Bishop Herbert John Davis Pentecostal Assemblies of the World 1892 ~ 1959 Bishop Herbert Davis was born and reared in Leavenworth, Kansas. He was the son of the late John and Belle Davis. His mother was the founder of the church in Leavenworth, which later he pastored. Bishop Davis was a minister of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World for over forty years. He was appointed District Elder under the administration of the late Bishop G.T. Haywood, serving faithfully until he was elevated to the Bishopric in 1954 at Baltimore, Maryland. Although blind, Bishop Davis devoted his life to advancing the work of God. It can be truthfully said that many hundreds were saved through his ministry. Bishop Davis was a noted Evangelist, Church builder, Pastor  and Business Administrator. He worked energetically to establish churches throughout the Northwestern District. He pastored churches in Leavenworth and Lawrence, Kansas; Plattsburg and Excellsor, Missouri. He was instrumental in helping others to begin works in Colorado, Nebraska, and Montana. As a local figure, Bishop Davis was highly respectede by those of other denominations with whom he came in contact. In 1958 Bishop Davis was elected as President of the Plattsburg, Mo. Ministerial Alliance. He was the only African American to have served on the interracial alliance in that or any other capacity. As Bishop Davis traveled throughout his district taking care of his many duties, his faithful wife was ever at his side. She drove through the heat and cold, in sickness and health, working in the church, taking care of the home, faithfully doing all the thousands of things only a God-given wife can do. Prior to his death, Bishop Davis had often voiced a desire that souls would be saved, even at his funeral if need be. This wish was granted. The same afternoon following the funeral service a young man became repentant and wished to be baptized. Afterward he received the Holy Ghost. Bishop Davis died of a heart attack February 6, 1959 at San Antonio, Texas. He had gone there to attend the mid-winter session of the National Youth Conference of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. The funeral service was conducted by Bishop Raymond Robinson. Bishop Austin Layne delivered the eulogy.

 

Bishop Floyd I. Douglas Pentecostal Assemblies of the World 1887 ~ 1951    Bishop Floyd I. Douglas was born, May 10, 1887 in Nelson County, Kentucky. He was the only son of Betty and Charles Ignatius Douglas. Floyd became motherlass at the age of five, and five years later his father passed away. Afterwards, he became the custody of his grandmother, Mrs. Ary Ann Wright, who loved, and cared for him until he reached the age of fourteen, then she passed also. The 180 acre farm purchased with proceeds of her labor as a cook at a Catholic convent was home sweet home to Floyd, and Mrs. Wright. With the school months being five out of the year, Floyd's progress along the literary lines was not too rapid. During the winter season when it was too cold for school to be held, he was privileged to study in the home of Mrs. Amanda Hall, a white school teacher who taught him to read and write with tolerable ease. It was far from Floyd's thoughts, as it was from his means to enter college, but he seemed to have had an idea that the very atmosphere of college would assist him. Therefore, he continued to read books, and to absorb every possible bit of knowledge. There was a yearning that could not be stifled by the things that the rural afforded. His feelings were not the results of any marked cruelty in the treatment he received, but there was atugging at the strings of his heart that he himself did not understand. At the age of fifteen, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky. His family being of the Catholic faith, Floyd received his religious training in St. Joseph Catholic School, Bardstown, Kentucky. Christened in St. Joseph Catholic Church, he was prepared to make his first holy Communion between the ages of ten and eleven years. He was a devout Catholic until he reached the age of twenty-three. He always regarded his religious experiences as the most important part of his education; it had the effect, not only of enlarging his mind, but also of restraining a disposition that was growing hard, and bitter over the disadvantages suffered by the loss of his parents. Floyd greatly needed something that would help him to look beyond his bondage, and encourage him to hope for ultimate freedom, which is only found in Jesus Christ. While he was undergoing this experience, and while he was gradually being adjusted to the situation in which he found himself, he met a young lady by the name of Anna Bell Davis of Louisville, who played a great part in this portion of his life. On August the twenty-fourth, 1910 they were married. It was destined that Anna was to play a definite part of his early life's story. She was the first to become converted, and the first to be filled with the Holy Ghost. In May, 1911 Floyd was converted to the Apostolic faith, and was later filled with the Holy Ghost the following September. His call to the ministry came in December of the same year. August 12, 1912 marked the opening of Elder Douglas' first church, with membership numbering about thirty-five. The location was at Hancock and Rosaline Streets in Louisville. Elder Douglas was an eloquent man, and was embraced by many, including, Bishop G.T. haywood, and Elder Alexander Schooler of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1918, Elder Douglas was elected to Field Superintendent in the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. In Jily, 1919 he was instrumental in establishing the first District Council of Kentucky. By August, 1923 thirteen churches were subject to the mother church in the Kentucky Council.  After laboring in Kentucky for twelve and one half years, there came a call from the west coast. Elder W.M. Carson, pastor of the Apostolic Faith Home Assembly, located at 1122 E. 33rd Street, Los Angeles had become ill, and his desire was that Elder Douglas should have complete charge of the church, and entire membership. In 1927, Elder Douglas placed the Louisville church in the hands of Bishop G.T. Haywood. In 1928, Elder Douglas became Bishop Douglas. In 1934, he bacame senior bishop because of certain changes in the PAW, and because of his credentials dating as far back as October 12, 1912. On November 4, 1946 Bishop Douglas became very ill. He was confined to his bed for three months. Rest and quietness was a daily necessity. He was a man who fought with courage to the end, and was heard saying, "I have done my work." No stranger was he among us, nor a guest, but a father, pastor, bishop, our own dearly beloved. On April 20, 1951, Bishop Floyd I. Douglas fell on sleep, now awaiting the resurrection.

