Pastor Jack Hartford Dead At Age 88
Pastor Jack Hayford, who wrote more than 50 books and 500 songs, including the popular hymn Majesty, died Sunday. He was 88.
For over three decades, Hayford served as pastor of The Church On The Way in Van Nuys, Calif., where such well-known Christians as singer Pat Boone and actor Dean Jones attended. In 1997 Hayford founded The King’s University in Southlake, Texas, and from 2004 to 2009, he served as president of The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.
He was widely known as a “bridge-builder,” wanting to forge unity between denominations within the body of Christ.
When he was young, family members said Hayford was miraculously healed twice – first when he faced a life-threatening illness as a baby and second when he contracted polio.
“As a result of the earnest prayers of friends and family, he was miraculously healed,” his bio said of the first illness. “The doctors had no other explanation except that the grace of God snatched him back from the brink of death.”
Hayford was the executive editor of the Spirit-Filled Life study Bible.
Robert Morris, senior pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, and a close friend of Hayford, called him a “pastor, teacher, servant, and man of God.” Hayford served as an apostolic elder of Gateway Church, while Morris served as chancellor for The King’s University.
“For me personally, he was my mentor and spiritual father, and I am so grateful for his influence in my life,” Morris wrote on Twitter. “While this is a sad time for all those who knew and loved Pastor Jack, it’s also a time of rejoicing! Christians are the only people in the world who can mourn and rejoice at the same time because the Bible says we don’t grieve as those who have no hope.
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