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Dr. Jack Graham | |
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| Born | June 30, 1950 Conway, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Southern Baptists |
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Jack Graham (born June 30, 1950) is the pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. [1]
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Dr. Jack Graham | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Born | June 30, 1950 Conway, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Southern Baptists |
|---|
Jack Graham (born June 30, 1950) is the pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. [1]
Born in Conway, Arkansas, near Little Rock, young Graham was baptized as a professed believer in Jesus Christ at First Baptist Church in his hometown. From there, his life took a steady course into Christian ministry that continued during his formative years in Fort Worth, Texas, where he graduated from Eastern Hills High School.
In 1970, at the age of twenty, he was ordained pastor of his first church, married and halfway through Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honors. [2]
By 1976, he and his wife, Deb, had one son, and Graham was associate pastor of Sagamore Hill Baptist Church in Fort Worth, pastored by G. Fred Swank. [3] That year he also completed work for a Master of Divinity degree with honors from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Four more years went by, and Graham received a Doctor of Ministry degree in “Church and Proclamation.”
Graham began his ministry as pastor of East Side Baptist in Cross Plains in Callahan County, Texas (1970–1971). Following his associate pastorate at Sagamore Hill Baptist Church (1972–1975), he went on to pastor First Baptist Church in Hobart, Oklahoma (1975–1978), First Baptist Church in Duncan, Oklahoma (1978–1981), and First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, Florida (1981–1989). [2]
In 1989, Prestonwood Baptist Church, a Dallas megachurch with approximately 11,000 members, called Graham as pastor after its founding pastor, Bill Weber, admitted to an extramarital affair and resigned. [4] Weber unsuccessfully sought to regain his old post, then convinced several of the church's wealthier members—including cosmetics magnate Mary Kay Ash— to support a new church he was starting. [5]
Despite this, Prestonwood's membership rolls grew by 2,000 members annually, and it was apparent that it had outgrown its location in Far North Dallas. A new 7,500-seat [6] worship facility, school and ministry complex on 140 acres (0.57 km2) was built in west Plano in 1999.
In 2006, Prestonwood opened its second campus in Prosper, near U.S. Highway 380 and Dallas Parkway. That same year, the church also completed a new children's wing and updated its facilities for PowerPoint Ministries, including an upgrade to High Definition (HDTV).
The church reached the 43,000-member mark in 2018, with regular attendance at worship services averaging about 17,000. [7]
Graham has served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest American Baptist denomination, with 16 million members, and as president of the SBC Pastor's Conference. Paul Pressler, the retired judge from Houston who was a leading figure in the Southern Baptist Convention Conservative resurgence in 1979, served in 2002 as the first vice-president with Graham as the SBC president. [8]
Pastor Graham served as Honorary Chairman of the 2015 National Day of Prayer and was a member of President Donald Trump's Religious Advisory Council. [9] He participated in the National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral the day after the inauguration. [10]
In May 2022, Dr. Graham was named in a report on sex abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention, which stated that he allowed a youth music minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church, John Langworthy, who had admitted to church officials that he had molested at least one student in the late 1980s, to be removed quietly, without notifying police. [11] [12] [13] Langworthy was able to go on to become a youth music minister at Morrison Heights Baptist Church in Clinton, Mississippi, where he was later accused of abusing young boys again. [14] [15] [16]
Graham's theological views reflect the Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Faith and Message (2000 edition). [17]
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) or Great Commission Baptists (GCB) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. Organized in 1845, the denomination advocated for slavery in the United States. During the 19th and most of the 20th century, it played a central role in the culture and ethics of the South, supporting racial segregation and the Lost Cause of the Confederacy; it denounced interracial marriage as an "abomination", citing the Bible. In 1995, the organization apologized for its initial history. Since the 1940s, it has spread across the states, having member churches across the country and 41 affiliated state conventions, while keeping its original name.
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Hardin–Simmons University (HSU) is a private Baptist university in Abilene, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
L. Paige Patterson served as the fifth president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., from 1992 to 2003, as president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from 1998 to 2000, and as the eighth president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, from 2003 until his firing in 2018. He played a major role in the Southern Baptist "conservative resurgence", called "Fundamentalist Takeover" by opponents. He has been alternately described as a fundamentalist and a conservative evangelical.
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Prestonwood Baptist Church is a Baptist multi-site megachurch, based in Plano, Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It is one of the largest churches in America, with a membership of over 45,000 and a weekly attendance of around 17,000.
John Steven Gaines is an American Southern Baptist pastor, and the 61st President of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is currently serving at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, one of the largest congregations in the Southern Baptist Convention and has visited Israel 16 times. On Sunday, July 10, 2005, the Pastor Search Committee of Bellevue Baptist Church presented Dr. Steve Gaines to the church congregation. At the conclusion of the services the Bellevue family overwhelmingly voted to call Steve Gaines as the seventh Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church. Gaines succeeds the longtime Bellevue pastor Adrian Rogers.
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Matt Chandler is the lead pastor of teaching at the Village Church, a Southern Baptist church in Flower Mound, Texas, and the executive director of the board of the Acts 29 Network.
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Adam W. Greenway is an American pastor, theologian and religious leader. He was the 9th president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in Fort Worth, Texas. He was installed as president on February 27, 2019. He is the youngest president in the history of the seminary, being installed at 41 years old. Simultaneous with his role as president, he served as a Professor of Evangelism and Apologetics.
Harry Edward (Ed) Litton Jr. is an American evangelical pastor who was the 63rd president of the Southern Baptist Convention, elected in June 2021. He also serves as the senior pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama.
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