THE LIFESummer 2016

FOL COUPLE shares their story of personal revival and intercity outreach. by

EricaGregory P.10

Woman. Slave. World Changer.Pastor Hans tells the story of Lucy Farrow

P.4

AZUSA MOVEMENTbirths FOL church

97 years ago.P.16

A publication of Fountain of Life Church

4 The Journey of Lucy FarrowA Woman. A Slave. A World Changer.

8The Street that

Changed the World: The outpouring at Azusa Street broke barriers, ignited revival, and powered

ministry all around the world.

10COVER STORY:

Dave & Amanda Spence sharetheir heart for Elizabeth City

14Meet our new

Covenant Partners: Terry & Vicki Littrell, TJ & Jenny Long,

and Judy Old.

16From Azusa Street

to Route 17 Fountain of Life Church founded by

controversial tongue-talkerswith revival roots

Contents

Cover photo and contents page photoby Lindsay Roode.

The Life Magazine is published quarterly by Fountain of Life Church in Elizabeth City, NC. All images are gathered from Shutterstock unless otherwise noted. Editor in Chief/Hans Hess * Editor, Communications Director/Tiffany Harris * Editor, Layout Designer, Graphic Designer/Kristina Granstaff * Writers/Hans Hess,

Jackie Davenport, Paige Old, Erica Gregory. Proofreaders/Brenda Harris, Tina Kirkland, Tiffany Harris, Chase Granstaff

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The Journeyof Lucy Farrow

A woman. A slave. A world changer.

BY: PASTOR HANS HESS

5

The Journeyof Lucy Farrow

I have felt for some time that the story of the women of the Pentecostal movement needed to be told. There are so many great stories of women who were used mightily of God as preachers, teachers, missionaries, pastors and evangelists. Yet, we usually hear about the men. In this article, I want to briefly tell the sto-ry of one woman who acted as a cat-alyst for the Azusa Street Revival that would shake the nations.

To begin, the Pentecostal move-ment traces its roots back to the late nineteenth century holiness move-ment. During those days many people in the Methodist church felt that the church lost the fervor and passion of its early founders. Groups splintered from the church and formed holiness associ-ations. These “holiness” people pressed for an experience with God, commonly known as entire sanctification.

After the turn of the century, certain holiness groups began experi-encing unusual visitations of the Holy Spirit. The holiness people came to believe in a baptism in the Holy Spir-it. Some groups went further and be-lieved that this experience would be accompanied by speaking in tongues as in the book of Acts. One of these

early holiness leaders was Charles Par-ham. Parham was a Methodist minister who believed that the “bible evidence” of being baptized in the Holy Spirit was speaking with other tongues. In 1901, an outbreak of the Spirit occurred in the bible college Parham founded in Topeka, Kansas. Most of the students were baptized in the Spirit and began speaking in tongues.

Later, Parham visited Houston, Texas where he encountered a young woman named Lucy Farrow. Farrow was born into slavery in Virginia. After Reconstruction, she moved to Houston and became the pastor of a small holi-ness church. Charles Parham and his wife were so impressed with her that they invited her to move to Topeka, Kansas with them. She left her church in the hands of a young man named William Seymour. While in Kansas, Lucy Farrow received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The Parhams, and Lucy Far-

continue on next page

row, eventually moved to Houston to start a bible college. It was in this bible college that William Seymour heard the teaching about the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Seymour was invited to pastor a small storefront church in Los Angeles. After arriving in Los Angeles, Seymour began teaching the baptism of the Holy Spirit he had learned from Parham and Lucy Farrow but the people in the church reject-ed his message and asked him to leave. Seymour then began holding home meetings in the Asberry home at 214 Bonnie Brae Street in Los Angeles. One of the leading families in these meetings was the Edward Lee family.

Seymour told the people in Los Angeles about Lucy Farrow and the great respect he had for her. The small group decided to invite her to Los Angeles and took an offering for her train fare. Lucy Farrow accepted the invitation and traveled to Los Angeles. When she first met Edward Lee he asked her to pray for him to receive the Holy Spirit. She told him that she had to wait on the Lord. Later, while at dinner, she pushed her chair away from the table and walked over to Mr. Lee, laid hands on him and prayed, and he fell into the floor speaking in other tongues.

