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Rex Humbard
TV Evangelist
Hot Springs
Rex Humbard (born on August 13, 1919) is a well-known American
television evangelist whose Cathedral of Tomorrow show was shown on over 600 TV
stations at the peak of its popularity.
Starting in Akron, Ohio, Rex Humbard was one of the first evangelists (1952) to
build a ministry that incorporated radio and television programming. Humbard's
Cathedral of Tomorrow church in suburban Cuyahoga Falls was designed
specifically to accommodate television equipment, crew, and chorus as well as
seating for 5,000 people.
Humbard's television programs featured gospel music such as the poplular
Cathedral Quartet. Humbard's wife, Maude Amiee, and his children were also often
featured on the programs. Humbard's son "Rex Jr" succeeded his father in the
ministry after the family moved to Florida in the 1980s. But Humbard's
television ministry was influential in promoting an independent Christian
television station in Canton, WDLI, which later became the flagship station for
the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Humbard began to build a rotating tower restaurant at his Cathedral of Tomorrow
complex, which was also slated to hold a transmission tower for his planned
local TV station, WCOT-TV. When Humbard was given the opportunity to go on more
radio stations throughout South America to spread Christianity, construction on
the restaurant tower ceased. The unfinished tower, which still exists, became an
in-famous landmark in the community, with a controversial history. It was
finally purchased by a local businessman and is now used as a cellular phone
tower.
The rest of Humbard's Cathedral of Tomorrow complex was purchased by television
evangelist Ernest Angley, along with an FCC television broadcasting license
which became WBNX-TV.
Humbard saw much greater popularity outside the US than within it as scepticism
of TV evangelists grew in the late 70s and into the 80s. He was especially
popular in Brazil, where he reportedly packed the giant soccer stadium in São
Paulo for weeks. After 'retiring' to Florida in the 1980s, Humbard was still
often seen on television broadcasts by Benny Hinn.