Roy Tilman Williams (1883-1946) was a minister and general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene.
Roy Williams was born in Milam, Texas on February 14, 1883. His family moved to Many, Louisiana when he was five years old. Williams was not exposed to religion during his childhood; however, at the age of 16 he attended a revival at a Methodist church. It was then that he began practicing Methodism, and although he was originally ridiculed by his family for his decision, they eventually converted to Methodism themselves. In 1908, Williams attended the second General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene at Pilot Point Texas with his wife Eunice Harvey Williams and was ordained a minister by Nazarene general superintendent Hiram F. Reynolds.
Among the first graduates at Texas Holiness University, Williams became the president of the university in 1911 at the age of 28. As president, he changed the name to Peniel University, and it was renamed Peniel College by a later president. Williams resigned in 1913 to become an evangelist, which he continued until 1916 when he was named the General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene after the deaths of the two current superintendents. At 33 years old, he was the youngest person to hold that position, and a later General Assembly set the age limit to 35. He served from 1916 until the end of his life in 1946, the longest time that anyone had ever served.
Williams was to give a speech in Columbus, Georgia on October 21, 1945; however, he woke up that morning feeling ill and unable to talk, so the pastor of the church, Rev. Joseph Bierce, took him to the hospital. When he was fit to travel again, he was taken to his cabin in Missouri. He died on March 25, 1946, days after his arrival at his cabin.
The library on the campus of Southern Nazarene University is named after him.
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The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, the MEC reunited with two breakaway Methodist denominations to form the Methodist Church. In 1968, the Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to form the United Methodist Church.
The Church of the Nazarene is a Christian denomination that emerged in North America from the 19th-century Wesleyan-Holiness movement within Methodism. It is headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas. With its members commonly referred to as Nazarenes, it is the largest denomination in the world aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement and is a member of the World Methodist Council.
Southern Nazarene University (SNU) is a private Nazarene university in Bethany, Oklahoma.
Phineas F. Bresee was the primary founder of the Church of the Nazarene, and founding president of Point Loma Nazarene University.
Edgar Painter Ellyson (1869–1954) was a minister, theologian, and general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene.
James Blaine "J. B." Chapman (1884–1947) was an American minister, academic administrator, and newspaper editor. He served as the president of Arkansas Holiness and Peniel College, editor of the Herald of Holiness, and general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene.
Gideon Williamson (1898–1981) was a minister, president of Eastern Nazarene College (1936–1944), general president of the Nazarene Young People's Society (1932–1940), and general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene (1946–1968).
Hugh C. Benner (1899–1975) was a minister and general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene. He started the history department at the Eastern Nazarene College in 1921, and Benner Hall and Benner Library on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University are named after him. Dr. Benner was born near Marion, Ohio. Dr. Benner was ordained in 1923 by Nazarene General Superintendent Roy T. Williams. After serving the Church as a college professor and later as a pastor at Santa Monica, California; Spokane, Washington; and Kansas City First Church, Dr. Benner was elected the first president of the Nazarene Theological Seminary in 1944. He was elected general superintendent in 1952 and served in this position until retirement in 1968. He was general superintendent emeritus until his death in 1975 in Leawood, Kansas.
Edward G. Lawlor (1907-1987), born in England into a Roman Catholic family and raised in Canada, was a minister for most of his adult life in the Church of the Nazarene.
W. Talmadge Johnson was a minister and emeritus general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene. His grandson is SNL star James Austin Johnson.
Jim L. Bond is a minister and emeritus general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene. He was elected at the 24th General Assembly in San Antonio, Texas, in June 1997 and served until retirement in July 2005.
Donald Dean Owens is an American general superintendent emeritus in the Church of the Nazarene, and also a retired ordained minister, missionary, professor, and seminary and college president. Owens is the founding president of the forerunner of Korea Nazarene University, and Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary in Taytay, Rizal, Philippines (1983–1984), and served as the pioneer missionary for the Church of the Nazarene in the Republic of Korea (1954–1966), and as a missionary for four years in the Philippines (1981–1985), where he was the first Regional Director of both the Asia Region (1981–1985) and the South Pacific Region (1981–1983) of the Church of the Nazarene. Owens was the 2nd President of MidAmerica Nazarene College in Olathe, Kansas, for 4 years from 1985. In June 1989 Owens was elected the 28th General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene, and after being re-elected in 1993, served until his retirement in June 1997.
J. K. Warrick is a minister and general superintendent emeritus in the Church of the Nazarene.
The Central Nazarene College was a junior college located in Hamlin, Texas. It closed in 1929.
Manie Payne Ferguson was a pioneer leader in the American Holiness Movement, a Christian evangelist and social worker who co-founded the Peniel Mission, and the author of several hymns, most notably "Blessed Quietness".
Theodore Pollock Ferguson was a pioneer leader in the American Holiness Movement, a Christian evangelist and social worker who co-founded the Peniel Mission and Peniel Missionary Society.
Peniel College was a Nazarene college located in Peniel, Texas. It has since closed.
Haldor Lillenas was "one of the most important twentieth-century gospel hymn writers and publishers" and is regarded as "the most influential Wesleyan / Holiness songwriter and publisher in the 20th century". Additionally, Lillenas was an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, author, song evangelist, poet, music publisher and prolific hymnwriter, who is estimated to have composed over 4,000 hymns, the most famous being Wonderful Grace of Jesus. In 1931 Lillenas was the producer of Glorious Gospel Songs, the first hymnal for the Church of the Nazarene. In 1982 Lillenas was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
The history of the Church of the Nazarene has been divided into seven overlapping periods by the staff of the Nazarene archives in Lenexa, Kansas: (1) Parent Denominations (1887–1907); (2) Consolidation (1896–1915); (3) Search for Solid Foundations (1911–1928); (4) Persistence Amid Adversity (1928–1945); (5) Mid-Century Crusade for Souls (1945–1960); (6) Toward the Post-War Evangelical Mainstream (1960–1980); and (7) Internationalization (1976-2003).
Bertha Mae (Wilson) Lillenas was a popular American hymnist and evangelist in the Church of the Nazarene. Ordained in 1912 as a Nazarene elder, she served as a pastor for five congregations. One of these, her last congregation, Indianapolis First Church of the Nazarene, doubled in size during her pastorate (1923-1926). After leaving the pastorate, Bertha Mae served as the vice-president of Church of the Nazarene's Women's General Missionary Council and as the editor of the newsletter, Junior Light Bearers. In her last years, she led revivals, edited a hymnal, Great Gospel Songs (1929), authored a collection of hymns, Fireside Hymns (1945), and assisted in the management of the Lillenas Publishing Company. As a hymnist, her work was performed on popular, gospel radio broadcasts, and her hymns were included in widely circulated hymnals. Two of her hymns, "Jesus Is Always There" and "Jesus Took My Burden" are among those that are used in contemporary worship.
