Rev. Nicholas J. Bibbs

Nicholas Bibbs Jr. was born on September 1, 1900, in Carrollton, Kentucky. He was the second of eight children born to Nicholas and Lucy Bibbs. The Bibbs family soon moved to Indiana and later to West Virginia.

Although his family was not religious, young Nick Bibbs had a deep hunger for God. Since his father was very opposed to his going to church, his mother would help him sneak out through a window in his bedroom so he could attend. When he was eighteen years old, he visited a Oneness Pentecostal church that was meeting in a small schoolhouse in St. Albans, West Virginia. Being deeply convicted, Nick repented of his sins and was baptized in Jesus’ name by Pastor Chapman. He received the baptism of the Holy Ghost a short time later.

In the early 1920s, he met his future wife, Bessie Coleman, in Pennsylvania. While visiting a Nazarene congregation, he testified of his recent conversion experience, including being baptized in Jesus’ name and receiving the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. The Nazarene pastor felt conviction and asked Brother Bibbs to baptize him. As they gathered at the river, Brother Bibbs asked young Bessie Coleman to hold his coat. At first she said, “No,” but when another girl nearby said, “I will,” Bessie changed her mind and grabbed the coat. Later that day Brother Bibbs told his mother, “Today I saw the girl who is going to be my wife.” They were married on September 27, 1922, and from this union came three children: Lucille, George, and Annette.

In 1929, Nick and Bessie accepted a pastorate in Elwood, Indiana. Only seven people attended their first service, but the Lord began to bless, and their small building was soon filled. Later they moved to a larger facility, an old downtown theater. During an extended revival at that location 135 were baptized in Jesus’ name and over 100 received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

After three years the Bibbses left Elwood to plant a church in Marion, Indiana. On October 30, 1932, they started a tent revival that lasted eighteen weeks. Brother Bibbs preached the last sixteen weeks himself—with no rest nights. In this meeting, 169 were baptized in Jesus’ name and 147 received the Holy Ghost. In 1948 Brother Bibbs left Marion, having pastored there for over sixteen years.

Brother Bibbs then pastored in New Castle, Indiana, for approximately three years, and the church experienced significant growth under his leadership.

Brother Bibbs was well known for being able to take great offerings, for breaking Sunday school attendance records, and for holding meetings where many were filled with the Holy Ghost. He also was instrumental in the 1962 purchase of the sixty-five-acre farm near Fortville, Indiana, where the Indiana District Campgrounds would be established. The first camp meeting on the new grounds was held in 1966.

Brother Bibbs was first elected district superintendent of Indiana in 1937, before the merger, while he was still with the Pentecostal Church Incorporated. He continued to serve in that office for over thirty years, retiring in 1970. He then served as an honorary member of both the Indiana District Board and the General Board until he went to his heavenly home on May 28, 1985. Bessie Bibbs passed away on August 28, 1998. Brother and Sister Bibbs left us with a legacy well worth remembering!