{"id":5995,"date":"2025-01-13T15:20:41","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T21:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/?page_id=5995"},"modified":"2025-01-13T15:20:41","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T21:20:41","slug":"leon-otto-stewart","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/leon-otto-stewart\/","title":{"rendered":"Leon Otto Stewart"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Leon Otto Stewart was born on December 5, 1929, in Pineville, Florida. He was one of four children born to John Wesley and Susie Ann (Allen) Stewart. His father, John Wesley Stewart, was a pioneer pastor who joined the Alabama Conference of the Pentecostal Holiness Church in 1932.<\/p>\n

Leon\u2019s siblings include two brothers, Curtis Odell and Robert Alton, both of whom are deceased, and one sister, Ruby Nell.<\/p>\n

Leon accepted Christ on October 31, 1947, at the Pentecostal Holiness Church in Enon, Florida. Two years later, at the River Springs Campground in Alabama, he received God\u2019s call into the ministry. He was licensed as a minister in 1950 and ordained in 1952.<\/p>\n

Besides earning a Bachelor of Theology degree from Holmes Bible College, Greenville, South Carolina, Leon Stewart was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from Bethany Nazarene College (now Southern Nazarene University), Bethany, Oklahoma. He also received several other honorary doctorates from various institutions. He was the \u201cfirst graduate of Holmes to head the church.\u201d[i]<\/a><\/p>\n

While a student at Holmes, Leon met Donna Marie Dooley, a Virginia girl who would become the love of his life. They were married in September 1952 at the Piedmont Pentecostal Holiness Church in Virginia. Besides his commitment to Christ, his second devotion is to \u201cMiss Donna.\u201d When asked once what he would do without her, he replied, \u201cI would go find her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stewarts have two daughters, Dianne Marie and Karen Denise, two granddaughters, Karen Marie and Lara Noel, and three great grandsons, Ben, Eli, and Ash.<\/p>\n

Though Leon Stewart has been visually impaired most of his adult life, the constituency of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) recognized and honored spiritual insight and leadership skills by electing him to both conference and general offices. The Stewarts served the Alabama Conference as pastor, Christian Education Director, and Conference Superintendent from 1952 to 1969. During that time (1959-1969), he also served as Assistant General Lifeliners (youth ministry) Director.<\/p>\n

Delegates to the 1969 General Conference elected Stewart as Assistant General Superintendent and Director of Evangelism. In 1977, he was selected as Vice Chairman of the denomination. Then, in 1981, he was elected as the movement\u2019s eleventh General Superintendent. He served in the office as Bishop–the church\u2019s highest elected position–for eight years (1981-1989), which was the maximum allowed by the Statute of Limitations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe administration of Leon Stewart was one devoted to making long-range plans for growth and development in the United States and around the world.\u201d[ii]<\/a> In his first term as General Superintendent, he launched a denominational church growth plan known as Target 2000, making the IPHC the first denomination with concrete goals for the year 2000. He also commissioned Mrs. Lila Isaac, former Women\u2019s Ministries president, and his wife, Donna Stewart to develop a mission statement for the IPHC.<\/p>\n

In his second term as General Superintendent, Bishop Stewart started periodic, eight-hour prayer meetings with conference officials, which, he says, was one of the most meaningful actions he took as General Superintendent. These prayer meetings led to the launching of a churchwide emphasis on intercessory prayer called the \u201cWorld Intercession Network\u201d (WIN).<\/p>\n

Other significant accomplishment during Bishop Stewart\u2019s administration was the revitalization of the Children\u2019s Center in Bethany, Oklahoma; the establishment of Men\u2019s Fellowship (later renamed Men\u2019s Ministries) as a functioning department for laymen; and the withdrawal of military chaplains endorsement from the National Association of Evangelicals. In its place, Bishop Stewart formed an IPHC military chaplains endorsement program.<\/p>\n

Following his retirement from general office, Bishop Stewart served for a year as President of Southwestern College (now known as Southwestern Christian University). Then the Stewarts returned to Alabama and accepted the pastorate of the Pineview PH Church, which he deems as his \u201cmost meaningful and fulfilling ministry.\u201d He retired from the pastorate in 2003, but continues to preach by invitation.<\/p>\n

Leon Stewart has authored three fiction works, including Too Late <\/em>(Advocate Press, 1958), The Preacher <\/em>(AmErica House, 2001), and The Betrayal <\/em>(Xulon Press, 2006). He also served as editor of Prep<\/em>, a Sunday school teaching magazine; Witness<\/em>, an evangelism magazine; and the denominational journal, The International Pentecostal Holiness Advocate<\/em> (1981-89).<\/p>\n

Bishop Leon Otto Stewart\u2019s life motto is \u201cLive for Others.\u201d<\/p>\n

–Shirley G. Spencer<\/p>\n

ENDNOTES:<\/p>\n

[i]<\/a> Vinson Synan, Old Time Power, a Centennial History of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church<\/em>, LifeSprings Resources, Franklin Springs, Georgia, 1998, p. 289.<\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a> Synan, p. 290.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-5995","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/Pb62Bx-1yH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}