R. G. Spurling

For the surgeon, see Roy Glenwood Spurling.

Richard Green Spurling (28 July 1858 - 24 May 1935)^[1] was an American Christian minister. Born in Monroe County, Tennessee,^[2] he was one of the founders of the Church of God.^[3]

His father, Richard Spurling (1810 - 1891) was an ordained Baptist elder, who presided over the founding of the church on August 10, 1886. R. G. Spurling was chosen as its minister and ordained a month later.^[3]

Career

The Spurlings held a meeting at their family grist mill in Tennessee on Thursday, August 19, 1886, to see if there was interest in starting a new church in the area. At that meeting, a new Christian Union church was established.^[4]

Spurling Jr held a Revival meeting in Liberty, Tennessee in 1892 during which some members spoke in tongues.^[5]

In summer 1896 the CU led to a ten-day revival in the Shearer Schoolhouse in Camp Creek, North Carolina.^[6] The meetings brought a “spirit of revival”^[7] with more speaking in tongues. Meetings continued in people's homes after the ten days. Methodist preacher W. F. Bryant joined the Spurlings at this revival.^[8] The Shearer Schoolhouse Revival predated the Azusa Street Revival by nearly a decade and may be seen as the start of the Pentecostal Movement.

On May 15, 1902 the CU changed its name to the “Holiness Church at Camp Creek”.^[9] In 1903, Quaker preacher Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson joined the church.^[10]

In 1907, Tomlinson changed the name from "Holiness Church" to "Church of God".^[11]