time wallowing on the dirty floor, asking God to forgive them and make them as little children.

          It would be impossible to state how many have been converted, sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost.  They have been and are daily going out to all points of the compass to spread this wonderful gospel.

The Old Time Pentecost

          This work began about five years ago last January, when a company of people under the leadership of Charles Parham who were studying God’s word, tarried for Pentecost in Topeka, Kansas.  After searching through the country everywhere, they had been unable to find any Christians that had the true Pentecostal power.  So they laid aside all commentaries and notes and waited on the Lord, studying His word, and what they did not understand they got down before the bench and asked God to have wrought out in their hearts by the Holy Ghost.  They had a prayer tower from which prayers were ascending night and day to God.  After three months, a sister who had been teaching sanctification for the baptism with the Holy Ghost, one who had a sweet, loving experience and all the carnality taken out of her heart, felt the Lord lead her to have hands laid on her to receive the Pentecost.  So when they prayed, the Holy Ghost came in great power and she commenced speaking in an unknown tongue.  This made all the Bible school hungry, and three nights afterward, twelve students received the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, and cloven tongues could be seen upon their heads.  They then had an experience that measured up with the second chapter of Acts and could understand the first chapter of Ephesians.

          Now after five years something like 13,000 people have received this gospel.  It is spreading everywhere, until churches who do not believe backslide and lose the experience they have.  Those who are older in this movement are stronger, and greater signs and wonders are following them.

          The meetings in Los Angeles started in a cottage meeting, and the Pentecost fell there three nights.  The people had nothing to do but wait on the Lord and praise Him, and they commenced speaking in tongues, as they did at Pentecost, and the Spirit sang songs through them.

          The meeting was then transferred to Azusa Street, and since then multitudes have been coming.  The meetings being at about ten o’clock in the morning and can hardly stop before ten or twelve at night, and sometimes two or three in the morning, because so many are seeking, and some are slain under the power of God.  People are seeking three times a day at the altar and row after row of seats have to be emptied and filled with seekers.  We cannot tell how many people have been saved, and sanctified, and baptized with the Holy Ghost, and healed of all manner of sicknesses.  Many are speaking in new tongues, and some are on their way to the foreign fields, with the gift of the language.  We are going on to get more of the power of God.

 

Characteristics of Pentecostal Church Growth [5](by C. Peter Wagner)

To say that this growth is phenomenal is an understatement.  The pentecostal movement is less than 100 years old, young as such movements go.  Only 50 years ago it was still being classified by many along with cults.  Now, being a Pentecostal is an “in” thing amoung many Christians, and the stature, reputation and dignity of the group continue to grow.  If the Lord tarries, pentecostalism will undoubtedly go down in future history as the most significant religious phenomenon of the twentieth century.

What is behind this awesome growth?

First and foremost, pentecostal growth, as all bona fide church growth, is a sovereign work of God.  Paul said that although he plants and Apollos waters, it is God who gives the increase (1 Cor 3:6).  Jesus said, “I will build by church” (Matthew 16:18).  It is His church, and He is the builder.  To God and God alone be the glory!

But the same God is the underlying cause of Episcopal, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and any other kind of church growth, as well as pentecostal growth.  Why is it, then, that pentecostals seem to grow more vigorously?  The full answer to that question is complex; but, for the purpose of this article, I am going to attempt to simplify it by selecting as carefully as I can what I consider to be the four most salient characteristics of pentecostal growth.  Not that other churches do not also share some of these qualities - they do.  But none, it seems to me, have combined all four quite as well as pentecostals have.  Pentecostals are usually characterized by churches of purity, prayer, power and the poor.  Let me develop each one of these.

Churches of Purity

                Pentecostal churches have a tradition of purity in three key areas: belief in the Bible, Christian doctrine, and lifestyle.

Belief in the Bible

                The authority of the Scriptures is final.  Pentecostals believe that what the Bible says is the Word of God, no questions asked.  The great theological debates of the last century which have eroded confidence in the Bible amoung large segments of Christendom have scarcely touched pentecostals.  If pentecostals have erred at all, they may interpret the Bible too literally in places, but that is hardly a dangerous error any more than having too many clothes on when you are caught in a mountain snowstorm.  Too many clothes may be cumbersome, but too few could cost you your life.

                Research in church growth has shown that the more literally the Bible is interpreted, the more likely the church is to grow.  One reason then, that pentecostal churches are growing is that they hold to biblical purity.

Sound Doctrine

Sound doctrine, which goes along with biblical authority, has also contributed to the purity of pentecostal churches.  While it is true that pentecostals have differed amoung themselves on secondary doctrines, they have agreed on the basics.

