Christian History Home > Issue 49 > Everyday Faith in the Middle Ages: History in the Making - Pentecost at Prime Time
Everyday Faith in the Middle Ages: History in the Making - Pentecost at Prime Time
Early religious TV presented huge challenges, which Pentecostals met better than most.
David Harrell is a professor of history at Auburn University in Alabama. He is author of "Oral Roberts: an American Life" (Indiana) and "Pat Robertson: A Personal, Religious, and Political Portrait" (Harper & Row). | posted 1/01/1996 12:00AM
I saw this new thing called television,” Rex Humbard later recalled, “and I said, ‘That’s it.’ God has given us that thing … the most powerful force of communication, to take the gospel into … every state in the Union.” The year was 1952, and Humbard was the first evangelical preacher to launch a successful television ministry out of his church in Akron, Ohio.
Evangelical preachers had taken to radio with gusto in the 1920s and 1930s. The leap from radio to television, however, was huge, and the pioneer evangelists who used the medium in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s faced enormous challenges.
Mainline Opposition
Most religious programming of the early 1950s (with the exception of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s uniquely successful teaching program) was sponsored by the National Council of Churches. The programs were produced on low budgets and presented on Sundays in free time given by the networks to satisfy a public service requirement. The NCC was careful to see that none of the free time fell ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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