Rev. Calvin L. Rigdon

Charlie and Lula Rigdon chose to name their son after two US presidents. Calvin Coolidge was then the nation’s president, thus the first name, Calvin. Since Calvin was born on February 12, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, it just seemed right that Lincoln should be his middle name.

At age seventeen, Calvin Rigdon began his ministry. He preached his first message at a rally in Greenfield, Illinois, in 1943. He took his text from Jeremiah 1:18, where God gave Jeremiah a charge for Israel, and then promised him, “I have made thee this day a defensed city.” Through the years, people across North America heard and remembered sermons such as “Shields of Brass,” “Give Me This Mountain,” “Bound to the Altar,” “An Unusual Choice,” “I Was Born in the House My Father Built,” “You Have Not, Because You Ask Not,” and “Your Altar's Too Small.”

A general license was issued to Brother Rigdon in 1943 by the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ. After participating in the merger of the PCI and the PAJC, he graduated from Apostolic Bible Institute in 1946. He accepted the position of pastor in Grayville, Illinois, in 1947 and served there for two years. In 1949 Calvin Rigdon became the pastor of the church in Carbondale, Illinois, where he served until 1956, leaving behind a brand new church building that had been dedicated just before the time of his departure.

Calvin Rigdon enjoyed the privilege of occupying several positions of leadership at both the local and national levels. He served as Conquerors president of the Illinois District for five years, from 1946 to 1951, when he was elected to be the international president of the General Youth Division of the United Pentecostal Church. From 1951 to 1956, he continued as pastor of the First Apostolic Church in Carbondale, Illinois, and also served as international youth president. From 1957 to 1960, he served as the first full-time international youth president. It was during his years of service as international youth president (1951-1960), and under his direction, that the Sheaves for Christ program was instituted. This visionary program, begun in 1952, was the first fundraising ministry begun by any department of the UPCI, and it raised a total of $79,348,868 in its first fifty years.

Following the 1960 General Conference, Calvin Rigdon resigned as general youth president to become the pastor of the First Pentecostal Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He served as presbyter on the Louisiana District Board for ten years, beginning in 1961. He was also editor of the Louisiana Challenger for more than eight years, editing ninety-nine consecutive issues.

From 1971 until his retirement in 1991, Calvin Rigdon served the organization at the World Evangelism Center, Hazelwood, Missouri, in several executive positions. From 1971 to 1975 he served as the Word Aflame Publications editor. From 1975 to 1976 he filled the office of the director of the General Sunday School Division, at which time he initiated the Bible Reading Enriches Any Day (BREAD) program. From 1976 to 1981, he was editor in chief of UPCI publications. In February 1982 he accepted the office of director of the Historical Center, a position he held until his resignation in January 1991.

Calvin Rigdon passed from this life on January 10, 1995, at the age of sixty-eight. In passing, Calvin Rigdon left behind his wife of forty-seven years, Virginia; his son, Dan, and wife, Gayla; two daughters, Judith Rigdon and Rebecca and husband Russell Francois; six grandchildren, Holley Rigdon, Heather Rigdon, Danielle Francois, Heidi Rigdon, Andre Francois, and Haylee Rigdon; one sister, Vana, wife of Reverend Oliver Spencer; many other relatives; and a host of friends.