Serena Hoang

May 4, 2011
Sister Aimee Mission to Proclaim the Word to the World
In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and
have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our
inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:11-14).
Aimee Semple McPherson is a woman whose heart is filled with the ambition to spread the
gospel to as many eyes and ears throughout the world as she possibly can. Early Pentecostals
speculate that the coming of Christ is soon approaching therefore it is imperative that missionary
works is needed for the salvation of mankind. Aimee Semple McPherson aspiration to preach
the gospel globally commenced when she happen to walked into the Pentecostal Revival and
found renewed faith in the Holy Book, began use various outlets of mass media to intertwine
religion with entertainment and politics to an extraordinary degree that many had not dare to
venture toward.
Born as Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy on October 9, 1890, she was the only child of James
and Minnie Kennedy in Ingersoll, Canada. For years, Aimee Kennedy was conflicted with her
spiritual faith and was a person who is never in between positions. At home, she was taught the
written words of the Holy Bible, but while at school, she was introduce to Darwin Theory of
Evolution, a new science that was only a few decades old at the time. She had questioned the
local ministries about God creating the world in six days and of human evolved from animals,
willing to embrace either Darwinism or the Bible, finally decided that if she cannot trust the
Bible on Genesis then she cannot possibly trust the rest of the Book. At seventeen in winter of
1907, Kennedy took a detour to a school rehearsal, when she happens to come across a church
revival affair much different than anything she had ever witness. She was surrounded by

Pentecostals, a new branch of Protestant movement that speaks in tongue, detractors called them
Holy Rollers (Epstein, Daniel Mark, 6). The Pentecostals insist that the language spoken in
tongue was that spoken by the power of the Holy Spirit and through it, they know the places they
need to go to do missionary works. The mission was conducted by a handsome Irish preacher,
Robert Semple, who had made her felt like her was speaking to her very soul through the
message of repent and born-again experience, helped her come to term with her spiritual crisis.
Kennedy fell hard for Robert Semple and within months the two became partners in Pentecostal
faith, wanting to spread the word (Sutton, Matthew A, 11). Not long after they were married, the
self-appointed missionaries couple boarded the steamers to China in 1910 to do their missionary
work (Epstein, Daniel Mark, 9). The McPherson went to there to teach and convert, but China
proved to be too much of a culture shock to Aimee. She had experienced a great deal of
difficulties in the East Asia harsh heat, also the food and culture was much too foreign for a farm
girl like her to grasp (Sutton, Matthew A, 13). Within a short period of their arrival, Robert died
of malaria and she was left alone in Hong Kong eight months pregnant and penniless
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/sister/filmmore/pt.html).
Aimee Semple made her way to New York City where her mother was able to find her
job, collecting money for the Salvation Army. In New York, she met a man name Harold
McPherson who would walk her home from work daily. It wasnt before long that he asks her to
marry him and move to Rhode Island to live a more traditional life, Aimee agreed to his proposal
even though she was still grieving her late beloved husband, but wanting to provide for her infant
daughter. Aimee was not happy living in a traditional life that was called for at the time, playing
the role of a submissive wife and loving mother (Epstein, Daniel Mark, 30-31). Aimee felt as
though she and her late husband had a calling to do something special for God and struggled

with her domestic life after boring her second child. She had problem with appendicitis and had
to go through many difficult surgeries. She talks about the darkness of the hospital and felt as
though the light in her was also diminishing. It was there in the hospital that she heard a voice
from God calling to her, Now will you go? Now will you go? It was in the moment that she
had decided to go back to her ministry and do what she was called to do (Sutton, Matthew A,
20). Soon after she was discharged from the hospital, she left her husband taking the midnight
train with one child on each arm, sending him a telegram stating she was going back to her farm
in Canada and that she had tried to live his way, would he in turn now live hers
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/sister/filmmore/pt.html)?
Harold McPherson joined Aimee revival campaign, moving from town to town, but it
was tough on him. He abraded the nomadic life and had to depend on others to stay afloat while
Aimee blossom with her new life. Harold would soon leave her and filed for a divorce because
living such a nomadic life was taking a toll on him. Many thought that because of this, she was
never again close to anyone else in her life (Epstein, Daniel Mark, 67). Aimee would pitch up
tents to do her sermons and talked of her life, how she can relate to her listeners, and soon turn it
all to preach of the gospel of a loving God, repentance, and that Jesus is the only fulfillment
needed in life instead of the usual gospel of fear and damnations preach by the other ministries.
She moved from town to town embracing everyone, especially the blacks and the
disenfranchised whites because she believes that the gospel should be heard by all mankind.
Everyone would soon call her only as Sister Aimee. Early Pentecostal people were generally
poor, but felt as though it was only ethnical to offer the little that they have to the missionary
efforts. Not only was Sister Aimee given money, but people had offered to print up flyers or help
her pay a bill (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/sister/filmmore/pt.html).

