Jack Graham (pastor)

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Jack Graham

Born 1950
Conway, Arkansas

Dr. Jack Graham is the Pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church and the voice of PowerPoint Ministries, the broadcast ministry of Prestonwood. Prestonwood is one of the United States’s largest congregations, with a membership exceeding 26,000.[1]

Contents

Early life and education

Born in Conway, Arkansas, young Jack was baptized at First Baptist Church in his hometown. From there, his life took a steady course into ministry that continued during his formative years in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1970, at age 20, he was an ordained pastor of his first church, married and halfway through Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, where he went on to earn a bachelor of science degree with honors.

By 1976, he and his wife, Deb, had one son, and Jack was associate pastor of Sagamore Hill Baptist Church in Fort Worth. That year he also completed work for a Master of Divinity degree with honors from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Four more years went by (by this time, the Grahams had two children), and Jack received a Doctor of Ministry degree in “Church and Proclamation,” which nicely captions his life in ministry.

Career

Dr. Graham began his ministry as pastor of East Side Baptist in Cross Plains, Texas (1970-1971). Following his associate pastorate at Sagamore Hill Baptist Church (1972-1975), he went on to pastor First Baptist Church in Hobart, Oklahoma (1975-1978), First Baptist Church in Duncan, Oklahoma (1978-1981), and First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, Florida (1981-1989).

In 1989, Prestonwood Baptist Church, already a landmark Dallas congregation with a membership of approximately 11,000, called Dr. Graham as Senior Pastor after its founding Pastor, Bill Webber admitted to an extramarital affair and resigned.[2] At Prestonwood, Dr. Graham quickly shared his vision for expanding outreach and the congregation responded enthusiastically to his straightforward message. As the church family continued to increase by some 2,000 members annually, leaders and members prayed, investigated, deliberated and finally, in 1999 built a new 7,500 seat [3] worship facility, school and ministry complex on 150 acres in west Plano. In 2006, the church started a "North Campus" 19 miles north of its Plano campus, in Prosper, Texas. The "North Campus" currently meets at the Prosper High School until construction on the new building is complete. Dr. Graham's sermons at the Plano campus are broadcast to the meeting place of the North Campus, and Marc Rylander serves as the Campus Pastor. The North Campus' membership is already estimated at 2,000 people.

Dr. Graham has served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest American Protestant denomination, with 16 million members, and as president of the SBC Pastor’s Conference.


Theological views

Dr. Graham's theological views line up with those of the Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Faith and Message.[4][5]

Dr. Graham also falls in line with the 90% of Southern Baptist pastors who do not consider themselves Five-Point Calvinists. [6] On the subject of five-point Calvinism, he was quoted in The Baptist Standard in 2003 saying "he would not want to see Southern Baptists embrace an elitist doctrine or to minimize the importance of evangelism, which are common criticisms of five-point Calvinism."[7]

Marriage and children

Dr. Graham and Deb live in Frisco, Texas. They have three children, Jason (married to Toby), Kelly and Joshua, and one grandson, Ian James Graham.[citation needed]

Published works

  • You Can Make a Difference (1992)
  • Diamonds in the Dark (1997)
  • Lessons from the Heart (2001)
  • A Hope and a Future (2002)
  • Life According to Jesus (2004)
  • A Man of God (2005)
  • Courageous Parenting (2006)
  • Are You Fit for Life? (2007)

References

  1. ^ Prestonwood Baptist History page
  2. ^ Parmley, Helen, Prestonwood Pastor Resigns, Dallas Morning News, 1988-10-09
  3. ^ Jack Graham Bio Page at Prestonwood
  4. ^ Jack Graham's Mission/Beliefs from JackGraham.org
  5. ^ Southern Baptist Convention
  6. ^ Baptist Press on Calvinism in the SBC
  7. ^ The Baptist Standard

External links