Otto Fetting

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Otto Fetting (November 20, 1871 – January 30, 1933) was an American real estate agent and editor from Port Huron, Michigan. He began his religious career as a pastor and evangelist in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) and served there from 1899 to 1925.

In 1925 he joined the Temple Lot church (the Church of Christ, Hedrickites) and was ordained an Apostle in 1926. Beginning February 4, 1927, Fetting said he was visited by John the Baptist, who gave him messages about Hedrickite beliefs and about building a temple on the Temple Lot in Independence, Missouri. The messages included precise instructions about the temple’s dimensions. The Temple Lot church published his revelations and began construction, with a groundbreaking on April 6, 1929 and a plan to finish in seven years.

The twelfth message, delivered in 1929, caused a split. It claimed that all new members should be rebaptized and that Fetting had been given the same “keys to the priesthood” as Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. The Temple Lot leadership rejected this portion, and Fetting was silenced in October 1929. He left and founded the Church of Jesus Christ (Fettingite) on April 8, 1930.

About one-third of the Temple Lot membership followed Fetting and formed his new church, which met in homes before building its own worship spaces. Fetting reported receiving around 30 visits from John the Baptist before his death in 1933.

After Fetting’s death, the movement fractured into several groups. In 1939, William A. Draves claimed the same messenger spoke to him and started the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, which some Fettingites accepted and others rejected. This led to further splits and new factions, including:
- Church of Christ "With the Elijah Message" Established Anew
- Church of Christ (Restored)
- Church of Christ (Assured Way)
- Church of Christ at Halley’s Bluff

Different Fettingite groups eventually diverged on issues such as Sabbath worship (Saturday vs. Sunday) and which messages were legitimate. Draves’ followers also formed their own line of succession, while some groups continued to honor Fetting’s original revelations.

Fetting is buried in Zion Cemetery in Watertown, Michigan (now part of Sandusky). His work sparked a lasting, though divided, branch of the Latter Day Saint movement.