{{Short description|American television evangelist (1925–2013)}} '''Ben Haden''' (October 18, 1925 - October 24, 2013)<ref name="dcarroll">{{Cite web |last=Carroll |first=David |title=Funeral service announced for Rev. Ben Haden |url=https://www.local3news.com/funeral-service-announced-for-rev-ben-haden/article_670fdd13-0bed-5a74-be43-ceccc0a33576.html |access-date=2023-04-08 |website=Local3News.com |date=24 October 2013 |language=en}}</ref> was an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Kjs0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=O-sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4858,1210727&dq=ben+haden&hl=en|title=Rev. Ben Haden in Vancouver|date=October 7, 1967|work=The Miami News|accessdate=October 24, 2013}}{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> He became internationally known through the religious broadcast, ''Changed Lives''.

==Early life==

Haden was born in Fincastle, Virginia, in 1925.<ref name="Melton">{{Cite book |last1=Melton |first1=J. Gordon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cy8RAQAAMAAJ |title=Prime-time Religion: An Encyclopedia of Religious Broadcasting |last2=Lucas |first2=Phillip Charles |last3=Stone |first3=Jon R. |date=1997 |publisher=Oryx Press |isbn=978-0-89774-902-2 |language=en}}</ref> to Judge Benjamin Haden and Anne Spiller Hadden. He had one sister, Lynn. The family later moved to Houston, Texas.<ref>[https://www.chattanoogabar.org/112.33/memorial-resolutions-2013 Chattanooga Bar Association website]</ref>

He received his law degree from Washington and Lee College in 1949 and became a member of the Virginia bar.<ref name="Melton"/> He also studied at the University of Texas at Austin and Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia.

==Early career== Before becoming a preacher, he was the owner and president of the Long Oil Company, he worked for the CIA<ref name="dcarroll"/><ref name="Melton"/> during the Korean War and was also CEO of Kingsport Times-News,<ref name="dcarroll"/><ref name="Melton"/><ref name="clonline"/>

He was an atheist in his youth. He became a Christian in 1954.<ref name="clonline">{{Cite web |title=Ben Haden |url=https://changedlives.org/about-ben-haden |access-date=2023-04-08 |website=changedlives.org}}</ref>

==Preaching career== Haden joined Columbia Theological Seminary in 1960. In 1963, he published a non-fiction account of the people he met during his travels as a newspaperman in the Soviet Union, ''[https://www.librarything.com/work/19665445 I See Their Faces]''.

He pastored Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church in Miami, Florida from 1963 to 1967.<ref>[https://www.pcahistory.org/mo/benhaden.html Presbyterian Church in America, Historical website]</ref> He then became the 11th pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1968, taking over from James L. Fowle. Haden's preaching style was described as arguing a case before a jury.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://byfaithonline.com/ben-haden-passes-to-glory/|title=Ben Haden Passes to Glory - byFaith|date=24 October 2013}}</ref>

He also spoke on the ''Radio Bible Study Hour'', succeeding Donald Grey Barnhouse of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

Haden handled the news media for several of Billy Graham’s evangelism crusades.<ref name="Chattanoogan.com website">[https://www.chattanoogan.com/2021/10/20/437009/Earl-Freudenberg-Remembering-Ben-Haden-and-His-Testimony-At-A-1971-Billy-Graham-Crusade Chattanoogan.com website]</ref> When Graham’s mother was honored at the White House by President Nixon in 1971, she asked that Haden preach there and this was permitted.<ref name="Heritage Funeral Home website">[https://www.heritagebattlefield.com/tributes/Ben-Haden Heritage Funeral Home website]</ref>

Haden served the church in Chattanooga for 31 years before resigning in 1998 to pursue ''Changed Lives.org'', an internet streaming video and audio on-demand ministry. The ministry produces "conversations", that last from 5–15 minutes He emphasized that these were not sermons, but simple conversations. This supported one of the aims of ''Changed Lives'', which is to reach the many Americans who claim to be Christians, but do not belong to a physical church.

Haden died in Chattanooga on October 24, 2013.<ref name="chattanoogan">October 24, 2013. [http://www.chattanoogan.com/2013/10/24/261949/Beloved-Chattanooga-Pastor-Ben-Haden.aspx "Beloved Chattanooga Pastor Ben Haden Dies"]. ''The Chattanoogan''. Retrieved October 24, 2013.</ref> His daughter Dallas took over ''Changed Lives'' to continue his work.<ref name="Chattanoogan.com website"/>

==Honors== Haden received an honorary doctorate from King College in Bristol, Tennessee.

Haden received the ''Love of Chattanooga Award'' and the ''Sertoman’s National Heritage Award''.

His 1970 sermon, ‘’Biopsy or Autopsy’’ (dealing with a Christian's duty to the government) won a ''Freedoms Foundation Award''.<ref name="Heritage Funeral Home website"/>

==Personal life== Haden married Charlyne Edwards on July 22, 1950. They had one daughter, Dallas.

==Books by Haden== * ''I See Their Faces'' (1963). Royal Publishers: Johnson City, Tennessee. LCCN: 63025534 * ''Rebel to Rebel'' (1971). LOGOI: Miami. * ''Pray! Don't Settle for a Two-bit Prayer Life'' (1974). T. Nelson: Nashville. LCCN: 74005056

== External links== *[https://changedlives.org Changed Lives website]

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Haden, Ben}} Category:American Presbyterians Category:Presbyterian Church in America ministers Category:American television evangelists Category:1925 births Category:2013 deaths Category:Washington and Lee University alumni Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni