With pockets of revival sprouting up across the country the past few weeks, one couldn’t help but believe Ken Gaub is smiling widely in heaven. Gaub, whose roots in ministry began as a preacher in tent revivals in the 1950s and whose fame as a kingdom warrior spread around the world, died Thursday at the age of 87 in Union Gap, Washington, from medical complications from an auto accident late last summer.
Gaub’s daughter, Becki Gaub Segura, told the Yakima (Wash.) Herald-Republic that Gaub died from the result of injuries he suffered in a car crash six months ago. In the crash, Gaub suffered 30 broken bones—including 15 fractures in his face—and he underwent 12 hours of surgery to have his hip replaced and a pelvic bone reconstructed.
Gaub’s fractures began to heal, but his kidneys never returned to normal function.
“While he was getting better, able to stand up, they never could get his kidneys going, which eventually shut down,” Segura said.
Gaub spent more than 60 years in the service of the Lord. He was ordained at the age of 19 after completing Bible school in Seattle, Washington. He went on to marry Barbara Mains, and the couple moved to Kentucky where he served as a pastor for two years.
Segura told the Yakima Herald-Republic that her father then bought a semi-truck and large tent and began traveling to communities without churches to spread the gospel. She said Gaub would pull up, set up the tent and people would gather to listen to his message.
“Back in those days you didn’t have to advertise ahead of time, you just put up a big tent and people would come out to see what it was,” Segura said.
Over the span of his life, Gaub saw a great deal of excitement. He was shot in Kosovo, eluded border agents in Albania, packed Britain’s Royal Albert Hall, helped build a pioneer church in Russia, carried food and medicine into India and visited Vietnam with Bob Hope, the Herald-Republic reported.
He counted Muhammad Ali, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, former Israel President Shimon Peres and the inmates at Leavenworth federal penitentiary as his friends.
Gaub wrote many books and articles, including this one published by the C.S. Lewis Institute titled, “God’s Got Your Number.”
Heart for Israel
Gaub had a strong heart for Israel. He made more that 160 trips to the Holy Land and brought more than 10,000 people along on those trips.
“He wanted people to see true Israel and come back and be ambassadors for Israel,” Segura said.
Family friend Mark Flippin told the Herald-Republic that Gaub’s sense of humor and “disarming approach” allowed him to reach others easily, and that Gaub was a very generous individual.
“If he saw a need, he tried to meet it, whether it be financially or someone needing to get their car fixed, he’d help,” Flippin said.
A celebration of life for Gaub will be held on April 22 at Yakima Foursquare Church. {eoa}
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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.
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