Rev. John D. Mean

The call of God came upon John D. Mean when he was very young. He lived in a country area of Windsor, New Brunswick, with no opportunity to attend high school. Knowing that due to his young age he was not eligible to enter Bible school, he asked for a meeting with the principal, Reverend S. G. Steeves, who was also serving as the first district superintendent of the district of New Brunswick in 1947, just one year after a former full gospel church group had joined the United Pentecostal Church. After this meeting, Brother Steeves asked John Mean to attend the Bible school. After John graduated from the Emmanuel Bible School in 1950, he pastored his home church for a time, then continued in evangelism.

In 1952, along with the Lewis DeMerchant family, John Mean came to Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, to open the first Apostolic Church in that province. The "Nilah and Charlotte Evangelistic Team” came to preach the first meetings. Twenty-eight were baptized in the precious name of Jesus Christ during six weeks of revival meetings. The following year he prepared the way for those noted evangelists to crusade in the town of Trenton, where they were threatened with stoning. However, God wrought great victory, and another church was planted.

In 1953 they preached the first revival as a new church was opened in the town of Truro. In 1954 John came to Halifax with the same evangelistic team, and another church was founded. After three years in Halifax, he and Sister Nilah Rutledge married and visited many churches in the US, holding revival services for two years. In 1959 they returned to Nova Scotia and opened another church in Amherst, then returned to Halifax the following summer. After returning to Halifax, God helped them to build two other churches in Middleton and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Brother Mean served in the district offices of youth president and Home Missions director and served as district superintendent for twenty-six years. He recently retired from the pastorate of the Halifax assembly after approximately forty-eight years. He and Sister Mean visited the missionary fields in Peru, Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, Pakistan, Wales, and Germany, and they also had the great experience of attending the World Conference in Jerusalem.