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Kenneth Erwin Hagin (1917—2003) was a charismatic American preacher, evangelist, educator, and author. Through his emphasis on teaching the power of faith to claim healing and prosperity, he became a pioneer of the Word of Faith movement. In 1974, Kenneth Hagin founded Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to teach and train ministers in the principles of his faith message. Today, Kenneth Hagin Ministries (also known as Rhema) continues to operate through nearly 300 Rhema Bible Training schools in more than fifty countries and thousands of Word of Faith churches, The Word of Faith magazine, Rhema radio and television broadcasts, Rhema prison ministry, evangelism crusades, and more.
Kenneth Hagin was born in the small town of McKinney, Texas, to parents Jess and Lillie Drake Hagin. Arriving prematurely and weighing less than two pounds at birth, Hagin was not expected to live. He survived, but not without significant hardship in childhood. His father deserted the family when Kenneth was six, forcing the boy and his mother to move in with her parents when he was nine. By age sixteen, Kenneth was bedridden and partially paralyzed, having been diagnosed with a heart condition and blood disease. Again, his family’s doctor gave him no chance of survival.
According to his account, in April 1933, Kenneth Hagin had a near-death experience in which his heart stopped beating. He felt his spirit leave his body three times and descend to the gates of hell. Each time, he was brought back to life. He was convinced that, if it happened again, he would not return. Although he had been raised a Southern Baptist, he had never accepted Jesus Christ as Lord. Hagin prayed for Christ’s forgiveness and was born again at that moment. A deep sense of peace with God filled him.
Still unable to leave his bed, Hagin began studying God’s Word with a desire to be healthy. He read Mark 11:24 and applied Jesus’ words to his own need for healing: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” He started to believe that he would be healed and have whatever he desired, even if the results were not yet visible. Within three days, he was walking again and soon regained full range of physical activity. The doctor confirmed that he could find nothing wrong with the boy’s heart. Kenneth Hagin was healed.
After graduating high school, Hagin pastored an interdenominational community church for two years. Because of his experience with divine healing, he was drawn to the gifts of the Spirit. In 1937, he experienced speaking in tongues and received what Pentecostal denominations call “the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” That same year, Hagin became a licensed minister of the Assemblies of God and pastored in that denomination until 1949.
In 1938, in Texas, Kenneth Hagin met and married Lois Oretha Rooker. The couple had two children, Kenneth Wayne (known as Kenneth, Jr.) and Patricia Guylene.
Kenneth Hagin launched his healing ministry in 1949, traveling and teaching his faith message. In 1963, he organized the Kenneth E. Hagin Evangelistic Association, which moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1966. From Tulsa, Hagin began imparting his faith message over the radio, significantly increasing his ministry’s growth and influence. Within two years, The Word of Faith magazine began circulating.
In 1974, the Rhema Correspondence Bible School was created to provide study materials for Hagin’s listeners. Following that was the Rhema Bible Training Center. Students preparing for the ministry were taught principles of faith through a three-step formula (summarized as): Say it, do it, and receive it. The first graduating class consisted of fifty-eight students. Today, over 100,000 Bible students have completed their training at one of Rhema’s 298 campuses worldwide.
Kenneth E. Hagan opened a Prayer and Healing Center school in 1979 and, in 1983, received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Oral Roberts University. He served as Rhema’s president until he died in 2003 at age 86. After this, his son, Kenneth W. Hagin, who had ministered beside his father since 1966, took over the leadership of Rhema.
Kenneth Hagin’s influence on charismatic and Pentecostal church communities cannot be overstated. However, most evangelical scholars and theologians reject his “faith in faith” teachings. Since its beginning, the Word of Faith movement has been under constant criticism from leading evangelicals who consider its teachings dangerous, unbiblical, and even heretical.
