The 125th Gathering of the Falcon Camp Meeting will take place this year from Sunday, August 4th, through Wednesday, August 7th. The first Falcon Camp Meeting, held in 1900, was the very first camp meeting for the IPHC.
The Sunday evening opening service will have a World Missions emphasis, plus a message from Presiding Bishop A.D. Beacham, Jr., with a reception to follow to commemorate the 125th gathering. Dr. Beacham will also be preaching at the Monday and Tuesday evening services, and the North Carolina Conference is excited to bring back their mass choir on those evenings, open to anyone who would like to join, with rehearsals just before the evening services. The Camp Meeting will close Wednesday evening with a unique service geared towards young people with speaker “Preacher Girl,” Pastor Sharo.
Arise in Prayer meetings will be at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings, followed by Octagon Services at 9:30 and 11. The 11 o’clock service is essentially a “second service” provided to accommodate the seating limitations of the Octagon sanctuary. The morning speakers will be Bishop Oris Hubbard, Dr. Jonathan Altman, and Janice Marshburn.
Click the link to view the Falcon Camp Meeting 2024 Brochure
A Brief History of the Falcon Camp Meeting
In 1893, J. A. Culbreth, a newlywed of just one year, visited his hometown of Starling’s Bridge, North Carolina. Upon entering his father’s store, the store clerk announced that he had secured a new mail route stop for the town. However, there was a problem: a Starling’s Bridge was already registered in North Carolina, so a new name would have to be chosen. The store clerk tasked Mr. Culbreth with choosing that new name. As Mr. Culbreth tells it, “…my eyes fell upon a box of Falcon pens, and I said, ‘Name it Falcon.’” The name was a keeper, and Falcon, as we know it today, was christened.
So then, if the town of Falcon was begun of a pen, the Falcon Camp Meeting began as a heart’s cry of thankfulness for the Lord’s miracle gift of healing for a beloved wife.
Mr. and Mrs. Culbreth
In 1899, Mrs. Venie Irene Culbreth, wife of J. A. Culbreth who named the town of Falcon, fell ill with appendicitis. Her doctors were at a loss of what to do, and they told her that her only hope was to head to Richmond, Virginia, so that she could receive surgery. Pretty quickly, it was apparent that she was not well enough to make the trip, and the Culbreths realized that their earthly efforts would not be enough to save her. Mr. Culbreth knew that “we had to concentrate our thoughts on divine help through more earnest prayers and practice, in faith… to call the elders of the Church and let them pray over the sick, anointing them with oil…” So, the Culbreths did just that. They called several Christians to come and fervently prayed as she was anointed with oil. She was healed instantly! The Culbreths were extremely thankful, and Mrs. Culbreth lived for forty-four more years to the day of her healing. Mr. Culbreth’s words about her healing are encouraging, saying that it “was comparable to any of the outstanding miracles of Jesus during His earthly ministry…”
Mr. Culbreth soon met a gentleman, Reverend S. C. Todd, in the spring of 1900 at a local missionary convention. As a thank-offering to the Lord for his wife’s healing, Mr. Culbreth gave a sum of $250. Upon having lunch with this same Rev. Todd, Mr. Culbreth found they both were interested in seeing a Camp Meeting take place. Mr. Culbreth had the land, and Rev. Todd had the tents. The men settled on a date for the meeting, late July to Early August of 1900.
Flyer for the First Falcon Camp Meeting
Mr. Culbreth described the first camp meeting as a “miracle.” Indeed, that first meeting had no electric lights, no running water except what was found in the Black River nearby, no automobiles, no proper roadways to allow the people easy access to the grounds, and no plan to fund the event. Even so, the people came. They came to worship and thought not of where they would sleep, as many slept in the tents or even on the ground. According to Mr. Culbreth, “The work in all its phases was inter-denominational and non-sectarian, and the financing was done through free-will offerings voluntarily given without any obligations through organized efforts.”
First Falcon Camp Meeting
The effects of the Falcon Camp Meeting would extend beyond the summer months, and in 1902, The Falcon Holiness School was opened. In 1909, The Falcon Orphanage, Inc. (now called the Falcon Children’s Home) was founded. In addition, the Falcon Publishing Company and the Falcon Memorial Cemetery were also started. In 1907, a fresh breath would blow into the Camp Meeting with the doctrine of the Pentecostal Baptism. This event was preceded by G. D. Cashwell’s revival meetings in December of 1906, bringing the anointing of Azusa Street to the Carolinas. In 1911, there would be a merger that created the International Pentecostal Holiness Church as we know it today. In 1943, the camp meeting was turned over to the North Carolina Conference, where it remains to this day.
The same God that was present at the very first Falcon Camp Meeting will be there this year as well. Bishop Hubbard, Superintendent of the North Carolina Conference, shared: “Wherever and whenever people are hungry and thirsty for God and righteousness, He has promised to show up and satisfy. Yes, it looks and sounds different than it did 40, 80, or 125 years ago, but the same holy God is being declared to THIS generation, not a past generation.”
Make plans to join us in Falcon this year!
For more information on the Falcon Camp Meeting, please visit: https://www.nciphc.com/falcon-camp-meeting
