Perhaps what Aimee Semple McPherson is most remembered for today is founding the Foursquare denomination that is still growing today.
Aimee Elizabeth was born to James Morgan and Minnie Kennedy on October 9, 1890, in Ontario, Canada, the only daughter of a wealthy farmer. Her mother was a Salvationist and prayed that if the Lord would give her a daughter she would dedicate her to the ministry to fulfil the calling that she had neglected to fill herself.
Aimee Semple McPherson accomplished what no man had yet been able to do in ministry when in 1922 she built a five thousand-seat auditorium in a prestigious area of Los Angeles that became the envy of Hollywood theatre owners. On opening day, January 1, 1923, the new Angelus Temple was featured on a float in Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses parade—while the extravagant dedication service was given full coverage in the New York Times. What became the home of “The Church of the Foursquare Gospel” filled four times each Sunday and twice weekly. Aimee also ministered at highly sought after healing services during the week.
Movie stars such as Mary Pickford, Jean Harlow, Charlie Chapman, and Anthony Quinn were known to attend Sunday services at the famous Angelus Temple.
As a dramatic, theatrical person herself, Aimee Semple McPherson used drama, music, opera, and extravagant stage sets to convey the gospel. Over the course of her life, she composed 175 songs and hymns, several operas, and thirteen drama-oratories.
In February 1924, Aimee Semple McPherson opened the first Christian radio station KFSG (Kall Four Square Gospel), and was the first woman to obtain an FCC license.
It is interesting to note that in the same year the world famous Aimee Semple McPherson was launching her radio station, Kathryn Khulman had just started preaching as a teenager, and Maria Woodworth Etter had breathed her last breath at eighty years of age.
By the time she was thirteen, Aimee Semple McPherson was a celebrated public speaker in high demand at church functions and social events.
Robert Semple travelled extensively but corresponded regularly with Aimee and by the spring of1908 he proposed marriage to her in the same house she received the Holy Spirit baptism a few months earlier. Six months later, on August 12, 1908 they were married in her family’s farmhouse.
In 1910 while in London, Aimee was asked to preach for the first time in public. Although she was only nineteen, she wanted to be obedient to God’s call.
In June of 1910, the Semples arrived in Hong Kong where they were unprepared for the culture and living circumstances they found. Because of their poor living conditions, they both contracted malaria and not two months after they arrived, on August 17, 1910, Robert was pronounced dead. One month later, on September 17, 1910, Aimee gave birth to a four-pound baby girl, Roberta Star.
After mourning the loss of Robert for a year in her childhood home, Aimee became restless for the ministry and returned to Chicago and New York seeking to minister in the churches that Robert left behind. In New York she met Harold McPherson who was a solid and kind Christian man who offered Aimee a proposal of marriage. She accepted and they were married on February 28, 1912. By July Aimee was expecting her second child. A boy she named Rolf was born on March 23, 1913.
In 1914, Aimee became gravely ill. After a series of surgeries there was no improvement. The physicians called for her mother and Harold’s mother to inform them of Aimee’s approaching death. As she lay in a lifeless coma, Aimee heard God’s voice asking her, “Will you go?” From somewhere deep within her, she managed to whisper that she would. When she opened her eyes all the pain was gone and within two weeks she was up and well.
After a meeting in Denver in June of 1922, when Aimee was interviewing with a reporter, someone asked her to pray for an invalid outside. She invited the reporter to accompany her and when they walked out a side door they were abducted by the Ku Klux Klan. Blindfolded they were taken to a secret meeting where the Ku Klux Klan requested Aimee to deliver a special word meant for them alone. She delivered a message out of Matthew 27 on “Barabbas, the man who thought he would never be found out.” Afterward they pledged their national and “silent” support. Then the two were returned blindfolded to the hall in Denver.
In 1926 Aimee disappeared for thirty-two days. The disappearance became the hottest news story in the world. The beaches were combed and the outlying waters searched for any trace of her. When a ransom letter for $500,000 was received, the press went wild. “Aimee sightings” were reported from coast to coast. A memorial service was finally held on June 20. Then three days later Aimee walked into Douglas, Arizona, from the desert at Agua Prieta, Mexico. It has been suggested and believed highly probable that the mob was behind the ordeal.
In 1942 Aimee led a brass band and colour guard into downtown Los Angeles to sell war bonds and sold $150,000 worth of bonds in one hour. The U.S. Treasury awarded her a special citation for her patriotic endeavour. She also organized regular Friday night prayer meetings at Angelus Temple for the duration of World War II, gaining the expressed appreciation of President Roosevelt and California’s governor.
On Sep 27, 1944, Aimee Semple McPherson went home to be with the Lord at the age of 53. 60,000 people came to pay their respects over the course of 3days as she lay in state at Angelus Temple. The stage, orchestra pit and aisles were filled with flowers. On Aimee’s birthday, October 9, 1944, a motorcade of 600 cars drove to Forest Lawn Memorial Park; 2000 mourners & 1700 Foursquare ministers whom she had ordained looked on as she was laid to rest.