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Collection 434 Papers of Jack Frizen

 Collection
Identifier: CN 434

Scope and Contents

Oral history interviews, articles, brochures, booklets, clippings, correspondence, directories, financial records, manuals, minutes, publications, reports, and other materials documenting Jack Frizen's life and ministry. Material mainly describes Frizen’s family life, work with G.I. Gospel Hour, director of Far East Gospel Crusade (now SEND International), executive director of Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association (IFMA), director of Tyndale House Foundation, trustee of the Henry and Susan Crowell Trust, missionary in the Philippines, Paul Rader, and the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle.

Dates

  • Created: 1929-1995

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Biographical Information

Full Name: Edwin Leonard Frizen, Jr.

Birth: March 9, 1925, Chicago, Illinois

Death: December 22, 2012, Orlando, Florida

Family:

Parents: Edwin Leonard and Hannah Sweiberg Frizen

Marital Status: Married Grace Elizabeth Howell, August 3, 1950

Children: None

Conversion: At the age of 7

Education:

1943, 1946-1949 - Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL; BA, Anthropology

1949-1950 - Columbia Bible College Graduate School; MA Missions

1963 - Florida State University; MS, Guidance and Counseling

ca. 1977-1980 - Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; DMiss.

Career:

1943-1946 - United States Navy

1949-1953 - Member, Board of Directors, Far Eastern Gospel Crusade (FEGC)

1951-1953 - Assistant to Executive Secretary, Home Secretary, and Treasurer of FEGC, Minneapolis

1954-1957 - Philippine Treasurer and Business Manager, FEGC

1958 - Furlough

1959-1963 - Missionary to the Philippines, FEGC

1963-1991 - Executive Secretary (1963-1974) & Executive Director (1975-1991) of Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association (IFMA)

1964-1992 - Director of Tyndale House Foundation

1977-1993? - Trustee of the Henry Parsons & Susan Coleman Crowell Trust and secretary & treasurer (ca. 1984-1988)

1986-1987 - President of Wheaton College alumni association

Other significant information:

1976 - Layman of the Year, National Association of Evangelicals, 1976

1977 - Co-editor, Evangelical Missions Tomorrow

1992 - Authored, 75 Years of IFMA, 1917-1992 : The Nondenominational Missions Movement

Extent

4.93 Cubic Feet

11 Boxes (DC)

57 Audio Tapes

8 Video Tapes

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement of Materials

[Note: In the Scope & Content section, the notation “folder 2-5" means “Box 2, Folder 5"]

Series: Audio Visual Materials

Arrangement: Chronological

Date Range: 1925-1995

Volume: 0.73 cubic feet

Geographic coverage: United States

Type of documents: Audio tapes (reels & cassette) and video tapes.

Subjects: See the description of each tape

Notes: Edwin Leonard “Jack” Frizen, Jr. was interviewed by Paul A. Ericksen on August 9 and December 19, 1990, July 1 and July 16, 1992, and February 8, 1995. Interview tapes T1-T9 were conducted at the Billy Graham Center Archives and tapes T10-T12 were done at the headquarters of Pioneers in Orlando, Florida. The events described in the interviews cover the time period ca. 1925-1995. Topics discussed in the interview are listed in the order in which they were discussed. Audio tapes T13-T57 and video tapes V1-V8 were collected by Frizen most likely in his capacity as an officer of IFMA. For a description of these materials see the Audio Tape and Video Tape Location Records in the guide.

*****

Series: Paper Records (Box List)

The original order of the materials in this collection was generally retained by the archivist. When order was unclear the folders were placed where they logically would fit. Most of the materials were created during the time Frizen was executive secretary and director for IFMA. Frizen’s involvement of over forty years in mission outreach through his leadership in FEGC and IFMA is highlighted in these records. Many documents in the collection are stamped “Rec’d IFMA” and appear to be Frizen’s personal copy while serving with IFMA.

The paper records are arranged three sub-series as follows:

1 SEND International (formerly Far Eastern Gospel Crusade)

2 Personal

3 IFMA (Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association)

*****

Subseries: SEND International

Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title

Date Range: 1946-1996

Volume: 1.7 cubic feet

Boxes: 1-6

Geographic coverage: Alaska, Japan, Philippines, United States

Type of documents: Correspondence, directories, financial records, minutes, publications, yearbooks

Correspondents: Philip Armstrong, Olan Hendrix, Wilbert Norton

Subjects: Candidate orientation, Central Alaska Missions, Far Eastern Bible Institute and Seminary, G. I. Gospel Hour, missions, missionary internship, SEND International, the church in the Philippines and Japan

Notes: The subseries consists mainly of materials Frizen acquired as director, secretary, treasurer, and missionary of SEND. The correspondence in this subseries does not contain any from Frizen but instead consists of memos and letters from SEND officials. The structure and work of SEND is reflected in reports from the annual United States Council Conferences and Japan and Philippine field conferences. SEND publications include several for soliciting funds, those for SEND staff and personnel, for council members. Minutes of some council meetings were filed by Frizen in the “Miscellaneous Publication” file (folder 5-11).

Exceptional items: Some of the materials included annual conference reports (folder 3-1), FEGC constitution and by-laws (folder 3-6), Japan field conference and council minutes (folders 4-2, 4-3), Philippines council minutes (folder 5-2), G. I. Gospel Hour Planning Council for 1946-1947 (folder 4-6), minutes of U. S. Council executive committee (folder 4-7), and various FEGC publications (folders 5-6 to 5-12, and 6-1). Correspondence (folder 3-4) include letters and/or form letters from Philip Armstrong (FEGC executive secretary) and Olan Hendrix (FEGC home secretary). Eight yearbooks, The Vision, (1959-1966) of FEBIAS (Far Eastern Bible Institute and Seminary) are in folders 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, and 2-2. Folder 4-8 contains a letter from Wheaton College professor of missions & evangelism, H. (Hugo) Wilbert Norton, and in folder 5-5 is a report by Wheaton College anthropology professor Marvin K. Mayers, Tagalog Philippine Study.

