I was so blessed to hear this story, quite by chance—or more accurately, by providence—a few months after I retired from the United States Army as a chaplain. I was in Branson, Missouri, where I had been invited to sing at the Branson Gospel Music Convention during the week of July 14-17, 2009.

I arrived on Sunday, July 12, at the airport in Springfield, Missouri, rented a car, and began driving south to Branson. All along the way, I kept seeing pictures of Bill Medley on billboards. He was performing for the entire summer at the Moon River Theater in Branson, filling in for Andy Williams who was on vacation. Andy owned the theater, but Bill was the only entertainer whom Andy let fill in for him.

Hours later I arrived in Branson and checked into my hotel room at the Hilton at the convention center. I found out that day that soundtracks had to be on CD, not tape. I immediately phoned recording studios and made reservations to have mine transferred to a CD the next morning. So, Monday morning about 9:00 I drove through downtown Branson on the main street to the other side of town and into the countryside to the recording studio, had both songs transferred from tape to CD, and then headed back to the convention center.

Left to right: Bill Medley, McKenna Medley (daughter), Jim Linzey, Darren Medley (lead singer of Paul Revere and the Raiders), and Paul Revere at the Moon River Theatre (July 16, 2009).

When I got to the corner of the main street to begin my trek through all the traffic, I noticed an IHOP on the corner and thought, “This is my opportunity to easily get to the restroom.” So, I pulled into the parking lot, opened the door to IHOP, and walked in, and there, first booth on the right sat Bill Medley. His back was toward me, but I could see the side of his face. I thought, “This can’t be happening.” I walked down the aisle and went right by him and kept going. I thought, “When I leave, I’ll walk back the same way, then I can see his face to make sure that it’s Bill,” even though I knew it was him.

When I came out of the restroom, I was determined to greet him. I walked down the same aisle, and about eight feet from his booth our eyes met. There was no escaping! So, I boldly walked to the side of his table, crouched down at eye level, and asked, “Are you Bill Medley?”

“Yes,” he said.

“You and I have someone in common,” I said.

“Who?” he asked.

“Jack Colman.” Bill’s heart melted as an expression of love came over his face. “I know he was your vocal coach. He was mine, too,” I said, “and Jack used to tell me all about you.”

Bill was visibly stirred by memories, and then he shared wonderful stories about the spirituality of Jack and Jack’s wife, Sarah Jepson Coleman, who had co-written Portraits of Vision with Tommy Barnett. I was well acquainted with Sarah as well. When I was a student at Fuller Theological Seminary, where Sarah’s brother, Dr. Al Jepson, taught, I house sat for Jack and Sarah, and I sure enjoyed the tray of peanut butter cookies with Hershey’s chocolate kisses that she left for me.

Then I said to Bill, “You and I have someone else in common.”

“Who?” he asked.

“John Wimber,” I replied.

Again, Bill’s face melted with love as he spoke of John and Carol Wimber with great compassion, and shared how John was his and Bobby Hatfield’s producer and performed with them in concert on the keyboard.

After I told Bill that I studied Signs and Wonders under John at Fuller Theological Seminary and was on John’s large ministry team at the Anaheim Vineyard, Bill said, “Do you know how John came to know God?”

“No,” I answered.

“One day, John asked me, ‘What can you tell me about God?’ and I humorously replied, ‘You mean, Ray Charles?’

“Then John pointed to the sky and said, ‘No, the Great One!’”

Bill then witnessed to John about the Lord. While John did not receive Christ immediately, this prompted him to continue thinking about God until he received Him.

We can lead someone to the water, as Bill in this sense led John to God, but it does not mean that person will receive and drink of the water at that time.

I was in utter amazement that after hearing about Bill from Jack and Sarah decades earlier, and studying and ministering under John, here I was, crouched beside Bill at his table at IHOP learning how my former pastor and mentor came to Christ.

I told Bill that I was in town to perform at the Branson Gospel Music Convention that week, and he asked me if I would like to come to his concert at the Moon River Theater. I replied that I would, and he said, “The tickets are $50.” I replied that I would be happy to come, and he gave me the phone number to his road manager, whom I phoned as soon as I returned to the Hilton. The road manager was also a born again Christian, and we fellowshipped for about an hour on the phone. Then he said, “Your ticket will be waiting for you at the box office window, free of charge.” I profusely thanked him for the blessing.

