Enda Wallace
“In the fall of 1948, Sister Edna Wallace preached a revival for my father, Rev. Lonnie Nations, at Bethel Pentecostal Church in Walthall County, Mississippi (later known as New Bethel Church). During that meeting, a young man named James Brister received the Holy Ghost and desired to be baptized.
James’s father, Brother Ado Brister, worked on Lawrence Johnson’s farm, which had a pond that was chosen as the baptismal site. There was one challenge: to reach the pond, we had to climb a six-foot locked gate and cross a fenced pasture containing a herd of newly introduced wild Brahman cattle. With lighted torches in hand, Sister Wallace included, we crossed that pasture as the cattle snorted and pawed the ground. My father baptized Brother James, and we quickly made our way back out of the pasture. Fifty-four years later, I still wonder whether that night was faith—or ignorance—that led us through those wild cattle.”
- James F. Nations
Sister Edna Wallace, still active in ministry at 95 years of age, was born November 29, 1907, in Walthall County, Mississippi, one of seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lemmie Alexander. She married Arvin Wallace on December 19, 1929, and together they had five children.
She was baptized on August 31, 1939, and received the Holy Ghost on September 1, 1939, during a brush arbor meeting under the ministry of Brother Johnny Magee. Sister Wallace began her ministry through cottage prayer meetings in her home and the homes of others, later conducting her first brush arbor revival near Monticello. She became licensed with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ on August 17, 1944, prior to the formation of the United Pentecostal Church International.
As her husband traveled for work, Sister Wallace continued establishing prayer meetings wherever they lived, and hungry souls soon gathered to seek God. Though she faced criticism and even rejection from family, she remained faithful to the message of Truth. Her legacy continues through multiple generations of her family now active in ministry.
Sister Wallace helped establish numerous Home Mission works in Mississippi, with one of her most notable efforts beginning in 1955 in Burney, California. There, a small cottage prayer meeting grew into a church that eventually secured its own building and continues to thrive today.
At the time of this writing, Sister Wallace was a member of Woodlawn United Pentecostal Church in Columbia, Mississippi. Even at 95, she remained active in ministry—praying with seekers, helping souls receive the Holy Ghost, and faithfully inviting others to worship and know her God.