Living Word Christian Center/ Bill Winston Ministries
The information on this page was last updated 6/25/2026. If you see errors or omissions, please email: [email protected]
Summary
Contact information
Mailing address:
Living Word Christian Center
7600 Roosevelt Rd
Forest Park, IL 60130
Website: livingwd.org
Phone: (708) 697-5000
Email: [email protected]
Organization details
EIN: 363623010
CEO/President: Bill Winston
Chairman:
Board size: 0
Founder: Bill Winston
Ruling year: 1989
Tax deductible: Yes
Fiscal year end: 12/31
Member of ECFA: No
Member of ECFA since:
Purpose
Our Vision is to build a church without walls that empowers believers to fulfill their highest calling in God in every area of life!
Mission statement
To empower Believers through teaching, preaching, and demonstration of the uncompromised Word of God, to fulfill their highest calling, and to change this world through Jesus Christ.
Statement of faith
This church accepts the Holy Scriptures as the revealed will of God, the all-sufficient rule for faith and practice, and for the purpose of maintaining general unity, adopts the following statement of fundamental truths:
We believe the Bible to be the inspired and only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
We believe that there is one God; eternally existent in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in the blessed hope of His personal, visible, future return to this earth to receive to Himself His blood-bought church that it may be with Him forever.
We believe that the only means of being cleansed from sin is through repentance and faith in the precious blood of Christ.
We believe that regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for personal salvation.
We believe in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross and that it provides healing of the human body in answer to believing prayer.
We believe that, according to Acts 2:4, the baptism with the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, is given to Believers who ask for it.
We believe in the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian enables them to live a holy life.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost, the one to everlasting life and the other to everlasting damnation.
We believe in water baptism by immersion in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and observance of the Lord's Supper.
Donor confidence score
This organization does not file a Form 990.
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Transparency grade
F
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Financial efficiency ratings
Sector: Christian Growth
This ministry has not been rated.
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Financial ratios
Financial ratios for this ministry have not been calculated.
Financials
Financials for this ministry have not been collected.
Compensation
Compensation data for this ministry has not been collected.
Response from ministry
No response has been provided by this ministry.
The information below was provided to MinistryWatch by the ministry itself. It was last updated 6/25/2026. To update the information below, please email: [email protected]
History
The history of Living Word Christian Center dates back to 1988 when Bill and Veronica Winston conducted small evangelistic meetings at the Quality Inn Hotel located just west of downtown Chicago. Still living in Minnesota, they traveled to Chicago on weekends to hold two-day "Faith Crusades," where the crowds would sometimes average less than 20 people. Pastor would teach the Word of God, and Sister Veronica would play the guitar for praise and worship. It was not long before the Lord spoke to Pastor Winston to leave Minnesota and move his young family to Chicago permanently. He obeyed and with only $200 -- but filled with the Word of God -- they moved to Chicago in the fall of 1988. Pastor Winston's original vision in moving to Chicago was to start a Bible training school. However, as God directed his steps, he was led to start a church and founded Living Word Church of Chicago in 1989. With less than 50 members, the church began meeting in a humble store front located on Chicago's West Side, at the corner of Lake and Pulaski streets. A year later the church moved to the nearby suburb of Forest Park, at 7306 West Madison Street. With this move in 1990, the church name was changed to Living Word Christian Center.
But the church move was not without its challenges. After signing the lease, more than half the membership decided not to make the move to Forest Park. With a large monthly lease and only a handful of members. But with God as Pastor Winston's source, not people, Pastor Winston faithfully confessed God's Word for increase and church growth. New members steadily came each year, and the church's growth soon led to the need for a still larger worship center. From 1994 through 1997, while searching for a permanent location, the church held its services at the Chez Roue Banquet Hall not far from Madison Street.
The ministry eventually purchased the Forest Park Mall, a 33-acre shopping mall that had been in decline for several years. With about 5,000 members, the church held its first worship services in a vacant home improvement store within the mall on December 31, 1997, New Year's Eve night.
Today, Living Word Christian Center is a 20,000-member multi-cultural church that holds its services in a state-of-the-art worship center.