n 2023, we lost some giants of the Christian faith: CBN founder Pat Robertson, Donald Wildmon founder of the influential American Family Radio network, as well as pastors Jack Hayford, Charles Stanley, and Tim Keller.
What was it about these men that made them legends in their own time? We spoke with Focus on the Family Chief of Staff Joel Vaughan about their lives and legacies. Vaughan calls them legends—men who had an enormous impact on the church and the world.
Pastor Jack Hayford, a Pentecostal preacher who led the Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California, was the first to leave in January at the age of 88. “He was the most transparent minister of the Gospel I think I’ve ever seen,” said Vaughan. “We don’t realize they are just men; we don’t realize they have temptation. And Pastor Jack would put all of that out there. He didn’t hide anything.”
Pastor Charles Stanley was born Sept. 25, 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, in Dry Fork, Virginia. He received a call to ministry at the age of 14. On October 1, 1971, Stanley assumed his longtime role as senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Atlanta. The following year, he launched his foray into broadcast ministry with a 30-minute program, The Chapel Hour. The Chapel Hour—renamed In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley—went nationwide in 1978. At the time of his death, Stanley’s messages were heard in more than 127 languages around the world via radio, shortwave, the Messenger Lab project, or TV broadcasts. Stanley was the country’s longest-serving pastor with a continuous weekly broadcast program. He passed in April at the age of 90.
And Tim Keller, not as well-known perhaps and the youngest of the group of spiritual giants passed in May at the age of 72. “Pastor Keller pastored a very small church in Hopewell, Virginia, early in his career, and he was asked by the Presbyterian denomination that he served to move to New York City and start a church that was later called Redeemer Presbyterian. And he reached out to probably the toughest city in America to represent the Gospel,” Vaughan said.
And at CBN, our beloved Dr. Pat Robertson passed away in June at the age of 93. Vaughan called Robertson “a giant of the faith and the person responsible for reaching more people with the Gospel than any other.” He credited The 700 Club program, which has been on the air since 1961 and is seen around the world by millions of people.
The Rev. Dr. Donald Ellis Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association (AFA) and the American Family Radio network, died Dec. 28 in Tupelo, Mississippi, following a battle with Lewy Body Dementia. He was 85. Wildmon became an ordained United Methodist minister in 1964 after serving in the U.S. Army from 1961 to 1963. He received his Master of Divinity from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in 1965. In 1977 he founded the National Federation for Decency, which later became the AFA. Wildmon wielded his influence through his watchdog group to steer advertisers away from inappropriate TV programming and often appeared on prominent talk shows to promote Judeo-Christian values. In 1991, Wildmon founded the influential American Family Radio network, which rapidly expanded to almost 200 radio stations.