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Fred Smolchuck had a passion for spreading the gospel and the Pentecostal message to Slavic people. A founding member of the former Ukrainian Branch of the Assemblies of God, he served as a pastor and district official in Michigan, and he authored 16 books. His life is inextricably intertwined with the history of the Slavic churches in the Assemblies of God. He passed away peacefully in Springfield, Missouri, at the age of 90 on February 23, 2008.

Born February 26, 1917, in Boston, Massachusetts, Smolchuck was the son of Ukrainian immigrants to America. A series of tragic events, beginning with the death of Fred’s seven-year-old sister, led the Smolchuck family to accept Christ. Fred was saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit at the age of ten. He and his parents joined the Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian Pentecostal Church of Chelsea, Massachusetts. In 1934, he enrolled at Zion Bible Institute in Rhode Island, graduating in 1936. A year later he married Stella Hanko. Read the rest of this entry »