Kenneth E. Hagin Biography, Ministry, & Lessons From His Life
Kenneth Erwin Hagin was born on the 20th of August, 1917, and went to be with the Lord on September 19, 2003. Hagin was widely known as the pioneer of the Word of Faith movement.
EARLY LIFE & BACKGROUND
He was born in McKinney, Texas as the son of Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin. From his testimony, he was born with a deformed heart and also an incurable blood disease according to his medical diagnosis. The health challenge was so much that he wasn’t expected to live and by the age of 15, he became paralyzed and bedridden.
In the year 1933, he gave his heart to Jesus and he remained paralyzed after his conversion. He reported dying due to a deformed heart, three times in the space of 10 minutes, and in each of the dying moments, he was seeing the horrors of hell and returned to life.
Something miraculous happened on August 8, 1934, he says he was raised from the bed after having a revelation of “faith in God’s Word” after reading the book of Mark 11:23-24. He became healed of the paralysis and could walk freely again.
The Bible verse became the anchor for his ministry and was his most quoted verse.
START OF MINISTRY
He founded his first nonsectarian church in 1936. Hagin preached for the first time when he was the pastor of a small, community Baptist Church in Roland, Texas. He became an Assemblies of God minister in 1937 and for the next twelve years, he pastored five Assemblies of God churches in Texas. The last place he pastored was Texas before he began traveling.
Kenneth Hagin began a traveling ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist in 1949 after the vision of Jesus. Between the year 1947 and 1958, he joined the Voice of Healing Revival in the US with ministers like Oral Roberts, Gordon Lindsay, and T. L. Osborn.
EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION
Kenneth Hagin started the Kenneth E. Hagin Evangelistic Association which is now Kenneth Hagin Ministries in Garland, Texas on the 23rd January 23, 1963. The ministry was moved to Tulsa in September 1966, Oklahoma in a place previously used by T. L. Osborn.
He began selling his sermons on reel-to-reel tape in 1966. Hagin taught for the first time on radio on KSKY in November 1966 in Dallas. He was ordained a minister by the North Texas District Council of the Assemblies of God in 1967.
He began a regular radio broadcast in 1967 that still runs as “Faith Seminar of the Air”.
Since Hagin’s incorporation in 1963, the organization grew to include various media outreaches and ministries. They are:
- Faith Library Publications
- RHEMA Praise
- Faith Seminar of the Air
- The Word of Faith
- RHEMA Correspondence Bible School
- And so on.
During a camp meeting in 1973, Hagin announced the creation of a “bible training center”. He opened RHEMA Bible Training College in 1974, in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, that has become training center in 14 different countries, founded more than 1,500 congregations worldwide, and has 25,000 alumni.
Hagin started the Prayer and Healing Center in 1979 to provide a place for the sick to come and fire up their faith. The Healing School runs without charges twice a day on the RHEMA campus.
He received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree on May 20, 1994, from Faith Theological Seminary in Tampa, Florida.
RHEMA BIBLE TRAINING COLLEGE
It was previously known as RHEMA Bible Training Center and was accredited by Transworld Accrediting Commission International – an organization that “lacks appropriate recognition or authorization” for higher education. It is located in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
The curriculum is gotten from Charismatic/Pentecostal heritage. The institute focuses on seven areas pf ministry which are Children’s Ministry, Youth Ministry, Evangelism, Pastoral Care, Missions, Biblical Studies, and Supportive Ministry. They have training centers all around the continents. Places like Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia, India, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Greece, and so on.
Since the death of Hagin, his son Kenneth W. Hagin has been running the institution. It has been reported that the institute has trained over 80,000 graduates.
DEATH
He went to be with the Lord on September 19, 2003, at the age of 86.
PUBLICATIONS
To know about his publications by him, visit here.
MARITAL STATUS
He was married to Oretha Rooker on November 25, 1938. The couple was blessed with two children namely Kenneth Wayne Hagin and Patricia (Hagin) Harrison. Kenneth W. Hagin is presently the pastor of Rhema Bible Church and President of Kenneth Hagin Ministries.
LESSONS FROM HIS LIFE
He lived a life worthy of emulation and it is of no surprise that many present generals of faith still refer to him as a father in the gospel.
He also demonstrated the verse of the bible Proverbs 13:22 “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” (NKJV)
We must take it as a lesson for the way we live our lives. Shalom!
