Alice Perry

One Sunday afternoon, when I was nineteen years of age, I stood on a street corner in the city of Portland, Oregon, and heard a message that changed my whole life. I was on my way home from a park, but I stopped to listen to these Apostolic Faith people for a few minutes. Their very countenance seemed to shine with the glory of God. I realized they had found the peace I had long been searching for. As they told of God’s redeeming grace, my innermost soul cried out to God.

I should have known what it was to be a Christian, because I had attended church from my childhood, had been baptized in water, and had taken an active part in church work. I tried to serve God, but my heart was filled with worldly desires and ambitions. Back in the State of Iowa, I had been a young businesswoman with an enviable position. I studied public speaking and dramatic arts, and I had great ambition along that line. Sometimes a group of us young people would go to different towns, rent the theater, and give amateur performances. I loved to stand before an audience, loved the applause and the excitement. I was always seeking something new, yet I was never truly satisfied.

Many times I would cry out to God, “Why can’t I be a better Christian?” hardly realizing that I was not a Christian at all. I used to wish I could have lived when Jesus was on earth, because I felt sure I would have followed Him. No one had ever told me that I could pray through and have a real assurance of sins forgiven. And then came the day in Portland, Oregon, when I heard people at a street meeting tell that Jesus could live and reign in my heart, right here and now. I marveled at the testimonies I heard of redeemed drunkards and dope fiends, but I wondered: Could I, who had never known the deeper sins of life, have that change wrought out in my life? Could I know Jesus as they did? The answer came the night I prayed an honest prayer. I looked deeper than my church profession, my morality and my high ideals, and I acknowledged that I was only a sinner. When I repented of my sins and asked Jesus to come into my life, He made such a marvelous change in me that I have never been able to tell it all! God lifted the burden, the unrest, the dissatisfaction, and gave me joy and rest. In place of the hateful, unforgiving spirit that had ruled my life, such peace and happiness thrilled my soul!

As they told of God’s redeeming grace, my innermost soul cried out to God.

The frivolous things of this world that I had loved held no more attraction for me. God gave me grace to take my religion with me when I returned to work in a large office building. My coworkers and I used to spend hours talking about the latest plays, the latest movie stars, and the latest novels; but my conversation was changed from then on. God had taken the very desire for the sham and the glitter of this world out of my heart.

A short time later, after fairly living in the seventeenth chapter of the Book of John, I consecrated my life, my all, to the Lord, and He sanctified me. As that “cleansing stream” flowed over my soul, the prayer of Jesus seemed to echo in my heart, “I in them, and thou in me” (verse 23). Oh, that oneness! Only a sanctified soul can know the peace that flows “in fathomless billows of love.” Later on, the Lord baptized me with the Holy Ghost. In that hour, I longed more than anything in the world not only to worship this wonderful Christ, but also to work in His vineyard.

After I was saved, I worked in an attorney’s office for two years, and this Gospel kept me with victory. Not long after that, God gave me one of the most wonderful privileges that could be given to anyone, the privilege of working in the Apostolic Faith office as a secretary to Florence Crawford, the founder of this work. It has been my joy to help send the message of the Gospel into all the world. I love God with all my heart, and I long to draw closer to Him. My greatest ambition is to serve God and to be ready when Jesus returns.

Alice Perry devoted nearly forty-four years of her life to full time service at the Apostolic Faith Church headquarters office in Portland. For several years, she was the office manager. On March 30, 1959, she went to meet her Savior face to face.