Christian Lifestyle

                Christian lifestyle is a third mark of pentecostal purity.  For most pentecostals conversion is a radical, life-changing experience.  Separation from the world is demanded at the new birth.  No drinking, no-smoking, no drugs, no extramarital sex, no cussing, and no gambling are common lifestyle characteristics amoung pentecostals.  Some groups add others such as no dancing, no gold, no bikinis, no rock music, no movies, no card playing, no sports, and no buying on Sunday.  On the positive side, pentecostals usually go to church three or four times a week, read the Bible daily, pray before each meal, and give at least ten percent of their income to the Lord.

                It may seem to some that such strictness could be an obstacle to church growth.  Just the opposite.  It is a well-known fact that the stricter the religious obligations and the higher the level of commitment demanded on its members, the more vigorously a church grows.  Watering down the Christian lifestyle to conform to society in general may appear to have some short-term benefits for growth, but over the long haul it will surely turn people away from the church.  The pentecostal pendulum, fortunately, is still over on the strict side.

               

Churches of Prayer

                This section on prayer will be relatively short.  The shortness, however does not reflect the lack of importance of prayer for the growth of the church.  It simply reflects the lack of research.  I know that prayer is closely related to church growth, and I have set as one of my research goals for the eighties an attempt to discover just how and why this is true.

                However, even though I do not know as much as I wish I knew about the subject, I do know that pentecostals are praying people.  The kind of prayer that requires the active, energetic participation of each person (as contrasted to liturgical prayers that require very little personal involvement) is a universal characteristic of pentecostal people in their churches, their family circles, and their private devotions.  Praying in tongues undoubtedly helps this greatly.  It frequently establishes an intimate contact with God that is otherwise much more difficult to establish and maintain.  Through the years I have noticed that in interdenominational meetings the person called upon to lead the group in prayer is frequently the pentecostal.

                Intimacy with God is reflected not only in formal prayers, but also in revelatory manifestations of the Spirit such as prophecies, including what many call a word of knowledge (which I consider a type of prophecy).  This kind of direct contact with the Holy Ghost is a tremendous force for growth and is most consistently prominent in pentecostal churches.

                If I may be permitted a personal anecdote, some years ago I was helping our Congregational church through the process of planting a new daughter church.  We retained a firm to do a demographic study so that we would be sure we located the new church in the right place.  As I recall, the service cost us about $ 7,000.  While we were still in the process of this project, I was invited to dinner at a friend’s house.  Pastor Jack Hayford of the Church of the Way in Van Nuys, the largest church of the Foursquare Gospel in the country, was also a guest.  He mentioned in passing that they were planting a new church in Valencia, and I asked him how they went about selecting Valencia as the location.  “Oh,” he said, “I was driving along the freeway by Magic Mountain when all of a sudden I got a warm feeling in my chest, and the Lord said, “Plant a new church in Valencia.”   I told him that it was much cheaper to be a Pentecostal than a Congregationalist!

Churches of Power

                Closely related to the intimacy with God attained through prayer is the frequent manifestation of supernatural signs and wonders in Pentecostal churches.  Probably the greatest contribution that Pentecostalism has made to Christianity in general is restoring the reality of the miracle power of the New Testament.  Such power had been absent amoung the other churches for so long that when it appeared in Pentecostalism around the turn of the century the only way many traditional Christians could handle it was to declare it a heresy and classify Pentecostals as a false cult.  Most Christians are smarter now, and God has forgiven them for the past.

                Although I am still in the process of studying this, it does seem to me that one of the major purposes, if not the major one, of signs and wonders in the New Testament was to attract the attention of unbelievers and to draw them to Jesus Christ and to the kingdom of god.  Time after time in the book of Acts, signs and wonders are related to vigorous church growth.  Acts 5:12-16 is typical of many other passages: “Many miracles and wonders were being performed amoung the people by the apostles . . . more and more people were added to the group - a crowd of men and women who believed in the Lord.”

                Worldwide, Pentecostal churches grow when the Holy Spirit is free to manifest His miracle power through believers.  An amazing phenomenon of modern times is the explosive growth of churches in Mainland China during the Mao era.  When the missionaries were driven out in 1949 and 1950, an estimated one million Protestant Christians remained in China.  Through 30 years of the harsh persecution, through the brutality of the Cultural Revolution, with no Bibles, pastors, or church buildings, the church did not wither away as many feared it would.  Instead it grew vigorously so that estimates of believers in China now run from 25 million to almost 50 million.  How did this happen?  All the answers are not yet in, but one thing we know for sure is that a major factor was God’s immediate supernatural work of healings, casting out of demons, and miracles.  While the thousands of house-churches that have been springing up cannot be claimed for Pentecostals or for any other denomination, my hunch is that most of them will turn out to be more like Pentecostals than any other modern branch of Christianity.

