D. James Kennedy facts for kids

Quick facts for kids D. James Kennedy
Kennedy at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church
Born	(1930-11-03)November 3, 1930 in Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Died	September 5, 2007(2007-09-05) (aged 76) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.
Church	Presbyterian Church in America
Education	Columbia Theological Seminary (M.Div.) Ph.D. from New York University
Congregations served	Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale
Spouse	Anne Lewis (m. 1956)
Children	1

Dennis James Kennedy (born November 3, 1930 – died September 5, 2007) was an American pastor, evangelist, and author. He was also a Christian broadcaster. He served as the main pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He led the church from 1960 until he passed away in 2007.

Kennedy also started several important organizations. These include Evangelism Explosion International and Coral Ridge Ministries. The ministry is now known as D. James Kennedy Ministries. He also founded the Westminster Academy and the Knox Theological Seminary. He even started a radio station, WAFG-FM.

In 1974, he began Coral Ridge Ministries. This group produced his weekly TV show, The Coral Ridge Hour. This show was seen by about three million viewers in 200 countries. He also had a daily radio show called Truths That Transform, which started in 1984. During his life, Coral Ridge Ministries grew into a large non-profit organization.

In 2005, the National Religious Broadcasters group honored Kennedy. They added him to their Hall of Fame. He gave his last sermon at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church on December 24, 2006. Four days later, he had a heart attack. He never fully recovered from it. His retirement was announced on August 26, 2007. He died at his home ten days later.

Early Life and Education

Kennedy was born in Augusta, Georgia. He moved with his family to Chicago, Illinois, when he was a child. His parents were Methodists. As a boy, Kennedy was a Boy Scout. Later, his family moved to Tampa, Florida. He finished high school there in 1948. He then started studying music at the University of Tampa.

After two years, he left college. He began working as a dance instructor at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Tampa. He even won a top prize in a national dance contest. On August 25, 1956, he married Anne Lewis. He had met her while teaching her dance lessons. They had one daughter, Jennifer, who was born in 1962.

Bethel Presbyterian Church, where Kennedy began preaching in 1956

Kennedy became a Christian in 1953. He heard a preacher on the radio talk about the Christian message. Kennedy later said he had never heard it before. In December 1955, Kennedy decided to leave his dance job. He wanted to become a minister. He went back to the University of Tampa and graduated in 1958. He also began preaching at a small church called Bethel Presbyterian Church in Clearwater, Florida.

Kennedy then went to Columbia Theological Seminary in 1956. He earned a Master of Divinity degree three years later. After becoming an ordained minister in 1959, Kennedy became the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. He stayed there until his death. In the 1970s, he earned another degree, a Master of Theology. In 1979, he earned a doctorate in religious education from New York University. His doctoral paper was about an evangelism program he started. Kennedy said he earned his Ph.D. to show that sharing faith and getting an education can go together. He believed ministers should be well-educated.

His Ministry and Beliefs

Kennedy was first ordained in 1959. He was part of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Later, in 1978, he and his church joined the Presbyterian Church in America. Kennedy followed traditional Calvinist Christian beliefs. He wrote several books about his faith. Some of these include Why I Believe and What If Jesus Had Never Been Born.

In 1971, he founded the Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale. In 1989, he founded Knox Theological Seminary. Kennedy was a conservative evangelical minister. He spoke out for moral and social values. He believed the United States was founded as a Christian nation. He wrote a book with Jerry Newcombe called What if America Were a Christian Nation Again?.

Kennedy started the Center for Christian Statesmanship. This was a Christian outreach group in Washington, D.C., for members of the United States Congress. In 2005, the National Religious Broadcasters group put Kennedy in their Hall of Fame.

Starting Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church

Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Kennedy gave his first sermon at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale in June 1959. The church started with only 45 people at a Sunday service. But it quickly became the fastest-growing Presbyterian church in the U.S. in the 1960s. By 1968, it had 1,366 members. Evangelist Billy Graham spoke at the dedication of the new church building in 1974. About 15,000 people attended.

Kennedy created the Evangelism Explosion ("EE") method in the 1960s. This method teaches church members to share their faith. They learn to do this by visiting homes and talking to people in their daily lives. A film called Like a Mighty Army was made in 1970. It showed the story of Evangelism Explosion at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.

In 1978, Kennedy started the weekly Coral Ridge Hour on national television. At its most popular, it had three million viewers each week in 200 countries. It was shown on over 400 stations and four cable networks. By the 1980s, the church had grown to almost 10,000 members.

Later Years and Legacy

On December 28, 2006, Kennedy had a serious heart attack at his home. This caused him to lose some of his short-term memory and made it hard for him to speak. He tried to recover for several months. But he was not able to preach again. His retirement was announced on August 26, 2007. His daughter, Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy, shared the news at the church.

