Marshfield...An Apostolic Legacy

Marshfield is rich with Oneness Pentecostal heritage beginning with the tent revival held by Bro. Benjamin Urshan in 1939. From here many received the gift of salvation as the seed of truth was sown by many pastors, evangelists and missionaries

as they  passed through the streets of this beautiful Wisconsin city. Among those with ties to Marshfield are Sis.Valerie Demos, Bro & Sis Monte Showalter, Rev. Samuel Hardt, and our beloved Sis. Jennifer Ophiem.

Though Satan has tried to silence the Apostolic message in

this city, God has proven that His Word will not return void

and that the gates of  hell will not prevail against His church! In 2003 we were contacted by a family who had a desire to restore the Apostolic church in  Marshfield. We started with 12 people in a Home Bible Study held at a  mobile home. Outgrowing the accommodations, we began to meet at a hotel until 2006 when a storefront became available for us to rent. In 2011 God made a way for us to purchase a building at 201 S. Maple Ave right in the heart of Marshfield. With the help of our Section 4 churches and the Wisconsin District Home Missions Department we became the owners of our first church building on April 29th 2011. This beautiful building is everything we had been praying for, right down to the fully furnished basement which allowed us to provide guest quarters for our missionaries and evangelists!

In 1939 Bro. Benjamin Urshan most likely fell to his knees many times in prayer for the city of Marshfield as he labored to reach souls for God’s kingdom. I wonder if he ever prayed the words, “Lord, let a truth preaching church be established right here on this very ground,” for that is exactly what happened! 73 years later Riverside Apostolic UPCI purchased the very lot that Bro. Benjamin Urshan held his tent meetings! This fact has been established in a book dedicated to the history of Marshfield. A newspaper article is quoted in this book stating Bro. Urshan pitched his tent in an empty lot across the street from city hall, which is today named Tower Hall and is located right across the street from our church building!

It is exciting to know that we own the very property where tears of the repentant and hungry were poured out, soaking the soil and creating holy ground for God to establish His church on 73 years later! Many times we feel our prayers go up in vain as we wait impatiently for them to be answered, but in Marshfield we are reaping the harvest from prayers that began in 1939. God is drawing the hungry, the broken and the lost once again to the exact spot where it all began almost three-quarters of a century earlier. Thank you, Bro. Urshan…we count it an honor to carry on the work you started

   

Where Prayer was Wont to be Made

Pastor Peckham spoke to the ladies at our Bible Study last month on how the church in Macedonia began as a Ladies Prayer meeting...here are just a few more thoughts I had on that subject...

^{Acts 16:13-14 "}On the Sabbath, we left the city and went down along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting. We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them. One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman. As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the Master gave her a trusting heart—and she believed!" (The Message)

Paul and Silas went to Macedonia to build a church. When they got to town they heard about a prayer meeting that was known to take place down by the river and went there with the express purpose of witnessing to these God-fearing people. There were only women at this prayer meeting...it was this prayer meeting that was the talk of the town and that shook the spirit world so powerfully that God sent Paul a vision (Acts 16:9). Sometimes, as women, we feel insignificant, but if we come under the authority of Christ we can become a powerful weapon in God's kingdom! Lydia is a perfect example.

Lydia was so excited about what Paul and Silas taught that she begged them to stay on longer (Acts 16:15). It was Lydia's instistance that they stay that made way for a young lady to be delivered from demon possession (Acts 16:16-18). It was this deliverance that caused Paul and Silas to be thrown in prison. It was Paul and Silas' spirit of worship while in prison that created an atmosphere for God to deliver them and save the keeper of the prison and his family (Acts 16:25-34)...and thus began the church in Macedonia.

So, what if the women of Macedonia had better things to do than meet for prayer? What if Lydia was too tired from working all day that she chose to stay home that night?

Getting back to the thought of women feeling insignificant in the church...as we see in Acts 16, it was women who prayed their way to having an Apostolic church established in their city. In Luke 7:12-15 it was a woman that Jesus had compassion on and raised her only son from the dead. In Mark 5:24-34 it was a woman whose faith for her healing got the attention of Jesus in a crowd of people. Matthew 15:22-28 tells of a woman who refused to take no for an answer when she wanted her daughter to be healed. It was a woman who took the time to quietly sit at Jesus' feet (Luke 10:39-42) instead of being too busy with household duties. A woman was moved to anoint Jesus' feet with her precious ointment and wipe His feet with her hair (Luke 7:37-38). And...it was women who first heard of the resurrection of Jesus (Mark 16:1-8) as well as being the first that Jesus appeared to after His ressurection (Mark 16:9). As we can see, women play an important role in God's church!

Then why do we feel we are nothing unless we become some powerful speaker or rise to some higher position in the church?  Let us desire to be used in the prayer closet fighting for lost souls, deliverence and healing! We need to remember what a privelege it is to even be called to live for God and what a greater privelege it is to have unlimited access to His throne...to me, there is no higher calling.

Raise the Banner High!

Chris Tomlin wrote the lyrics, "The cross before me/the world behind/no turning back/raise the banner high/it's not for us/it's all for You" As we sang this song the other day in church God brought new meaning to it for me...

Isaiah 49:22 (NIV) reads "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'See, I will beckon to the nations, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their hips.'" The King James version of that same verse reads: "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders."

So many people have issues with the holiness standards of the United Pentecostal Church, but it's not about us. It's not about me, or you, or your Pastor...it's about God. These are His standards and He choses to use them as a banner to the nations declaring that we are His church! I heard a preacher say that our holiness standards are to the Spirit world like the American flag is to the earthly world...you know us by the flag we wave. If you see a battleship coming you look for the flag to identify which country that ship is from. It's that same for God's church.Our holiness standards are a flag waving high in the air saying "Look at us!! Come to where we are and you will find the living God!"  If we look and act like every other person out in the world then how will the hurting know who to come to for answers? We need to get over our fear of rejection, fear of submission, or whatever it is holding us back and raise our banners high, because it's not for us, it's all for Him.