A TRIBUTE TO MY FATHER,
PASTOR RUDY H. GEHMAN
by Richard J. Gehman
June 2007
On a hot summer’s day on
Late on the afternoon of 17th August the librarian
notified me that someone was on the phone, wanting to speak to me. When I
answered, I heard my mother’s voice speaking from
What a bomb shell. “My father is dead?” I asked in unbelief.
Yes, he had just fallen over and was gone to glory. Instantly, my studies were
dropped immediately and I returned immediately by airplane to
That last week my father was conducting
The night of the 17th was the closing exercises for
Suddenly, my mother heard a thump on the floor downstairs, so
she called down to my dad; but there was no answer. She went downstairs to see
what had happened. To her dismay, she found him lying on the floor dead. Shortly
thereafter my mother’s brother, Allen G. Woodring, retired pastor of the BFC,
and his wife, Hilda, arrived at our parsonage from their home in
I had always loved, admired and respected my dad who was my
great role model in childhood and youth. However, we soon moved on after his
death, finishing my education, getting married, and serving the Lord in
Now in retirement, forty-five years later, I wish to offer a tribute to my dad.
When reviewing the last sermons that my dad preached, I found a separate piece of paper, tucked between the sermons, with an “Epitaph” which he copied with his own hand writing, presumably to be used in his last sermon.
“Pause here my friend as you go by, As
you are now so once was I. As
I am now, you soon shall be, So
prepare my friend to follow me.” A
passerby added this: “To
follow you I’ll not be content until I know which way you
went.”
To know “which way” he went, this tribute will point to his life and ministry so that we might be prepared to follow him. To understand my father one must understand his roots, his life and ministry, his preaching and teaching and his character.
MY FATHER’S ROOTS
Family
Background of my Dad
Who was my father? What was he like? To understand him better
we must understand his parents and his childhood rearing. Because my grandfather
Gehman died when I was eight years old and my grandmother Gehman died when I was
twelve, I do not remember many things about them, since we visited them only
once a year. But my older cousins, who had lived near my grandparents in earlier
years, knew them very well. On several visits with them in 2006, they were able
to share many memories they recalled. Much of the following is attributed to
them.[1]
My grandparents: My dad’s father,
Joseph (“Joe”) H. Gehman, also known in the family as “Pappy Gehman,” was born
Mammy Gehman was “very quiet” in the words of my cousins. She
did not talk much. In her old age she sat on a rocking chair in the front room
in
My grandfather as an entrepreneur: Pappy Gehman was preeminently a business man of the first order. He was a “go getter.” Whenever he tried something, it worked. He was engaged in many things; he was a business man who pushed ahead. Pappy was always on his heels. “Let’s go to the garden,” he said to his grandson. He scratched around in the hole where he had buried apples in the ground over the winter and had the apples ready to eat in the spring.
At first Pappy and Mammy Gehman lived on his father’s farm near
Adamstown,
Later he moved to a farm near Bowmansville in
But Pappy had a vision and was an entrepreneur. He saved enough money to buy a large farm of 120 acres nearby with a farmhouse and a barn. When Lizzie, his first born, got married, Lizzie and Peter lived together with her parents in the farmhouse for one year, while Pappy Gehman built another house and barn nearby within sight and calling distance. When completed, the Gehman family moved to the new house where my dad lived for twelve years. Pappy then rented the old farmhouse and barn to his son-in-law, Peter Martin, for 15-20 years. After many years, when Pappy got older, he subdivided the farm into two and sold the two properties.
After selling the farm, he operated a shirt factory at Bowmansville from 1916-1921. There were 21 employees, including Pappy, a daughter and my dad. In 1921 Pappy Gehman moved to Adamstown for one year where he and my dad operated a feed mill.
