Kenneth E. Hagin was born in McKinney, Texas, the son of Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin. According to Hagin's testimony, he was born with a deformed heart and what was believed to be an incurable blood disease. He was not expected to live and at age 15 became paralyzed and bedridden. In April 1933 he converted to Christianity. During a dramatic conversionexperience, he reported dying, due to the deformed heart, three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life. He remained paralyzed after his conversion. On August 8, 1934, he says he was raised from his deathbed by a revelation of "faith in God's Word" after reading Mark 11:23-24. The Bible scripture in defined his ministry and was his most frequently quoted verse:
Start of ministry
In 1936, he founded his first non-denominational church. He preached his first sermon as the pastor of a small, community Baptist church in Roland, Texas. In 1937, he became an Assemblies of God minister. During the next twelve years he pastored five Assemblies of God churches in Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville, Talco, Greggton, and Van. Van, Texas was the last church he pastored before starting to travel. On November 25, 1938 he married Oretha Rooker. They had two children. Their first child Kenneth Wayne Hagin, known as Kenneth Hagin Jr., was born on September 3, 1939. A daughter, Patricia Harrison, was born 19 months later on March 27, 1941. His son Kenneth Wayne Hagin is currently the pastor of Rhema Bible Church and President of Kenneth Hagin Ministries. Hagin began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist in 1949 after an appearance by Jesus. He joined the Voice of Healing Revival in the U.S. with Oral Roberts, Gordon Lindsay and T. L. Osborn between 1947 and 1958. Hagin was given full admission to the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International which had been established in 1951.
Evangelistic Association
On January 23, 1963, he formed the Kenneth E. Hagin Evangelistic Association in Garland, Texas. In September 1966, the ministry offices were moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma into a space previously used by T.L. Osborn. He started selling his sermons on reel-to-reel tape in 1966. In November of that year, he taught for the first time on radio on KSKY in Dallas. The North Texas District Council of the Assemblies of God ordained him a minister in 1967. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that still continues as "Faith Seminar of the Air." Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth Hagin Jr, is heard on the program. Since Hagin's incorporation 1963, his organization grew to include numerous media outreaches and ministries. These are:
Faith Library Publications – with 65 million book copies in circulation
"RHEMA Praise" – a weekly television program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network
"Faith Seminar of the Air" – a radio program heard on many stations nationwide and on the Internet
"The Word of Faith" – a free monthly magazine with roughly 600,000 subscribers
At a camp meeting in 1973, Hagin announced the creation of a "bible training center." In 1974, Hagin opened RHEMA Bible Training College, in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, which now has training centers in fourteen different countries, planted over 1,500 congregations worldwide, and has 25,000 alumni. In 1979, he founded the Prayer and Healing Center to provide a place for the sick to come and "have the opportunity to build their faith." Its Healing School continues to be held free of charge twice a day on the RHEMA campus. On May 20, 1994 Hagin received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Faith Theological Seminary in Tampa, Florida.
Death
Hagin went to bed on Saturday September 13th feeling well, according to a news release from his ministry. He sat at the breakfast table Sunday morning and smiled at his wife, Oretha, then sighed and his head fell to his chest. He died on Friday, September 19, 2003 at the age of 86.
Rhema Bible Training College
Hagin founded Rhema Bible Training College, previously Rhema Bible Training Center, in 1974. The college is accredited by Transworld Accrediting Commission International. This Bible institute is located on in Broken Arrow, a suburb of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The curriculum is derived from a Charismatic/Pentecostal heritage. There are seven ministry concentrations specializing in Children's Ministry, Youth Ministry, Evangelism, Pastoral Care, Missions, Biblical Studies, and Supportive Ministry. Rhema has established training centers in Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Greece, Singapore, South Africa, the South Pacific, Thailand, Nigeria, Zambia, Egypt, and the Philippines. After Hagin's death in 2003, his son, Kenneth W. Hagin, continued to run the institution. Rhema has trained over 80,000 graduates who reside and minister in 52 countries. Locally, Rhema is known for its annual Christmas display, which in recent years has included more than 2 million lights synchronized to Christmas music.
