Howard Carter (early Pentecostal evangelist)
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Alfred Howard Carter (1891-1971) was one of the greatest pioneers of the Pentecostal Christian faith.
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[edit] While serving in prison
Carter was born in London. During the time of World War I, Carter served in a prison in England as a conscientious objector to the war. While serving in prison, he claimed to have received the revelation of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. These teachings, based on the text of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, are still used today as the primary teaching on the gifts of the Spirit within all major Pentecostal Christian belief systems.
[edit] The Crown Mission
In 1913 an organization called the Crown Mission began in Birmingham. Shortly thereafter, Carter would become the leader of this group. By 1916 he became involved in a second Pentecostal work, and had to quit his regular work to maintain leadership of the two churches.
[edit] Hampstead Bible School
In 1921 Carter was handed over leadership of Hampstead Bible School, originally to be on a temporary basis until a more suitable person was available to fill the opening. That never happened, as he held this position for some twenty seven years. Under Carter's leadership the school grew so much that they had to purchase a nearby house and two more Bible schools were opened up.
He took his work so seriously at the school that he did not receive any of the money donated to the school for his own use unless it was marked specifically for him, and he paid his own room and board to the school out of his salary.
[edit] Assemblies of God
Howard Carter later became a founding member of the Assemblies of God Church in Ireland and Great Britain. He served on the General Council of these groups as vice-chairman from 1929-1934, and as chairman from 1934-1945.
[edit] His final days
Howard Carter left the Hampstead Bible School in 1948 and moved to the United States. He spent the rest of his life there and began to travel extensively as a preacher until his death in 1971.
[edit] Howard Carter and Lester Sumrall
Howard Carter and Lester Sumrall first met in Eureka Springs, Arkansas when Carter was in his forties and Sumrall was in his early twenties. They formed an immediate relationship and traveled the world together as missionaries preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sumrall has written about Carter in his books Adventuring with Christ and Pioneers of Faith. Sumrall also expounds on Carter's teachings of the nine gifts of the Spirit in his book The Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit. Although Carter played such a significant part in the expansion of the Pentecostal message throughout the world, few of his recorded sermons exist to today. One sermon is available for sale through the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center, of the Assemblies of God, in Springfield, MO. Other rare recordings of Carter are available to listen to, by download for free, at www.brothermel.com. In these recordings, Howard Carter is preaching at the First Assemblies of God Church in Pasadena, Texas in 1964.
