Dr. Jack Williams Hayford (; born June 25, 1934) was the fourth President of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.
Hayford is a graduate of L.I.F.E. Bible College (now Life Pacific College), where he served as dean of students, and Azusa Pacific University. While working on his second bachelor’s degree at Azusa Pacific University, Hayford began pastoring a small congregation, The First Foursquare Church of Van Nuys, California, where he served as the senior pastor from 1969 to 1999. Since then, the church has become known as The Church On the Way, one of the largest churches in Southern California.
Hayford is also widely known for his involvement in the Promise Keepers movement, his role as founder and chancellor of The King's University, initiator of the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem and for his some four-dozen books and 600 hymns and choruses.
He is the author of the hymn "Majesty," which has proved extremely popular in churches worldwide since it was written in 1978.
Jack Williams Hayford was born on June 25, 1934 to Jack and Dolores Hayford, who had married two years earlier on September 28, 1932. Hayford was born with a muscular condition in his neck, however his condition improved. His parents were a bit confounded by their son’s improvement. They later learned that a relative had called a Foursquare prayer line asked for prayer for Jack. The family began to attend a local Foursquare church, but when the family moved to Oakland, California, Jack and his siblings went to a church of another denomination. Hayford was raised in the city of Oakland, California. His father, Jack Hayford, had served in the military as a young man and was a switchman for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Hayford’s father attended church the first four years of Hayford’s life, but he stopped attending church, where his lifestyle of drinking and smoking would not be well received, and did not return to church until Hayford was 14. In respect, Dolores Hayford stayed home with her husband but sent her children to church without her. Although Hayford's parents did not attend church for this brief time, Jack Hayford has upheld his parents for giving him a Christian upbringing.
The Church On The Way
Hayford returned to Los Angeles in 1952 to attend L.I.F.E. Bible College (now Life Pacific College). In 1969, during his fifth year as dean of students at L.I.F.E, Jack Hayford was asked to pastor a small congregation, the first Foursquare Church of Van Nuys, California. The congregaton was an “old struggling” congregation of 18-members, The average age of the church members was more than 65. Hayford had initially agreed to only temporarily pastor the church for a period of six months. He found himself in the office of Rolf McPherson when he says he felt compelled to stay at the church. He was a few weeks from giving a decision to a prestigious Foursquare church that wanted to hire him. Hayford stayed at the church. By the early 1980s, The Church On the Way became a pioneer of the megachurch movement. In 1995, he recorded Men In Worship, under the label of Hosanna! Music, with 1500 men. In 1999, Jack Hayford passed down his post as the senior pastor of the Church on the Way to his son-in-law, Scott Bauer. Scott Bauer served as the church’s senior pastor until he suffered a hemorrhage of an aneurysm and died in 2003. Hayford temporarily served as the church’s pastor for a year, but he eventually named Jim and Alice Tolle as the senior pastors of the church on April 4, 2004.Six months later, on October 4, 2004, Jack Hayford was elected president of the International Foursquare Gospel. Hayford has announced that he will not be seeking a second term as president of the Foursquare Church.
Jack Hayford’s mother, Dolores Hayford, was a Bible teacher who spoke at interdenominational women’s classes and Women’s Aglow Fellowship (now Aglow International). She died on October 31, 1997 of cancer. His sister Luanne died in 1978 while serving as a missionary in Hong Kong. Jack Hayford’s brother, Jim Hayford, is the pastor of Eastside Foursquare Church in Seattle, Washington. He married his wife, Anna Hayford, in 1954 and together they have four children and eleven grandchildren. Rebecca Hayford Bauer, daughter of Jack and Anna Hayford, is a Gold Medallion author who has authored books such as The Spirit Filled Family, Seasons of Praise: A 52 Week worship Celebration for the Entire Family, and Just 25 Days 'Til Christmas. Rebecca Hayford Bauer, who was married to Scott Bauer for 27 years before he died in 2003, assisted Scott in his role as assistant pastor(1982—1999) and later senior pastor(1999—2003) of The Church On The Way in Van Nuys, California. Christa Anderson, also a daughter of Jack and Anna Hayford, is married to Doug Anderson and assists him in his role as Senior Pastor of the Church On The Way, Santa Clarita.
Religious Heritage of America’s California Community Award (1988)
Alumnus of the Year, Azusa Pacific University (1997)
Devries Award, MusiCalifornia (1998)
World Changers Award for Lifetime Achievement (with Anna), Foursquare Women International (1998)
Gold Medallion (from Evangelical Publishers Association, for Spirit-Filled Study Guides)
Gold Medallion Nomination (for book, Moments With Majesty)
Clergyman of the Year
Winner of Billy Graham Association’s Decision Magazine Hymn Writer’s Competition, “We Lift Our Voice Rejoicing, “ being selected from more than 900 international entries
The Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for his part in the album, “God With Us”
Garcia, Shelly. 12 People Who Make Things Happen in Valley: Dr. Jack Hayford. San Fernando Valley Business Journal. October 11, 2004. Accessed August 8, 2009.
