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The Wall

Bishop Frank Tunstall, Pentecostal Holiness Editor, College President and Author, Dies at 83

The Oklahoma City minister edited the IPHC's Advocate, twice led Southwestern College, planted a church and served as Heartland Conference bishop; a memorial service is set for Nov. 12.

By Watchman News Staff, OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.
Published 2:33 AM EST, Thu November 5, 2026 · 2 min read

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Map: Watchman News map; data Natural Earth (public domain)

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. —

Bishop Franklin George “Frank” Tunstall Sr., a pastor, editor, college president and conference leader in the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC), died Tuesday, Nov. 3, surrounded by family and close friends, the denomination announced Nov. 4. Born Aug. 3, 1943, in Lake City, S.C., he was 83.

Tunstall was credentialed as a minister in the South Carolina Conference in 1961. He earned degrees from Emmanuel College, Methodist College in Fayetteville, N.C., and Oral Roberts University's graduate seminary, where he received a Master of Divinity in 1969, and later a Doctor of Ministry from the Graduate Seminary of Phillips University in Enid, Okla.

In 1969 he became campus pastor at Southwestern College in Oklahoma City, later also serving as dean of its school of religion. In 1972, at the invitation of Presiding Bishop J. Floyd Williams, he became editor in chief of IPHC publications, including The Pentecostal Holiness Advocate, working first at Advocate Press in Franklin Springs, Ga., and then in Oklahoma City until 1979. He served as president of Southwestern College beginning in 1980 and again beginning in 1983.

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Map: Watchman News map; data Natural Earth (public domain)

In 1979 he planted Northwest Christian Center in Oklahoma City, now Reflection Church. He served 12 years as assistant superintendent and missions director of the Heartland Conference under Superintendent James McDowell, and in 2006 was elected the conference's bishop and superintendent, serving eight years. He wrote or co-wrote at least nine books, among them “Our Awesome Lord, A Pentecostal Christology” and, this year, “Jesus and Peter.”

Presiding Bishop J. Talmadge Gardner, the IPHC's general superintendent, called him “a pastor to pastors, a scholar among scholars, a mentor to generations of young men and women, and a visionary conference leader.” Former General Superintendent Dr. Doug Beacham said Tunstall “lived a holy and righteous life, giving glory and honor to our Lord Jesus Christ.”

His daughter, Dena Chitwood, said that in 2021 he felt led by God to help start a Master of Divinity program at Emmanuel University in Franklin Springs, which honored him in 2024. The program's first graduates are expected Nov. 21.

Tunstall's wife, Lula Mae (Flowers) Tunstall, died in March 2023, and their youngest son, Derek, died in 2006. He is survived by a daughter, Dena Chitwood (Chuck); a son, Franklin Jr. (Angela); five grandchildren; a great-grandchild; and a brother, John, of Knoxville, Tenn.

Visitation will be Wednesday, Nov. 11, from 5 to 8 p.m., and a memorial service is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 12, at 10 a.m. at Chapel Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, 8701 Northwest Expressway in Oklahoma City.

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