                Not only do Pentecostals believe in miracle power, they also believe in soul-winning power. Sharing the faith is a constant way of life for Pentecostals.  They believe that God wants to use them to win souls, and He does.  When I consult with many denominations, I have to start by convincing them that the gospel is worth sharing and that God wants churches to grow.  Not so with Pentecostals.  It never occurred to them to question it.  Pentecostals are possibility thinkers - their faith level is high.  They believe in evangelism, and they believe in church growth.  They trust God for great things and God honors their faith.  Pentecostal churches are churches of power.

Churches of the Poor

                The God of the Bible is a God who loves the poor.  It is true that He loves all people, including the rich; but, if we take the Bible seriously, we know that He has a special bias for the poor.  Because of this, God is going to make sure that the poor have a strong witness for Christ.  Back in the eighteenth century the Anglican Church in England had abandoned the poor, so God raised up the Methodist Church.  When the Methodists came to America, they ministered to the poor with circuit riders going from cabin to cabin out on the frontier.  But one hundred years later, the Methodists had become middle-class, and God raised up the Holiness / Pentecostal movement to minister to the poor once again.

                Check it out.  Almost all Pentecostal preachers now in their sixties or seventies were born in poor homes, and many younger ones were also.  This is one of the strongest characteristics of Pentecostal growth.  Research has shown that the working class people of the world are more receptive to the gospel than the higher classes.  Furthermore, God reserves a special blessing for His servants who preach the good news to the poor, and Pentecostals have been receiving this blessing through the years.

                But this observation leads me to my final section in which I want to elaborate on what I said up front; namely, that there are some ominous signs that Pentecostals may subtly be moving away from the very things that have contributed to their growth for 80 years.  Many different factors are entering into this process, but most of them can be classified under the following: the burning desire for respectability.

Dangers of Respectability

                I have argued that Pentecostal churches are growing steadily and strongly because they are churches of purity, prayer, power and the poor.  If they remain that way, they will remain strong.  But cutting any of these characteristics off will be like cutting off the hair of Samson.  Unfortunately, I think Delilah with her scissors may be lurking right around the corner.

                Especially since World War II ended, 35 years ago, Pentecostals have been gaining respectability rapidly.  Being persecuted and classified with the Jehovah’s Witnesses now seems like an unreal bad dream.  General superintendents and general overseers are now officers in the National Association of Evangelicals.  They get invitations to the large international congresses.  For the older generation it is a great relief to be able to mix with other leaders inter-denominationally after taking nothing but abuse for so many years.  The younger generation knows no different - weren’t Pentecostals always respectable, just like Lutherans and Presbyterians?

                All this is to the good.  Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.  But it has its problems - especially for church growth.  One price of respectability is that you will continue to be accepted so long as you do not stress your doctrinal distinctives.  For Pentecostals this means keeping a low profile on Baptism in the Holy Spirit, the initial evidence of speaking in tongues, hallelujahs and amens from the audience, miraculous healings and exorcisms, prophecies / words of knowledge, and many more.  But these are some of the very characteristics that have enabled Pentecostals to grow three or four times faster than the other groups they are trying to gain respectability from.

                Behind all this is a phenomenon called redemption and lift.  When poor people become Christians and allow God to clean up their life, they frequently do not remain poor.  But, as the Methodists learned, rising to middle-class respectability can easily get a church out of touch with the poor they originally came from.  This hasn’t completely happened to Pentecostals, but it has happened enough to hoist yellow flags all over the place.  If the Pentecostals abandon the poor, God will raise up someone else to minister to them and the rate of growth of Pentecostal churches will surely begin to drop.

                One of the measuring sticks for redemption and lift is the denominational educational system.  As Pentecostals who were born poor rise socially and economically, they desire better educational opportunities for their children than they themselves had - so they establish colleges.  When their children graduate from college, they are irretrievably middle-class.  Over the decades this can and usually does shift the focus of outreach and church growth from the poor to the middle class.

