Giuseppe (Joseph) Terlizzi

Giuseppe (Joseph) Terlizzi was born in Orsara, Puglia, on 26 November 1898, the son of Rocco Terlizzi and Leonora (variously 'Leonarda') Cibelli (d. 28 April 1956, Gary, IN). His step-siblings included Anna (m. Donald F. Taylor, North Hollywood and San Diego, CA); David Colosimo (Gary, IN) and Eli (aka 'Thomas', with the State Department in Washington, DC).

Joseph's father and his brother in law were the first to arrive in the USA - staying first with Rocco's brother, Francesco, who had settled in Fayette City, before setting up home in Butler, PA (348 East Jefferson) where Rocco found work as a car builder. His mother and aunt then followed in 1905, arriving in May that year aboard the SS Cretic ex Naples when Joseph was four years old. They didn't come to a quiet life. In 1906, Rocco Terlizzi was attacked by one Alessio Sacco, and severely wounded. Tony Colosimo, a family friend, tracked Sacco down and brought him to justice. In 1908, Rocco and Leonarda had a still born child - the certificate related to which was telling. Their residence was described as a 'poor farm' by the certifying officer.

Things were clearly not happy at home. In 1910, Leonarda packed up the children and moved to Gary, Indiana, with Tony Colosimo. In Gary, she built a different life, and a reputation for anti-Communist activities and migrant assistance. Her obituary indicates that she was early active in the 'Italian Assemblies' (possibly the CCNA), which later associated with the AGUSA. In 1913, Rocco filed for divorce on the grounds of adultery and wilful absence, seeking custody of the children. In 1915, Rocco remarried, to Anna Caraccio. Leonarda also remarried (to Thomas Colosimo): Joseph's 1918 Draft Certificate nominates her as Leonarda Mary Colosimo, a last name that he himself used for some short time.

At age 17 he traveled to Pennsylvania where he studied the Bible and trained for the ministry. In 1918, while working for V. K. Fries, he was already nominating himself as a 'Minister', possibly to come under the protections from the draft which were extended to ministers.

He married young to Phyllis Muriel nee Defibaugh (b. 7 Jan 1891, Horatia, PA, daughter of William and Amda Defibaugh), widow of Frank Fletcher who brought her own three daughters into the family: Miriam F (m. Borst, Arlington, West Virginia); Alice M (b. Zanesville, Ohio; m. 1. McGrory); Gwendolyn (m. John Groller, of Egypt PA, radio station manager; lived in Scranton, PA; Pasadena, CA). To this, Phyllis and Joseph would have together Lea Nora (b. 11 October 1919, Gary, Indiana; m. McDonald, Salem, Oregon); Wilma (m1. Adams, West Covina; m2. Buscemi), Joseph Jr. (lived in Arizona); David Lee (Fallbrook, CA); and Mila Mae (b. 10.9.1929 in Le Mars, Iowa; m. Wilson, Glendale CA). The whole family breathed the air of revivalist pentecostalism. Phyllis had studied at the Missionary Bible School in Washington Township, Ohio (c. 1910), and was very much Joseph's partner in ministry, while their daughters formed musical and choral ensembles (such as the Terlizzi Sisters musical trio), and were active in preaching.

In 1920, Terlizzi was a 'rougher' working in a Tin Mill in Gary, Indiana, but in 1921 accepted appointment to the Assemblies of God Church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He led a cracking pace, with events almost every day of the week - Sunday schools, and two services on Sunday, evangelistic services on Friday and Sunday nights, mid week women's, youth and Bible study groups. The area included strong Creek Indian community, and services would on occasion be led in both languages (Creek and English). In February and March of 1921, the church also hosted a month long Bible Study every night by the state AGUSA President, Fred Eiting. In May, the whole month was dedicated to Old Fashioned Revival meetings (featuring Samuel Motter and H. W. Walls) which attracted a 'packed house', with preaching at 2.30pm and 8pm every day of the week. The next year, he transferred to the Assemblies of God Church in Milford, Nebraska, while running evangelistic campaigns in Munster Indiana. He then was first elected pastor of the Hammond AGUSA Church, while running tent campaigns around the theme 'Back to the Bible'. His sermon themes were direct, preaching on love in the Church, and 'The Sinner's Need' at the weekly outdoor meetings. One extended newspaper advertisement invited people over to "'that little church on Sohl St', where everyone feels the power of God; the old-fashioned workings of the Holy Ghost; the old fashioned way of conversion; the old fashioned way of holy living." (The Times (Munster), 31 Jul 1926: 11) In 1926 there was a succession of women evangelists (such as Rose Mueller, Mrs F. E. McCoy, and Elizabeth B. Dickinson) through the church, emphasizing prayer for healing and baptism in the Spirit. In November 1926, Terlizzi's step-sister, Anna, brought the Gary Assembly orchestra across the play in the Munster church, while his step-daughter Miriam preached. Among the evangelists who preached in Hammond for Terlizzi in 1927 was William Booth Clibborn. In December 1926, he suddenly had need of healing himself, when he was involved in a street car crash in his home town of Gary IN - an accident which resulted in him suing the Gary Street Railway Company.