Frizen’s 1953 masters thesis, A Study of Candidate Procedure as Followed by the Far Eastern Gospel Crusade (folder 3-2), The Story of Far Eastern Gospel Crusade written in 1949 (folder 4-6), and an interesting small notebook (folder 3-7) containing cards with FEGC missionaries photo, address, ministry, next furlough, birth dates and names of children.

*****

Subseries: Personal

Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title

Date Range: 1929-1993

Volume: 1.7 cubic feet

Boxes: 2, 6-11

Geographic coverage: Philippines, United States

Type of documents: Articles, brochures, booklets, clippings, minutes, pocket calendars, reports

Correspondents: Peter Stam, Joseph Stowell, Ken Taylor

Subjects: Chicago Gospel Tabernacle, Crowell Trust, evangelization, missions, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS), Tyndale House Foundation, Wheaton College

Notes: Frizen’s articles and addresses are primarily missions related themes such as education for mission, discipleship, missionary challenge, standards of accounting and financial reporting for missionary organizations, history of missions, understanding the mission agency, worldwide missionary challenge, and missionary recruitment. Some of Frizen’s papers which he wrote while a doctoral student at TEDS include the subjects of modern missiologists, Bible book studies, leadership in the local church, Christianity and communism in China, and church growth. His pocket calendars generally record daily appointments. Frizen’s participation and leadership with the Henry and Susan Crowell Trust as trustee and Tyndale House Foundation as director are reflected in the minutes and correspondence of these organizations.

Exceptional items: Over twenty papers Frizen wrote while a students at TEDS, his application to TEDS, and the first chapter of An Historical Study of the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association of North America (IFMA) in Relation to Evangelical Unity and Cooperation, are in folder 8-3. Folder 9-1 contains notes from his world trip in 1972 and African trip in 1968-1969. Over thirty articles, reports, and addresses by Frizen are in folder 6-3 including an address on Discipleship he gave at a Wheaton College mission chapel in January 1971. His personal pocket calendars in folders 7-3, 8-1, 8-2 cover the years 1964-1991. The calendar for 1965-1966 records Frizen’s trip to the Carribean and Central America. Two large miscellaneous files (folders 7-1, 7-2) contain mostly church missionary conference bulletins Frizen’s participated in and mission program brochures. Frizen’s time serving in the United States Navy is documented in the book, Forty-Second Battalion - Amadu, (42nd Naval Construction Battalion) in folder 6-4. Frizen is listed on page 134. Folder 11-3 contains miscellaneous materials from Frizen’s participation in the 1987 Wheaton College commencements programs as president of the Wheaton Alumni Association.

Folder 10-6 contains Frizen’s correspondence to and as a trustee for the Henry Parsons & Susan Coleman Crowell Trust for the years 1975-1993. Also in the folder is a chronological list of the election and succession of Crowell Trustees from 1927 to 1977 and a letter (December 17, 1992) from Joseph Stowell, president of Moody Bible Institute, thanking Frizen for a large donation from the Crowell Trust. Many of the letters are on IFMA letterhead are written by Frizen and a few by Peter Stam III (president of IFMA).

Tyndale House Foundation minutes of the board of directors meetings (1964-1992) are in folders 11-11 and 11-12. There is correspondence of Mark Taylor and Frizen in folder 11-10.

Three Chicago Gospel Tabernacle (CGT) booklets (folder 10-5) contain information about Daniel Paul Rader’s third missionary journey, radio ministry of CGT, and messages by Rader and Gerald B. Winrod.

*****

Subseries: Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association (IFMA)

Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title

Date Range: 1961-1992

Volume: 0.8 cubic feet

Boxes: 1, 9-10

Geographic coverage: United States

Type of documents: Financial records, manuals, reports

Subjects: Church growth, evangelism, mission administration, student mission groups, U.S. tax information,

Notes: Executive retreat reports contain messages on mission related themes, church growth, areas of missionary work, evangelism, and national churches. Some of Frizen’s annual reports give the current status of the work of that organization, question to consider to improve it, countries he visited and conditions there, recruitment of missionaries, and missionary statistics. IFM Update: Government/Business provide tax information for missionaries. There are papers which address the philosophy and objectives of student mission groups (folder 9-8)..

Exceptional items: Folders 1-1 and 1-2 contain the EFMA Mission Executive Retreat Reports (1961-1972) and folder 1-3 are the mission staff and member missions lists (1978-1987). Some of the IFMA materials include Frizen’s executive director’s reports and address to the IFMA annual meetings (folder 9-4), mission administration manual (folder 9-10), staff directories for 1983-1989 (folder 10-1), and statistical reports for 1963-1991 (folder 10-3). A postage stamp from India in folder 9-7 commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission.

Accruals and Additions

The material in this collection was given to the BGC Archives by Edwin Leonard “Jack” Frizen, Jr. in August and December 1990, July 1992, and February 1995.

Accessions 90-87, 90-127, 92-64, 92-73, 95-22

March 12, 1997

Janyce H. Nasgowitz

July 31, 2006 Accessions 92-8, 92-110, 93-24, 93-38

Wayne D. Weber

Title
Collection 434 Papers of Jack Frizen
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Evangelism & Missions Archives Repository

Contact:
501 College Avenue
Wheaton IL 60187 US
630-752-5910