This Week in Texas Methodist History September 22

Dr. J. H. Hamblen Returns to Abilene after Three Week Revival in Hollywood, September, 1938

The Rev. J. H. Hamblen was one of the most prominent Methodist preachers of the mid-20^th century.  He had begun his career in the East Texas Conference but transferred to the North West Texas Conference and eventually was appointed to First Methodist Abilene.  In the summer of 1938 he conducted a 3 week tent revival in Hollywood, California.  News reports reveal that on only one night was the attendance less than 1000 worshipers.  

Rev. Hamblen’s son, Stuart Hamblen (b. 1908), was a big Hollywood star at the time.  The younger Hamblen finished McMurry in Abilene.  In 1926 he began a singing cowboy show on KFYO in Abilene.  A $50 prize in a talent show in Dallas was enough for him to go to the Victor (later RCA Victor) studios in New Jersey for an audition.  The audition resulted in 4 records which enjoyed enough success for him to go to California.  He quickly found his way into the entertainment world as a radio cowboy, actor, and recording artist.

Hamblen had a gift for musical composition.   Texas Plains, Ridin’ Ole Paint, and Mary all come from the 1930s.  He did not handle his fame well.  Alcohol, brawling, shooting out street lights, and gambling all took their toll, but Decca and motion picture executives always smoothed over the troubles he got himself into.  

After World War II he composed two widely played songs, Remember Me, and I Won’s Go Hunting with You Jake (But I’ll go Chasing Women). 

His wife persuaded him to go to Billy Graham’s tent revival, and he was converted.  The next day on his radio program he announced “I hit the sawdust trail.”    Some authorities credit that statement to the reason William Randolph Hearst sent his memo, “Puff Graham.”

After his conversion, his compositions reflected a gospel emphasis with hists such as It is no Secret, Open Up Your Heart (and let the Sun Shine In), and This  Ole House. 

His conversion made him refuse to air a beer commercial on his radio program.  The sponsors cancelled his show but the Prohibition Party nominated him for President in 1952.  He came in 4^th to Eisenhower but received the highest vote total of any Prohibition Party candidate

1952 was not his firsr foray into politics.  He had run for Congress in the Democratic primary of 1938----at the same time his father was conducting a three week revival.   Coincidence?

He died in 1989 and Billy Graham spoke at his funeral.

What about his father, James Henry Hamlen?  He also entered politics---church politics.  When the northern and southern branches of Methodism united in 1939 Hamblen had no part of it.  He was instrumental in the creation of the Evangelical Methodist Church (1946) and became its first General Superintendent. 

This Week in Texas Methodist History September 15

Future Bishop Oliver Eugene Slater Moves from Ozona to Woodlawn, San Antonio, September, 1942

A Methodist preacher’s career path often depends upon circumstances beyond his or her control.  Unlike other professions in which a young practitioner can chart professional growth and advancement in the profession, a Methodist preacher depends upon the wisdom of the Bishop and the appointment process to promote the most able pastors.  

Methodist preachers generally advance in responsibility to better appointments by moving to another church.  We hope that the process rewards merit, but timing is everything.  Is a desirable church available when a preacher is ready to move,. Maybe yes, Maybe no.

The entrance of World War II presented opportunities for younger pastors to get on the “fast track” for rapid promotions.  Hundreds of pulpit vacancies were created in 1942-1944 by Methodist pastors volunteering for the military chaplaincy.   

One of the main duties of chaplains for counseling young soldiers and sailors so naturally the military wanted mature chaplains who had the life experience necessary for helping late teenagers and young adults with their personal problems.  Military officials therefore instituted a draft age for ministers as 24 instead of 18 with the general population of young men.

One of the young pastors given a significant promotion was Oliver Eugene Slater of Ozona who was transferred to Woodlawn, San Antonio in September 1942 because the Woodlawn pastor, Edwin C. Calhoun entered the U. S. Army chaplaincy.  

As Slater tells in his autobiography, Oliver’s Travels:  One Bishop’s Journey, “Ozona was off the beaten path.  There was no railroad through the town.  In many ways we were an isolated community.”  

Slater was 30 when appointed to Ozona, pastored there for almost 6 years.  In those six years, he managed bring a wider perspective to what might have been a backwater.  One way he did so was by bringing eminent pastors to hold meetings.  He relied on contacts while a student at SMU to bring Marshall Steel of Highland Park, Dallas; Gerald Mann, SMU alum and Attorney General of Texas; Umphrey Lee, SMU President; and SMU professors Joseph C. Yarborough and John C. Hicks to Ozona.   It is doubtful that any other isolated Texas church could boast of such a distinguished list of guests.

