Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Unusual sports bar to be sold at auction
Motorcyclist killed, wife injured in Stark County crash
Family found dead in Ohio home
Man says he was punched, robbed by 3 people in parking lot
Circle K on Brown Street robbed
Bank helps more save their homes
Man gets 3 years in prison for having sex with horse
Woman says clinic refused to help her get pregnant because she's not married
Blogs:
Pets:
Officials: NYer Had 20 Dead Dogs Buried in Yard
The Heldenfiles:
Monday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Time for Kokinis, Browns to agree and part ways
Akron Zips:
Zips tip off tomorrow
Tribe Matters:
Indians announce spring dates
Cleveland Browns:
Mangini doesn't name a quarterback
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – November 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Shaq: It’s All About Winning Championships
Buckeye Blogging:
Weekly ‘B’ Deck Report – New Mexico St.
Varsity Letters:
Louisville’s Bobby Swigert headed to Boston College
All Da King's Men:
If It Looks Like Islamic Terrorism…
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Dems Message To Women: Don't Enjoy The Sex
Akron Law Café:
Abortion Analogies
See Jane Style:
Muffle Your Muffler
Car Chase:
Clock Tender- Extending the Life of Collector Car Clocks
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Rumors: Akron Starbucks Closing
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Jack is looking for a trip to Southern Ohio the week of November 16.
Sound Check:
The Black Keys to perform benefit concert at Musica on November 27
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – Why People Do Not Live in Northeast Ohio
Akron Gamer:
New 'Call of Duty' could set entertainment record
Dedicating his life to Christ at 13, evangelist remembered for being compassionate, generous, giving Summit claim as home of televangelism
By Colette M. Jenkins
Beacon Journal religion writer
Published on Sunday, Sep 23, 2007
The man behind the Akron area's claim as the home to televangelism the Rev. Rex Humbard is being remembered by family and friends as a fiery evangelist, a compassionate friend and a loving husband and father.
''I've been his son all my life, but I've been taking care of his business matters since 1959 and I've never known my father to lie or intentionally hurt anybody,'' said Rex Humbard Jr., 64. ''He's the most godly man I've ever known. My dad was an honest, God-fearing, humble man who didn't care about worldly goods.''
Humbard, who turned 88 on Aug. 13, died Friday in an Atlantis, Fla., hospital. The televangelist, who suffered from congestive heart failure, broke his hip July 23 and underwent hip replacement. Complications followed.
Humbard Jr. said he and his three siblings had been with their father daily.
''He's been laying in that bed in pain and I haven't heard him say anything but, 'Dear, Jesus' and 'Dear, Lord,''' Humbard Jr. said. ''He said he had prayed to God that if he was ready for him, he was ready to go.''
Early megachurch
Humbard, a Little Rock, Ark., native, was the first evangelist to have a weekly nationwide program in America. That television ministry began in 1952 in Akron.
He also built one of America's first megachurches in 1958 the Cathedral of Tomorrow in what is now Cuyahoga Falls.
Although Humbard is no longer a household name, his television ministry peaked in the mid-1970s when 2,000 television channels aired his programs and 25 million people worldwide tuned in weekly to hear his familiar admonition: ''What America needs is an old-fashioned, Holy Ghost, God-sent, soul-savin', devil-hatin' revival.''
His programs featured gospel music rendered by popular groups like the Cathedral Quartet. Humbard's wife, Maude Aimee, and Please see In 1980s, A12
their children Rex Jr., Don, Aimee Elizabeth and Charles also were part of the television ministry.
Humbard moved his ministry to Florida in 1985.
As viewership and donations began to drop in the 1980s, the program gradually lost its strength. The show no longer airs from coast to coast, but the television ministry was instrumental in promoting an independent Christian television station in Canton, WDLI. The station later became the flagship for the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Humbard is also known for delivering the eulogy at the funeral of Elvis Presley on Aug. 18, 1977, in Memphis.
In its Dec. 27, 1999, edition, U.S. News & World Report named Humbard one of the 25 shapers of the modern era.
In April, the pioneer of religious broadcasting was inducted into the Arkansas Walk of Fame. Fellow inductees were Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, former boxing champion Tommy Freeman and one-time Sun Records recording artists Sonny Burgess and the Pacers.
Loving, giving person
Despite his popularity, Gracie Adams, of Delray Beach, Fla., said Humbard remained a caring, down-to-earth man of God. The Akron native worked as a governess in the Humbard home and in the ministry. She has known the Humbards all her life.
''He was a little boy from Little Rock. He was just folksy,'' said Adams, 55. ''He really was a loving, giving person and a person who was sensitive to God. He would give someone the shirt off his back. I've seen him take money out of his own pocket and give it to people who need help.''
Adams, who said she visited Humbard daily during his recent hospital stay, said she always admired the love between Humbard and his wife, who has Alzheimer's.
''He would always have a fresh rose on her end table,'' Adams said. ''She got all dressed up, in a red dress, on their 65th anniversary (Aug. 2) and visited him in the hospital. They talked to each other about when they got married. They were so in love.''
Aura of scandal
Humbard's legacy, however, is not without controversy. A series of services, at the Cathedral of Tomorrow, with the late Kathryn Kuhlman, a faith healer, drew critics and skeptics who asserted that faith healing was everything from purposely deceptive to a staged magic show.
