Dennis James Kennedy

Dennis James Kennedy wiki (November 3, 1930 - September 5, 2007), better known as D. James Kennedy, was an American televangelist, church pastor, and founder of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was senior pastor from 1960 until his death in 2007.

"Megachurch pastor and Evangelism Explosion founder D. James Kennedy died Wednesday in his Florida home from complications following a December heart attack. He retired last week as senior pastor of the church he founded, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was 76.

"Kennedy created an impressive "empire," says Larry Eskridge, associate director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals (ISAE). Kennedy built many ministries around his 10,000-member Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, including Knox Theological Seminary, a K-12 school, television and radio programs, and the politically conservative Center for Reclaiming America for Christ. He is also the author of more than 50 books...

"Kennedy was a founding board member of the Moral Majority, which Falwell formed in 1979. Some have called Falwell's recent death the end of the Religious Right, but Eskridge doesn't think Christians will stop caring about issues such as abortion and homosexuality."

"Mr. Kennedy stayed largely in the background as men like Mr. Falwell, Mr. Robertson and James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family spoke to Americans about the need to curtail abortion rights, gay rights and the teaching of evolution. But over the last decade, he, too, grew more openly active, creating the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, which held conferences that taught people to how to get involved in the political process. The center closed in April. Mr. Kennedy opened the Center for Christian Statesmanship in Washington to equip evangelicals on Capitol Hill to be more effective in government. He was also instrumental in establishing the Alliance Defense Fund, an increasingly active Christian counterweight to secular civil liberties groups."

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