Hayward ( /ˈheɪwərd/; formerly, Haywards, Haywards Station, and Haywood) is a city located in the East Bay in Alameda County, California. With a population of 144,186, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda County. Hayward was ranked as the 37th most populous municipality in California. It is included in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont Metropolitan Statistical Area by the US Census. It is located primarily between Castro Valley and Union City, and lies at the eastern terminus of the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge. The city was devastated early in its history by the namesake 1868 Hayward earthquake. From the early 20th century until the beginning of the 1980s, Hayward's economy was dominated by its food canning industry.

Human habitation of the greater East Bay, including Hayward, dates from at least 4000 B.C.E.. The most recent pre-European inhabitants of the Hayward area were the Native American Ohlone people.

In the 19th century, the land that is now Hayward became part of Rancho San Lorenzo, a Spanish land grant to Guillermo Castro in 1841. The site of his home was on the former El Camino Viejo, or Castro Street (now Mission Boulevard) between C and D Streets, but the structure was severely damaged in the 1868 Hayward earthquake, with the Hayward Fault running directly under its location. Most of the city's structures were destroyed in the earthquake, the last major earthquake on the fault. In 1930, that site was chosen for the construction of the City Hall, which served the city until 1969. The surrounding area is still the center of town.^{[citation needed]}

Kenneth Erwin Hagin (August 20, 1917 - September 19, 2003) was an influential American Pentecostal preacher. He is often referred to as the "father" (or "granddaddy") of the "Word of Faith" movement. Many of his followers often refer to him affectionately as "Dad Hagin", "Pappa Hagin" and more commonly "Brother Hagin".

Kenneth E. Hagin was born in McKinney, Texas, the son of Lillie Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin. He was married to Oretha Rooker. They had two children, a son named Kenneth Wayne Hagin, who is presently the pastor of Rhema Bible Church and President of Kenneth Hagin Ministries, and a daughter named Patricia Harrison.

His most quoted scripture was Mark 11:22-24 Bible

According to Hagin's testimony, he was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and what was believed to be an incurable blood disease. He related that he was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to life. He also claimed that he was raised from a deathbed on August 8, 1934 by "the revelation of faith in God's Word" (Kenneth Hagin, I Went to Hell and What Faith Is).