J. Roswell Flower

J. Roswell Flower was adrift in his late teens. When he surrendered himself to Jesus Christ at age nineteen, his heart found a home in the Pentecostal Movement. Soon his mind was exhilarated by studying the Bible, church history, and theology. Slowly, he began to realize he was called to full time ministry. Attracted by the announcement of a convention to encourage greater cooperation among Pentecostal groups, he went to what proved to be the founding meeting of the General Council of the Assemblies of God. Flower was elected as secretary of the new organization. He loved the Council's guiding principles of unity, voluntary cooperation, and fellowship, which at the same time protected the autonomy of local congregations. They guided his ministry for the next forty-six years as a local pastor, as a district superintendent, and as general secretary. Flower never wavered in his commitment to the classical Pentecostal doctrine of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He spent much time in the last two decades of his public ministry teaching the principles and the denomination's position on Spirit-baptism to the new generations of Assemblies of God youth, both in the United States and abroad.