Evangelist and theologian Voddie Baucham Jr. died unexpectedly Sept. 25 at age 56.
His family said he suffered “an emergency medical incident” and died. The news was reported by Founders Ministries, the group of Southern Baptist Calvinists with which he was associated.
Beloved by conservative Southern Baptists and Calvinists, Baucham was a controversial figure within the Southern Baptist Convention, where three years ago he was to be nominated as president of the SBC but was found ineligible because he was not a member of an SBC church. Instead, Baucham was nominated as president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference but lost that race in a runoff ballot.
Baucham was both loved and loathed for his ultra-conservative complementarian theology that emphasized original sin and the need for fathers to be strong-armed heads of their households.
He was born March 11, 1969, in Los Angeles and studied at New Mexico State University and Rice University, playing football as a tight end. He then transferred to Houston Baptist University, where he graduated with a bachelor of arts degree. He later earned a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctor of ministry degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He founded Voddie Baucham Ministries in 1993 and was an itinerant evangelist until being called pastor of Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring, Texas. In 2015, he moved to Zambia, where he was named dean of theology at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia.
He moved back to the United States in 2024 and in January of this year was named president of Founders Seminary in Florida, a new school associated with Founders Ministries.
Baucham’s books included Family Driven Faith, Fault Lines, and The Ever-Loving Truth. The 2021 book, Fault Lines, warned of the dangers of “social justice ideology” and became a bestseller.
Baucham is survived by his wife of three decades, Bridget, their nine children and several grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
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