Pentecostal Church Plans Convention At Washburn
WASHBURN — The Washburn Pentecostal Church, mother church of Pentecost in northern Maine, and the first organized Pentecostal Church in the state, will conduct a 50th golden anniversary convention June 17-26.
The convocation will also be a homecoming of former pastors, missionaries, laymen and friends.
There will be two services daily during the convention, at 2:30 p. m. and 7:30 p. m. Sunday services will be at 10:45 a.m., 2:30 p. m. and 7:30 p. m.
Rooms and meals will be provided for guests by the host church.
A welcome has been extended to public by Pastor Kenneth M. MacDonald.
Highlights of the anniversary will include: the evening speaker, Evangelist and Mrs. Ernest Berquest of Tampa, Fla. with their ministry in sermon and song. A dedication service will be conducted Sunday, June 19, at 2:30 p. m. for the newly enlarged and remodeled sanctuary and additional Sunday school rooms.
The Rev. Clifford Crabtree, pastor of the Pentecostal assembly and formerly of Bangor, will be the speaker.
Thursday, June 23, is missionary day with the Rev. and Mrs. Dale Umphrey of Washburn, who are Assembly of God missionaries in the state of Alaska, and Rev. William Wilson, former missionaries of South Africa.
Elder and Mrs. Nelson J. Magoon, of Washburn, rented Mormon Church on Main Street in 1915. The attendance was large and overflow meetings were held in both the Baptist and Methodist Churches. F. Harold Bickford, Mars Hill, assisted in the evangelistic services during the revival.
In the summer of 1916, the town hall was rented and services were continued there. The Washburn Church of Pentecostal Assembly Power was then established having been the first organized Pentecostal Assembly In the state of Maine and the mother church of Pentecost in Aroostook County.
A foundation for a new building was started on the present site and materials and labor were donated.
It was completed and dedicated in 1917. Tent meetings were conducted several months later with Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. These meetings were attended by Moody Wright, Charles Flewelling Sr. who became missionaries to Africa and Clifford Crabtree, now pastor of the Pentecostal Assembly in Bangor.
Elder Magoon, pastor and president of the church, died in 1935, eleven years after the passing of his wife. Their ministry was continued by Eugene Kimball, Norma Bickford, the Rev. and Mrs. Robert Pinkham, Bessie Jackson and Chriselda Cash, Dean Rarrison and Howard Libby, together with George Baker, served as interim pastors, the Rev. and Mrs. Arthur Post, the Rev. and Mrs. Renhard Sands, Ethel Sinclair Waterman, Mr. and Mrs. William Gunderson, the Rev. and Mrs. Vernon Cardiff. the Rev. and Mrs. Cyril T. Chegwin, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Skane, the Rev. and Mrs. Lloyd Sparks and presently the Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth MacDonald, who began their pastorate in August, 1965.
