Pastor Voddie Baucham, ardent defender of life, dies at 56

Voddie Baucham, Jr,. a well-respected Reformed Baptist pastor, author, educator, and pro-life advocate, has passed away unexpectedly at the age of 56.

Key Takeaways:

• Baucham studied theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he obtained Master's and doctoral degrees; he also studied at Oxford University.

• In 1993, he founded Voddie Baucham Ministries, and was a board member of Founders Ministries.

• He served as pastor of Grace Family Baptist Church before moving to Zambia in 2015 with his family to serve as a missionary.

• Earlier this year, he was announced as one of the founding faculty for Founders Seminary in Florida.

• Baucham was an outspoken advocate for preborn children and biblical marriage.

Unexpected Passing:

Voddie Baucham Ministries announced Baucham's sudden passing after he experienced an emergency medical incident. "He entered into his rest and the immediate presence of the Savior whom he loved, trusted, and served since he was converted as a college student," the statement read. "Please pray for Bridget, their children, and [three] grandchildren."

A Legacy obituary for Baucham states, "He is survived by his wife, Bridget, whom he married in 1989, and their nine children: Jasmine, Voddie III ("Trey"), Elijah, Asher, Judah, Micah, Safya, Amos, and Simeon. The family homeschooled their children and ministered together for many years."

According to an official GiveSendGo page created for the family, seven of the Bauchams' children are still living at home.

African Christian University likewise released a statement mourning his death; Baucham served as dean there until 2022, and helped to launch their graduate program. "We give thanks for his life and ministry and lift up Bridget and the entire Baucham family in prayer. He will be dearly missed."

Brief History:

Born to a single mother in 1969, Baucham played tight end at New Mexico State University and Rice University; after graduating, he began studying to become a pastor. Additionally, he served as a public speaker and author, with books including "Family Driven Faith," "Fault Lines,"and "The Ever-Loving Truth," focusing largely on the importance of Scripture against the deceptive philosophies of today's world.

"We start with the reality of the Gospel and our need for the Gospel. We start with the reality that the righteous shall live by faith," he told the Christian Post last year. "We are living in a time, in an era when there are people who are desperately wicked, and in desperate need of repentance and faith, in desperate need of the Gospel. And we're being told that the wickedness is, in fact, the Gospel."

In 2021, Baucham experienced heart failure and had surgery in March of that year, followed by a quadruple bypass surgery weeks later, as reported by ChurchLeaders.com. The money raised for these medical needs was "placed in a medical trust fund" and "that fund was continued for that purpose until his death," according to the GiveSendGo page, authored by Pastor Tom Ascol of Founders Ministries. "The remaining amount will be placed in this new fund to provide for the family’s financial needs."

Defense of Life:

Baucham frequently and unapologetically spoke in defense of life, often from a theological perspective. In one of his messages, he said:

"Abortion is spiritual warfare... so what is our message to the culture...? That Christ, through His incarnation, vindicates, validates, and verifies the sanctity of human life at every point, from conception to natural death. Folks, He could have come to this world in any way... God chose conception, thus validating, verifying the sanctity of human life while it's in the womb, all the way to the end of life where God the Son experiences death, thus validating and sanctifying even that part of our experience.

But here's the other thing: He also validates and sanctifies human suffering.

So, from conception, we know that life is sacred and set apart because God has told us so through having his Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, go through every phase of that process. Death as a part of human life — He experiences it, and suffering prior to death. So that whether we're talking about protecting babies in the womb or protecting people when they are weak and frail at the end of their lives from being cut off from the suffering that Christ validated -- it's all the same theological principle....

We have a biblical, theological understanding of the sanctity of life. That's what we preach."

A Biblical Worldview on Abortion - Voddie Baucham

But defending life was also a very personal matter for Baucham, as several of his children are adopted; in a video shared by Texas Right to Life in 2012, he discussed how one of his adopted children was conceived in rape, and one of them was conceived in incest:

"The first adoption that we experienced was very meaningful. It will always be very meaningful to us because it was the first adoption, but also because of the story of this young woman who was a rape victim. She found herself pregnant and didn’t think she could become pregnant because she was on Depo-Provera.

Because of that, when she went to the hospital after the rape, they didn’t give her any sort of morning-after treatment. She found herself pregnant and called Planned Parenthood, saying, 'I’ve been raped, I’m pregnant, please help.'

They told her to come in, and she did. She sat there, and in her own words, for what seemed like hours. Eventually, she looked up and thought to herself, 'This baby hasn’t done anything wrong.' She decided at that moment that somebody would love and raise this baby.

She placed that baby into our hands, and we got to pray with her, over her. This young woman, courageously, after being a victim of rape, decided not only to give birth but also to make an adoption plan for this child.

So when people talk about being pro-life except in the case of rape and incest — one of our children was the product of incest — it says that all of our children should have been allowed to live except those two. I’m not willing to accept that."

Pastor Voddie Baucham talks abortion, adoption, President Obama

Baucham also condemned how abortion has led to a Black genocide, with Black, low-income, and minority populations disproportionately likely to choose abortion rather than life.

"The number one killer of Black people by far since 1973 has been abortion. It has killed more Black people than all of the other causes of death combined," he said. "I don't stop talking about that. I haven't stopped talking about it for two decades."

Voddie Baucham: Abortion and the Black Genocide

The Bottom Line:

Baucham was a courageous voice for life and theological truth, who will be deeply missed.