Gene Scott

William Eugene Scott or Dr. Gene Scott (August 14, 1929 – February 21, 2005) was a United States-based religious broadcaster and author of over 20 publications on various Christian spiritual topics. Dr. Scott served as pastor of Faith Center and Wescott Christian Center, and held weekly Sunday services at the Los Angeles University Cathedral in Los Angeles, California.

Dr. Scott's ministry also reached listeners in more than 180 countries and was one of the first Christian broadcasters to cover the globe via satellite, syndicated TV, shortwave radio and Internet media.

Brief biography

Early Life

William Eugene Scott was born in Buhl, Idaho, to William Theodore Scott, a traveling Pentecostal preacher, and Inez Leona Graves Scott. In 1934, when Scott was six, his mother gave birth prematurely to twins, of whom one died shortly after birth. His mother told an interviewer in 1980 that she was visited by angels at this time, stating that she "saw a stairway begin to roll down from heaven and come right down to the side of my bed," and that "two angels walked down and they stopped in front of Gene." At this point, his mother claims to have said "Oh no, Lord, you can't take Gene!" and that the angels "just went around him and picked the baby up".

Education

Scott excelled in primary and secondary school both academically and athletically — according to Gene Scott, an un-named seventh grade teacher once attached a note to his report card informing his parents that their son was intelligent, but not a genius, and was needed on the school basketball team. However, his father's conservative congregation disapproved of his athletic pursuits, for playing basketball meant that he needed to wear shorts.

He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophies of Education in 1957. The subject of his thesis was Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. In 1992 he was the featured cover story for the Stanford Alumni Magazine. After receiving his Ph.D., he briefly taught at Evangel College (now Evangel University) following which he assisted Oral Roberts to establish Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Marriages

Gene Scott's first marriage was to Betty Ann Frazer, his high school sweetheart at Oroville Union High School. This marriage lasted 23 years. In later years Scott was critical of Ms. Frazer on his television show, calling her "the devil's sister" as well as remarking, "If I go to heaven and she's there, I'm going to another planet." Subsequent marriages include those to Christine E. Shaw and to Melissa Pastore. Since Dr. Scott's February 2005 death, Pastor Melissa Scott (televangelist)] ascended and did her first baptismal;a jacuzzi cold water tank immersion of adults and children singing praises to pastor on 9-11-05. Melissa Scott, aka Barbie Bridges, businesswoman, serves as head pastor of both Wescott Christian Center and Faith Center churches [Christian televangelist scandals].

Ministry

Although Dr. Gene Scott at one time was an avowed agnostic he eventually joined the pentecostal denomination called the Assemblies of God and over the years preached in many countries. After leaving the AOG, he was voted Vice President of the fledging Full Gospel Fellowship of Churches and Ministers International (which his father was a member) and later served as its President from October 1975 to July 1984. From time of his pastorate at Faith Center forward, his worldwide preaching was via shortwave radio, satellite television, syndicated TV, and Internet streaming media.

Wescott Christian Center

In 1970, Scott resigned his Assemblies of God credential in good standing. An interviewed spokesperson for the Fellowship Assemblies reported that the departure was to protect the fellowship and denomination from embarrassment due to Dr. Scott's unconventional antics and flambuoyant lifestyle. He returned to Oroville, California, to launch his own ministry with his father; they named this Wescott Christian Center. Wescott Christian Center still maintains a small branch in Oroville where Gene Scott had vowed to establish a ministry in exchange for postgraduate education funding by the citizens and his in-laws.

Faith Center

In 1975, while serving his Oroville ministry, Dr. Scott was approached to serve as a financial consultant for the 45-year-old Faith Center church in Glendale, California by its then pastor and founder, religious broadcast pioneer Ray Schoch. Faith Center owned four broadcast stations, which included KHOF-TV channel 30, San Bernardino, California, KHOF-FM 99.5 Los Angeles, California, KVOF-TV channel 38, San Francisco, California, and WHCT channel 18 in Hartford, Connecticut. Faith Center was in crisis because Schoch had suffered severe cardiac problems and was no longer able to lead. Mismanagement by Schoch's staff, whom he had put in charge in his absence, had left the network hemorrhaging money. Facing financial ruin, the congregation of Faith Center unanimously elected Dr. Scott as its new pastor. Once he brought the center out of the red, he dissolved the polity and merged the center into his private corporations for his central control and no members.

Los Angeles University Cathedral

In 1985 Dr. Scott attempted to save the former Church of the Open Door building from demolition. Although unsuccessful after losing millions of church dollars, he was able to save the historic red neon "Jesus Saves" signs which had formerly adorned the roof of the Church of the Open Door and which had become a very familiar sight to Los Angeles area residents over the years.

In 1990, Dr. Scott and his congregation moved their Sunday service to the former United Artists flagship theater (which was built by Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in 1927) in downtown Los Angeles. The theater was renamed the "Los Angeles University Cathedral". Full ownership of the Cathedral was acquired in December 2002. Scott's restoration of the theater anchored a revitalization of the entire theatre district along Broadway. The Baroque-style University Cathedral became the largest Protestant church in downtown Los Angeles. Both the Cathedral and the world-famous "Jesus Saves" signs are designated historic monuments. Over 100,000 people have viewed the church exhibition of the "Dr. Gene Scott Bible Collection" with its many historic Bibles, books and manuscripts.

University Network

In 1975 Scott began a series of broadcasts which resulted in the creation of the University Network. By 1983 the University Network was broadcasting his sermons 24-hours-a-day via satellite to the United States and Canada, as well as to much of Mexico and the Caribbean. By 1990, his network was available to 180 countries and by 1992 his sermons were being broadcast in several languages on AM, FM and short wave radio. His programming consisted of his trademark informal style of Bible teaching mixed with provacative commentary, music and personal interests in such diverse subjects as his philately, his paintings, and his American Saddlebred horses.

Stage and broadcasting presentation

Scott's broadcasts fell into two distinct categories. The first was the broadcast of the traditional Sunday service in a format familiar to Protestant Christianity. The second was a broadcast of what Scott had named the "Festival of Faith". Each "Festival of Faith" was a very informal, non-traditional broadcast featuring Scott sitting alone in a chair, often smoking a cigar or a pipe, pastoring his congregation or his staff, telling jokes, interacting with the crew and the "Voices of Faith", and making occasional remarks that to some were considered "off-color". These "Festival of Faith" broadcasts featured Scott not only teaching from the Bible and other works of classic literature, but also from books on UFOs, demonology, The Great Pyramid of Giza, or similar viewer-grabbing topics. He often would call out "AM I BORING YOU?", to which his staff would shout "NO, SIR!" He frequently exhorted his viewers to "Get on the phone!" to give him money in response to the programing. He ran a lean machine with unpaid staff, starting with young men, some of whom received room and subsistence board for 80 to 130 hours of work per week.

Death

On Friday, February 18, 2005, Dr. Scott suffered a stroke and slipped in to a comatose state after a battle with prostate cancer diagnosed four years earlier. At 16:30 PST on Monday, February 21, 2005, he died in Glendale Adventist Hospital.

Other activities

The membership and interests of Dr. Scott included:

Los Angeles Central Library Save the Books telethon.
Vice-chairman of the Board of the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center and one of its founding directors.
Member, Board of Rebuild L.A.
Member, Philatelic Foundation of New York.