Melvin Gander

It was through an Apostolic Faith paper in Wisconsin that God spoke to me and led me into this Latter Rain Gospel at the age of twenty-seven. My father was a class leader in the church. My grandfather was a circuit preacher who proclaimed salvation through repentance and believed in a mourner’s bench. As a little boy I would sit in those meetings and feel conviction.

As I grew up sin crept into my young heart and I became addicted to chewing tobacco. I attended church but I knew that a good church member would not use tobacco. I tried to quit the habit but to no avail – the craving was there, but I kept praying about it.

On my way home from a church one night an audible voice from Heaven said, “Melvin, will you give up your tobacco?” I said, “yes,” and the Lord delivered me from that habit instantly. At that very moment I felt my sins were forgiven also. I was born again!

My craving for tobacco had been so strong that one time as I was working in the field, I ran out of tobacco, so I took my pocketknife and cut out the pocket that I carried my tobacco in and chewed it. But now the desire was gone and now I even refused to work in the tobacco harvest though there was good money in doing so.

As a little boy I would sit in those meetings and feel conviction.

When I received an Apostolic Faith paper I didn’t know how it got into my mailbox. I had been saved prior to this time but I felt there were greater depths to be reached through the Word of God than what the nominal churches in my area were teaching. I found light on sanctification and the baptism of the Holy Ghost in this paper. I sought the baptism and received this wonderful gift of power from on high to preach the Gospel. Soon after that I felt a call to preach and told the Lord that I would preach the Bible from cover to cover, and I did.

I then began to correspond with the headquarters in Portland, Oregon. In 1919 I came to Portland for a short time. When I returned to Wisconsin I held meetings in various places. I was always chomping at the bit to go somewhere to spread the “good news,” series of meetings in schoolhouses, town halls, houses, or anyplace. More and more people were getting saved right along. At a little country church in Concord, the Fred Bible family were all saved. They were a very musical family and later were active in the music activities in the Minneapolis, Minnesota church.

It all began with one Apostolic Faith paper. . .

I lived near the little town of Viola, on the Kickapoo River. In the winter we had to hitch the horses to the sled to go to hold services at the Star Valley schoolhouse. There were no babysitters in those days. The whole family went, nestled on the hay in the sled.

I had a colorful ministry. On one occasion, as a meeting was in progress in the Buzzard church, three hooded Ku Klux Klansmen marched down the aisle of the church, deposited some money on the pulpit and walked out.

Later I had the privilege to pastor the Apostolic Faith Church in Minnesota Lake, Minnesota, and then in Dallas, Oregon. The Lord gave me an interest in people and a compassion for their souls. The Lord gave me a wonderful wife to help in the ministry and we have seen many souls saved. It all began with one Apostolic Faith paper that found its way into a hungry heart that wanted to proclaim the Bible from cover to cover.