PAW HISTORY
Reverend Robert McAlister of Canada preached the revelatory sermon espousing baptism in the name of Jesus at the 1913 Arroyo Seco Campground revival. His name appears on early PAW ministerial rosters. 1880 - 1953
REVEREND ROBERT EDWARD MCALISTER Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada
R
obert E. McAlister was born at Ross, Renfrew County, Ontario in 1880. His father, James McAlister, was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church. The family, of Scottish descent, had immigrated to Canada in the early 1800’s, where he spent his youth in Cobden, Ontario.
At the age of twenty-one years old, he attended an evangelistic meeting in Cobden and accepted Christ as his Savior, and thereafter, feeling the call to ministry, he enrolled in “God’s Bible School” in Cincinnati, Ohio. However, with less than two years of training, he was stricken with illness and returned back to Cobden. After recovering, he began conducting evangelistic meetings in western Canada. During the fall of 1906, Reverand McAlister heard about the outbreak of Azusa, and its reports of a spiritual outpouring CHRISTIAN OUTLOOK 4 THE THE CHRISTIAN OUTLOOK 26
in Los Angeles, California. Soon he, like so many others, made his pilgrimage to the Azusa Street Mission. On December 11, 1906, Robert received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, he was one of the first Canadians to receive the Spirit with the evidence of tongues speaking. He continued to preach, but now his message had a Pentecostal anointing. In 1908, he was “a key figure” in a mighty revival that broke out in Ottawa County of Canada. The results of the revival included the construction of the first Pentecostal church building in the country. Reverand McAlister didn’t stop there, but he opened a Pentecostal Mission in Ottawa, one of several congregations he pioneered. When the church began conducting worship services, there was a dance floor over the humble mission, nevertheless, the Lord prospered the work.
“WALKING IN THE PROMISE OF GOD” “WALKING IN THE PROMISE OF GOD”
MARCH/APRIL 2022 JULY/AUGUST 2022
