Hagin was born on August 20, 1917 in McKinney, USA. At the age of 15, due to a heart defect at birth and a blood disease, he became paralyzed. In 1933, after a near-death experience, he was born again and became an evangelical Christian. He then began to study the Bible and began to believe in divine healing. In 1934, he recovered from his paralysis and began to walk again.

In 1936, he founded a Baptist church in Roland, Texas. In 1937, he became an Assemblies of God minister in Tom Bean and served in other Texas cities for 12 years. In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as an evangelist. In 1963, he founded Kenneth E. Hagin Evangelistic Garland, Texas, before moving the office to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He hosted the RHEMA Praise program on Trinity Broadcasting Network. In 1974 he founded Rhema Bible Church and RHEMA Bible Training College in Tulsa, which would have campuses in 14 countries. In 1976, the church and Bible Training College moved to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He is one of the main advocates of prosperity theology.

In 1938 he married Oretha Rooker with whom he had two children, Kenneth Wayne and Patricia