- John Robert Stevens
John Robert Stevens (August 7, 1919 - June 4, 1983) founded
The Living Word Fellowship in the 1950s and was the movement's leader until his death.Stevens was born August 7, 1919, in Story County,
Iowa . [http://www.thelivingword.org/tlwf/ourfounder.shtml About Our Founder: John Robert Stevens, 1919-1983] , The Living Word Fellowship website] His parents, Eva Katherine and William J. Stevens, moved the family toCalifornia in 1929, during theGreat Depression . InLos Angeles they attended theAngelus Temple , founded byAimee Semple McPherson . In 1933 they returned to Washington,Iowa , where William Stevens founded the Christian Tabernacle church, in which young John Stevens taught children'sBible study and helped his father preparesermon s. John Stevens began preaching on his own inGladwin, Iowa in 1935, before his sixteenth birthday, under the auspices of theFour Square Gospel denomination. After his high school graduation in 1937 he also traveled locally and regionally as anevangelist and wasordained in theAssembly of God in September 1937. Stevens was first married in 1939 and had two daughters by this marriage, which ended indivorce .Stevens moved to the Los Angeles area in 1946 and later became pastor of an Assemblies of God church in
Lynnwood, California . Around 1950 he was dismissed from that position and the Four Square Gospel and Assemblies of God denominations after propounding unorthodox beliefs, which he said were based ondivine revelation s. [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZzHsXbXOab0C&pg=PA361&lpg=PA361 Church of the Living Word] , "Another Gospel: Cults, Alternative Religions, and the New Age Movement", by Ruth A. Tucker, Zondervan, 2004, ISBN 0310259371, pages 360-362] In 1951 he established his own church inSouth Gate, California , and by 1954 or 1955 he had expanded his ministry into a new movement, initially called the Church of the Living Word and later called The Living Word Fellowship. For the remainder of his life he was the group's spiritual leader, expanding it in theUnited States and into several other countries. [http://www.thelivingword.org/tlwf/history.shtml A Brief History of The Living Word Fellowship] , Living Word Fellowship website, accessed September 8, 2008]After Stevens' death in 1983, his widow, the former Marilyn Holbrook, led the Living Word Fellowship together with Gary Hargrave, who married Marilyn Stevens in 1984. Stevens' writings and recordings of his sermons continue to be disseminated by Living Word Publications, a branch of Living Word Fellowship. [ [http://www.thelivingword.org/tlwf/sermons.shtml Sermons and Foundational Teachings] , The Living World Fellowship website, accessed September 8, 2008]
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