Stanley Horton is possibly one of the brightest minds in the Pentecostal movement. His parents were a link to the Azusa Street Revival. He would go to teach at the very school I graduated from, Central Bible College and later the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.

Below is a short message from a chapel service at Central Bible College in 1971.

Dr. Stanley Horton did more to bring biblical theology on the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts to the Pentecostal Church than anyone in the history of the movement, and honestly, in the history of the Church since the Book of Acts.

On a personal note, I was blessed to take the newspaper from Springfield and breakfast to him several times a week when he was living in Maranatha Village. We would talk for an hour or so on most visits about Azusa Street, the healing revivals, and revival in general. Stanley Horton was a lover of revival if it was the real deal.

He also helped get through biblical Greek at CBC as a tutor on those visits. It was very helpful and if not for those tutorial sessions, I don’t think I could have got an A on the test and kept my GPA.

Why Stanley Horton mattered!

In the 1970’s, it was not acceptable to be Pentecostal and academic. You had to be one or the other. However, it was Dr. Horton that made it “cool” to be Pentecostal in doctrine and yet committed to be faithful to the cultural and historical understanding of the text.

The fact the Society for Pentecostal Studies (that I am a member) exist today is largely because of a vision from Stanley Horton. Up to that point, the concept had failed because it “just wouldn’t work.” He helped change the opinion of several leaders in Pentecostalism to make it happen.