Alma Bridwell White

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Alma Bridwell White

Alma White (1862-1946)
Pillar of Fire, November 25, 1914Alma Bridwell White (June 16, 1862 – June 26, 1946) was the founder, and a Bishop, in the Pillar of Fire Church.

Birth and siblings
She was born as Mollie Alma Bridwell on June 16, 1862 in Kinniconick, Lewis County, Kentucky to William Moncure Bridwell (1825-1907) of Virginia; and Mary Ann Harrison (1832-1921) of Kentucky. William and Mary married on March 19, 1851. Alma's siblings include: Martha Gertrude Bridwell (1853-?) who was born on March 18, 1852 and married a Davis; James Robert Bridwell (1853-?) who was born on March 18, 1852; Emery Bascom Bridwell (1856-1928) who was born on Valentines Day, February 14, 1856 and died on March 28, 1928; Amanda Frances Bridwell (1857-?) who was born on May 31, 1857, married a Savage, and died on March 23, 1938; Ann Eliza Bridwell (1859-1953) who was born on December 16, 1859, married a Boardman, and died on September 26, 1953; Venora Ella Bridwell (1861-1942) who was born on January 18, 1861, married David E. Metlen in 1887, and died on May 9, 1942 in Dillon, Montana; Teresa West Bridwell (1865-1944) who was born on August 16, 1862, married a Meade, and died on May 30, 1944; Kate Laura Bridwell (1867-1935) who was born on February 22, 1867, married a Ferrell, and died on November 3, 1935; Rollie Taylor Bridwell (1868-1947) who was born on September 3, 1868 and died on May 23, 1947; and Charles William Bridwell (1872-1952) who was born on July 25, 1872 and died on January 21, 1952. By 1880 the family was living in Millersburg, Kentucky.

Education and marriage
Alma studied at the Millersburg Female College in Millersburg, Kentucky. An aunt invited one of the seven Bridwell sisters to visit Montana Territory, Alma was her last choice. Each of the others was afraid to make the journey, but in 1882, nineteen-year-old Alma took the chance and went to Bannack, Montana. She stayed to teach, first in public school, and later in Salt Lake City's Methodist seminary. In 1887 she married Kent White (1860-1940), who at the time was a Methodist seminarian. They had the following children: Ray Bridwell White; and Arthur Kent White.

Religion
Alma White at various agesAlma and Kent started the Methodist Pentecostal Union Church in Denver, Colorado in December of 1901. She led hymns and prayers and at times preached sermons. In 1907 a follower donated their farm for a community at Zarephath, New Jersey. In 1918, she was consecrated as a bishop by William Godbey. She was now the first woman bishop in the United States.

England
Time magazine wrote on October 22, 1928:

Aimee Semple McPherson [spoke] ... Worst of all, there came a rival female evangelist from New Jersey, a resolute woman with the mien of an inspired laundress — the Reverend "Bishop" Mrs. Mollie Alma White, founder and primate of the Pillar of Fire Church. Bishop White, who has thousands of disciples ("Holy Jumpers") in the British Isles, clearly regarded Mrs. McPherson as a poacher upon her preserves or worse. Squired by two male Deacons, the Reverend Bishop sat herself down in a box at Albert Hall, with an air of purposing to break up the revival. The dread potency of Bishop White, when aroused against another female, may be judged from her scathing criticisms of the Church of Mary Baker Eddy: "The teachings of the so-called Christian Science Church ... have drawn multitudes from the orthodox faith, and blasted their hopes of heaven! ... A person who is thus in the grip of Satanic power is unable to extricate himself ... [and is] left in utter spiritual desolation." Well might buxom Aimee McPherson have quailed as she faced 2,000 tepid Britons, over 8,000 empty seats, the two Deacons and "Bishop" Mrs. White.

Radio
In 1927, a transmitter and radio equipment were installed at Belleview College in Westminster, Colorado to promote the college based in the Westminster Castle. By June of 1929, the call letters had been changed to KPOF and the station was broadcasting regular sermons from Alma Temple, the Pillar's Denver Church. In March of 1931, WBNY was sold to Bishop Alma White and the Pillar of Fire Church for $5,000. The call letters were changed to WAWZ. In its initial broadcast, Alma White told listeners, "The station belongs to all regardless of your affiliation."

Death
She died on June 26, 1946 in Zarephath, New Jersey.

Timeline
1862 Birth of Alma White as "Mollie Alma Bridwell" in Kinniconick, Kentucky on June 16th
1870 1870 US Census in Elkfork, Lewis County, Kentucky
1880 1880 US Census in Millersburg, Kentucky
1887 Marriage to Kent White
1896 Church established in Denver, Colorado
1900 1900 US Census in Denver, Colorado
1901 Methodist Pentecostal Union Church in Denver, Colorado in December
1902 Ordained an Elder
1904 "Pentecostal Union Herald" changed to "Pillar of Fire"
1905 (circa) Separates from Methodist Episcopal Church
1907 Creation of community at Zarephath, New Jersey
1909 Separates from husband after he converts to Pentecostalism
1917 Name of church officially changed to "Pillar of Fire"
1917 Alma White College founded in Zarephath, New Jersey
1918 Ordained as first woman bishop in the United States
1920 Acquires Westminster, Colorado property and opens Westminster University
1920 1920 US Census in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey
1924 Publishes Woman's Chains, which is in print until 1970
1927 KPOF radio station in Westminster, Colorado
1931 WAWZ radio station in Zarephath, New Jersey
1932 Church established in Morrison, Colorado
1946 Death of Alma White on June 27th
1946 Death of Ray Bridwell White on November 5th

