This Week in AG History — May 22, 1926
David Henry McDowell (1882-1974) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up in a Christian home and was ordained with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) in Nyack, New York, in 1907. He began preaching the same year.
In 1907, McDowell attended a mid-summer convention of the CMA in Rocky Springs Park in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There were some marvelous outpourings of the Holy Spirit, and during these meetings, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit.
In August 1907, McDowell attended a CMA convention in Nyack in a barn that held over 400 people. He was scheduled to be the special speaker at one of the evening services for the young people. McDowell began speaking on Joel, chapter 2, and after about 15 minutes, he called for prayer, and the power of God fell on the audience. People swarmed to the altar, and the service lasted into the early hours of the next morning. It was there that he met Marie Burgess, an evangelist from Zion City, Illinois.
The next year, in 1908, Burgess invited McDowell to be the special speaker at the opening service of a mission she founded at 454 West 42nd Street in New York City, which was the start of what would later become Glad Tidings Tabernacle — one of the largest Assemblies of God congregations in the nation. The day was May 6, 1908, and McDowell was invited to preach each May for many years after that to help mark the beginnings of Glad Tidings Tabernacle.
McDowell was ordained with the Assemblies of God on June 29, 1914, while serving as a pastor in Tottenville, New York. He also served as a pastor in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Peckville, Pennsylvania. He served as secretary for the Eastern District Council from 1918 until 1920.
McDowell was elected assistant general superintendent at the 1923 General Council, and he moved his family to Springfield, Missouri, where he served from 1923-1929. One of the last tasks he filled in this office was to travel to Newark, New Jersey, to speak with W.I. Evans about filling the position of principal at Central Bible Institute (CBI).
Evans was serving as the principal of Bethel Bible Training School. That school was ready to close, so Evans was the perfect choice to fill the position. He was hesitant to leave the East, where he had served for many years, but after much prayer, it was decided to merge Bethel with CBI. Evans and his family moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he served for many years as principal and dean of students of CBI.
McDowell went on to serve as an evangelist and pastor in Des Moines, Iowa; Chicago; Jeannette, Pennsylvania; and Elizabeth, New Jersey. He also was pastor of the Spring Street Gospel Tabernacle in Alton, Illinois, for three years. In later years he traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada as a speaker at district and national events before he retired.
McDowell contributed a large number of articles to the Pentecostal Evangel and the Latter Rain Evangel. These included ministry reports, testimonies, and sermons. McDowell lived a full life of ministry, putting God first in everything.
Read David McDowell’s article, “Paul Preaching to Felix,” on pages 2-3 of the May 22, 1926, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “Completely Cleansed,” by Arthur W. Frodsham
• “An Evangelist’s Story,” by Mae Eleanor Frey
And many more!
Click here to read this issue now.
Pentecostal Evangel archived editions courtesy of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.