He had been battling lung cancer
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
COSTA MESA, CA
(ANS) -- Pastor Chuck Smith, 86, senior pastor
of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, California, died early today (Thursday,
October 3, 2013), after a courageous battle with lung cancer.
He passed away in Southern California where he had lived with his wife,
Kay, for most of his life.
Smith was an extraordinary man, who despite his terrible pain and
breathing problems, preached three times last Sunday morning at his huge
church.
“Papa Chuck”, as many called him, became well-known in the late 60’s
and early '70s when hippies started flocking to his church and a tent was
erected nearby which was packed with hippies.
The resulting “Jesus People Revival” transformed worship music and
birthed the rise of the Calvary Chapel movement with churches all over the
world.
Many of those early hippie converts went on to pastor some of America’s
largest churches, including Greg Laurie and Mike MacIntosh.
His verse-by-verse Bible teaching was a hallmark of preaching and he
would take the congregation through the entire Bible and that
teaching was carried on his "Word for Today" radio program . He
appeared almost to the end, on "Pastor's Perspective" on the KWVE Radio
Network, which was linked with his church and was carried across America,
on "World News Briefing" on His Channel (www.hischannel.com).
It was on Sunday (January 1, 2012), when many in the congregation at
Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, were shocked and surprised when Chuck Smith
announced during the morning services that he had been diagnosed with lung
cancer.
Yet Smith said that he had never smoked in his life.
During an interview shortly after he first announced he had lung
cancer, I was able to interview him and I asked him at the time how people
could pray for him.
“Well, just pray that the Lord’s will be done because whatever it is,
I’m open to Him,” he said.
Now, the Lord’s will has been done and Chuck Smith has finished well
and is now receiving his reward.
More to follow...
See all ASSIST News articles
at www.assistnews.net
Dan Wooding, 72, who was born in Nigeria of
British missionary parents, is an award winning British journalist
now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he
has been married for 50 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter,
and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and
international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic
Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and he hosts the weekly
“Front Page Radio” show on the KWVE Radio Network in Southern
California and which is also carried throughout the United States
and around the world. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His
Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192
countries. Dan recently received two top media awards -- the
“Passion for the Persecuted” award from Open Doors US, and as one of
the top “Newsmakers of 2011” from Plain Truth magazine. He is the
author of some 45 books, the latest of which is a novel about the
life of Jesus through the eyes of his mother called “Mary: My Story
from Bethlehem to Calvary.” To order a copy, go to:  |
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