Evangelist, author, theologian and pastor Voddie Baucham Jr. died Sept. 25 after suffering a medical emergency in Dallas, Texas. He was 56. Before his unexpected death, Baucham, who had recently returned from a decade serving in Africa, was to have been the president of the new Founders Seminary in Cape Coral, Florida.
Baucham, was born to a single mother in south central Los Angeles on March 11, 1969. Baucham attended Rice University, an elite school (comparable to Stanford) in Houston, Texas, on a football scholarship, playing tight end for the Rice Owls. He then transferred to Houston Baptist University, graduating with a B.A. He went on to earn an M.Div from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and a Doctorate of Ministry from Southeastern Bapist Theological Seminary. Baucham also pursued post-graduate study at Oxford University.
He founded Voddie Baucham Ministries in 1993. He founded Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring, Texas. He was the founding dean of African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia, senior lecturer in the university’s School of Divinity, and a member of Kabwata Baptist Church in Zambia. He served in Africa from 2015 through 2024.
He was a founding faculty member of the Institute of Public Theology, a Founders Ministries initiative. Baucham authored at least nine books, including “It’s Not Like Being Black: How Sexual Activists Hijacked the Civil Rights Movement,” from the former Regnery Faith Publishing in 2024; “The Ever-Loving Truth: Can Faith Thrive in a Post-Christian Culture?” from Salem Books in 2023; “Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe,” published in 2021; 2007’s “Family Driven Faith: what it takes to raise sons and daughters who walk with God,” from Crossway. Baucham was also a budding voice actor, having been featured in “George Washington Carver: An Uncommon Way” and “Genesis: Paradise Lost.”
Baucham was a strong proponent of Biblical patriarchy and homeschooling your children. He was also an outspoken critic of “critical race theory,” which isn’t civil rights but cultural Marxism.
He is survived by his wife Bridget of more than 35 years, nine children and three grandchildren. He had lived in Lusaka, Zambia, since 2015, but was relocating to Florida to lead Founders Seminary, launched in August. “A special Give-Send-Go fund has been set up to help the family.”
Advent Media Connect has put together this video on the life and ministry of Voddie Baucham.
UPDATE: Here is a short video by Ken Ham, the director of Answers in Genesis ministries, about the loss of Voddie Baucham coming on the heels of the loss of John McArthur, James Dobson, and Charlie Kirk.
And here is a video from sports commentator and conspicuous Christian Jason Whitlock: