History of South Haven First Assembly of God
The earliest beginnings of First Assembly of God can be traced to a gathering of believers who met under the name “Advent Christian Church" in 1916 above a blacksmith’s shop on Broadway and Church streets across from the synagogue. Various pastors and evangelists filled the pulpit until approximately 1923.
In August of 1923 Culia Henry went to visit “Aunt” Fannie Des Enfants in Chicago. Miss Henry, raised a Free Methodist, visited the “Old Stone Church” to hear Missionary Glover and asked Jesus to be Lord of her life. Shortly thereafter, “Aunt” Fannie came to South Haven to visit her niece and friends. She and five women, Fern Perish, Fannie Norman, Nellie Baugher, Emma Butler and Jenny Edmunds, attended a Free Methodist camp in Hopkins, MI where they were filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. It wasn’t long before they were asked to leave their Free Methodist Church in South Haven because of this new experience. They began attending the Advent Christian Church or Full Gospel Mission meeting above Schabels’s Blacksmith Shop where others began receiving the infilling. Culia Henry was one of those filled with the Spirit.
Various pastors and evangelists filled the pulpit until July 1925 when the church changed its name to Pentecostal Assembly. Rev. Knutsen served as pastor until November 1926 when he left to serve as a missionary in China. In the summer of 1927 Culia Henry and Sister Grace Klatzbach attended youth services in Grand Rapids and spoke to Superintendent Flem Van Meter of the Assemblies of God, Central District (Michigan, Indiana and Ohio). In November 1927 the church was officially adopted into the Assemblies of God. Sister Culia Henry served as the first pastor until spring 1928 when she left for Central Bible Institute in Springfield, MO to prepare for service as missionary to the Russian speaking people of Latvia.
The church grew under various pastors and evangelists including one Ada Peterson who arrived as an evangelist in 1930 and later married Rev. G.A. Uldin. Services were held in various community halls until a facility was built on Superior Street across from Central Middle School approximately 1934. The church continued to grow and was officially incorporated with the State of Michigan March 25, 1947. The Uldins served faithfully as pastors until 1951.
Brother and Sister Faulk served as pastor from 1951-1955 and added a Sunday School annex. Brother Ross Simmons served from 1955 to spring 1966. Under his leadership the church moved to its present location at the end of Bailey Ave. meeting as a basement church in 1961. Rev. Maloney served the church until the late sixties or early seventies. During his tenure the upper level of the church was built on top of the pre-existing basement at a cost of $56,000 by Mr. Kokmeyer (K&W Associates of Kalamazoo). The sanctuary was officially dedicated July 28, 1968.
Pastors who served through the seventies and eighties were: Rev. Watkins1971, Rev. R.E. Ballinger, Rev. Frank Deter, Rev. Dwight Sheltroun, Rev. Traverse Vander Merwe (of South Africa)1981-1985, Rev. Bruce Covey 1985-1996 (with Rev. Eric Jarvis as associate from 1986-1992) and Pastor Jarvis, currently serving as senior pastor since 1996 (a four year tenure was served as associate at the Niles Assembly of God 1992-1996).
From 1981-1996 the church experienced considerable decline interlaced with sporadic growth. By 1996 the building had fallen into disrepair, the congregation had dwindled to approximately 10 people (most of which were single older women) and services were conducted on Sunday AM only.
Since 1996 the church has continued on a course of steady and healthy growth revitalized by the Spirit in the lives of young couples, families, youth, children, people of every background and ethnicity. Today First Assembly of God burns with the fire and passion of the early days, boldly sharing the life transforming gospel to all people. Through obedience to the great commission of Matthew 28:19 we believe the best is yet to come and invite you to come be a part of the exciting work God is accomplishing through His people in this twenty-first century.
History of The Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God grew out of the Pentecostal revival, which began in the early 1900s in places such as Topeka, Kansas, and the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles. During times of prayer and Bible study, believers received spiritual experiences like those described in the book of Acts. Accompanied by “speaking in tongues,” their religious experiences were associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Jewish feast of Pentecost (Acts 2), and participants in the movement were dubbed “Pentecostals.” The Pentecostal movement has grown from a handful of Bible school students in Topeka, Kansas, to an estimated 600 million in the world today.
Many participants who were baptized in the Holy Spirit during revivals and camp meetings in the early 1900s were not welcomed back to their former churches. These believers started many small churches throughout the country and communicated through publications that reported on the revivals. In 1913, a Pentecostal publication, the Word and Witness, called for the independent churches to band together for the purpose of fellowship and doctrinal unity. Other concerns for facilitating missionaries, chartering churches and forming a Bible training school were also on the agenda.
Some 300 Pentecostals met at an opera house in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1914, and agreed to form a new fellowship of loosely knit independent churches. These churches were left with the needed autonomy to develop and govern their own local ministries, yet they were united in their message and efforts to reach the world for Christ. So began the General Council of the Assemblies of God.
Assemblies of God churches form a cooperative fellowship. As a result, the organization operates from the grass roots, allowing the local church to choose and develop ministries and facilities best suited for its local needs.
