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Audio Recording Interview with Reverend Bobby Goddard in his home, Chicago, Illinois

Interview with Reverend Bobby Goddard in his home, Chicago, Illinois

About this Item

Title

  • Interview with Reverend Bobby Goddard in his home, Chicago, Illinois

Names

  • Fleischhauer, Carl (Collector)
  • Goddard, Bobby (Interviewee)

Created / Published

  • Chicago, Illinois, July 19, 1977

Headings

  • -  Southerners (United States)
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Interviews
  • -  Illinois -- Chicago

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Interviews

Notes

  • -  Rev. Bobby Goddard
  • -  Interview with Pentecostal preacher Bobby Goddard at his home, 2506 W. Hutchison St. in the North Center neighborhood, relating to his life and to the Northside Pentecostal Church; Goddard is from Raleigh County, West Virginia; about Paul Dean, also a leader of Northside church, Dean had been in the Assemblies of God denomination for thirty years prior to joining Northside; about Joann Bolen and her husband, from Beckley WV; other members of the church have connections back to Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama; fieldworker moves the microphone, clips to Goddard’s shirt; Goddard explains that he has been the Northside pastor for seven years, he and another man started with a storefront; the current building had been Lutheran, the Church of God, now Pentecostal; Goddard’s storefront church had been in the 2300 block of Lincoln Ave near Fullerton; in the neighborhood south of Lake View (Lincoln Park ?); Goddard’s home is on the western side of Lake View; Goddard says that the Northside members come from every part of Chicago, more from Lake View, Uptown, and Rogers Park; Goddard has a bus he uses to bring people to church, its route includes Albany Park, Lake View, Uptown, sometime he stops as specific homes, sometimes at street corners; the van will carry up to 42 people, including children; Goddard is working on getting a larger bus into operation; Goddard was 28 when he came to Chicago in 1959, married no children; had been truck driver at coal mines but they were shutting down; Goddard arrived in a Sunday and met his brother the next day, then got a job in a gasket factory in Skokie, four and half miles away; about people going back to the South, Goddard said, “Oh yes, that’s why we have such a small church, our people all head back South”; there is also a great movement to the suburbs, suburban Pentecostal churches are the only ones growing today; about the “sections” of Goddard’s branch of Pentecostalism, Illinois has 12 sections; 17 churches in Chicago and near suburbs with average of from 50-70 members, although one has 350; about Uptown, as a neighborhood from migrants from the South over time, Goddard remembers arriving and hopes to move before long; about his feelings about Raleigh County, “my heart is set on the work of God, I feel Chicago is the greatest mission field in the entire world”; Goddard’s mother and wife’s parents still in WV; how Goddard hopes the church will grow and he will be able to quit his job; about the call the be preacher, Goddard felt it strongly, “the Bible became real to me, as if I’m living with the Apostles”; Goddard says that he outlines his sermons, he sits by himself and thoughts come to him, inspired by God, he jots notes on paper, the starting point is always a Bible verse; Goddard studies the Bible, and a concordance, late at night, certain verses become real to him; how the Lord used material things to bring about the spiritual; Goddard had been raised as a Baptist; when preaching now, sometimes he gets in the spirit and the notes are set aside; how members get anointed and words come fast; about mastering the skill to preach, role of experience.

Medium

  • audiocassette, C-60

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Call number: AFC 1981/004: AFS 20787
  • MBRS Shelflist: RYA 0785
  • Field Project Identifier: CH77-T335-C

Source Collection

  • Chicago Ethnic Arts Project collection (AFC 1981/004)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

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However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

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Credit line: Chicago Ethnic Arts Project collection (AFC 1981/004), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Fleischhauer, Carl, and Bobby Goddard. Interview with Reverend Bobby Goddard in his home, Chicago, Illinois. Chicago, Illinois, 1977. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1981004_afs20787/.

APA citation style:

Fleischhauer, C. & Goddard, B. (1977) Interview with Reverend Bobby Goddard in his home, Chicago, Illinois. Chicago, Illinois. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1981004_afs20787/.

MLA citation style:

Fleischhauer, Carl, and Bobby Goddard. Interview with Reverend Bobby Goddard in his home, Chicago, Illinois. Chicago, Illinois, 1977. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc1981004_afs20787/>.