DR. JOHN W. HURSTON
1922 - 2007

John W. Hurston, 85, of Gulf Breeze died Wednesday, July 25, 2007.

John was born July 29, 1922 in Columbus, Georgia to William and Easter Hurston. John graduated from Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri in 1943. He met Maxine Poston in 1943 and they married October 24, 1946 at Pensacola First Assembly of God.

John distinguished himself in more than 65 years of ministry. John founded and established churches in Liberia West Africa, Korea, and Vietnam. In 1948 he traveled to Liberia, West Africa and helped usher in a national revival where many were miraculously healed. In 1956 Liberia's President William V. S. Tubman conferred knighthood on John Hurston for his part in the nation-wide revivals. In 1960 John and Maxine moved to Seoul, Korea where he, with Yonggi Cho, co-founded a church that became Yoido Full Gospel Church, the largest church in the world.

In 1976 the Southeastern University of the Assemblies of God conferred a Doctor of Divinity on John Hurston for his outstanding ministerial service. Then in 1981 the California Graduate School of Theology conferred a Doctor of Letters on John Hurston for his outstanding ministerial service. In 1981 he was appointed lifetime "Honorary Pastor" of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea.

Left to treasure his memory are his daughter, Karen Hurston; his sister, Ann Hurston Collins; nephews, Daniel Collins and Billy Loats; nieces, Carolyn Collins Grice, Becky Loats Meadows, and Rachel Chitwood Tyree.

Preceding him in death were his wife, Wanna Maxine Hurston; sisters, Leta Hurston Chitwood, and Aimee Hurston Loats; and brother, Daniel Hurston.

Funeral services for Dr. Hurston were held at 3:00 pm on Saturday, July 28, 2007 at Bayview Fisher-Pou Chapel, 3351 Scenic Hwy, Pensacola, Florida.

Burial will follow in the Bayview Memorial Park Cemetary with Bayview Fisher Pou Chapel in charge of arrangements.