Dr. Rolf Potter Kennedy McPherson (March 23, 1913 – May 21, 2009) was the pastor of Angelus Temple and president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, serving in that capacity from 1944 to 1988. By his retirement, the evangelical Pentecostal denomination had grown from 29,000 members in 410 churches to 1.2 million members in more than 19,000 churches located in 63 countries.

Personal background

Rolf McPherson was born on March 23, 1913, in Providence, Rhode Island. He was the son of Harold Stewart McPherson and

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 ...

, founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. He was the half-brother of Roberta Star Semple, the daughter of Aimee and her first husband Robert James Semple, who had died of malaria one month before the birth of his daughter. Rolf and his sister Roberta were part of many services and revivals when young. McPherson attended college, first studying engineering. He switched to religion in 1930 after his mother became ill, and also completed divinity school, earning a doctorate. McPherson began his career as a preacher. His mother groomed him to take over Foursquare after a management dispute resulted in Roberta being ousted from church leadership. After his mother's death in 1944, and for the next 44 years, McPherson led the denomination, headquartered at Angelus Temple, and brought it into the evangelical mainstream, which supported its tremendous development in the United States and expansion internationally. He retired in 1988. After retirement, he continued to attend church every week, serving in congregational ministry. He resigned from all church duties in 1997. He died on May 21, 2009, at his home in Los Feliz at age 96, having been predeceased by his first wife, Lorna Dee Smith McPherson. His second wife and widow, Evangeline Otto Carmichael, was the ex-wife of composer Ralph Carmichael."In Memoriam: Evangeline Carmichael McPherson"
'' The Tolucan Times'' (July 15, 2009) Retrieved August 26, 2017

References

External links

Official site of Angelus Temple

Image of Rolf McPherson and Roberta Semple, Los Angeles, 1926.
Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections,

Charles E. Young Research Library The Charles E. Young Research Library is one of the largest libraries on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. It initially opened in 1964, and a second phase of construction was completed ...

, University of California, Los Angeles.
Portrait of Rolf McPherson, 1926.
Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections,

, University of California, Los Angeles. 1913 births 2009 deaths American evangelicals American evangelists Members of the Foursquare Church Place of death missing People from Los Feliz, Los Angeles {{Christianity-bio-stub