Harold Vinson Synan (December 1, 1934 – March 15, 2020) was an American historian, author, and alliance leader within the Pentecostal movement. Synan published a total of 25 books, a majority related to Holiness, Pentecostal, and Charismatic movements. He served as General Secretary of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church and later as Chair of the North American Renewal Service Committee from 1985 to 2001. From 1994 - 2006 he served as Dean of the School of Divinity at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. In 2016, Synan moved back to Tulsa, Oklahoma to re-join the faculty of Oral Roberts University as Interim Dean of the College of Theology and Ministry, where he served for two years. Following that he served as Scholar in Residence at Oral Roberts University where he worked closely with William M. Wilson, the president of ORU, the World Pentecostal Fellowship, and Empowered21. Biography Synan, along with his twin brother Vernon, was born on December 1, 1934 in Hopewell, Virginia to Joseph Alexander and Minnis (Purdue) Synan. He was one of seven siblings. Education and career His father, a sixteen-year-old Methodist was converted at a Pentecostal Holiness tent meeting near Fredericksburg, Virginia. He later planted five Pentecostal Holiness congregations in the Tidewater area of Virginia before serving as a bishop of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, a position he held for 24 years. Synan's formative years revolved around his Pentecostal Holiness church. His call to ministry came shortly after his conversion in 1951, while living in Memphis, Tennessee, during the time he was seeking his experience of the "second blessing" of entire sanctification. Nine months later, at the age of seventeen, he received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He began his preaching ministry the same year, and in 1954 was ordained in the Pentecostal Holiness Church. Synan then completed a two-year liberal arts degree from Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia. In 1955 and after a one-year pastoral apprenticeship, he became an evangelist in the Eastern Virginia PHC Conference. Synan graduated from the University of Richmond with a BA in American history in 1958, and in the fall of the same year began his teaching career. From 1956 to 1962, he helped plant three churches in Virginia and from 1967 to 1974 he planted one in Georgia. From 1963 to 1975, he also taught history at his alma mater, Emmanuel College. As Synan was making preparation for