Description

Toufik Benedictus "Benny" Hinn (born 3December 1952) is an Israeli televangelist, best known for hisregular "Miracle Crusades"—revival meeting or faith healing summitsthat are usually held in stadiums in major cities, which are laterbroadcast worldwide on his television program, This Is YourDay.

Hinn was born in Jaffa, in 1952, in the then newly establishedstate of Israel to parents born in Palestine with Greek,Palestinian and Armenian heritage. He was raised within the EasternOrthodox tradition.

Soon after the 1967 Arab–Israeli War ("The Six-Day War"), Hinn'sfamily emigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he attended theGeorges Vanier Secondary School. He did not graduate. In his books,Hinn states that his father was the mayor of Jaffa at the time ofhis birth and that he was socially isolated as a child and washandicapped by a severe stutter, but that he was nonetheless afirst-class student. These claims, however, have been disputed bycritics of Hinn. As a teenager in Toronto, Hinn converted fromGreek Orthodoxy to Pentecostalism, eventually joining a singingtroupe made up of young evangelicals. According to a 2004 CBCreport on Hinn, his newfound religious devotion during this periodbecame so intense that his family became concerned that he wasturning into a religious fanatic. Hinn was taught the Bible andmentored by Dr. Winston I. Nunes of Broadview Faith Temple inToronto.

He has written that on 21 December 1973, he traveled by charter busfrom Toronto to Pittsburgh to attend a "miracle service" conductedby evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman. Although he never met herpersonally, he often attended her "healing services" and has oftencited her as an influence in his life.

On moving to the United States, Hinn traveled to Orlando, Florida,where he founded the Orlando Christian Center in 1983. Eventually,Hinn began claiming that God was using him as a conduit forhealings, and began holding healing services in his church. Thesenew "Miracle Crusades" were soon held at large stadiums andauditoriums across the United States and the world, the firstnationally televised service being held in Flint, Michigan, in1989. During the early 1990s, Hinn launched a new daily talk showcalled This Is Your Day, which to this day airs clips of supposedmiracles from Hinn's Miracle Crusades. The program premiered on theTrinity Broadcasting Network of Paul Crouch, who would become oneof Hinn's most outspoken defenders and allies. Hinn's ministrybegan to rapidly grow from there, winning praise as well ascriticism from fellow Christian leaders. In 1999, he stepped downas pastor of the Orlando Christian Center, moving his ministry'sadministrative headquarters to Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of FortWorth, while hosting This Is Your Day from a television studio inOrange County, California, where he now lives with his family. Hisformer church was renamed Faith World Church under the leadershipof Clint Brown, who merged his Orlando church with Hinn's.