They preached and protested, wrote and sang, or stood on one side or the other of hot-button issues of their day.

As the year comes to a close, we remember faith leaders and other individuals of influence who called for people to use their spiritual values to fight abuse, help the hungry, and treat all with respect.

Here are some major figures in the world of religion who died in 2023:

Jack W. Hayford

Jack W. Hayford, an author, radio teacher, and pastor once called “The Pentecostal Gold Standard,” died January 8 at his home in southern California. He was 88 years old. 

Hayford was best-known as “Pastor Jack,” founding The Church On the Way in Van Nuys, California, in 1969. During his three-decade tenure as pastor of the charismatic Foursquare Gospel megachurch, it reportedly grew to over 12,000 members. He founded The King’s College and Seminary in Los Angeles in 1997, which was subsequently renamed The King’s University, with its primary campus moving to the Dallas area.

From 2004 to 2009, Hayford served as President of The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, which currently has over 67,500 affiliated churches. In a statement, the evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination called Hayford “one of the most influential Foursquare figures since Founder Aimee Semple McPherson.” 

Hayford’s sermons were first edited for broadcast in 1977, and within a decade his teaching program Living Way aired on more than 500 radio stations. He was inducted into the National Religious Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2014, alongside prominent evangelical preachers Billy Graham, Adrian Rogers, and Chuck Colson. 

In a 2005 article, Christianity Today referred to Hayford as “Pentecostals’ and charismatics’ gold standard.” Steve Strang, publisher of Charisma and Ministries Today said Hayford was a “statesman almost without peer. . . . His integrity and theological depth are so well known that he can draw together all kinds of factions.”

Charles Stanley

The former Southern Baptist Convention president, Atlanta preacher and religious broadcaster died April 18 at the age of 90.

The year after he became the senior pastor of First Baptist Atlanta in 1971, Stanley started his broadcast ministry with “The Chapel Hour,” a 30-minute program on two of the city’s television stations. Renamed “In Touch With Dr. Stanley,” it became a nationwide broadcast on the Christian Broadcasting Network in 1978.

He served two consecutive one-year terms as leader of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, presiding over its two largest meetings and assisting in the advance of the so-called conservative resurgence, when conservative leaders took control of the denomination from moderates.

Stanley, who was known as a spokesman for conservative family values, at one time told his congregation he would resign if he divorced. But later he determined he’d continue as his church’s leader after he and his wife, Anna, divorced after 44 years of marriage.

“The love you have shown me and the love I have for you have encouraged me to remain faithful to God’s call on my life,” Stanley told his congregants.

George Verwer

The founder of a prominent evangelical missions group and pioneer in world missions, George Verwer, died on Friday at his home near London, England. He was 84. 

Author of more than 20 books and founder of Operation Mobilization (OM), Verwer is often described as a “maverick” who mobilized the masses and rejected ministry formulas.

“When the mission agencies of the late fifties were looking for highly trained individuals with seminary degrees who would commit to going for a lifetime, George invited young people who simply loved Jesus to come for a summer,” said Andrew Scott, U.S. president of OM. “This was new. This was different. Thousands came.”

OM reports that it currently has more than 5,000 team members from 135 countries serving in 147 nations worldwide. The ministry also states that an “estimated 300 other mission agencies were also started” by former OM staff or by those impacted during or following OM mission trips. 

Friends and associates described his approach as inclusive and empowering. Andrew Brunson, former missionary to Turkey who was imprisoned for two years and founder of WaveStarters, called Verwer “one of the great mobilizers of the 20th century” in a statement to The Roys Report (TRR). “What also stood out to me was his concern for the poor, transparency about his weaknesses, sacrificial lifestyle, phenomenal energy, and humility.” 

Rabbi Harold Kushner

The author of “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” died April 28 at the age of 88.

The 1981 book was the Conservative rabbi’s effort to make sense of the diagnosis of his 3-year-old son with a premature aging condition that led to the boy’s death about a decade later, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

“Can I, in good faith, continue to teach people that the world is good, and that a kind and loving God is responsible for what happens in it?” writes Kushner, who was the leader of a Massachusetts temple.

