IPHC Historic Timeline Centennial Notes

Centennial Notes

By Dr. Harold Hunter

Year: 1907
Revival in Dunn, NC, led by G.B. Cashwell, results in FBH and PHC accepting Pentecost.

Upon arriving in his hometown on Dunn, North Carolina, in December 1906, Cashwell immediately preached Pentecost in the local Holiness church. Interest was great that in the first week of January 1907 he rented a three-story tobacco warehouse near the railroad tracks in Dunn for a month-long Pentecost crusade, which became for the East Coast another Azusa Street.

Most of the ministers in the three largest area Holiness movements came by the scores hungry to receive their own "personal Pentecost." These churches included the Pentecostal Holiness Church, the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church and the Holiness Freewill Baptist Churches of the area. Overnight most of the ministers and churches in these groups were swept "lock, stock and barrel" into the Pentecostal movement.⁽⁵⁰⁾

In October of 1907, Cashwell published the first issue of The Bridegroom's Messenger out of Atlanta, which he edited for one year before resigning to concentrate fully on his evangelistic efforts. The periodical was designed to spread the Pentecostal message as widely as possible with its mixture of sermons, editorials, and reader testimonies from across the Southeast and even the country by those who had experienced the manifestation of tongues. By 1909, Cashwell had left the PHC and later sought to distance himself from Pentecostalism, even rejoining the Methodist church before his death from a heart-attack in 1916. No satisfactory explanation for his defection exists.

Some have suggested that Cashwell was disappointed at not being at the helm of the PHC while Joseph Campbell describes Cashwell as being temperamental.⁽⁵¹⁾ Even though Cashwell was willing to apologize, such a trait would have contributed to the fact that Crumpler had no confidence in Cashwell. Not to be discounted, however, is the fact that Cashwell faced disillusionment from failed pentecostal expectations. Leading the list would be the delayed Second Coming and the failure of promised permanent xenolalia. Campbell,⁽⁵²⁾ however, judges Crumpler to have been justified in his views because "though Mr. Cashwell was for a period mightily used of God ... (he) did grievously fail God and bring reproach on the cause of the full gospel of Pentecostal Holiness."

Last update on 11/14/07
©IPHC Ministries. All rights reserved

Centennial Notes

Year: 1907
Revival in Dunn, NC, led by G.B. Cashwell, results in FBH and PHC accepting Pentecost.

Upon arriving in his hometown on Dunn, North Carolina, in December 1906, Cashwell immediately preached Pentecost in the local Holiness church. Interest was great that in the first week of January 1907 he rented a three-story tobacco warehouse near the railroad tracks in Dunn for a month-long Pentecost crusade, which became for the East Coast another Azusa Street.

Most of the ministers in the three largest area Holiness movements came by the scores hungry to receive their own "personal Pentecost." These churches included the Pentecostal Holiness Church, the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church and the Holiness Freewill Baptist Churches of the area. Overnight most of the ministers and churches in these groups were swept "lock, stock and barrel" into the Pentecostal movement.⁽⁵⁰⁾

In October of 1907, Cashwell published the first issue of The Bridegroom's Messenger out of Atlanta, which he edited for one year before resigning to concentrate fully on his evangelistic efforts. The periodical was designed to spread the Pentecostal message as widely as possible with its mixture of sermons, editorials, and reader testimonies from across the Southeast and even the country by those who had experienced the manifestation of tongues. By 1909, Cashwell had left the PHC and later sought to distance himself from Pentecostalism, even rejoining the Methodist church before his death from a heart-attack in 1916. No satisfactory explanation for his defection exists.

Some have suggested that Cashwell was disappointed at not being at the helm of the PHC while Joseph Campbell describes Cashwell as being temperamental.⁽⁵¹⁾ Even though Cashwell was willing to apologize, such a trait would have contributed to the fact that Crumpler had no confidence in Cashwell. Not to be discounted, however, is the fact that Cashwell faced disillusionment from failed pentecostal expectations. Leading the list would be the delayed Second Coming and the failure of promised permanent xenolalia. Campbell,⁽⁵²⁾ however, judges Crumpler to have been justified in his views because "though Mr. Cashwell was for a period mightily used of God ... (he) did grievously fail God and bring reproach on the cause of the full gospel of Pentecostal Holiness."