Rev. Martha Tennison of Lake Ozark, Missouri, has brought down the house several times as a North Central University Chapel speaker, and this spring she will bring her skills to chapel and NCU classrooms as the Spring 2022 Moen Chair for Pentecostal Preaching. Her first visit as Moen chair will be Feb. 10–11.
Those who hear Tennison for the first time are often surprised when she begins to speak. Tennison will be 80 years old in April and her 5-ft., 2-in. frame doesn’t prepare one for her powerful preaching and lively and humorous delivery style. She captivates a room and her profound faith and depth of connection to Jesus keep people riveted.
Known at North Central University as “Sister Tennison” or “Mother Tennison,” Rev. Martha is also the mom of Allen Tennison, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Church Leadership. She is among the 27 percent of Assemblies of God credentialed ministers who are women. She and her late husband, Rev. Don Tennison, were a powerful team, serving together as pastors and evangelists for nearly 50 years, and Martha Tennison has continued her evangelistic speaking as she is able since Rev. Don passed away in 2019.
Keeping faith in the darkest days
Martha Tennison has had powerful experiences that have brought her to her knees in prayer. In 1988, the Tennisons’ church youth group from Radcliff, Kentucky, was in a head-on crash with a drunk driver. The force of the crash punctured the gas tank and the bus erupted in flames, causing the death of 24 youth and three adult leaders. Allen Tennison was at the back of the bus and among those who survived the crash, which remains the worst alcohol-related crash in U.S. history.
Martha’s preaching includes stories of how God sustained their Kentucky congregation in the darkest of days. Reflecting on that experience Tennison said, “We are not saved from trouble but saved from sin. When trouble comes God never leaves us. As thy day so shall they strength be.”
Judy Pruitt, M.A., Director of the T. J. Jones Library, shared how Martha Tennison’s tragic experience impacted her. “When I was a young pastor’s wife,” Pruitt said, “I attended many conferences, retreats, and other events for which Sister Tennison was the featured speaker. I heard her stories of heartbreak and survival resulting from their church’s horrific bus fire. She often spoke of how, after the fire, when she would begin to be annoyed about her son’s belongings being strewn around their home, she would stop and thank God that her son was alive and present to mess up her house.
“Years later, my boys would toss their backpacks against the wall in our foyer every day when they would come home from school, leaving stubborn scuff marks on the wall. When I would begin to be annoyed about the scuff marks, I would hear Sister Tennison’s voice in my head, saying, ‘Be thankful they’re alive and present to leave those marks.’”
Pruitt had the chance to share this memory with Rev. Tennison after a North Central University chapel service in 2019 (pictured above).
According to Pentecostal Gold, when asked what is the main emphasis of her preaching, Martha replied, “it is to encourage people to keep their focus on Jesus.”
An unchanging God in an ever-changing world
According to Dean Allen Tennison, “The Moen Chair is filled every semester by someone who has achieved a level of excellence in vocational ministry. The benefit to our students is that we can bring in an exemplar in ministry to pass on their expertise, experience, and wisdom.” He noted that this semester, students in vocational ministry courses can dialogue with Rev. Martha in specific courses. Her February visit will include teaching in Homiletics, Pastoral Theology, and Understanding the Spirit World.
There are also times available for the Moen Chair to meet with any student in a more relaxed setting. On Friday, February 11, we will have a time for students to talk to the Moen Chair between 4-5 pm in CLC 203.
Dean Tennison is, of course, enthusiastic about his mother serving in the Moen Chair role. “Personally, it is wonderful to have my mom in town for whatever reason,” he said. “I am thrilled that she is the Moen Chair because I appreciate her ability to communicate God’s Word through humor and compassion. She has a special quality of preaching with passion, and deep empathy for those listening, that comes from her own difficult journey of life.”
Rev. Martha Tennison said it “will be a treat” to return to North Central. She noted, “It is an incredible opportunity to invest spiritually in the lives of a much younger generation called to serve in the kingdom of God.” She is eager to bring a message of hope to students. “I want them to hear and know we serve an unchanging and faithful God in this ever-changing world,” she said.
The second spring visit for Martha Tennison as Moen Chair is scheduled for April 5–7. Recordings of select chapels are available on the North Central University YouTube channel.