In 1928, Terlizzi moved to pastor the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Sioux City, Iowa. Among his first guest evangelists was 'the girl evangelist' Hattie Hammond (who had been baptized in the Spirit in a meeting led by Rev. John J. Ashcroft), with whom he organized a town wide campaign. By July, he and the family were on the move again, to take over the Gospel Tabernacle in Le Mars, IN, a church which had resulted from a campaign he had run in the city, and had formed a congregation in the town's former Congregational Church. There he preached on interest piquing subjects such as 'Should Al Smith be the next President?', and 'Should Prohibition be Repealed?'. After several years there, he continued itinerant evangelism, before taking over the Columbus Tabernacle in Columbus OH. Here he preached three times a week over radio, in addition to running evangelistic campaigns, drawing on fears about the rise of Fascism to preach on themes such as 'Mussolini and the Coming Anti-Christ', and 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse', as well as his famous personal sermon 'From Bar Room to Pulpit'.

In the 1930 census, Terlizzi was running an Assemblies of God church in Toledo OH, and living at 840 Fernwood St.

By 1935, Terlizzi's evangelistic campaigns had expanded considerably. In one interview he noted that he had made four tours of Canada. In April 1933, his evangelism expanded to the east coast, where (at the Pentecostal Tabernacle in Wilmington, DE) he ran a three week evangelistic campaign, praying for the sick, and preaching end-times messages. This was followed by tent meetings organized by John Jenkins in Scranton, PA, where 'great crowds' gathered at the 'big tent' to hear Terlizzi's 'sensational and inspiring' preaching. (The Tribune (Scranton), 28 Jul 1933: 4). In 1935, he was in Hagerstown, speaking in the Italian church in Pittston, PA, and the Bethlehem Gospel Tabernacle in Allentown PA attracting 'large crowds' to hear him speak about 'Twenty reasons why the return of Jesus to earth is near'. His mixture of contemporary news, liberal antifascism and evangelistic fervour was evidenced in his sermon on 'Hitler and the Jews', a topic that many in the West were attempting to ignore at the time. By October he was running campaigns out of First Pentecostal Church, on Hawthorne St., Boston (A. Lind, pastor). When term commenced at Zion Bible Institute (East Providence, RI) in November 1935, the Principal (Sr Gibson) invited Terlizzi to commence term with two weeks of revival meetings:

It was evident from the first night, when God wonderfully baptized one of the young women students with the Holy Ghost, that His seal was upon the new term. The power of God was so great at times that it was felt in our midst at every gathering. In the dining hall, the corridors, the rooms, the auditorium and the classrooms, in all these places were mighty demonstrations of this wonderful latter-rain outpouring. One girl received the Baptism in the afternoon when the power of God fell upon a little group gathered in the Tabernacle to pray. Night after night were glorious altar services which lasted until way into the morning hours and hearts and lives were immersed in this wonderful power from on high. (Word & Work 57.12 (December 1935))

In 1937, this 'truly Pentecostal, Dynamic Speaker' was preaching at Bethel Temple in Los Angeles; and Calvary Tabernacle (under E. O. Roebeck) in Stockton, CA, featuring several weeks of campaign where Terlizzi preached every night except on Saturdays. He finished the year in Sacramento, preaching for W. T. Gaston at the Full Gospel Tabernacle. After this round of campaigns, he would thereafter introduce himself not as Joseph Terlizzi from Columbus, Ohio, but (as he did in a campaign in Fort Collins, Colorado, with R. A. McClure) as Joseph Terlizzi, of Los Angeles, California. While in California, he was living in Los Angeles, CA, at 1906 42nd Street, taking out ordination in the Church of God (Cleveland), and acting as a CoG evangelist. In 1939, he spoke at the CoG state conference in Greenville, NC (Earl Paulk, pastor), and continued in the Church to hold a revival campaign, particularly focusing on Healing in the Atonement, and prayer for healing. On his return to Los Angeles in 1939, he was running a CoG church at 4441 South Hoover St., Los Angeles, and was elected Assistant General Overseer for the CoG in California.

