Rev. Isaiah Reid (1836-1911)

REID, MCKNIGHT, BRADEN

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 5/13/2024 at 19:08:52

Isaiah Reid was born in Walnut Ridge, Indiana (near Salem) to Thomas and Jemima (McKnight) Reid, a godly family of strict Scottish Covenanters. At age fourteen, he moved with his family to a new homestead in northern Des Moines County, Iowa (just south of Morning Sun, Iowa). In early life, he decided on a career as a woodworker. In 1855, through the recruiting and persuasions of Rev. Dr. Erastus J. Gillett, Reid enrolled in Jefferson Academy/Yellow Springs College in Kossuth, Iowa. In 1856, the 20 year old Reid found salvation in Jesus Christ through Gillett's ministry and heeded a call to full-time ministry.
Reid graduated from YSC with a bachelor's degree in 1861. From 1861-1864, he attended Auburn Theological Seminary in Auburn, New York (a Presbyterian seminary near Syracuse) and graduated with an A.M. in theology.
Isaiah Reid married his sweetheart Mary Ellen Braden of Northfield, Iowa in June of 1860. Their union was blessed with two children, Edwin James Gillett Reid (who later also pursued the ministry) born in 1865 and Minnie Eleanor Reid born in 1868. In 1869, Mary Reid is injured in a cutter (small sleigh) accident and "sustained such injuries that she was maimed for life." The couple had no other children.
In 1864, the young preacher received and accepted a call from a Presbyterian prairie "mission church" in Nevada, Iowa and was ordained to the Presbyterian church by the Presbytery of Keokuk, Iowa, on his way to Nevada. From 1864-1877, Rev. Reid served as the first minister of Central Presbyterian Church in Nevada, Iowa.
In 1873,Isaiah was first introduced to the teachings of Wesleyan holiness at the June Cedar Rapids camp meeting of the National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Holiness and there he was entirely sanctified. The change in his ministry and preaching so changed him that he printed a full-column, front-page testimony in the local Nevada newspaper to explain the startling change.
From 1873-1875, he served as "stated supply" pastor for the Presbyterian church in nearby Albion, Iowa but by 1877 he returned to pastor Central Presbyterian in Nevada. In 1875 founded and published a monthly holiness newspaper, Highway Papers from Nevada, Iowa but his world was shaken (though not his faith in holiness) in 1877 when he was ousted from his Central Presbyterian Church pulpit over his teaching of entire sanctification.
At that point, Reid's non-periodical writing career began in earnest with numerous booklets and pamphlets, as well as book titles such as Holiness Bible Readings (two editions), Soul-Help Papers, "How They Grow," Wilda Weeks, and The Holy Way. In addition, he edited and published three successive editions of the successful Highway Hymnal. Starting in Illinois, Reid began his evangelistic ministry and was a sought-after Gospel preacher and teacher, from Illinois to the Deep South and to California.
In 1879, Highway Papers became the regional, weekly holiness paper called The Highway, still printed in Nevada, Iowa. The ministry of The Highway Office, in addition to the weekly periodical, turned out over 1.5 million tracts, pamphlets, and booklets over this period of time. Also that year he founded the Iowa Holiness Association, which had its first camp meeting in July.
From 1879-1908, he served as "first and only" president of the IHA for almost three full decades. His organizational genius, gift for discipling and mentoring, and his tireless leadership and training made the Iowa Holiness Association a powerhouse with tent meetings a summer staple across the state.
In 1880, he was tried for "heresy" by the Presbytery of Waterloo, Iowa and found "guilty on all counts" and in 1881 the Presbyterian Synod of Iowa upholds the verdict of the Waterloo Presbytery.
In 1883, he served as founding presbyter of the Church of Centralia, Missouri, the beginning of the Church of God (Holiness) and started an independent church in Nevada, Iowa. But in 1886, he returned to the Wesleyans that introduced him to holiness and became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Nevada, Iowa.
In 1890, The Highway combined with The Banner of Holiness to form Highway and Banner and by 1893 printing operations and ministry moved to Des Moines, Iowa.
In 1893, Reid sold his publishing business to the "eastern" Christian Witness and Advocate of Bible Holiness, making that periodical a truly national paper for the holiness movement. Reid served as the "Western editor" and a major contributor. His weekly section usually comprised two full pages of the paper's sixteen pages.
From 1899-1908, Isaiah and Mary move to Dallas County, Iowa and name their new home "Sunnyside Place." From here he authored his "Sunnyside Papers" drawing Christian inspiration from nature.
From 1905-1906, he served as a professor in Iva May Durham Vennard's Epworth Evangelistic Institute in St. Louis, Missouri, while running Reid's Holiness Correspondence School. In 1907, he became involved with the burgeoning Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene and from 1907-1909 he served as Professor of Bible and Theology, as well as vice-president (under the president Phineas Bresee), at Deets Pacific Bible College, a Nazarene-related institution in Los Angeles and later served in a similar capacity with a smaller, church-based school in Los Angeles.
From 1910-1911 Reid was president and professor at California Bible College in Los Angeles and in September of 1911 took up residence as Professor of Bible and Theology at Kansas Holiness Institute in Hutchinson, Kansas. On October 3, 1911, Reid died unexpectedly on after a brief hospitalization. In 1912, the IHA raised sufficient funds to erect a suitable tombstone over his cemetery plot. The inscription on the backside of the marble marker reads, "He was the founder of the Iowa Holiness Association."