Charles Edward Fuller

CHARLES EDWARD FULLER
1887 - 1968

Charles Edward Fuller, born on April 25, 1887, was the fourth and last son of Henry and Helen Day Fuller. Henry Fuller was a furniture store owner in Los Angeles. He had set aside special funds which he used to support various overseas missionaries. The trust fund set up when he died passed into the care of Charles Fuller's organization, the Fuller Evangelistic Association. The trust money was used to support foreign missions in radio work, missionary salaries, and Bible reading programs at home and abroad.

Fuller graduated from Pomona College in 1910 with a B.S. The next October he married Grace Leone Payton, the daughter of one of the area's prominent doctors. Raising oranges occupied Fuller from 1912-1918 as he served as manager of the Southern California Citrus Packing Association. The Fullers moved to Placentia, California, where they became members of the Placentia Presbyterian Church. Fuller held several leadership positions in the church: elder, Sunday school superintendent, and clerk of the Session. To increase his knowledge of the Bible, Fuller attended the Bible Institue of Los Angeles (BIOLA), but left the college in 1921 to teach a Bible class at the Placentia Presbyterian Church. His Bible class grew so large it became necessary to hold meetings in the town hall. Following a break with the Presbyterian Church, Fuller was ordained a Baptist minister in 1925. Some members of his Bible class organized a new church, Calvary. Fuller pastored the church for eight years, when he resigned and committed himself to a gospel radio ministry. Supplemental income for his radio ministry came from speaking engagements at conferences and his own evangelistic campaigns. Fuller's first evangelistic campaign was held at Ocean Beach, California, during January and February, 1927. Los Angeles Baptist Seminary hired Fuller as a faculty member in 1928. He continued his teaching in addition to assuming the responsibilities of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles from 1927 to 1934.

Fuller's radio ministry began in January 1930 with broadcasts of the Sunday evening worship services of his church. The Gospel Broadcasting Association was established in 1933 and, in October 1934, the first Old Fashioned Revival Hour program was aired. Fuller joined the Mutual radio network in 1937, expanding until the program was aired on every Mutual network. The response to Fuller's radio ministry necessitated the establishment of an Association to conduct the business and help maintain other evangelistic efforts and, in 1943, the Fuller Evangelistic Association (FEA) was established. Fuller also felt burdened to establish young men to preach, and soon after the FEA was established, he purchased property in Pasadena. Original plans called for classes to begin in 1945 with courses available for a Bachelor in Theology and postgraduate studies. Plans were changed as World War II continued, but the school finally opened in 1947 as Fuller Seminary. The present seminary buildings were occupied in 1953. Classes were held in the Lake Avenue Congregational Church until a permanent location was purchased and developed.

Fuller continued his active radio ministry, served on the Seminary Board of Trustees, and as a director of the Gospel Broadcasting Association until his death in 1968. Charles Fuller's ministry was continued under the direction of his son, Daniel P. Fuller, Dean at the Seminary.