Bestselling author Don Gossett home with Jesus
CONTACT: Cathy Hickling, chickling@whitakerhouse.com, 724-334-7000
World-renowned, bestselling Whitaker House author Don Gossett passed away early this morning at age 85, his wife Debra at his side, according to a ministry spokesperson. The prolific author was also a pastor, worldwide evangelist, missionary, and longtime Christian broadcaster, serving in active ministry for 66 years.
Best known for his teaching on praise and the power of the spoken word, many of his books are considered classics, such as What You Say Is What You Get, There’s Dynamite in Praise, The Power of Your Words, and Words That Move Mountains, coauthored with E. W. Kenyon.
“We’ve lost a pioneer whose teaching impacted several generations,” said Whitaker House President Bob Whitaker Jr. “Don Gossett was among the first to teach that ordinary people, not only the clergy, could stand on the authority of God’s Word to teach, preach, and heal in the name of Jesus.”
Gossett began serving in ministry in the 1940s. He apprenticed with well-known evangelist T. L. Osborn who would encourage him to launch his own evangelistic ministry. Gossett started his radio program,Bold Bible Living, in 1961. The broadcast grew to reach millions of listeners living in 89 nations. His work has been translated into 18 languages with over 25 million distributed worldwide.
“No matter how famous he became, Don remained a humble and happy man – he was a pleasure to work with,” Whitaker said. “I shall miss him.”
Don’s first wife, Joyce, with whom he had five children, passed away in 1991. He and his current wife, Debra, an ordained minister, have been partners in marriage and ministry since 1995. They have 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Gossett’s legacy is guaranteed to live on with a Whitaker House new book coauthored by the late E. W. Kenyon scheduled for release in 2015. His recent series of interviews on It’s Supernatural! with Sid Roth are also available online: www.sidroth.org/television/tv- archives/don-gossett.
In recent years Gossett had begun reaching a new generation via social media. What he posted on Facebook following the death of his mentor T. L. Osborn last year serves as a fitting eulogy for Gossett himself: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints,” he wrote. “…it was completely true that for him to live was Christ. Now he has received the ‘gain’ of heaven.”
A public “Homegoing Celebration” to honor Gossett is being planned for January 2015. Details will be available at: www.dongossett.com
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A man who was very generous with his time. As a young Christian man he came to our church to preach the gospel. Inspired so many. Saved many souls from the wretched arms of Satan. As a young man in Christ I had never met an evangelist who was travelling the world like he was. How I came to meet him personally, I was a Parking attendant for the large lot. Is it come to me A person attending the service headlock themselves out of their car. In my early years before I knew the Lord I would wait around malls at Christmas time to earn extra money to watch people like themselves out of their cars and the Christmas hurriedness. So I got a door wedge and some cardboard and a small screwdriver. It was an older Cadilac in the time that when I was a teenager probably 1976 Deville. I managed to get the car open and I waited for the person to come to the car. Unpronounced to me it was Don Gossett’s car.
It was there when he approach the car that he realize he left his keys in the ignition. He asked if I could accept a payment. Gracefully I said no. He asked if he could pray for me? I gracefully said “yes “. It was there in God’s presence to realize the power of Don Gossett. After the prayer I thanked him .we parted ways and that’s the last time I saw him
Great story to share. 🙂