Brief History: Pentecost & Mergers

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Soon after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Azusa Street in 1906, members of both churches were attracted to the experience of speaking in tongues as evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In 1906, G. B. Cashwell, a minister in the Holiness Church of North Carolina, journeyed to Los Angeles where he received the pentecostal baptism in the Holy Spirit in the Azusa Street mission.

In a historic meeting in Dunn, North Carolina, in January of 1907, Cashwell led many of the leaders of the Southern Holiness Movement into the pentecostal experience. Soon both the Holiness Church of North Carolina and the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church embraced the doctrine of the baptism in the Holy Ghost, evidenced by speaking in tongues.

In the next few years a strong feeling arose among the members of both denominations that these two groups should unite. Both were preaching the same basic doctrines, were operating in the same territory, and had experienced a growing fellowship over the years. After several preliminary steps were taken during 1909 and 1910, these two groups consolidated in 1911.

The merger took place on January 30, 1911, in the octagon-shaped Pentecostal Holiness Church building at Falcon, North Carolina. Here duly elected delegates from the Pentecostal Holiness Church and the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church met for the purpose of effecting a consolidation of the two bodies. Although the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church was much larger, the name Pentecostal Holiness Church was adopted for the new organization. G. F. Taylor, F. M. Britton, and J. A. Culbreth served as the committee to draw up the Discipline which became the basis upon which the consolidation was made. The first general superintendent of the united church was Samuel Daniel Page.

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