Du PLESSIS, David J(ohannes) 1905-1987

PERSONAL:

Born February 5, 1905, in Twenty-four Rivers, South Africa; immigrated to the United States, 1948; died in January, 1987, in Pasadena, CA; son of David J. (a carpenter) and Anna C. Du Plessis; married Anna Cornelia Jacobs, 1927. Education: Attended Grey University, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

CAREER:

Ordained minister of Assemblies of God, c. 1927-62, 1980-87; Apostolic Faith Mission, general secretary, 1936-47, also founder of an orphanage and a pension system for ministers; Pentecostal World Conference, Basel, Switzerland, organizational secretary, 1947-58; affiliate of Church of God, 1949; Lee College, Cleveland, TN, faculty member, 1949-52; pastor of Church of God, Stamford, CT, 1952-56; Voice of Healing Fellowship, Dallas, TX, secretary, beginning 1956; Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, worked as resident consultant for ecumenical affairs. Pentecostal Fellowship of North America, founding member, 1948; founding member of a Roman Catholic-Pentecostal dialogue in the 1970s.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Good Merit Medal, Pope John Paul II, 1983; the David J. Du Plessis Center for Christian Spirituality was established in his honor at Fuller Theological Seminary, 1985.

WRITINGS:

The Spirit Bade Me Go, privately printed (Oakland, CA), 1961, revised edition, Logos International (Plainfield, NJ), 1977.

(With Bob Slosser) The Man Called Mr. Pentecost, Logos International (Plainfield, NJ), 1977.

Simple and Profound, Paraclete Press (Pentwater, MI), 1986.

Editor of the Pentecostal magazine Comforter/Trooster.

Du Plessis's papers are collected at the David J. Du Plessis Center for Christian Spirituality, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Religious Leaders of America, 2nd edition, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1999.

Robinson, Martin, To the Ends of the Earth: The Pilgrimage of an Ecumenical Pentecostal, David J. Du Plessis (1905-1987), University of Birmingham (Birmingham, England), 1987.*