Demos Shakarian
Son of Armenian refugees. California dairy farmer. Founder, in 1952, of the worldwide fellowship that became FGBMFI. He saw the marketplace as a mission field — the place where working men needed to talk honestly about faith, work, and the cost of integrity.
From persecution to a dairy farm
Demos Shakarian was born on July 21, 1913, in Los Angeles. His family had fled Armenia to escape persecution, and settled in Downey, California, where they started a modest dairy farm. They worked. They prayed. They built something — by hand, by faith.
By 1943, that small farm had grown into the largest private dairy in the United States. Demos was not a pastor or a theologian. He was a businessman who knew, from the inside, what it cost a working man to live by his convictions.
The marketplace is a mission field
In 1952, Demos founded the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International. His vision was simple: a platform where Christian businessmen could come together to share their faith and experiences in a supportive, informal setting — not in a pew, but over breakfast, over lunch, in the rhythms of working life.
The idea, Demos said, came from a God-given vision. He wanted to see working men actively involved in the spiritual life of their cities — not as Sunday Christians, but as men whose work itself bore witness. FGBMFI grew from a small Los Angeles meeting into a movement that would eventually span 190 countries.
“The Lord showed me an idea — a fellowship of businessmen who would meet not in church, but where they actually lived their lives.”
— Demos Shakarian
A wider movement
Under Demos’s leadership, FGBMFI established chapters in over 190 countries. The fellowship became known for its meetings — honest testimonies, accounts of healing, public reckonings with faith and integrity in business. Demos’s influence reached well beyond his own organisation: he was instrumental in supporting other ministries and evangelists, including Oral Roberts, and helped found the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Demos Shakarian passed away on July 23, 1993. His son, Richard Shakarian, succeeded him as President. Today, FGBMFI remains one of the largest networks of Christian businessmen worldwide. In Malaysia, the fellowship Demos chartered in 1980 has grown to 76 chapters across the country.
His books
Demos’s autobiography, The Happiest People on Earth, is required reading for every FGB member. It and his other writings — on the marketplace mandate, the cost of integrity, the practical work of faith — are available free on our Reading Materials page.
Browse all books →