Remembering Harald Bredesen

CBN founding Board member, Harald Bredesen, died on Friday, December 29, 2006, at approximately 10:15 Pacific time. He was 88. Bredesen served on the CBN Board of Directors since its founding in 1960. Harald's ministry, which has been described as "another chapter of the book of Acts,' kept him on a global itinerary throughout most of his life.

“Harald Bredesen served on the CBN Board of Directors since its beginning, constantly giving us wise counsel and unique spiritual insights," said CBN Founder, Dr. Pat Robertson. "He served the Lord in a global ministry leading many into the fullness of the Holy Spirit and set an example for us all in His boldness and perpetual joy. He was a dear friend and beloved brother in Christ. Dede and I will miss him greatly. His family is in our prayers.”

Bredesen was ordained in 1944 in the American Lutheran Church and became one of the most influential ministers in the early days of the Charismatic Movement. In 1946 he received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Many charismatic Christians have credited him with leading them into the same experience, including Pat Robertson and Pat Boone.

Known by many as "Mr. Charisma," Bredesen was involved in the founding of major Christian media ministries, including the Christian Broadcasting Network, Trinity Broadcasting Network, and 100 Huntley Street in Canada.

Over the years, Bredesen's ministry was featured on ABC, the BBC, Radio Moscow, CBS's The World Tonight, Walter Cronkite's News and World Report, as well as other major international news programs. Articles chronicling his ministry and influence were featured in Time, The Saturday Evening Post, Encyclopedia Britannica, Charisma Magazine, and Christianity Today.

For three and a half years, Bredesen hosted CBN's popular Charisma television program. As a CBN Board member and confidant of Pat Robertson, Bredesen played a key role in the Network over the years.

Bredesen was the author of the best selling books Yes Lord and Need a Miracle? He wrote numerous magazine articles for publications in America and around the world.

The Saturday Evening Post once called him the "charismatic envoy to the campuses," referring to his many speeches and ministry visits to colleges and universities, including Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Chicago University, and many others around the world.

"He is one of the most unusual servants of the Lord that has ever lived. When the Lord got through making him, he broke the mold," Robertson said at Bredesen's 85th birthday party. "He hears from God as clearly as any man I know." Robertson described Bredesen's ministry to world leaders as "almost legendary."

Robertson first met Bredesen while serving as his student assistant at the First Reformed Church in Mount Vernon, New York. Bredesen would later lead Pat Robertson into the Baptism in the Holy Spirit -- a ministry for which Bredesen was uniquely anointed.

"In bringing people into the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, Harald is the best," Robertson declared of his friend. TBN President and Founder, Paul Crouch agreed, adding, "I've never heard [the baptism] explained so simply and so beautifully."

"There is no man like him," said evangelist Benny Hinn. "He has touched my life and has left his mark on the Church in a powerful way. When I met Harald for the first time he was known as the father of the Charismatics. Well, in my opinion, he still is."

George Otis, another veteran Charismatic leader said of him, "Harald Bredesen is a rare person. He is one of the great big cylinders in the engine of the Charismatic revival that spawned thousands of churches and ministries and new broadcast organizations and enterprises that further the cause of the Lord."

Journalist David Aikman, formerly of Time Magazine, said of Bredesen, "…he was one of the first mainline denominational leaders who went forward very vigorously in the whole Charismatic movement. He transformed the Lutheran Movement in the United States in terms of Charismatic commitment and he became one of the leading exponents of Charismatic teaching and practice. I think he is one of the great saints of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."

Harald Bredesen is survived by his wife, Gen, and their four children.

Regarding response to Bredesen's death, the family stated on his Web site that it "cherishes you and appreciates your continued prayers."