Gene Scott

William Eugene Scott, also known as Dr. Gene Scott®, August 14, 1929 – February 21, 2005, was a United States-based and world-renowned pastor/teacher/televangelist and author of thirteen booklets on various topics ranging from Christianity to the stamps of the Colombian States.

During his long career Dr. Scott served as a traveling evangelist for the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, served as the president of the Full Gospel Fellowship of Churches and Ministers International for nine years and served for a combined total of 35 years as the pastor for the non-denominational Protestant Wescott Christian Center and Faith Center. For the last fifteen years of his career Dr. Scott held weekly Sunday gospel services at the Los Angeles University Cathedral in Los Angeles, California.

Brief biography

Early life

William Eugene Scott was born in Buhl, Idaho, to William Theodore Scott, a traveling Pentecostal preacher, and Inez Leona Graves Scott.

In 1934, when Scott was five, his mother gave birth prematurely to twins, one of whom died shortly after birth. His mother told an interviewer in 1980 that she was visited by angels at this time, stating that she "saw a stairway begin to roll down from heaven and come right down to the side of my bed" and that "two angels walked down, and they stopped in front of Gene." At this point, his mother claims to have said, "Oh no, Lord, you take Gene!" and that the angels "just went around him and picked the baby up."^{[verification needed]}

He excelled in primary and secondary school both academically and athletically. According to a story told by Scott's mother in Werner Herzog's 1980 documentary entitled God's Angry Man, an unnamed seventh grade teacher once attached a note to Gene's report card informing his parents that their son was a genius. In another story often recited by Gene Scott on the air, he says he was a good basketball player and that his father's ultra-conservative congregation disapproved of young Eugene Scott wearing shorts as required by the team because they exposed his bare legs. He played throughout his junior high and high school years regardless of the congregation's objection. Gene Scott also began playing alto saxophone during his elementary school years and continued playing his phrases through his high school years.

Education

Gene Scott graduated from Chico State in 1952 with a degree in history and stayed on for a master’s degree in social science.

In 1953, Scott enrolled in Stanford’s School of Education, where he wrote a Proof of the Resurrection for Professor Alexander "Lex" Miller the famous ethical theologian from New Zealand.*

Scott earned his Ph.D. in Philosophies of Education in 1957. The subject of his 394-page doctoral dissertation was Neo-Orthodox theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. His major Prof. was Dr. Larry Thomas, the major proponent for Dewey's Progressive Education on the West Coast.

After receiving his Ph.D., he taught at Evangel College (now Evangel University), and assisted Oral Roberts in establishing Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For many years he was an evangelist in the Assemblies of God denomination before establishing his independent Protestant ministry.

In 1992 he was featured in the cover story for the Stanford Alumni Magazine and his obituary was published in the May/June 2005 issue of the same publication.

An anecdote in the obituary of Gene Scott characterized Alexander "Lex" Miller as an agnostic. Miller, who inaugurated the curriculum in religious studies in 1950, was a Presbyterian minister.[1]

Marriages

Dr. Gene Scott's first of three marriages was to high school sweetheart Betty Ann Frazer. This marriage lasted twenty-three years. Betty Ann Frazer's family funded Gene Scott's Ph.D. education at Stanford University. After two decades of moving around with her preacher husband, the first Mrs. Scott reportedly wanted the ministry to find a home from which to expand into the world of televised ministries. Mrs. Scott so admired an Orange County televangelist that she engaged in a tryst with him which may have led to dissolution of the first Scott marriage. On his program, Scott has portrayed her as the "devil's sister. I hate her. If I go to heaven and she's there, I'm going to another planet." [2]

His second marriage was to Christine E. Shaw, 20 years his junior, which ended in divorce in 1996. She now lives in Canada, serving as an elder in the Presbytery of Pickering, Ontario. [3]

His third and final marriage was in 2000 to Melissa Pauline Peroff-Pastore who was 39 years younger than Scott and claimed publicly that they were a couple by December 1995.

