Davey du plessis biography definition

PERSONAL:

Born February 5, 1905, in Twenty-four Rivers, South Africa; immigrated to the United States, 1948; died in January, 1987, in Pasadena, CA; son of David J. (a carpenter) and Anna C. Du Plessis; married Anna Cornelia Jacobs, 1927. Education: Attended Grey University, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

CAREER:

Ordained minister of Assemblies of God, c. 1927-62, 1980-87; Apostolic Faith Mission, general secretary, 1936-47, also founder of an orphanage and a pension system for ministers; Pentecostal World Conference, Basel, Switzerland, organizational secretary, 1947-58; affiliate of Church of God, 1949; Lee College, Cleveland, TN, faculty member, 1949-52; pastor of Church of God, Stamford, CT, 1952-56; Voice of Healing Fellowship, Dallas, TX, secretary, beginning 1956; Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, worked as resident consultant for ecumenical affairs. Pentecostal Fellowship of North America, founding member, 1948; founding member of a Roman Catholic-Pentecostal dialogue in the 1970s.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Good Merit Medal, Pope John Paul II, 1983; the David J. Du Plessis Center for Christian Spirituality was established in his honor at Fuller Theological Seminary, 1985.

WRITINGS:

The Spirit Bade Me Go, privately printed (Oakland, CA), 1961, revised edition, Logos International (Plainfield, NJ), 1977.

(With Bob Slosser) The Man Called Mr. Pentecost, Logos International (Plainfield, NJ), 1977.

Simple and Profound, Paraclete Press (Pentwater, MI), 1986.

Editor of the Pentecostal magazine Comforter/Trooster.

Du Plessis's papers are collected at the David J. Du Plessis Center for Christian Spirituality, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Religious Leaders of America, 2nd edition, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1999.

Robinson, Martin, To the Ends of the Earth: The Pilgrimage of an Ecumenical Pentecostal, David J. Du Plessis (1905-1987), University of Birmin

South African-born American Pentecostal minister

For the South African Olympic shooter, see David du Plessis (sport shooter). For Calvinist missionary, see Johannes Du Plessis.

David Johannes du Plessis (7 February 1905 – 2 February 1987) was a South African-born American Pentecostal minister. He is considered one of the main founders of the charismatic movement, in which the Pentecostal experience of baptism with the Holy Spirit spread to non-Pentecostal churches worldwide.

Biography

Born to missionary parents, an 11-year-old du Plessis accepted Christ in 1916, and he received the Pentecostal baptism with the Holy Spirit accompanied by speaking in tongues at the age of 13. He was ordained in 1928 by the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa (AFM). In 1935, he became the general secretary of the denomination where he advocated closer ties between the AFM and South Africa's three sister churches. He later recalled that in 1936 Smith Wigglesworth, during a preaching tour in South Africa, prophesied over him that God would out pour his Spirit upon the historic churches and that he, Du Plessis, would be greatly involved in this.

He worked with Donald Gee to promote cooperation among Pentecostal groups and was involved in organizing the first Pentecostal World Conference (PWC) in 1947. A year later, he resigned as secretary of the AFM to become organizing secretary for the PWC. He served in this role for nine years until 1959.

Du Plessis and his family moved to the United States in the late 1940s. He taught at Lee College, a Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) school, from 1949 to 1951. He received preaching credentials from the Assemblies of God (USA) and moved to Stamford, Connecticut, in 1952 to serve as interim pastor of Stamford Gospel Tabernacle. In 1962, he surrendered his Assemblies of God preaching credentials under pressure from denominational leadership who o

David du Plessis’ birth and family

David Johannes du Plessis was a South African-born (but naturalised American) ecumenical and international Pentecostal spokesman whose influence amongst international denominations earned him the nickname ‘Mr. Pentecost.’

He was born on February 7, 1905 in a small town called Twenty-Four Rivers near Cape Town, at the far south-western tip of South Africa. His parents became Pentecostal Christians in 1914 through the ministries of John G. Lake and Thomas Hezmalhalch, who had come out of the ministry of John Alexander Dowie in Zion, Illinois.

In 1916, David’s family moved to Basutoland (renamed Lesotho in 1966) as missionaries, then a year later to Ladybrand where David’s father applied his carpentry skills to aid the missionaries. It was here that David became impressed with the joyfulness of the black believers and was converted during a thunderstorm, aged 12 years .

David du Plessis’ conversion

He decided to try to outrun the storm, but soon he found himself in the midst of a downpour. He was about a third of the eleven miles home when a lightning bolt struck the ground no more than twenty feet in front of him and his horse, followed by a deafening thunderclap.

Half thrown from his horse already, he slid off the rest of the way and called out, ‘Jesus! Save me! Save me!’ Assurance of salvation was immediate. When home his mother asked how he managed to get through the storm. His answer was simple, ‘Well, Jesus saved me.’

Baptised in the Spirit

In 1918 at about of thirteen years of age, David was baptised in the Holy Spirit at meetings held by Charles Heatley in the storehouse of a coffin maker! The waiting was spread over two days and he realised that a long-time secret sin was restricting the Spirit’s flow. After he confessed he had a vision. He saw a book being held by two hands whose pages were totally white and clean.

Then he heard a voice say, ‘There is nothin

David Johannes du Plessis (* 7. Februar1905 in Twenty Four Rivers, Kapkolonie; † 2. Februar1987 in Oakland, Kalifornien) war ein in Südafrika geborener Pfingstprediger, der die Charismatische Erneuerung den etablierten christlichen Kirchen im Rahmen der Ökumene vermittelte und als internationaler Sprecher der Pfingstbewegung auftrat, was ihm den Titel „Mr. Pentecost“ einbrachte.

Leben

Südafrika

David Johannes du Plessis wurde 1905 als Sohn einer weißen Familie in einem südafrikanischen Dorf in der Nähe von Kapstadt geboren. Durch die evangelistische Arbeit der 1908 von John G. Lake gegründeten Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa (AFM) schlossen sich die du Plessis 1914 der Pfingstbewegung an. Nach einem Umzug nach Ladybrand im Jahr 1917 bekehrte sich David du Plessis, als er in ein heftiges Unwetter geriet und um sein Leben fürchtete. Im darauffolgenden Jahr erhielt er während eines Gottesdienstes unter dem Prediger Charles Heatley die Taufe mit dem Heiligen Geist und soll nach dem Erhalt einer göttlichen Vision in Zungen geredet haben.

Aus Geldnöten brach er sein Studium ab und zog nach Pretoria, wo er für das Railway Engineering Department zu arbeiten begann. Nebenher leitete er als Prediger eine Kirchengemeinde in einem über einem Ladengeschäft angesiedelten Versammlungsraum, der als „Upper Room“ bekannt war. Hier lernte er Anna Cornelia Jacobs († 1998) kennen, die er im August 1927 heiratete und mit der er sieben Kinder bekommen sollte. 1932 wurde er zum Pastor der Apostolic Faith Mission ordiniert und vier Jahre später zu deren Generalsekretär gewählt. Während er dieses Amt bekleidete, lernte er im Dezember 1936 den pfingstlerischen Evangelisten und GeistheilerSmith Wigglesworth († 1947) kennen. Wigglesworth soll ihm eines Morgens prophezeit haben, dass der Geist Gottes nach seinem Tod über die etablierten Kirchen kommen u