One week ago, Voddie Baucham Jr breathed his last and was no more because God took him away from us. When I got the news the following morning, I asked what happened and was told that one moment he appeared well and the next moment he was gone. That was how my life’s journey with Dr Voddie Baucham Jr screeched to a halt. In this rather long blog post I want to recount this journey and share it with you.
My journey with Dr Voddie Baucham Jr began in August 2006. Paul Washer was winding up his visit to Zambia when he said to me, “Conrad, I know just the right man for you to invite as a preacher for your annual conference. His name is Voddie Baucham. Have you ever heard of him?” I had never heard of him. I trusted Paul Washer’s judgment and gave him the green light to speak to Voddie about his coming to Zambia the following year.
Voddie agreed and I met him for the first time as he came to preach at the Zambia Reformed Conference in August 2007. He was as huge as Paul Washer had described him. My hand literally disappeared into his as we shook hands for the first time on his arrival. Voddie immediately endeared himself to the Zambian and African Christians who attended this conference. What we did not realise was that Voddie also fell in love with Zambia and decided he wanted to move and serve Christ’s church in our country.
Voddie came again to preach at the Zambia Reformed Conference in 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2014. He was no doubt our favourite preacher. Each year he came, he whispered to me that he wanted to come and serve on our continent and in our country. I must admit that I always thought he was joking, especially because of the impact his ministry was already having in the USA. Why would anyone want to leave that and disappear into the backwoods of life in Africa? It is more natural to dream of leaving Africa to go to the USA!
At the end of Voddie’s preaching ministry in 2014, he whispered to me with teary eyes, “Bridget has agreed that we move here. Please pray that she does not change her mind as we get back to the USA.” A few months later, Voddie called me from the USA, saying, “I have resigned my job as pastor. We are coming to Zambia soon. My elders asked me what I will be doing when I come there. Conrad, you have not given me a job yet!” That was one conversation that I would never forget. Voddie was truly coming to Zambia!
Thankfully, a month before this call, our first Dean of the School of Divinity at the African Christian University had stepped down to return to the USA. So, we had just the right job waiting for Voddie. It was perfect timing. Voddie announced to the world that he was moving to Zambia and many American Christians rushed to Google Maps to find out where Zambia was in the world! During our 2015 Zambia Reformed Conference, Voddie, Bridget, and seven of their children arrived to live and serve among us.
In April 2011, Voddie had invited me to preach at Grace Family Baptist Church in Houston where he was a pastor. Felistas and I had the first opportunity to meet his whole family and his church. It was quite an experience. There was no doubt that Voddie believed and lived out what he taught in his books Family Driven Faith and Ever-Loving Truth. The role of father as shepherd over his family was in the ambience of the home and church. We loved what we saw, heard and tasted (because he was a good cook!).
Voddie left an expanding and impactful ministry in the USA when he came to Zambia ten years ago. He had become a major voice for conservative Christianity right across the USA. Many people have asked me how I convinced Voddie to leave all this and come to Zambia. What did I offer him? As you have read above…I offered him nothing! His decision to move to Zambia was born purely out of his walk with God. We were mere recipients of God’s servant and his family. If you were shocked by this, so were we!
Knowing how gifted Voddie was in preaching, it was not difficult to know where we were going to make maximum use of him in the church. As soon as he became a member, we offered him to preach for ten Sundays a year on any topic or theme that he felt led to handle. He accepted on condition that I did not reduce the number of Sundays I was preaching at KBC. To borrow his own words, “Conrad, you must remain the primary leader and preacher. Nothing should change because I am now at KBC.” I gladly obliged.
Perhaps this is the place to bring in my family. My wife Felistas was quick to suggest a home that was under our care for the Bauchams to live in while they looked for a more permanent home to rent or buy. She helped Bridget to find her feet as a mother taking care of seven children in a place with very few supplies compared to the USA. It was not long before our youngest daughter Mwape asked if she could go and help the Bauchams look after their children. Permission was granted. Then, when our church sent out our oldest son Mwindula to plant a church within the city, Voddie announced that he wanted to become part of the nucleus to help the young church planter. We lost the Bauchams at KBC as they spent the next four years assisting in the new church plant.