After my performance at the Branson Gospel Music Convention, I went to Bill’s performance a few nights later. During Bill’s performance, he pointed at me several times and told the audience how he and I both knew some of the same people. He also promoted his Gospel CD that night and sold it at the table after his performance.

I was so blessed to have this encounter with Bill Medley and learn how he was instrumental in leading John Wimber to Jesus.

James F. Linzey studied Signs and Wonders under John Wimber at Fuller Theological Seminary and ministered under John on the Anaheim Vineyard’s Large Ministry Team. He studied voice and performance under Jack Coleman and is the chief editor of the Modern English Version Bible.

This excerpt from Led by the Spirit: The History of the American Assemblies of God Missionaries in the Philippines is the third chapter. Missionary-scholar Dave Johnson has brought together a chronicle of over 300 Pentecostal missionaries serving in the Philippines from 1926 through the first decade of the new Millennium.

Regrouping and Moving Forward

After the war, the Philippine District Council (PDC) lost no time in organizing and getting on with the job of fulfilling the Great Commission. The Missionary Field Fellowship also organized and received evaluation and direction from the Foreign Missions Department regarding relations with the PDC.

The National Church Regroups

The fourth District Council was held in Camiling, Tarlac, about ninety miles north of Manila in December 1945. Since no missionary could be present, the Foreign Missions Department had given permission to elect an acting superintendent whom they would ratify later. Rudy Esperanza was elected to this position as well as to his former post as district secretary. Several months later, Noel Perkin confirmed Esperanza’s appointment by letter with a slight but important change. The word acting was not mentioned, and he was appointed as the district superintendent with full power to act in that authority.[1] Why this action was taken is not explained. It may be because there was no missionary available. It is also possible that, because of the pending independence of the Philippines and the renewed emphasis on the indigenous church, the Foreign Missions Department wanted to transfer authority to Filipino leadership as quickly as possible. Also, the United States gave the Philippines its independence on July 4, 1946, removing the legal necessity of American leadership in the PDC. No American would ever again hold the leading office, although Americans would hold other offices within the PDC and later, the General Council.

Those who attended this convention found the fellowship sweet. They were happy to be together again after the terrible war. The meetings were marked with a wonderful presence of the Holy Spirit, reminding the conferees that God had not abandoned them as well as no doubt challenging them to get on with the task of reaching the lost now that the restrictions of war were no longer present. One of the key issues to getting the work back on track was to reopen Bethel Bible Institute, this time in Esperanza’s hometown in Pangasinan.[2] No reason is given for reopening there instead of Baguio even though the road to Baguio, which ran through Pangasinan, had been heavily bombed and was hard to travel. The move also may simply have been due to a more preferred location because Esperanza was pastoring there and could more easily oversee the school.

The PDC continued to hold annual conventions where business was conducted, officers elected, and God’s will sought on various issues facing the nation. The ravages of the war continued to be felt, and the country struggled to recover. All over the world nationalism, with its anti-Western posture, began to rise as the colonial powers, themselves devastated by the war, were unable to maintain control of their colonies. One by one, these colonies began to gain their independence, often by bloodshed. While the Filipinos had gained their independence peacefully, they were not immune to these events. At the 1950 convention, there was some discussion of nationalism. However, those attending the convention, admittedly with a strong missionary contingent present, went on record as expressing great appreciation for the missionaries and the sacrifices they had made, and expressed the desire that more would be sent. Part of this positive attitude may have come from the fact that during the convention, they were dedicating some permanent BBI facilities financed by missionary supporters. However, the general feeling was appreciation for a growing unity in spiritual things.[3] This must also be seen in the national context where Americans were esteemed because American and Filipino blood had mixed freely in the war.

During the historic 1953 convention, the PDC was recognized by the Foreign Missions Department as a sovereign General Council with the freedom to elect its own officers and govern its own affairs. In all practicality, it had been doing so since the end of the war. The PDC changed its name to the Philippines General Council of the Assemblies of God (PGCAG). Rudy Esperanza was elected as the general  superintendent. Three districts were formed: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, with authorization to divide into more districts as the work expanded. The genius of forming these districts was that it allowed closer oversight of the 103 ministers and seventy-five established and pioneering churches among the far-flung islands of the archipelago.

