Rev. Daniel Charles Owen Opperman 

Pentecostal Assemblies of the World

 1872 ~ 1926

Reverend D.C.O. Opperman was born July, 13, 1872 in Clinton Township, Elkhart County, Indiana. He was an evangelist and educator. His family moved to nevada, Missouri in 1881, and later settled in Florida in 1884.

In 1884 Opperman had a conversion experience. He was a member of the German Baptist Brethren. After his father's death in 1887, his family returned to Indiana settling in Goshen.

Brother Opperman did farm work and studied. In 1893 he enrolled in the Brethren College in Mount Morris, Illinois. He later studied for one year at Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana. From May 23 until Julty 6, 1899 he was enrolled at Moody Bible Institute.

While a student at Moody Bible Institute, Brother Opperman began attending John A. Dowie's Zion Church. He joined Dowie's Christian Catholic Apostolic Church and eventually directed Zion City's education program. On March 10, 1900, Opperman married Ella Syler. Their son, Daniel Paul, was born on January 22, 1901. Ella died a week later. A bout with tuberculosis resulted in Opperman's move to Texas, where he met Charles Parham in 1906. Opperman became a Pentecostal evangelist before experiencing Spirit baptism (which he did on January 13, 1908, in Belton, Texas.). He married Hattie Ruth Allen near Rogers, Texas, on July 22, 1907. A son Joseph, was born to this union.

Opperman's prior teaching experience prompted his recognition as an educator, and he conducted numerous short-term Bible institutes that served early Pentecostal needs. A founding member of the Assemblies of God and an executive presbyter (Nov. 1914-15), Opperman withdrew in 1916 to become chairman of a fledgling Oneness association, the General Assembly of the Apostolic Assemblies, with headquarters in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. During his years in Oneness Pentecostal ledership, Opperman edited The Blessed Truth and became a pastor in Lodi, California. In 1916, he opened the first "Oneness" Pentecostal Bible School in modern times located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. He died in a car/train accident in Baldwin park, California, on September 15, 1926.