That night, the Lee family and Lucy Far-row went to the Asberry home on Bonnie Brae

Street. As they walked through the door Edward Lee began speaking in tongues and the power of God fell on the people in the house. Many of them fell onto the floor and were speaking in tongues. The meeting lasted through the night as the people manifested many gifts of the Spirit.

Word spread about the meetings on Bon-nie Brae Street. So many people went that the house was completely filled with people spilling out into the yard. The group moved to an aban-doned building on Azusa Street and there, for three years, meetings were held day and night. Thousands of people flocked to the church, re-ceiving the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. From there the message spread around the world.

There were many factors that caused the Azusa Street Revival to occur. First, the people had a new understanding of Scripture concern-ing the coming of the Spirit. Second, the peo-ple were very hungry for a move of God. Third, Lucy Farrow was an integral part of the revival. She was the initial catalyst who laid hands on the small group of people at Bonnie Brae Street. This small group was the beginning of one of the greatest revivals in the history of the world.

Thank God for Lucy Farrow! Rise up,

THE JOURNEY OF LUCY FARROW

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See Eddie Hyatt, “Lucy Farrow: The Forgotten Apostle of Pentecost,” Charisma Magazine, http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/revival/19805-lucy-farrow-the-forgotten-apostle-of-pentecost.

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Prior to the Civil War, many of the Methodist churches began to hold what was called “Holiness Revivals” where they preached salvation (believing in Christ for the forgiveness of sins) and began a re-focus on the second work of grace called sanctifica-tion (to live as holy, set apart for God). Previously, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, taught the doctrine of sanctification as far back as 1738. Wesley’s teachings came with the belief and goal of Christian perfection and a life of holiness but some in the Holiness churches, a group that stemmed from the Methodist church, were beginning to disagree

on what sanctification meant. Some took the discussion a step further and introduced the belief in a third work of grace: The infilling of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

Following the end of the Civil War, segregation and Jim Crow laws went into effect. It was forbidden, especially in the South, for blacks and whites to mix company, even in churches. Sadly, although some were aiming to become more Christ-like, most churches abided by the laws no matter what the geographical location or simply for cultural reasons. It would not be until almost fifty years after the Civil War that members of the American church would begin to understand, some slower than others, that God does not discrimi-nate or segregate based on the color of someone’s skin.

Charles Fox Parham, a former Methodist minister who would later become known as the Father of Modern Pentecostalism, opened Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas in 1898. He took a break from his work at the school in 1900 but before he left, he re-quested his students study the Book of Acts while he was away. When he returned, he found the group earnestly seeking to experience what they called their own Pentecost. He decided to call for a revival service on New Year’s Eve 1900. During that service Agnes Ozman, a student of the school, asked that Parham lay hands on her and pray that she might receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit because she had a “greater desire for the Lord than for sleep.” While some reports claim Parham was uneasy about doing so, he and some of the men with him laid hands on Ms. Ozman. At first, nothing happened, but within a few minutes, Ms. Ozman began to speak in an unlearned language. For three days she could no longer speak English and when asked to write, even though she had never learned to do so, she could only communicate in Chinese. The language would be confirmed as authentic by a Bohemian who was in the meeting.

Mr. Parham soon moved to Houston, Texas and opened another bible school. Although Texas had segregation laws, God had a plan that allowed an African-American man, William Seymour, to learn about the gift of speaking in unknown tongues as written in the Book of Acts. Mr. Seymour was the son of former slaves and had been introduced to Charles Parham through a mutual friend. Due to the color of his skin, Mr. Seymour could not openly sit in the classrooms at the Bible school, so Parham made it possible for him to sit outside the classrooms and listen to the teachings. Seymour’s experience proved God revealed Himself to, and used, those who sought Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). God found a willing vessel in Seymour and used him to unite races and cultures for His glory.

The Street that Changed the World

The outpouring at Azusa Street broke barriers, ignited revival, and powered ministry all around the world.

BY: JACKIE DAVENPORT

Azusa Street Mission Leaders (photo courtesy of Azusa Books)

William Seymour (photo courtesy of 312Azusa)

The Apostolic Faith Missionon Azusa Street, 1906

(photo courtesy of Revival Library)

By 1906 word spread to other parts of the country of the new teaching and belief in the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Churches in other areas of the country wanted to know more about the teachings and one such church was a Nazarene church in Los Angeles, California. Julia Hutchins was the leader of the church and had been told by one of the members of her congregation of Mr. Parham and Mr. Seymour’s teaching on the baptism of the Spirit. In an effort to learn more, she sent for Mr. Seymour. Unfortunately, the congregation banned Mr. Seymour away after his first sermon by locking the doors to the church with a padlock saying the teaching was too radical. Not all the congregation felt that way and one member, Richard Asberry, invited Mr. Sey-mour to his home, leading to one of the greatest spiritual awakenings that America had ever seen up until that time.

The very first sermon Mr. Seymour preached in the home of Mr. Asberry was on the text taken from Acts 2:4. It is interesting to note that Mr. Seymour had not yet received the baptism of the Holy Spirit even though he fully believed it was possible. He only received it after he began to tell others about it. According to Vinson Synan, lead historian for the Pentecostal Holiness Church, Sey-mour received this wonder after preaching in the house and then going outside on the front porch to speak to the large crowd that had gathered outside. After a few weeks, the crowd grew so large and the meetings so loud, that neighbors began to complain to the local authorities for intervention.

Not wanting to cause any problems with the neighbors but wanting to continue to minister to the people of the city, Mr. Seymour located an abandoned mission a few blocks away on Azusa Street and began to hold meetings there. Word quickly spread of divine healings, people speaking in unknown tongues, and other supernatural events. On several occasions people called the fire department to report flames shooting out of the top of the building only to find there was no real fire. When Mr. Seymour heard this, he told the firemen that it was merely the presence of God falling on the ones who came to seek His glory. There were other times when the building appeared to be shaking but it was the power and presence of God filling His people.

Word quickly spread across the entire United States through what was known as the Holiness Papers. People from coast to coast read the accounts of the extraordinary things happening in California. In the original Azusa Street Papers, it was reported that “it would be impossible to state how many had been converted, sanctified or filled with the Holy Ghost. They have been and are daily going out to all points of the compass to spread this wonderful gospel.” Reports were also made of divine healings: The blind saw, the deaf heard, the crippled walked.

G. B. Cashwell from Dunn, NC was one who heard the stories, and despite his pastor’s disapproval, Cashwell traveled to Cal-ifornia to discover whether the reports were true. He felt he needed to know if what was happening was really of God or something man had concocted. Being from the South, Cashwell was at first overwhelmed by the sight of such a racially diverse group of people all worshipping together. While he did not understand all he saw and some things appeared fanatical, Cashwell said he knew in his heart the movement was a work of God, and he wanted to know and experience more. He found himself asking the very people he could not associate with back in NC, African Americans, to lay hands on him and pray that he receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Cashwell never again considered the race of another as a reason not to reach them with the gospel or include them in a service. He was ridiculed and dismissed from some places for his refusal to do so. However, his obedience opened doors for him to go all over the southern states and become known as the “Pentecostal Apostle of the South.” According to Dr. Vinson Synan, Cashwell’s preaching was “responsible for bringing several Southern Holiness bodies into the Pentecostal camp.” One such organization that came from that group was the International Pentecostal Holiness Churches of which Fountain of Life is a part.

The meetings at Azusa Street and the others that followed eventually ended, but the results remain both felt and seen. The revival leading up to Azusa Street Mission did not develop overnight. It began months, even years, before by people who sought God and His Holiness, and it was not just the people of Azusa Street that prayed. It was the entire city. Scattered among the different denom-inations were people who honestly wanted to know more about God and the deeper things of the Spirit. They encountered more than a series of services with a visitation of the Spirit of God. Their encounter was a transformation that changed the world.

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The Apostolic Faith Missionon Azusa Street, 1906

(photo courtesy of Revival Library)Charles Parham

(photo courtesy of Revival Library)G.B. Cashwell

(photo courtesy of Apostolic Archives)

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“WELL THEN, MOVE”One FOL couple share their story of personal revival and intercity outreach

BY: ERICA GREGORY

In January of 2016, Dave and Amanda Spence picked up their childhood roots grounded in Currituck, NC and moved their lives and family to Eliza-beth City, NC. Their main reason for this: Amanda knew God was going to do something big in the city, and she was not about to miss it.

