Don Stewart (preacher)
| Don Stewart | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Donald Lee Stewart October 25, 1939 Prescott, Arizona, United States |
| Residence | Paradise Valley, Arizona |
| Other names | Apostle Stewart |
| Title | Head of Don Stewart Ministries/Don Stewart Association |
| Predecessor | A. A. Allen |
| Spouse(s) | Brenda Stewart |
| Children |
|
| Website | donstewartassociation |
Don Stewart (born Donald Lee Stewart on October 25, 1939, in Prescott, Arizona) is a Pentecostal minister and purported faith healer. He is a televangelist who hosts "Power and Mercy" on Black Entertainment Television,The Word Network, and other television channels. He is the successor to the late A. A. Allen's organization.
According to his official biography, Stewart is the youngest of six children and at age 13, Don had developed a severe bone disease, but after four major surgeries when he was 15 years old "God miraculously healed him. Currently, he lives in a $2.5 million Paradise Valley, Arizona, home owned by his church, and his family earns hundreds of thousands of dollars from his church.The Arizona Republic reports "His ministry, the Don Stewart Association, operates out of a nondescript warehouse in an industrial park near Interstate 17." Stewart's son, Brendon Stewart conducts his own "Miracle Crusades."
Stewart first worked with Allen, starting with "pounding tent stakes at Allen's revivals to driving a truck to preaching". One of Allen's rising young evangelistic proteges during the early 1960s along with the likes of R. W. Schambach and Leroy Jenkins, Stewart served as evangelist and secretary treasurer of Allen's organization, and "was hit with allegations of embezzlement by Allen's brother-in-law, of pocketing offerings from the revivals" in the wake of Allen's death. When the controversial Allen died from alcohol poisoning as a result of an alcoholic binge in 1970, Stewart tried to clean up Allen's room before the police came. After Allen's death, Stewart gained complete possession of Allen's organization, including his Miracle Valley property, and renamed Allen's Miracle Life Fellowship International the Don Stewart Evangelistic Association (and later the Don Stewart Association).
From 1979 until early 1983, the Christ Miracle Healing Church and Center led by Frances Thomas, a disciple of Allen's, purchased and occupied land on Miracle Valley's subdivision property across Highway 92 from the bible church. The fundamentalist, cult-like church and its 300 members had several confrontations with utility workers, neighbors and eventually law enforcement resulting in what became known as the Miracle Valley shootout. This confrontation resulted in the shooting deaths of two of its senior members and injuries to multiple sheriff's deputies. Immigrants from Chicago and Mississippi rioted, which resulted in the death of Therial Davis, a six-year-old. The land was abandoned within a couple of weeks. The Don Stewart organization was not affiliated with the CMHCC.
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Wikipedia