An aura of scandal hung over his ministry for several years when Humbard became associated with questionable investments. In 1973, a Time article reported that his corporation issued securities and reported annual revenues of $8 million and assets worth $30 million.
''Conglomerating for Christ has obviously paid off handsomely for Humbard. His headquarters is the $3,400,000 rigged-for-TV Cathedral of Tomorrow in suburban Akron. He lives in a $225,000 house in Akron's West Hill, where the rubber barons reside,'' Time reported.
''Lately, however, Humbard's evangelical empire has been having some mammon troubles. Officials in six states have banned further sale of securities sold by the cathedral because they were not properly registered.''
In 1970, Humbard bought Mackinac College on Mackinaw Island, Mich. His plan was to use the facility as a religious retreat and educational institution. Two years later, the Humbard organization began to use the property as a vacation resort. In 1977, it was sold and the name changed to Mackinac Hotel and Conference Center. It is now the Mission Point Resort.
In 1979, the Los Angeles Times reported that Humbard brought in an estimated $25 million from TV donations.
Having faith
Robin Titus, a former Cathedral of Tomorrow member, said she does not believe Humbard did anything improper. The Munroe Falls resident, who affectionately calls Humbard ''Uncle Rex,'' was dedicated by Humbard when she was a few weeks old. She described being raised at the church as being raised by family. She said when the shepherd (Humbard) left, the flock (members of the church) scattered.
''That church brought people together. It bonded people as a family. A third of my friends I have today I met at that church,'' said Titus, 47. ''It was just an awesome group and Uncle Rex was the leader. You can never replace what we had there. Everyone was so devout and sincere and real.''
Titus said she visited with the Humbards at their assisted-living residence in Florida in May. She called the meeting bittersweet.
''To see the energy that age had depleted from them was difficult. She was always so expressive and to see her bedridden and unable to carry on a conversation was hard,'' Titus said. ''He was still the humble and kind man that I've always known. He was still full of life and his mind was sharp. I just didn't think that would be the last time I'd see them.''
Early years
Humbard, who dedicated his life to Christ when he was 13 years old, was the son of ministers (the Rev. Alpha E. and Martha Bell), who founded several churches in Arkansas. He traveled the country with his family, pioneering churches and conducting tent revivals.
When his family moved their music ministry to Dallas, Humbard met his wife of 65 years. She joined his family on the road. After a family tent meeting in Akron, Humbard decided to leave his family's ministry and start a church here.
The decision was made after Humbard saw a crowd standing outside O'Neil's Department store in downtown Akron, watching a 1952 Cleveland Indians-New York Yankees game on a small TV set.
Humbard concluded that if baseball players could transfix people to the revolutionary contraption called television, so could a preacher. At that moment he realized that his mission was to become the first evangelist to spread the gospel via television.
He purchased the former Copley Road Theater, christened it Calvary Temple and began broadcasting in 1953. As he gained popularity, services were moved to the Ohio Theater on State Road in Cuyahoga Falls.
In 1958, Calvary Temple opened a $4 million, 5,400-seat church farther north on State Road in what was then Northampton Township. It was designed specifically to accommodate television equipment.
Humbard began building a rotating tower restaurant at the complex that has not been completed. The plan called for the tower to house a revolving restaurant, a religious museum and an observation deck, plus television-signal equipment. The tower is now privately owned and is used as a cell phone tower.
The church which included velour drapes, a hydraulic stage and a giant cross covered with red, white and blue light bulbs changed its corporate name to the Cathedral of Tomorrow Inc. in 1959. Services included prayer for the sick and anointing with oil. Humbard always maintained that the focus of his ministry was the message of salvation.
The Cathedral of Tomorrow was sold for $2.5 million in 1994 and became home to evangelist Ernest Angley's Grace Cathedral.
Born leader
The Rev. Clement Humbard said his older brother was blessed with leadership skills. Clement Humbard, 83, pastored a church in Austintown Calvary Temple for nearly 25 years. He is active in ministry.
In their younger days, Clement Humbard said when the family traveled across America, pitching tents and spreading the gospel, Rex Humbard was the emcee and business manager, and his brother strummed the guitar and sang gospel songs. Their father gave the sermons. Clement Humbard, who could play 25 instruments, was the main musician.
The tent, itself, was an idea that Rex Humbard gave birth to as a boy, after seeing Ringling Bros. putting up their big top. Although the Humbard children's parents would not allow them to go to the circus because of their strict rules, Rex thought if a circus could attract a crowd to a tent so could God.
''We were raised in a preacher's home. Our parents taught us not to spread rumors or talk about other people,'' said Clement Humbard from his Hot Springs, Ark., home. ''I've never heard Rex speak evil of anyone. He never tried to slander or make libel statements against anyone, even those who spoke against his ministry.''
In addition to his wife, children and brother, Humbard is survived by two sisters, Leona Jones of Frankfort, Mich., and Juanita Banker of Deland, Fla.; 10 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters, Ruth and Mary.
Funeral arrangements are being worked out. Burial will be in the Humbard family plot in Rose Hill cemetery in Fairlawn.
''My father was called to do the job he was doing. Everybody might not agree with his doctrine, but he was a called man,'' Rex Jr. said. ''He simply did what God told him to do, and he helped shape the modern era that we live in.''
Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.
The man behind the Akron area's claim as the home to televangelism the Rev. Rex Humbard is being remembered by family and friends as a fiery evangelist, a compassionate friend and a loving husband and father.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
