Obit: Rev. D. James Kennedy, Christian Broadcaster, Dies at 76

[CrankyYankee]

The Rev. D. James Kennedy, a Christian broadcaster and the pastor of a Florida megachurch who played a critical role in the rise of conservative Christianity, died yesterday at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 76. The cause was not immediately known...

Mr. Kennedy’s Coral Ridge Ministries, which includes radio and television, says it now has an audience of 3.5 million people, according to the group’s Web site...Mr. Kennedy also founded a seminary and a school and wrote more than 65 books.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/us/06kennedy.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries&oref=slogin

 

[rbrucecarter5]

A great man of God. He will be missed. His opposition to CCM, though, outdated him a bit.

 

[Tom Wells]

I believe I attended a Christmas Eve service at his church in 1968 when visiting a Great-Uncle and Aunt who lived in
Riviera Beach. For twenty years, an essay hung my wall entitled "If I were Twenty-One".
I have tried to Google this essay, but had no luck. Can anyone else verify if this was written by Rev Kennedy?
When I looked in 1994, the church I remembered was gone, as was the mobile-home park my relatives wintered at.

If anyone has a copy of " If I were Twenty-One ", I'd really like to see it reprinted.
I think it made a positive effect on my life, especially the part:

I would live on a cash basis and stay out of debt.
Paul told young Timothy 'Owe no man anything'.
This put young Timothy on easy street. He was never awakened in the middle of the night by a creditor knocking on his door.

 

[R.D.P.]

He will always be one my biggest influences. I'm going to miss this great man of God.

Hope I'll get to meet him, when I make it into Heaven.

R.D.P. <><

 

[anotherguyTN]

Dr. Kennedy was one of the best. In looking at Coral Ridge's website at http://www.crpc.org/coralridge/times.html, I found out they have contemporary services, so if he was opposed to CCM it may have been in the past but he changed his view, or it may be that he accepted praise & worship music, but not harder Christian rock. Either way, he was biblically sound on most other things and I get the impression that he didn't think it was an issue to divide over. He will definitely be missed.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Dr. Kennedy was one of the best. In looking at Coral Ridge's website at http://www.crpc.org/coralridge/times.html, I found out they have contemporary services, so if he was opposed to CCM it may have been in the past but he changed his view, or it may be that he accepted praise & worship music, but not harder Christian rock. Either way, he was biblically sound on most other things and I get the impression that he didn't think it was an issue to divide over. He will definitely be missed.

I sure hope he changed his views --- as influential as he was, he was in a position to do harm to the CCM format. I do remember that his opposition helped fuel a lot of the growth of the other Ft. Lauderdale megachurch - Calvary Chapel. And there was something said when WAY-FM came into the area. Its been too long ---

 

[VERITAS DE VOCE]

That man had a true grasp of the WORDS of God. He was a teacher and will be missed. The one thing about him, he was never swept up in the TBN Olympics. If he was invited, he did his thing and split. He never tried to become one of the hay seed eating gang.

Wonderful man, better teacher. RDP, I'll beat you in line to hook up with him

 

[anotherguyTN]

Bruce,
I'll admit that if Kennedy had made a lot of negative comments against CCM from the pulpit I probably would have chiosen another church to attend if I was in the area. However I do think there must have been at least some change in his attitude or Coral Ridge wouldn't be having a contemporary worship service now.

I wouldn't put him in the same category as Jimmy Swaggart, or "Dial the Truth", who continually harp on the subject and have other baggage beside just being against CCM, and make it an issue to divide with other Christians over.

Like I said earlier though even if Kennedy was against CCM, in most other things he was biblically sound, at least what I heard of him on the radio or TV. In the case of some older preachers (even on a national level) who are against CCM I write it off to their age and lack of knowledge on the subject on as long as they don't continually harp on it and are biblically sound in most other areas. I can respect a preacher who may be wrong on CCM, but has most other things right.

 

[gr8oldies]

There were those views which tended toward theocracy, however.

 

[smashedcd]

wouldn't put him in the same category as Jimmy Swaggart, or "Dial the Truth", who continually harp on the subject and have other baggage beside just being against CCM, and make it an issue to divide with other Christians over.

??? did you know at family worship center they sing i can only imagine? and other ccm songs? i have friends that go there. they have changed their views on this subject since the 70s/80s.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Smashed,
Perhaps I should have made that sentence a little clearer. I believe that if he was ever against CCM his attitude changed later.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

??? did you know at family worship center they sing i can only imagine? and other ccm songs? i have friends that go there. they have changed their views on this subject since the 70s/80s.

Well, "I Can Only Imagine" is hardly CCM at all. More like praise and worship. Still, I am glad to hear his views mitigated over the years. I am sure that paid off in a new generation of church membership to replace those departing due to old age.

