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Bishop R.S. Rennick

Pentecostal Assemblies of the World

1902 ~ 1976

Bishop R.S. Rennick was born on May 27, 1902, to the late John and Bessie Rennick in Newberry County, South Carolina. He moved to Winston-salem, N.C., at an early age. He attended the local public schools and studied with Aenon Bible College in Toledo, Ohio.

Bishop Rennick served for manyb years as Vice Chairman of the carolina State Council and as a District Elder. In 1974, he was elevated to the office of Bishop at the General Convention of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., the 4th Diocese of the Assembly, which includes 48 churches in North and South Carolina. He pastored Ishi temple for 26 years and served as Assistant Pastor.

On February 5 1976, Bishop R.S. Rennick, passed away at Forsyth Memorial Hospital.

 Rev. Ralph Vincent Reynolds

United Pentecostal Church International

~Deceased~

Ralph V. Renyolds began his ministry in 1936 by preaching in the schoolhouses, homes, and lumber camps of six communities during closing years of "The Great Depression".  The Sunday before he went to sleep in the Lord, he concluded preaching a four-week revival just short of his eighty-ninth birthday. In that revival, fourteen received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It concluded his sixty-six years of Apostolic ministry.

Ralph Vincent Renyolds was born in Picton, Ontario, Canada. He graduated from Picton Collehiate Institute and then attended Peterborough Normal School, from thence went into the teaching profession. For twelve and one-half years he taught science and mathematics in the provincial public schools of Ontario, manitoba, and British Columbia, canada. His desire was to become a civil engineer when God called him to the ministry. In 1936 he married his first wife, helen Welsh, and for sixty-plus years they had no permanent dwelling place. He was always on the move preaching the "Gospel of Jesus christ".

As a young boy, Ralph would stand on a chair, wave his arms, and shout at the top of his voice. His answer to the question of what he was doing was, "I am preaching!" However, as a young man he declared strongly that there were two things he would never do: preach or teach. Since that time, Ralph V. Reynolds has spent sixty-two years preaching and teaching. His ministry has spanned six decades and touched two centuries.

His new-birth experience took place in February of 1934, in "The Old Brick Church" in Picton. He held credentials with three church organizations: The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, The Apostolic church, and the  United Pentecostal Church International. After ministering for six years, he was first ordained in 1942 in Picton, Ontario with the Apostolic Pentecostal church, and in 1946 his ordination was transferred to the United Pentecostal Church international.

Brother Ralph Reynolds served in many official capacities in the United Pentecostal Church International:

* Served two years as Northwest Regional Presbyter and Executive Board member.

* Served twenty-four years as a member of the General Board.

* Served eighteen years as an honorary member of the General Board.

* Served as District Superintendent of two North American Districts and one Missionary District.

* Served one year on the Foreign Missions Board.

* Served three years on the Board of Christian Education.

* Served eight years as missionary under appointment to jamaica.

* Founded four bible Schools, including the first one on a foreign missionary field.

During his ministry, Brother Reynolds pastored eighteen churches. He planted a church in the beautiful city of Cranbrook, British Columbia at the ripe old age of wighty-three. As soon as he raisede the money and built the new sanctuary, he turned it over to a young man. He never lost the vision of opening one more church, literally up to the day he passed on th his reward.

For many years, Ralph V. Reynolds was unsurpassed as a Oneness Pentecostal author. He wrote sexteen books, twenty-four units of the "Alpha Bible Correspondence Course" which are being used in many foreign Bible Schools, and authored the "Spirit of Freedom Course" for the prison and drug dependent now being used widely in the Court system. He was named "Writer of the Year" in 1985.

Eighty-six -year Ralph V. Reynolds was joined in marriage to Myrna Kelsey who was a faithful helpmeet and friend for the last two and one-half years to a great man with a failing body.

For the better part of a century a giant has walked among us. His sterling character, his strong but humble spirit, his transparent honesty, and his steady leadership often challenge those of misguided minds and unethical practices. In his mind there was no question as to right or wrong, truth or error, righteousness or unrighteousness...and he lived it before all who knew him.  