His views that God is unable to control all of life’s tragedies drew criticism from some Orthodox Jews and praise from others inside and outside Judaism.

After a tornado swept through Jackson, Tennessee, in 2008, Kushner told media he didn’t view it as an act of God.

“I find God not in the tornado,” he said, “but in the many responses to the tornado, whether it’s the courage to go on or the resilience to put your life back together or the impulse to help victims.”

Tim Keller

The author and influential Presbyterian Church in America minister died on May 19 at the age of 72.

Keller founded Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York, in 1989. The congregation began in rented space at another church, grew to more than 5,000, and became the catalyst for other churches to be planted in and beyond New York.

“The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism,” his 2008 book, was listed as a New York Times bestseller and named Book of the Year by World magazine.

Keller was known for a nonconfrontational yet conservative style through which he sought to offer an “intellectually credible” view of the gospel. The suit-wearing evangelical preacher told media he was determined to act like a Christian even if his views differed from the broader culture.

“This was never the neutral territory,” said Keller, who stepped down as pastor of Redeemer in 2017. “We always had opposition.”

He continued writing books, including “Forgive,” published in 2022, and worked full time for Redeemer City to City, a nonprofit that trains church planters and future pastors.

Agnes Abuom

The first African and the first woman to serve as moderator of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches died May 31 at the age of 73.

The longtime ecumenist and peacemaker was a lay canon in the Anglican Church of Kenya. She was moderator of the WCC’s Central Committee from 2013 to 2022.

Abuom had a key role in efforts toward peace in Sudan and Southern Sudan after the latter country became independent in 2011. Earlier in her career, she founded TAABCO Research and Development Consultants to advise development organizations on poverty alleviation.

At the 11th Assembly of the WCC in 2022, as she neared the end of her term, Abuom responded to journalists inquiring about the sometimes tense meeting during which Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox delegations did not formally meet.

“For people to come to the table, it takes a lot of footwork in the background,” she said. “That needs to continue to happen in order that there will be trust, the willingness to come to the table and dialogue.”

Pat Robertson

The founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and onetime Republican presidential candidate died June 8 at the age of 93.

He retired as the host of CBN’s long-running “The 700 Club” program in 2021 on the 60th anniversary of its first broadcast. The show, on which he welcomed five presidents, became one of many vehicles by which he built a politically influential corps of Christian conservatives.

Robertson led numerous conservative Christian organizations, including the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends the religious liberty of plaintiffs; Regent University, an evangelical school based in Virginia Beach, Virginia; and the Christian Coalition, which became known for its “Christian score cards” placed on windshields of cars in church parking lots.

He viewed natural disasters as a form of God’s judgment on groups he opposed, such as feminists and gays, and was denounced by Black Lives Matter movement co-founder Patrisse Cullors when he linked its demonstrators to many of the stances he spent much of his life criticizing.

“Of course, Black lives matter,” Robertson explained, calling the movement itself “a stalking horse for a very, very radical anti-family, anti-God agenda.”

“We don’t want to go along with a lesbian, anti-family, anti-capitalist, Marxist revolution,” Robertson said. “We don’t want that for America.”

Bishop Melvin Talbert

The United Methodist leader known for his work on racial justice, LGBTQ advocacy and ecumenical cooperation died Aug. 3 at the age of 89.

He officiated in 2013 at the union of two men in Birmingham, Alabama, despite the urgings of other Methodist leaders not to go through with the ceremony. His decision marked the first time a bishop had taken such action that broke the church’s official laws.

Talbert had declared that the denomination’s traditionalist stance on homosexuality “is wrong and evil. … It no longer calls for our obedience.” He also said of the debate: “This matter will not be resolved until those discriminatory passages are removed from the Book of Discipline.”

In 2015, charges were dropped when he reached a settlement with those who had filed complaints that alleged he had “violated the sacred trust of his office.”

