Ben Haden

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ben Haden is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America. He became internationally known through the medium of one of the most successful of the twentieth century religious broadcasts, Changed Lives. Originating from the services of the First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, Tennessees, Haden drew the attention of television audiences all over America and the world through his unique communication style and evangelical Biblical claims. With his background as an attorney, his pulpit approach was sometimes described as arguing a case before a jury. With his background in the CIA and as CEO for a daily newspaper, Haden leveraged his highly secular background and his keen Biblical insights to speak to the hearts of men and women living in the modern world. Haden was also the speaker on the Radio Bible Study Hour, succeeding The Rev. Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse of Tenth Presbyterian Church. Mr. Haden was an atheist until he heard the Gospel of Christ from a merchant and became a Christian in 1954.

Educated at Washington and Lee University, University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia Theological Seminary, Ben Haden pastored Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church in Miami, Florida before moving to become the 11th pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1968. Haden followed The Reverend Dr. James L. Fowle, a legendary figure in the Chattanooga community and was succeeded in that pastorate by The Reverend Dr. Michael A. Milton in 2001. Haden served the church in Chattanooga for 31 years before resigning in 1998 to pursue Changed Lives.org, an internet streaming video and audio on-demand ministry. His ministry currently produces "conversations," talks lasting from five to fifteen minutes and done in a conversational tone. He emphasizes that these productions are not sermons, but are simple conversations. This supports one of aims of "Changed Lives," which is to reach the many Americans who claim to be Christians yet do not have a home church.

In 1963, while he was still attending Columbia Theological Seminary, Mr. Haden published a non-fictional account entitled I See Their Faces, describing the people he met during his travels as a newspaperman in the Soviet Union. The book is no longer in print but is available through many book sellers online. He has a wife, Charlyne, and one daughter, Dallas.