The “hidden tragedy of the pastorate,” said Pastor Virgil Walker, is that so few church leaders take steps to prepare their families financially in the case of the church leaders’ deaths. Walker said that the recent passing of Dr. Voddie Baucham Jr. highlights this “crisis,” and he encouraged people to financially support Baucham’s family even as Walker exhorted pastors to assess the states of their own houses.
“Most pastors prepare their congregations for eternity. Few prepare their families for life after they’re gone,” said Walker in a Sept. 27 post on his Substack. Walker is vice president of ministry relations at G3 Ministries and teaching pastor at Redeemer Bible Church in Gilbert, Arizona.
“We celebrate their sermons, share their clips, quote their books, and fill their conferences,” Walker said. “But when they die, too often their widows are left with unpaid bills, children still in the home, and no financial safety net. The church moves on. The family is left behind.”
“That is the hidden tragedy of the pastorate,” he said, “and Voddie’s death brings it out of the shadows.”
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Voddie Baucham’s Death Is a ‘Test’ for Believers, Says Virgil Walker
Dr. Voddie Baucham Jr. was the founder Voddie Baucham Ministries, a former pastor and church planter, and the founding dean of the School of Divinity at African Christian University (ACU) in Lusaka, Zambia.
Baucham has been an outspoken critic on topics including cultural Marxism and critical race theory and is known for books such as “Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe.”
Baucham was a founding faculty member of the Institute of Public Theology and had recently taken up the role of founding president of the newly formed Founders Seminary, which opened this past August.
In 2021, Baucham learned he was in “full-blown heart failure,” after which he underwent a successful quadruple bypass surgery. At that time, Founders Ministries President Dr. Tom Ascol created a GoFundMe for Baucham’s medical expenses that raised over $1.4 million.
Baucham passed away on Thursday, Sept. 25, from “an emergency medical incident,” according to a statement from Founders. He leaves behind his wife, Bridget; nine children, seven of whom are still living at home; and three grandchildren.
RELATED: ‘For Me? I Just Miss My Daddy’—Daughter of Late Voddie Baucham Pays Tribute to Her Dad
Ascol has created a new fundraising campaign for Baucham’s family, this time on GiveSendGo. “Money that was previously given when Voddie nearly died from heart failure in 2021 was placed in a medical trust fund,” said the campaign. “Despite what you may have heard from critics and those who tried to cast aspersions on Voddie’s integrity, that fund was continued for that purpose until his death.”
“Most pastors prepare their congregations for eternity. Few prepare their families for life after they’re gone,” said Virgil Walker.Click to Post