Does the church have a strong man of God to replace him?

 

[smashedcd]

Smashed,
Perhaps I should have made that sentence a little clearer. I believe that if he was ever against CCM his attitude changed later.

its ok i dont go there but i have friends that do. on thursday nights they have ccm in their youth ministry.they are openly against POD but i have done my own research on that band and i can understand that one. its not the music. its their mixing christianity with JAH. and that jamacian religion.

 

[Board Editor]

Some posts in this topic have been moved to Take It Outside.

[iurl=http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=80557.0]http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=80557.0[/iurl]

 

[anotherguyTN]

Smashed,
Perhaps I should have made that sentence a little clearer. I believe that if he was ever against CCM his attitude changed later.

its ok i dont go there but i have friends that do. on thursday nights they have ccm in their youth ministry.they are openly against POD but i have done my own research on that band and i can understand that one. its not the music. its their mixing christianity with JAH. and that jamacian religion.

In looking back at the previous posts, and considering the direction the thread went before it was split in two, I think I still need to clarify who I was talking about.

I was meaning that if Dr. Kennedy was ever against CCM that his attitude may have changed later, but it appears that Smashed may be talking about Jimmy Swaggart. I hope his attitude has changed as well, and hopefully it has with the way you describe what is happening at his church now.

There is a big difference though that I see between the attitudes of Kennedy and Swaggart toward CCM. Between the two, Swaggart spent a lot more time, especially in the 80's, preaching and writing against CCM, and a lot of people based their own attitudes against CCM on his comments. Dr. Kennedy may have made comments against CCM at times, but from what I could see, not on as large a scale as Swaggart. I personally think that Swaggart needs to publicly apologize for his actions of the past. There are probably still a lot of people who are against CCM based on his comments in the past.

 

[smashedcd]

i was talking about swaggert. i am in baton rouge. they are in baton rouge. actually his radio station played some ccm in the 90s before it relauched as sonlife radio. it was power praise 88.5. in 1995 and 96 during september it was the only spot on the dial to hear any ccm because the local ccm was playing non stop christmas music.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

i was talking about swaggert. i am in baton rouge. they are in baton rouge. actually his radio station played some ccm in the 90s before it relauched as sonlife radio. it was power praise 88.5. in 1995 and 96 during september it was the only spot on the dial to hear any ccm because the local ccm was playing non stop christmas music.

I remember that Baton Rouge had an AM station playing CCM in the 90's. And, believe it or not, KCTA 1030 Corpus Christi boomed in there with a respectable signal and they were playing some CCM. I seem to remember an 88.5, but it was in the Panhandle of Florida. It was a monster and made it to the LA MS line, I am sure it would have been a deep fringe signal in Baton Rouge but probably receivable on a good day.

I am a fan of large churches, they have more resources and better preachers than small ones - and are much less prone to gossip / control by old stodgy families. However, were I in Baton Rouge, I would be looking for a different church than Swaggarts. His refusal to follow the prescribed discipline of his denomination shows he has authority issues.

 

[smashedcd]

i was talking about swaggert. i am in baton rouge. they are in baton rouge. actually his radio station played some ccm in the 90s before it relauched as sonlife radio. it was power praise 88.5. in 1995 and 96 during september it was the only spot on the dial to hear any ccm because the local ccm was playing non stop christmas music.

I remember that Baton Rouge had an AM station playing CCM in the 90's. And, believe it or not, KCTA 1030 Corpus Christi boomed in there with a respectable signal and they were playing some CCM. I seem to remember an 88.5, but it was in the Panhandle of Florida. It was a monster and made it to the LA MS line, I am sure it would have been a deep fringe signal in Baton Rouge but probably receivable on a good day.

I am a fan of large churches, they have more resources and better preachers than small ones - and are much less prone to gossip / control by old stodgy families. However, were I in Baton Rouge, I would be looking for a different church than Swaggarts. His refusal to follow the prescribed discipline of his denomination shows he has authority issues.

i was listing to power praise not 88.5 mobile. i do know the diffrence i am in baton rouge. most churches here are very controlling. telling the congregation what to do where to go and even who they can date. FWC is one of the only local churches that doesnt try to control its congregation. baton rouge has mainly mega churches and churches that answer to those mega churches.


my church is a small full gospel church 70 miles north of here. i dont go to church in baton rouge.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

my church is a small full gospel church 70 miles north of here. i dont go to church in baton rouge.

I don't blame you. It sounds like Baton Rouge is a good candidate city for a satellite of Fellowship church. Technology to the rescue ----

 

[skippertthomas]

Just caught up on some of the banter on this blog... Dr. Kennedy's congregation is a key supporter of Way-Fm's West Palm affiliate.. Met several of his staff and key members, way back, when we put WAYF, on-the-air on the "Gold Coast"...