Organizing the Philippine Field Fellowship

The missionaries also formed themselves into the Philippine Field Fellowship (PFF), incorporating with the Philippine government’s Securities and Exchange Commission in 1949. Although the details are far from clear, it appears that there was a field committee in place by 1951, although apparently not all missionaries were informed about it—which may have caused a bit of consternation for one couple.[4] The earliest minutes date back only to 1959 and indicate that the missionaries were actually divided into two smaller field fellowships until that year. The missionaries on Luzon were part of the northern fellowship, and those in the Visayas comprised the southern fellowship (there were no missionaries in Mindanao until the 1960s). The entire field was administered by one committee with representatives from each of the fellowships. When the two fellowships merged into one field in 1959, the missionaries began meeting annually for business and election of officers. The meetings were normally one day or a part of a day in length but eventually expanded to as long as four or five days as worship services, ministry to children, and a retreat were included.

The missionaries were part of the PDC/PGCAG and served in various capacities in official district and General Council positions. In that sense then, they came under the leadership of the PDC/PGCAG. However, because the missionaries were under the authority of the FMD, they also had their own leadership structure with the establishment of the field committee and the new office of field secretary, a new level of leadership within the FMD that was instituted during the war years.

With the advent of the field secretaries, the FMD began to take a stronger hand in governing the various fields and making missionaries more accountable to the home office. The field secretary was responsible for making this happen. The first field secretary for the Far East was Howard C. Osgood, a former missionary to China. He served as field secretary until 1955, when he was succeeded by Maynard Ketcham. A former missionary to India, Ketcham was field secretary for Southern Asia from 1951 until he succeeded Osgood in 1955. Ketcham defined the field secretary as a liaison between the missionaries and the national church bodies on the one hand and, between the U.S. constituency and the FMD on the other, as well as a recruiter of new missionaries.[5]

From all appearances the relationship between the missionaries and the PGCAG leadership was good, but Ketcham saw the need to address tensions between the two groups so in April 1958, he wrote an open letter to the missionaries. To get a clear understanding of his view of the way things were and the way he felt they should be, the letter is quoted here at some length:

I stated that there is more good will toward American missionaries in your land than I have seen anywhere else in the world. And, I firmly believe this to be the true [sic]. However, that feeling of good will, and the kindly nature of our beloved Philippino [sic] co-workers, should not blind us to certain fundamental facts. True, we Americans have drive, energy, vision, organizational ability. On the other hand, we are strangers in a foreign land. And, the only real excuse for our presence in the Philippines is as invited guests to counsel, advise encourage, [sic] stimulate, teach—but never to boss or to ‘carry the ball.’

It appears that we have two parallel organizations in the Philippines—the Missionary Fellowship (s) [sic] and the National church. Presumably all our missionaries are members of the Assemblies of God of the Philippines. And yet, while I was in the Philippines, I got the feeling that our Filipino brethren felt that the Fellowships were the organizations of the missionaries and the A.G. of the Philippines was the organization of the Filipinos. Frequently, in conversation with the local brethren, I heard the words ‘they’ (the missionaries) and ‘us’ (the Filipinos). I can realize that no one person or group is responsible for this situation. But, we must do all in our power to break it down. . . .

Then we must explain to our national brethren that the Fellowships are only concerned with the personal lives of missionaries. We must also explain to the Nationals (by word and deed) that our ministry comes under the direction of the A. G. of the Philippines. Then, I believe that missionaries will be elected to office in the National organization and the missionaries will be considered as [an] integral part of the same.

