Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church
| Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church | |
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 Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church
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| 26°11′45.2″N 80°06′46.4″W / 26.195889°N 80.112889°WCoordinates: 26°11′45.2″N 80°06′46.4″W / 26.195889°N 80.112889°W | |
| Location | 5555 N Federal Hwy, Fort Lauderdale, Florida |
| Country | USA |
| Denomination | Presbyterian Church in America |
| Previous denomination | Presbyterian Church in the United States |
| Membership | over 2,000 |
| Website | http://www.crpc.org |
| History | |
| Founded | 1960 |
| Founder(s) | D. James Kennedy |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Harold E. Wagoner |
| Style | Modern |
| Clergy | |
| Senior pastor(s) | Rob Pacienza |
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Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church is a Christian megachurch within the Presbyterian Church in America located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. It was founded in 1960 by D. James Kennedy (1930–2007), who served as the church's senior pastor until his death in 2007. The present church building seating 2,800 persons was dedicated on February 3, 1974 by evangelist Billy Graham. It became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America denomination on May 16, 1978; Coral Ridge was originally a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, the so-called "Southern" church before 1983.
Beginning in 1978 under pastor D. James Kennedy, the church's weekly services were televised as the Coral Ridge Hour, eventually reaching a nationwide audience of more than 3 million. Production of new broadcasts from the church were discontinued in 2007 after Kennedy's death, although reruns of Kennedy's sermons continue to air on some networks.
The Westminster Academy and Knox Theological Seminary, also in Ft. Lauderdale, are educational ministries of the church. W. Tullian Tchividjian, a grandson of Billy Graham, succeeded Kennedy as senior pastor of the church in April 2009 until June 2015.
In June 2016, Rob Pacienza officially assumed the role of Senior Pastor.
The church was founded by D. James Kennedy on May 22, 1960, who began with a congregation of 45 persons attending a typical Sunday service at a rented elementary school auditorium. Kennedy developed the "Evangelism Explosion" ("EE") method of evangelism in the 1960s, which emphasizes the training of church laypeople to share their faith by home visitation in the community. Coral Ridge became the fastest-growing Presbyterian church in the U.S. in the 1960s and had 1,366 members by 1968. Outgrowing its first church built in the early 1960s, construction of the church's present 2,800-seat sanctuary, surmounted by a 300-foot (91 m) tower and designed in a modern style, was undertaken in the early 1970s, making it one of the tallest churches in the United States. On December 21, 1973, the first services were held in the church's new building. In February, 1974, the sanctuary was formally dedicated by Billy Graham. By the 1980s, the church's membership had grown to a few thousand persons. Evangelism Explosion was the subject of Kennedy's doctoral dissertation, who said he earned a Ph.D. "to dispel the idea there is an inconsistency between evangelism and education...evangelical ministers [need] to be thoroughly educated and equipped to meet on equal terms anyone with whom they come in contact". A 1970 film, Like a Mighty Army, starring actor Chris Robinson as Kennedy, portrayed the Evangelism Explosion story at the church.
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