Dr. Scott has no children due to his infertility, which he attributed to a childhood febrile illness.

Ministry

Assemblies of God

Although declaring himself an avowed agnostic while attending Stanford University, after receiving his Ph.D. he briefly taught at Evangel College (now Evangel University), then assisted Oral Roberts in establishing Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Scott eventually joined the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination and for several years served in a variety of countries as an evangelist.

Wescott Christian Center

In 1970, Scott resigned his Assemblies of God credentials in good standing and formed Wescott Christian Center with his father, a pastor in Oroville, California. Later, Dr. Gene Scott assumed control of "Faith Center" in Glendale, California, and brought his father, affectionately known as "Pop Scott" and his mother, known as "Mom Scott" to assist him.

Wescott Christian Center it the titleholder to the Los Angeles University Cathedral, other church properties and bank accounts, according to County records.^{[verification needed]}

Full Gospel Fellowship

Scott was voted vice president of the fledgling "Full Gospel Fellowship of Churches and Ministers International", of which his father was a member, and later served as its president from October 1975 to July 1984.

Full Gospel Fellowship president, Don Arnold visited and spoke at Scott's church on more than one occasion in recent years.

Faith Center

In 1975, while serving his Oroville ministry, Dr. Scott was approached to serve as a financial consultant for the forty-five-year-old "Faith Center" church in Glendale, California, by its then pastor and founder, religious broadcast pioneer Ray Schoch.

Faith Center owned four broadcast stations, which included KHOF-TV channel 30 in San Bernardino, California, KHOF-FM 99.5 in Los Angeles, California, KVOF-TV channel 38 in San Francisco, California, and WHCT channel 18 in Hartford, Connecticut. Faith Center was in crisis, both financial and in regards to its leadership, because Schoch had suffered severe cardiac problems.

Dr. Scott often stated that the congregation of Faith Center unanimously voted him in as its new pastor with sixteen conditions that he required that gave him complete control over the finances, which included his $1.00 annual salary and an unlimited expense account. Dr. Scott returned the church from the red while at the same time he dissolved the polity, membership status of the congregation, and the governance policies then in effect. Ultimately, all four broadcast licenses were revoked by the FCC.

FCC troubles begin

(Currently researching and collecting documentation for this section.)

Church of the Open Door

In 1985, Dr. Scott tried to purchase the former Church of the Open Door but was declined by its then owners who were in the process of selling the church for development. The development deal fell through and the owners contacted Scott, who quickly agreed and pursued his move to save the historic structure. Later, after many millions had been paid to Church of the Open Door, a cloud was discovered on the title, which would have prevented use, as his church and slowed the purchase to standstill. The deal fell through and after many hands, it ended up being purchased by another developer. The building was slated for demolition many times.

In attempt to save the historic structure, Dr. Scott worked with the Council of the City of Los Angeles to have the building designated a Historic Monument. The historical monument designation had already existed at the state level.

Against Council and subcommittee order, however, the Church of the Open Door building was ultimately demolished. The activity was carried out after the Council member in charge of the encompassing district, Gilbert Lindsey, had been hospitalized.

The buildings' historic red neon rooftop "Jesus Saves" signs had become a very familiar sight to Los Angeles area residents over the years. They are now mounted atop the Los Angeles University Cathedral.[4]

Los Angeles University Cathedral

In 1989, Dr. Scott was approached by the Bruce Corwin, then president of Miracle on Broadway and Chairman of the Metropolitan Theatres Corporation to restore the United Artists flagship theater (which was built by Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks in 1927) in downtown Los Angeles.

In 1990, Dr. Scott and his congregation moved their Sunday service to the building now called the "Los Angeles University Cathedral". Dr. Gene Scott, Inc. acquired full ownership of the cathedral in December 2002.

