William J. Seymour

Dr. Larry Martin has given more than fifty years to gospel ministry, serving almost twenty-five years pastoring churches in Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, and Tennessee. While still in his teens, Martin launched his ministry career as a traveling evangelist. He returned to evangelism in 1997 and has continued in that work for most of the last twenty years through his ministry, River of Revival Ministries.

Dr. Martin has traveled in seventy countries, teaching in Bible schools, preaching in mission churches, and leading mass evangelism crusades where as many as 40,000 have professed Christ in one event. From 2001–2004, Martin served Brownsville Revival School of Ministry in Pensacola, Florida, as academic dean. He taught a number of courses in the college and was a regular speaker at the Brownsville Assembly of God Church. He served as president of Messenger College in Joplin, Missouri.

Considered by many to be an authority on the origins of the Pentecostal movement and especially the revival at Azusa Street, Martin is the editor of the twelve-volume Complete Azusa Street Library and the author of The Life and Ministry of William J. Seymour in that series. He is also the author of In the Beginning, We’ve Come this Far by Faith, and Kansas City, Here We Come, histories of early Pentecostals and the Pentecostal Church of God; and The Topeka Outpouring of 1901. Among his other books are For Sale: The Soul of a Nation; Have We Lost Our Mind? an in-your-face call to Christian commitment; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and the Hilarious, featuring stories from his ministry experiences; and The Believer, The Bible and the Bottle, a common-sense look at alcohol consumption and Christians. He has also edited and/or contributed to several other works. Additionally, as a freelance writer, Dr. Martin’s articles have appeared in Charisma, Ministries Today, and a number of other publications.

Dr. Martin is a graduate of several institutes of higher education and holds a doctorate in ministry from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas. He and Lynda Morehead Goetz were married on July 3, 2016, both having lost their spouses in 2014. Larry has two children, Matthew Martin and Summer Jo Martin; Lynda also has two children, Lindsey Goetz and Ryan Goetz (Rachel). The couple has four wonderful grandchildren, Matthew Martin Jr. , Isaac, Anna, and Louisa Goetz.