Responding to the Call
E
VEN IN OUR humble beginning in the late 1800s as a Bermuda with the gospel in 1921. In 1924, through the work of
church in the mountains of western North Carolina and Maria Atkinson, the work in Mexico was started. Despite intense
eastern Tennessee, our forefathers envisioned the world- personal persecution and trial, Atkinson worked together with
wide harvest. Their immediate concern was to spread the Ingram, and the Church of God flourished south of the border.
gospel and its message of holiness beyond the foggy ridges Herman Lauster and his family sold his business, his farm, and
of Appalachia. But it wasn’t long before the fledgling congrega- his stock to travel to Germany during the heyday of Hitler’s rising
tions grew both numerically and in vision and outreach. popularity to share the Pentecostal message with his homeland
Many testified to hearing a divine call to carry the gospel to in 1936.
foreign lands, and missionary pioneer R.M. Evans acted on that As a missions field representative, J.H. Ingram visited many
calling by going to the Bahamas in 1910. Since that time, Church Latin American countries, along with Cuba, and recommended
of God World Missions has expanded our influence around the the appointment of Hoyle and Mildred Case as the first Church
world in 170 countries with six million members outside the of God missionaries to Cuba in 1942.
United States. Edmond and Pearl Stark arrived in Angola as newlyweds in
This is a significant achievement for 100 years of world evan- 1938, taking the gospel to the African continent. Edmond caught
gelization, but it could not have come without the tremendous malaria and succumbed to the disease in 1939, but Pearl contin-
sacrifice of missionaries and their families, strategic amalga- ued the work and saw hundreds of conversions and baptisms.
mations with other Pentecostal fellowships, and the financial C.E. and Ellen French and Paul S. and Emily Cook were sent as
resources provided by local churches and generous members. missionaries to India in 1947.
The list of pioneer missionaries could go on and on much
Tremendous Sacrifice
like the roll call of the faithful in Hebrews 11. Since these early
R.M. Evans’ trip to the Bahamas was preceded by Edmond S. missionary efforts, hundreds and perhaps thousands of men and
Barr and his wife. These native islanders received the baptism of women have followed in their footsteps and reaped many souls
the Holy Spirit and sought to return to their homeland to spread from the seed they planted. Today, this pioneer spirit continues
the Pentecostal message. Evans raised the money for their trip, as the World Missions Department targets unreached people
contributing most of it himself. Evans went on to sell his home groups. Miracles of healing and even the raising of some from the
and livestock and purchased a wagon pulled by a team of mules. dead are stories that still inspire the faithful and convince the lost
Together he and his wife traveled 300 miles from their home in of the power of the gospel message.
Durant, Florida, to Miami, where he put the wagon in storage and
sold the mules to purchase the fare for passage to the Bahamas.
Tremendous Partnerships
When they stepped upon the shores of the Bahamas on January The Church of God entered strategic relationships with well-
4, 1910, they were the first Church of God missionaries to set foot established Pentecostal churches in Romania, South Africa, and
on foreign soil. Indonesia. These amalgamations account for over three mil-
The Evanses were followed by many other missionary pioneers lion of our members outside the United States. In 1922, Pavel
to other countries. J.H. Ingram, when only 27 years old, went to Budeanu, a Romanian immigrant to the United States, came into
6 EVANGEL • JAN 2010
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