Dr. T.L. Lowery was honored with the Spirit of Azusa Award on October 28, as part of the third annual Azusa Lecture. The Dixon Pentecostal Research Center and the International Center for Spiritual Renewal presented the award to Lowery for his life-time of evangelism and leadership in the global Pentecostal movement. Along with the award, Dr. David G. Roebuck, director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center, gave a lecture in honor of Lowery.
T.L. Lowery has served with distinction as an evangelist, pastor and denominational leader. Ordained in 1947, Lowery began his evangelistic ministry in 1954. For many years the T.L. Lowery Evangelistic Association filled their 10,000 seat tent as Lowery conducted evangelistic crusades throughout the United States. His ministry has been continually accompanied with miracles and divine healings. In 1958 the young evangelist, along with his wife Mildred and son Stephen, made Cleveland, Tennessee, the home base of their world-wide ministry. During his ministry Lowery has preached in all fifty states and 115 countries.
In 1969 Lowery was called to serve as Senior Pastor of the North Cleveland Church of God. While pastor, he led the congregation in constructing a new building and the North Cleveland Towers. Lowery served the North Cleveland Church until he was elected to the Church of God’s International Executive Committee in 1974. As he concluded the maximum amount of time he could serve on the Executive Committee, Lowery felt led of God to pastor in our nation’s capital. He served as pastor of the National Church of God from 1981 to 1996 when he was returned to the International Executive Committee. While pastor, he led the National Church of God in building new facilities and 410 apartments.
Dr. Lowery served for a total of sixteen years as an Assistant General Overseer of the Church of God and thirty-four years on the denomination’s International Executive Council. He continues to serve on the General Advisory Council. He has also served on the boards of the National Association of Evangelicals, National Religious Broadcasters, and the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America. He has authored numerous books including The Gifts of the Spirit, Power Plus, The Holy Spirit at Work, and The Gift of the Holy Ghost. He has edited three magazines: Herald of Deliverance, World Revival, and Fresh Anointing. When Lowery completed his service on the International Executive Committee, the Church of God appointed him as an International Evangelist in 2004. Lowery also established the T.L. Lowery Global Foundation as means of perpetuating Christian ministry marked by a passion for evangelism, a desire to meet the needs of people, a strong dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit and a literal understanding of the fivefold ministry model of Ephesians 4:11-16.
As part of the evening honoring Dr. Lowery, Historian Roebuck presented a lecture entitled “Fire in the Tent: The 1908 Cleveland Revival.”
“This ten-week tent revival took place on Central Avenue near the railroad tracks at a showground set aside for circuses and other community events,” Roebuck stated. The North Cleveland Church of God sponsored the revival, which lasted from August 11 until October 14. Pastor A.J. Tomlinson was the primary preacher.
“The revival featured morning prayer meetings in local homes and afternoon and evening services in the tent,” Roebuck continued. “At that time revivals were community events and people came from miles around to participate. Perhaps more than 5,000 attended the revival at its peak. When the meeting closed there had been 105 conversions and 163 baptized with the Spirit. Along with the spiritual experiences several unusual phenomenon were reported during the revival including a ‘streak of fire’ over the tent. The revival brought vitality, stability and added strength to the local congregation and the Church of God movement.”
Roebuck is an ordained bishop and serves as both the church historian for the Church of God and the director of the Hal Bernard Dixon Jr. Pentecostal Research Center in Cleveland, Tenn. An Assistant Professor at Lee University, Roebuck regularly contributes to books and periodicals about the Pentecostal movement. He currently edits the column “Church of God Chronicles” for the Church of God Evangel. Among his other activities, he is a member of the Church of God Historical Commission and Executive Director of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. According to Roebuck, the purpose of the Azusa Lecture is to honor the rich heritage of the Pentecostal movement and to provide the Cleveland community an opportunity to celebrate the legacy of this great revival. For more information contact the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center at 614-8576.
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(l-r): David Roebuck, T.L. Lowery and Billy Wilson, executive director of the Center for Spiritual Renewal. |