John S. Stamm
John Samuel Stamm (1878–1956) was an American bishop of the Evangelical Church, elected in 1926. Biography. Stamm was born on a Sunday morning (to his parents, an indication God had a special work for him), 23 March 1878, a son of Hanz and Mary Stamm. The Stamms were devout Christians and members of the Evangelical Association Church in Alida, Geary County, Kansas, which they had helped organize seven years before. Conversion and call. At the age of ten, John became so disturbed by a sermon he heard one Sunday morning that he went to a hillside after  church to pray. At the age of eighteen he experienced another turning point in his young life. Sitting with several other teenage boys one night when the preacher gave the invitation to come to the altar, John turned to his friends and said, ""If I go, will you go?" " They assured him they would. So they filed down the center aisle to the altar. ""That night I found Jesus Christ as my personal Savior,"" Bishop Stamm later wrote. ""It was an experience of great joy and meaning and still is today,"" he wrote in 1955. ""I made a complete turnabout  in life. Instead of doubting God, I now loved Him...things of the spirit had new interest and challenge for me...the call of the Christian ministry came to me with clear and convincing urgency."" Education. Stamm had completed less than five grades of public school when he turned twenty. Nevertheless, that fall he sold his horse and other possessions to obtain enough money for a train ticket to Naperville, Illinois, the home of The Evangelical Association's North Central College and Evangelical Theological Seminary (E.T.S.). He took sub-academy courses at the College, along with others who had also  not finished high school. Twelve years later Stamm had completed his college degree and graduated from the seminary. In 1927, E.T.S. honored him with a Doctor of Divinity degree. He received a Doctor of Laws degree from Albright College in 1936, a Doctor of Humane Letters from North Central College in 1949, and a Doctor of Sacred Theology from Dickinson College in 1951. Ordained ministry. In 1901 Stamm was appointed Pastor of the Glasgow, Missouri Evangelical Mission. ""When I met the Class Leader at the railroad station, he greeted me rather formally, then said," 'I had better tell you right  away, we do not want you.' "He said they had requested the conference not to send an unmarried man to this mission."" While serving there Stamm became acquainted with Priscilla Marie Wahl. She taught in the Primary Department of the Sunday School and was elected Superintendent when only nineteen. On 19 March 1912 they were married during the time that Rev. Stamm was the Pastor of the Manhattan Evangelical Church. Shortly thereafter he was appointed to the Oak Park Village Church. Two nights before Christmas, 1918, Bishop Spreng informed Rev. Stamm by telephone that he had been elected to teach  Systematic Theology at E.T.S. He remained at the seminary until elected Bishop. His theological scholarship was recognized in his service as a Consulting Editor for the publication of both the "Revised Standard Version of the Bible" and of "The Interpreters Bible." Episcopal ministry. His first assignment as Bishop of the Evangelical Church was Kansas City. During those first eight years, Stamm also served as the General Secretary of Evangelism for his denomination. After Kansas City, in 1934 he was assigned to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. There he also served until 1941 as President of The Evangelical School of Theology at Reading, Pennsylvania . Bishop Stamm gave statesman-like leadership to the Pennsylvania Council of Churches (1945–49) and to the Federal Council of Churches (1948–50), serving as President of each of those organizations. He was a member of the 1948 organizing Assembly of the World Council of Churches, serving on its Central Committee until 1954. Retirement. When Bishop Stamm requested retirement at the 1950 General Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, he said Bishop Stamm closed his farewell address by saying Death. Bishop Stamm died March 5, 1956.