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Sherman, August R. (1885–1958)

By Daniel Oscar Plenc

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Daniel Oscar Plenc, Th.D. (River Plate Adventist University, Entre Ríos, Argentina), currently works as a theology professor and director of the White Research Center at the River Plate Adventist University. He worked as a district pastor for twelve years. He is married to Lissie Ziegler and has three children.

First Published: January 29, 2020

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August R. Sherman was an Adventist pastor and missionary who worked for many years in South America and Central America, where he was a tireless worker and an advocate of the work of publications and the mission of the church.1

August R. Sherman was born in Russia on May 6, 1885. He was converted in a series of Adventist meetings. He desired to participate in the preaching of the gospel, so by 1909,2 he set about doing the canvassing work to raise money to attend school. In 1911, Sherman married Opha Luttrell. They studied in the Foreign Mission Seminary3 and assisted in a tent effort conducted by Elder W. H. Smith in Newark, New Jersey, United States (U.S.), during the summer.4 They also spent some time at the Washington, D.C., Dispensary for training in health care.5 They graduated from the Foreign Mission Seminary in 1912 and were living in Ferrisburg, Vermont, U.S.,6 in November 1912 before sailing as missionaries to South America,7 “where they spent 18 years without enjoying vacations. They spent six years in Argentina, ten in Uruguay, and two in Chile.”8

In 1913, Sherman was already the director of canvassing in the Argentine Conference.9 Apparently, he continued in that ministry until 1917, preparing students to go canvassing.10 In 1914 he distributed copies of the book Los videntes y lo porvenir (The seers and the future) in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Mendoza, Argentina.11 In 1918, he wrote in La Revista Adventista (Adventist review) on the spiritual importance of the distribution of publications.12

His ministry at the headquarters of the Uruguay Mission extended from 1918 to 1923, where he was director of the Publications department (1918–1923), Youth department (1921–1922), and superintendent (1919–1922).13 He then pioneered Adventism in the Department of Paysandú, in the Uruguay Republic, where he arrived with his family in March 1924.14 A. R. Sherman broadcast the first Adventist radio program in Uruguay in 1925. He remained in that area at least until 1928. At the Austral Union session of January 29–February 2, 1929, Sherman was called to the Chile Conference.15

In 1931, Sherman and his family went to the United States. He briefly served as the secretary of the Home Missionary department of the East Michigan Conference at the end of 193116 before becoming the superintendent of the Owosso district of the Michigan Conference, where he was an active evangelist.17 The Shermans remained in Michigan until 1939 while their children attended school. In 1939, he accepted a call to be the superintendent of the Venezuela Mission,18 and he later served as the superintendent of the Dominican Mission in the Dominican Republic19 until health issues caused him to return to the U.S. in 1948.20 His service in the Dominican Republic included pulling teeth and providing health care for the poverty-stricken residents.21

August R. Sherman died in Lansing, Michigan, United States, on December 14, 1958. Pastor Sherman left a show of dedication and consecration to the work of Adventist publications and the preaching of the gospel in the mission field.

Sources

“Brother and Sister A. R. Sherman. . . .” Columbia Union Visitor, July 5, 1911, 4.

Brown, Henry F. “Medical Missionary Work in Santo Domingo.” Church Officers’ Gazette 35, no. 1 (January 1948): 23.

Bugbee, G. S. “Owosso.” Lake Union Herald, May 31, 1932, 4.

Conference Office. “East Michigan News: Layman’s Effort.” Lake Union Herald, August 5, 1931, 4.

Dick, E. D. “The Autumn Council: Report of Committee on Distribution of Labor.” ARH, December 1, 1938, 14.

“East Michigan Conference News Items,” Lake Union Herald, September 9, 1931, 8.

“Foreign Missionary Seminary Closing Exercises,” ARH, June 6, 1912, 24.

Gómez, Pablo. “Necrología” [Obituary]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], July 1959, 15.

Haynes, Carlyle B. “The Austral Union Session.” ARH, April 11, 1929, 21.

Iuorno, José. “Junín, República Argentina” [Junín, Argentine Republic]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], February 1914, 14.

Iverson, Joe. “Covert Church.” Lake Union Herald, April 12, 1932, 4.

Krieghoff, Carlos E. “Ecos de la Misión Uruguaya” [Echoes of Uruguay Mission]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], June 9, 1924, 5.

La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], December 1913, 15.

Lundquist, H. B. “Changes in Puerto Rico.” ARH, July 14, 1948, 24.

Mammana, Fernando Adrián. “Historias del colportaje y la distribución de los impresos adventistas en la República Argentina desde 1891 hasta 1942” [Stories of canvassing and distribution of Adventist publications in the Argentina Republic from 1891 to 1942]. Theology degree thesis, River Plate Adventist University, 2005.

“Michigan Notes.” Lake Union Herald, May 10, 1932, 2.

“Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Sherman. . . .” Columbia Union Visitor, November 13, 1912, 5.

Plenc, Daniel Oscar. “Misioneros en el Uruguay” [Missionaries in Uruguay]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], April 2017, 9.

———. Tributo a la esperanza: la Iglesia de Colonia Pintos Viana [Tribute to hope: the Church of Colonia Pintos Viana]. Rosario, Santa Fe: self-pub., 2014.

