Rev. Andrew D. Urshan

Reverend Andrew D. Urshan was born on May 17, 1884, in Persia, in a village called Adabjaloo. This village lay approximately four hundred miles northwest of Mt. Ararat, where Noah’s ark rested. Andrew was converted in his homeland in 1900. In 1902, he came to the United States, landing in Yonkers, New York. He began preaching the gospel in 1904, and remained faithful to his calling until his death sixty-three years later.

In 1906, in Chicago, he witnessed a new touch of God’s sanctifying grace and a fresh divine anointing that set him on fire to win lost souls. He immediately began personal work among his fellow Assyrian people, with marked success. Two years later, in 1908, the Holy Ghost baptism fell upon converts in an unexpected manner in the upper room in Moody Bible Institute. This led him to seek the Lord again with a new determination to receive this heavenly outpouring of God’s spirit. On July 4, 1908, the Lord baptized him with the Holy Ghost and he spoke with tongues for several hours. The Lord opened the door for Brother Urshan to not only preach in the United States, but also in the British isles, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Persia (now Iran).

During his lifetime, he wrote and polished at least eight books that were widely distributed. He was ordained in 1910, in Chicago, by William Durham. In 1917, Andrew Urshan was united in marriage with Mildred Harriet Hammergren. They were blessed with four children: Grace, Faith, Nathaniel, and Andrew II, who died in 1951.

It was in 1917, that he began publication of a monthly periodical ''There is Sunshine in the Shadows.''

On November 29, 1932, he affiliated with Pentecostal Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ and served as a presbyter in the eastern states. During his many years as a minister, he effectively evangelized throughout the nation and the world. Thousands were won to the Jesus Name message through his fervent, earnest, prayerful ministry. In 1933, he became pastor of the Satisfaction Gospel Mission (later the Apostolic Faith Christian Church) in New York City. He resigned this pastorate in 1950, and spent the remainder of his life speaking in special meetings, evangelistic services, and conferences.

In the early 1950s, Brother Urshan married Ethel May Dugas, who was his companion until her death. It was also in the early 1950s, that he moved to Long Beach, California, which was his home until his death. He preached his last sermon on October 12, 1967, in Bay City, Texas, in Pastor R. E. Johnson’s assembly.

The inspiring and effective ministry of Andrew D. Urshan, the ''Persian Evangelist'', made a lasting contribution to the present-day Oneness Pentecostal movement as we know it. He was a strong preacher of the Name of Jesus and a lover of the message of holiness unto the lord. Brother Urshan went to be with the lord on October 16, 1967, at the age of eighty-two.