By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
LOS ANGELES, CA (ANS) — Dr. Rolf K. McPherson, son of the controversial evangelist, Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of The Foursquare Church, died at his Los Angeles home on Thursday (May 21, 2009 at the age of 96.
Dr. Rolf K. McPherson
He is survived by his wife, Evangeline Carmichael McPherson; his daughter, Alicia McPherson Santacroce; two granddaughters, Heidi Ledesma and Leslie Young; a grandson, Ronald LaRue; a niece, Victoria Salter. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Lorna De Smith McPherson, and a daughter Marlene McPherson LaRue.
According to the Foursquare News Service, Rolf Kennedy McPherson was born on March 23, 1913, in Providence, Rhode Island, to Harold S. and Aimee Semple McPherson. He was only a small child when he traveled to the West Coast with his mother, who evangelized her way across the country to Los Angeles, where she established Angelus Temple.
“While he was in his late teens, Dr. McPherson met Lorna De Smith, who helped him realize that, even though he had been raised in the church, he must make a personal commitment to God,” said the news service story. “In 1931 he and Lorna De were married in a ceremony officiated by his mother. To this union were born two daughters, Alicia Kay and Marlene. Throughout their more than sixty years of marriage and until her death in 1993, Lorna De worked tirelessly alongside her husband to advance the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. In January 1997, Dr. McPherson married Evangeline Carmichael.
“As part of his preparation for ministry, Dr. McPherson attended both LIFE Bible College and Southern California Radio Institute.”
The Foursquare News Service story went on to say, “It seemed only natural for Rolf to become involved with KFSG, the radio station his mother had founded in 1924. KFSG was the third station to be established in Los Angeles, and Rolf was responsible for its operation from 1944 until 1988. Under his management, the station became the most prominent Christian radio station in Los Angeles, with the distinction of being the oldest, continuously operating Christian radio station in the world. At the time of its sale in 2000, its value had grown from a few thousand dollars to $250 million.
“Upon the death of his mother in 1944, Dr. McPherson became president of the four corporate entities she had established: Echo Park Evangelistic Association, The Church of the Foursquare Gospel, International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, and LIFE Bible College. In addition, he became the pastor of Angelus Temple. Even though he was very young, 31, he had prepared for several years to assume these responsibilities. It had been his mother’s wish that he would succeed her in leading the church, and she had spent the last decade of her life training him to assume that leadership role.
“For 44 years, Dr. Rolf K. McPherson led the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, expanding its ministry into 63 countries around the world; the number of churches worldwide grew to more than 19,000 (Currently there are almost 60,000 Foursquare churches and meeting places in 144 countries.). The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel quickly became known as a missions-minded denomination, taking the Gospel to remote areas of the world to people who had not previously heard the Good News of the Savior. Dr. McPherson retired from the presidency of the Foursquare Church in 1988, but he remained president emeritus. He was also pastor emeritus of Angelus Temple, having retired from actively directing the affairs of the church in 1997.
“The strength and far-reaching influence of The Foursquare Church today are directly attributable to Dr. McPherson’s personal integrity and administrative giftedness. The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, born out of the evangelistic fervor of Aimee Semple McPherson, became firmly established under the leadership of her son, Rolf Kennedy McPherson. His lifetime of service became an inspiring and enduring legacy.”
Foursquare’s current president, Pastor Jack Hayford, expressed his gratitude for Dr. McPherson’s long ministry to The Foursquare Church: “Dr. McPherson gave of himself selflessly and faithfully for more than four decades as he carried on the work that his mother had begun. The blessing that we are currently experiencing is due, in large part, to the work that Dr. McPherson accomplished during his presidency. He laid a foundation that made it possible for The Foursquare Church to move forward around the world and take the Foursquare Gospel to many nations. He will be missed, but the legacy that he left will result in eternal blessedness for millions.”
The memorial service will be held at Angelus Temple, but the date and time have yet to be determined.
About Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson in action 
Canadian-born Aimee Semple McPherson was one of the most colorful and controversial female preachers of the 20th century. She was also known as “Sister Aimee” or “Sister,” and became a media sensation in the 1920s and 1930s and was the founder of the Foursquare Church. She was a pioneer in the use of modern media, especially radio, which she used to create a form of religion that drew heavily on the appeal of popular entertainment.
