Pat Robertson had his hand in a lot of Christian ventures – TV broadcasting, Christian education, legal organizations and medical missions to name a few – but it was said of him that his heart was all about the gospel. He longed to lead people to Christ.
Born in 1930 to a U.S. senator from Virginia and his wife, and after a stint in the military during the Korean War and a degree from Yale Law School, Pat found Christ and went into ministry. He started the “700 Club” in 1961 and grew it into a global ministry.
“With satellites, and with the language translations, and the things that we've had available, we have probably seen more people come to the Lord through CBN than any other organization in the world,” Robertson once said of the gospel’s reach. “But it wasn't me, it was God.”
Along the way he also founded Regent University and started Operation Blessing, which sends medical teams to developing countries, and created the American Center for Law and Justice.
Christian apologist Alex McFarland says the law school at Regent may prove to be where Robertson left his mark on the world.
“I think about ADF and many of the ministries that defend religious freedom,” McFarland tells AFN. “They have hugely benefited from the graduates of Regent Law School.”
Gary Bauer, a longtime conservative activist, tells AFN he remembers Robertson for his political work in the 1980s. At that time Bauer was working in the Reagan administration and witnessed the growing influence of prominent Christian leaders such as Chuck Colson, James Dobson, and Jerry Falwell. Robertson was working with them, too.
“[Robertson] built the Christian Coalition,” Bauer points out, “which of course was a major force in Republican politics in what became known as the ‘Religious Right.’ So he’s got quite a legacy that I think will influence the course of the country for a long time to come.”
