Homer Edwin Young (born August 11, 1936), often called simply Ed Young, is senior pastor of the megachurch Second Baptist Church of Houston, Texas. He is father to sons Ed Young, pastor of

Fellowship Church Fellowship Church (FC) is Baptist Evangelical multi-site megachurch located in Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, that is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. FC's lead pastor has been Ed Young since its opening in 1989. Hi ...

Grapevine, Texas Grapevine is a city and suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth located in northeast Tarrant County, Texas, United States, with minor portions extending into Dallas County and Denton County. The city is located in the Mid-Cities suburban region betwee ...

; Ben Young, associate pastor at Second Baptist Houston; and Cliff Young, director of Second Films and leader of the Christian folk/pop group

Caedmon's Call Caedmon's Call is a contemporary Christian band which fused traditional folk with world music and alternative rock. They were composed of Cliff Young (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Danielle Young (vocals), Garett Buell (percussion), Jeff Mi ...

Early life and education

Young was born on August 11, 1936 in

Laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

in southeastern

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

to an impoverished family. He entered the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of ...

as an engineering major. But halfway through his freshman year he answered the call of the ministry and enrolled at

Mississippi College Mississippi College (MC) is a private Baptist university in Clinton, Mississippi. Founded in 1826, MC is the second-oldest Baptist-affiliated college or university in the United States and the oldest college or university in Mississippi. Histor ...

in Clinton. He went on to the

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Wake Forest, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. in Wake Forest, North Carolina. It was created in 1950 to meet a need in ...

Wake Forest, North Carolina Wake Forest is a town in Franklin, Granville and Wake counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina; located almost entirely in Wake County, it lies just north of the state capital, Raleigh. At the 2020 census, the population was 47,601. That ...

Career

"Young was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention in June of 1992 and again in June, 1993." He has a broadcast ministry called ''The Winning Walk'' that can be accessed internationally. He is the author to dozens of books including ''Healing Broken America'', ''Standing on the Promises'', ''Total Heart Health for Men'', ''Total Heart Health for Women'', ''The 10 Commandments of Parenting'', and ''The 10 Commandments of Marriage.'' , Dr. Young had sold "nearly 12,000 CDs and DVDs."

Ministership

Young started as a pastor in North Carolina, despite the wishes of his father. Moving to

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, he pastored Taylors First Baptist Church (1968–1971) and First Baptist Church Columbia (1972–1978) before moving to

Second Baptist Church Houston Second Baptist Church Houston is a Baptist multi-site megachurch in Houston, Texas, US. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. History Second Baptist Church was founded in 1927 whe ...

. Under his leadership, Second Baptist grew from an average weekend attendance of 500 in 1978 to a membership of over 80,000 in 2019. Dr. Young was a pioneer of the multisite church, and in 1999, Second Baptist became one church in two locations. As of the spring of 2015 when the last campus was opened, Second Baptist Church occupies six campuses in the Houston metropolitan area and, , has an online campus where each week's sermon is livestreamed daily. Young assisted in the creation and organization of Houston's relief work following Tropical Storm Allison and Hurricanes

Katrina Katrina or Katrine may refer to: People * Katrina (given name) * Katrine (given name) Meteorology * List of storms named Katrina, a list of tropical cyclones designated as Katrina ** Hurricane Katrina, an exceptionally powerful Atlantic hurrican ...

, Rita,

Ike Ike or IKE may refer to: People * Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname ...

, and

Harvey Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

as well as the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Young along with Bishop James Dixon, Senior Pastor of Community of Faith Church, developed and launched ''Loving Kids'', a joint venture ministry designed to make a difference in Houston's Acres Homes subdivision by collaboratively adopting three local Houston elementary schools "to help support children by way of mentors, tutors and teacher assistants."

Controversy

Young has garnered some controversy by calling for progressive local politicians in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

and Harris County to be voted out because of rising homicide rates during his sermons. Some have called for his churches tax exemption to be removed for the politically charged comments, but a law professor at the

University of Houston Law Center The University of Houston Law Center is the law school of the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1947, the Law Center is one of 12 colleges of the University of Houston, a state university. It is accredited by the American Bar A ...

said the comments were unlikely to result in such a penalty. Young has faced criticism both for his leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention with regard to prevention of sexual abuse in the churches and for the Second Baptist's handling of two sexual abuse claims against a contract-employed coordinator of music pageants, John Forse, in 1994 and against a former youth pastor, Chad Foster, in 2010. The Second Baptist church has settled two lawsuits filed by Foster's victims.

Personal life

On September 7, 2017, Young's wife, Jo Beth Young, died at the age of 80. Married for 58 years, the couple had three children and 11 grandchildren. In 1988, Young had angioplasty to open a clogged heart artery. In his 2005 book ''Total Heart Health for Men Workbook'', he wrote about methods of reducing the risk of heart problems as he was familiar with. In May 2010, he underwent triple coronary bypass surgery.

Works

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References

External links

''The Winning Walk'' official website

Second Baptist Church Houston official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Homer Edwin 1936 births Living people American television evangelists People from Laurel, Mississippi Southern Baptist ministers Southern Baptist Convention presidents Mississippi College alumni Baptists from Mississippi