Influencers 100 Years – The Franklin St Years
On November 12 the Influencers Church in Adelaide will be celebrating 100 years since its inception as the first pentecostal church in South Australia.
There is some conjecture about this!
However from my understanding and I don’t claim to be an historian, the stories that have been handed down, make a good case for this claim.
Here is my brief recollection of growing up in the church.
When my father retired from missionary service in India in 1951, he accepted a call to Pastor the Franklin Street Assembly of God in Adelaide.
I have fond memories of being a part of the small youth group of the church, which was called “Christ Ambassadors” or CAs as they were known.
As a pre teenager, there was some disquiet in my mind however, as I tried to come to grips with the politics of the church and particularly why people in the church would criticise my father?
I recall his position as the senior pastor as being very tenuous.
Every year in the month of November, the annual General Meeting took place.
It was a time of great apprehension for me as a young boy growing up in Church.
You see in those days my father would be voted upon by the members of the church as to whether he should remain as the pastor or not?
This would occur every year and I sensed the apprehension he would feel and wondered why this sort of process was necessary!
Thankfully in latter years the Assemblies of God churches in Australia adopted new employment policy which has done much to enable Pastors to feel more secure in their service.
It took away the apprehension and fear that ministers struggled with each year.
His comitment to prayer and the study of the Word left a lasting impression upon my life.
Interestingly my family tree has a connection with this first Pentecostal Church of Adelaide through my great uncle Rev Richard Marks who was it’s first Pastor.
My mother confirmed that Richard Marks took the over-site of the small group of Pentecostal believers and moulded it into a cohesive Church.
Prior to this the church was leaderless and had become doctrinally exclusive in practice.
It is known that Pastor Richard Marks had a particular passion for overseas Missionary work and contributed extensively to the Foreign Missions programme of the church.
Possible this interest was influenced by his grand niece Stella Evans who was the first Missionary sent out from the church to India.
Upon his death in 1933 he bequeathed a substantial amount of money from his estate to this first Pentecostal Church of Adelaide.
The Franklin Street Church property was purchased in 1944 but was used only during the week for mid week prayer meetings and CAs and special events.
During the 1950’s when my father was pastor,
the Franklin Street Assembly would hire the Rechabite Chambers in Victoria Square which was in the centre of the city.
The Rechabite Chambers had a large central meeting hall where the afternoon and evening services were held.
Every Sunday morning the deacons of the church had to set up the hall for the services.
As a teenager I remember riding my bike into the city from Croydon Park and joined deacons Moss White, Dick Hollerhead (who incidentally was Ps Wayne Alcorn grandfather), Colin Howlett, Arthur Job, David Greaves and a few others to clean up the facility from a Saturday night mess left by party goers.
After the big clean up we set up the portable wooden platform with its curtain rail, chairs and portable pulpit.
Chairs in the auditorium were next, enough to seat at least 100 people.
When it was all done we would race off home to get cleaned up ready for the afternoon service.
It was the practice in those days that before each Sunday evening service a small band of believers from the church would conduct open-air meetings in Victoria Square right in the heart of Adelaide.
Small groups of people would gather around the Christians as they preached, sang, played their musical instruments (piano accordions) and shouted out what was called “gospel shots”, scripture verses.
It was here on the streets of Adelaide that I had my early training in Gospel Music.
The youth group in the Church was quite small in number at the time but we wanted to serve God.
Four of us formed ourselves into a quartet and called ourselves the “Maranatha Messengers.”
Each week we would sing in the open-air meetings attracting inquisitive onlookers.
We would also go down to the river Torrens in the heart of Adelaide and sing gospel songs in acapella.
On a number of occasions we were invited to sing on 5AD radio for Pastor John Hewitt of the Apostolic Church who had a regular Sunday morning broadcast.
Years later in 1990 the original quartet of Norm Milburn, Carl Mason, Fred Evans & Ian Scannell got together for a reunion and sang at the Paradise Community Church in honour of my father TL Evans who was celebrating his 90th Birthday.
Our style of music was very different to today’s contemporary sounds of church music but never the less was very popular.
In the secular world the Four Aces and the Ink Spots popularized what was called “Barber Shop” music.
Here we are singing the most recognised Gospel song of the 20th Century.
In those days there was no Television so listening to a gospel quartet or street preacher drew some attention & attracted casual interest among city dwellers.
It was in these open-air meetings that I first learned to preach.
I can’t say many responded except for a few old drunks who occasionally came into the service to hear the gospel and were touched by the Holy Spirit.
As a boy, I often felt embarrassed in these open air meetings as occasionally we would get abused.
I don’t like getting abused!
One particular old drunk used to bother me.
He called my dear mother a “ratbag” once, when she was preaching in Victoria Square.
His name was “Burnsie”. However my mother had the upper hand!
I once saw her slapping him in gospel service and quietly telling him to ‘shut up in Jesus name’ of course, when he would interrupt the preacher (my Dad) and call out some nonsense or use an expletive during the service in the Rechabite Chambers.
My interest in preaching however needed some polishing, so I decided in 1958 to go to Bible College with my brother Andrew and three other young men from the church.
After graduating from Bible School in 1960 I sailed for Papua New Guinea to serve as a missionary with the Assemblies of God Papua New Guinea Mission. (see the story on page “About our Ministry in Papua New Guinea“)
In the mean time the Adelaide church continued to grow under the leadership of a number of able pastors.
In those early years prayer meetings were a common occurrence as people called on God for revival.
“Tarrying Meeting” as they were called were also regular as people prayed for the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit”.
The valuable Adelaide city property in Franklin St. was sold under the faithful stewardship of Pastor John Jobe.
John and Beryl Jobe commenced their ministry in Adelaide as Senior Pastors in 1959. Their pastoral vision was to get out into the suburbs where the people lived.
With his astute guidance and determination the church eventually relocated to Paynham before acquiring land at Klemzig and commenced building the new Klemzig Assembly of God.
It wasn’t long before the new church building was completed at 274 Main North East Rd in the North Eastern suburbs.
Pastor Jobe wanted the church to be seen in the community and erected a tall tower which advertised the Church.
This was erected at the entrance to the building and became a significant landmark and icon, as thousands of people each day drove past along the Main North East road.
The decision to sell the Franklin Street property in the City became a providential and strategic decision in the great scheme of things as you will see.
After completing the building project, Pastor Jobe resigned in 1964 and 
Pastor Gerald Rowlands was called and became the Senior Pastor.
He was a charismatic personality and a powerful preacher with a prophetic edge.
Under his leadership the Klemzig church continued to grow. He understood the times and his ministry tapped into the wave of what God was doing at the time.
Pastor Rowlands ministered with great authority during the early days of what was called “The Charismatic Renewal” and scores of young families joined the church.
In 1970 my brother Andrew, fresh from six years of missionary service in Papua New Guinea, accepted an invitation to follow on from Pastor Rowlands.
He was invited to fill in as interim pastor for a year.
This was because of the perceived lack of pastoral experience he had had in Australia.
A year later Andrew & Lorraine Evans were invited and voted upon by the church to remain indefinitely as ministers of the Klemzig Church.
Providentially they became the longest serving Pastors in the history of the Adelaide Assembly.
They served as Senior Minister of the Church for over three decades, a record.
He also was appointed as the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Australia in 1977 and continued in that office for over two decades, (also a record) before retiring in 1997.