Francisco Olazábal

Francisco Olazábal (1886–1937) was a Pentecostal evangelist, who conducted an evangelistic healing ministry and founded the Interdenominational Mexican Council of Christian Churches in 1923, later renamed as Latin American Council of Christian Churches or Concilio Latino Americano de Iglesias Cristianas (CLADIC). Francisco Olazábal committed 30 years to his evangelistic healing ministry. Olazábal held healing campaigns across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.

Francisco Olazábal was born on October 12, 1886 in El Verano, Sinaloa, Mexico. Francisco’s mother, Refugio Velazquez, left Catholicism and converted to Methodism in 1898 in Mazatlán, Mexico. Olazabal’s father, Juan Olazábal, abandoned him and his mother after his mother converted and she became a lay evangelist (SOURCE-lecture notes). Olazabal left his mother in 1902 to travel to San Francisco, California to visit family. At this time Olazábal, through George Montgomery's ministry, rededicated his life to Jesus, returned to Mexico and to the Methodist Church. In 1911 Francisco Olazábal immigrated to the United States and moved to El Paso, Texas, where he pastored a Spanish-speaking Methodist Church. In 1914 Francisco Olazábal married Macrina Orozco, his childhood sweetheart.Bishop A.W. Leonard ordained Olazábal as a minister in the Methodist Church in 1916. However, Olazábal left the Methodist Church to preach the "full Gospel" after having converted to Pentecostalism under the ministry of George and Carrie Montgomery in 1916. The General Council of the Assemblies of God ordained Olazábal on September 24, 1916. On February 14, 1918, Robert J. Craig laid hands on Olazábal and ordained him to the Assemblies of God.

Aimee Semple McPherson, a famous Pentecostal evangelist and founder of the Foursquare Gospel denomination, referred to Olazábal as the “Mexican Billy Sunday”. McPherson invited Olazábal to preach at Bethel Temple. In March 1927 Olazábal and his congregation were invited to attend services at Aimee Semple McPherson’s church, Angelus Temple in Los Angeles. McPherson sought to merge her Foursquare Gospel denomination and the Latin American Council of Christian Churches, but the Council rejected her proposition. At this time, McPherson began a Spanish-speaking Foursquare ministry in East Los Angeles. Alice E. Luce-founder of the Latin American Bible Institute and H. C. Ball helped pioneer the Latino Pentecostal movement and influenced Olazábal's ministry. While at Moody Bible Institute in 1911, Olazabal worked under James M. Gray and Reuben A. Torrey. Torrey believed that baptism with the Holy Spirit was a "definite experience" and required for a Christian life, a belief that Olazábal rejected at this time in his life as a Methodist. After a brief stint at Moody, Olazábal would go on to minister at Torrey's Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles.Rev. Homer Tomlinson—Olazábal’s good friend and pastor of Jamaica Tabernacle Church of God.

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