Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/William Sowders


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.  

The result was Delete as claims to notability (listed by Edison) are not verified by independent sources. Google Books and the reference desk at the local library are good starting points for offline searches for sources, but as it is the article fails Wikipedia policies. As with every deletion for lack of sources, the article can be restored or userfied if sources (which don't necessarily have to be online) are found. ~ trialsanderrors 08:20, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

William Sowders
From speedy. Should go to AfD instead Alex Bakharev 07:17, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete. No actually it should have been speedy deleted. Google search excluding copies of this article gives nothing but results from this guy's own church and related promotional sites. Fails WP:BIO as noted in the speedy tag. MartinDK 07:27, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete fails WP:BIO, almost reads like advertSkierRMH 10:09, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete fails WP:BIO scope_creep 14:42, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Speedy Delete per A7 Missvain 17:17, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Keep The article makes 2 claims to notability: 1)"In 1935 he opened the “Gospel of the Kingdom Campground" in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, where his teachings were adopted and spread by other pastors." 2)"It has been estimated that during his lifetime, at its peak, there were 300 churches and 75,000 believers in the fellowship.[citation needed] Today there are churches worldwide, notably in the U.S., Haiti, Europe and Africa, that have been affected by his ministry." In addition, "william Sowders" gets 1440 Google hits, most to the subject of this article. He is widely written up in pentecostal web sites. He had the misfortune to live and die in an era before there are online publication archives, so what references he had in print are likely not online. There is no reason to exclude as sources his own church, unless you are willing to delete all Roman Catholic, Methodist, etc. sources in articles about figures of those religions. He clearly had influence within his denomination far beyond that of average pastors.  Edison 18:10, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Keep Sowders should be kept, not only for his currently obscure church, but because he had/has influence on a great deal of modern evangalicism, particularly the church of the 4 square gospel and other early evangalicals V. Joe 20:27, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Keep I agree with Edison, because I have found the statement about him living before any archives that would be online to be true. I have been researching Sowders for over 10 years, and that is fact.  There just is not alot of online information on him.  His influence was strongest in the mid-west and south-east areas of the states, and in these areas specifically his teachings have had influences in many of the pentecostal denominations.  User:Wyldkardde 18:18, 18 November 2006 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.