A small group of men from the Elim Pentecostal Alliance, including the Jeffreys brothers and Darragh, traveled to the United States and Canada to observe the move of the Holy Spirit in those nations. While visiting the U.S., Jeffreys spent time at the five-thousand-seat Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, California, the central house of worship of the Foursquare Gospel Church, and met with Aimee Semple McPherson, who founded the denomination. Jeffreys was intrigued by her ministry and the dramatic way in which she presented the full gospel. After meeting her, his self-confidence as a revivalist seemed to increase.
The days before Easter 1926, the Elim team was getting ready for a convention at Liverpool’s Surrey Tabernacle when Jeffreys received a surprise phone call from Aimee Semple McPherson. She told him that she was in France and wanted to travel to London to conduct a few meetings before going on to Palestine for ministry. The team was a little perplexed, but they invited her to participate at the Surrey Tabernacle meetings. She spent a few days ministering in London before she left for Palestine. On the way back from the Middle East, she planned to join Jeffreys for the Easter meetings.
The reservation at Surrey Tabernacle was cancelled, and the meetings were rescheduled for Royal Albert Hall in London to accommodate the crowds that Aimee Semple McPherson was expected to draw. She preached on the night of Easter Sunday and the next day. The British press had been thrilled by the opportunity to cover the meetings led by this well-known, flamboyant American preacher. Yet the crowds in Great Britain did not really warm to her, perhaps because the stereotypically sedate British personality was not accustomed to her dramatic, boisterous mannerisms.
Although Jeffreys was never directly involved with Aimee’s ministry, he did adopt the Foursquare designation, so that the Elim Pentecostal Alliance became the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance.
- God’s General’s ( Healing Evangelists)