Aimee Semple McPherson’s life story continues to fascinate nearly 80 years after her death. The recent HBO series “Perry Mason” based its Sister Alice character on McPherson, and many books and documentaries have chronicled her exploits. Sister Aimee founded her own church — which still stands nearly a century later — as well as her own denomination. McPherson was the first American woman to hold a radio broadcasting license, and she owned her own radio station when the medium was still in its infancy. Her personal travails were the stuff of a Hollywood melodrama. Fittingly, she chose to base her ministry in Los Angeles.
McPherson was influenced by Pentecostalism, an emerging strain of belief distinguished by the speaking and interpretation of tongues, also known as glossolalia. The phenomenon was described in the biblical account of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and other followers of Jesus in Jerusalem fifty days after Easter Sunday. According to the second chapter of Acts, a mighty wind came down from heaven and filled them with the Holy Spirit — a spirit baptism — as Jesus had promised. Then they began to speak in languages they did not know, testifying to the works of God.
Pentecostals interpreted these “tongues of fire” as a gift from the Holy Spirit that could mark the recipient as capable of healing the sick and issuing prophecies. McPherson embarked on a solo preaching career, holding “faith healing” revivals in cities across the country. Her meetings created a sensation wherever she went. Hundreds testified that McPherson cured their physical ailments, while press accounts ridiculed her flamboyant methods. Some pastors dismissed McPherson as a charlatan, though their criticism may have been colored by jealousy of her large, fervent crowds.
McPherson’s church opened on January 1, 1923 — she cannily used a float as a promotional tool in that morning’s Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena. Angelus Temple overlooks Echo Park and looks much like it did in Sister Aimee’s day — minus the twin radio spires because the radio station went off the air in 2003. The congregation today is smaller and reflects the neighborhood’s strong Latino character. Aimee Semple McPherson and the church she built blended celebrity, entertainment, business acumen, and mass communication into an intoxicating and much-copied formula.