His role in a sit-in in Atlanta in 1960 resulted in him sharing a jail cell with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., after which he described himself as “a disciple of King,” stated the Council of Bishops website.

Sarah Young

The author of bestselling “Jesus Calling” died Aug. 31 at the age of 77.

Young’s devotional book was published in 2004 and became so popular it led to additional products such as journals, podcasts and children’s books. By July 2023, the Jesus Calling brand had sold 45 million copies, according to Thomas Nelson, Young’s publisher.

All this occurred without her contributing to publicity for the book, written as if Jesus were speaking to the reader. It was listed second in a bestseller compilation of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association in the month of her death.

“Because of my isolated location and my chronic health issues, I’ve never been on a book tour,” said Young via email to Religion News Service in 2021. “Though my name may be well known, my face is not.”

The former missionary told media that readers told her that her books helped them have courage to face their difficulties. Young said, in turn, she considered it “a sacred responsibility and a delightful privilege” to pray “at length” daily for those who had read her books.

Loren Cunningham

Founder of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a youth-driven evangelism movement that popularized short-term mission trips among evangelicals, Cunningham died at age 88 on Oct. 6 following a battle with cancer.

Cunningham, a missions pioneer who served as chancellor of YWAM’s University of the Nations in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, “was the first person in history to travel to every sovereign nation on earth (and) all dependent countries . . . for the sake of Christ and the Great Commission,” according to the ministry.

In March, his family announced that Cunningham had Stage 4 cancer and would not be undergoing extensive treatment. 

While he had roots in the Assemblies of God denomination, a charismatic fellowship of churches, Cunningham envisioned YWAM as inter-denominational from its founding. Today, YWAM has more than 1,200 mission bases in nearly 200 nations worldwide. The movement’s global reach has been compared to prominent Protestant missions groups such as the SBC”s International Mission Board, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ.)

Several leading evangelical figures posted to honor Cunningham’s legacy, including Franklin Graham, son of late evangelist Billy Graham and president of Samaritan’s Purse. Graham wrote: “What an incredible life this man lived. Loren allowed God to use him, and he was a force for the Gospel for decades.”

Art Simon

The founder and first president of the Christian advocacy group Bread for the World died Nov. 14 at the age of 93.

He started the anti-hunger group in the mid-1970s with the aim of reducing poverty, improving nutrition and decreasing hunger for people across the globe.

Simon’s first steps in anti-hunger advocacy occurred in the 1960s and ‘70s when he responded to the pressing needs of poverty and hunger in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York’s Trinity Lutheran Church.

Simon, an ecumenical minister affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, focused on the importance of grassroots activism and his organization is known for its “Offering of Letters” campaigns that encourage congregations and community groups to send letters and emails to lawmakers to pass hunger-reducing legislation.

“Voters who speak up, not big money interests, can be the movers and shakers who get Congress to act,” he wrote in his 2019 book “Silence Can Kill: Speaking Up to End Hunger and Make Our Economy Work for Everyone.”

Carlton Pearson

The preacher, singer and author who became known for “The Gospel of Inclusion” died Nov. 19 at the age of 70.

Bishop Carlton Pearson, a onetime member and ordained minister of the Church of God in Christ, a predominantly Black denomination, described himself as a “fourth-generation fundamentalist.” But while serving as pastor of a Tulsa megachurch he made a theological shift that led to the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops declaring him a heretic.

“The blasphemy I stand accused of is the simple message of the Gospel of Inclusion: the whole world is saved, but they just don’t know it,” he wrote in the introduction to his 2006 book, “The Gospel of Inclusion: Reaching Beyond Religious Fundamentalism to the True Love of God and Self.”

“Saved not only from hell and eternal damnation, but saved from itself — saved from its erroneous perceptions of God and good.”

Views about Pearson, who once hosted Azusa conferences on the campus of Oral Roberts University and later became a bishop of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, were so divided that several services were held to honor his memory in the days after his death.

Josh Shepherd contributed to this article. 

Adelle Banks is production editor and a national correspondent at Religion News Service.