Then in 1922 Pappy bought a red brick building with two stories
in
As Pappy began to age, he could not tolerate the dusty air in
the flour mill, so he moved to the second floor of the mill and built furniture
for sale. He took a great interest in different kinds of wood. He cut walnut
wood, stacked it to dry, and made furniture from it. Across the street from the
flour mill, he had a store to sell furniture and the picture frames he made. In
my office in
Wayne Gehman, his son, first managed the business. The other
two brothers, Monroe and my dad, also worked there. But one day
As my cousin said, “Pappy was no dumb head. He was not afraid
to grab hold of things. He watched carefully. He was a businessman who pushed
ahead.” He was also a keen observer. When Wayne, the manager of the flour mill,
suddenly passed away at the age of 39, his brother, Monroe, took over. Pappy
watched carefully. He said to Ervin, my cousin, “This thing won’t last very long
because
Pappy also had initiative. He dealt with problems. Mammy used to bake pies and set them on the window sill in the farm house in order to cool off; but then they began to disappear. So Pappy went to the barn below, called the workers together and warned them never to steal again. The pies never disappeared after that.
But he was also a friendly person. Everybody in
My grandfather as a Christian: Pappy
Gehman was a devout Mennonite Christian. At first he and his family were members
of the
Some have observed that Mennonites often divided over legalistic questions of whether a Christian should wear shirts with collars and buttons, or whether they should use cars, radios or have Sunday School in church. Most people are prone to tradition and Mennonites are no exception. My cousin, Lester, remembers that when something new developed, such as a car, the radio or TV, they would ask, “What next?” “What else?”
In 1924 the Henry Unruh family moved to a farm near
Bowmansville. One Sunday he attended the
These New Mennonites laid aside many of the traditions or
customs of the Old Mennonites. Lizzie learned to play the piano and was the
first one to play the piano in the
Some years later when they moved to Denver, Pennsylvania, where
he developed the flour mill, Pappy and some of his adult children attended the
Trinity United Brethren Church founded in 1900 (now the United Methodist
Church). Pastor Brenamen was a very fundamental preacher and loved the people.
But the next pastor had a problem with adultery so the Gehmans decided to move
to the
Following German Mennonite customs, they would bow their heads and quietly pray before the meals without anyone praying aloud. But unlike others, he read the Bible with his family and taught them while they were seated in a circle.[8] When they prayed they would get on their knees to pray. My dad would recall that one of the songs Pappy liked to sing was, “Will the circle be unbroken when we meet in the sky?”
My cousins remember staying with Pappy. When they visited my
grandparents at Christmas time, they would have a service. They had an organ in
the house and they would sing hymns and read the Scripture. They would have
Scripture reading and prayer before going to church service. My cousin, Ervin,
observed that Pappy Gehman was “a quiet man except on religion. Then he had
strong convictions. He was not quiet about his religious faith.” Another cousin
remembers him standing in the
In many ways Pappy was a growing Christian, moving from the Old Mennonites to the New Mennonites, then to the United Brethren Church and finally to the Bible Church. Living faith was evident in their home.
My grandfather’s Christian legacy:
The faith born in the home of Pappy Gehman became evident in the life of
his children. They distinguished between tradition and true faith. When Lester,
my cousin, saw some women without a prayer head covering, he asked his mom, “Are
they Christians?” My Aunt Tillie turned around and firmly said, “Yes!” In the
home of my Aunt Tillie and Noah Martin, they bowed their heads in silent prayer
before the meal but never prayed aloud. This was the German Mennonite tradition.
Although Lester does not remember them reading the Bible or praying together in
family worship, he does remember his mother reading the Bible many times. When
Lester turned twelve years of age, his mother said it was time to join the
church. All Lester could think of was wearing plain clothes. He asked, “Does
that mean I must wear plain clothes?” She turned toward him and said firmly,
“No!” So he agreed to join the church. But he didn’t know the Bible; neither did
he know the Lord. He married at the age of 20 and soon thereafter began auditing
the evening classes of
In a remarkable way this Christian legacy of Pappy and Mammy
Gehman carried over to the next generation. All their children knew and served
the Lord. In this paper we shall not develop the Gehman legacy further except to
say that nearly fifteen of Pappy and Mammy Gehmans children, grandchildren and
great children became ordained ministers, career missionaries, or trained
Pappy spoke in Pennsylvania Dutch (Low German) most of the
time. As a boy he could speak in High German. One cousin remembers him singing
the following in German, “My brothers are already there in
The character of my grandfather: “Pappy Gehman was a quiet man. Mennonites were quiet people of the land.” Every year my father would take me and my mother to visit his one living brother and four living sisters. Aunt Lizzie, as long as I knew her, was an invalid who was either in bed or seated on a wheel chair with blankets wrapped around her legs. Her daughters, Anna, Ruth and Irene, cared for their mother ever so faithfully until Irene and Ruth were married. Anna remained unmarried and continued the dedicated care for her mother until her end. The home of Uncle Peter and Aunt Lizzie was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. When talking with Aunt Lizzie there would be moments of total silence before anything more was said. The same was true in the home of my Aunt Tillie. She was very quiet and markedly slow in all her mannerisms. Boisterous or loud talking was unheard. Quiet peace prevailed.
But the picture formed of Pappy Gehman in the mind of Anna Wivell is of a strong willed and decisive person. He was rather serious minded with no joking. His word was to be followed. On one occasion he said to his grandson, Ervin, who was ten years old, “You Ervin, follow me.” He took tobacco from a box and put it in his pocket. He said, “Don’t you ever start this.” Apparently, Pappy was addicted to the chewing of tobacco and believed it was wrong but could not stop.
On another occasion Pappy wanted one of his daughters, Hettie, to sing in church but she did not want to. Pappy was always forceful and with strong convictions. Hettie did sing in church.
He ruled the roost in the home; he was in control. Pappy would tell Mammy what to do. When they were in old age, Clayton Gehman, my cousin, visited them for a meal. Pappy got up for the meal but Mammy could not get around so well. So Pappy called her and told her to move faster.[10]
Pappy did not believe in higher education. His last born, Katie, loved school and did well in elementary. So she determined as a child that she would grow up to be a teacher. To her dismay, when someone in the shirt factory had to leave, Pappy Gehman pulled her out of school and asked her to work in the factory. Several times she wanted to return to high school but that never came to pass. She then decided to go to Moody Bible Institute, but Pappy did not want her to go. He did not believe in higher education. Eventually, she was able to take correspondence courses from Moody.
But Pappy was also a kind man. Jacob (Jack) Weber worked for his uncle, Pappy Gehman, during one summer. He was ten or twelve years old at the time. In return for his work that summer he received one silver dollar. “I have nothing but good to say about Joe,” he commented. “He was a man of few words. He was a quiet man, not very outgoing. But he was kind and never lost his temper.” Pappy Gehman would hold his grandchildren in his lap and try to teach them German. He had white and pink mints and would give these to his grandchildren whenever they came. On occasions Pappy would get up and offer pieces of candy to his grandchildren. He would give it, and then pull it back in order to tease them. Other cousins remember the same thing; Pappy always had candy.
On one occasion, his own little eleven year old granddaughter (Anna Martin) got her hand in a meat grinder and lost three fingers. When she ran into the house she did not cry, but Pappy did. They wrapped the hand in a handkerchief and went to the hospital. He drove so fast that the speedometer never worked after that.
Later on he took Anna Mary Eckenrode into their home and cared for her. She was a ten or twelve year old girl from a broken home and he took her under his wings and provided a place of love and refuge for her. He cared for her many years. When the biological mother eventually wanted her back after many years later, he took the matter to court. Someone said, “He will win because he has the money.” He was well set financially.
Pappy was an honest man. Jack Weber, who is now 101 years old and knew Pappy Gehman as a boy, said, “He was as honest as one could be.” Another cousin remembers when he was eighteen years old and needed some money. He went to borrow money from Pappy to set up business in the Reading Farmers Market. After Pappy withdrew the money from the bank and gave it to Charles, Pappy said, “Now I want to say this! You must always remember that sixteen ounces is a pound, not fifteen ounces. Always remember that pennies make the dollars.” This became a help for him to get into the meat business.
Other memories include the time a grandson, by the name of
The area in which Pappy Gehman lived and worked was in a small
circumference of the northeastern part of
Different traits: The different
personalities and appearances of the parents were reflected in the children.
Emma (Gehman) Martin was like her father, a little emotional and quick. She was
“fiery.” Instead of walking across the room, she would literally run. When she
ironed, she did it fast with quick movements. In contrast, Tillie Gehman, who
married Noah Martin when Emma died, was slow. Tillie was a “Hollinger” while
Emma was a “Gehman.” Wayne, who died at the age of 39 from Hodgkins’s disease,
was six foot tall and a strong person.
