Baptist Minister's Inspiring Story of Renewal Through Christ Comes to a Close
by Allie Martin
July 28, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Longtime Southern Baptist evangelist Ted Stone, a speaker and minister known to many for his dramatic testimony of a life changed through the power of Christ, has died. The 72-year-old North Carolina native passed away unexpectedly in the midst of a campaign to raise awareness about the freedom Jesus offers from drug and alcohol addiction.Stone himself spent several years in prison in the 1970s for drug-related crimes but found freedom through a relationship with Christ. Afterward, he began his inspiring ministry of hope to people trapped in substance abuse as he once was, and his ongoing challenge to churches to keep an open heart for broken people and help them overcome addictions and past mistakes.
The North Carolina minister turned his testimony of deliverance from despair into a mission of preaching the good news of Jesus Christ through walking tours across the United States. He had already traversed the United States three times, preaching and telling his story at churches along the way, when he began his fourth such trek. Stone set out from Chicago on June 19, carrying American and Christian flags, and stopping at various venues to share his message from time to time. He had planned to end up his journey in Pensacola, Florida, but died suddenly July 16, on his way to a speaking engagement in Tennessee.
Last month, Stone attended the Southern Baptist Convention in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he encouraged missionary directors to remember that "broken people" should never be considered "second-class citizens in the family of God." In an interview, he also talked about his plans for what would be his fourth -- and ultimately final -- walk across America, a walk he said he and his walking partner wanted to use to "touch as many lives as we can," and "to rescue people who are hurting with drug addictions."
Through his Ted Stone Ministries, the North Carolina evangelist created the "HIS Way" as an effort to help recovering substance abusers. But he has observed that, in addition to helping people break the strongholds of chemical dependency in their lives, a central aim of his ministries has always been "to evangelize the lost every opportunity we have."
According to a Baptist Press report, Stone fell unconscious while riding in a car with his walking partner on the way to speak at a Gallatin, Tennessee, church and died later at an area hospital. He is survived by his wife, Anne Fuller Stone, and by three daughters and five grandchildren.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
