In the Beginning....
(or at least the beginning of this church.)
This building was the beginning of Full Gospel Tabernacle. It was located at 1610 North 25th Street Terre Haute Indiana. It was purchased April 6, 1956 by Fred and Rev. Bessie Buckallew. Gods Plan began to involve a group of people in Terre Haute, 25 of them listened and attended the first service, This service was Sunday Oct 14, 1956 with Rev Bessie Buckallew as its First Pastor.
Previous Pastors:
Rev Bessie Buckallew Oct 1956 - 1958
Rev. Jim Shaffer 1958 - 1959
Rev. William Johnson 1959
Rev. Carl Pugh
Rev. Herbert Neal 1965 - 1980
Rev Hyde 1981
Rev Phillip Curtis 1981 - 1987
Rev James Armpriester 1987 - 1993
Rev Gregg Sims 1993 - 1995
Rev Morris Mott 1996 - 2000
Rev. Ron Kissel Feb - Aug 2001
Rev Robert Dale Rhodes Oct 2000 - Feb 2002
Rev. Tyrus J. Thompson Aug 3 2003 to June 2009
Rev. Morris Mott Oct 4 2009 to Present.
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.
