This is the site of the old Franklin College, the largest university in North Texas in the 19th century. It operated from 1872 until 1900, when public education was made available. Just eight years later, the Association of Pentecostal Churches from New England, the Church of the Nazarene from California, and the Holiness Churches of Christ from the South all
met here in a tent to establish the national Church of the Nazarene. Notably, one Southern delegate embraced a Northern delegate "for the first time in a while, it being so soon after the [Civil] War. In 1983, the red granite monument was placed to commemorate their Diamond Anniversary, and on it are plaques from their Golden Anniversary and the Diamond Anniversary. On the front:
Fifty years ago under a gospel tent on this site the Church of the Nazarene was born. This church came into being through the fusion of certain Holiness bodies previously organized in the West, the East, and the South, who were united in the larger fellowship for the express purpose of conserving and spreading the doctrine of entire sanctification as a second crisis experience, the heritage of every Christian. The union took place on October 13, 1908; their numbers totaled 10,414 members.
At the General Assembly held on this site they elected as Board of General Superintendents
Phineas F. Bresee from the West
Hiram F. Reynolds from the East
Edgar P. Ellyson from the South
Phineas F. Bresee, in many respects the founder and moving spirit of the new organization, expressed the vision of them all in this confession:
"We are debtors to every man to give him the Gospel in the same measure as we have received it."
Today some 350,000 people call themselves Nazarenes and their missionary enterprise reaches into 40 world areas.
1908-1958
Golden Anniversary Celebration held at this site
October 13, 1958
Pilot Point, Texas
and
1908-1983
Diamond Anniversary Celebration Held at this Site
October 13, 1983
The International Church of the Nazarene celebrates its 7,600 congregations with excess of 1,000,000 persons who call themselves Nazarenes in 75 world areas.
On the back:
Ministers Serving As
General Superintendents of
the Church of the Nazarene
During the First Fifty Years
of the Denomination's History
in Order of Their Election:
Phineas F. Bresee
Hiram F. Reynolds
Edgar P. Ellyson
Edward F. Walker
William C. Wilson
John W. Goodwin
Roy T. Williams
James B. Chapman
Joseph G. Morrison
Orval J. Nease
Howard V. Miller
In Office at the Time of
the Fiftieth Anniversary
Hardy C. Powers
Gideon B. Williamson
Samuel Young
Daniel L. Vanderpool
Hugh C. Benner
and
General Superintendents
1958-1983
V.H. Lewis
George Coulter
Edward Lawlor
Eugene L. Stowe
Orville Jenkins
Charles Strickland
William Greathouse
Jerald D. Johnson