JACK W. Hayford, an author, radio teacher, and pastor once called “The Pentecostal Gold Standard,” died Sunday morning at his home in southern California. He was 88 years old.
Hayford’s ministry announced the well-known pastor’s passing in a statement online, noting he had dinner Saturday with his wife, Valerie, and had spoken to one of his grandchildren the same day. “Today, we mourn his loss but celebrate the homecoming of a great leader in God’s kingdom. We know that this great servant and worshipper is now experiencing the greatest worship service of all.”
Hayford was best-known as “Pastor Jack,” founding The Church On the Way in Van Nuys, California, in 1969. During his three-decade tenure as pastor of the charismatic Foursquare Gospel megachurch, it reportedly grew to over 12,000 members.
A believer in supernatural healing, Hayford often recounted how as an infant he suffered from a “life threatening illness” and, in childhood, from polio—and how he was healed following prayers of family and friends. “These two extraordinary events ignited in Jack’s heart a passion for God and convinced him that the Holy Spirit is alive and active in the contemporary church,” states his ministry bio.
In a 2005 article, Christianity Today referred to Hayford as “Pentecostals’ and charismatics’ gold standard.” Steve Strang, publisher of Charisma and Ministries Today said Hayford was a “statesman almost without peer. . . . His integrity and theological depth are so well known that he can draw together all kinds of factions.”
Hayford’s sermons were first edited for broadcast in 1977, and within a decade his teaching program Living Way aired on more than 500 radio stations. He was inducted into the National Religious Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2014, alongside prominent evangelical preachers Billy Graham, Adrian Rogers, and Chuck Colson.
From 2004 to 2009, Hayford served as President of The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, which currently has over 67,500 affiliated churches. In a statement, the evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination called Hayford “one of the most influential Foursquare figures since Founder Aimee Semple McPherson.”
Hayford authored more than 50 books, including serving as executive editor of The Spirit-Filled Life Bible. He composed more than 500 worship songs including well-known chorus, “Majesty.” In 2002, his ministry moved his teaching online, launching a video program “Spirit Formed.”
He founded The King’s College and Seminary in Los Angeles in 1997. It subsequently was renamed The King’s University, and a second campus opened at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas. The school’s main campus and administration is now based there in north Texas.
Hayford was previously married for more than 60 years to Anna Hayford, who died in 2017 from pancreatic cancer. They had four children together, 11 grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.
Jack Hayford was remarried in 2018, to Valerie Lemire, a longtime family friend and past personal assistant to Hayford’s mother. Julie Roys
