The Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church: the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church (PFWBC) may be compared to a young olive tree in a grove of older trees.

A new olive tree often begins as a shoot off a root from an older parent tree. Like that young olive tree, the PFWBC is a relatively young denomination, but the roots of its origin run deep and long. The denomination is only forty-five years old; yet, its origin can be traced as far back as 1727.

A striking feature of the denomination is its name, Pentecostal Free Will Baptist. The title is certainly full of theological connotations. Those who have no prior knowledge of our heritage and history are often confused and bewildered by the name and what it implies. The question is often asked, "How can you be Pentecostal, Free Will, and Baptist all at the same time?" The first impression is there must be a tremendous amount of incongruity theologically in our structure, but by tracing our origins and examining the evolution of the name, much of that confusion will be dispelled.

The Randall and Palmer Movements

In the past, many Pentecostal Free Will Baptists believed that the origin of the denomination dated back to Benjamin Randall, founder of a Free Will Baptist movement in New Hampshire in the later half of the 1700s. Yet, as more and more research has been conducted over the years, historians have discovered that none of the Free Will Baptist churches in North and South Carolina can trace their origins directly to the Randall movement. They can, however, trace their origins to the Free Will Baptist movement headed by Paul Palmer in 1727, which predates the Randall movement by more than fifty years. (1)

The first historical record of Palmer is chronicled in a colonial document dated April 30, 1720, which reveals that he was involved in some sort of court case disputing the ownership of a slave by the name of Sambo. (2) In 1722, Palmer made a request of the Quakers of Perquiminans County to remove him from their membership. (3) No one is certain when Palmer actually came to North Carolina. He apparently came to the Carolinas from Maryland and was living in North Carolina by the 1720s, as supported by the aforementioned documents.

Theologically, Palmer aligned himself with the General Baptists, who held that a person is not predestined to salvation; rather when the gift of salvation is offered, a person has the freedom of will to choose or reject God's gift. Palmer differed from the Particular Baptists who followed a Calvinist view of election. (4) The Free Will Baptist movement developed out of the General Baptist movement.

Palmer's popularity as an evangelist began to rise in 1726. Most of his preaching took place in the northeastern sector of North Carolina, but he also traveled to other parts of the state and even as far as the borders of South Carolina. No evidence exists that Palmer ever held the position of pastor, but three churches directly trace their origins back to his evangelistic work. The first was established in the community of Cisco in Chowan County in 1727. The second was established in the home of William Burgess in 1729, and the third was established at New River located near the South Carolina border. (5)

While Palmer's influence on the General Baptist and the Free Will Baptist movement was brief and limited, it was nonetheless important. He is credited as being the "Father of the General or Free Baptist Churches in North Carolina." (6) The details of Palmer's death are not known, but it is generally accepted that he died in 1747. (7)

Palmer's influence was carried on through the work of two brothers, Joseph and William Parker. Joseph was the pastor of the first established General Baptist church in North Carolina. By 1755, there were some twenty Free Will Baptist churches in fourteen counties in the eastern part of North Carolina. (8) One of the most noted champions of the Free Will Baptist movement in the Carolinas was Reading Moore, who was responsible for establishing the first conference of Free Will Baptist churches in South Carolina.

The Establishment of the Cape Fear Conference

The year 1855 was a significant time in the development of the PFWBC. A number of Free Will Baptist churches had been organized in close proximity to each other, but no formal organization or fellowship existed among them. This lack of connection ended on November 1, 1855, when a group of churches met together at Stoney Run Free Will Baptist Church located five miles east of the city of Dunn, North Carolina. These churches were organized into the Cape Fear Conference. The organization of this conference would some one hundred years later directly influence the formation of the PFWBC denomination.

The name Cape Fear was chosen for the conference because the Cape Fear River flows through this region of the state. The charter members of the newly formed conference included the following churches: Stoney Run, Long Branch, Fayetteville, Shady Grove, Bethsaida (also known as Hodges Chapel), Prospect, and Elbethel. (9) Today, most of these churches have thriving congregations, even though not all of them are members of the PFWBC denomination, and a couple of them have ceased to exist.

According to the historical records, the oldest church relating to the PFWBC is the Stoney Run church, established in 1850. It has continuously operated since that time except for a brief period during the Civil War. The church disbanded in 1860 and was reestablished immediately after the war. Some Pentecostal Free Will Baptists dispute Stoney Run's claim to be the oldest church. They believe that the Hodges Chapel church is at least ten years older than Stoney Run.

The Hodges Chapel church traces its origin back to August 22, 1840, when John Hodges gave a land grant so that a place for worship could be built. In the beginning, this church building was used by three groups: Quakers, Primitive Baptists, and Free Will Baptists. (10) The question that historians struggle to answer is: Was the core of Hodges Chapel established in the 1840s or the 1850s? Unfortunately, that question will remain unanswered until the coming of the Lord.

