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This Week in AG History —May 13, 1973
By Glenn W. Gohr
Originally published on AG-News, 11 May 2023
When Glenn Allen Renick Sr. (1895-1973) set out in January 1928 to plant a church in Hannibal, Missouri, conditions were not ideal. He had to contend with frigid weather, a poor meeting location, and a car that barely worked. But God brought dozens of people into the small mission, and the healing of a local woman attracted additional attention and favor in the community. Renick served as pastor in Hannibal for 37 years and also pioneered several other churches in northeast Missouri, including Nelsonville, Edina, and Ewing. He went on to serve as a district official and left his mark on the Assemblies of God in the Midwest.
Renick grew up in Franklin County, Missouri. After finishing high school, he served in World War I. He graduated from Southern California Bible Institute and was ordained June 9, 1923, at Long Beach, California. On April 18, 1929, he married Nina Christina Englund, who also was an ordained AG minister. She had served previously as a missionary in Brazil and pastored churches in northeast Missouri and Illinois. She was part of an evangelistic group with Adele and Richard Carmichael that started Bethel Assembly in Quincy, Illinois. Nina also attended the Midwest Bible School in Auburn, Nebraska.
A couple of testimonies stand out from Glenn Renick’s years of pastoring in Hannibal. Two Christians living on a farm near Hannibal rented an old store building on North Main Street and invited Renick to come and start a church. The rent was paid for two months, and then he would be on his own. He would have to live by faith.
The building had a potbelly stove for heat, and Renick would need to furnish it. He erected a platform out of tile and planks. He was able to get folding seats from an old tent, and he found a rug to place in the altar area.
On a cold day in January 1928, while driving an old Model T Ford (with no heat or windows), Renick had several stops to make in town to get things ready for the opening day, and he discovered that the brake shoe was ruined on one of his rear wheels, and only one lug was left to hold the wheel in place. The car had wooden spokes with steel rims. He took off the damaged brake shoe, but he was unable to repair the wheel, and his trip was only half over, but after praying the prayer of faith, he survived the bitterly cold weather and arrived home safe, with only one lug holding.
Renick started services on Jan. 25, 1928. Thirty-five people came to the altar and professed salvation at that first meeting. Many with evil habits professed that they were delivered after prayer. Later the meetings were moved to a house that had been converted into a church. The pulpit and altar were in the middle, and the preacher faced people sitting in two different rooms. The setting was primitive, but God answered prayers.
One Baptist woman, Mrs. Crawford Adams, was afflicted with a toxic goiter and had a rapid heartbeat. She often would faint and lay unconscious for periods of time. One night she asked her husband if she could come to the Pentecostal services, and he consented. She came forward and was anointed and prayed for. Then it seemed as if she fainted and appeared to be in a coma.
Renick, Mrs. Adams’ husband, and others were concerned. After a while she lifted her hand and color came back into other face. She began to speak in a beautiful language.
Afterwards she testified, “When I was anointed with oil and hands were laid upon me, I felt the power of God strike me, and it seemed as though crystal-clear water flowed through my body, beginning at my head. The same power reversed itself and came through my body again, beginning at my feet. When it reached my throat, I felt something snap. My heartbeat became normal. I was healed.”
That healing was widely known and discussed in the community. It led many people to the church services in the coming days, and others were healed and delivered through prayer.
The radio and newspaper became friendly toward the Pentecostals, and many doors opened for ministry. Renick was able to move the services from the house to a vacant downtown theater, and the Assembly of God in Hannibal continued to grow. In later years, a number of evangelists came to the church including Dolores Dudley, Anna Charlotte Berg, Frank Lummer, Harvey McAlister, and many others.
Renick also served as assistant superintendent of the West Central District (now divided into the Iowa and Northern Missouri districts) for several years, and then served as superintendent of that district from 1951 to 1952. He was superintendent of the Northern Missouri district from 1964 to 1967. He served as a general presbyter for many years. He also traveled for many years as an evangelist, and started churches in Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri.
While in Hannibal, he was active in community affairs, serving as Missouri department chaplain of the American Legion. As a veteran of World War I, he became a lifetime member of Hannibal Post 55 of the Legion. He also served as the president of the Hannibal Ministerial Alliance.
Glenn Renick passed away March 8, 1973, at the age of 78. His wife survived him and lived to be 103. They had two sons, Harry and Glenn Renick Jr. Glenn Renick Sr. and his wife, Nina, are both buried in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens, Springfield, Missouri.
When Glenn Renick arrived in Hannibal, Missouri, to plant a church in 1928, it initially seemed that everything went wrong. But God turned a situation that did not seem very promising into a testimony of God’s power to transform hardship into something beautiful.
Read, “Former District Leader is With Christ,” on page 26 of the May 13, 1973, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel.
Also featured in this issue:
• “Evangelism Begins at Home,” by Ruth Steelberg Carter
• “Pentecostal Balance,” by Thomas F. Zimmerman
• “The Sounding of a New Day,” by Ray Gannon
And many more!
Click here to read this issue now.
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