Rev. Calvin Lincoln Rigdon

United Pentecostal Church International

1927 ~ 1995

The story begins in a small, tan, frame house. Whether colored by paint or dust blown from the fields, I do not know. The house of which I speak stood outside of Naylor, Missouri, not far from the communities of Pig Ankle and Possum Hollow. It was the first house north of the church, of the shotgun variety typical to that part of the country. It had a small fron porch and set just a few feet back from the road leading to Success...Arkansas. If you drove by the "Rigdon place" with your windows down, you could almost reach out and touch it. Behind it, and to the side of it, stretched the fields. It was not unusual for them to be white, bearing a rich harvest of cotton.

Charlie and Lula Rigdon must have had great expectations for their firstborn. For some reason they did not name the lad after fellow sharecroppers, landowners, or even local businessmen. They, instead, chose to name him after two United States presidents. Calvin Coolidge was then the nation's president and that id from where the first name comes. Since the lad was born on February 12, Abraham Lincoln's birthday, it just seemed right that Lincoln should be his middle name. Little did his dad, Charlie, know as he sat in the dim darkness, that little Calvin was destined to touch both the top and the bottom of life, tasting both the best and the worst that it had to offer. That was the beginning. Calvin's young life was shaped by the godly character and righteous living of his mom and dad.

At the age of 17, calvin began his ministry. He preached his first message at a rally in Greenfield, Illinois, in 1943. Preaching was to become one of Calvin Rigdon's choice pleasures. He soon developed into an exceptional preacher of the Word.

A general license was issued to Calvin in 1943 by the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus christ. After participating in the merger of the P.C.I. and the P.A. of J.C., he graduated from Apostolic Bible Institute in 1946. He accepted the position of pastor in Grayville, Illinois, in 1947 and served there for two years.

calvin Rigdon enjoyed the privilege of occupying several positions of leadership at both the local and national levels. He served as Conquerors' president of the Illionos District for 5 years, from 1946 to 1951, when he was elected to be the international president of the General Youth Division of the UPCI.

Following the 1960 General Conference, Calvi Rigdon resigned as general youth president to become the pastor of the First Pentecostal  Church in baton Rouge, Louisiana. He served as presbyter on the Louisiana District Board for ten years. He was also editor of the Louisiana Challenger for more than eight years, editing 98 consecutive issues.

From 1971 until his retirement in 1991, Calvin served the UPCI at the World Evangelism Center, hazelwood, Missouri, in several executive positions. In 1990, he chose to conclude his letter of resignation from his final offical position held in his much loved United Pentecostal Church International.

Calvin Rigdon passed away from this life on January 10, 1995, at the age of 68. As he slipped away from life into that place of eternal rest, he began to speak. "What's the name of that river?" "Who built that bridge?" "Do all these properties belong to her (the Bride)?" After that, he never again interacted with anything or anyone in this life for he had already crossed over the bridge prepared for him into his reward.

Bishop Worthy G. Rowe

Apostolic World Christian Fellowship

1920 ~ 2001

Bishop Worthy G. Rowe was born on March 9, 1920, in Mishawaka, to the late Glen Beecher and Verbia (Zimmerman) Rowe. He had been a lifelong area resident. On September 8, 1940, in Mishawaka, he married Marjorie Foerster.

Bishop Rowe served as pastor of Apostolic Temple, South Bend, Indiana, for 35 years. He had been pastor emeritus for the past 16 years. He was the founder, chairman and chairman emeritus of the Apostolic World Christian Fellowship established in 1969. He also worked as an engineer for U.S. Rubber in Mishawaka, Indiana, for 20 years.

After an illustrious ministerial career, on March 28, 2001, at the age of 81, Bishop Worthy G. Rowe went home to be with the Lord.

Bishop Glen Beecher Rowe

Pentecostal Assemblies of the World

G.B. Rowe was born in Noble County, Indiana in 1890. He was saved in 1914 and soon after founded churches in Ligonier and South Bend, Indiana. In 1920, Rowe would plant and pastor one of the most powerful and influential Pentecostal churches in the United States.

Midway Gospel Tabernacle, in Mishawaka, Indiana continues today espousing the virtues of its founder. G.T. Haywood tutored Rowe and their relationship lasted until Haywood's death, even though Rowe would eventually leave the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. He is noted as being the founder of the "Adam Doctrine".

He was selected as one of the first five original Bishops of the P.A.W. He also labored as an evangelist, scholar, singer and writer. He was married to Verbia Rowe and the father of six children. He died in 1963, but not before touching the lives of many ministers who would become pastors, including his two sons who would assume their father's pulpit as co-pastors.