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Alta M. Washburn: “Trailblazer to the Tribes”

By Joseph J. Saggio

How do you enter full-time ministry and still keep up responsibilities as a wife and mother? Read about Alta Washburn, who, saved and healed at age 25, prepared herself for ministry while raising a family. She eventually served as pastor of an Assemblies of God church and pioneered fruitful ministry to Native Americans. What is today known as the American Indian College was the result of the visionary planning and hard work of Alta and her husband. If you have ever wanted to “do it all,” you will be encouraged by the story of Alta Washburn.

Salvation and Deliverance from Scarlet Fever

In 1931, a young itinerant preacher set up his gospel tent in the small coal‑mining town of Clarksburg, West Virginia. Just a few years prior, this unnamed evangelist had returned from serving his country as a soldier in far away Europe during the First World War. Like mans others, he found Christ on the battlefield overseas, and sensing God’s hand in sparing his life during the war, he committed himself to serving his newfound Savior.

In the course of the tent meeting that reached Clarksburg and the surrounding communities, scores of people came to Christ, including many of the family members of Clarence and Alta Washburn. At that time, Alta Washburn was a 25‑year‑old mother stricken with a severe case of scarlet fever that had paralyzed and crippled her. As she lay dying, Alta’s "newly-saved" Aunt Elva eloquently bore witness to the saving grace of Jesus Christ by caring non‑stop for her gravely ill niece during this time. As she lay dying, Alta had a vision of God’s impending judgment if she refused to accept Christ’s salvation:

Sometime after midnight I went into the jaws of death.
I was suspended over the abyss of hell on a narrow
slippery path, struggling to climb and escape the creatures
who reached to drag me in. ¹

After stubbornly refusing God’s grace for so long, Alta finally surrendered her life to Christ and was healed completely from the devastating effects of scarlet fever. (This was no doubt in part because of the all‑night prayerful intercession of her aunt’s church in Fairmont, West Virginia!) In her own words, Alta describes her salvation and deliverance from infirmity:

What a day to be remembered when I arose from the bed
that had long held me prisoner. More glorious was my
deliverance from the bondage of sin. Not only does that day
in 1931 mark the date of my salvation and healing, but
it was the day I heard God call me to be a missionary.
Little did I know what the future held for me. ²

The Beginning of the Call

Indeed, the Lord had a great calling upon the life of young Alta Washburn. She developed a significant ministry among the American Indians of the southwestern United States and established the first Assemblies of God Bible institute for Native Americans (today known as American Indian College, located in Phoenix, Arizona). First, however, she served as a youth leader in her church, and subsequently as a tent evangelist, leading scores of people to Christ. Alta believed that her ability to be effective in ministry was directly related to having received the baptism in the Holy Spirit six months after her salvation.

Taking seriously her responsibilities as a wife and mother of two sons, she did not want to neglect her family in order to fulfill her calling. As a result, Alta took correspondence courses that helped her to gain the Bible knowledge she needed in order to qualify for ministry. She also held steadfast to a prophetic word given in church by her pastor that she believed as directed to her: “There is someone in our midst called of God to minister for Him. This person will be in active work for the Lord in a short time."

At a time when few women were involved in full‑time ministry, Alta Washburn is to be commended for remaining committed to that calling while still keeping a firm grasp on her responsibilities as a wife and mother. Indeed, her husband Clarence Washburn must also be recognized in that while he never had an "up front" ministry like that of his wife, he fully validated her work and calling by working tirelessly alongside her "behind the scenes."

The Trail Leads to the Tribes

In 1946, Alta Washburn was serving as pastor of the Assembly of God in Salineville, Ohio. Pioneered years earlier as a storefront mission, by 1946 it had moved to a fine facility on the main street of town. The Salineville Assembly of God had a vibrant history of raising up and sending out missionaries throughout the United States and abroad.

In 1936, the church sent out missionaries Ernest and Ethel Marshall, along with the Dewey Beadles, who established the first Assemblies of God church among the San Carlos Apache Indians in San Carlos, Arizona. In 1942, after several years of patiently “plowing the ground," the San Carlos church experienced a tremendous revival characterized by overflowing crowds, salvations, and reports of “signs and wonders.” ⁴ In 1948, the Pentecostal Evangel reported the congregation in San Carlos had become the first AG Indian church to be fully "self-supporting" and that it had been so for several years! ⁵

It was against this backdrop that the Washburns experienced their own call to Native ministry to the tribes located in the southwestern United States. Deeply impressed by the dedication of the Beadles, Sister Washburn in prayer received a direct call to evangelize and serve the American Indians, reporting:

With this commission from the Lord, an intense love for
American Indians flooded my soul. Now that I had a
confirmation of my call from God, I knew I must take the
next step – a step of faith. ⁶

Thus began the ministry of the Washburns among the Apache Indians at the San Carlos Reservation in San Carlos, Arizona in 1946. The Marshalls and Beadles had already laid a tremendous foundation in their ministry among the Apaches, leaving over one hundred converts as the "fruit of their labors" to greet the Washburns upon their arrival – a vibrant Pentecostal church plant.

