Rev. Fred J. Foster

Freddie Jean Foster was born December 28, 1926, to John Wesley and Ruby Foster. He spent his formative years in Durham Community, Rodger Mills County. The devastating Dust Bowl and the Great Depression caused the family to move to North Valley, New Mexico, just outside Albuquerque, in 1936.

At age sixteen, Fred joined the US Navy and served aboard the minesweeper USS Vigilance. He then attended Military Government School at the Presidio in Monterey, California.

While attending the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and participating in the athletic program, Fred and his future wife, Pat, came to God on the same night in April 1948, under the pastorate of W.H. Massengale during an A.W. Hicks revival. Feeling a call to preach, Fred transferred to Pentecostal Bible Institute (PBI) in Tupelo, Mississippi.

In 1949, PBI summer school students held a brush arbor meeting. After two weeks they were going to close the meeting down, but Fred and another student decided to continue. Many came to God, so they resolved to start a church. Pat joined in this endeavor after their marriage on September 10, 1949. This was the beginning of Cedar Grove Pentecostal Church. Brother and Sister Foster later preached the church's 50th anniversary.

In September 1954, the Fosters founded Calvary Pentecostal Church. In 1958 the Fosters became pastors of Border Street Church (now First United Pentecostal Church) in Orange, Texas. The church grew and a Saturday Bible School for area preachers was developed. (Brother and Sister Foster went back and preached both the 75th and 85th anniversaries of the Orange church.) Brother Foster also was the founding president of Texas Bible College, which was a phenomenal success from its beginning.

Brother and Sister Foster and their family were elected pastor of First Pentecostal Church in West Monroe, Louisiana, in January 1970. The Fosters made sure the church supported the UPCI in every way possible, including giving liberally to all ministry departments, both in the district and globally.

After relinquishing the pastorate to his son, Mark, Brother Foster focused his attention on other ministry endeavors, including writing and speaking. He also served three years as president of Jackson College of Ministries. In 1965, Fred Foster and Edwin Judd became the first General Conference parliamentarians at Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The Foster’s children currently serve as UPCI pastors: Mark in West Monroe, Louisiana; Tom in Dallas, Texas; and Debbie and her husband, Steve Saiz, in Torrance, California. The Fosters have one deceased son, Tim.

Fred Foster passed from this life on August 2, 2018.