Rick Joyner

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Rick Joyner is a Christian leader. He heads MorningStar Ministries (also known as Morningstar Publications and Ministries), founded by Rick and Julie Joyner in 1985. He is also the founder, executive director, and senior pastor of MorningStar Fellowship Church based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has five children: Anna, Aaryn, Amber, Ben, and Sam.

He also oversees MorningStar's School of Ministry, Fellowship of Ministries, and Fellowship of Churches. He edits The MorningStar Journal and The MorningStar Prophetic Bulletin. The purpose of his ministry is the biblical mandate of Matthew 24:45–46 as well as a commitment to equip future leaders and work in relationship with current leaders to prepare and strengthen the church for the last days. This organization has several branches in North Carolina: Charlotte, Wilkesboro, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem.

Joyner is also a well-known author of more than thirty books, including his best-selling The Final Quest series published by Whitaker House. He is a highly sought-after speaker at international conferences. A number of his books are about the Prophetic Ministry in the modern church, including several books (The Harvest, The Final Quest) based on heavenly revelations he has himself received, always stressing that no prophetic revelation can contradict scripture. Morningstar publishes a Prophetic Journal edited by Joyner quarterly, and his ministry is also known for their conferences and worship music.

Recently, Morningstar purchased part of the Heritage USA complex (originally established by Jim Bakker and PTL in Charlotte, NC), including the Heritage Grand hotel, which is being refurbished as a conference centre and ministry base.

Joyner's organization often has been confused with Morning Star International, a denomination of churches led by founder Rice Broocks. Hence Broocks' organization recently changed its name to Every Nation.

[edit] History

Rick Joyner was converted in the early 1970s, and his ministry began following a period of spiritual renewal in his life, during which he wrote a number of books based on a three-day prophetic revelation and vision of the state of the church and impending end-times events. A church he led during the late 1970s in the Raleigh, N.C., area broke up around 1980. Joyner resumed ministry later in the decade; some Web sites say he resumed ministry around 1987.