Texas televangelist James Robison has died, network says

Texas televangelist James Robison, who founded the Fort Worth-based LIFE Outreach International, died Saturday, according to his assistant Carol Stertzer. He was 82. 

Robison, a former Southern Baptist preacher turned charismatic evangelist, is known for his television program LIFE Today. Neither his obituary nor a statement from LIFE Outreach International mentioned a cause of death. 

“Though we grieve this tremendous loss, we also celebrate a life faithfully lived in service to God and others,” the organization said in the statement. 

Robison was born in Houston in 1943, according to his obituary. His biography says his birth mother’s pregnancy was the result of rape, and he was adopted by a Baptist pastor and his wife. 

Robison was an influential political figure in the Southern Baptist Convention and the Moral Majority movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to an obituary by Baptist News Global. He left the SBC in the early 1980s and became part of the charismatic movement, according to the obituary.

Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel and former Republican governor of Arkansas, served as Robison’s director of communications in the 1970s. Huckabee said in a social media post Thursday that one of his son’s middle name is “James,” after Robison. 

“His death hits hard. He mentored me in so many ways,” Huckabee said. 

In 2016, Robison was named to President Donald Trump’s Evangelical Executive Advisory Board during his first presidential campaign.

Robert Morris, the founder of Gateway Church in Southlake who was recently released from jail after pleading guilty to child sex abuse crimes and serving six-month of a suspended sentence, joined the James Robison Evangelistic Association in the 1980s. In 2024, Robison condemned Morris’ actions and denied knowledge of the abuse. 

Founded in 1995, LIFE Outreach International runs the television program LIFE Today, as well as a number of ministries addressing hunger, water and poverty abroad, particularly in countries in Africa. 

Robison is survived by his wife Betty. The two married in 1963, according to his obituary. He was preceded in death by his daughter Robin Robison Turner, who died in 2012, his obituary said. 

“In the months and years ahead, we will faithfully carry on the mission James cared about so deeply,” LIFE Outreach International said in its statement. 

Correction, 6:15 p.m. May 18, 2026: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said what day Robison died. He died Saturday.