Following in His Steps

Edie Mourey is an author, editor, historian, and granddaughter of Pentecostal pioneer Ivan Spencer. In this warm story about her adventure to learn more about her own heritage, she discovered anew how all of us that follow hard after Jesus become part of His legacy.

 

Americans seem obsessed with discovering their ancestry. With DNA tests promising to unlock the doors to our biological heritage and online research sites equipped to build complex family trees, we are unleashing our inner genealogists to find out who we are and where we came from. And so, we trek to family gravesites and countries of origin. We want to see where our twelfth-great grandfather and grandmother lived, how they lived, and what they did. The closer we can get to mapping their exact footsteps, the more real they become to us. And the more real they become to us, the more meaning or purpose we may find in our existence.

Researching our Pentecostal roots has taken on a similar form. With the arrival of a new millennium, Pentecostalism has hit a century marker. Finally, we have a significant history of the outpouring of the Spirit within our country. Early Spirit pioneers and trailblazers may have passed from the scene as well as many of their immediate progeny, but the third generation is now in senior adulthood with more generations ensuing. Some of these have realized they have a heritage and an inheritance in the things of the Spirit. Thank God they are retelling the stories of their spiritual fathers and mothers. These have grown to understand the importance of knowing the American Pentecostal narrative. Therefore, they have traced and are tracing the steps of their spiritual ancestry so as to grasp who we are as a people and the deeper and fuller purposes of God for us in our day.

Personally, I didn’t go looking for the footsteps of my forebears. I kind of stumbled upon them while doing research for a book I was commissioned to write. At the end of the 1900s—sorry, I had to make this sound authentically historic—I was commissioned by Elim Bible Institute[1] (EBI) and Elim Fellowship (EF) of Lima, New York, to write the “sequel” to the biography of their founder.[2] The original biography was titled Ivan Spencer: Willow in the Wind and was written by Marion Meloon. Seeing Miss Meloon had passed away and being I was one of Ivan Spencer’s granddaughters, I was chosen to complete the project that would commemorate the school’s seventy-fifth anniversary in 1999.

Preparing to conduct research, I visited the campus.[3] As I drove up College Street, I saw this very familiar to me, stately, neoclassical building known as College Hall. The building is impressive with its extensive portico and six scrolled columns running the length of its front. At the time, College Hall housed EBI’s library, and it was there I was introduced to my grandparents, Ivan and Minnie Spencer, in a new and living way.

I entered the building and proceeded to climb up the very steep and palpitation-inducing steps that led to the library. I was totally ignorant of the historical worth of everything in that building. There was the great lecture hall across from the library that I soon discovered may have been rattled by the voices of famous men like “William Jennings Bryan, Wendell Phillips, and Horace Greeley. The visit of Franklin Delano Roosevelt as Governor of the State of New York [years before had] marked an outstanding event in the history of College Hall.”[4] I didn’t know then I was walking on the very steps that only a century before the likes of Jessie Belle Rittenhouse,[5] Frances Willard,[6] and Belva Ann Lockwood[7] had ascended. Indeed, those very stairs had been traversed by the prominent figures in my family—namely, my grandfather, grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, sisters, and brother.

My assignment was not to write about my grandfather. I was hired to write about the continuation of EBI and EF’s history since his death in 1970. The librarian, however, thought she needed to expose me to the entire history of Elim. As a result, she compiled a trove of antique treasure with documents, letters, periodicals, and pictures many even predating the founding of Elim. I will forever be grateful to her for her kindness and foresight.

Sitting down at the table prepared for me, I began to organize the treasure—sorting items by subject and chronology. Over to my left were the documents about Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, and next to them was an outline of the history of Lima, New York, written for its 175^th anniversary celebration. On the title page of the latter document, I read, “The Crossroads of Western New York.” Up until that point, I had never known Lima as the “crossroads” of anything other than “Routes 5 & 20.” Off to my right were the Trust magazines from Rochester Bible Training School (RBTS) of Rochester, New York.[8] Dead center in front of me was a pile of The Elim Pentecostal Heralds[9] dating from 1931 on to the 1990s.

I decided to look first at the Heralds from the initial two decades. There, I discovered editorials written by my grandfather Spencer. I became immersed in his theology, in his heart, and in the history of this early Pentecostal minister with Methodist Episcopal roots.

