From the day the doors opened on January 1, 1923, a mighty spiritual revival surged into Angelus Temple with ever-increasing power and fervor. Eight thousand converts knelt at the altars in the first six months, and 1,500 believers were baptized in water. Hundreds were healed and baptized with the Holy Spirit. One thousand young people covenanted together to serve as the Angelus Temple Foursquare Crusaders. And as the weeks and months passed, new outreaches commenced.
In February, the Prayer Tower opened, where prayer has not ceased as men gather in two-hour shifts during the night, and women pray during the day, bringing before God thousands of requests that come by mail, telephone and telegraph from all over the world.
In the same month, we instituted the Bible training school, which would in time become L.I.F.E. Bible College—the Lighthouse of International Foursquare Evangelism. To house this school, a building had to be erected, but from the very first day of classes, it proved much too small. Eventually, the 5-1/2-story college building was constructed adjacent to the church, and the original small structure was remodeled into a parsonage, where I lived until 1936.
Then came the challenge of radio! There were only two stations in Los Angeles in 1923. When I sat before my receiving set, over it came floating to my ears songs, music and recitations as clearly as though instruments were playing and voices singing right in the room. And yet they were being broadcast miles away.
My soul was thrilled with the possibilities this media offered for the spread of the gospel. We secured time on a radio station and began broadcasting a few services. But the thought persisted that if Angelus Temple had her own radio station, we could broadcast almost all of the meetings!
Representatives from Western Electric and the Times-Mirror stations assured me that such a broadcasting station could be installed in the Temple for around $25,000. I learned that there were, at that early stage of radio, already over 200,000 receiving sets within a radius of 100 miles of Los Angeles. What an opportunity to spread the gospel!
I spread the challenge to the congregation and to the Bridal Call family. Would they respond with offerings over and above the operating expenses of the church? Months before, I had rejected the suggestion of a brother on the Temple’s board that each member of the church should be assessed $10 a month. I replied that I would sooner resign as pastor and build another church than tax or solicit contributions from anyone individually.
“Everything in this church,” I declared, “is, by God’s grace, going to be by the freewill donations of people who give voluntarily.”
People said that it couldn’t be done that way—that so gigantic an undertaking required guaranteed income. But God provided for the Temple. It was dedicated without debt. God provided for operating expenses.
And God provided, through the love gifts of His people, for the radio station. In February 1924, KFSG—Kall Foursquare Gospel—went on the air, broadcasting the glorious song, “Give the Winds a Mighty Voice, Jesus Saves!”
Adapted from Aimee: The Life Story of Aimee Semple McPherson by Aimee Semple McPherson, copyright 1979. Published by the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.
