Home

The First Voice - Section 2






How Our Fellowship Came Into Being. - Demos D. Shakarian

Demos D. Shakarian is President of Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International. (His son Richard is now President since Demos went home to the Lord in 1993) He is co-owner, with his father, of Reliance Dairy Farms, the largest dairy in the world. His real estate activities are of major proportions. Truly, he is the Founder of our Fellowship. He resides at Downey, California.

As a Business Man I am thankful for the blessings, joy, and peace the Lord has given me in my life and I have wanted other men also to share in these things that God would have them enjoy. I have seen too many Business Men that have succeeded materially, but have failed God and have lost all interest in the work of the Lord, which should be, naturally, their first interest.

I was born and raised in Pentecost, and the Pentecostal experience runs back in our family over seventy-five years. In 1940 I made a complete consecration unto the Lord and sponsored my first revival meeting in a tent that seated only 300 people, yet in that campaign 67 were filled with the Holy Ghost. Since then I have sponsored several mighty big campaigns. In the past 12 years over a million people have attended these great revival meetings.

I have always felt that if one man could invest his efforts and cause so many people to become interested in the Gospel, what would happen if we could muster a force of Business Men across the nation, and around the world, unitedly working for the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ?

In 1948, the first Full Gospel Youth Rally was instituted and I was one of the Directors and also Financial Chairman. I called a hundred Business Men together at Knott’s Berry Farm for dinner. When the challenge was made, $5,200 was laid on the table. I saw the power of organized Full Gospel Business Men. There was enough money left over to go on to the Hollywood Bowl, where an overflow crowd of more than 22,000 attended.

Following many other successful meetings, I was privileged to help organize and to work with the great Oral Roberts campaign at Los Angeles in the fall of 1951. Over 200,000 people came in 16 days, 4,000 were saved, and many thousands were healed by the miracle-working power of God.

During this time of close association with Oral Roberts, I told him about the tremendous burden the Lord has laid on my heart for a Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International. He told me it was essential we should start and assured me he would do all in his power to help.

So in October 1951, during his campaign, as Chairman, I called the first meeting of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International at Clifton’s Cafeteria Upper Room, where we now hold our Breakfast-Broadcast every Saturday morning. About 200 Full Gospel Business Men attended and Oral Roberts was the speaker.

His following campaign was at Fresno. There we met with around 150 Full Gospel Business Men. With myself as Chairman, Oral Roberts again challenged the Men to go forth. Five men were appointed as Directors: Myself as President; Lee Braxton, Whiteville, North Carolina, Vice-President; George Gardner, Binghamton, New York, Vice-President; Miner Arganbright, La Crescenta, California, Vice-President; and Earl Draper, Fresno, California, Secretary-Treasurer.

Again, in Phoenix, Arizona, we met in January, 1952, with over one hundred Full Gospel Business Men.

Following this meeting, we engaged Paul B. Fischer, a Christian attorney who has had great experience in corporation organizational work, and he and I worked many days together. Finally we started reading our Documents to Pastors, Evangelists and Business Men. We kept working on our basic Documents until we felt we had the very finest Articles of Incorporation, By-laws, Constitution and Doctrinal Statement humanly possible to devise.

On November 22, 1952, came the signing of the Articles of Incorporation with a marvelous Ceremony at Clifton’s Upper Room. All of the International Officers were present except Lee Braxton, who signed the Document later. The room was packed and the Spirit of God certainly stamped approval upon our efforts. As Earl Draper, Secretary-Treasurer, read the Doctrinal Statement, suddenly the Glory of God seemed to enter into the room, all started praising God, and Great rejoicing came forth. Following this, the Articles of Incorporation were signed, and G.H. Montgomery, Associate Editor of Healing Waters Magazine, Tulsa, Oklahoma, delivered a marvelous Dedicatory Message.

The first official act of Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International was to select Thomas R. Nickel as Editor and Publisher, authorizing him to create and maintain an official publication, "Full Gospel Men’s Voice." We thank Monte Vista Christian School, Watsonville, California, and especially Robert O. Price, President; Donald R. Price, Principal and Thomas R. Nickel, Editor and Publisher of the Monte Vista Messenger, for making the facilities of the Monte Vista Press available for our use.

We thank Oral Roberts, and his Associate Editor, G.H. Montgomery, for the support given us in Healing Waters Magazine; we thank Gordon Lindsay and his staff for their support in the Voice of Healing Magazine; and we thank all the faithful workers at the Los Angeles Breakfast-Broadcast and at the Full Gospel Holy Ghost Rallies. The continued help of these and the additional assistance of all others whom the Lord raises up is earnestly solicited and will be gratefully appreciated. Above all, we thank the Lord for His Guidance and for His Providing as we go forward in His Name.