Simeon L. Young, Sr.

Simeon L. Young, Sr., was born in Boling, Texas on July 13, 1939, to William C. and Linnie Young. He is the second of seven children. Young spent his formative years in Texas and Louisiana, where his dad pastored several churches. As a child, Young tended to be energetic but accident prone, which nearly gave his mother a nervous breakdown. Some of his most noteworthy accidents included falling off the Louisiana campground water tower, which broke his nose and both arms; being kicked in the forehead by a horse; losing sight in his right eye from a flake of steel that broke off while he was hitting the head of a nail with a hatchet; and getting both arms caught in a washing machine wringer on two separate occasions.

Young attended Western Apostolic Bible College in Stockton, California, and preached his first sermon in 1958 for Paul Price in Napa, California. That same year, he received ministerial credentials from the United Pentecostal Church. Young, along with his brother Curtis and sister Dorothy, evangelized across much of the United States and Canada for five years. They were known as the Young Evangelistic Trio. In every revival, Simeon and Curtis would preach what they called a “double header.” Curtis, the more serious preacher, would deliver the first part of the sermon. Simeon, the fire and brimstone preacher, would deliver the finish. Simeon was known for climbing on top of the pulpit and walking the back of the pews while preaching.

Simeon Young married Janice Williams in Houston, Texas on July 13, 1963. (Williams is the niece of pioneer Pentecostal preacher and 2006 Order of the Faith inductee Oliver. F. Fauss.) In both 1963 and 1964, the UPCI’s Home Missions Division (now North American Missions) sent the young couple to Alaska for six months to preach revivals. They also evangelized across much of the US and Canada. Their son, Simeon Jr., was born in 1964, and they welcomed a daughter, Kerri, in 1968. In 1967, the Youngs began serving as assistant pastors to O. W. Williams in Houston.

Young became the pastor of Kings Highway Tabernacle in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1971. He served that congregation for the next thirty-five years. During that time, he was editor of the Apostolic World Report and the Indiana District Trumpet, and he wrote the Bible study tract Seven Steps to Salvation.

Young has preached services, conferences, and camp meetings across North America and around the world. He has preached in the Philippines, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, El Salvadore, Guatemala, Honduras, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica. While preaching the conference in Jamaica, he traveled to a small village named Revival. There God gave him the message he titled “Journey to a Place Called Revival.” It became one of his signature sermons, and he preached it more than one hundred times, often upon request from pastors who had heard it previously and wanted Young to share the message with their congregation.

One of Young’s most significant contributions was serving for nine years as editor of the Pentecostal Herald, the official magazine of the United Pentecostal Church International. A compilation of Young’s magazine editorials titled A Piece of My Mind was published by Word Aflame Press in 2014.

In 2013, Richard Flowers asked Young to serve as the pastoral elder at Emmanuel Pentecostal Church in Mesquite, Texas. He continues to serve in that role under Pastor Chad Flowers. As part of his duties as pastoral elder, Young taught the adult Sunday school class until 2022, when his health no longer allowed him to do so.

Outside of preaching and writing, Young’s favorite hobby was bicycle riding. When he and Janice traveled as evangelists, they carried bikes on the back of their car and frequently went on bicycle rides together. After their children were born, bicycling became a favorite family activity. While serving as pastor in Terre Haute, Young rode all over the city. He continued bicycling after moving to St. Charles, Missouri, to serve as editor of the Pentecostal Herald. He often could be found riding on local trails, accompanied by Robert Fuller and Lynden Shalm, two close friends and ministry associates.