Harvey Franklin Shearer

Harvey Franklin Shearer was born January 24, 1876, in Leake County, Mississippi. He became ill with pneumonia and almost died when he was four months old. He suffered many illnesses throughout his childhood, but God had his hand on the young boy’s life and kept him so that he could fulfill the plan God had for him.

At age five, Harvey began preaching to his siblings. On Sundays, Harvey and his siblings would go into the woods to sing and pray, and then Harvey would preach. When he was nineteen, Harvey converted from the Missionary Baptist faith to Methodism. At age twenty, God called him to preach, and he began serving as a circuit-riding minister in the Methodist faith.

In 1907, having heard that the Holy Ghost was being poured out in California, he sold his horse and saddle and bought a train ticket to Los Angeles. On the way, he stopped to visit relatives in Euless, Texas, and heard of a brush arbor meeting in nearby Arlington where people were receiving the Holy Ghost. Harvey walked the ten miles to the meeting every day for a week. On the final night of the meeting, the Lord filled him with the Holy Ghost.

From Arlington, he went to Houston, where he became superintendent of the Apostolic Faith Mission at 510 Travis Street. During this time, he preached on the streets of Houston and learned to live by faith. He was ordained on May 18, 1908, and preached his first sermon as a Holy Ghost-filled preacher in Montgomery County, Texas on May 22, 1908.

Harvey married Emma Judith Morehead on April 4, 1909, with the Reverend E. N. Bell of Fort Worth officiating. Together, Harvey and Emma began holding revivals throughout Texas. While attending a camp meeting in Fort Worth, Harvey felt called go to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where he established the Apostolic Mission.

In 1912 he was ordained by the General Council of the Assemblies of God, a newly formed organization. During this period, he pastored a church in Caldwell, Texas. In August 1915, he served as chairman of the Merryville Camp Meeting in Louisiana. The following December, he presided over the Louisiana Bible Conference in Elton. It was here the ministers studied and prayed concerning the oneness of the Godhead and baptism in Jesus’ name as recorded in Acts 2:38. After prayerful deliberation, Harvey Shearer was baptized in the name of Jesus by Brother L. C. Hall. Thirteen ministers were baptized that first day, December 19, 1915. It is said that Harvey Shearer baptized about three hundred ministers in the name of Jesus.

Harvey was an anointed preacher of the gospel. God used him as a prophet and gave him many dreams and visions. He was a church planter and a pioneer of the faith that is still being preached all over the world by ministers of the United Pentecostal Church International. He also wrote several books including The Boy Preacher (published in 1910) and Apostolic Revivals and Camp Meetings (published in 1944).

Harvey and Emma Shearer had eight children. In 1928 they established a small farm and home in Bay City, Texas. Harvey met with Bay City businessmen to secure pledges for a church building there. He continued to preach all around Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. In some of his meetings, hundreds were filled with the Holy Ghost.

On the morning he died, March 12, 1947, he had his suitcase packed and was preparing to attend a conference in Jasper, Texas. His last words were: "Emma, come quick, the angels have come for me."