Dave and Amanda grew up in very similar homes. They both came from strong spiritual fami-lies who love and serve the Lord. Amanda was raised in the Assemblies of God denomination and had strong experiences with missions. During her teenage years, her family left the church they attended and focused more on the concept of home church. Amanda says that her par-ents still participate in a New Testament style of church, where members gather in a home. Amanda says:

My parents have always believed that God is really more concerned about geographic areas and that He moves spiritually more in a New Testament kind of way, looking more at geographic areas, more so than buildings and denominations. So that concept is something that has shaped me.

Dave was raised in a Pentecostal Church and shared that his life has been full of camp meetings, tent meetings, and revivals for as far back as he can remember: “I remember being in a tent, a lot! I’ve seen arms grow; I’ve seen legs grow; I’ve seen demons cast out; I’ve seen a lot of things people wouldn’t believe and that has made my faith unshakable.”

During Amanda’s High School years she found herself floundering in her faith. In an attempt to grow in her relationship with God, Amanda spent two summers in Wilmington, NC where she worked at a homeless shelter. After her first summer in Wilmington, Amanda felt convicted about her rebellious attitude and even about some of the people she was hanging out with. As a result, she made the choice to be homeschooled. Dave and Amanda met at the age of 16 through a homeschool co-op. They started dating at age 17, became engaged at 18,

A shot of downtown Elizabeth City.

All photos in this article by Lindsay Roode.

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and married at 19. “We were in love and we wanted to get married and we didn’t even know what that meant but we took the plunge and got married,” Amanda says. “It wasn’t the most mature decision but the Lord has blessed us and He’s always been faithful.”

Things started to shift spiritually for Dave and Amanda in July 2014. “Our 20’s were very selfish,” Aman-da says. “We were getting the house and the cars and the kids and we were very focused on building our American Dream kind of lifestyle.” Then one day, the Youth Pastors at Dave and Amanda’s church left to serve in Hawaii. The whole process of God sending their friends to Hawaii really shook the Spence family’s faith, and they reached a point where they realized they had everything but were not sat-isfied. So, the couple started a fast with their friends who would be leaving North Carolina. The fast was based off of Jen Hatmaker’s book, 7. The couple took seven aspects of their life and prayed on those- fasting and seeking the Lord’s will for their life. They started to eliminate the excess and anything that was holding them back for God’s will for their lives. While they did not intend for the fast to shake their

lives, it did. “Through the process of us really praying and giving things over to the Lord, He just really began to show us how stagnate we were,” Amanda says.

In October 2014 the Spence family knew God was nudging them to leave the church they were attending. In January 2015, their fast ended and so did their time with their mentors, who were leaving for Hawaii. It was at a going away party for their friends that the Spence family learned about Fountain of Life and the children’s ministries there.

“I saw the Kidstown stuff and I knew I wanted my children to experience that,” Amanda says. They attended FOL on and off for a few months but it wasn’t until the spring, that the Spence family knew they were supposed to be part of FOL. During that time, Pastor Hans Hess preached on the Holy Spirit. Dave and Amanda were both baptized in the Holy Spirit when they were younger but they had stopped using their prayer languages. One of the main reasons was it was not accepted in their former churches. God renewed Dave and Amanda, and they began speaking in their prayer languages again. “That’s when the shift really happened in us,” Amanda says. “When we started getting

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into that relationship with the Lord and we really started to revive that relationship with Him.” During the fall of 2015, Amanda noted that she really started to sense a Spirit of Redemption in Elizabeth City. She says,

I would cross the Camden Causeway Bridge and feel the Spirit of Redemption and sense that God had something big planned for the city. There is some-thing for this city and God has really put this city on a hill. He has called people here who really should not even be here; these people could’ve gone to bigger places or to other churches, but he has them here for a reason – this city is a gem.

