Vessie Hargrave collection

Vessie Hargrave was born in Hopkins County, Texas on May 28, 1915. Reverend Hargrave died on September 19, 1987 in Dallas, Texas. He married Bessie Mae Davie on October 17, 1931 and they had three children together. He attended Bible Training School (Lee University), earned a master’s degree at Trinity University, and was a doctoral candidate at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He was ordained in the Church of God in 1933. After pastoring three congregations in Texas from 1937–1941, Vessie became the Texas Sunday School and Youth Director.

Few in the Church of God have had a comparable impact on ministry in Latin America and Church of God world missions. From 1943 to 1945, he was missionary to Mexico. He served as the co-chairman of the Mexico Literature Committee and served on the Board of Education at the Mexico Bible Institute (1944–1946). He was the superintendent of the Latin American Department for the Church of God and editor of El Evangelio (1945–1962) and Senda Illuminada (1953–1962). He was the founder of International Preparatory Institute, an institution designed to train missionaries and Christian workers among Spanish-speaking people in the Americas, serving as president 1947–1953. He was the overseer of the Spanish work west of the Mississippi River for the Church of God from 1948 until 1962.

Vessie Hargrave was the supervisor of the European Department and a council member for the European Servicemen’s Department 1962–1964. He was the General Director of World Missions from 1964 until 1968. He also served as the State Overseer of South Carolina (1968–1970), Eastern Spanish Churches (1970–1974), and Missouri (1974–1976). He was instrumental in the founding of 24 Bible schools and seminaries in various countries and served in many other offices in this tenure with the Church of God. Over the span of his life, he authored eight books in English and seven in Spanish.