Pentecost Comes to the Free Will Baptist Church

Another milestone in the development of the PFWBC occurred in 1907 when the Cape Fear Conference experienced a Pentecostal revival. Prior to this revival, the conference had already come under the influence of the holiness movement that emerged after the Civil War. The conference adopted as part of its doctrinal position the Wesleyan concept of sanctification "as a second definite work of grace in the heart of the fully justified believer." (11) This position continues to be held by the denomination today. This acceptance of the holiness movement among this group of Free Will Baptists opened the door for them to accept the coming Pentecostal revival of the early 1900s.

G. W. Cashwell, a resident of Dunn, North Carolina, and a Methodist minister, heard about a revival that was taking place in Los Angeles, California. In his quest to learn more about the revival, he ventured out on a spiritual journey in 1906. He traveled to California, hoping to participate in the Pentecostal experience. (12) Cashwell soon found himself in Los Angeles in a small mission on Azusa Street. His first impressions were not positive. He was a southern gentleman who was not so far removed from the wounds of the Civil War and the deep prejudice and racism that still existed in the South. The preacher at the mission, William Seymour, was African American, as were the majority of the worshipers. Cashwell decided that the best thing he could do was to leave and not participate in the meeting. "After traveling such a great distance, however, he felt that he must attend, even if he did not participate.... After a few services he lost his pride and asked Seymour and several Negro boys to lay hands on his head in order for him 'to be filled' In a short time he received the 'Pentecostal experience and began to speak with other tongues." (13)

Cashwell hurried home to North Carolina, bringing with him his Pentecostal experience. On December 31, 1906, he organized a Pentecostal revival meeting in a former tobacco warehouse that he rented in Dunn. Preachers and laypersons from a variety of denominations attended the meeting, and many received the Pentecostal experience, evidenced by their speaking in tongues accompanied by great rejoicing and demonstrations of the Holy Spirit. Some historians have compared this meeting to the Cane Ridge camp meeting that took place in 1801. (14) Because of his work, Cashwell became known as the "Apostle of Pentecost" in the South. (15)

In attendance at Cashwell's revival meetings was H. H. Goff, a minister in the Cape Fear Conference of the Free Will Baptists. Goff eventually received the Pentecostal experience and spoke in tongues along with other ministers in the conference. These ministers began to preach the Pentecostal experience in the Cape Fear Conference churches. Not all of the churches in the conference accepted this new spiritual phenomenon. "A few of the churches barred the windows and nailed up the doors and would not allow the tongue-speaking Pentecostal crowd to come and preach and hold services in their churches." (16) The division over the Pentecostal experience proved to be another factor in the ultimate formation of the PFWBC denomination.

A Doctrinal Split

In 1911, a historic meeting of the Cape Fear Conference took place at the Long Branch church located near Dunn. The conference had recently learned that there were some churches and ministers in their ranks that did not embrace the doctrine of sanctification or the baptism of the Holy Spirit. A resolution was adopted by the conference prohibiting these churches and ministers from sitting as delegates of the conference. These churches and ministers who were barred from the conference met together on January 12, 1912, at the Shady Grove church located near Dunn. Those who attended this meeting refuted two doctrinal teachings of the Cape Fear Conference: the teaching of sanctification that had been adopted in 1899 and the teaching of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues that had been adopted in 1907. The meeting participants contended that the Cape Fear Conference had drifted away from the original teachings of the Free Will Baptists, and they called for all churches and ministers in the conference who held to the doctrinal positions held by the Cape Fear Conference before 1899 to unite. (17) As a result of this meeting, twelve churches separated from the Cape Fear Conference and formed a new conference.

The Organization of a General Conference

Despite the dissension in the Cape Fear Conference, it continued to grow and expand. The growth eventually made it necessary for the conference to be divided into two groups. In 1908, the Wilmington Conference of the Free Will Baptist Churches was formed with nineteen ministers and seventeen churches. (18) In 1911, the New River Conference was formed in the southeastern region of North Carolina. In 1912, yet another conference was organized, the South Carolina Conference. All of these conferences, for the most part, embraced the Pentecostal experience and were loosely associated with each other, but no formal consolidation of the four conferences existed. Each of them acted independently of the others.