Even more remarkable was his involvement in the creation of a Wesley House of the Woman’s Missionary Society in Ozona.  Slater reports that several women in his church were distressed over the wretched living conditions of Mexican Americans in Ozona.  Slater brought the need to the attention of WMS officers, first in San Antonio and then at the national level.  The Wesley house provided a full service educational and health program including a Boy Scout troop that won accolades.

The appointment to Woodlawn was just the beginning of a series of appointments to noteworthy churches.  He left Woodlawn for Bering Memorial in Houston and then from there to Polk Street Amarillo.  It was from Polk Street that Slater was elected bishop.  Eventually he came back to preside over the Annual Conference in which he had started. 

My father, John Wesley Hardt, also received a boost in his career because of the war time shortage of preachers because so many had entered the chaplaincy.  In 1943, he was a 21 year old seminarian who had already served two student appointments.  His father died while serving Malakoff.  Bishop Smith appointed John Wesley to take his father’s place.  Malakoff was such a good church that it never had a student pastor before or since, but the preacher shortage called for such matters. 

 

John Wesley’s appointment to Malakoff meant that his widowed mother and two younger sisters could continue to live in the parsonage.   There was plenty of room because Malakoff was also the home of my mother Martha Carson.  They were already engaged when my grandfather was appointed to Malakoff.  When Martha and John Wesley came from SMU on the weekends to preach, they could stay at the Carson home.  Like Slater he was also elected bishop.   

This Week in Texas Methodist History September 8

Gipsy Smith Begins Aldersgate 200^th Commemoration Texas Tour at Wichita Falls, September 1937

As the 200^th anniversary of John Wesley’s heart-warming experience at Aldersgate neared, the Committee on the Future Work of Methodism in Texas planned a statewide evangelistic campaign.  The Committee for the Future Work of Methodism in Texas was an outgrowth of the 1934 Texas Methodist Centennial.  The conferences came together to celebrate the founding of McMahan’s Chapel, and decided to continue working together.  The members as of September 1937 included Walter Fondren, Bishops Boaz and Smith, A. J. Weeks, H. E. Jackson, Glenn Flinn, and H.I. Robinson---names well known to students of Texas Methodist history. 

The Committee decided to sponsor a statewide tour of the perhaps the most famous evangelist of the era, Rodney “Gipsy” Smith.  Smith had recently highlighted a statewide gathering at First Methodist Fort Worth.  Events from Amarillo to Harlingen were planned, and other denominations were invited to participate.

Gipsy Smith’s real name was Rodney but since he was Romani by ethnicity, adopted the nickname “Gipsy”.  Born in a tent in England in 1860, Rodney never had more than few weeks of school.   When he was 16 he heard Ira Sankey sing and visited the home of John Bunyan.  By age 17 he was preaching on the streets of England under the auspices of the Christian Mission of London.  The CML developed into the Salvation Army and Rodney caught the eye of its founder, General Booth, as a “comer.”  

He married one of his converts in 1879 and the couple took several Salvation Army assignments, and built large congregations wherever they served.  One of the congregations gave Smith a gold watch in appreciation of his ministries.  Receiving any such gift violated Salvation Army policy so he was expelled.

The expulsion sent him into a 70 year evangelistic career throughout the world.  He made headlines after his wife died in 1937 and he married the 27 year old Mary Alice Shaw.  He was 78 at the time.  

Most of the Texas tour was conducted between January and April, 1938. He spent two weeks in Waco, ending his revival on Palm Sunday.  He preached at First Fort Worth, Amarillo, and Harlingen where the revival was co-sponsored by the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopal, and Christian Churches and held in the Municipal Auditorium.  

Smith died in August 1948 of a heart attack on the Queen Mary on what was his 45^th Atlantic crossing. Walter Vernon wrote his obituary in the Southwestern Advocate.  Vernon summarized Smith’s message:

1.      impatience with sectarianism  (Smith considered him British Wesleyan)

2.      sincerity among church members

3.      condemnation of drinking, smoking, movies, bridge, jazz, and divorce.

4.      a demand for sincere discipleship

The same issue of the Advocate that carried Vernon’s obituary of Smith also carried the obituary of Bishop John M. Moore.  While Smith had less than a year of schooling, Moore was probably the best educated Methodist preacher of his era---having studied theology at the Universities of Leipzig and Heidelberg, and receiving a Ph.D. from Yale.  –Methodist preachers of the era embraced the full spectrum of educational experiences.