Perhaps even more remarkable is the fact that Dick Born, a local Apache preacher, had become an evangelist to his own people –

a rarity in that day, since the concept of indigenous ministry among Native Americans was just beginning to emerge. ⁸ The Washburns thought they had found their home. Pleased with the foundation that had already been laid, Alta and Clarence Washburn began to engage themselves in the work of this fertile mission field.

Alta Washburn’s ministry in San Carlos was characterized by both harrowing trials and triumphant victories. The Washburns’ close relationships with two other missionary couples – the Dewey Beadles and Imogene and Ted Johnson (Alta’s sister and brother‑in‑law) – sustained them throughout the most trying circumstances, including shocking outbursts of violence on the reservation.

On one occasion, a man searching for his wife and child burst into the church service brandishing a gun, which he pointed directly at Sister Washburn. Spying his wife and baby, he physically attacked them, causing the baby to be thrown into the middle of the church aisle. Just as he was beating his wife, two tribal police burst into the service and took the man into custody. The mother and child, though injured, soon recovered. Of those times Alta remarked, "Numerous times we travailed together in prayer in the midst of the hardest times, and each time God always confirmed His call and Word.” ⁹

In spite of the difficulties of missionary life on the Apache I reservation, the occasional miracles confirmed God’s call many times. Alta recalled when an Apache woman rushed into church with the stiff corpse of her recently deceased child begging Alta to "heal" the child. Alta realized that she was faced with the need to trust God like never before:

As I prayed, I began to feel warmth return to that little body
and the rigid little limbs become limp and movable. I handed
that baby restored to life into its mother’s arms. All of
us in that Sunday service were overcome with the knowledge
that we had actually beheld the resurrection power of the Lord. ¹⁰

The Trail Leads to Phoenix, Arizona

The Washburns greatly loved their ministry among the Apache Indians, but by 1947 it became necessary for them to consider relocating because as an "Anglo," Clarence had difficulty obtaining any type of employment on the San Carlos Reservation. After securing a job in Phoenix, Clarence moved his family to their new home. Although the Washburns were reluctant to move at first, they quickly realized that the Lord had just opened up many new opportunities for them to minister to the various Phoenix‑area tribes, including the Pima, Maricopa, Yaqui, and the Papago. ¹¹

They initially based their outreach ministry out of First Assembly of God in Phoenix; but in 1948, the Washburns established All Tribes Assembly of God to minister to Indians residing throughout the greater Phoenix area. Over the years, a number of other churches were "birthed" through the church‑planting vision of All Tribes Assembly including churches at Laveen, Co‑Op, and Casa Blanca, located on the Gila River Indian Reservation near Phoenix, as well as the Guadalupe church in a Yaqui Indian community near Phoenix.

The Washburns were also involved in establishing the Salt River Indian Assembly of God on the Salt River Indian Reservation near Scottsdale, which began as an outreach of All Tribes Assembly. ¹² When opportunities arose for further ministry, Sister Washburn never questioned them – she just accepted the challenge.

Establishing All Tribes Bible School

By 1956, Sister Washburn had come to recognize the urgent need to develop Native leadership so that Indians could continue to he reached for Christ. She believed passionately in the "indigenous principle" detailed in Acts 14:23 which called for equipping local ethnic leaders who are best qualified to minister to their own people. Believing that God had called them to establish a ministerial training school as a ministry of All Tribes Assembly of God, the Washburns began construction and renovation. They advertised this bold new venture throughout Assemblies of God Native American circles to enlist students.

On September 23, 1957, the All Tribes Indian Bible Training School (ATBS) opened its doors at 4123 E. Washington Street in Phoenix, Arizona. The stated purpose of the Bible school was:

to train the native Indian worker in sound Bible doctrines
that they may in turn go out to reach their own tribes in the
native language, thereby spreading the Gospel quickly to every
kindred tribe and tongue. ¹³

Tuition was assessed at twenty dollars per year, and room and board was five dollars a week. ¹⁴ ATBS established historical precedent by becoming the first American Indian Bible school established under the auspices of the Assemblies of God. ¹⁵

Longtime U.S. missionary to Native Americans, Alma F. Thomas remembered the early days of the Bible school as "very small, very primitive." Still, there was great unity among and students who had gathered together for the common purpose of developing Native Christian leaders. Food vas also very limited, with beans being a common menu item in the early days. Thomas also recounted a remarkable absence of murmuring or complaining, because those who studied and worked at the Bible school knew that great sacrifices were needed to establish the ministry. ¹⁶

Fortunately, God provided fish, mutton, beef, chicken, elk, and other food through the generosity of various college supporters. ¹⁷ God never failed to supply every need at just the opportune time.

