At the age of 91, after receiving multiple honors for her work in print and on the radio, Bible study author Kay Arthur went to be with her Savior in May.
John MacArthur (pictured above), the uncompromising pastor who refused to close Grace Community Church in California during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – an action he successfully defended in court – followed her in July.
MacArthur preached an estimated 3,300 sermons during his time as pastor and was known for his fearlessness and humor in the pulpit. He also wrote over 400 books and biblical study guides and hosted a long-running radio program and local television broadcast based on his Bible studies and preaching.
Dr. James Dobson, the Christian therapist who founded the Colorado-based Focus on the Family and was known as "Doc" to those who knew and worked for him, finished his race in August.
"Finish strong," he told Greg Laurie in a 2020 interview when asked what advice he would give his younger self. "We see the patriarchs of the Bible – Samson, Solomon, David … Hezekiah – who lived a godly life and then fell, and I realize it could still happen to me. Finish strong."
In September, soon after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, the Southern Baptist Convention lost a voice of theological conservatism and racial reconciliation when 56-year-old Dr. Voddie Baucham passed away after suffering an "emergency medical incident."
"Well, what about obedience? That's not what the gospel requires; it's what the gospel produces," he famously said in one of his sermons. "If the gospel were to require obedience from us, then that would mean that we could be obedient apart from the person and work of Christ, and Jesus died for nothing."
Baucham was widely respected among Evangelicals for his preaching on biblical manhood, family discipleship, and cultural apologetics.
The Christian Post notes that Christian leaders and public figures who died this year "made history, made headlines, sometimes sparked controversy, and influenced many in the Church and society."