One day during her prayer time, Amanda was praying and she told the Lord that she wanted to be a part of whatever He was doing in Elizabeth City. She told the Lord that she did not want to miss out on any part of it and that she wanted to be in the city when revival breaks out. It was at that point that Amanda says she heard the most audible yet inau-dible voice of God that she’s ever heard. As she was crying out these requests to God he replied, “Well then, move!”

It took a few days for Amanda to share with her husband, Dave, exactly what she had heard. After a Women’s Conference at FOL titled “Redemption,” Amanda had full confidence and confirmation in the fact that their family needed to move. When Amanda sat down to share with her husband that God wanted them to move to the city, she could barely contain her excitement and begged her husband to list their dream house right away. At first Dave was unsure of the move but as the two prayed together and spent time seeking the Lord’s will, he began to have peace over their decision.

Dave says, “Once I had peace about it, I knew it was God and that it was going to happen fast.” The two chose November 1, 2015 as the day they would list their house. As it turned out, when they met the Realtor to sign the papers for listing, they ended up spending the evening praying and forgot to do the necessary paperwork. On Wednesday of

that week, the couple placed a sale sign in their yard and after a Wednesday night service at FOL, they went to see a home in Elizabeth City that their realtor thought fit their needs.

The house, while a mess, came complete with a prayer room, a nice sized yard, and was settled between Main Street and Church Street – the heart of Downtown Elizabeth City. Within 18 days of listing their house, their home was under contract to be purchased and the couple found themselves moving forward with their new home in Elizabeth City and in a situation where they were able to get

out of debt.

In January of 2016, the Spence family moved in to their new home. Amanda

shared that she had been praying for God to open doors within the com-munity and he did it. The Lord gave Dave and Amanda a heart for bro-ken women- specifically, women who deal with substance abuse, sex trafficking, and prostitution. God began opening doors in this type of ministry for the couple, and they are excited to see where He moves.

“There is not an if, but a when to revival in this town,” Amanda says. “I have sensed a

spiritual shift in the atmosphere and I just really believe God is going

to develop a hunger in the people of this town that they’ve never really had

before.”

“We are here, available for however and whatever the Lord wants us to do next,”

Amanda says. Dave and Amanda both believe that in order for the church to survive, there needs to be

corporate fasting, corporate prayer and corporate worship. “When God called us to this city it wasn’t that he was calling us to Fountain of Life, He was calling us to live here so that we could be a part of the church of Elizabeth City and really be a part of that geographic concept that God desires. He desires for His people to be unified and love one anoth-er,” Amanda Spence. When the churches in Elizabeth City unite, that’s when the Spence’s believe revival will break loose.

God is going to

develop a hunger in the people

of this town...

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Terry and Vicki Littrellstarted attending Fountain of Life and became partners on February 7, 2016. They heard about FOL through friends of theirs, and decided to attend. After that first visit, they began attending regularly. They sensed a difference in this church and did not want to miss a service.

Terry and Vicki say they love everything about FOL since the mo-ment they began attending. They go to the 11 a.m. service and occa-sionally attend the evening service. Vicki volunteers in Tiny Town Nursery and is involved with a women’s life group. They both attend a life group together on Monday nights which has impacted their lives as a couple growing in Christ.They have been married for 23 years and have two children: Cassie 17, and Noah 13.

Before moving to Elizabeth City in his high school years, Terry grew up in Virginia and Vicki was born and raised here in Elizabeth City.

Terry was saved in 1998 during revival which changed his life forever. Vicki had a similar experience at a revival when she was 15 years old. Since that revival experience, Jesus remains the center of her life.

In their spare time, the couple enjoy spending time as a family. Vicki enjoys crafting and gardening, and Terry enjoys playing paint ball with his son.

BY: PAIGE OLD

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TJ and Jenny Long joined the Fountain of Life family in September 2015. TJ and Jenny heard about the church through TJ’s parents and visited FOL on and off throughout the years. They returned in 2015 and began attending regularly as the Holy Spirit drew them closer. TJ and Jenny had been visiting different churches in the area and none grabbed their attention the way the Bible-based preaching at FOL did. This remains Jenny’s favorite part about Fountain of Life. TJ’s is worship. “I get lost in worship,” he says. “Ja-son really challenges me to press in during worship, and being led by someone who genuinely is worshiping and leading us is what I enjoy most about FOL”

TJ grew up in Hertford and Jenny in Currituck. Neither were raised with a strong, Christian foundation but managed to go to church with friends and family throughout their childhood.