One early graduate of the school, Jacob Escalante worked a day job while enrolled in order to support his family while taking night classes at ATBS. By graduation he had not yet received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, so with a strongsense of determination he continued to attend chapel services at the Bible school until he did so. His perseverance was suitably rewarded as Sister Washburn reported. “His knees had hardly touched the floor when he began to speak in a beautiful heavenly language. It was a glorious experience of the Spirit’s infilling." ¹⁸

Escalante went on to pastor in the region around Yuma, Arizona and ministered to his own tribe (the Tohono O’odham Nation). His ministry has included successful pastoral and evangelistic work and he also served as an elected tribal leader. ¹⁹

The Washburns remained at ATBS until 1965, when Alta resigned due to health concerns. Alta and Clarence Washburn had accomplished a remarkable task – establishing and developing a Bible school –with very limited resources. Don Ramsey, who succeeded Alta as principal (later president), recounted that when he asked about regular monthly support toward the Bible school that he could "count on,” Sister Washburn told him that regular support did not exist and that it was a "total faith venture.” Although shocked to find this out, Ramsey grew to greatly admire what the Washburns had accomplished under incredibly challenging conditions. ²⁰

After she recuperated from her illness, Alta Washburn resumed her ministry. She returned as pastor of All Tribes Assembly of God and moved the church to a larger facility on East McKinley Street in downtown Phoenix. The church grew and prospered under her ministry. Gay Keeter, who along withher late husband Donald Keeter served as associate pastors under Sister Washburn, remembered that the Washburns still found time to serve as foster parents to over twenty-five Native American foster children over the years. Alta Washburn had a deep and profound love for the Native American people:

I remember sitting in the little Sunday school office that
we had at All Tribes [Assembly of God] – something had
happened with a couple of the Indian people in the church
and I can remember her just weeping, and the thought
came to me at the time that [Sister Washburn] has a
real ‘missionary heart.’ ²¹

Other Trails

Alta and Clarence Washburn remained as pastors at All Tribes AG in Phoenix until 1972, when they moved to nearby Prescott to work among the Yavapai Apaches, and then on to the Salt River Indian Reservation. Finally in 1985, at age 79, Sister Washburn accepted her last pastorate – the Yaqui church in Guadalupe which she had started years earlier while pastoring at All Tribes in Phoenix. Initially reticent at taking the church at such an advanced age, Alta felt God’s confirmation to accept what was to be her last pastoral assignment:

I could never close a door that God had opened for me,
nor could I close this one. Had I not proved many
times that God’s strength and grace sustained me in
spite of obstacles to fulfilling His will? Yes, I would
accept the pastorate. ²²

Although there for less than one year, the Washburns were able to bring a measure of healing and unity to a congregation that was fragmented by conflict. The church experienced a measure of growth and restoration during that time period. ²³

Over the years, the Washburns’ ministry was deeply appreciated wherever they served, but no more so than among the Pima andMaricopa Indians of the Salt River Indian Reservation. Cherie Sampson, a Pima Indian whose father and uncles were saved and called into the ministry under the ministry of Alta Washburn, remembered her as a woman of great vision for Native ministry. “I would say that she wasa woman that was ahead of her time. She forged ahead when it wasn’t popular for a woman to be in this kind of ministry." Sampson recalled stories from her parents and other relatives about how the Washburns tenaciously and persistently reached out to the residents of the Salt River Indian Reservation, enduring a great deal of persecution before they became widely accepted. ²⁴ Their lastinglegacy at Salt River includes many who were saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, and called into ministry.

In 1990, Alta Washburn completed her memoirs, Trail to the Tribes, with the assistance of her longtime friend and colleague Alma Thomas. Soon afterward, Sister Washburn went home to be with the Lord after a lengthy illness. Near the close of her book, perhaps sensing her impending home-going, Alta penned these words describing the legacy that she and Clarence could rightfully claim:

I have spent so much time reflecting over these 42 years
that God has given us to minister the Gospel to Native
Americans. We feel no regrets, only wish we could have
many more years to work in this great Harvest for the Lord.
Clarence and I are consoled by the knowledge that our
vision is perpetuated by those whom our lives have touched. ²⁵

Without question, the Washburns have had an impact on Native American ministry that only eternity will be able to measure. Their sacrificial lives and willingness to take on bold new ventures helped them to establish a reputation that was "fleshed out" through their tenacity and integrity. Indeed, Sister Washburn was an iconoclastic leader – dedicated to radically reshaping the concept of missionary work by Anglos to Native Americans, to a more indigenous approach of by Native Americans to their own people. Today, a number of indigenous churches, successful Native leaders, and American Indian College – the only regionally‑accredited Bible college for Native American students in the United States – all stand as an enduring tribute to this outstanding "trailblazer" to the tribes.