May I suggest certain steps which I believe should be taken, to implement the provisions of the Manual in regard to this matter:

1. Be very certain that the Missionary Fellowships live up to their names and are only ‘Fellowships’ of missionaries dealing with matters which are of peculiar interest to missionaries themselves.
2. Take all possible steps to explain this situation to the Nationals, so they will realize that the missionaries, in their Fellowship meetings are not making decisions which affect church members.
3. Take an active part as possible in all gatherings of the Assemblies of God of the Philippines, and accept any office offered to missionaries.
4. Try to work things out, as rapidly and gracefully as possible, so that all Bible Schools are on a plane of equality and come under the overall supervision of the national church. (A very delicate matter, I know!!)
5. See that local congregations have at least some say in the choosing of pastors for all churches.
6. See that the national organization has the privilege of stating if they approve the re-appointment of a missionary, when he proceeds on furlough.
7. See that the national organization has at least some say in the allocation of missionaries.[6]

Ketcham went on to say that if the missionaries would deal kindly with their Filipino counterparts, the Filipinos would respond in kind and issues such as the re-appointment of missionaries would not be a problem.

Ketcham’s comments must be understood in light of the times. When this was written in 1958, the PGCAG was only eighteen years old and was rapidly expanding. Consequently, it had not yet had the time to develop the leaders necessary to fill all of the positions that needed to be filled for the PGCAG to move forward. Therefore, missionaries were appointed or elected to fill these positions, hopefully according to their gifts and callings. Being in these positions, then, demanded that they submit themselves to the PGCAG leaders. In noting the missionaries’ drive, goal orientation, and efficiency to get things done, he recognized some legitimate cultural differences between the missionaries and their Filipino counterparts.

Points six and seven reveal the missionaries’ tendency to be independent and indirectly admitted to a failure on the missionaries’ part to consult the PGCAG leadership regarding missionary placement. The first generation of Assemblies of God missionaries, which some of these were, were known for being independent spirits and most likely found fitting into any organization a bit difficult. Yet Ketcham was correct in calling for them to do so since it was essential to demonstrate respect for and support of the Filipino leadership for the long-term success of the mission.

The organizational structure of the PFF and PDC/PGCAG now detailed serves as a backdrop to the work of the individual missionaries during the period after World War II.

PR

This chapter is an excerpt from Dave Johnson, Led By The Spirit: The History of the American Assemblies of God Missionaries in the Philippines (Pasig City, Philippines: ICI Ministries, 2009). Used with permission.

Notes for Chapter 3: Regrouping and Moving Forward

1 Letter from Noel Perkin to whom it may concern, February 22, 1946.

2 Rudy Esperanza, “Pentecostal Convention in the Philippines,” Pentecostal Evangel, March 23, 1946.

3 Minutes of the Eighth District Convention of the Philippine District Council of the Assemblies of God, April 24–30, 1950.

4 Letter from Oneida Brengle to Maynard Ketcham, March 20, 1956.

5 McGee, This Gospel, vol. 1, 173.

6 Letter from Maynard Ketcham to the missionaries of the PFF, April 14, 1958.

Further Reading:

Read Malcolm Brubaker’s review of Led by the Spirit in the Summer 2010 issue of The Pneuma Review: http://pneumareview.com/dave-johnson-led-by-spirit/

Download the full book (in PDF) at: https://www.academia.edu/34297392/LED_BY_THE_SPIRIT.pdf

Find more excellent books from APTS Press, home of the Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies.

This excerpt from Led by the Spirit: The History of the American Assemblies of God Missionaries in the Philippines is the second chapter. Missionary-scholar Dave Johnson has brought together a chronicle of over 300 Pentecostal missionaries serving in the Philippines from 1926 through the first decade of the new Millennium.

Interned by the Japanese

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and the United States was drawn into World War II. The Philippines was eighteen hours ahead of Hawaii, meaning that the Pearl Harbor attack would have occurred just after 2 a.m. on the morning of December 8. Several hours passed before the news would reach the Philippines. Elizabeth Galley (later Wilson), described how they heard the news:

As the sun rose, Doris Carlson, Gladys Knowles, and I ate a hurried breakfast and prepared to go to the College of Chinese Studies where we were students.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs and the pounding on the door caused us to rush to answer. On the threshold stood Robert Tangen. “Girls,” he said, “Japan has just bombed Pearl Harbor.” This left us all aghast, and we pondered what the future might hold.¹

They were not left to ponder long. As they were receiving this news, planes appeared overhead, which they momentarily mistook for friendly forces. Flying over the U.S. air base at nearby Camp John Hay, the planes, now identified as Japanese, began bombing which caused a number of casualties.² A long nightmare had begun.