When our son Mwansa informed the elders of his sense of God’s calling on his life to plant a church in the area where Voddie lived, we were not surprised to learn from Voddie that the two of them had been talking about this for some time and that Voddie wanted to help him get this church off the ground. He had even offered his home for the initial meetings. Voddie and Mwansa enjoyed intense discussions. Voddie dedicated his most recent book to his young friend Mwansa. Voddie was our children’s favourite preacher. He preached at their weddings and at Mwansa’s funeral. He and Bridget also attended the African traditional events that led up to our children’s weddings.
It was my meeting with Voddie in 2018 that convinced me that I should step down as ACU chancellor and instead join the faculty at the ACU. I was touring ACU as chancellor when I stopped by Voddie’s office. I found him frustrated. He said, “Conrad, I have been here three years now and I am still failing to get the seminary off the ground. I need at least 3 people with doctorates on the faculty but everyone I have asked so far is not willing to come over to work here in Zambia.” My response was, “I think I know what I should do. I need to resign as chancellor and join the staff here.” Voddie’s response was, “That was going to be my next point!” As they say, the rest is history. I joined Voddie as associate dean in the school of divinity at the African Christian University in 2019 and we worked very well together. Voddie was the dreamer; I was the administrator. There were others, of course, who made up the dream team in the school at the university.
Voddie was (and still is) a brand. On one occasion, someone came to visit me in my office and started telling me about how Voddie’s ministry had impacted him. He ended by asking me, “Do you know him? Since he is a Baptist and you are a Baptist, perhaps you may have met him. I hear he is now here in Zambia somewhere.” I asked him to go and read on the door opposite my office. He came back dragging his jaw on the floor with his eyes so wide it was as if he had seen a ghost. “Dr Voddie Baucham works here?? You mean you get to meet him every day? Wow! My wife will not believe that I saw Voddie Baucham’s office. I can hardly believe it myself!” That was my privilege.
Christians visiting Lusaka sometimes asked if I could arrange a visit to Voddie’s home for them. Others whom I met in other towns and countries would ask if they could greet him on my phone. Voddie kindly agreed and warmly welcomed such individuals. Then there were those who hoped to get him to preach at their conferences through me. That was often hard because his limited preaching calendar was often fully booked. I once told him that if I charged for these services, I would have built a house with the money.
When Voddie began to preach at Kabwata Baptist Church, our monthly sermon listeners multiplied incredibly. We went from about 300 to about 18,000 per sermon and it was his sermons that brought in the thousands of listeners. When I went around churches anywhere in the world to talk about the African Christian University, people would listen but only out of respect until I would mention Voddie’s name. Then they would come alive, and their faces would glow with interest. After the meeting, most of them would be asking me about Voddie and not the ACU. One guy who drove me around during a visit to the USA kept chuckling and saying, “I am the chauffeur for Voddie Baucham’s pastor. I can’t wait to tell my wife what I have just discovered.” He could not believe it.
All who knew Voddie personally will tell you that he never went out of his way to be a celebrity pastor. That was why he had no difficulty going into an obscure part of Africa to gladly serve there for almost a decade. Voddie was passionate about the truth. He wanted the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that saved him to impact lives wherever he preached. He was a gifted communicator of the gospel and all its ramifications at personal, family, and community levels and that was what drew the crowds to him.
My face-to-face journey with Voddie came to an end last year. He called me in October to let me know that several strange providences had come together in his life that necessitated his relocation to the USA—his health, his mother’s health, the educational demands of his children, and so on. Felistas and I visited their home in November to hear more about this and to pray for them because at that point he did not know what he was going to do upon returning to the USA. Although we have exchanged text messages a few times this year where he updated me on how they were settling down in Florida, that visit to their Zambian home in November was the last I saw my brother face to face. A week ago, Voddie breathed his last and went to glory. What a journey this was!
I am grateful that Paul Washer introduced this man to me. I am greatly indebted to Voddie for the nine years he invested spiritually in our people in Zambia and in Africa. I thank God for the friend he gave me in this man whom I now look forward to meeting in glory together with our son Mwansa. Farewell, Voddie, see you in the morning!
