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