10 notable Christian ministry leaders, influencers who died in 2024

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Friday, December 27, 2024

Junior Hill – Jan. 3, 2024

Junior Hill, a notable Southern Baptist revival preacher, speaks at Bellevue Baptist Church of Memphis, Tennessee, in 2018. | Screengrab: YouTube/Bellevue Baptist Church

Junior Hill, an evangelist and popular Southern Baptist who reportedly led approximately 1,800 revival events over the course of his decades-long preaching career, died at 87.

Born William Junior Hill and the youngest of five children, Hill became a full-time Evangelical preacher in 1967, speaking at revival events, conferences, state conventions and seminaries.

At the Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference in 2021, Hill was honored for his decades of preaching by being awarded the inaugural Fred Wolfe Lifetime Pastoral Ministry Award.

Gerald Wolfe, a veteran Christian musician, took to Facebook to give condolences in January, calling Hill “one of the most captivating preachers I’ve ever heard.”

“I always looked forward to being in services with Junior. … He was a genuine, kind-hearted, lover of souls. You couldn’t help but love him. … I certainly did,” Wolfe wrote.

“As sad as it is that he’s no longer with us, it’s exciting to think about what he must be experiencing at this very moment, in the presence of The Lord. Rest well, Bro. Junior. We’ll see you soon.”