The Japanese landed almost unopposed on the beaches of Lingayen Gulf, on the northwestern coast of Luzon and twenty two miles west of Baguio.³ Some of the Japanese turned east and headed for Baguio while the main body of the army drove towards Manila. With Japanese aircraft already bombing Camp John Hay, those in Baguio, which included about five hundred foreigners all totaled, knew they would be receiving unwanted company soon.⁴ They did not have long to wait. In addition to the other foreigners, a fair number of Japanese citizens married to Filipino women also lived in Baguio. Because the mayor was afraid of offending these, he refused to take the steps necessary to maintain law and order. Mass chaos prevailed throughout the city. Leland Johnson joined a group of civilians who took things into their own hands, appointing patrols to maintain order and enforcing a blackout designed to hide the city from Japanese planes at night. Bombing raids made walking outside in the daylight a dangerous venture.

The situation became more precarious when the Allied troops left the city, because Baguio did not afford the best place to make a last stand and removed to Bontoc, about one hundred miles away. Their departure led to an immediate problem as there was no one to spot attacking planes and give the civilians fair warning to take cover. Johnson’s group filled the gap, appointing plane spotters from among members of their group, which undoubtedly saved many lives. The Tangens, who lived in the same apartment complex as Galley, Carlson, and Knowles, moved in with the Johnsons and the single ladies moved elsewhere when they realized that the apartments might be bombed.⁵ Johnson and Tangen also dug an air raid shelter in Johnson’s backyard, something which would benefit them greatly later. Apparently, they had some idea of where they might be interned as they stocked food at Brent International School. This was an exercise in futility because the Japanese later took all of it.

This excerpt from Led by the Spirit: The History of the American Assemblies of God Missionaries in the Philippines is the first chapter. Missionary-scholar Dave Johnson has brought together a chronicle of over 300 Pentecostal missionaries serving in the Philippines from 1926 through the first decade of the new Millennium.

The Early Years in the Philippines

As the Assemblies of God in the United States grew, so did their vision to send missionaries to the far-flung corners of the globe, including the Philippines.

The First Missionaries Arrive

The first United States Assemblies of God (AG) missionaries to the Philippines were Benjamin and Cordelia Caudle, who, with their children, arrived in Manila in September 1926.¹ The Caudles came from Kansas. Like many of the early missionaries, neither had any Bible school education, and it appears that they had little ministry experience. Caudle had only been a Christian for about six years before arriving in the Philippines. Yet they had heard the call of God, and for them and those who supported them, that call was sufficient. At the same time, their application for appointment indicates that they were well aware that sacrifice and privation awaited them.2 To what extent they were actually prepared for life in the tropics can only be conjectured.

They settled in Manila and quickly began to work. Manila, a city of at least three hundred thousand people at the time, was the logical choice because it was both the capital and hub of the nation. By the time the Caudles arrived, the Filipinos had been under American rule for twenty-eight years and many had learned English to the point that the Caudles felt it was becoming the lingua franca of the country.3

The Caudles were thoroughly convinced of the validity of the Pentecostal message and had a deep burden for the lost. In an article for the Pentecostal Evangel, the official voice of the Assemblies of God USA, Caudle’s passion for the lost and commitment to Pentecost is revealed:

Do you know that there are many millions of people here that need the Gospel preached to them with power and in demonstration of the Holy Ghost? The Pentecostal message is yet a stranger to the Philippine Islands, but by God’s grace it will not remain so long. For there shall be established in these Islands a lighthouse of the Pentecostal truth where men and women can be free.4

While the claim to be the first to proclaim the Pentecostal message in the Philippines cannot be verified with certainty, it may have been true since the Pentecostal Movement was young at the time. Caudle’s remarks that the Pentecostal message, with its emphasis on signs and wonders, would spread throughout the country, was prophetic, although it didn’t happen as quickly as he hoped.

This excerpt from Led by the Spirit is the Preface and Introduction. Missionary-scholar Dave Johnson has brought together a chronicle of over 300 Pentecostal missionaries serving in the Philippines from 1926 through the first decade of the new Millennium.