Into this home my father was born, sharing characteristics of both parents. His face was more like a Gehman with his nose and forehead, while the Hollingers had a small chin. He was more on the quiet side and somewhat reserved and shy like the Hollingers.
Relationship
of Rudy H. Gehman and “Father” William Gehman
“Gehman,” of course, is a legendary name in the history of the
Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church (MBC). The Zionsville (MBC)
In summary we lay out the first four known generations of the Gehmans:[12]
Martin Gouman (born about
1555; married to Anni Berger)
Nicholas Gouman (born
Hans Gouman
(born
Christian Gouman (“the elder”) (born
Christian Gouman “the elder” became the first known Gehman to
make a public confession of Anabaptist faith. He was called a ‘hardneck” because
of his refusal to give up his Anabaptist faith and was imprisoned with his son,
Christian “the younger,” on
Christian Gouman “the elder,” four-hundred years ago, is the first common forefather of Rudy H. Gehman and “Father” William Gehman.
Christian Gouman “the elder” had two sons pertinent for our genealogies:
Christian Gouman, born 1 March 1678, the forefather of William Gehman;
and Benedict Gauman, born
In outline form the succeeding generations are as follows:
Christian Gouman “the
younger” (born
Christian Gauman (born
Jacob Gehman (born
George Gehman (born
William Gehman (born
Allen M.
Gehman (born
Ruth N. Gehman (born
Benedict Gauman
(born
Christian Gauman (born
Daniel Gehman
(born about 1741; married to Veronica/Franica Gehman)
Daniel Gehman (born about February 1779; married to Elizabeth
Bowman)
Joseph Gehman (born
Henry
Gehman (born
Joseph H. Gehman (born
Rudy H. Gehman (born
Richard J. Gehman (born
Forefathers of “Father” William Gehman:
Christian Gouman “the younger”
(born
Christian Gauman,
born
Forefathers of Rudy H. Gehman: Benedict Gauman, born
Christian Gauman,
born
It is of interest that Pappy Gehman, my dad’s father, lived and
worked in areas surrounding Adamstown, Bowmansville, and
While William Gehman and W.G. Gehman were “movers and shakers” in the MBC, my father was a quiet servant of the Lord, ministering faithfully in the places of God’s appointment. One older ministering brother, David Thoman, observed that my dad was “a very quiet man. I cannot remember him speaking at Conference.” Then he added, “Of course in the early years no one expressed their own opinions at Conference because H. B. Musselman and W.G. Gehman were the dominant voices.” My father and mother were humble and submissive; they both had deep respect for H.B. Musselman and the MBC leadership. Never once in my memory do I ever remember a word of criticism or complaining about the denominational leadership. Perhaps a bonding relationship grew earlier on when R.L. Woodring, my mother’s father, began serving as a young pastor under the care of H.B. Musselman. Who knows what words were spoken by H.B. Musselman that led a young Gospel Herald by the name of Rudy H. Gehman to date the daughter of R.L. Woodring? Though that is speculation, we do know that matchmaking did take place and there was mutual respect. For some reason I found in our family possessions an old Bible which had belonged to H.B. Musselman. How my parents received it, I do not know. I can only assume that this gift was an indication of the mutual respect that both H.B. and my father had for each other.
What is apparent is that God had granted the gift of denominational leadership to “Father” William Gehman and his son, W.G. Gehman; and to my father God granted the gift of pastor-teacher as the pastoral leader of particular churches.
MY FATHER’S LIFE AND MINISTRY
Early Years of Formation for Ministry
My dad was born on
Rudy was one of nine children; there were three boys and six
girls. Lizzie, the first born, was nine years older. My dad was the second
youngest and always seemed closest to his younger sister, Katie, born on
When my dad was six years old, Pappy Gehman bought a 120 acre farm nearby where my dad lived for twelve years. In my dad’s picture album, showing the farm where he grew up, he wrote the caption, “The place where I got my start.” He grew up very close to his sister Lizzie, her husband, Peter Martin, and their children (my dad’s cousins) who lived in shouting distance from the place where my dad lived.
