On September 25, 2025, the church lost one of its great voices. Voddie Baucham is now with the Lord. The news of his passing struck me deeply, not only because Voddie was a personal friend and ally, but because his absence leaves a void in an hour when his voice was needed most.
Voddie was not the kind of preacher you could mistake for someone else. If you’ve met him, you know what I mean. He stood tall in every way. His booming voice filled sanctuaries. His laugh carried warmth. His arguments carried weight. When he stepped into the pulpit, he carried both the gravity of a prophet and the joy of a man whose confidence was in Christ alone.
This prophetic gravity and Christ-centered joy could be seen in many ways, but I wish to highlight three manifestations in particular.
In the last generation, many Christian leaders entered the arena of cultural commentary. Some sought to conserve political values, others to hold back the tide of secularism. Too often, however, the effort devolved into something less than Christian: a Christless conservatism that fought the left but forgot the cross.
Voddie Baucham never made that mistake. What set him apart as a cultural apologist was not merely that he identified cultural Marxism, critical theory, and radical individualism as idols of our age. It was that he exposed those idols with the Word of God and pointed us to Christ as their only true alternative. His apologetic was not primarily political; it was gospel shaped. He reminded us that the lordship of Christ extends over every sphere of life, and that to contend with cultural idols without preaching Christ is to fight the shadows while ignoring the substance.
I remember him saying more than once: “The church is the bride of Christ, not the mistress of the culture.” That line captures the difference between Voddie and so many others. He never confused political activism with discipleship. He pressed us to make Christ central, whether in our families, our churches, or our civic lives.
Voddie Baucham... reminded us that the lordship of Christ extends over every sphere of life, and that to contend with cultural idols without preaching Christ is to fight the shadows while ignoring the substance.
But Voddie cannot be reduced to a mere cultural critic. He was a preacher of the gospel. He proclaimed, in Paul’s words, “the whole counsel of God.” When he opened the scriptures, he did not cherry-pick verses to fit the headline of the day. He gave his hearers the breadth and depth of God’s Word, pressing it into their lives with power.
At Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, where he preached regularly, Voddie was a beloved voice in the pulpit. I can still picture the congregation leaning in as his rich baritone rolled through the sanctuary. He would not let us be satisfied with superficial answers. He preached repentance, faith, obedience, and hope—always with a pastoral heart and a prophetic edge. Our people loved him because he gave them Christ without compromise.
He carried that same conviction to Capitol Hill, where he partnered with the Center for Christian Statesmanship. There, he reminded leaders that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, even for those tasked with the burdens of government. His ability to apply scripture to every arena of life, from the halls of Congress to the classrooms of Africa, was a mark of his ministry.
If one theme rang through Voddie’s ministry, it was his call to God’s people to contend for the faith. He knew that persecution from the outside is not the church’s greatest danger; compromise from the inside is. He warned us about the temptation to soften biblical truth so we can be accepted by the world.
Yet he never left us with warnings alone. He mobilized Christians with courage rooted in the gospel. For Voddie, “Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jd. 3) was not a slogan, but a summons. To contend was not to become quarrelsome but to stand without flinching for the truth of God’s Word, in season and out of season.
His ministry in Zambia, where he helped establish African Christian University, embodied this conviction. He was not content to speak only to American evangelicals. He poured into future leaders on another continent, equipping them to proclaim the gospel with the same courage he displayed.
Behind the public ministry was a man devoted to his family and friends. He was a husband to Bridget, a father to their nine children, and a shepherd to countless others who sought his counsel. In my own life and ministry, Voddie was a source of encouragement. He strengthened Coral Ridge with his preaching and supported our work at the Institute for Faith & Culture. He was scheduled to join us for our 2026 Kingdom Come Conference.
For my family, he was more than a guest speaker. Around the dinner table and in quiet conversations, we knew him as a man of faith, humor, and warmth. His friendship was a gift. As we were traveling together in Washington, DC last year with our sons, he reminded me of the priority of loving my wife well, discipling my children, and taking time to experience the joy of the Lord. That is one of our many moments together that I will forever treasure.
Voddie often told his listeners: “You are going to hear a rumor one day that Voddie Baucham is no more; don’t you believe it.”
That day has come. And those words are now our comfort. Voddie Baucham is not gone. He is more alive than ever in the presence of Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that death never has the last word. Because Christ lives, Voddie lives.
That hope is what gave him the courage to stand against cultural idols. It is what gave him the strength to proclaim the whole counsel of God. And it is what sustains us as we grieve his loss.
Voddie Baucham is not gone... The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that death never has the last word. Because Christ lives, Voddie lives.
We live in an age when the idols Voddie warned against are multiplying. Cultural Marxism, sexual anarchy, the cult of self are not retreating; they are advancing. And so, the need for his kind of witness is greater than ever.
To honor Voddie Baucham is to continue his work. It is to hold fast to the Word of God when others are tempted to compromise. It is to contend for the faith without mistaking politics for the gospel. It is to place Christ, and Christ alone, at the center of all things.
We will miss his voice, but we dare not lose his vision. We will miss his presence, but we must carry forward his example. And as we do, we take comfort in knowing that the rumor is false: Voddie Baucham is not gone. He is with the Lord. And one day soon, by God’s grace, we will see him again.
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