On April 7, 1943, a delegation from the four conferences met together in Lumberton, North Carolina, at the Lumberton Free Will Baptist Church. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the possibility of the conferences merging into a General Conference, and this merger was successful. The General Conference was formed with three of the four conferences joining. The New River Conference elected not to become a part of the newly formed General Conference. (19)

The Amalgamation of 1959

From its beginning, the General Conference of the Free Will Baptist Church met together every three years, and the leaders of the conference had much work to do. The action of the conferences in 1943 in forming a General Conference had created a centralized fellowship, but the individual conferences continued to operate independently. The hope and vision of many leaders was that these four groups, the three conferences and the General Conference, would one day be consolidated into one entity. These leaders believed that a central government with one denominational name would be more effective, and they thought that by adding Pentecostal to the denominational name, the denomination would have a distinctive identity. The addition of Pentecostal to their name would also separate them from the Free Will Baptists who were non-Pentecostal. (20)

Much discussion and negotiation ensued to work out all of the differences among the four groups so that a plan for consolidation could be formulated. Once a plan was devised and ready to be presented to the individual conferences, the South Carolina Conference chose to withdraw, and the New River Conference that had never formally joined the fellowship of the General Conference of 1943 chose to join and become a part of the 1959 amalgamation. (21)

Once the plans were in place, the group adopted Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church as the official name for the newly formed denomination. The charter for the denomination was obtained in April 1959, and the first organizational meeting was held on April 28, 1959, at the Owen's Grove church near Clinton, North Carolina. The first order of business was to adopt a set of by-laws, to elect the officers, and to form the necessary committees. The first elected officers were: Herbert F. Carter, general superintendent; J. E. Andrews, assistant general superintendent; A. B. Dawsey, Jr., secretary; and Charlotte Wells, treasurer. 22) Carter, a young man in his twenties, accepted the daunting task of leading this denomination. He did so for the next twenty-five years. Under his leadership, the united Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church grew.

Listening to Carter tell stories about the early days of the new denomination is fascinating. The historical accounts never give all of the details, and the limited historical records that are available suggest that the transition was smooth. Carter's stories, however, reveal that much division and opposition existed on the grass roots level. When he visited the churches in this new denomination, Carter sometimes met "people carrying sledge hammers and machetes." (23) The fights were numerous and sometimes vicious. In spite of all the disputes over the years, Carter is highly respected among his peers and in the wider Christian community. He endured more than the annals of history will ever record; yet, he has remained true and faithful to the church. In July 2004, Carter celebrated his fiftieth year as an ordained minister with the PFWBC by serving as the keynote speaker at its annual camp meeting.

Continued Formation of the Church

The newly formed denomination continued to grow. A significant development occurred before the 1959 Amalgamation: the 1948 creation of a joint youth camp. Myrtle Holder was the visionary who made the youth camp a reality. Today, Holder still lives in Burgaw, North Carolina, a community near the site where the first youth camp was established. In 1964, the camp was moved near the denominational headquarters office in Dunn. This ministry has proven to be a successful inside and outside the denomination. Each summer for six weeks, children and teens from the ages of seven to seventeen come from across the denomination and also many other denominations for a time of spiritual renewal. Currently, Randy Barker, the denomination's director of Christian Education, heads this ministry. (24)

In 1960, the denomination formed the nucleus of its foreign missions department. That year, the Winfield Kellys of Wilmington, North Carolina, were appointed as missionaries to Hawaii. They later served in Guadalajara, Mexico, and the Philippines. (25) Since 1960, the denomination has established mission fields in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. (26)

In addition to a need for missions, the denominational leaders recognized the need for a Christian bookstore to be built in the Dunn area. Blessings Bookstore, owned and operated by the denomination, was opened in 1963 and continues to serve the churches of the denomination and area churches by supplying materials that meet a variety of educational needs.

For many years, PFWBC leaders envisioned the establishment of a college for the training of ministers. Several attempts to create such a college failed. Then, in 1971, Heritage Bible College opened its doors. The college was located in a building that had formerly housed a Harnett County public school, which had been used as an orphanage by the denomination for a few years. The first president was O. Talmadge Spence. In 1974, he was succeeded by Ned Sauls, who was succeeded by William Ellis in 1984. The current president is Dwarka Ramphal. Heritage Bible College is a fully accredited institution. "The philosophy of Heritage Bible College is centered on Christ, founded in the truths of God's Word and focused on preparation for ministry. Heritage is committed to the Pentecostal tradition and vision and dedicated to educational integrity and Biblical truth. All truth is regarded as originating from God and is, therefore, to be fully pursued and internalized." (27)

In 1984, Don Sauls was elected to lead the denomination after Carter's resignation. Sauls led the conference to adopt a massive re-engineering of the structure of the denomination. Even though it met slight opposition, the plan has proven to be beneficial to the church. In 1996, Preston Heath was elected to assume the helm of the denomination, and he was presented with the task of implementing the re-engineering process.

