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After the
death of William Sowders in 1952, the fellowship that he built
suffered many divisions and splits. Lloyd L. Goodwin came to lead
one of those divisions in 1973. At his death in 1996, Dr. Goodwin
was a leader of a worldwide fellowship consisting of more than one
hundred churches in thirty nations on six continents, was the author
of numerous books and other publications, and was proclaiming the
gospel of the kingdom on numerous radio stations. He also served as
the pastor of the Gospel Assembly Church in Des Moines, Iowa.
Lloyd Goodwin
was born on July 10, 1929, in Evansville, Indiana, to Arlander and
Mathilde Goodwin. His parents were members of Brother William
Sowders' church at Maryland and Raleigh Streets in Evansville,
Indiana, having been saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit in that
church. Lloyd was the first of four children.
When Brother
Sowders moved to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1927, the Goodwin family
was left without a church. They remained out of church until 1947,
but they never lost contact with William Sowders. As time passed,
the family moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where Lloyd Goodwin
graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1947.
The prior
year, the Rev. Charles Morris moved from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to
Nashville, Tennessee, to start a church. William Sowders gave
Brother Morris the address of Arlander and Mathilde Goodwin. He
contacted them and the family began attending house meetings in 1947
at Sis. Balcher's home. Brother Morris urged the Goodwin family to
attend the June, 1947 camp meeting in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. An
eighteen-year-old Lloyd Goodwin went and was converted during this
camp meeting. He sought and later received the baptism of the Holy
Ghost, and became an active member of the Nashville church, playing
in its band. As he studied and participated in church services, it
became obvious that the hand of the Lord was directing a young Lloyd
Goodwin for the ministry.
In 1949,
Arlander Goodwin closed a successful business, sold his home at a
loss, and moved to Louisville, Kentucky to again be a part of
Brother William Sowders' work. This allowed Lloyd to train for the
ministry under William Sowders. The family lived on Highway 44
across the street from the Shepherdsville campground, and traveled
into Louisville, to attend services at 28th and Wilson.
Brother James
Sowders, William Sowders' son, became the pastor of the Louisville
church shortly before his father's death. At that time, Thomas Jolly
was the leader and moderator of the fellowship. Men who needed
additional training for the ministry frequently moved to his church
in St. Louis for ministerial training. Lloyd Goodwin, after marrying
Martha Jane Burns in 1955, moved to St. Louis in 1960.
He pastored
his first church in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, beginning December, 1961.
He learned many lessons in Ft. Smith, but the church did not grow.
He was eventually recalled back to St. Louis in the fall of 1962.
Brother Jolly later sent him to a small church in Des Moines, Iowa,
in March, 1963.
The Des Moines
work was an old, but small church. There were only sixteen people,
ninety-three dollars, and a small white building located at 800 Des
Moines Street. Brother Goodwin pastored that work until his death in
July, 1996. During that time, the church grew to a congregation of
over 400 members. The church outgrew its facilities on Des Moines
Street in 1970, and moved to another building at the corners of 6th
and Clinton Streets. In 1980, a new church was built on eight acres
at 7135 Meredith Drive. At his death, the church owned an eight
acres complex with a church building, educational facilities, an
apartment- dormitory complex, and other assets. He also earned a
doctor of theology degree.
Brother
Goodwin did not follow Thomas Jolly when he broke from the larger
fellowship in 1965. Brother Goodwin continued with the larger
fellowship, but in the early 1970's he began to encounter tension
with his fellow ministers because some of them rejected the
doctrines that Brother Goodwin believed had been revealed to him by
the Lord. Many of the ministers left during a convention in Des
Moines in May, 1972. Brother Goodwin, Brother Carl Voorhees, the
pastor of the Gospel Assembly Church in Kingsport, Tennessee, and a
few others continued on as a small fellowship. By 1975, foreign
works were initiated in Toronto, Canada, and Bombay, India. Churches
began to be added to the fellowship. In January, 1978, Brother
Goodwin and other ministers made their first missionary journey into
Africa, and the fourth into India. The work in Africa flourished
thereafter, with churches being added and built in many sub-Sahara
nations. Churches were later established in the Philippines,
Australia, various European and Asian countries, as well as Guyana,
South America and Haiti.
By 1996,
Brother Goodwin was recognized as the leader of a fellowship of more
than 100 churches in 30 nations on six continents. Yet he remained
committed to the vision of Brother William Sowders.
The Lord
directed Brother Goodwin into doctrinal truths that his predecessors
in the fellowship had not understood. He printed numerous books,
booklets, and magazines that detailed these. Primary truths he
advanced were the first resurrection, the kingdom of God and the
biblical doctrine of predestination. Many of his fellow-ministers
would not accept these teachings at that time.
Prior to his
death, Brother Goodwin began to call for a healing of the divisions
in the fellowship of churches that originated under William Sowders.
He proclaimed that the end-time church will confront organized
religion and an apostate state; and further that the fellowship of
churches that originated since William Sowders, or a remnant of that
fellowship, will be raised up by God to give a final witness to the
world.
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