Rev. Charles D. "Charlie" Mahaney

Charles Dean “Charlie” Mahaney was born June 25, 1942, in Wichita, Kansas, to Orville and Nadine Mahaney. He was the third of four children. Charlie’s family was poor and lived in crime-filled neighborhoods during his childhood. His father, a World War II veteran, became an alcoholic, and his mother worked as a taxi driver and hotel maid. She often spoke about Jesus and said “one day we will go to church and find Him again.”

At the age of eight, Charlie already had a severe addiction to alcohol. He spent most of his adolescent years on the streets, becoming involved in drugs, street gangs, sleeping in graveyards, and various crimes. He was arrested over forty times, and served time in the Sedgwick County Prison Farm.

After his mother died from cancer at age forty-four, his life began to spiral out of control. Evil spirits tormented his mind and controlled his life until one day in the early 1960s Pastor Denver L. Stanford knocked on his door and invited him to church. For the next three years, Pastor Stanford worked diligently with Charlie Mahaney.

In August 1963 Charlie met a young lady named Juanita Katheryn Rappe (Charlie nicknamed her “Lucky.”), who had started attending the local United Pentecostal Church. Charlie had met the love of his life! In October 1963 Juanita was baptized in Jesus’ name and filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost. Charlie and Juanita were married December 9, 1964. They were blessed with three children: Nichols Dean and twins Michelle Nadine and Michael Aaron.

In January 1966 Charlie completely surrendered his life to God, received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and was baptized in the precious name of Jesus. He had finally met the God his mother had told him about! Thirty days later he began to feel the call to preach!

In 1969 God led him to pastor his first church in Pittsburgh, Kansas. In 1972 he was ordained by the United Pentecostal Church International and felt the call to the evangelistic field. That year he preached his first revival in Lebanon, Missouri, for Pastor Bob Thorton. For the next thirty-four years, Charles Mahaney traveled across North America and around the world preaching revivals, tent meetings, city-wide crusades, camp meetings, and national conferences.

In 1980 he began preaching in jails and prisons. His burden for incarcerated people would lead to his 1982 appointment as the first UPCI National Coordinator for Prison Ministry, a position he held for twenty-seven years. Under his leadership and with the assistance of men like Albert Dillon, Bill Yanders, Joe Elles, Michael Rickenbaker, Don Grigsby and many others, Christian Prisoners Fellowship (CPF) was established. Since 1982 CPF has trained and certified more than 3,000 volunteers for ministry in correctional environments and reached thousands with the gospel. CPF has developed literature for inmates, created a network of regional and district chaplains, and organized an annual conference.

In 1979 Charlie made the first of more than thirty-five trips to Israel and the Holy Land, and awakened a passion for his Jewish roots and the Hebrew culture. David Gray of San Diego, California, encouraged him in his study of the Hebrew language. In his visits to Israel, he met Rabbi Chaim Richman, Director of the Temple Institute; Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel; and Yasser Arafat, Palestinian political leader. He was the first non-Israeli Certified Tour Guide in Israel, and he also received the prestigious “Friends of Israel” award for his contribution to the nation of Israel. He was appointed the first UPCI National Coordinator of Jewish Ministries in 1998, and served in that position until 2005.

Today his legacy continues in the many books that he authored. He is survived by his wife, “Lucky,” and his children: Evangelist Nick Mahaney and wife Sandra, Pastor Michael A. Mahaney and wife Tamara, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

He passed from this life on March 11, 2017.