Kennedy passed away in his sleep on September 5, 2007, at age 76. The White House released a statement the next day. President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush said they were "deeply saddened." They called Kennedy "a man of great vision, faith, and integrity." Focus on the Family founder James Dobson called Kennedy "a giant in the battle to restore traditional values." Kennedy is buried in Fort Lauderdale.

After Kennedy's heart attack, The Coral Ridge Hour TV show was shortened. Kennedy's daughter said that donations to the ministry went down after his death. Today, D. James Kennedy Ministries continues his work. It airs Truths That Transform weekly. This show features Kennedy's past sermons and new segments.

In 2018, D. James Kennedy Ministries started the D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Leadership. This center aims to train new leaders. The D. James Kennedy Institute of Reformed Leadership was also created in 2013.

Explaining Christian Beliefs

Kennedy was known for Christian apologetics. This means he defended Christianity as a faith based on facts and evidence. He wrote several books to show that Christian faith is supported by history, science, and logic. Some of these books include Why I Believe and Skeptics Answered. He wrote in Skeptics Answered that "Christianity has answers that are not only satisfying for the soul but also satisfying for the mind."

Kennedy also argued that Christianity and the Bible have brought many good things to the world. He wrote books with Jerry Newcombe like What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? (1994) and What If the Bible Had Never Been Written? (1998). These books tried to show the positive impact of Christianity in areas like education, law, science, and medicine.

Kennedy produced a TV special called Who Is This Jesus? It aired on CBS in 2001. The show, co-hosted by Kennedy and actor Dean Jones, reached many viewers. It explored ideas about the reliability of the Gospels and the resurrection of Jesus.

His Views

Religion in Public Life

Many of Kennedy's public messages focused on American history. He talked about the faith of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He believed America was founded on Christian ideas. For example, he mentioned that John Quincy Adams said Christianity was "indissolubly linked" to America's founding. Kennedy wrote the foreword for a book called Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of Our Founding Fathers.

Conservative Christian Leader

Kennedy was a founding member of the board of Moral Majority. This was a political movement in the late 1970s and 1980s. When presidential candidates like Ronald Reagan sought support from Christian leaders, Kennedy sometimes asked them about their faith. In one meeting, Kennedy asked Reagan why God should let him into heaven. Reagan replied that he would ask for mercy because of what Jesus Christ did for him.

Kennedy celebrated Reagan's election in 1981. He told the National Religious Broadcasters that "Believers in a living God are beginning to assert their spiritual rights." However, he also warned his church members not to put all their trust in politics. He said Christians should trust God, not just a leader.

Kennedy was against same-sex marriage. He suggested two ways to deal with efforts to "redefine marriage." He called for a constitutional "Firewall" to protect the nation. He also encouraged "conversion for homosexuals who want to change, through the power of Jesus Christ." Kennedy did not agree with judges making laws from the bench. He supported a bill that would allow Congress to remove judges who did not recognize "God as the sovereign source of law."

Kennedy was also one of the people who signed the "Land Letter" in 2002. This letter supported the military invasion of Iraq. Kennedy wanted to "reclaim America for Christ." He said this project was to "bring this nation back to God, back to decency, back to morality."

Some people criticized Kennedy. Barry C. Lynn said Kennedy was "absolutely relentless in his criticism of everything on the left." In an interview, Kennedy was asked if he wanted all public office holders to be Christians. He answered that Christians should be allowed to vote for people who share their views, just like others do.

Views on Creation

In discussions about creation and evolution, Kennedy believed in special creation by God. He supported the ideas of young earth creationists and intelligent design. He argued that people should be allowed to express these beliefs freely. He believed that scientific truth is based on evidence, not just what most scientists agree on. He thought creationist beliefs were scientifically correct.

Kennedy disagreed with the theory of evolution. He said that "The two most notorious and blood-soaked political movements of the twentieth century, Nazism and Communism, both rejected God and were animated by the idea of evolution." He believed that if evolution were true, then human life would have no real value. This idea was shown in Coral Ridge Ministries' 2006 film Darwin's Deadly Legacy.

The ADL (Anti-Defamation League) criticized Kennedy. They called him a "leader among the distinct group of 'Christian Supremacists'." They said he wanted to turn the U.S. into a Christian nation. The ADL also quoted Christian geneticist Francis Collins. Collins said he was "absolutely appalled" by the film. He said he did not know Coral Ridge Ministries planned a TV special linking Darwin and Hitler.

Coral Ridge Ministries responded to the ADL's criticisms. They stated that the ADL "ignores the historical fact that Adolf Hitler was an evolutionist." They mentioned historians and scientists to support their claim of a link between Darwin and Hitler.

Books Written by D. James Kennedy

Kennedy wrote 65 books. One of his most famous is Evangelism Explosion. This book teaches people how to share the Christian message. It has sold 1.5 million copies. Other books include What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? and The Da Vinci Myth versus The Gospel Truth.

Here is a list of some of the books he wrote or co-wrote:

Images for kids

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  Kennedy at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church

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  Bethel Presbyterian Church, where Kennedy began preaching in 1956

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  Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida