Dr. James Kennedy
| D. James Kennedy | |
|---|---|
D. James Kennedy at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church
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| Born |
November 3, 1930 Augusta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | September 5, 2007 (aged 76) Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart condition |
| Education | Ph.D. from New York University |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Craig Lewis |
| Children | Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy (b. 1962) |
| Church | Presbyterian Church in America |
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Congregations served
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Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida |
Dennis James Kennedy (November 3, 1930 – September 5, 2007) was an American pastor, evangelist, and Christian broadcaster. He founded the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was senior pastor from 1960 until his death in 2007. Kennedy also founded Evangelism Explosion International, Coral Ridge Ministries (since 2011, Truth in Action Ministries), the Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale, the Knox Theological Seminary, and the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, a socially conservative political group.
In 1974, he began Coral Ridge Ministries, which produced his weekly religious television program, The Coral Ridge Hour (now "Truth that Transforms"), carried on various networks and syndicated on numerous other stations with a peak audience of three million viewers in 200 countries. He also had a daily radio program, Truths That Transform (1984-2012). During his lifetime, Coral Ridge Ministries grew to a US$37-million-a-year non-profit corporation with an audience of 3.5 million.
In 2003, the National Religious Broadcasters association inducted Kennedy into its Hall of Fame. As a result of a heart attack (in 2006), from which he never fully recovered, Kennedy last preached at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church later that year, on December 24, 2006. His retirement was officially announced at the church on August 26, 2007, and he died in his home ten days later.
D. James Kennedy was born in Augusta, Georgia, and moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois, during his childhood. His father was a glass salesman, and his parents were Methodists. Kennedy joined the Boy Scouts. He later moved with his family to Tampa, Florida, where in 1948 he graduated from Henry B. Plant High School and began studying music at the University of Tampa. After two years he dropped out of college, began working as a dance instructor at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Tampa, and later won a first prize in a nationwide dance contest. On August 25, 1956, he married Anne Lewis, whom he had met while giving her dance lessons at Arthur Murray. They had one daughter, Jennifer, born in 1962.
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