CHRISTIANNOTICE.COM.- Luis Palau was born on November 27, 1934, in a small town north of Buenos Aires, Argentina. His childhood was complicated after the death of his father when he was barely 10 years old.
His mother was left a widow with six children. In the years that followed, his family went through times of great need that led him to get a job in a bank as soon as he finished high school.
In 1946, at the age of 12, he approached a Protestant temple. Later, his life changed completely when he heard the famous preacher Billy Graham on the radio, who inspired him to take his ministry as an example to develop his own.
Since then, he dedicated himself to preaching the gospel in the streets, squares, hospitals and any place where he was allowed to share the Word of God.
preaching style
Palau’s style of preaching is largely inspired by the way Billy Graham preached and brought the gospel to others. She would later meet Graham personally and work for him as a translator of his books into Spanish. Graham himself would later contribute capital in 1970 for Palau to start his own evangelistic ministry.
But Palau’s preaching work had already started long before. In 1953 Palau held informal weekend sermons while working at the bank during the week.
Then, in 1957, he and several friends organized an evangelical program on a radio station in Buenos Aires. Shortly thereafter, at the age of 24, Palau moved to Portland, USA to participate in a Bible study program.
In the United States, Palau studied at the Multnomah School of the Bible seminary in Portland and graduated in 1961. He stayed there and joined an evangelical organization called SEPAL (currently OC International) to preach to Latinos.
That same year he married Patricia Scofield, a kindergarten teacher from Beaverton, Oregon. Scofield was a fellow Bible student from Palau and would have four children with her, twins Kevin and Keith in 1963, Andrés in 1966, and Esteban in 1969.
Creation of your ministry
His desire was to carry out the same evangelistic work as Billy Graham in Latin America, so he joined the missionary agency OC International and made trips to Colombia and Mexico. Until he was encouraged to start his own ministry.
Finally, thanks to Graham’s financial help, Luis Palau founded the Luis Palau International Association in 1978, with which he continued his campaigns throughout Latin America and spread throughout Europe and the Middle East.
For 20 years he campaigned around the world, being one of the few Christian figures allowed to preach in the Soviet Union.
In the late 1990s, and now in his 60s, he decided to stop the frenetic pace of his campaigns and focus his ministry on the United States.
Entering the new millennium, he held massive festivals, always aiming at the most “difficult” places to penetrate. In 2001 he held the BeachFest, to reach college students who traditionally vacation on Florida beaches.
That same year, Palau carried out another great campaign through New England, in the northeast of the United States, known for being the most secularized region of the country.
rise of his ministry
His ministry, “Luis Palau Evangelical Association,” continued to be based in nearby Beaverton in 2003. Three of his four children were working for his ministry at the time.
That same year, Palau hosted three daily radio shows: one English-language program broadcast by 900 stations in 23 countries, and two Spanish-language programs broadcast by 880 stations in 25 countries.
In addition, in that year, he was noted for being “at the forefront of efforts to make evangelism more active, contemporary, and accessible to a younger audience.”
Luis Palau held many congresses, seminars, informal talks, conferences and Christian music recitals.
Palau wrote 41 books and articles on preaching and theology in English and Spanish. In 2007 it was estimated that his preaching had brought the Gospel to more than 28 million people in 80 countries.
Controversies of Luis Palau
Throughout his ministry he was immersed in a great deal of controversy over his desire for Pentecostals to participate in his crusades.
Perhaps one of the most important fruits of the Palau ministry was the fact that in many places, believers united by the gospel could actively collaborate in evangelism.
Another controversial moment in Palau was when he celebrated the appointment of his compatriot Francisco, as Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church.
Luis Palau died on March 11, 2021 at the age of 86 after fighting terminal lung cancer for nearly three years. The Luis Palau International Association confirmed that he died at his home in Portland, Oregon, surrounded by his relatives.
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