Frank Hein

When I was fifteen years old, the Lord spoke to me while I was driving along the road on a load of hay, saying, “Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” I repented of my sins and believed on the Lord, and He saved my soul right there. I went to meeting that night and told the people that I knew I was saved. God had changed my heart, the burden of sin was gone, and I was one of the happiest boys in that county.

Shortly after I was saved, the Lord spoke to me, asking, “What are you saved for?” I answered, “I am saved to serve.” After that, I tried to win some young people to Christ by praying for them in a revival meeting, and some were saved.

The Lord gave me a Sunday school class to teach when I was only sixteen years old. At the age of twenty-two I left my home state of Kansas and went to a holiness Bible school in Cleveland, Ohio, where I was given practical work to do in the evenings during the week and city mission work to do on Sundays. One summer I was given a part-time job in a printing plant connected with the Bible school. I never dreamed that I would one day be called to work in a church printing plant.

While I was in Bible school, I heard several missionaries make pleas for workers, and I made a consecration that I would go to the hardest mission field in the world if that was God’s will for me. I told God, “Here I am, Lord, send me. Send me to the ends of the earth, send me to the rough and savage pagans of the wilderness, send me from all that is called comfort in the earth, send me even to death itself, if it be but in Thy service, and to promote Thy kingdom.” God took me at my word.

I never dreamed that I would one day be called to work in a church printing plant.

In the spring of 1905, I applied to the Sudan Industrial Mission (as it was then called) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and was accepted. I was chosen to go to Nigeria, West Africa, to work among Mohammedans. Only one thing stood in the way—there were no funds on hand at the time, but I was told that if the Lord would supply the means, they would send me.

I went out to the Midwest to hold revival meetings. I asked the Lord to confirm my calling by supplying me with some money toward my going out to Africa without my asking anyone for it. After some time, a man gave me ten cents toward it. I took that as a sure token that the Lord would supply all my needs. After that, money began to come in, still unsolicited. My father had died about a year before that time and left a small inheritance, of which my share was a little over one hundred dollars. I added that to what I received from various people, and by the time I got to Toronto, I had enough to pay my fare and to buy the necessary equipment to take with me to Africa. I was even able to help some of the others in my party who did not have enough, and when I arrived on the field, I still had about fifty dollars left! I had never asked anybody for money or taken any collections—I just prayed about it, and the Lord provided.

My missionary journey began on September 2, 1905. I took for my support the words of Jesus, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). At that time, there were only eight missionaries in that area, and living conditions were almost intolerable for a foreigner. I suffered from twelve attacks of malaria fever during my first term, but the Lord spared my life.

My first station was about 300 miles inland from Lagos, Nigeria, among the Hausas. I learned their language well and translated quite a number of hymns into that language, which was the trade language of Nigeria. Another time I worked among the Jaba people, who had no education and little civilization at that time. The Lord made it possible for me to put their language into writing. I also worked among the Yorubas and Igbos, who were better educated. I had the privilege to supervise the building of quite a number of houses on different mission stations, and also helped to survey the site for a mission rest home in Miango.

The time came when I needed the help of a lady missionary to work with the Nigerian women. I began to pray that if it was the Lord’s will for me to get married that He would prepare a suitable companion for me. For the next three years I prayed for the Lord to prepare someone to fill that position. When I returned home on furlough to the United States, my friends suggested different young ladies as possible wives for me, but as I prayed about each one, I began to feel like Samuel of old when he went to anoint a king from among the sons of Jesse. Then my aunt told me of a certain young woman named Agnes, who had a missionary spirit, and suggested that perhaps she would be willing to go with me back to Africa. Though I had never met her or even seen her, I sent a note to her by the hand of a little boy, asking her to come to my uncle’s place and to go to church with me so we could talk the matter over. I learned that God had been dealing with her for a number of years and caused her to prepare for His work by taking a Bible study course in college. Not long after that, I asked her to marry me. The Lord had answered my prayers. I had not needed to use a postage stamp or to spend months in getting acquainted with this wonderful woman—just one buggy ride with a borrowed horse and buggy.

I suffered from twelve attacks of malaria fever during my first term, but the Lord spared my life.

During my final term in Africa, I became very ill. I had not known much about divine healing, but some of the other missionaries prayed for me, and I was instantly healed. I was so thrilled with this experience that I wrote home and told the story of my healing, and it was published in a church paper. Some Christians who read it sent me an Apostolic Faith paper, believing I would be interested in hearing about the Latter Rain Gospel. That surely was the case!

When my wife and I returned to the United States we moved to Portland, Oregon, and attended the Apostolic Faith Church. There we found what our hearts had been longing for, the deeper experiences in the Christian life. After we had been in Portland for several months and attended a camp meeting, I was asked to work in the printing plant, and for thirty-eight years I have had the privilege of helping to print Gospel literature, which is being sent to almost all parts of the world.

I feel that God has helped me to do an even greater missionary work in the home field, and that God has made it possible for me to reach more souls than I would have if I had returned to Africa. Now, as I hear of the thousands of people in Nigeria who have been marvelously converted and are attending Apostolic Faith churches there, my heart rejoices that God put such a love in my heart for the people of Africa.

Frank Hein is credited for translating a number of Apostolic Faith Gospel tracts into the Hausa language. This literature was sent to various stations in Africa, and the material was translated into other dialects and returned to Portland, where it was printed and mailed back to Africa for distribution. Many people were saved through these efforts.

In 1942, a parcel of tracts came into the hands of Timothy Oshokoya, the son of a tribal chief, who had been converted in 1939. He began to distribute the tracts and to evangelize, and in 1944, an Apostolic Faith church service was first held in Lagos, Nigeria, with just eight people present. There are now about 600 Apostolic Faith congregations in Nigeria.

A missionary at heart from the time he was fifteen years of age, Frank Hein was helping to send out the Gospel even after he reached the age of 80 years. On November 15, 1958, Frank Hein went to meet his Savior.