S., W. A. “To the Mission Fields in 1912.” Lake Union Herald, January 2, 1913, 7–8.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1947.

Sherman, August R. “El colportaje en la República Argentina” [Canvassing work in Argentina]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], November 1911, 15.

———. “La obra del colportaje en la RA” [The work of canvassing in the RA]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], July 1914, 15.

———. “Preaching and Pulling Teeth.” ARH, August 5, 1948, 23.

———. “¿Se puede ganar una beca?” [Can you win a scholarship?]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], January 1918, 15.

———. “Una gira entre los hermanos del Uruguay” [A tour among the brothers of Uruguay]. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], November 29, 1919, 10.

“The magazine work in this state. . . .” Columbia Union Visitor, July 7, 1909, 5.

Wasiuk, Oscar N. Reseña histórica de la Iglesia Adventista del 7° Día en el Uruguay. [Historical review of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Uruguay]. Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 1996.

Notes

  1. There is little information about the life and work of A. R. Sherman. See Pablo Gómez, “Necrología” [Obituary], La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], July 1959, 15; Daniel Oscar Plenc, Tributo a la esperanza: la Iglesia de Colonia Pintos Viana [Tribute to hope: the Church of Colonia Pintos Viana] (Rosario, Santa Fe: self-pub., 2014), 139–140.↩

  2. “The magazine work in this state . . . ,” Columbia Union Visitor, July 7, 1909, 5.↩

  3. Henry F. Brown, “Medical Missionary Work in Santo Domingo,” Church Officers’ Gazette 35, no. 1 (January 1948, 23.↩

  4. “Brother and Sister A. R. Sherman . . . ,” Columbia Union Visitor, July 5, 1911, 4.↩

  5. “Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Sherman . . .” Columbia Union Visitor, November 13, 1912, 5.↩

  6. “Foreign Missionary Seminary Closing Exercises,” ARH, June 6, 1912, 24.↩

  7. W. A. S., “To the Mission Fields in 1912,” Lake Union Herald, January 2, 1913, 7–8.↩

  8. Gómez, “Necrología,” 15; Daniel Oscar Plenc, “Misioneros en el Uruguay” [Missionaries in Uruguay], Revista Adventista [Adventist review], April 2017, 9.↩

  9. Fernando Adrián Mammana, “Historias del colportaje y la distribución de los impresos adventistas en la República Argentina desde 1891 hasta 1942” [Stories of the canvassing and distribution of Adventist publications in the Argentina Republic from 1891 to 1942] (theology degree thesis, River Plate Adventist University, 2005), 89; A. R. Sherman, “El colportaje en la República Argentina” [Canvassing work in Argentina], La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], November 1911, 15.↩

  10. La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], December 1913, 15.↩

  11. Mammana, “Historias del colportaje y la distribución,” 90; José Iuorno, “Junín, República Argentina” [Junín, Argentine Republic], La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], February 1914, 14; A. R. Sherman, “La obra del colportaje en la RA” [The work of canvassing in the RA], La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], July 1914, 15.↩

  12. A. R. Sherman, “¿Se puede ganar una beca?” [Can you win a scholarship?], La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], January 1918, 15.↩

  13. Oscar N. Wasiuk, Reseña histórica de la Iglesia Adventista del 7° Día en el Uruguay [Historical review of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Uruguay] (Buenos Aires: South American Spanish Publishing House, 1996), 24–29; A. R. Sherman, “Una gira entre los hermanos del Uruguay” [A tour among the brothers of Uruguay], La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], November 19, 1919, 10.↩

  14. Carlos E. Krieghoff, “Ecos de la Misión Uruguaya” [Echoes of Uruguay Mission], La Revista Adventista [Adventist review], June 9, 1924, 5.↩

  15. Carlyle B. Haynes, “The Austral Union Session,” ARH, April 11, 1929, 21.↩

  16. Conference Office, “East Michigan News: Layman’s Effort,” Lake Union Herald, August 5, 1931, 4; “East Michigan Conference News Items,” Lake Union Herald, September 9, 1931, 8.↩

  17. G. S. Bugbee, “Owosso,” Lake Union Herald, May 31, 1932, 4; Joe Iverson, “Covert Church,” Lake Union Herald, April 12, 1932, 4; “Michigan Notes,” Lake Union Herald, May 10, 1932, 2.↩

  18. E. D. Dick, “The Autumn Council: Report of Committee on Distribution of Labor,” ARH, December 1, 1938, 14.↩

  19. “Dominican Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1947), 117.↩

  20. H. B. Lundquist, “Changes in Puerto Rico,” ARH, July 14, 1948, 24; Brown, “Medical Missionary Work in Santo Domingo,” 23; Gómez, “Necrología,” 15.↩

  21. August R. Sherman, “Preaching and Pulling Teeth,” ARH, August 5, 1948, 23.↩

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Plenc, Daniel Oscar. "Sherman, August R. (1885–1958)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Accessed January 22, 2025. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=BGOU.

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Plenc, Daniel Oscar. "Sherman, August R. (1885–1958)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. January 29, 2020. Date of access January 22, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=BGOU.

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Plenc, Daniel Oscar (2020, January 29). Sherman, August R. (1885–1958). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved January 22, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=BGOU.

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