In the early decades of the Pentecostal outpouring, God was moving powerfully
in many places. One such place in Hornell, New York, became legendary as a center
of Divine Visitation! Ivan and Minnie Spencer moved their fledgling Bible School
to the Hornell campus in 1932, where the school would remain until 1951.
A part of this school’s remarkable history was the enrollment of two
brothers and two sisters whose father Pastored a German Lutheran church in Waterloo, New York, where “Revival Fires”
sovereignly fell in their midst, baptizing numerous parishioners into the Holy Spirit.
The siblings who found their way to Hornell were Siegfried and Arthur Dodzweit, and their dear sisters, Christa and
Hannah. After graduation, Siegfried served for a time as Director of Missions
and as a Teacher. It was during this time, that he met and fell in love with
an outstanding young lady who had been serving as a missionary to India.
The marriage of Siegfried and Esther (Butler) Dodzweit was blessed with five
beloved children, which made for a happy family, engaged in many years of fruitful Christian service, until our Lord Jesus
called Esther, home, to her reward at the early age of forty-seven.
Esther was a role-model and shining example to her family and to all who knew
her. She battled bravely and so wanted to live.
Shortly after one final tour of ministry to Jamaica, where the Lord powerfully anointed her and gave her strength for
each meeting (confirming His Word with signs, wonders, healings, and miracles); Esther returned home to Cocoa, Florida, and
was received into the presence of her beloved Lord, and the saints of all ages. Brother
Siegfried rehearsed numerous times, the occasion of her home-going; when a cool, refreshing wind blew through the house (even
though it was a still, humid night), with what sounded like the swishing of many great wings, Sieg ran quickly to Esther’s
side, but with a smile still upon her lips, her spirit had flown. Thank God for
such a mighty and sacred heritage: Such was Benjamin Dodzweit born into, in 1946, as the third of five children.
Ben came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, sometime around the age of
five. As a child, he was no stranger to Dad and Mom Spencer, Brother Carlton,
and many other beloved friends within the Elim circles of fellowship. He recognized
from an early age, the hand of God and a divine calling upon his life.
In 1952, Sieg and Esther moved their family to Cocoa, Florida, where they
raised up and Pastored a Pentecostal church, which came to be a place well acquainted with the move of God, and as a “Haven
of Rest” for many weary souls struggling on the sea of life, in that difficult, Gospel-hardened city.
1963 found Ben in Lima, New York, under the tutelage of his “big-sister,”
Sharon, where he finished high school. It was Ben’s thinking to graduate
from high school, and then to persue secular education, although he had not been vocal concerning this intention. The next day after his arrival, while relaxing in the main lounge, he was unexpectedly approached by a
tall, gentle man who somewhat resembled Abraham Lincoln. The tall gentleman began
to speak to him in a manner which seemed to go straight to his heart; sharing with him, that he was “called and ordained
for Christian service, and that secular education was not the path for him to pursue!”
Little did Ben know, at that moment, that this “Abe Lincoln look-a-like,” was to be one of his instructors
for the next three years, and that he was a “hidden-intercessor,” who would be holding Ben before the Lord on
a daily basis, for the bringing forth of God’s highest and best in his life. This
man was: Wade Taylor. (Strange indeed are the ways of our God).
Enrollment at Elim came one year later, and then three glorious years in the
dealings of God, and upon the Potter’s wheel. It was at Elim, Ben met Sarah,
an outstanding and exemplary young lady, who was to become his wife, and mother of his their three beloved children.
From 1967 to 1969, Ben answered the call to join Arthur and Mae Dodzweit in
Uganda. This period served as a further “school,” where Ben was to
learn many things necessary for his future ministry. Ben and Sarah were united
in holy matrimony in 1970, after which, Ben found himself in yet another “school” for two and one half years,
as he filled the position of “employee” in the labor-force. Then
in 1972, welcomed and refreshing news came, via an invitation to serve in New Castle, Pennsylvania, as an Associate Pastor;
which brought Ben and Sarah to 1974, and an open door to Kenya, East Africa. There,
they would serve for three years as National Youth Directors. This was a glorious
experience, but they were not quite past the “vestibule” to Africa, for 1977 would bring them to Burundi, East
Africa; and 1979, to Kigali, Rwanda. Next would come an open door to the Congo,
where they ministered from 1983 to 1988. Surely, Ben and Sarah were learning
the “practical side” of a teaching, well known at Elim as: “The Dealings of God.”
Another door was preparing to open (a great and effectual one), in 1988, which
would lead Ben and Sarah back to Elim, where Ben would serve on the faculty and in the Missions Department for the following
twenty years. Though Ben has been blessed, as was his dear Dad, with a jolly
and youthful spirit, he has been a “Father in the Faith” (even in his own youth) unto untold hundreds, both at
home, and upon the Foreign Fields.
Ben and Sarah’s lives have come to be well acquainted with a series of “open
doors;” the most recent being an invitation in 2008 to join the Helimission Project, founded in 1955, by the veteran
missionary, Ernest Tanner. This brings Ben and Sarah up to “au courant.” Praise the Lord! For these “faithful-pilgrims,”
who have learned to keep their gaze ever upon the horizon, the end is not yet!
