Reverend Ike

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Reverend Ike, formally the Right Reverend Dr. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II (June 1, 1935, Ridgeland, South Carolina - ), Th.B., D.Sc.L., Ph.D., founder and pastor of the Christ United Church, is an American minister and electronic evangelist based in New York City. Reverend Ike is of African American and Indonesian descent.

He began his career as a teenage preacher and became assistant pastor at Bible Way Church in Ridgeland, South Carolina. After serving a stint in the Air Force as a Chaplain Service Specialist (a noncomissioned officer assigned to assist chaplains), he founded, successively, the United Church of Jesus Christ for All People in South Carolina, the United Christian Evangelistic Association in Boston, Massachusetts (which is still his main corporate entity), and the Christ Community United Church in New York City.

Reverend Ike's ministry reached its peak in the mid 1970s, when his weekly radio sermons were carried by hundreds of stations across the United States. He is still active as of 2007, with a presence on the Internet and a syndicated television program.

He fully restored and owns the Christ United Church "Palace Cathedral" in Manhattan's Washington Heights section, formerly the Loews 175th Street movie theatre (one of the grandest and most extravagant of the "Wonder Theaters" movie palaces of the 1920s; restoration included the seven-story high, twin chamber Robert Morton organ). The "Miracle Star of Faith," visible from the George Washington Bridge, now tops the cupola of the building. He is also the "chancellor" of the United Church Schools, which include the Science of Living Institute and Seminary (which awarded him the D.Sc.L.: Doctor of the Science of Living); the Business of Living Institute (home of Thinkonomics); and other educational projects. He also offers a large number of books, audio and video tapes and a magazine to followers.

The Reverend Mrs. Eula M. Dent Eikerenkoetter (“Rev. Mrs. Ike”), B.A., M.A., D.Sc.L., his wife, serves as Senior Co-Pastor, and his son, The Right Reverend Xavier Frederick Eikerenkoetter (“Rev. Ike’s Son”), B.A., M.Sc.L, D.Sc.L., is his "Bishop Coadjutor."

Reverend Ike has his own personal style of “preaching prosperity” and it is purported that he influenced a succeeding generation of "prosperity teachers" such as E. Bernard Jordan and Neale Donald Walsch.

Ike also made a guest appearance on Hank Williams, Jr.'s late 1986 single "Mind Your Own Business", which was a Number One country hit.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Rev. Ike, the official website
• ScienceofLivingOnline, Rev. Ike's alternate website
• Reverend Ike and His Empire, a site critical of Rev. Ike