W. V. GRANT

W. V. GRANT

December 1st, 1913- February 12th, 1983

Walter Vinson Grant was born in 1913 in rural Arkansas and became one of the more important ministries to survive the 1960’s.

Grant was a successful businessman before becoming an Assemblies of God minister in 1945. He rose to become an early leader in the healing revival, launching his independent ministry in 1949. Poor health forced him to sell his tent and retire from campaigning in 1956, but he remained a prominent figure in the movement. For six years he was vice-president of the Voice of Healing organization and a prolific writer for the magazine. He also pastored Jack Coe’s church in Dallas, conducting occasional campaigns. He continued to be a consultant to many healing evangelists.

He gradually replaced Gordon Lindsay as the main publicist of the revival in the early 1960s and became, after Gordon Lindsay, the most prolific and important writer in the revival. As Lindsay adapted his ministry amongst the new charismatics Grant was more suited to offer leadership to the clientele of the older Pentecostal healing ministry supporters. No one retained the loyalty of the common people of the healing revival, or of the old-time revivalists, as he did.

During the 1960s and 1970s he continued to conduct an average of two revivals each month and still believed that successful campaigning was as possible as ever. He sponsored some limited mission programs and did some radio preaching.

W. V. Grant’s main gifting was as a writer. In 1966, he claimed to have written 156 books; by 1974 the figure had passed 300 and was growing by at least one new volume each month. In order to publicize his books, in 1962 Grant began to publish a monthly magazine, The Voice of Deliverance. By 1973 this monthly magazine had reached a circulation of over 2,000,000 and had become the most widely circulated journal in the movement. Often little more than an advertising circular, The Voice of Deliverance was nonetheless a sign of the continuing power of the healing revival.

Tony Cauchi
January 2012

Bibliography: D. Harrell, Jr., All Things Are Possible (1975); Art: S. Shemeth, International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (2002).