                Another measuring stick involves requirements for ministers.  Most of the old-time Pentecostal preachers were either self-educated or they learned by being an apprentice to another pastor.  Then, when the colleges came, more and more were college graduates.  Ministers were considered more respectable if they went to college.  Then the process escalates until graduate schools are established.  Currently, the Church of God, the Assemblies of God, and the Pentecostal Holiness Church are about at this point.  Down the line a two-tiered ministry is likely to develop.  Those who go to graduate school will subtly be thought of as superior to those who do not, and they will be elected to influential denominational policy-making positions.  It may take a few decades, but the well-meaning declarations of the present leaders (who have not gone to graduate school) that no formal education requirements will be made for ordination into the ministry may begin to erode and eventually disappear altogether.  A study of the Methodist church will show that it can happen.  It will be devastating for church growth if it does.

                By this time some are saying, “Hey! Wagner has stopped preaching and gone to meddling.”  Well, then let me conclude with a list of concrete suggestions that can keep Pentecostals on track as the global leaders in making church growth happen:

1.       Hold purity high.  I do not see much change as yet in biblical authority or doctrine, but I do detect some watering down of the Christian lifestyle as distinctly separated from the world around.  Keep strict, and God will bless.

2.       Depend on prayer and fastings as your spiritual core. Keep channels open for intimacy with God through tongues and prophecies.

3.       Ask God to show His power through signs and wonders as He did in the early days of the Pentecostal movement.  Publicize testimonies of those who have been blessed through miracles.  Not enough is said about healing any more.  If I am not mistaken, only one author, David L. Lemons, addressed the issue of healing in the entire first year of publication of the Pentecostal Minister.

4.       Maintain a passion for souls. Keep witnessing and outreach in the forefront of all church programs.

5.       Never allow educational requirements to substitute for spiritual gifts as the basis for ordaining new ministers.

6.       Vigorously plant new churches and exalt the bivocational minister.  There’s nothing wrong with earning money from a secular job while you’re building a new church.

7.       Curse  “the demon of respectability.” Be willing to be fools for Christ’s sake.  Do not allow association with other Christians to water down Pentecostal distinctive of doctrine or practice.

The last two decades of the twentieth century hold incredible promise.  I believe that they will see the greatest harvest of souls in the history of the Christian Church.  My prayer is that, as Pentecostals have led the way in reaping the harvest over the past two decades, they will maintain this leadership with even greater power as we move into the future for the glory of God.

  

A Father of Canadian Pentecostalism Robert McAlister 1880 - 1953 “Lifelong desire to bring people into a personal relationship with Christ”

by James Craig  (PAOC Missions research and communications)

            Robert Edward McAlister played a foundational role in the early growth of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC), the nation’s largest Pentecostal denomination.  His labours as an evangelist, pastor, organizer, teacher, writer, and missions promoter helped the PAOC grow from twenty-seven churches in 1910 to over one thousand today in the 90’s.

            McAlister was born in the Ottawa Valley, near Cobden, Ontario, one of thirteen children born to James and Margaret McAlister, who were Presbyterians of Scottish descent.  Robert left school after the third grade to help on the family farm.  Aided by a photographic memory, he educated himself, so well that he later became renowned for extensive doctrinal writings. He would strap his Bible to the plough and memorize long passages while he worked the fields.  In later years, he became known as the Walking Bible, often reciting lengthy passages of Scripture as he preached.

            In the late 1880’s, the Ottawa Valley came under the influence of Ralph C. Horner, a fiery Methodist evangelist.  Horner’s brand of holiness religion was welcomed by the Methodist church in Cobden, and when he was expelled from the denomination in 1895 that church became a branch of his Holiness Movement Church.  It was in that church that McAlister converted to Christ around 1900.  Sensing a call to the ministry in 1901, he entered God’s Bible School, a small Holiness college in Cincinnati.  Poor health during his second year of studies forced his return home.  After his recovery he began preaching for the Holiness Movement Church instead of returning to school.

            In 1906, McAlister learned of the events taking place at a small mission on Azusa Street in Los Angeles.  People were experiencing spiritual phenomena similar to those on the day of Pentecost as recorded in the second chapter of Acts.  They were speaking in unknown languages and witnessing miracles of healing.  McAlister traveled by train to Los Angeles and went to the warehouse where the continuous services were in progress.  He experienced what Pentecostals call the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, the hallmark of the Pentecostal movement.  This definitive receiving and releasing of the power of the Holy Spirit includes speaking in tongues and imparts a dynamic ability and fervent desire to share the gospel with others.  McAlister was amoung the first Canadians to receive the Pentecostal experience.  The remainder of his life provided ample demonstration of the effects of his encounter with the Holy Spirit at Azusa Street.  He passionately devoted his energies to bringing people into a joyous personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

            Back in Canada, McAlister shared his new blessing.  From his base in the Ottawa Valley, he traveled extensively in the United States and Canada, holding evangelistic meetings and teaching at Pentecostal conventions.  Soon, churches were established in Ottawa and a number of other communities.

