Lester Frank Sumrall (February 15, 1913 – April 28, 1996) was an ordained American minister who formed the LeSEA broadcast network.
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Sumrall was born to Betty and George Sumrall in New Orleans on February 15, 1913.[1] In 1930, he recovered from tuberculosis and it was at this point that he came to believe that he was called by God to become a preacher. He became an ordained minister in 1932.
On September 30, 1944, he married Louise Layman. The couple had three children, Frank Lester (born 1946), Phillip Stephen (1950) and Peter Andrew (1953).
Howard Carter and Smith Wigglesworth were mentors to Lester Sumrall, both of whom are said to have passed their anointing on to him.[2]
In 1957, Sumrall established the Lester Sumrall Evangelistic Association (LeSEA) and in 1968 he founded LeSEA Broadcasting's flagship station, WHME-TV Harvest 103.1 FM. Sumrall has been called the "father of Christian television".[3] He secured the first license for 24-hour Christian television from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and launched WHMB Christian Television in Noblesville, Indiana in 1973.
Sumrall died on April 28, 1996, at age 83.[4]