Evangelist Burkett McCann

Someone asked if the photo in my last entry was of Evangelist Bill Bowman. The answer is yes. I decided that, with every post, I would try to post a photo of a minister who has gone to his reward. I think of these preachers as "Trail Blazers". Men... and women... who endured incredible hardships to pave the way for the younger preachers of our generation. We owe them a debt of thanks for the herdships and sacrifices they endured. All too, often, though, these servants of God pass into history and their memory dims all too quickly. The legacy of these preachers live on in the souls they won for the Kingdom of God.



Bill Bowman
1936 ~ 1981
Reverend Bill Bowman was born July 5, 1936 in Rockingham County, Draper, Carolina. In 1956 he married Barbra Jean Franklin. They have on child, Rebecca Lynn. Brother Bowman started preaching at the age of 20, and spent 13 years in the Church of God as a tinitarian minister. He left the Church of God in 1963 after Jackie Phillips, (his organ player) gave him the tract, "60 Questions on the Godhead."
Brother Bowman first heard the truth in 1967, from Charles Johnson in a tent revival in Hickory, North Carolina. He then went to Ocala, Florida, and studied the tract on the Godhead in his motel-room, which was located on Division Street. He then went to Fairborn, Ohio, and was baptized in Jesus' name on Superior Avenue, on March 13, 1967.
After meeting Herman Maroney in Tyler, Texas in 1967, Brother Bowman was encouraged to go to Fort Worth, Texas to meet Elder C.W. Shew. In 1970, he was introduced to Elder Paul Jordan by Elder R.C. Cavaness in Indianapolis, Indiana. This was also Brother Bowman's introduction to the Apostolic Ministers Fellowship.
On Thanksgiving week in 1970, Brother Bowman went to High Point, North Carolina. He rented a storefront building and started a church. In 1974 he built the Apostolic House of Prayer in Archdale, North Carolina. Among the things that he loved to do, fishing was at the top of his list. He also loved to sing, and compose songs.
Brother Bowmn traveled throughout the United States, preaching camp meetings and conferences. He purchased a tent and was fulfilling his dream to be a tent evangelist, when on October 5, 1981, while preparing to take the pulpit under his tent to preach to a capacity crowd in Topsy, Louisiana, he was fatally shot at short range by a troubled young man. This sudden tragedy and loss of life left an emptiness in the Aposolic Ministers Fellowship, including all who knew him. Brother Bowman was highly respected among his peers! He was loved by many all across the United States of America. He left behind his beloved family, and church, but most of all he left behind a rich Apostolic legacy, and many wonderful memories. Reverend Bill Bowman was inducted into the Apostolic Ministers Hall of Fame in 2002.