"The Life And Ministry Of "Brother John" Bedzyk"

[TTL News 308]

Quote

 

In 1934, a young John Bedzyk heard about a Wesleyan Camp meeting in Chambers, New York. Here's what he did, according to a newspaper article: 

“At twelve years of age, he and a large group of Ukrainian children piled into and onto a 1926 Essex. John rode straddling a headlight. They were hungry for God. Every one of this group of young people was saved that day” (Herald Examiner, April 1991).

And so began a life in ministry that included being the longtime pastor of one of Elmira's most prominent churches.

John Bedzyk was the son of Michael and Anna Bedzyk. Michael, a Ukrainian immigrant, had come from Zahutyn province in Poland around 1910 at age 16. In 1914, he took a job at the former Eclipse Machine Co. in Elmira Heights, where he met and married Anna Moskal. They settled in the Ukrainian community. 

John was born in 1922. He described his parents for John Cleary’s Neighbors column in the Star-Gazette in 2001: “They were godly parents, but they weren’t always that way.  My father was a gambler and a drinker and a wife beater. But God changed his life. My mother prayed, and God showed her there would be a church in Elmira and her son was going to be the pastor of that church.”

When the Great Depression hit in 1929 and work became scarce, the Bedzyks moved to a farm in Sullivanville. “John attended a one-room school in Sullivanville and ‘skipped’ second and seventh grades. Seems that he was the only one in second grade, so his teacher moved him up a grade. The same thing happened in seventh grade” (Sunday Telegram, Sept. 1, 1974).

In 1936, the family was foreclosed on and moved back to the Heights. John graduated from Edison High School at age 16, eighth in his class.

 

Read the rest of the article here.

[Chris 2,162]

I really enjoyed this article by Mr. Hare. 

I never really knew Brother John, other than seeing him on his weekly tv show. I'd see him at the hospital now and then and always say "hello". He seemed like a real friendly guy. 

[Hal 341]

Brother John , he could get you off your seat and on your feet ! I used to go the Services some Sundays with my cousins and being brought up in a Quiet Methodist Church it was was quite a change for us . But even as kids we came away from his service much the better for it because Brother John wanted to “ reach , not just preach “ !