            In 1911, McAlister began his career as a religious writer and publisher.  He started a small paper, the Good Report, that contained accounts of Pentecostal conventions, testimonies of physical healings, conversion stories, and articles on the teachings of the Pentecostal movement.  In the first issue, McAlister articulated the central characteristics of the movement.  He stated that the Pentecostal movement was a restoration of the teachings and practices of the New Testament Apostles and was a “soul-saving agency in the hands of God.”  McAlister further claimed that it was a missionary movement intent on evangelizing the world, with no human founder, and completely centered upon Jesus Christ.

            By 1917, the need for a formal structure to unite Pentecostal churches across Canada had become evident.  Discussions among key leaders led to McAlister and six other ministers being granted a federal charter incorporating the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada in 1919.  McAlister’s prominent role in forming the new organization is reflected in his serving as its first general secretary (1919 - 1932), and, at the same time, as its first missions secretary and in the dozens of resolutions that bear his name in the organization’s official minutes.  All of this was in addition to his pastoral duties.

            In 1920, McAlister also founder the Pentecostal Testimony, a publication that still serves as the official organ of the PAOC.  During his fifteen years as its editor, McAlister wrote expositions of Christian doctrine, warned of the dangers that threatened the fledgling movement, and promoted the cause of missions.

            Two years later, he accepted an invitation to become the pastor of a thriving Pentecostal assembly in London, Ontario.  Within three years, a larger church was built only to be expanded two years later.

            McAlister was a caring shepherd and powerful Bible teacher.  He demonstrated his emphasis on evangelism by beginning a daily radio broadcast in 1934 that aired for fifteen years.  His program was instrumental in starting new churches in several Ontario towns, including Chatham, Blenheim, Dresden, and Ridgetown.  Under McAlister’s teaching and with his personal encouragement, dozens of young men and women entered the ministry as evangelists, pastors, and missionaries, influencing communities worldwide.

            In October 1940, after nineteen years of fruitful ministry in London, McAlister resigned his pastorate and moved to Toronto.  His remaining years were spent in itinerant teaching and preaching, including an extensive campaign from 1948 to 1952 to combat doctrinal controversies that threatened to divide the PAOC.  This latter role further enhanced his reputation as a Pentecostal theologian.

            McAlister’s lifelong desire was to bring people into a personal relationship with Christ.  His nephew Eric McLean recalls that while visiting McAlister, who had been admitted to hospital with heart problems in late September 1953, he learned his uncle had just shared the gospel with his roommate, leading the man to Christ.  By the time Eric returned home from the hospital, McAlister had died.

            The Pentecostal movement in Canada is the work of many dedicated pioneers, such as Andrew H. Argue, George A. Chambers, and Alfred G. Ward.  But no one is better qualified to be called the father of Canadian Pentecostalism than Robert Edward McAlister.

[1] A mid 80’s study of the growth of USA denominational families has shown that Pentecostal churches are growing at a DGR (Decadal growth rate) of 48%, far ahead of all others. The Seventh-Day Adventists are second at 26%, then Southern Baptists at 17%, and Lutherans at minus 5%.

[2] L. Grant McClung, Jr. wrote “Azusa Street and Beyond” in 1986 which gives an excellent account of the beginnings of the Pentecostal church in North America.

[3] Joel 2:28-32  “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.  I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.  The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.  And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, amoung the survivors whom the LORD calls.”

[4] Pentecostalism cannot be understood without a “visit” to Azusa Street, scene of the widespread beginning of the Pentecostal Movement.  Thankfully, a return to Azusa Street is made possible because of the foresight of early Pentecostals who published and preserved for history The Apostolic Faith magazine. This report is the lead article from the very first issue of the Azusa Street paper, dated September, 1906.  It is taken from Like as of Fire: A Reprint of the Old Azusa Street Papers, privately compiled by Fred Corum in 1981 (160 Salem Street, Wilmington, MA 01887)

Apostolic Faith was published from the Azusa Street Mission by William J. Seymour and Florence Louise Crawford.  Five thousand copies of the first issue were distributed.  Only thirteen issues were published from Los Angeles before Crawford moved to Portland, Oregon, to establish with the Apostolic Faith movement in the Northwest USA.  The last issue was dated May, 1908.

[5] C. Peter Wagner wrote this article and it was published in The Pentecostal Minister.  He is a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Mission.  He was a missionary to Bolivia for 16 years, and is an expert on church growth.  The above are a few exerpts from his article.