
The Kinzie's Pastoral Ministry was from 1953 to 1983.
On May 18, 1953, Brother Fred Kinzie was installed as pastor.
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Fred Kinzie was born February 4, 1914
in Bremen, Indiana, the last of five children. He was reared
on a farm in nearby LaPaz, Indiana. Young Fred learned many
lessons about life from the daily rigors and experiences found in
the small-town, rural culture of north central Indiana. On
July 6, 1943, he married the girl he had been fond of since he was
five years old, beautiful Vera Berger. The young couple
continued to work the family farm.
The Pentecostal
message first came to the area in the early 1920's. Bertha
Mangun (mother and grandmother of Pastors Gerald and Anthony Mangun,
respectively) was the first person in the community to receive the
Holy Ghost. Later, her husband Walter received the same gift,
they were both baptized in Jesus' name, and Walter started a church
in Plymouth, Indiana, where the Kinzies first heard of the apostolic
doctrine.
Fred, who had
attended a United Brethren church and later moved to the Union
Church, repented of his sins on March 5, 1936. He was baptized
in Jesus' name ten days later, March 15, 1936 and received the Holy
Ghost, December 20, 1936. A definite call to preach settled on
his heart, and Fred began preaching in neighboring churches, while
he continued to farm his land.
Fred was ordained
into the ministry in 1941, and that same year the Kinzies were
invited to Pensacola, Florida, to preach a revival. While
traveling to Pensacola, Fred became very ill with rheumatic fever.
He found himself lying flat on his back, in intense pain, in a
hospital room. Unable to move, he told the Lord, "If you will
get me out of here, and if the farm is what is holding me back, I'll
leave the farm behind and go full time in the ministry." The
hospital staff, the doctors, and everyone involved in his care were
amazed when they entered his room the next day and found him totally
healed. Soon, he entered full-time into evangelism and never
returned to the farm.
Fred and Vera lived
a disciplined life on the farm. Their work ethic carried
through in their new ministry. Pam and Pat McQeen were sisters
who had been won to the Lord by the Kinzies' ministry. Pam and
Pat joined the Kinzie Evangelistic Party and traveled across North
America for almost ten years. Fred's discipline proved to be a
great blessing to the group. For instance, they spent the
morning hours in prayer and study, and devoted the afternoon hours
to music rehearsal. Their devotion to excellence produced
quality harmony and accompaniment for singing Kinzies, and their
revivals were in great demand. Revival schedules were six
nights a week and two to three weeks at a time. Monday nights
were left open for travel and referred to as rest nights.
In his entire
ministry,. from 1941 until his retirement in 1983, Fred never varied
from his message of baptism in Jesus' name and the infilling of the
Holy Ghost. Each evening during the revival services, the
Kinzie Evangelistic Party opened the music program with their theme
song,
It's the kindness I've done that makes me happy,
It's the sorrow I've caused that makes me sad,
So it's largely up to me how happy I will be,
For I cannot wear a smile and wear a frown.
Their music opened
hearts to hear and respond to God's Word.
As years passed, the
Kinzie Party established a successful ministry. Several
pastors were interested in Kinzie as a replacement pastor for their
churches. He declined their invitations because he did not
sense call to those cities. Every time he prayed, he only
heard the Lord say, "Keep doing what you're doing," until finally,
in 1953, he felt the call to a small struggling church in Toledo.
After the Kinzies
arrived in Toledo, the church grew under their leadership.
Excitement mounted in the people and they responded to Kinzie's hard
work in evangelism and training. Pastor Kinzie instituted
Sunday school contests in the spring of 1954. The church
competition developed into the district fall Sunday school contest.
Fred served as the first district Sunday school secretary-treasurer
in 1955.
In 1954, Pastor
Kinzie launched the "Platter Parson" radio program. It was the
first Christian music radio program in Toledo. Also, that same
year, he was elected to serve as presbyter to Section Seven in
northwest Ohio, a position he held for twenty-five years. In
1976, he became a member of the Foreign Missions Board with the UPCI.
Under Fred Kinzie's
leadership, the First Apostolic Church steadily grew. The
church built three new sanctuaries in 1956, 1965, 1980, and
experienced phenomenal revival and growth in the 1970's.
Frederick E. Kinzie retired from the pastorate of First Apostolic
Church in 1983. He was promoted to the position of pastor
emeritus. Since then, he has continued to work for the Lord
through teaching, traveling, and authoring four books. |
IN LOVING
MEMORY

