Edward G. Dobson was born on December 30, 1949 and died on December 26, 2015.
He was a Northern Irish-American pastor,
He was also an executive for the Moral Majority.
He became involved with the Christian Right movement.
Dobson became the pastor of a megachurch in Grand Rapids, Michigan and a nationally known author and speaker, especially after being diagnosed with ALS in 2000.
Dobson moved to the United States from Northern Ireland in 1964.
Dobson received his BA in 1970 and his MA in 1972 from Bob Jones University and an EdD (1986) in higher education from the University of Virginia.
He was the Dean of Men at Liberty University at the age of 23, “but before long he was also teaching New Testament survey, coaching the soccer team, and taking on more administrative duties.
He then became the vice president for student life as well as associate pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church.
Jerry Falwell announced Dobson to the board in June 1979.When the Moral Majority was spoken.
After 3 years, the premiere issue of Fundamentalist Journal listed him as one of two senior editors; Dobson became editor-in-chief two and a half years later and served as a voice of the Moral Majority.
Himself and another Liberty faculty member, Ed Hindson, was an effective ghost-wrote Falwell’s The Fundamentalist Phenomenon in 1981.
Dobson left Liberty in 1987, right just as Falwell became responsible for the empire of failed televangelist Jim Bakker, and Dobson took the pastorate of Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he remained for eighteen years (1987–2005).
The Moody Bible Institute named him “Pastor of the Year,” in 93.
Edward was an advisory editor for Christianity Today.
He was a mentor to many.
Edward was told he had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in 2000,
He started writing Prayers and Promises when Facing a Life-Threatening Illness.
A small video was made on his life and his struggles with his illness.
The Grand Rapids Theological Seminary dedicated a “Dobson Study Center” in its classroom building to honor Dobson’s long pastorate and television ministry.
He appeared on Good Morning America because he had attempted to live a year as Jesus had, observing Sabbath and Jewish holidays and festivals.
Edward had said that he had voted for Barack Obama on the grounds that Obama “was closer to Jesus’s teachings.”
Edward G. Dobson passed away at 65 yrs old.