TJ believed going to church was about molding himself into a good person- what he thought good “Christians” were supposed to be. TJ says, “It all became more of being about improving himself instead of following Christ.” One summer, he worked as a camp counselor, and the children started asking him questions that convicted him for not living for Christ. After that summer is when TJ switched his degree from Physical Education to Christian Education in Asheville. “My mom would send me to church with friends,” Jenny says. “But, not go herself.” During the period when Jenny went to church, she was baptized. Then, because a lot of her school friends didn’t attend church, she felt she had to choose between the two. After going through a rocky relationship, she began to pray and ask God for direc-tion. From that point on, God has remained the center of her life.

TJ and Jenny have been married for five years and have a three-year-old daughter Ava. They are expect-ing their second child in July 2016. They enjoy spending time together as a family. As hobbies, Jenny crafts and makes DIY projects while TJ collects old Bibles and NBA basketballs.

Judy Old started attending Fountain of Life three years ago after a Doug Eccles revival where God spoke to her spirit.

Judy heard about Fountain of Life through her mother’s friends and was familiar with events FOL held for the community. “I knew I was where God wanted me to be…” she says.

Judy loved the genuine compassion those at FOL held for others and enjoyed hearing the sermons preached. “It’s rare you find a church and pastor that preaches and stands firm of the word of God, whether we like it or not,” she says. ¬

Growing up, Judy attended church every time the doors were open. In July 1969, at age 10, Judy accepted Christ into her heart at a church camp in South Carolina. “My mother was very active and held bible studies every week my entire childhood,” she says. “She also taught Methodist Youth Fellowship at our house.”

Now, her and her husband Kevin attend the 11 a.m. service together, and Judy serves in several areas includ-ing Tiny Town Nursery, the Women of Purpose, and the Missions Outreach Team.

They currently live in South Mills on the family farm. Together they have three children: Kristi, Amy and Hunter as well as two grandchildren: Marissa, and Hailey. Judy enjoys spending time with family, reading, and watching movies. She loves to shop, for everyone else but herself, she adds. Most of all, Judy and Kevin, enjoy being grandparents.

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W hen G. B. Cashwell left the Azu-sa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California he brought back a new understanding that would begin

to change social and religious traditions. Peo-ple from all denominations anxiously awaited his arrival so they could hear what he personally ex-perienced. After returning home to Dunn, NC, Cashwell rented a large tobacco warehouse for a series of meetings beginning on New Year’s Eve 1906 and from there, according to histori-an Vinson Synan, “the conversion of most of the holiness movement in the southeast to the Pentecostal view” would begin, but not without opposition. During the Warehouse Revival, which ran from December 31, 1906 through January 30,

1907, Cashwell invited everyone to attend. By all accounts, there were people from all denomina-tions, as well as African-Americans, Caucasians, and Lumbee Indians. Mr. Cashwell refused to segregate and once word spread of speaking in tongues during the services the “city of Dunn even imposed a $64 fine on anyone caught speak-ing in tongues inside the city limits,” according to a report found in the Dunn Daily Record. Not only did Mr. Cashwell meet opposition because of the doctrine of speaking in tongues, but he had gone against the culture of the day in re-gards to interactions between races. It is unclear exactly how the doctrine of the infilling of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues arrived to northeastern North Carolina, but several sources seem to indi-

From Azusa Streetto Route 17

Fountain of Life Church founded bycontroversial tongue-talkers with revival roots

BY: JACKIE DAVENPORT

17

cate various individuals who attended Mr. Cash-well’s revival in Dunn, NC began to go into dif-ferent parts of North Carolina and Virginia to share the message. After speaking with several local area church historians, the best that can be determined is that there were several tent reviv-als that were held in and around Elizabeth City and many of the evangelists were women. One of the women, named Dorothy Stone, may have been as young as 17 or 18 years old. Persecution came to the area because of the misunderstanding, and even outright rejec-tion, of the new doctrine. The new recipients that held to the biblical truth of Acts two were

often ridiculed even as late as three decades af-ter the Dunn revival. One story was told of a woman who people would cross to the other side of the street when they would see her coming for fear they would “get that new religion” on them if they got too close to her. Retired minis-ter Mitchell Edwards said that people would call the teaching “a powder that would get on you if you started listening to those Pentecostals.” Ob-viously it “got on him” because, as a Church of God minister, he was instrumental in preaching in several area churches until his retirement. Despite opposition in the early Pente-costal movement, church planters Reverend L. B.

