Troubadour of the Kingdom

Joel Rufus Moseley (1870-1954) is one of the forgotten twentieth-century champions of American Pentecostalism. A brilliant scholar and university professor, he left the accolades of academia and searched a number of spiritual paths until he embraced Pentecostalism in 1910. Thereafter he began a lay ministry to the down-and-outs of society, openly campaigning against capital punishment, for racial desegregation, and above all else for living a life in the Holy Spirit he described as "Life as Love." He blazed a path that was to influence (and confound) many Pentecostal leaders of his time, provided an example to those who would lead what become known as the Charismatic Renewal, and enjoyed a life of joy one rarely encounters. A contemporary version of St. Francis of Assisi, Rufus Moseley shunned position, power, politics, religious titles, and seeking after wealth in favor of following simplicity and depth of spiritual life. Like his thirteenth-century counterpart, he lived a life of gratitude, of "littleness," and above all, love. Moseley offers encouragement as well as reproof to the contemporary charismatic movement to again seek the simplicity that is in Christ.