After her divorce, Sister Aimees mother, Minnie joined her in her campaign and they
became the first women to travel the road unaccompanied by a man. Her mother bought her a
car which they used to easily travel from town to town. She also used her car as a media outlet
because she was hoping that it would be advertise in a way that could be seen by as many people as
possible as she drove cross country at approximately 200 miles a day . Jesus is coming Soon-Get ready
is painted on one side of the car & Where will you spend eternity? on the other. When Sister Aimee

was in San Diego, she used her first airplane ride experience to throw out fifteen-thousand
leaflets over the city to promote her revival. When her followers were getting at a record high,
she would rent out auditoriums in the cities so that all may attend to her sermons
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/sister/filmmore/pt.html).
Once she had saved up enough money, she moved to Los Angeles and built her very own
Angelus Temple in Echo Park. This massive church could seat up to over five-thousand people
and she would perform sermons three times a day, seven days a week. Sister Aimee dramatic
production was unlike anything anyone would have expected from a normal church therefore
drew in many who would never step into a synagogue and was then presented by Sister with the
message of salvation. She had a flair for production with elaborate costumes, shows, and faith
healing that would draw in more followers to the evangelist. She was known for her faith
healing where she would lay her hands on the sick and pray, once said to have heal a paralyze old
woman which of whom have never been able to walk. She would also have thirty to fifty people
come

up

to

the

stage

during

each

sermon

to

be

reborn

again

(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/sister/filmmore/pt.html).
Once the radio was born, Sister build her own radio station and was the first woman to
have broadcast license. KFSG broadcast was like Angelus Temple sermons, consisting of the

healing services, having the listeners to place their hands on their radio sets to pray, and series
dramas

teaching

people

of

Gods

words

(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/sister/filmmore/pt.html). She had envision the potential of the

radio station reaching out to those far away as a major mass media outlet, but the medium grew
even more than she had hope that it would be.
Sister Aimee not only mixes religion with the entertainment industry but also religion
with politics. When John Scopes was put on trial for teaching his students evolution, as it is
against the law of Tennessee, she stood back and watches it unfold with keen interest. Then she
was ready to use her media empire to rally out support against Darwins Theory. Sister Aimee
was doing everything she can do get religion and the Bible back into the LA school district the
teaching of evolution out of the classrooms (Epstein, Daniel Mark, 84-86). The officials was
unhappy with this because their city was thriving and hopeful that LA was to be the great city as
Athens was in Greece and bring the Olympics to their city. On January 1926, after the trial and
rallies had died down, she big her follower farewell for a long overdue vacation
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/sister/filmmore/pt.html).
Aimee Semple McPherson was a woman many would believe as to be before her time.
She had conflicting spiritual crisis in her small farm life learning of different things in her home
and school life. She found her resolve her faith in the Pentecostal revival and her calling in
spreading the word out to the world. She learn that the best way to campaign is through mass
media and had use every outlet resource possible to gain followers in teaching the faith. Not
only was she successful in her calling, but she intertwine religion to entertainment and even
politics which most would not have dare to mix the two together. Though by the end of her life

her revival was not as she would have hoped for it to be, she left back a huge impact on religion
being use in the entertainment industry not just in California, but throughout the world.

Work Cited:
American Experience: Sister Aimee. January 29,2007. Public Broadcasting Station. April 20,
2011. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/sister/filmmore/pt.html>.
Epstein, Daniel Mark.

Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee Semple McPherson. New York:

Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1993

Sutton, Matthew A.

Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America.

Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2007.

Written Report Score Sheet

I will use this score sheet to evaluate your report. Check to be sure you have met all
the requirements of this assignment. Attach this sheet to the back of your report.

Topic:__Aimee

Semple
McPherson_______________________

STUDEN
T

REPORT REQUIREMENTS

CHECK

POSSIBL
E
POINTS

Introduction/thesis
10
About the significance of the individuals life

Historical Content
40
*specific, accurate, and the most significant information
related to illustrating the topic.

*well-organized and developed in a logical way that

draws the reader through your explanation
paragraphs well constructed
fluid transitions

*mastery of English language usage, mechanics

POINTS
EARNE
D

Topic submitted by due date

Parenthetical Citations

10

At end of each body paragraph for information

After each direct quote

Works Cited

10

Credibility, proper number and form

Adjustments

TOTAL SCORE

75