I had heard stories from my mother, Ruth Spencer Veach, and my father, George Veach, throughout my life. My parents were ministers, serving in missions to Latin America and in pastorates in the Eastern United States. I had always thought their lives exemplified my grandparents’ lives—lives that emphasized surrender to the will of God, obedience to the call of God, and life full of the Spirit of God. I had heard Mom and Dad tell me stories of things my grandfather Ivan had said—insights he had given them that helped them during difficult times in the pastorate. He had warned them about not allowing hard circumstances to “get into their spirits.” Grandpa Ivan was known for his uncomplicated wisdom. In fact, he had shared with my parents how he learned the difference between the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. According to his story, his car had broken down as it often did, and he had climbed out of it in order to assess what was wrong. He had asked the Lord to help him, and the Lord had told him what was wrong with the car. “That,” he had said to my parents, “was a word of knowledge. But then the Lord showed me how to fix the problem, and that was a word of wisdom.” I also had heard about his homespun humor. There were funny and loving stories of his and my grandmother’s interactions with each other and their children and grandchildren. They smiled and laughed together. They sang and worshiped. My grandmother’s two favorite hymns were “O, I Want to See Him” and “Sweet Will of God.”

All of this was not lost on me. However, I had a limited memory of my grandparents as my grandfather had died when I was two years of age and my grandmother when I was eleven. Consequently, my memories were more along the line of Grandma Spencer giving me pastel mints, which I loved, when visiting our family in Georgia or earlier when Grandpa Spencer asked my grandmother to give me a cookie when we lived on Elim’s campus. The latter may not be an actual memory but rather an imprint from the many times my mother and elder sisters told me of my short interaction with Grandpa.

Back at the library, hours went by, and the life of my grandparents became more three-dimensional. I remember contemplating not only Grandpa’s theology but the very places he had visited, pastored, and interceded for. Bath, Corning, Hornell, Elmira, Horseheads, East Bloomfield, Canandaigua, Rochester, Watertown, Dansville, Avoca, Reading Center, Red Creek, Binghamton, and Endwell—all of these towns or cities seemed to rest in New York’s Finger Lakes Region. It reminded me of the territory a Methodist Episcopal circuit rider may have traveled and overseen back in the early 1800s. But these places were very familiar to me in a more personal way, for several were communities in which my immediate family, including my parents and siblings, had visited, ministered, or pastored. A memory of a conversation I had had with my mother suddenly came to mind. She had told me how my grandfather would intercede for churches and workers as he drove down various highways and byways in his ever-unreliable vehicles. At those times, he had asked the Father for ministers to plant churches, people to receive Christ as Savior, and the Holy Spirit to be poured out in the various communities. I was gobsmacked, overwhelmed with the idea that Ivan and Minnie’s children and grandchildren were tracking over the physical and spiritual footsteps of their parents and grandparents respectively. Could it be that the ministries of their children and grandchildren were a result of their own intercession and seed-sowing?

The fact was my parents and siblings pioneered works along the same highways or routes upon which our grandparents had traveled and travailed.[10] They also resurrected works that they later discovered our grandparents had some hand in starting—albeit through prayer or encouraging or teaching the original pastors. One of my brothers-in-law even served as president of EBI while his wife, my sister, served in the leadership of EF. Another sister and her husband happened upon a letter our grandfather Spencer had written regarding the founding of the work they were involved in rebuilding. As for me, I married a man from Reading Center whose family may have been members of a Methodist Episcopal church that my grandfather pastored in 1915 to 1916. It was the very church that rejected Grandpa because of his preaching on healing and the gifts of the Spirit.

None of us ever set out to follow Ivan and Minnie Spencer in a specific way, per se. Follow their godly examples and dedicated lives of service, yes, we wanted to do that. We endeavored to yield to the will of the Father and obediently follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Like other young believers coming of age and moving into adulthood, we were set on making our mark and even blazing our own trails if need be. We most certainly were not sitting around and wondering, Where did Mom and Pop Spencer pastor? Should we start a work there? Is this where Grandpa and Grandma Spencer served in a pastorate? Should we continue what they began? Instead, we simply went where we were called or sent by the Father.

Twenty years have passed since I did research in the library for what became titled Elim: Living in the Flow. Within that time, I have compiled two other works resulting from my initial research, namely Faith: Living the Crucified Life (2008) and Daily Seedings: A Devotional Classic for the Spirit-Filled Life (2008). And after all that writing, I must confess my inner genealogist jumped into the hunt for my grandparents’ ancestry a few years ago. I discovered Ivan Spencer was eight generations in from pioneering stock. His first ancestor on this continent was one Gerard Spencer who is recognized as one of the “Four Spencer Brothers” from England. These brothers came to America in the 1630s during the Puritan migration and settlement of New England. Ivan’s eighth-great grandfather Gerard is even listed as one of the first settlers of Haddam, Connecticut.

