CHURCH OF GOD
CHRONICLE
S
“IT IS A VERY GOOD PAPER”
BY DAVID G. ROEBUCK
“God’s love to consume sinfulness and on evangelism often reported Bible and
drive it from the hearts of men.” “My tract distribution and the occasional tes-
I
SEND TWENTY-FIVE CENTS for God is a consuming fire,” he declared. timony of a conversion. In several issues
The Way,” Agnes Floyd of Michigan Subscriptions were 10 cents a year for the a “Child’s Department” featured letters
wrote to editors A. J. Tomlinson and monthly paper. from children to Tomlinson’s 11-year-old
M. S. Lemons in September 1905. Articles in the four-page publication daughter, Halcy. More than one article
Her letter continued, “It is a very good were intended to inspire readers as well as emphasized the importance of humane
paper. I like to read such papers and then inform them of the Culberson ministry. care for animals.
give them to others, praying that they may Poetry, songs, and pieces reprinted from Opposition, hardship, and discourage-
be led into the Way of life in the Savior.” other religious magazines filled the pages ment pressed Tomlinson and his family
In our age of satellite television, wire- alongside appeals for funds for Tomlin- to take a leave of absence from their
less Internet, and smart phones, a world son’s industrial home and school. The Culberson ministry in November 1902,
that depended on the printed page for Culberson ministry was part of the Amer- and Samson’s Foxes did not survive their
information and communication seems ican Holiness Movement and emphasized departure. Returning to Culberson the
very distant. Yet the Church of God was evangelism, sanctification, and divine next spring, Tomlinson intended to con-
born and flourished in such a world. healing. Samson’s Foxes called for absti- tinue publishing. He purchased a printing
Agnes Floyd and countless others read nence from tobacco, opium, pork, tea, press for $125 and reported in his journal
biblical and theological articles as well and coffee, and tied such a lifestyle to the that he expected to “publish our little
as ministry news in the pages of the importance of one’s health. It suggested, paper again soon.”
religious periodicals of their day. Edi- “Were more attention paid to these laws When Tomlinson resumed publishing
tors such as A. J. Tomlinson were keenly of health, there would be a smaller field in January 1904, it was a new publica-
aware of the importance of the printed for drugs and divine healing.” Articles tion titled The Way. M. S. Lemons was a
word to win the lost and inform readers
of their ministries. By the time Tomlin-
son launched the Church of God Evangel
in 1910, he had already gained editorial
experience with three other publications.
Tomlinson established Samson’s Foxes
soon after arriving in Culberson, North
Carolina. His editorial note in the Janu-
ary 1901 inaugural issue announced,
“Samson’s Foxes is published monthly in
the interest of the ‘Hundred Fold’ Gospel
and the speedy evangelization of the
mountain districts of North Carolina,
Georgia, Tennessee, and the world.”
The modest epistle’s title described the
ministry Tomlinson envisioned. Samson
had tied firebrands to the tails of foxes
and burned the fields of the Philistines.
Tomlinson’s ministry, and especially
his school for children, would spread
18 EVANGEL • MAR 2010
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