Publications
Demons and Tongues (1910)
The New Testament Church (1911–1912) in two volumes
The Titanic Tragedy: God Speaking to Nations (1913)
Restoration of Israel, the Hope of the World (1917)
The Story of My Life (1919–1930) in five volumes
The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy (1925)
Hymns and Poems (1931)
The Sword of the Spirit (1937)

References
Susie Cunningham Stanley; Feminist Pillar of Fire: The Life of Alma White; Cleveland, Ohio; The Pilgrim Press, (1993) ISBN 0-8298-0950-3
Alma White's Evangelism Press Reports, compiled by C. R. Paige and C.K. Ingler (1939)
White, Alma Bridwell. (2005). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 12, 2005, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium
Kristin E. Kandt; Historical Essay: In the Name of God; An American Story of Feminism, Racism, and Religious Intolerance: The Story of Alma Bridwell White, 8 Am. U. J. Gender, Soc. Pol. & L 753 (2000)
Randall Balmer; Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism (2004) ISBN 1-932792-04-X

Selected coverage in the New York Times
New York Times; June 27, 1946; page 21. "Bound Brook, New Jersey; June 26, 1937 (AP) Bishop Alma White, founder of the Pillar of Fire Church and author of thirty-five religious tracts and some 200 hymns, died here today at the headquarters of the religious group at near-by Zarephath. Her age was 84."
New York Times; November 6, 1946; "Ray Bridwell White; Pillar of Fire Church Leader, Son of Late Bishop, Dies."

Coverage in Time magazine
Time; October 22, 1928; Poor Aimee
Time; November 22, 1937; Legalists & Charismatics. "A woman, Mrs. Alma White, is bishop of the pentecostal Pillar of Fire church, in Zarephath, New Jersey"
Time; December 18, 1939; Bishop v. Drink. "'We've been over to Alma Temple and signed the pledge and joined the Dry Legion Crusaders. We shall never drink a drop, and when we're old enough we are going to vote the wicked stuff out of existence.' Author of these plays, written for radio and church performance, and acted last week on the platform in a church in Boulder, Colorado, was a masterful, mannish-voiced gynotheocrat, Bishop Alma White, 77. Once a Methodist, wife of a preacher, Mrs. White read herself out of her church because it frowned on her preaching. She founded a society of her own. That was nearly 40 years ago. Her church became known as the Pillar of Fire. Widowed, Mrs. White started a pious, shouting, camp-meeting community in New Jersey, named it Zarephath after the place where the 'widow woman' sustained Elijah. Alma White was soon acting like a bishop toward her flock; why should she not be "the first woman bishop in the history of the Christian church?" Pillar of Fire consecrated her as such in 1918. Indomitable Bishop White has built 49 churches, three colleges. She edits six magazines, travels continually between Zarephath and the West. She learned to drive an automobile at 50, to swim at 55, to paint in oils at 70. She has two radio stations, WAWZ at Zarephath, KPOF in Denver, where her Alma Temple is also a thriving concern. Her Prohibition plays, written with broadcasting in mind, had their premiere there. Her audience, recruited from Denver churches, thought them pillar-powerful, fiery-fierce."
Time; July 8, 1946; Fundamentalist Pillar. "'Political parties yell themselves hoarse when the name of a nominee is mentioned. Why not shout in ecstasy when the name of the Lord is called? If you are happy, let the whole world know it. Do not keep your joy bottled up.' Fundamentalist ecstasy and hallelujah-shouting were a vital part of masterful, deep-voiced Alma White's faith. On it she built a sect called Pillar of Fire — with 4,000 followers, 61 churches, seven schools, ten periodicals and two broadcasting stations. Last week, as it must even to 'the only woman bishop in the world,' Death came to the Pillar of Fire's 84-year-old founder. No Catalepsy. Little Alma Bridwell was thought so dull by her Kentucky parents that they gave her ten brothers & sisters a priority on schooling. When an aunt invited one of the seven girls in the family to visit the wild Montana Territory, Alma was her last choice — but each of the others was afraid to venture into the country of cowboys & Indians. Nineteen-year-old Alma took the chance and stayed to teach, first in public school, later in Salt Lake City's Methodist seminary. When she wanted to preach as well, shocked Methodists told her to marry a preacher. At 25 she did. After marrying Methodist Minister Kent White, she occasionally took over his pulpit. But ecclesiastical authorities failed to share her congregation's enthusiasm for Mrs. White's preaching, and in 1901 she organized her own sect. Eventually Preacher White's followers took the name "Pillar of Fire" from the title of a bulletin she published. Though she believed in enthusiastic unbottling of religious emotions, Matriarch White was always stern with pentecostal excesses. "Sometimes our people get happy and skip around a bit," she said, "but . . . we don't have any catalepsy or epilepsy." When some of her southern followers once essayed a bit of holy rolling, Bishop White merely said, "You get right up or I'll stick a pin in you." It worked. No Female Bareleggedness. Her energy was prodigious. She wrote 35 religious tracts and some 200 hymns, wrote and produced two morality plays exposing the evils of drink. At 70 she took up painting, turned out 300-odd canvases, and had three New York exhibitions of her landscapes. During her last years she still fought her good fight against cardplaying and female bareleggedness (because of the "spinelessness" of men). Last week, at Pillar of Fire's thousand-acre (4 km²) colony in New Jersey (named Zarephath after the place where the "widow woman" sustained Elijah), Alma White's son carried on. Handsome, scholarly Arthur K. White, also a bishop, said that this summer he might propose a candidate for Pillar of Fire's No. 2 bishopric."