Publishing Begins at Portland

After Florence Crawford moved to Portland, a notice was published in issue 13 of the paper saying, “For the next issue of this paper address The Apostolic Faith Campmeeting, Portland Oregon.”

The first Apostolic Faith paper to be issued from the Portland headquarters was published in 1908, during the Mount Tabor camp meeting. Assisting Florence Crawford with the production of the paper was Clara Lum, who previously had helped with the publication work in Los Angeles. A comment in the second Portland edition carried this report: “The last paper, which was the first to be published in Portland, was wonderfully blessed of God. There were 80,000 papers of the two issues printed at one time. . . . He provided a large tent on the campground in which to do the work. It was a very sacred place. The Spirit would not suffer anyone to fold papers if they were not right with God, and everyone felt it a privilege to work for the Lord on the papers.”

Raymond Crawford, who served as the second General Overseer of the organization, gave this account: “In 1908 we acquired the Front and Burnside church location, and from there began mailing our literature into all parts of the world. Because we had no printing equipment of our own at that time, our publications had to be printed in a commercial plant, after which they were returned to our headquarters office where they were folded and wrapped by hand for mailing. Millions of pieces of liter­ature were taken care of in this manner during the nine-year period prior to the installation of printing equipment.”

In 1917, the first pieces of printing equip­ment were purchased, and the organization began to do some of their own printing. In 1919, a larger press was purchased that allowed workers to print the paper, The Apostolic Faith, in their own plant. Within a short time additional languages were added to the list of foreign publications. A variety of special editions for targeted audiences came next: The Morning Star, The Children’s Paper, The Armour Bearer, and The Prisoner’s Hope.