Dad was a real boy. One evening after supper, so the story goes according to Aunt Katie, “while his sisters were doing the dishes, Rudy was also in the kitchen, shoeing a horse. Who or what represented the horse [Katie] does not know. But it seems the horse kicked. Rudy quickly stepped back right in the path of his sister who was carrying a stack of plates. Neither boy nor horse suffered from the collision, but the plates didn’t do so good. I think only two survived unbroken. Mother wasn’t exactly pleased, you may be sure.”
Dad loved climbing trees of which many could be found on the farm including apple and cherry trees. Aunt Katie wrote, “Now if trees weren’t made to climb, what are they for? Anyway, this was one of Rudy’s games. One tree had, several feet from the ground, a broken branch, part of which was protruding with a sharp, jagged point. When Rudy came down, he slipped, catching his knee on the branch, resulting in a severe cut.”
Aunt Katie continues, “Now in those days one did not consult a doctor for every ‘little scratch.’ So, very likely, the wound was thoroughly cleansed with cold water, several lily leaves applied as bandages… and that was that. This however left a permanent scar. The lily leaves? That was one of our home remedies. The petals of the Madoma lily were placed in a small jar, filled with whisky and kept on the medicine shelf. There must have been medicinal value, for this remedy for cuts was widely used.”[20]
Dad attended White Oak, a one room school house. Schools were not graded as now. Students advanced by Readers, beginning with a Primer, then First Reader on through Fifth. The latter would compare today to eighth grade. He was probably 13 or 14 when he quit school. Katie writes, “We walked to school of course, down a long lane or during winter months we could cut across the fields. Once, when there was a deep snow with a hard crust, Rudy, Tillie and I were on the way to school. I in first grade had difficulty breaking through the crust. The other two took longer steps than I could manage, so I was fussing. After awhile Rudy said, ‘We’ll fix you tomorrow morning. We’ll put you on the sled.’ So taking our homemade sled, which was against the school’s rules, we started off. At first it was fine where the field was level. But then there was a slope. The sled was coming faster. Rudy couldn’t run fast enough and he fell. The sled went to one side over the snow and I went the other way, ending up with multiple scratches on my face and hands. I had to go back home.”[21]
“Life on the farm was, by today’s standards, not very exciting. There was, to be sure, plenty of work of all sorts. There was the care of the animals – cows to be milked and fed, feeding and grooming of the horses. There was work in the fields, planting, cultivating and harvesting. Rudy of course was part of all this.”[22] There were many chores associated with the care of hundreds of chickens and many pigs. When Jacob Weber was at the farm one summer, he remembers that Tillie and Anna used to milk the cows.
Pappy Gehman went to the Reading Farmer’s Market twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. “Consequently, Monday and Friday were ‘getting ready’ days. Immediately after breakfast, father and boys would go to the truck patch, gathering radishes, beets and whatever was ready. These were brought by wheelbarrow to the ‘shanty,’ a large room adjoining the summer house. The floor was concrete with running water available and two large wooden wash tubs set on boxes. Here the vegetables were washed. Two of us would be working in one tub. It wasn’t difficult to ‘happen’ to splash your partner. Depending on his mood, it was either fun or a fight. We had great times, believe me. Following the scrubbing, the ‘stuff’ would go to the cutting-bunching table, then packed in crates and stacked, ready for the truck. Sometimes we sang, sometimes we fought, but by late afternoon, all was finished.”[23]
There was a day when the young Gehmans were weeding the garden. Their subject of conversation was their ambitions of what they would be when they would become adults. Each one expressed their opinion. Aunt Katie says, “It would be interesting to know what they were but I don’t remember because I was not yet born. Rudy was only seven years of age. However, after the others were thru, Rudy pulled himself up, standing straight and tall and announced, ‘I am going to be a preacher.’ They probably laughed, never dreaming it would come true.”