Vera Kinzie
KINZIE Vera Donna (Berger) Mrs. Vera Kinzie, formerly of 4840
Elm Place, recently a resident of the Goerlich Center, Sylvania, OH, left this world to be
with her Lord on December 16, 2006. She had been a committed Christian for over seventy
years. Vera was born on a farm near LaPaz, Indiana on July 9, 1912, the eldest of six
children, to Elmer and Jennie Berger. She was graduated from LaPaz High School in 1930,
with the highest honors in her
class. She majored in drama and music and went on to study
music at the South Bend Conservatory of Music, South Bend, Indiana. In 1934, Vera married
her neighbor and childhood sweethearts, Fred E. Kinzie. After their marriage, they managed
the family farm in LaPaz for ten years. In 1944, Vera and Fred began a musical
evangelistic team, along with two other neighboring girls, Pat and Pam McQueen. Their
ministry took them throughout the majority of the states and provinces in the U.S. and
Canada. Fred and Vera came to Toledo in
1953 to pastor the First Apostolic Church. Vera
established a music department and train choirs, quartets, trios and other musical
ensembles. One of her greatest joys was teaching music lessons on the piano, organ,
marimba, xylophone and bass violin. She taught nearly 1500 students in the Toledo area.
The Ohio District of the United Pentecostal Church, International asked Vera to serve as
their Ladies Auxiliary President in 1956. In 1964, the general organization of the UPCI
appointed her as the President of the Ladies Ministries, a position which she held for
thirty years. In this capacity, she traveled throughout North America and spoke on all six
continents to represent the ladies of the fellowship. Vera was preceded in death by her
parents, Elmer and Jennie Berger, and her three brothers, Noble, Cletus and Wayne. She is
survived by her husband, Reverend Fred E. Kinzie, of Sylvania; daughter, Cassandra F.
Jordan, of Sylvania; sister, Evelyn Lappin of North Liberty, Indiana; sister, Laura June
Kleinke of Avon Park, Florida, and three grandchildren, Jonathan Ryan (Megan) of Toledo,
Jeremy Ross, and Janelle Rene, both of Sylvania. Vera had battled Alzheimer's for several
years and lived the last two years at the Goerlich Center in Sylvania. The family wishes
to thank the many nurses and aides who worked with her during her time of illness.
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IN LOVING MEMORY

Fred E. Kinzie
Rev. Frederick E. Kinzie, age 95, of Oakleaf Village on
Holland-Sylvania, passed away peacefully at Lake Park Rehabilitation Center
on Sunday, February 8, 2009, after a month long respiratory illness. Born
February 4, 1914 in Breman, IN, Rev. Kinzie was the youngest child of
William and Minnie Kinzie. As pastor of First Apostolic Church, 5701
Sylvania for thirty years, from 1953-1983, he brought the church from a
small group on Detroit Avenue to the large congregation that is now located
on Sylvania Avenue. Rev. Kinzie was well known and loved in the United
Pentecostal Church, International. He was a member of the Board of Foreign
Missions of the Pentecostal organization. He also served a term of the UPCI
Executive Board and was an enthusiastic supporter of the Sunday School arm
of the church. He served as presbyter of Section Seven, the northwest
section of the Ohio District, UPCI for twenty-five years. Rev. Kinzie
attended school in LaPaz, Indiana and graduated from LaPaz High School in
1931. In 1935, he married his childhood sweetheart, Vera Berger and they
enjoyed a rich and rewarding marriage until she passed away in 2006. They
spent their first several years farming in the Marshall County area, and
then after their conversions to the Pentecostal faith, he felt his call into
the ministry. They formed the Kinzie Evangelistic Party with neighboring
girls, Pat and Pam McQueen, early in the 1940's and traveled across the
country in music and evangelist ministry for ten years. Their travels took
them to all lower forty-eight states and they pioneered as recording artists
in the Pentecostal denomination. In 1953, they left the evangelistic field
to assume the pastorate of the First Apostolic Church. During his tenure
here, Rev. Kinzie began the "Platter Parson" program on WSPD. After his
retirement in 1983, he began his next career as an author. He learned how to
use a computer at age seventy and wrote five books, all of which were
published by the Pentecostal Publishing House, Hazelwood, MO. In addition to
his ministerial activities, he was an avid fisherman. He took twenty-four
trips to the Lac Seul region of Western Ontario, plus a number of trips to
Lake Consecon, east of Toronto. He owned a lake home in Chelsea, MI where he
spent countless hours fly fishing and trolling for bass. Rev. Kinzie was the
loving father of one daughter, Cassandra, who participated in his care
throughout his retirement years. Rev. Kinzie was preceded in death by his
parents; brother; three sisters; and his beloved wife, Vera. He is survived
by his daughter, Cassandra (Mark) Jordan; three grandchildren, Jonathan Ryan
(Megan), Jeremy Ross (Melissa) and Janelle Rene; and great-granddaughter,
MaKinzie Jordan. |
          














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FirstApostolicChurch,
Copyright © 2005.
Last revised:
August 18, 2009.
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