In June 1923, Aimee opened the $1,500,000 Angelus Temple in Los Angeles. A huge white dome-like structure, the Temple could accommodate 5,000 worshipers and came to serve as the “Western center for evangelism.” Topped by a rotating, illuminated cross visible for fifty miles, the Temple had a huge choir, a brass band, and a pipe organ. A broadcasting station, KFSG sent the Foursquare Gospel messages beyond the Temple in 1924, and a “Miracle Room” displayed stacks of crutches, wheel chairs and braces from faith cures.
According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, over the next few years, Aimee created a crusader magazine called Bible Call (monthly) and the The Foursquare Crusader (weekly). She reorganized the church as a “Salvation Navy,” establishing over 400 branch churches, or “lighthouses,” and sponsoring 178 mission stations throughout the world. Throughout her lifetime she traveled on over 250 foreign missions. In 1925, the LIFE (Lighthouse of International Foursquare Evangelism) Bible College was opened to train young men and women for service in ministry.
“But the climax of Aimee’s public sensation came on May 18, 1926, when she mysteriously disappeared after she had been swimming in the ocean,” said Wikipedia.
“Immediately her followers plunged into a state of panic, camping on the shore of the beach where they believed that she had drowned in the ocean. Her mother, Minnie Kennedy, received a ransom note from ‘kidnappers,’ demanding $500,000 for Aimee’s return. Minnie, however, was convinced her daughter was dead, and she discarded the note. Boats patrolled the water, one heartbroken girl dove into the water after Aimee and killed herself, and scuba divers searched for her body underwater-one even died of exhaustion.
Wikipedia went on to say that just when everyone had assumed Aimee lay dead on the ocean floor, Aimee knocked on the door of a cottage in Agua Prieta, Mexico 32 days after her disappearance, claiming she had been kidnapped and taken to a shack in the Mexican desert. But skeptics thought Aimee had staged one of the most clever—and successful—scams in history: she had faked her own kidnapping. Although she said she walked across the burning sands, her shoes were unscuffed. And coincidentally, Kenneth G. Ormiston, the engineer for her radio station, had not been seen during Aimee’s absence—and many believed the two were having an affair.
“On June 23, 1926 a crowd of at least 50,000 people gathered for her homecoming, which was the largest crowd that had ever gathered to greet anyone arriving in Los Angeles—including sports figures, presidents, politicians or movie stars,” said Wikipedia.
“Further investigation into her disappearance revealed that chambermaids, room clerks, hotel registers, and scraps of paper in her handwriting indicated that Aimee and Ormiston met over several months in a seaside cottage during the month she claimed to be a prisoner in the desert. The evidence, however, was inconclusive, and the investigation ended in 1927. Nevertheless, her disappearance produced a turmoil that convulsed Los Angeles, divided the state of California, and enthralled millions of onlookers who watched the unfolding extravaganza turn the medium of the press and radio.
“Aimee’s mysterious—and still unresolved—disappearance was not the only source of controversy in her life. Battles between her mother, Minnie Kennedy, and daughter Roberta over control of the church in the 1930s were widely publicized in the press, and Aimee ended up ousting them from the church and not speaking to them at the end of her life. There were several rumors that she had her face lifted and her legs slimmed. Aimee was married three times, widowed once, and divorced twice. A total of 55 suits were entered against her for a variety of damages. But regardless of these controversies, the public continued to come to her Temple, listen to her radio broadcasts, and attend services around the world. As Aimee once said, ‘I have the passionate devotion of thousands. If the papers tomorrow morning proved that I had committed eleven murders, those thousands would still believe in me.’”
“Throughout the 1930s, Aimee launched a series of relief efforts including soup kitchens, donations, and free clinics. On September 27, 1944, she was found unconscious in her hotel room after speaking the night before to a crowd in Oakland, California. The coroner’s verdict was an ‘overdose of barbital compound,’ or sleeping pills, which was ruled to be ‘accidental.’”
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Dan Wooding, 68, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma of 45 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS); and US Bureau Chief for the Missionaries News Service (www.missionariesnews.tv) and Safe Worlds IPTV’s Faith, Hope and Charity channel. He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on UCB UK and Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com.
