The 25 Most Influential Pastors of the Past 25 Years

#6 Adrian Rogers

With a remarkable voice and a gift for expressing biblical insights in an engaging manner, Adrian Rogers became widely-known through his radio and TV ministries. Bill Bouknight observes that, "His ‘Love Worth Finding' program is still sending his sermons around the world five years after his death."

Rogers spent 32 years as Senior Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, growing the congregation from 8,000 to more than 29,000. In addition, he served three terms as President of the Southern Baptist Convention and was a key leader in the conservative resurgence movement that shifted the SBC in a new direction in the 1980s and 90s.

#7 Haddon Robinson

Haddon Robinson has used the classroom and printed page to exert a profound influence on the American pulpit during the past 25 years. His text Biblical Preaching (Baker) is the most widely-used preaching textbook of the last quarter century, helping to prepare thousands of young preachers to develop "Big Idea" sermons. (In the March-April 2010 Preaching, the book was cited as the most influential preaching book of the past 25 years.)

As a professor of preaching at three prominent evangelical seminaries, Robinson further influenced many of those who now teach preaching in colleges and seminaries. Michael Milton writes, "Arguably the greatest preacher in North America, Dr. Robinson has influenced pulpits all over America and through his ministry at Gordon-Conwell and Denver Seminary before that."

#8 Andy Stanley

Although he only founded Atlanta's North Point Community Church in 1995, in the past 15 years Andy Stanley has become a major model for a new generation of young pastors and preachers. He has led the way in the development of satellite churches and video venues, trends which are becoming ubiquitous forces in church life in the early 21st century.

Starting as Minister to Students at his father's First Baptist Church in Atlanta, the younger Stanley adapted many of his insights for communicating with youth in shaping a homiletical style for reaching unchurched young adults. His book Communicating for a Change (Multnomah) offers a guide to his preaching style. Through his leadership at the Catalyst conference, he continues to influence thousands of young pastors in shaping their own ministries. Dan Kimball writes, "I also find his preaching refreshing. I never would be embarrassed to have someone who isn't a Christian listen to an Andy Stanley sermon."

#9 John R.W. Stott

Although no longer active due to health issues, in 1985 John Stott was still a major influence on preaching, perhaps even more outside the United States than in this nation. By 1975 he had resigned as Rector of All Souls Church in London and assumed a more international leadership role, with a special concern for churches in the developing world.

Stott's book Between Two Worlds (Eerdmans) has been a major influence on our understanding of preaching in the past quarter century, and Stott himself has been a model of faithful biblical exposition. Mel Lawrenz observes, "Stott's teaching is a baseline for me. His ministry is marked by faithfulness and character over a lifetime, and a vision to see the majority world with respect long before others did."