Joseph J. Saggio, Ed.D. is a nationally-appointed U.S. missionary now serving as the dean of institutional assessment and faculty member at the American Indian College of the Assemblies of God (AIC) in Phoenix, Arizona since 1994. He also serves as an adjunct professor for the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield Missouri and as its Phoenix branch campus director on AIC’s campus.

ENDNOTES

1. Alta M. Washburn, undated correspondence, 1.

2. Alta M. Washburn. Trail to the Tribes (Prescott, AZ, 1990), 4-5.

3. Ibid., 6.

4. "Revival Among the Apache Indians.” Pentecostal Evangel, August 8, 1942, 7. See also Joseph J. Saggio, "Towards an Indigenous Model of Name American Ministry in the Assemblies of God,” in Memories of the Azusa Street Revival: Interrogations and Interpretations (35^th Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies held at Fuller Theological Seminary, March 23-25, 2006), 336-343.

5. "First Indian Convention,” Pentecostal Evangel, April 10, 1948, 10‑11.

6. Washburn, 1990, 13.

7. Carolyn D. Baker, Indian Harvest: A History of the American Indian Bible College (Phoenix, American Indian Bible College. 1988), 6.

8. Ibid, 6. See also “First Indian Convention,” Pentecostal Evangel, April 10, 1948, 11. For a more complete discussion of the historical development of indigenous ministry among Native Americans in the Assemblies of God, please see Saggio, 336‑343. Herein I discuss the progressive development of this shift from a "missions­-driven" model to an "indigenous‑driven" model.

9. Washburn, 1990, 20‑21.

10. Ibid., 22.

11. Today the Papago Indians are known as the Tohono O’odham Nation.

12. Ibid., 30. The Salt River Indian Assembly of God has for many years had indigenous Native leadership including its current Native pastor, Dennis Hodges, who also serves as the presbyter of the Phoenix Metro Indian Section and was also recently elected as one of three general presbyters representing Native American concerns to the General Presbytery of the Assemblies of God.

13. Information gleaned from an unpublished flyer written in 1957. In the early days, the school was often referred to as "All Tribes Bible School" or ATBS. Over the years this institution has had a number of name changes reflecting its growth and development beginning with American Indian Bible Institute, American Indian Bible College, and now the present name since 1993 – American Indian College of the Assemblies of God.

14. Ibid.

15. See for example Jim Dempsey, “Part I: Assemblies of God Ministry to Native Americans." Assemblies of God Heritage

22:2 (Summer 2002): 4-11. Subsequent institutions for Name Americans include Native American Bible College founded in 1968 by Pauline Mastries, Charles Hadden, and Hubert Boese and now located Shannon, North Carolina, Good Shepherd Indian Bible Institute in Mobridge, South Dakota was founded in 1970 by Leo and Mildred Bankson (later renamed Black Hills Indian Bible College in Rapid City, South Dakota.) Its successor is the Institute for Ministry Development, an intercultural distance-education program for Native Americans. Far North Bible College in Anchorage, Alaska was established in 1973 through the efforts of Arvin and Luana Glandon along with Kenneth Andrus.

16. Alma E Thomas, Professor Emeritus, American Indian College and nationally appointed U.S. missionary to Native Americans, interview by author, Scottsdale, AZ, May 19, 2006.

17. Pauline Dunn, A Trail of Beauty: A Short History of American Indian Bible College (Phoenix, AZ, 1984), 6‑8. Dunn, in addition to giving a thoughtful account of the first 30 or so years of the college’s history, also provides an amusing story of how even "road kill" helped supply student needs when the cupboards were bare.

18. Washburn, 1990, 59.

19. lbid., 59. See also Joseph J. Saggio. "Assemblies of God Higher Educational Institutions: A Means to Develop the Indigenous Church Model Among Native Americans," in Encounter: A Journal for Pentecostal Ministry 1:2 (Fall 2004).

20. Don Ramsey, former principal (later president) of All Tribes Indian Bible School and nationally appointed U.S. missionary to Native Americans, correspondence to author, April 4, 2006.

21. Gay Keeter, nationally appointed U.S. missionary to Native Americans, interview by author, Phoenix, AZ, May 18, 2006.

22.Washburn, 1990, 99.

23. Ibid., 99.

24. Cherie Sampson, telephone interview by author, 14 July, 2006. On at least one occasion Cherie’s father, the late Virgil Sampson (before his conversion and call to the ministry) tried to chase off Clarence Washburn with a bicycle chain!

25. Washburn, 1990, 100.

Originally published as in the Assemblies of God Heritage, 2007, pp. 28-33. Used by permission of the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center. For additional historical information about women in ministry visit www.iFPHC.org.

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