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| Matthew and John Hagee |
The Hagee Heritage
Like Father, Like Son
by Linda Owen
A century before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the first John Hagee came to the New World from Germany with Moravians who sought to evangelize the Indians. In time Hagee's second son continued his work. Neither of them could have foreseen the heritage they were beginning; but over three centuries later, a chain of 47 Hagees have passed the mantle to their second son and sometimes his bothers as well.The 48th Hagee to work for the Lord's harvest is Matthew Hagee, 27-year-old son of John Hagee, pastor at Cornerstone Church. "I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't want to be a preacher," he says. "People passed it off as me wanting to be like my father, but it's more than that. I associate my calling with Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you—' There was no one moment when I said, "Yes, Lord, I'll follow.' But my calling is very real. It's always been in my blood."When he was 12, Matthew began volunteering in the church's children's ministry; at 15 he was a children's pastor and active in the youth group. Today he is Associate Pastor and head of production at GETV. He preaches on Sunday nights and often sings with the Hagee Family Singers, a quartet comprised of himself, his sisters Sandy and Christina, and their father. "I love to sing as much as I love to preach," he says. "My father never forced me into ministry. He always said whatever you choose to do in life, honor God with all your heart, soul and body."The plan is for Matthew to take over the administration of Cornerstone in five years when his father turns 70. "It's no secret," he explains. "Actually it's happening more and more on a regular basis. We hope to have accomplished the transition in the operational area by then. Our goal is to service the needs of those that God brings to Cornerstone Church until one day it occurs to everyone, "Oh, my, Matt's the pastor now."Without a doubt, Matthew considers John Hagee his mentor. "When I was born, my instructor had 20 years of experience in the ministry," Matthew explains. "We have been best friends for decades. He's my hunting buddy, golfing buddy, my preaching buddy. For 27 years I have watched him and learned."Matthew remembers the time that his father first asked him to preach. In May 1996, after he had graduated from high school, John Hagee told him: "I want you to preach before you go off to college in August. You have three months to prepare, so make it good."After days of toiling over his message, Matthew proudly presented his father with 42 pages. Hagee looked it over, then took a red marker and whittled it down to two paragraphs. He said, "This looks good; the rest isn't worth getting up and saying. Go back and try again.""Naturally, in the flesh I was offended that he couldn't see the brilliance of my words," Matthew remembers. But as the young man sat at his desk pouting, ready to give up, he heard the Holy Spirit whisper, "Are you going to let it end right here?""It occurred to me that countless ministers around the world would do anything to have a John Hagee review their manuscript," he says. "Not only review it and give his opinion of it, but to say, "If you need me I'll help you.' At that moment I recognized that all the battles Dad has fought, all the things he's accomplished and acquired, were at my disposal if I were willing to humble myself enough to use them."Prophecy & Family HeritageThe heritage of the Hagee family is laced with prophetic acclamations that have come true in this generation. When John Christopher Hagee, Matthew's great-grandfather, was on his deathbed, he bemoaned that he had not saved more souls for God. At the time, one of the believers present lifted up a prophetic word: "One of your descendants will reach the world."But Bythel Hagee, the second son of Christopher, wanted nothing to do with ministry and joined the Merchant Marines. However, when Bythel fell in love with Vada Swick, a professor at Evangel Temple Seminary (now Southwestern Assembly of God), things changed. Vada was a woman ahead of her time, a powerful preacher and scholar. Together they founded a Pentecostal congregation in Channelview, Texas.When the worshipers were packing the church to hear Vada on weeknights and not coming to hear Bythel preach on Sunday mornings, Vada made the ultimate sacrifice of submission. She stood before the congregation and announced that her husband was "the spiritual authority in the church" and that she would never preach again. "What God had intended for my life He will put into one of my sons," she prophesized, "and He will raise up in him what was intended for me."That son would be John Charles Hagee, who would break away from his Assembly of God roots and establish an independent congregation and television ministry that can rival any ministry in the world.But first young John had to embrace the church and he refused to do that until he was 17. The problem was athleticsÊ something that his father's congregants regarded as violent and sinful (girls wearing short skirts and people selling beer) . John didn't agree with the legalism that separated the believers in his church from the sports that he loved. He excelled as a four-sport letterman and was All-City in football. His heart hardened as fanatics tried to lead him to the altar to repent and he said, "If these people are going to heaven, hell can't be all bad!" He knew that he was causing problems for his father and more than once he came home from school to hear his mother crying out to God for his redemption. One day in 1958, forced to attend a revival, he sat in the back pew doing his trigonometry. It was like any other revival he'd attended except this time God grabbed hold of him. At the altar call, "I wanted to know God more than I wanted to breathe," he says. "I prayed, "I'm going to give you my life. If you want to use me, I'm willing to be used.'"Although he still had a semester of high school, Hagee already had his credits and was an honor student. The next week he enrolled in Southwestern Bible Institute in Waxahachie and within six weeks of his conversion he had already preached a dozen sermons. Cornerstone Church was founded in 1975 with fifteen members. At that time John Hagee had never preached to more than 500 people; and he was unaware of what God was going to do. In 1978, he aired his sermon on a local TV station, and by the early "80s he was on national television. Today his gospel message is aired in 94 countries and seen weekly in 99 million homes. The active membership of Cornerstone Church is 20,000. "My father doesn't take credit for that or for how it was done." Matthew says. "It was something ordained by the will of God." Stepping into Dad's ShoesWhen comparing himself to his father, Matthew calls himself "a gentler John Hagee," saying that he inherited his mother's mild nature. Still, both had preached their first sermon at 17 and both felt the call of God to the ministry and followed in the tradition of his father and grandfathers. Today Dr. Hagee is one of America's leading preachers and he has authored 20 books. Matthew shares his father's burning passion to win the lost to Jesus Christ and he is planning a book of his own. As he watches Dr. Hagee share biblical insights, Matthew sees a passion that cannot be doused. "Frankly, that passion will not allow his total retirement," Matthew explains. "When it's in your bones, you've got to preach." So what does that do to Dr. Hagee's plans to hand Cornerstone over to his second son?"To my father retirement means no longer working 70-hour weeks. It doesn't mean that he will disappear. He will preach when he feels like it and he will write his books," Matthew explains. "I am the first to admit that I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth; and I won't apologize for it. God has blessed me with the best mentor I could possibly have."Dr. Hagee and his wife Diana Castro Hagee are blessed with five children, and five granddaughters (a sixth is on the way). Matthew and his wife Kendal have a 10-month-old daughter Hannah Rose. The absence of male offspring among the youngest Hagees often raises questions of how the second-son heritage will continue."Since I look at the second son tradition as ironic, I don't see gender as a rule," Matthew says. "If I have six daughters, I will feel blessed. Remember, my grandmother was a powerful preacher. If God chooses to anoint a female to carry the gospel to the youngest generation — or anoint no one at all — then it will be done because it will be the will of God."
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Linda Owen
Contributing Writer/Online Editor
Linda Owen is a regular writer on faith, retirement, travel, and general interest subjects for a variety of newspapers and magazines, both secular and Christian. She received her B.S. in Education and Journalism from SWTSC and a Master of Divinity Degree from Perkins School of Theology (SMU). Before seminary, she taught English and Media Communications at Churchill High School. After seminary, she worked on staff at churches in Dallas, Cotulla, and San Antonio. Linda teaches a weekly Bible study at University United Methodist Church. See Linda's web site: www.angelfire.com/zine2/lindaowen-writer/index.html.
linda@saworship.com
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