10 notable Christian ministry leaders, influencers who died in 2024
KP Yohannan – May 8, 2024
K.P. Yohannan, the founder and director of Gospel for Asia and the metropolitan of the Believers Eastern Church, died of a cardiac arrest at age 74, while at a hospital in Dallas, Texas.
Gospel for Asia announced Yohannan's death in a statement, noting that he had been struck by a car while taking a walk the day before and was at the hospital recovering from the accident when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.
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"We praise God for allowing His servant the strength to run his race faithfully and with much endurance to the very end," GFA stated in the announcement.
"Millions of lives are forever transformed because of his tireless passion and service unto his Savior. May God receive him into the embrace of the saints. Christ is risen! May his memory be eternal!"
A native of India, Yohannan founded Gospel for Asia in 1979 and became metropolitan of the BEC in February 2003. While BEC identifies as Evangelical, it adopts more high church worship practices and attire.
In recent years, Yohannan and Gospel for Asia faced multiple legal battles amid allegations that they engaged in financial misconduct regarding their handling of donations.
GFA was eventually expelled from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability in 2015 and then from the National Religious Broadcasters in 2016 over the controversies.
