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Original January 1929 commencement program from Lighthouse of International Foursquare Evangelism (L.I.F.E. Bible College), the school founded by evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson at Angelus Temple in Los Angeles.
In January 1923 McPherson opened Angelus Temple, a 5,300-seat church in Echo Park that is widely regarded as America’s first megachurch. Within weeks she launched a training school to prepare young men and women as pastors, evangelists, and missionaries. Originally called the Echo Park Evangelistic and Missionary Training Institute, it was soon renamed Lighthouse of International Foursquare Evangelism — L.I.F.E. — and housed next to the Temple. Graduates were sent out to plant “Lighthouse” churches across the country and overseas. By 1929 the school had grown rapidly and was already producing the workers who helped turn McPherson’s vision into the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (formally incorporated in 1927).
This program documents one of those early graduating classes — the Victory Class of January 1929. It records Class Night (January 11), the Baccalaureate sermon preached by McPherson herself and assisted by Dr. Frank C. Thompson (compiler of the Thompson Chain-Reference Bible), and the Friday evening graduation service at Angelus Temple titled “Shepherds of the Sheep.” The booklet includes the original decorative cover with the Foursquare crest, two photographs, the full faculty list headed by McPherson, class officers, motto and scripture, and the printed roll of graduates. One of the students listed is Nathaniel Van Cleave, who later became a significant Foursquare leader and historian of the movement.
The program captures L.I.F.E. at a formative moment: only six years after the school opened, two years after the denomination was incorporated, and while McPherson was still at the height of her fame as a pioneering radio preacher and theatrical evangelist. The school later became Life Pacific University, which continues today as the Foursquare Church’s flagship college.
Condition: Original 1929 paper with expected age toning, original folds, corner and edge wear, small tears. Complete and fully readable. A scarce surviving piece of early Pentecostal and Los Angeles religious history.
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