John Robert Stevens was born in Story County, Iowa on August 7, 1919,1 and passed away on June 4, 1983 in Los Angeles, California. From the time of his youth, and throughout his entire life, he loved the Bible. It was his simple belief in the Bible’s stories about the healings that Jesus performed that sparked his childhood miracle, and he never lost that youthful faith. This was reflected not only in his decision to become a pastor, but also in the anointed exposition of the Scriptures which became the hallmark of his ministry.
Stevens was one of the most anointed, matured, and prolific ministries of his time. John Stevens’ life was spent actively exercising this ministry of imparting and speaking a living Word. He revealed the Scriptures in a way that was at once both inspiring and understandable, and imparted his love of the Bible whenever he spoke. Like so many before him who have been a part of the ongoing restoration of the Church, John Stevens’ revelation and teaching of the Scriptures was decades ahead of its time; it is only recently that some of the scriptural principles he illuminated and restored have been practiced in mainstream Christianity.
John Stevens’ legacy includes not only the churches he founded and the Word of God that he spoke but also the many believers who were brought into a closer relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ through his ministry. Since the time of his passing, many of the works he founded have grown in their fulfillment of John’s vision and teachings. The word that he spoke continues to be published today as well as the continuing ministry of The Living Word by Gary and Marilyn Hargrave. Some of the visions that he laid out but never saw fulfilled have come to fruition—such as Shiloh University. Perhaps without knowing exactly what it would mean when he committed it to paper, Stevens foreshadowed his remarkable life and ministry when he wrote in “To Be a Christian”: “I am sure He will not waste a fragment of my life if I let Him possess and direct it.”2
Citations
1. Stevens, John Robert: Audio Release, The First Fruits: The Living Word. RN18A094R
2. Stevens, John Robert: “To Be a Christian”, To Every Man That Asketh, p. 14: Copyright © 1959, by John Robert Stevens; revised 1971 by The Living Word.*
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