Ben Haden obit

Beloved Chattanooga Pastor Ben Haden Dies

 

He was not on the list.

Beloved Chattanooga pastor Ben Haden died early Thursday morning at the age of 88.

Known to his congregation and many friends just as "Ben," he was a former CEO of a daily newspaper, third generation attorney, and author. During the Korean War, he was with the CIA.

This was his 45th year as a national broadcaster. He began broadcasting in 1967 on NBC, and continued for more than 33 years on hundreds of radio and television stations. His program was called "Changed Lives."

Rev. Haden pastored two churches -- in Miami and First Presbyterian in Chattanooga.

Haden joined Columbia Theological Seminary in 1960. In 1963, he published a non-fiction account of the people he met during his travels as a newspaperman in the Soviet Union, I See Their Faces.

He pastored Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church in Miami, Florida from 1963 to 1967. He then became the 11th pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1968, taking over from James L. Fowle. Haden's preaching style was described as arguing a case before a jury.

He also spoke on the Radio Bible Study Hour, succeeding Donald Grey Barnhouse of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

Haden handled the news media for several of Billy Graham’s evangelism crusades. When Graham’s mother was honored at the White House by President Nixon in 1971, she asked that Haden preach there and this was permitted.

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. The ministry produces "conversations", that last from 5–15 minutes He emphasized that these were not sermons, but simple conversations. This supported one of the aims of Changed Lives, which is to reach the many Americans who claim to be Christians, but do not belong to a physical church.

Haden died in Chattanooga on October 24, 2013. His daughter Dallas took over Changed Lives to continue his work,