John Robert Stevens (August 7, 1919 – June 4, 1983) founded The Living Word Fellowship in the 1950s and was the leader of the organization until his death. Stevens was born in Story County,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. His parents, Eva Katherine and William J. Stevens, moved the family to

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in 1929, during the

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. In

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they attended the

Angelus Temple Angelus Temple is a Pentecostal megachurch of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, California, United States. The senior pastor is Matthew Barnett. The maximum capacity is 8,975 persons. H ...

, founded by

Aimee Semple McPherson Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson (née Kennedy; October 9, 1890 – September 27, 1944), also known as Sister Aimee or Sister, was a Canadian Pentecostalism, Pentecostal Evangelism, evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s,Ob ...

. In 1933 they returned to

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, Iowa, where William Stevens founded the Christian Tabernacle church, in which young John Stevens taught children's

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study and helped his father prepare

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. El ...

s. John Stevens began preaching on his own in Gladwin, Iowa, in 1935, before his sixteenth birthday, under the auspices of the

Four Square Gospel The Foursquare Church is an Evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in 1923 by preacher Aimee Semple McPherson. The headquarters are in Los Angeles, California, United States. History The church has its origins in a vision of " ...

denomination. After his high school graduation in 1937 he also traveled locally and regionally as an

evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

and was

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in the

Assembly of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...

in September 1937. Stevens was first married to Martha Mickelson in 1939 and had two daughters by this marriage, which ended in

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

. In 1980, John Robert married Marilyn Holbrook. Stevens moved to the Los Angeles area in 1946 and later became pastor of an Assemblies of God church in Lynwood, California. Stevens was deeply affected by the Healing Revival and the Latter Rain Movement beginning in 1947.

William Branham William Marrion Branham (April 6, 1909 – December 24, 1965) was an American Christian minister and faith healer who initiated the post-World War II healing revival, and claimed to be a prophet with the anointing of Elijah, who had come t ...

was a major influence on Stevens, who adopted many of his teachings and doctrines. When Assemblies of God formally rejected the Latter Rain movement and withdrew from participating in the healing revivals, Stevens began to have a conflict with the denomination. Around 1950 he was dismissed as pastor and separated from the Four Square Gospel and Assemblies of God denominations, claiming that they were rejecting

divine revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...

. In 1951 he established his own church in

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, and by 1955 he had expanded his ministry into a new movement based largely on the teachings of Branham and the Latter Rain. Initially called the Church of the Living Word, it was later called The Living Word Fellowship. The organization was also known informally as "The Walk" referencing the biblical view that every Christian should have a personal walk with Jesus Christ, from I John 1:6-7. For the remainder of his life he was the group's spiritual leader, expanding across the

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and into several other countries.A Brief History of The Living Word Fellowship
Living Word Fellowship website, accessed September 8, 2008 Stevens died in 1983. His widow, the former Marilyn Holbrook, married Gary Hargrave in 1984 and together they led the Fellowship until Marilyn's passing in 2015. Many of Stevens' writings, as well as recordings of his sermons, continue to be distributed by Living Word Publications.

Books by Stevens

* ''The First Principles'', The Living Word Publications, , * ''Sparks from the Altar'', The Living Word Publications, ,

References

Sources

External links

John Robert Stevens Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, John Robert 1919 births 1983 deaths People from Story County, Iowa American Christian religious leaders Founders of new religious movements