EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1900; IRENE FERRELL P/21

 

In this story I will focus on a woman named Irene Ferrell. She lived from 1922 - 1964. Irene was a rather ordinary American prairie girl. An excellent shot, she often brought back game for the family to eat. However, she was also "ornery" and got many whippings. That changed when she gave her heart to Christ. Later as a missionary to the Congo she gave her life for Christ too, one terror-filled night.

In 1964, a rebel group called Jeunesse (Youth) terrorized the country side. They shut down schools and massacred  Christians whose teachings competed with their Marxist ideology. In Mangugu. where Irene and her fellow-missionary Ruth Hege worked, African leaders decided to shut down their Christian school because the rebels were near. While they were explaining their decision to Irene and Ruth, a missionary Aviation Fellowship airplane flew over.

The pilot flung a packet out of his widow. It fell, trailing a white bandage. Attached was a note that Irene opened with trembling fingers. "Are you in trouble? All missionaries have been evacuated from Mukadi. Kandala Station burned and missionaries evacuated... If you want to be evacuated, sit on the ground. We will send a helicopter for you."

As the airplane circled back to get their reply, Irene and Ruth prayed, "Lord, lead us." They did not want to abandon the African Christians but as the only two white women in the area, they were obvious targets. With the affirmation of the African leaders, they decided to evacuate. Hand in hand, Irene and Ruth sat in the clearing. The pilot dipped a wing of his plane to show he understood and climbed away. It was 3 pm.

Hastily packing a few things, the women promised the Congolese they would be back. They hid their car, paid their workers, and returned to the clearing. When no helicopter came, the Christians gathered for a farewell service. At midnight, Pastor Luka said, "We will be right here. We are not going to our houses to sleep tonight." The grateful women laid down, but before they could fall asleep, Pastor Luka shouted a warning.

Shrieks and the crash of broken glass told the women that the Jeunesse had arrived. The rebels poured into the house, looting everything.Drug-crazed they dragged the two women across the lawn. An arrow plunged into Irene's throat. "I am finished, " she gasped, taking one step and falling. She died moments later, on 25 January, 1964.

Ruth passed out beside Irene. When she awoke, she was shivering. The Jeunesse approached. Somehow she was able to lie perfectly still. A rebel, seeing blood, reached down and felt her. "Dead," he said. Others did the same, After they left, she crawled into hiding. The next day, African Christians helped her to bury Irene.

Afterward, the Jeunesse captured Ruth and she was able to explain Christ's love to them. On the third day, United Nations troops rescued her. The Jeunesse also captured and tortured Pastors Luka and Zechariah, but they were able to escape into the forest. There was never a satisfactory explanation why the helicopter had not come as promised. 

 

 

 

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1900; FUCHSIA PICKETT P/20

 

In this post I will continue the story of a woman named Fuchsia Pickett. She lived from 1918 - 2004. In 1971 Fuchsia established Fountain Gate Ministries with her second husband, Leroy Pickett, whom she married after George died. Fountain Gate included an interdenominational church, a Bible College, and a Christian Academy as well as a daily radio program and weekly TV ministry.

In the fall of 1988, Fuchsia resigned as pastor of the church to fulfill her final mandate from the Lord - to go out as a"mother in Israel" to train leaders in the Body of Christ. She began to travel extensively, speaking in churches and at conferences and Bible Schools. Her ministry impacted many prominent Christian leaders including Judson Cornwall.

Fuchsia, who had earned doctorates in both theology and divinity, was an adjunct professor at Beacon Theological Seminary in Columbus, Georgia, and taught video courses for the Christian Life School of Theology. In addition, she served on the boards of several internationally renowed ministries and received a number of awards.

Fuchsia paved the way for other women in ministry by her example and by personally mentoring many who were called. She died in 2004, at the age of eighty-five, after more than fifty years in ministry.

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1900; FUCHSIA PICKETT 1918 P/19

 

In this post I will focus on a woman named Fuchsia Pickett. Fuchsia lived from 1918 - 2004. She was born in Virginia, USA. Fuchsia came to faith in Christ through the influence of a Presbyterian co-worker and was called to preach shortly afterward. The Lord sovereignly opened a door for her to attend Bible College while her husband George Parrish, was stationed oversees and her only child, Daryl, was small.

As soon as Fuchsia graduated, she began to minister across the country. For seventeen years she preached and taught as an ordained Methodist minister and pastor of a church. Then in 1958, Fuchsia became seriously ill. She thought the service she attended at a Pentecostal Holiness Church in Virginia after planning her funeral might be her last. But the Lord prompted her to go forward for prayer, and she was completely healed and filled with the Spirit.

