Quote:
Originally Posted by LifeGuide
I'm a little surprised that there's been no mention of the passing of Sis. Gazowsky. Her influence on many in the Apostolic realm is incalculable.
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Didn't know of her passing but this is what I found on line.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...2391420&type=3
REST IN PEACE - Sister Marilyn Gazowsky PASTOR, AUTHOR PREACHER
By Teologo Felipe Agredano · Updated about 3 months ago · Taken at Voice Of Pentecost Academy
Rev. Sister Marilyn Gazowsky founded her church the Voice of Pentecost in San Francisco in the late 1960's during the "Jesus Movement" at the same time as Anton LaVey started the Satanic Church in San Francisco and when Jim Jones started the People's Church also in San Francisco. Sister Marilyn Gazowsky's church still stands today, and it is pastored by her son Richard Gazowsky, a United Pentecostal Church International, UPCI.
I was honored to have personally met Pastor Marilyn Gazowsky in 1992 during the inaugural celebration of the new sanctuary of Union City Apostolic Church. All the prominent Oneness Apostolic Bay Area pastors where invited as guest speakers for this joyous occasion. Most pastors where male, except for Sister Gazowsky. All male pastors were invited to seat up on the platform, except for Gazowsky. She was the only female pastor, so she sat with the rest of us lay people off the platform.
I knew exactly who she was; my friend Louie had identified her for me. She was the female pastor of the largest congregation in the Bay Area and unquestionably the most prominent Apostolic church in San Francisco Bay Area region. Quickly my intrigue turned into confusion. I wondered, why had she had been invited yet not given her proper role as the religious leader of the most distinguished Oneness church. She was relegated to sit with the rest of us common folk, yet she was not visibly upset, she respected the decision and patiently sat with the lay folk.
One by one, all dignitaries were invited to speak and offer congratulatory words to the pastor and congregation present. Finally, Rev. Marilyn Gazowsky was invited up to address the congregation. She walked up the stairs to the platform. She positioned herself behind the pulpit, firmly grabbing the pulpit with both hands and leaned forward into the microphone with all the authority and command of a preacher and spoke. I was amazed and mesmerized with her ease on the podium. As a young student at UC Berkeley--familiar with feminism and equality yet unaccustomed with female preachers--I was stunned with her command of the sacred space and of her role as a preacher, speaker and religious leader.
I must confess, at first I was hesitant to having a women speak, up on the pulpit. I was not used to seeing women preachers, this was rare for me. Growing up in a Latino male-dominated Pentecostal church, women were not allowed to speak period. Banned from the pulpit, they were banned from all ministries. Years later, I learned women had indeed been a vital and central role in the church in the early years. Machismo crept back into the church somehow; perhaps the old remnants of Catholicism.
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