Rev. John Alexander Dowie Catholic Apostolic Church 1847 ~ 1907 John A. Dowie was born in 1847. He was a sickly child, and at the age of thirteen his family migrated to Australia. At the age of twenty he decided to enter the ministry, and began to prepare for the university. In 1875, he moved to the Sydney surburb of Newton. There, he became convinced of the practical message of divine healing. In 1878, Dowie left the Congregational church, and launched an independant ministry. First in Sydney, and later in Melbourne. In 1888, Dowie and his wife, and their two children migrated to the United States. After two years of healing evangelism, which took him to many parts of the country, Dowie established a base of operations in Evanston, Illinois in 1890. In 1893, he began conducting services in his spacious Zion Tabernacle. In 1895, Dowie organized his followers into the Catholic Apostolic Church. Being intensly evangelistic, he stressed consecration and holiness. In 1901, he reasserted his retorationist hopes. In 1904, he told his followers, which numbered approximately six thousand people, to anticipate the full restoration of Apostolic Christianity. Dowie's endtime expectations, his message of divine healing, and his restorationist vision made him an important forerunner of the modern Pentecostal movement. Many of his followers accepted Pentecostal views. Some, became prominate leaders in a movement that regarded itself as an endtime restoration. Most Pentecostal leaders with roots in Dowie's Restoration movement, affiliated with the Assemblies of God. Some, however, more committed to thorough restorationism, moved on into the Oneness movement.

 

Rev. Lee O. Davis United Pentecostal Church International 1914 ~ 1995   Reverend Lee Davis was born born on October 22, 1914 in Soper, Oklahoma. Along with his four brothers, he committed himself to the will of God, and became a dynamic Pentecostal minister. In 1942, Lee graduated from Apostolic Bible College in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While attending a prayer and Bible conference in Tulsa, he met and fell in love with a beautiful young lady who shared his zeal for the work of the Lord. On July 17, 1942, Lee and Alta Sullivan of Henrietta, Oklahoma were married. From that day, blossomed a love they enjoyed for (52) years. Brother Davis lived for his family and the church. He felt the only true success a man has is the legacy he leaves his children. Their success and spiritual well-being were paramount to him. The world has been touched by the ministry pf Lee Davis. Missionary tours took him around the world with his most recent journey to Moscow, Russia. He pastored churches in Freona and Albany, Texas; Livingston, California; North Little Rock, Arkansas; and his beloved flock in Riverside, California for (44) years. Many men in Texas, Arizona, California, and other places as well, are pastoring Pentecostal churches or evangelizing, because of a love for the truth that he taught them. Brother Davis passed away in February of 1995. His memorial service was attended by a great host of fellow ministers and friends.