From that moment on, Fuchsia began to receive revelation from the Holy Spirit that made the Scriptures come alive to her. She wrote, "My Teacher moved in. For the first time in my life I began to understand, through revelation, the same Scriptures I had studied and taught faithfully for many years." This revelation became the foundation of her teaching and provided the content for more than ten books she wrote, including a definite work on her Teacher titled "Presenting the Holy Spirit."

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1900; ADDIE ELIZABETH DAVIS P/18

 

 

In this post I will focus on a woman named Addie Elizabeth Davis. She lived from 1917 - 2005. Addie was born to a Baptist family in Covington, Virginia, USA. In 1942, she graduated from Meredith College with a major in psychology and a minor in speech. She became an education director at First Baptist Church in Elkin, North Carolina, and later dean of women at Alderson-Broaddus College.

Addie's early career was interrupted in 1944 when her father's death forced her to return to Covington and help her mother with the family furniture store. While in Covington, she briefly served as the interim pastor of Lone Star Baptist Church.

In 1960, Addie began attending the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. While in Seminary, Addie attended Watts Street Baptist Church, which, along with its pastor Warren Carr, was known at that time for social progressivism and participation in the civil rights movement. For a History of Christianity course, Addie wrote a paper on the issue of women's ordination. Addie graduated in May 1964 along with six other women.

In 1963, Addie was granted a license to preach by the Watts Street church. On 9 August, 1964, she was formally ordained at Watts Street Baptist Church after having been rejected by several other churches, becoming the first woman to be ordained as a Southern Baptist pastor.

Following the ordination, Addie and the Watts Street church were subject to some criticism. Nevertheless, her ordination was, in practice, "entirely unnoticed" within the Southern Baptist Convention as a whole.

Following her ordination, Addie was rejected by Southern Baptist churches as a pastor. She, instead, became pastor for a series of American Baptist churches. In June 1972, Addie became a pastor at Second Baptist Church in East Providence, Rhode Island. She later became president of the East Providence Clergy Association.

 

 

 

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1900; JEANNE ZURCHER P/17

 

In this brief post I will focus on a woman named Jeanne Zurcher, She lived from 1917 - 2007. Jeanne's father was of Swiss origin and her mother was American. She had an early calling which her family refused to acknowledge. Jeanne started her theology studies in Geneva and completed them in Paris. She was an assistant with the Etoile Reformed Church in Paris, with the Mission Populaire (Working Class Mission) in the suburbs, and then with the Evangelical Lutheran Church. When Jeanne was fifty-eight years old, she was ordained at the Suresnes Parish near Paris.

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE FIRST OF HALF OF 1900; FREDA SCHIMPF LINDSAY P/16

                                                                                                                                                                           

In this post I will continue to share the story of a woman named Freda Schimpf Lindsay. She lived from 1914 - 2010. In 1938, Freda completed her studies at L.I.F.E. Bible College in Los Angelos, California. In 1944, Freda and her husband accepted the pastorate of an Assemblies of God Church in Ashland, Oregon. 

During the 1940s and the 1950s, Freda and her husband travelled with healing evangelists across America and around the world. In 1948, Freda and her husband began an evangelistic ministry and publishing house called Voice of Healing. They continued to travel extensively in the mission fields of the world in the 1960s.

In 1970, Freda and her husband founded the Dallas-based Christ for the Nations Institute (CFNI). The two-year Bible School also included practical training for evangelism, planting churches and raising up disciples and leaders. It has trained many thousands of students and established more that 48 associate Bible Schools in such nations such as Germany, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Brazil, Japan and India.

Freda served as the president of the international ministry after the death of her husband in 1973. Her son Dennis Lindsay says this of his mother, "She was forced into a leadership role as a woman." She stepped down as CFNI president in 1985 but remained active in ministry until she retired in 2008.

Freda died in 2010.                                                                                                                                                                

EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1900; FREDA SCHIMPF LINDSAY P/15

                                                                                                                                                                         

In this post I will focus on a woman named Freda Schimpf Lindsay. She lived from 1914 - 2010. Her parents were Gottfred and Kaity Schimpf. The family lived in Burstall, Saskatchewan, Canada but they moved to Oregon. 

One of twelve children, Freda began working in the fields of Oregon when she was nine years old to help put food on the table. At age thirteen, Freda got a job cleaning houses, washing, ironing, and cooking, earning £3 per week, enabling her to go to Jefferson High school in Portland, Oregon.

In 1932, eighteen year old Freda attended a revival meeting in Portland. As she was making her way to the door, evangelist Gordon Lindsay stopped her and said, "Freda, I thought this would be your night." Convicted, she rushed to the altar. "I was no big sinner, but I knew I wasn't serving the Lord," she said. "That night, I felt the Lord spoke to me and said, "Freda, if you follow Me, obey Me, walk faithfully in pureness, you will one day marry this evangelist." In 1937, Freda married Gordon Lindsay. They pastored a church Gordon had started in San Fernando, California.