Spring 2023 saw the home-going of three faithful and well-known American pastors. But their teachings and writings—along with the testimonies of their lives—live on to inspire others to see the beauty of Jesus and to walk in His ways.
Dr. Charles Stanley (1932 – 2023)
“Obey God, and leave all the consequences to Him.”
Dr. Charles Stanley was the senior pastor at First Baptist Church Atlanta in Georgia for 49 years. He founded In Touch Ministries in 1972. It later allowed him to preach daily on the radio and television. Dr. Stanley spoke often of the importance of the Bible. “It is the word of God and the work of God that changes people’s lives,” he said. He believed hardships, including a painful divorce in his own life, allowed him to better reach the suffering. Dr. Stanley helped people understand their faith through practical principles for everyday living. Daily prayer is vital. “We must remember that the shortest distance between our problems and their solutions is the distance between our knees and the floor.” Dr. Stanley encouraged others with this reminder: “You always have God’s undivided attention.”
Dr. Harry Reeder (1948 – 2023)
“Nobody has to ‘get better’ to come to Jesus. This glorious truth of scripture is summarized well in the words of the great hymn: ‘Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me.’”
Dr. Harry Reeder became the first full-time pastor of Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, North Carolina, in 1983. He served there until Alabama’s Briarwood Presbyterian Church hired him as senior pastor in 1999. Dr. Reeder loved people. He often reminded his flock, “You are saved by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone!” He championed church revitalization and raising up future leaders. He wrote, “God’s grace is glorious, all-powerful, and as another hymn declares, ‘greater than all our sins.’ It not only redeems sinners but transforms them.”
Dr. Timothy Keller (1950- 2023)
“The gospel says you are simultaneously more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe, yet more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope.”
People told Timothy Keller starting a church in New York City was “a fool’s errand.” But Dr. Keller planted Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan in 1989 anyway. He served as senior pastor for 28 years. Dr. Keller co-founded The Gospel Coalition in 2005 and supported many urban church plants. He exposed people’s idols and directed them to Jesus. Dr. Keller said of his urban audience, “In their view, God was the ultimate taskmaster, with unfulfillable demands. To hear that He Himself had met those demands for righteousness through the life and death of Jesus, and now there was no condemnation left for anyone who trusted in that righteousness—that was an amazingly freeing message.”
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. — Hebrews 12:1-2
Why? Faithful pastors show us Jesus. They anchor us in God’s word and equip us to serve in the power of the gospel. While we don’t make idols of good teachers, we honor their efforts, give thanks for their testimonies and teachings, and take courage from their willingness to speak truth.
