By Cathleen Falsani, Religion Reporter / Chicago Sun-Times, February 8, 2001
When he was a scrawny, nervous teenager who said he wanted to be a preacher, nobody took him seriously.
When the Southern Baptists kicked him out of their denomination in the 1950s for being too conservative, they said his ministry was over.
When he chose the interests of poor, inner-city kids over millionaire church members, they said he'd never keep the doors of his church open.
In more than 50 years of ministry, the Rev. Jack Hyles, pastor of mammoth First Baptist Church of Hammond, Ind., proved them all wrong.
In the process, he built one of the largest congregations in the country, a college, six schools and a vibrant ministry that now will have to survive without him.
"Brother Hyles," as he was known to tens of thousands of congregants, died Tuesday at University of Chicago Hospitals after complications following heart surgery. He was 74.
"We are really having a sense of loss," said Wendell Evans, president of Hyles-Anderson College in Crown Point, the Bible college Brother Hyles founded in 1972.
"He's a tremendous man of integrity, business acumen, leadership ability, organization," Evans said. "You didn't have to do everything his way. But after you experimented, you usually found out his way was the best way."
Brother Hyles became pastor of Hammond's First Baptist in 1959, shepherding the church from a congregation of several hundred to more than 20,000. In the early 1990s, a national survey ranked First Baptist as the largest church in the nation, according to average weekly attendance.
First Baptist also is known for its extensive Sunday School busing program. Each Sunday, a fleet of more than 200 buses spreads out from northwest Indiana, across the Chicago metropolitan area, to bring anywhere from 7,000 to more than 15,000 to learn the fundamentals of Bible teaching.
Countless others heard Brother Hyles' message through book collections and recordings of his sermons.
His commitment to poor children grew out of his own childhood; he was raised in poverty by a single mother during the Depression. First Baptist buses more than 300 mostly black and Hispanic children from Chicago's inner-city neighborhoods to its private Christian schools in Hammond every day, Evans said.
Brother Hyles embraced the title fundamentalist. It defined him and his ministry. It set them apart from other megachurches and told newcomers what to expect.
"At a time when we are possessed with a spirit of moral laxity and lawlessness, the students of Hyles-Anderson College willingly adhere to a strict dress code and display respect for authority," he wrote in a message to prospective students. "In an age when Christian workers feel that `the night is far spent' and souls cannot be reached with the gospel, the students . . . are consistently winning hundreds to Christ each week."
Brother Hyles is survived by his wife, Beverly; daughters Linda, Becky Smith and Cindy Schaap; a son, David; a sister, Earlyne Stephens, bursor of Hyles-Anderson College, and several grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Friday at the First Baptist Church auditorium, 523 Sibley Ave., Hammond, Ind. A memorial service will be at 7 p.m. Friday at the church, followed by visitation throughout the night.
Funeral service will be at 10 am. Saturday for First Baptist Church members only. Burial will be private.