The doctrinal position of the church has remained basically unchanged since the 1700s with the exception of the addition of the articles of faith concerning sanctification in 1899 and the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1907. The following are the basic statements of faith that the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church embraces:

   We believe:

      the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

      there is one God, eternally existing in three persons; Father,
   Son and Holy Spirit.

      the deity of Jesus Christ; that Christ is the only begotten Son
   of God, and born of the Virgin Mary. That Christ died for our sins,
   was buried, and raised from the dead. That He ascended to heaven
   and is today at the right hand of the Father as our intercessor.

      that sanctification is subsequent to regeneration and is a
   second definite, instantaneous work of grace; obtained by faith
   of the fully justified believer.

      that the Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Ghost is an enduement of
   power for those who have clean hearts, and the initial evidence of
   the reception of this experience is speaking with other tongues as
   the Spirit gives utterance.

      that the saved should receive water baptism, in the name of the
   Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as a testimony to the
   world that he has accepted Christ as Savior and Lord.

      in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper as commemorating
   Christ's death and anticipating His Second coming, and foot
   washing.

      in the personal premillennial, second coming of Jesus; first
   to resurrect the righteous dead and to catch away the living
   saints to meet Him in the air; second, to reign with His saints
   on earth a thousand years.

      in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost; the
   saved to life eternal and the lost to everlasting judgment. (28)

The Present and Future

Herbert Carter wrote in his history of the denomination, "Through the years the Free Will Baptists who believe in Pentecost have failed to make the necessary progress they should have. Several reasons account for this. They built more of their churches in rural areas than in cities, they failed to place necessary emphasis on educated clergy, they have not used the printed page effectively and have not promoted the books and literature as they should have." (29) Much has happened within the denomination since Carter made this statement some twenty-seven years ago. The denomination has made great strides toward improving its ministry. However, what has been lacking is the necessary growth to sustain the ministry of the church.

The denomination has grown very little in its forty-five-year history. Thirty years ago, PFWBC had 150 churches; according to the minutes of the 2004 General Conference, the denomination had 150 churches in the United States in 2004. (30) The most significant growth the church has experienced has been overseas. Today, the denomination has 283 churches outside the United States, and many of these churches are experiencing substantial growth. In the United States, some of the PFWBC churches are growing, but most have either reached a plateau or are declining. This trend cannot continue if the PFWBC is to survive in the twenty-first century. Under the direction of the general superintendent, Preston Heath, a plan of action is being developed to address this most critical issue. He is moving the denomination toward a process of revitalization and spiritual renewal. This renewal process will take some years to accomplish, but the leaders of the denomination agree that this effort is essential to the health and life of the denomination. To ignore the current situation would certainly doom the denomination to an untimely death.

This picture of the current-day PFWBC might seem a bit bleak, but I have great hopes for the denomination's future. Our churches are being called back to the altar of prayer. We are being reminded of the importance, yes, the necessity of the evangelistic ministry of the church. We are being reminded of our heritage and the sacrifices of our forebears. The winds of change are beginning to blow upon us once more. Men and women are being called out from among us who have that pioneer spirit and are willing to blaze the trails so that new fields of service can be opened and new churches planted. We are anticipating the continual fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel that began on the day of Pentecost as recorded in the Book of Acts: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit" (Joel 2:28-29, KJV). These verses point to our hope for the future of the PFWBC. We must have a renewal of the Spirit's work among us. With the anointing of the Spirit, we will be able to dream again and fulfill God's purpose for the church.

(1.) Preston Heath, Herbert E Carter, Don Sauls, and R. M. Brown, History of the Pentecostal Free will Baptist Church, http://www.pfwb.org/history.htm (accessed 2 August 2004).

(2.) Herbert E Carter, "History of the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church Incorporated" (D.Min, project, Luther Rice Seminary, 1978), 61.

(3.) Ibid.

(4.) Heath, et al, History of the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church.

(5.) Ibid.

(6.) Ibid.

(7.) Ibid.

(8.) Carter, "History of the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church," 66, 72.

(9.) Heath, et al, History of the Pentecostal Free will Baptist Church.

(10.) Ibid.

(11.) Ibid.

(12.) Carter, "History of the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church," 129.

(13.) Ibid., 130.

(14.) Ibid., 131.

(15.) Ibid., 129.

(16.) Ibid., 132.

(17.) Ibid., 137

(18.) Ibid., 133.

(19.) Heath, et al, History of the Pentecostal Free will Baptist Church.

(20.) Carter, "History of the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church," 140.

(21.) Ibid., 140.

(22.) Ibid., 141.

(23.) Herbert Carter, interview by author, 10 September 2004.

(24.) Randy Barker, interview by author, 28 July 2004.

(25.) Carter, "History of the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church," 142.

(26.) Minutes, Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church Conference, 2004, 74-78.

(27.) Heritage Bible College Home Page, http://www.heritagebiblecollege.org (accessed 2 August 2004).

(28.) "Know Where We Stand: The Messenger Official Publication of the Pentecostal Free will Baptist Church, Inc.," November 2000, 2.

(29.) Carter, "History of the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church," 146.

(30.) Minutes, Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church Conference, 2004, 95.

Elvin Butts is pastor of the Long Branch Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church, Dunn, North Carolina, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church.