As I tracked the continued migration of the Spencer family, I witnessed them moving to New York and then to Providence, Pennsylvania, and later to Bradford County, Pennsylvania, where Grandpa Spencer was born. They cut down great pine trees, hefted roots from the ground, and plowed and planted fields along the way. I continued to find names of towns and cities that I knew well. These included locations in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania—all places in which my immediate family stayed, played, prayed, and ministered. I was reminded once again of how we may walk in the steps of our ancestors without even knowing it or intending to do so. The scriptures that came to my mind, though, told of an intentionality in followership. I thought of Hebrews 13:7—“Don’t forget the example of your spiritual leaders who have spoken God’s messages to you, take a close look at how their lives ended, and then follow their walk of faith.”[11] I remembered Hebrews 12:1–3, “Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it.”[12] But where was our intentionality, or where, for example, was our fifth-great grandfather’s intentionality? I knew of none.

The Holy Spirit then reminded me of Psalm 37:23, “The steps of the God-pursuing ones follow firmly in the footsteps of the Lord, and God delights in every step they take to follow him.”[13] If history is indeed His story, then all the continuity of life and service within these communities repetitively appearing in my genealogy meant something. There had to be some purpose or meaning. Perhaps, it was that God honors the prayers and service of His children, keeping covenant with them for generations. Maybe, it was to ensure a faithful witness remained in these communities. Though I believe both of these had something to do with God’s purposes, I am most encouraged with the thought that my family and yours as well are fulfilling the Lord’s narrative by following “firmly in the footsteps” of Him. After all, isn’t it all about each generation pursuing God and following in His steps? And if it is, then as The Message says, “We’d better get on with it”!

 

PR

 

Notes

[1] Elim Bible Institute is now known as Elim Bible Institute & College (EBI&C).

[2] EBI was founded by Ivan and Minnie Spencer. They both were committed to fulfilling the work of the ministry as God set it before them. From the school’s inception, Minnie Spencer was actively involved, carrying “a large share of the load,” according to her daughter Eva Butler (from personal correspondence to Edie Mourey). As their eldest daughter, Mary Reed, once said, “Mom often said that she wasn’t called to the ministry, nor to start a Bible School. However, she knew it was the will of the Lord for her to marry my father, and to be a part of his life and calling. For many years it was just an obedience on her part to the Lord and to my father. She didn’t have any special public ministry but fitted in wherever and however she could while bearing and raising her children, as well as being totally involved in running the fledgling school. However, there came a time in the 1940’s, before the Latter Rain revival, when the Lord by the Holy Spirit visited my mother, made the vision real to her, gave her a strong intercessory ministry, and caused her in a real way to become a part of my father’s public ministry” (from “Dad and Mom,” an article written by Mary Reed, appearing on page 5 of the Dec. 1992/Jan. 1993 issue of the Elim Herald).

[3] EBI&C’s campus since 1951 is the former site of Genesee Wesleyan Seminary. Two buildings on the campus are nationally registered as historical places. One of them is Genesee Wesleyan College Hall—simply known to those on Elim’s campus today as College Hall. It was built to completion around 1851.

[4] Mabel Furner Jenks, “The Crossroads of Western New York: Outline of the History of Lima Written for the 175^th Anniversary Celebration (Lima 1788–1964),” (July 18, 1964—reprinted September 1984) 25.

[5] Jessie Belle Rittenhouse was graduated from Genesee Wesleyan Seminary. She was a poet and literary critic. She helped found the Poetry Society of America in 1910.

[6] Frances Willard taught at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary from 1867 to 1868. She was an educator, suffragist, and temperance reformer, serving as the national president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.

[7] Belva Ann Lockwood was graduated from Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in the 1857. She later became an attorney and politician. She is considered by many to be the first woman to ever run for the office of President of the United States.

[8] RBTS began in 1906 by Elizabeth V. Baker and her sisters—Susan A. Duncan, Hattie M. Duncan, Mary E. Work, and Nellie A. Fell. Trust was a monthly journal featuring the teaching of RBTS and news of the ministries associated with it. Ivan Q. Spencer was a graduate of RBTS. Additionally, there he met Minnie Back who would become his wife on April 30, 1913, a few months after his graduation.

[9] The Elim Pentecostal Herald was first published on January 1, 1931, when EBI was located in Red Creek, New York. It started as a quarterly publication. In that first issue, Spencer explained that the “periodical [be] printed in the interests of the Elim Bible School. . . . We are desirous to use all means possible in keeping touch with the many friends of the work, that God may mutually increase our blessings” (p. 4). The frequency of publication changed throughout the years.

[10] Travail is one of those words that has fallen out of use and, more sadly to the point, fallen out of practice. To travail means to intercede or pray as one giving birth. It’s the kind of prayer that was very much practiced by my parents and grandparents. Today’s church needs more who practice the ministry of travail.

[11] Taken from The Passion Translation® Copyright © 2017 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[12] Taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

[13] Taken from The Passion Translation® Copyright © 2017 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.