HISTORY OF SHADY GROVE A/G
Jeremiah 15:16: Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your
word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by
Your name, O Lord God of hosts.
1900’s, a great Pentecostal Revival was sweeping the
families in the Galliver/Baker area met on Thursday and Sunday
evenings in "cottage (home) prayer meetings."and attendance grew, the cottage prayer meetings gave way to a
"brush arbor," which was erected in 1919 on property owned by
C. B. Franklin.congregation continued to grow, property where the present
church is now located was purchased, and a 24’ X 60’ building
made of tin [called the "Tin Lizzie"] was erected in 1920.
The Tin Lizzie had a brick design and a dirt floor. This building was
the beginning of what would soon become
The congregation voted to be officially affiliated with the General
Council of the Assemblies of God on December 9, 1923; Shady
Grove Assembly of God was set in order; and, on December 3,
1929, the church was recognized by the West Florida District of
the Assemblies of God.was erected and remained the church edifice until 1958, when a
new block church building was erected during the pastorate of
T. V. Kolmetz.
Ninety-one years later, Shady Grove Assembly of God continues
this rich Pentecostal heritage with anointed praise and worship
and Spirit-filled preaching in our services.
The Assemblies of God grew out of the Pentecostal revival, which began in the early 1900s in places such as Topeka, Kansas, and the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles. During times of prayer and Bible study, believers received spiritual experiences like those described in the book of Acts. Accompanied by “speaking in tongues,” their religious experiences were associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Jewish feast of Pentecost (Acts 2), and participants in the movement were dubbed “Pentecostals.” The Pentecostal movement has grown from a handful of Bible school students in Topeka, Kansas, to an estimated 600 million in the world today.
Many participants who were baptized in the Holy Spirit during revivals and camp meetings in the early 1900s were not welcomed back to their former churches. These believers started many small churches throughout the country and communicated through publications that reported on the revivals. In 1913, a Pentecostal publication, the Word and Witness, called for the independent churches to band together for the purpose of fellowship and doctrinal unity. Other concerns for facilitating missionaries, chartering churches and forming a Bible training school were also on the agenda.
Some 300 Pentecostals met at an opera house in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1914, and agreed to form a new fellowship of loosely knit independent churches. These churches were left with the needed autonomy to develop and govern their own local ministries, yet they were united in their message and efforts to reach the world for Christ. So began the General Council of the Assemblies of God.
Assemblies of God churches form a cooperative fellowship. As a result, the organization operates from the grass roots, allowing the local church to choose and develop ministries and facilities best suited for its local needs.
