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General Assembly of the Apostolic Assemblies

1917 ~ 1918

Two months after they were forced out of the Assemblies of God, the Oneness ministers took steps to form a new organization. A large group of ministers met in Eureka Springs, Arkansas on December 28, 1916. No business was transacted, however, until 2:30 p.m. on January 2, 1917. Another business meeting was held on January 3. D.C.O. Opperman was elected Chairman; David Lee Floyd, Secretary; and Howard A. Goss, Treasurer. The term of office was one year. It was then moved that the new organization be known as The General Assembly of the Apostolic Assemblies. The first and only published ministerial list of the General Assembly of the Apostolic Assemblies contained 154 names.

At the time of the formation of the (GAAA), Daniel C.O. Opperman had been publishing The Blessed Truth in Eureka Springs for approximately two years. The (GAAA) voted to make this periodical its official organ, and for Opperman to continue to serve as editor. Soon after the formation of the (GAAA), its ministers encountered a serious problem. America had entered the First World War on April 6, 1917. Since the organization had been in existence for such a short time, it could not get its young ministers exempt from military service. Another near essentiality in those days was the special clergy rate granted ministers by the railroads. Few ministers had automobiles, so most of them traveled by train. Apparently, the Clergy Bureau refused to recognize the newly formed organization, and this worked a hardship on its ministers.

For these two reasons, the organization was destined to be short-lived. Perhaps it set a record at lasting for the shortest length of time of any organization, since it continued only until the end of the year. It had no conferences other than the one in which it was organized. The plight of the young preachers was desperate; something had to be done for their protection. This led to the first Oneness merger. In 1919 the members of the defunct (GAAA) joined the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, which had embraced the oneness view in 1915 after G.T. Haywood's conversion and rebaptism in Jesus' name in that same year.