Francisco Olazábal

Francisco Olazábal (1886–1937) was a Pentecostal evangelist, who conducted an evangelistic healing ministry and founded the Interdenominational Mexican Council of Christian Churches in 1923,[1] later renamed as Latin American Council of Christian Churches[2] or Concilio Latino Americano de Iglesias Cristianas (CLADIC). Francisco Olazábal committed 30 years to his evangelistic healing ministry.[3] Olazábal held healing campaigns across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.[3]

Early life

Francisco Olazábal was born on October 12, 1886 in El Verano, Sinaloa, Mexico.[1] Francisco’s mother, Refugio Velazquez, left Catholicism and converted to Methodism in 1898 in Mazatlán, Mexico.[4] Olazabal’s father, Juan Olazábal, abandoned him and his mother after his mother converted and she became a lay evangelist (SOURCE-lecture notes). Olazabal left his mother in 1902 to travel to San Francisco, California to visit family.[1] At this time Olazábal, through George Montgomery's ministry, rededicated his life to Jesus, returned to Mexico and to the Methodist Church.[1] In 1911 Francisco Olazábal immigrated to the United States and moved to El Paso, Texas, where he pastored a Spanish-speaking Methodist Church.[3] In 1914 Francisco Olazábal married Macrina Orozco, his childhood sweetheart.[4] Bishop A.W. Leonard ordained Olazábal as a minister in the Methodist Church in 1916.[2] However, Olazábal left the Methodist Church to preach the "full Gospel"[1] after having converted to Pentecostalism under the ministry of George and Carrie Montgomery in 1916.[3] The General Council of the Assemblies of God ordained Olazábal on September 24, 1916.[3] On February 14, 1918, Robert J. Craig laid hands on Olazábal and ordained him to the Assemblies of God.[2]

Affiliations with notable Pentecostals & Christian Evangelists

Aimee Semple McPherson, a famous Pentecostal evangelist and founder of the Foursquare Gospel denomination, referred to Olazábal as the “Mexican Billy Sunday”.[2] McPherson invited Olazábal to preach at Bethel Temple.[1] In March 1927 Olazábal and his congregation were invited to attend services at Aimee Semple McPherson’s church, Angelus Temple in Los Angeles.[1] McPherson sought to merge her Foursquare Gospel denomination and the Latin American Council of Christian Churches, but the Council rejected her proposition. At this time, McPherson began a Spanish-speaking Foursquare ministry in East Los Angeles.[1] Alice E. Luce-founder of the Latin American Bible Institute and H. C. Ball helped pioneer the Latino Pentecostal movement and influenced Olazábal's ministry.[2] While at Moody Bible Institute in 1911, Olazabal worked under James M. Gray and Reuben A. Torrey.[1] Torrey believed that baptism with the Holy Spirit was a "definite experience" and required for a Christian life, a belief that Olazábal rejected at this time in his life as a Methodist.[1] After a brief stint at Moody, Olazábal would go on to minister at Torrey's Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles.[3] Rev. Homer Tomlinson—Olazábal’s good friend and pastor of Jamaica Tabernacle Church of God.

Education

In San Luis Potosí, Mexico, Olazábal attended Wesleyan School of Theology from 1908 to 1910.[1] In 1911, he attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for one semester.[3]

Ministry

Francisco Olazábal committed 30 years to his evangelistic healing ministry.[3] Olazabal held healing campaigns across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.[3] Before attending Moody, in 1911, Olazábal pastored a Spanish-speaking Methodist congregation in El Paso, Texas.[3] After a semester at Moody Bible Institute, Olazábal followed Reuben A. Torrey to Los Angeles to pastor to the Mexican congregants at Church of the Open Door.[3] After parting ways with Torrey, Olazabal went on to pastor in Spanish-speaking Methodist Churches in California;[1] for example: the Northern Methodist Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California and the Northern Methodist Episcopal Church in San Francisco Bay area.[3] Olazábal pastored Mision Mexicana de Pasadena until 1916.[5] In 1920 Olazábal began Buenas Nuevas Mission in El Paso, Texas.[2]

In 1922 Olazábal founded a Bible college in El Paso, Texas.[3] In 1923 Francisco Olazábal formed Latin American Council of Christian Churches, the first independent Latino Pentecostal denomination in the United States.[3]

In 1929 Olazábal held a healing campaign in Chicago.[1] In 1931 Olazabal’s evangelic healing campaign attracted over 100,000 people to Spanish Harlem.[3] Olazábal’s services took place at Cavalry Baptist Church in Brooklyn.[1] Olazábal’s “Puerto Rico Para Cristo” campaign in 1936 was considered unsuccessful.[1] On September 10, 1936 Olazábal announced his intention to unite with the Church of God.[1]

Death

On June 1, 1937 Olazábal was critically injured in an automobile accident near Alice Springs, Texas.[1] Olazábal died in the hospital from internal bleeding on June 9, 1937.[1] Francisco Olazábal is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in East Los Angeles.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Espinosa, Gaston (1999). ""El Azteca": Francisco Olazábal and Latino Pentecostal Charisma, Power, and Faith Healing in the Borderlands". Journal of the American Academy of Religion.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Espinosa, Gaston (2014). Latino Pentecostals in America: faith and politics in action. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674728875.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Espinosa, Gaston (2009). "Olazábal, Francisco". Hispanic American Religious Cultures. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Espinosa, Gaston (2005). Religion and Healing in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 123–139.
  5. ↑ Sanchez Walsh, Arlene (2003). Latino Pentecostal Identity: Evangelical Faith, Self, and Society. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. pp. 1–47. ISBN 0-231-12733-2.

Further reading

Espinosa, Gastón (2008). Mexican American Religions: Spirituality, Activism, and Culture. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-4119-2.

Sánchez Walsh, Arlene. Latino Pentecostal Identity Evangelical Faith, Self, and Society. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-50896-4.

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