|
The Society for Pentecostal Studies mourns the loss of one of its former Presidents, Dr. Murray Dempster.
Murray Wayne Dempster was born on June 27, 1942 to Raymond and June Dempster in Melville, Saskatchewan, Canada. Dempster received his ministerial diploma in 1963 from Northwest Bible College in Canada before moving to the United States in 1965, where he later graduated, with honors, from Southern California College with a Bachelor in Biblical Studies in 1968. He received a Master of Arts in Social Ethics in 1969 before completing his Ph.D. in Social Ethics in 1980 from the University of Southern California.
Dempster married Coralie Faith Erickson in 1964. He was ordained with the Assemblies of God in 1965, serving in various ministry roles that included Central Pentecostal Tabernacle (Edmonton, Alberta), First Assembly of God (Long Beach, California), and campus pastor at Southern California College—now Vanguard University (Costa Mesa, California). Dempster’s teaching career began in 1971 when he transitioned from campus pastor to Assistant Professor of Religion at Southern California College.
In addition to Southern California College, he served as a visiting professor at Fuller Theological Seminary (1980), Pentecostal Lecturer at Regent College (1988), and Staley Lecturer at Southeastern College (1991). During his career at Southern California College, Dempster was instrumental in the institution’s transition and rebranding to Vanguard University. While there, he served as the founding director of the graduate program, Dean of Men, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Provost before being appointed as the seventh President by Vanguard’s Board of Trustees in 2000. After Vanguard, Murray Dempster returned to the classroom and served as a professor within the Barnett College of Ministry and Theology at Southeastern University from 2010 until his retirement.
Dempster held a longstanding membership with the Society for Pentecostal Studies. He served on the Executive Committee from 1989-1991 as well as editor of Pneuma from 1993-2000. His 1991 presidential address, “Christian Social Concern in Pentecostal Perspective: Reformulating Pentecostal Eschatology,” was revised and published in the Journal of Pentecostal Theology in 1993. In addition to SPS, Dempster maintained membership with the American Academy of Religion, Scientific Study of Religion, Society of Christian Ethics, and Society of Christian Philosophers.
Dempster contributed significantly through his scholarly engagement. Some of his notable works include Salt and Light: Evangelical Political Through in Modern America, co-authored with Augustus Cerillo (Baker: 1989), Called and Empowered: Global Mission in Pentecostal Perspective, edited by Murray Dempster, Byron Klaus, and Douglas Peterson (Baker: 1991), and The Globalization of Pentecostalism: A Religion Made to Travel (Wipf and Stock: 2011). As evidenced through the 2023 Festschrift, Celebrating Life in Community (eds. Ken Archer and Zachary Tackett), Dempster leaves a legacy through his ministry and theological impacts.
Murray Dempster was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Pentecostal Studies in 2016. In the years following, his friends and former students relentlessly describe the profound effect he made on their theological development and his pivotal role on the lives he touched.
Plans for Murray Dempster’s memorial service are forthcoming and will be shared as soon as the information is available. Please keep his family and loved ones in your prayers.
|