Preface

Like many other books, this volume was written to fulfill a perceived need. While serving as country moderator in the Philippines for the Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM) from 2002 through 2003, I sometimes asked myself how my predecessors might have handled similar situations to those I was facing. Then, looking around at the churches and institutions that former missionaries had built and passed on, I found myself asking who these missionaries were. I had few answers to my questions. My wife, Debbie, and I both began to sense that God was directing us to do something about it. The book you hold in your hands is the result.

My intent here is to describe what God has done through the United States (U.S.) Assemblies of God missionaries who served or are serving in the Philippines, with the understanding that God accomplishes His purposes through flawed people. The philosophy used in writing this book is to present an accurate, comprehensive, and balanced account of the work of the Assemblies of God Missionary Fellowship in the Philippines that neither lionizes nor libels those involved in order that God is revealed as the Hero of the story.

The limitations are numerous. The personnel and policies from the AGWM home office in Springfield, Missouri, will only be included as they relate to the work in the field. The activities of the missionaries while home for itineration or other reasons are beyond the scope entirely. The relationship between the missionaries and the Philippines General Council of the Assemblies of God (PGCAG) was and remains symbiotic and, therefore, has some overlap. Since the history of the PGCAG is not the focus of this story, its history will only be recorded in places where it intersects with that of the U.S. missionaries. The rest of their story will have to be told elsewhere. Also not included here is the work done by Assemblies of God missionaries from other countries.

Additionally, a number of international ministries such as the Asia Pacific Theological Seminary (APTS) are all based in the Philippines. Since the focus of the book is limited to the Philippines, the activities that missionaries assigned to these ministries engaged in outside of the country are beyond the scope of this book. The valued work of missionary associates is not included mostly because of space limitations but also because of lack of research materials available.

Over twenty years ago Gary B. McGee wrote a comprehensive survey of Assemblies of God (AG) missions, “This Gospel Shall Be Preached.” In it he called for others to follow with regional histories of the various AG fields of missionary service. That call is beginning to be answered. In 1997 Lawrence R. Larson wrote a history of AG work in Fiji that runs over 500 pages. In 2004 A. C. George published his study of the AG in India that runs to nearly 400 pages. Dave Johnson, missionary to the Philippines since 1997, has now given us a detailed history for AG work in the Philippines. We will address three questions about this work.

First, is this history told from the perspective of the “white” missionary to the neglect of the national ministers and church leaders? By focusing on the roles of western missionaries such work as we are reviewing here goes against the grain of current studies of world Christianity. Noted authors like Allan Anderson have stressed the need to tell the stories of gifted and anointed national workers who did much of the “heavy lifting” in establishing missions work; sadly most of their names are lost but much is being done to present “history from below.” But it is also true that the stories of western Pentecostal missionaries are also disappearing at an alarming rate as early generations of pioneer missionaries are gone and records of their life ministry disappear. So it is without shame to say that Dave Johnson has done a great service in preserving the 84-year history of AG missionaries going from the United States to the islands of the Philippines. Johnson’s work does in fact describe the roles and contribution of many Philippine pastors, evangelists, and church leaders.

Second, has Johnson “sanitized” the accounts of these missionaries without mention of their problems and failures? No, Johnson does not hesitate to narrate some of those defeats and failings as my personal knowledge of a few of those missionaries can verify: independent-spirited types, moral failures, and church splits are not glossed over. In any mission field where successful work has produced a national church there will be tension of personnel, administrative control, and mission strategy. For example in chapter nine this work narrates such a moment of tension between the AG Missionary Fellowship and the Philippines General Council of the AG that arose in the 1960s-1970s, reached a peak, and finally resolution.

Third, what resources have been used by the author of this history? Johnson has drawn on a comprehensive variety of sources: Pentecostal Evangel articles, AG missions publications, academic studies, minutes of American and Philippines national committees and councils, taped interviews, missionary newsletters, and emails from current and past AG missionaries.

The nature of Pentecostalism is the taking the message of Jesus to the nations. We can be grateful to Dave Johnson for preserving an important part of that story in the Pacific islands of the Philippines.

Find the book at: daveanddebbiejohnson.com

Reviewed by Malcolm R. Brubaker

Editor’s note: The full text of Led by the Spirit is now available at: https://www.academia.edu/34297392/LED_BY_THE_SPIRIT.pdf