Scott's restoration of the theater signaled the beginning of an attempted revitalization of the former theatre district along Broadway. The Spanish Gothic style (patterned after a cathedral in Segovia, Spain) University Cathedral became the largest non-denominational Protestant church in downtown Los Angeles. Both the Cathedral and the world-famous "Jesus Saves" signs are designated historic monuments. [5]

Many thousands of visitors have viewed Scott's shrinking exhibition of the "Dr. Gene Scott Bible Collection" with its many historic Bibles, books, and manuscripts which is housed at the Los Angeles University Cathedral. [6]

University Network

In 1975, Scott began a series of broadcasts, which resulted in the creation of the University Network. By 1983, the University Network was broadcasting his sermons twenty-four hours a day via satellite to the United States and Canada, as well as to much of Mexico and the Caribbean. By 1990, his network was available to 180 countries, and by 1992 his sermons were being broadcast in several languages on AM, FM, and short-wave radio. His programming consisted of his trademark informal style of "Bible" teaching mixed with provocative commentary, music, and personal interests in such diverse subjects as his philately, his paintings, scientific interpretations of the great wonders of the world, and his American saddle-bred horses.

Drawing from nearly thirty years of recorded programming, Scott's radio, satellite and television ministry continues to be broadcast although on different stations and at different times. His Web site remains operational, though it was not updated to mention Scott's death until the first week of November 2006.

Stage and broadcasting presentation

Since his death, reruns of Scott's broadcasts still are aired continuously via satellite and Internet streams, as well as being played at various times on short-wave radio, and terrestrial television.

Scott's broadcasts fall into two distinct categories. The first category is the broadcast of the traditional Sunday service in a format familiar to Protestant Christianity. The second category is a broadcast of what Scott named the Festival of Faith. The Festival of Faith was a very informal, non-traditional broadcast which featured Scott sitting alone in a chair, often smoking a cigar or a pipe, telling jokes, interacting with the crew and "Voices of Faith" (volunteer phone operators), berating his staff and/or his congregation, and making remarks that were often considered to be quite off-color by many listeners. He often spiced up his speech with what many would consider profanity, although all his remarks were within FCC guidelines if not always within the guidelines of good taste. He also was well known for constantly engaging in the nervous habit of cleaning out his nose with a handkerchief while on camera (both during Sunday services and during the Festival of Faith). These Festival of Faith broadcasts also featured Scott reading from books on UFOs, Demonology, The Great Pyramid of Giza, and similar viewer-grabbing topics. He quite often called out, "Am I boring you?" to which his staff and the volunteers responded, "No sir!" He frequently exhorted his viewers to "Get on the phone!" to make a monetary pledge or to encourage him to keep reading.

Werner Herzog made a film documentary about Dr. Scott in 1980 titled God's Angry Man.

Death

Originally diagnosed with a small but aggressive type of prostate cancer in 2000, Gene Scott declined conventional medical treatment and instead relied on faith in God to heal him. According to the American Cancer Society and National Institute of Health, and as Gene Scott announced on public broadcast, the herbs he was taking interfered with his blood PSA levels and treatment. Four years later and consistent with the known pattern of his cell type, the cancer had spread unchecked to all the major systems of the body. Rigorous combined regimens of conventional treatment were implemented too late and were unable to stop the metastatic terminal cancer. Complications of the cancer and treatments set in leading to heart failure, fluid on the lungs and abnormal blood clotting which Dr. Gene Scott courageously described to his congregation during several months of continued live broadcasts. A few days prior to his death, he experienced a stroke and entered into a coma. While in this comatose state in Glendale Adventist Hospital, Dr. William Eugene Scott suffered a fatal stroke and was pronounced dead at 4:30 p.m. PST on Monday, February 21 2005.

Other activities

The membership and interests of Dr. Scott included:

Los Angeles Central Library Save the Books telethon
Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center and one of its founding directors
Member, Board of "Rebuild L.A."
Member, Philatelic Foundation of New York

External links