Some more Pentecostal history Bro. Craine

[Sam]

This is from the October 1974 issue of the Pentecostal Herald, pages 22 and 23



My Pioneer Ministry by Clarence T. Craine
Editor in Chief Arthur L. Clanton interviews Clarence T. Craine


At the age of fifteen, I repented of my sins in a Methodist revival, and joined the church.I was immersed in the "name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." Five years later, at the age of 20, I was introduced to the Pentecostal belief by Brother H. A. Goss. I received a wonderful experience when the Lord baptized me with the Holy Ghost. Brother Goss baptized me in water in the "name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" in 1909. I attended a Pentecostal Bible School in Joplin, Missouri in 1910.

In 1911 I went out in the gospel work with an evangelist and his wife. I worked with them several months as an altar worker. Our meetings were held in the open, under brush arbors. The Lord rewarded our efforts, and 100 received the Holy Ghost. When the weather became too cold for open air meetings, I returned to all of these places where our meetings had been and obtained the use of the county school houses for services. I preached and taught for several years in this manner. The first two years I hitchhiked from one community to the next. Then I bought a bicycle for transportation.

In the year of 1914, while in evangelistic work in southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana, I received a small tract concerning water baptism in the name of Jesus. This pamphlet taught that all the apostles baptized in the name of Jesus. So I took my Bible and went to the woods and spent the day searching the Scriptures. At the end of my search, I came to the conclusion that baptism in the name of Jesus was right.

There was a convention in Hot Springs, Arkansas the first of January, 1915. I heard that they were baptizing in Jesus' name. I attended this meeting. A preacher went with me to a pond that was frozen solid, and snow was on the ground. We took a 2 x 6, broke the ice, and he baptized me in the name of JESUS.

During my ministry, I never felt I should stay with one group of people for years and years. The Lord laid it on my heart to go to small, run-down churches that could not financially support a pastor. I earned my livelihood, and later that of my family, and, at the same time, built up the church, making any necessary repairs on the church building myself. I knocked on doors, inviting people to Sunday School and church, and prayed for the sick. After two years of building the church, both spiritually and financially until the congregation could support a pastor, I moved on to another church that I felt needed me more. In all of these years I was never paid a salary as a pastor, or evangelist. I trusted the Lord to supply my family's needs, and the work for me to support them. However, I never spoke against pastors receiving a salary, for if a church is finanically able I think itshould support its pastor.

I have a testimony of a miraculous healing in my life. My first wife died of tuberculosis, and three years later I had only a short time to live, for I had contacted this disease. With the type I had, I was told that one had only 90 days to live after he began to cough. I had already started coughing. However, I was determined to work for the Lord as long as I had the strength. I continued to preach, and one of the most successful revivals I ever preached --in Ft. Worth, Texas-- was during this time. Each night following my sermon I suffered excruciating pain in my chest for two hours. I would get alone somewhere and pray. I was in Water, Texas preaching another meeting. An ice-storm came and bowed the timber to the earth, heavily laden with ice, No one was able to go anywhere we had to stay inside. Brother and Sister Baker and I were sitting by the fire side. All at once I took a deep breath, to the bottom of my lungs something I had not been able to do for a long time! I was instantly healed of tuberculosis! That was 54 years ago March 1,1974. X-rays reveal the scars on my lungs from that disease, but never have I suffered a recurrence of T.B.

On September 1, 1974 it was my privilege to have had the Holy Ghost active in my life for 65 years, and to have preached the gospel for 63 years. Space will not permit my telling of countless blessings of the Lord down through these years, but the fire of the Lord still burns deep within my soul.


This is the obituary for Bro. Clarence T. Craine which appeared on page 18 of the July 1976 Pentecostal Herald

Pioneer Pentecostal Minister Obtains Reward

Brother Clarence T. Craine, a pioneer Pentecostal minister with the United Pentecostal Church, departed this life April 30, 1976 at the age of 87. He had devoted more than 64 years to the preaching of the Gospel.

An article entitled "My Pioneer Ministry," which resulted from an interview between Brother Craine and the late Editor-in-Chief, Arthur L. Clanton, appeared in the October, 1974 issue of The Pentecostal Herald.

Brother Craine received the Holy Ghost in 1909 under the ministry of Howard Goss. He was baptized in that revival in the "Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost." Six years later, while attending the Hot Springs, Arkansas Convention, he was rebaptized in Jesus Name. Since it was mid-January, it was necessary to break the ice on a nearby pond with a 2 x 6.

The ministry of Brother Craine started in 1911. He would preach under brush arbors in the warmer months, and move into available schoolhouses in the colder months.

The ensuing years saw Brother Craine led to a series of small churches that needed help or could not afford a pastor. He pastored churches in Green Forest, Arkansas; El Paso, Texas; Abilene, Kansas; Arkadelphia, Arkansas; Louisiana, Missouri; Dallas, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Malvern, Arkansas; Pocahontas, Arkansas; Caraway, Arkansas; El Dorado, Arkansas; Manila, Arkansas; and Emporia, Kansas.

In addition, he served as Assistant Pastor of the First United Pentecostal Church in Jonesboro, Arkansas; and as Dean of Men at the Pentecostal Bible Institute in Tupelo, Mississippi (Now Jackson College of Ministries in Jackson, Mississippi).

As the years passed, and Brother Craine was no longer able to pastor on a full-time basis, he often filled the pulpit for neighboring pastors in their absence. He continued to be active in the Outreach Ministry of the Jonesboro Church until shortly before his death, visiting several nursing homes each Saturday.

He and Sister Craine observed their fifty-sixth wedding anniversary on April 4 of this year.

Memorial services were held on May 2, 1976 at the First United Pentecostal Church in Jonesboro, with the Pastor, Brother James R. Glass, delivering a beautiful tribute. He was assisted in the service by Brother T. Richard Reed. of Memphis, Tennessee, son-in-law to Brother Craine.

In addition to his wife, Mamie, Brother Craine is survived by two sons, four daughters, 21 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.

Continue to pray that the Lord will strengthen the family in the hour of their great loss.