However, life on the farm was not all work. One form of diversion in the evening, especially during the winter, was singing. Aunt Katie writes, “We gathered around the little organ, singing hymns and gospel songs. We sang until the rafters rattled almost. Loving music, Rudy must really have enjoyed all of this. There were games – checkers and fig-mill cards, that is, Flinch and Old Maid. These were all home-made. The checker board was the design drawn on the back of a calendar. After playing, the calendar was placed on the wall. The ‘men’ were corn kernels – one whole and one half kernels.” Katie wrote, “I definitely remember playing these games with Rudy. He was usually the winner.”
After Pappy Gehman left the farm, he operated a shirt factory
in Bowmansville from 1916-1921. Various members of the family joined their
helping hands. As a young man my dad began working in the shirt factory with his
brothers Wayne and Monroe. In 1921 Pappy Gehman moved to Adamstown where for one
year he and my dad operated a feed mill. Then in 1922 they moved to
During that time Aunt Katie led my dad to the Lord in her bedroom when he was 21 or 22 years of age. He told Kathryn Dietz how he was saved in his sister’s bedroom. “I felt so light,” he said. ‘Ichvesis, ichvesis,’ meaning ‘I know it, I know it.’ He knew that he was saved.”[24]
Soon after this my dad left the work with his father and went
for training for the Christian ministry, first to
Preparation for Ministry
My dad went off to
In the summer of 1924 he painted “the new farm buildings” Pappy
Gehman had built. The first sermon that he preached is dated
Although we know little of his studies at Moody, we did find
among his sermon notes a four page paper that appears to be a talk that he had
given at Moody Bible Institute, based on II Timothy 2:15. He begins the talk by
saying that II Timothy
Why he limited his Bible studies to one four-month term is unknown. With Pappy Gehman’s opposition to higher education, he may have lacked courage or conviction to pursue a diploma at Moody over his dad’s displeasure. Pappy had opposed Katie’s desire to attend high school and then prevented her from attending Moody Bible Institute. She only achieved her dreams through Moody Bible Institute correspondence courses. But his thirst for knowledge and his desire to prepare for ministry drove him to do some study. Aunt Katie also suggested that he may have taken Moody Correspondence courses like she had. She further commented, “Although his education was limited, he was a student and read a lot.” Years later, Mildred Musselman, one of his parishioners and a Steward in Coopersburg in the 1950s, wrote, “Rudy Gehman was a great student of the Bible and a good preacher and friend.”[27]
Preacher in the
Following his brief training he began to preach in the
“
He was first ordained to the Gospel ministry by Rev. A.M. Fretz
of
Since the services in the
In February, 1915, Menno Myers was sent by Rev. A.M. Fretz, the
elder/pastor of “The General Conference of Mennonites,” to hold evangelistic
services at the
Preacher in the Gospel Heralds
My dad was then led from the “New Mennonites” of Oberholtzer’s
Church, namely, the General Conference of Mennonites, to the Gospel Herald
Society and the other “New Mennonites” of William Gehman’s Church, namely, the
Mennonite Brethren in
Presumably, my dad became connected with the Gospel Heralds
through his brother-in-law, Menno Myers, and his sister, Hettie. In the fall of
1921 M.M. Myers and Hettie (Esther) were sent to
Hettie shared the ministry with the Gospel Herald mission in
In November, 1932, Menno and Hettie Myers were transferred to
In October, 1928, the MBC Annual Conference considered the question of recognizing my father for ministry. Upon examination, they recommended that he be granted an Annual Conference License.[30]
And thus my dad became officially recognized in the ministry of
the Mennonite Brethren in
The Gospel Heralds with whom he worked and who are pictured in
his album include: Paul E. Baer, C.L. Miller, Eugene George, Wilbur Hartman,
Herbert Hartman, E.B. Hartman, E.W. Bean, “Brother Wieand,” and Arthur Sprock.
These were all single, young men who cared for all their personal needs.
