Foursquare Leadership by McPhersons to End in ’88

The Rev. Rolf K. McPherson, who will turn 75 in March, will retire as president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel this year--making it the first time a McPherson has not headed the denomination in its 61-year history.

From her domed Angelus Temple facing Echo Lake in Los Angeles, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson founded the Pentecostal denomination in 1927 and led it until her death in 1944.

Her son, Rolf, succeeded her and has presided over a church body that has grown to more than a million members, about 900,000 of which live in 60 foreign countries.

The denomination’s board of directors and missionary cabinet announced this week that the Rev. John Holland has been ratified as president-elect. A church spokesman said Holland will assume the presidency no later than Aug. 1, but will move his office into headquarters Feb. 1.

Regional Supervisor

Holland, 54, has served as pastor of Angelus Temple and as a regional supervisor in North America, including the last 11 years supervising the Southwestern region.

After he retires, McPherson will remain on the board of directors “and will carry a portfolio of responsibilities in relation to our founder’s ministry, to be announced at a later date,” a spokesman said.

Aimee Semple McPherson’s flamboyant preaching and healing services attracted a huge following in the early 1920s, and her penchant for colorful quotes endeared her to journalists.

She disappeared from an Ocean Park beach one May afternoon in 1926 and turned up 36 days later in the desert near Douglas, Ariz., and told a story from a sick bed of being kidnaped. She returned triumphantly to Los Angeles with a reported 100,000 lining the streets to greet her rose-draped car.

Investigators could not find any trace of the kidnapers. The Los Angeles district attorney’s office brought conspiracy charges against McPherson and her mother. At a preliminary hearing, an attempt was made to show that she spent the time with an ex-employee at the church’s radio station. Charges were later dropped.

A movie made for television in 1976, in which actress Faye Dunaway played the evangelist, was criticized by the church as “riddled with errors” in the retelling of the disappearance and the characterization of the evangelist.