Full Name: Harold John Ockenga

Birth: July 6, 1905 in Chicago, Illinois, USA

Death: February 8, 1985, in Hamilton, Massachusetts, USA

Family:

Parents: Herman and Angie (Tetzlaff) Ockenga

Siblings: Two sisters

Marital: Status Married Audrey I. Williamson

Children: Audrey Starr, Aldruth Sabra, Harold John

Conversion: December 31, 1922, at the age of 17

Ordination: 1931, in the Presbyterian Church

Education:

1927 - Taylor University, B.A.

1927 - 1929 Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.(elected president of his class)

1929-1930 -  Westminister Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

1939 - University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Ph D in Philosophy

Career:

1929 - Was one of a group of conservative students and faculty that left Princeton Theological Seminary over doctrinal disputes and started a new school, Westminister Theological Seminary

1930-1931 - Assistant pastor to Clarence Macartney at the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh

1931-1936 - Pastor of Point Breeze Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh

1934-1939 - Chaplain in the U. S. Naval Reserve with the rank of lieutenant (j.g.)

1936-1969 - Pastor of Park Street Church, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He had previously served as temporary pastor there during the summer of 1934 and was the choice of the previous pastor, A. Z. Conrad. He accepted the call from Park Street Church in October 18, 1936. Among other activities, he greatly expanded the church's mission program until by the time he left it was supporting ninety-two missionaries in forty-eight countries. He became one of the most prominent and influential conservative Protestant ministers in New England and a leader of the Evangelical movement that was developing in the country.

1942-1944 - First president of the National Association of Evangelicals [of the United States]. Also served as chairman of the International Commission of the NAE. From this time on, Ockenga was usually referred to as one of the major leaders of the Evangelical or Neo-Evangelical movement in the United States.

1946, 1948, 1951, 1957, 1964 - Guest minister at Westminister Chapel in London, England

1947-1954; 1959-1963 - First president of Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, USA

1949-1950 - Played the predominant part in arranging Billy Graham's evangelistic meetings in Boston in these years and served on the crusade committee. Toured other New England cities with Graham in 1950.

1951-1961 - Vice president of the World Evangelical Fellowship and president of its American board

1950s - Weekly program on Boston television, I Want An Answer

1956-1981 - Chairman of the board of Christianity Today, Inc., and played an important part in the early planning of the magazine

1961-1969 - Chairman of the board of trustees of Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, USA

1965 - Served on the executive committee for the Billy Graham Greater Boston Evangelistic Crusade

1966 - Speaker at the World Congress on Evangelism, held in Berlin, Germany

1969-1979 - President of Gordon College and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Hamilton, Massachusetts, USA

1971 - Co-chairman and featured speaker at the Jerusalem Conference on Biblical Prophecy held in Jerusalem

1974 - Speaker at the International Congress on World Evangelization, held in Lausanne, Switzerland

Other significant information:

Served on the board of director of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and of the Christian Freedom Foundation

Honorary degrees from a number of institutions, including Suffolk University, Bob Jones University, Houghton College, Wheaton College, Norwich University, Seattle Pacific College, Chungang University, Gordon College, International Christian Graduate University

Author of more than a dozen books

Frequent speaker at conferences, congress and in pulpits in the United States and many other countries