Pictures show them washing and hanging up their clothes on the top of flat roofs
within urban settings with the captions, “Washday” and “Housework.” As young men
we may assume they joked and played around. There is a picture of Herbert
Hartman on the top of a flat roof with a rope tied around his neck and with the
appearance of being hung. Another picture shows C.L. Miller lying down
precariously with his arms flung up in the air at the edge of a precipice eight
hundred feet high overlooking the
Throughout my dad’s picture album he made comments full of dry humor. A group of six men got on their hands and knees to form a pyramid, three on the bottom, two above them and my dad on the top. The inscription reads: “How light I feel! What happened in the evening?” We will never know. On the next page is a picture of “The Bluffton College Girls Glee Club” with the words, “How they did sing!” He obviously enjoyed himself at Bluffton. Under a picture of “The Lincoln Hall, Bluffton,” he wrote, “The girls envy us now. 1923-24.” In the same series of pictures he shows four young men including himself with the caption, “Happy? Well some!” Right next to that is a picture of a young girl and the caption, “Adeline, she sent a cake, but too late.” What does this imply? A picture of my dad dressed in his Gospel Herald uniform has the caption, “When I was a priest.”
But most of the pictures are of Gospel Herald ministries. They had many tent meetings. Mending the large tents, assembling and erecting the large canvas “tabernacles” were all part of their work. Large gatherings of people are pictured with the tents in the background. Groups of fifty children appear in front of a tent for their photograph. Pictures show the Gospel Heralds with their congregants and friends.
A major part of the week’s ministry was devoted to the selling of the Gospel Herald magazine. Every morning, for five days a week, they were required to do colportage ministry. David E. Thomann would introduce himself as a Mennonite missionary. Many Gospel Heralds did not like this aspect of ministry. It not only was a means of distributing Gospel literature and opening doors for witness; it was a source of income.[31] My father sold anywhere between 12 and 30 Gospel Heralds daily, according to his scanty records.
Many baptisms of new converts are also shown in the pictures.
According to his records he
baptized 45 by immersion in the
During his three year ministry in Chester, PA, he baptized nineteen, including ten who were over 23 years of age, one being 60.
Life was not easy on the side of finance. The MBC appropriated $15 to $20 monthly for each couple. The offerings from the small missions were added, together with the little profit earned from the sale of the Gospel Heralds. From this the expenses of the mission were first paid. Whatever was left over was distributed to the Gospel Heralds. W.G. Gehman would come every month for ministry and a report.
Menno Myers describes his experience when serving in the Gospel
Heralds in the
On one occasion, “when we had nothing in the house to set on the table for the evening meal, except maybe a crust of bread, Esther was cheerful and I believe she had faith that God would supply the need in time. She set the plates, etc. on the table. Esther, myself and the three boys sat down around the table with nothing before us to eat. We returned thanks to God, and when we had done that, thanks to God the doorbell rang. One of the boys ran to the door, and believe it or not, there was a large box full of all kinds of groceries, a great deal more than could be used up in one day.”[32]
Before becoming a Gospel Herald, my father had life-insurance. This he surrendered when joining the MBC because of the church’s stand against life insurance. In 1896 the MBC conference passed a resolution, recognizing the “great evils around us of life insurance,” and recommended that instead of life insurance churches should care for the poor of their classes through “some benevolent principles, such as supporting and visiting the sick” and the use of deacons to look after the “poor of their class.” “Whenever a class is unable to support their own poor, the deacon shall apply to the Poor Committee for assistance. In case the treasury is empty, the Poor Committee shall collect for this purpose from the various circuits.” It is of interest that in 1960 the BFC sought ways to provide insurance for pastors.
My dad was truly a humble man, full of patience and forbearance which enabled him to endure such deprivation. Pastor R.C. Reichenbach said to me, “Your father was one of the gentlest people I know. He would never lord it over you but was gentle. Whatever he said to you was very fatherly, gentle and kind. Your mother was also very sweet and quiet. She never spoke much. In the Gospel Herald Society your dad was a very sweet person to be around. His attitude was one of graciousness. He was not outspoken. He was one of the quiet men. Even in the Annual Conference he was a quiet individual. But he was faithful in serving his people.”[33]
In October 1931, after serving in the Gospel Heralds since October 1927 and being a probationer for three years and having completed his three years’ Reading Course “creditably,” and believed to be a “sincere, conscientious and promising young man,” the MBC delayed his ordination, along with E.W. Bean and A.M. Sprock, for more experience to prove himself.[34]
My dad continued to serve faithfully and patiently.
Marriage of Rudy H. Gehman and Dora N. Woodring
Some time during my dad’s service in