Fountain of Life congregation

outside of the church

building about1960

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Edge and his wife started the First Pentecostal Holiness Church of Elizabeth City (now Foun-tain of Life) around May 1919. The church was located on the corner of Skinners Avenue and Chestnut Street and began with just eleven mem-bers. They rented the building for $1 a week un-til improvements to the building were completed and the rent rose to $3 per week. Though the church saw eleven pastors in just a little over ten years, the church launched a building pro-gram in 1929 and moved to the corner of Oak and Beech Streets because the church had grown to a membership of 135. Reverend Dallas M. Tarkenton, the pastor in 1929, is quoted as say-ing, “The greatest motivation of the church is to lead men into all the fullness of Christ Jesus the Savior.” From its earliest days, the First Pente-costal Holiness Church, that would later become known as Fountain of Life Church, preached the full gospel and reached the community. In a May 1970 article in the local news-paper, the Daily Advance, the church, located by that time on Elizabeth Street, was known as “a bee hive of activity both spiritually and socially. It is one of the best churches in the Eastern Vir-

ginia (IPHC) Conference, and is constantly busy in soul-winning campaigns.” While some of the language of the quote may sound odd to those not raised in church, it can be safely assumed the church has always been known for its revivals and the work that has been done in and around Elizabeth City. In 1999, under the leadership of then pastor Reverend Bill Mayo, the church changed its name from the First Pentecostal Holiness Church of Elizabeth City to Fountain of Life and moved to the present site at 1107 US-17 South. A dedication service pamphlet for the December 5, 1999 service recognized the pre-vious 18 pastors who had served the church as well as the “unsung heroes who taught classes, led youth group, sang in choirs, played instru-ments….ministered to those in the communi-ty….and fasted and prayed.” It was obvious the revival that began the church had resulted in the continual reaching out to the community to bring others to Christ even eighty years after its beginning. Fast forward to September 2009 when

FROM AZUSA STREET TO ROUTE 17

Fountain of Life Church sunday school about 1936-1938Fountain of Life congregation about 1960

the church began to go through another transi-tion as it welcomed its current pastor, Hans Hess. In an interview conducted with Pastor Hess he credited Mayo for laying the foundation for reviv-al. Following the leadership transition from Pas-tor Mayo, there was a great spiritual awakening within the church in part because Pastor Mayo was a visionary looking toward the future.

When Pastor Hess began preaching at Foun-tain of Life in September 2009, membership at the church was roughly 170. Six months later, member-ship jumped to about 350. Today, six and a half years after his arrival, weekly at-tendance runs an average of over 900 people. There has been an increase in divine healings and the miraculous. “People began to invite their fami-lies, they started to get saved, and then the door opened for new leaders and ministries,” Hess says.

The past year has brought an exponential growth in new ministry opportunities both inside and outside of the church walls. There is now a website, bookstore, and coffee shop, as well as other traditional and non-traditional ministries in which people can become involved. On the out-

side some of the look has changed, but the ultimate goal has remained. The focus remains the deep, lasting spiritual needs of the community. “Revival is more than just meet-ings,” Hess says. “It’s where we send mission-aries all over the world to change the atmosphere” and that includes those that go into the heart of their own communities or spheres of influence. That is how Fountain of

Life is like the Azusa Street Revival. It’s about changing hearts one life at a time.

“Revival is more than just meetings...It’s where we send

missionaries all over the world to change

the atmosphere”

Fountain of Life congregation in front of church building in 1931Fountain of Life Church sunday school about 1936-1938

REVIVALwith Doug Eccles

JULY 24-29

FOUNTAIN OF LIFE | 1107 US HWY 17 S. | ELIZABETH CITY, NCFEATURING KID’S CRUSADE 2-12 YRS | NURSERY 0-2 YRS

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