Pastor Ray McCauley, internationally known anti-apartheid leader and founder of Rhema Bible Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, died at age 75 on Oct. 8. A leading Pentecostal and former co-chairman of the National Interfaith Council of South Africa, he died at his home, surrounded by friends and relatives, only days after celebrating his birthday.
Pastor Joshua McCauley, his only child, who is the current senior pastor of Rhema, announced the news in a statement released by the church:
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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also honored McCauley’s life and ministry, saying, “Pastor Ray’s passing leaves our deeply spiritual nation bereft of a remarkable leader whose impressive legacy lives on in the faith of hundreds of thousands of believers within and beyond the Rhema community.”
McCauley, born in Johannesburg, was an award-winning professional bodybuilder in his youth, later working worked as a nightclub bouncer. But after converting to Christ, he attended Pastor Kenneth Hagin Sr.’s Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, an experience he regarded as a turning point in his life.
Following his time at RBTC, he returned to Johannesburg, founding Rhema Bible Church there in 1979. He defied proponents of apartheid by holding nonsegregated church services; in 1990, Rhema was one of 97 churches to sign the anti-apartheid Rustenburg Declaration.
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