Biography
Robert Tillman Kendall was born on July 13, 1935, in Ashland, Kentucky, in a family of modest means. His father, a Baptist, was a laborer in a steel mill, and his mother, a devout woman, took the children to church. He grew up in a plain household in a small town. As a boy, he was a lover of sports, especially baseball. He was converted at the age of eleven, at a revival meeting, and he later said that he gave his life to Christ out of fear of hell. He was baptized in the Baptist church. He felt a call to the ministry in his teens, and he preached his first sermon at the age of sixteen.
He studied at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he earned a divinity degree. He later took a doctorate at Oxford University, where he wrote on the theology of the Puritans. He studied the link between Calvin and the Calvinists, and he developed a view that the Puritans had departed from Calvin on the doctrine of assurance. He argued that Calvin held that assurance is part of faith, while the Puritans, especially William Perkins and his followers, taught that assurance is found by examining one's works. This view was published as Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649, a study which created a stir among Reformed scholars.
He served as a pastor in Baptist churches in Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida. In 1977, he was called to become the minister of Westminster Chapel in London, a post that had been held by G. Campbell Morgan and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He took over from Lloyd-Jones's successor and served there for twenty-five years, until 2002. He was an American in a British pulpit, which was a challenge. He preached with a plain and warm style, and he led the church through a period of growth. He drew many visitors, and he built up a large congregation. He was also a friend of a number of leaders of the charismatic movement.
He was influenced by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In the 1980s, he took a keen interest in the Vineyard movement and in the work of John Wimber. He also was a friend of Paul Cain and the Kansas City prophets. His acceptance of some of the claims of prophecy brought him criticism. He had a part in the controversy over the Toronto Blessing. He has been a figure who has tried to bridge the Reformed and charismatic traditions. He was sometimes seen as inconsistent. He has been honest about his own mistakes.
He has written more than fifty books. His best known is Total Forgiveness, published in 2002, which sold over a million copies. It was written in the wake of a difficult experience, in which he felt that he had been wronged by those whom he trusted. In it, he argued that we must forgive completely and that forgiveness is a decision of the will. The book made a deep impression. He has also written The Anointing, Holy Fire, and Worshipping God. His style is simple and direct. He has a talent for telling stories.
He left Westminster Chapel in 2002, after a number of years of disagreement with the deacons. He took up a ministry of teaching and writing. He has been a speaker at conferences around the world. He has also served as a pastor at a church in Tennessee. His life has been marked by trials, among them the pain of the separation from a church he loved. He is a living man, and the details of his later years should be checked against reliable sources.
His life shows the effect of a pastor from Kentucky who found his way to a great pulpit in London. He has been a voice for forgiveness and for the work of the Spirit in the church.