In 1940 he was back in Idaho and in Wilmington DE, this time following CoG circles by working with the local pastor V. D. Coombs, before moving to Minneapolis, where he preached a campaign at W. R. Crosson's Bloomington Temple. In 1942, he was back at Bethel Tabernacle in Santa Ana, CA, billed as a "Prophetic Teacher, Evangelistic Preacher, Gospel Singer", running a campaign which at its start was billed for two weeks, but which ended up running for four. During the War, he seems to have stayed closer to home, working mainly in California. The post-war period opened up opportunities once again, both on the East Coast (back to Scranton at Samuel Schiavone's church, and then at the Christian Assembly in New Castle), and internationally. Along with the Billy Graham Organization, much attention was given to returned armed servicemen, the rising youth generation, and the increasing threat of international Communism.

In 1950 they were living at 5408 W 119 Pl, Centinela, Los Angeles, California, USA, giving his occupation as 'travelling minister'.

In 1952, for the first time since a boy, Terlizzi returned to Italy and itinerated among the ADI Churches. In the Campania, he was remembered by Vittorio Delvecchio (later a key member at the Italian Assemblies of God Church in Sydney).

When [my father] was thinking about coming to Australia [from Castel Nuovo di Conza], he didn't want to come, because he thought you would not find God here. A brother said to him, 'Fratello Antonio, il Signore e qui e il Signore e in Australia' That was brother Terlizzi... He was from Leone. He wasn't a pastor who had studied - all of these brothers who received the gift like that were like Brother Rauti - not one of them had studied to enter the pastorate. Later brother Cicchola (the pastor at Sant'Andrea) told me it was better in those days. In those days the priests would attack you with bastone - these days they look like sheep but are rapacious wolves on the inside. (Hutchinson 1999)

On his return the USA, he circulated to places like Memphis, Scranton and Rochester NY, preaching, raising support for the Italian churches, and showing motion pictures of the work of the churches there. At George Shea's Faith Tabernacle Church in Rochester, he appeared on the bill with Paul Stutzman (Detroit), C E Stubbs (CA), and Kenneth Mitchell (Montreal, Canada). Prior to this, he had been a typical healing and end times preacher. Clearly by now, however, he had made connections with the Latter Rain Revival, and can be found preaching for Kenneth Mitchell in Montreal or Glad Tidings Temple in Vancouver, or Revival Center, Spokane, on such themes as: 'The restoration of Apostolic Ministries' and 'The casting out of Devils.' Along the lines being practiced by the postwar Healing revival, his bills now emphasized the miracles of healing which would be seen in his services. By 1955, he was running a Revival Center in Bakersfield, CA.

In 1956, he and Phyllis returned to Italy, in part sponsored by San Francisco Revival Center, to preach among ADI churches, and hold campaigns in Italy and other countries. On his return, he returned to preaching around the Revival Center circuit in California, appearing in one meeting alongside Rev. Merle L. Edwards, a Presbyterian minister who had become a healing and deliverance evangelist. In 1957, he was back in New Castle, PA, preaching in H. K. Hartsuff's Latter Rain Church on East Long Ave (where he was identified as the pastor of Cadle Tabernacle, Indianapolis, IN). By 1961, his advertising was indicating that he had been to Italy five times.

In 1965, he visited Australia, where he preached in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. His Latter Rain emphasis on the Holy Spirit and "old school" preaching (which Anthony Foti described as "very flowery and highly emotional"), had significant effect in local meetings. Those on the back porch of Pietro Dali's house in Punchbowl - a centre for many Italian pentecostals moving into Australia - were quickly packed out. As he was later to show in Adelaide, Terlizzi also had very accurate insight into the state of church life. Looking at the state of the work, and the burden of Hoxton Park on the Church, he exclaimed 'Foti, you're crazy going out there, you're just killing yourself... Nothing's happening out there!" This advice was key to the Sydney church consolidating its operations on a single, purpose built facility in Punchbowl. (Hutchinson 1999)

When his first wife Phyllis died on 3 July 1969 in Pasadena (buried Forest Lawn, Glendale), Terlizzi remarried (Lee Ann). He returned to evangelism, and occasional pastorates. With Lee Ann, he shared the pastorate of the Zion Christian Assembly Church at 1746 E. Market St, and worked on the streets of Stockton, CA at Deuel Vocational Institution, in local convaescent hospitals and at the Stockton Gospel Rescue Mission. In 1982, at the age of 84, he was the guest of honour as the first elected pastor at the 70th Anniversary celebrations of the AGUSA Church in Hammond, Indiana.

Terlizzi died on 1 Sep 1983 in Stockton, CA, and was buried in Cherokee Memorial Park

Sources:

Ancestry.com

Hutchinson, Mark, Pellegrini: An Italian Protestant Community in Sydney, 1958-1998, Chester Hill: APSS, 1999.

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