History
FGBMFI was founded in 1952 in Los Angeles by Demos Shakarian, a Californian dairy farmer of Armenian descent. Following a difficult start, it grew steadily, and after a few years branches were set up throughout the world.
After Demos Shakarian died in 1993, his son Richard Shakarian was appointed the organization's leader. The legitimacy of Richard's claim to leadership was disputed by some elements of the FGBMFI leadership, despite the mentoring he had received by Demos Shakarian before his death. There had been previous leadership disputes in FGBMFI's history.
One of those early groups that split encouraged other Chapters to leave and formed "IFCB". After Demos' death, several FGBMFI leaders who objected to Richard's leadership seceded and formed Business Mens Fellowship (BMF), which received its first financial contribution ($1,000)from Rose Shakarian, Demos Shakarian's widow. BMF was initially led by an attorney, who sued Richard. Steve Shakarian, Demos' son, later became one of the directors of BMF. In the mid-1990s, some major FGBMFI National Offices in Asia, namely Singapore and Hong Kong, withdrew from FGBMFI and allied themselves with the BMF.
Despite these successes, in the mid-2000s, there was another leadership split. Instead of starting a new organization with a different name (as both IFCB and BMF had done), the new group named itself "Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship in America", or "FGBMFA", borrowing heavily from the FGBMI's official history in marketing.
Read more about this topic: Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International
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