Pastor and author Dr. Vinson Synan passed away over the weekend in Oklahoma City at the age of 85.

“In declining health for several months, the outpouring of love for [Synan] and his family revealed the magnitude of his influence in the IPHC and across the global Christian community,” said a post from the International Pentecostal Holiness Church Ministries, according to CBN News. 

“From the Vatican to the smallest IPHC congregations, his influence has been felt and remains. We rejoice he is with our Lord Jesus Christ, who he faithfully proclaimed.”

Synan’s wide career spanned from planting churches in the 1950s to serving as the Dean Emeritus of the School of Divinity at Oral Roberts University. He authored over 20 books, which mainly detailed the growth of the Pentecostal and .tic movements.

He married Carol Lee Fuqua from Richmond, whom he met at a youth camp. He recalled that she was “a dark-haired beauty whose smile seemed to light up the entire room.” He leaves behind four children: Mary C. Clark (Curtis); Virginia Lee Taylor (J. Mark); H. Vinson, Jr. (Laura); and Joseph A. (Ashley), as well as eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

A close family friend with the Reverend Oral Roberts, Synan was offered a full scholarship to earn a Ph.D. in theology at either Harvard, Yale or Princeton on the condition that he would return to teach at Oral Roberts University. But…