By Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 23, 2006

Humphrey Foutz, a nationally known evangelist who preached the gospel in 34 states, bridged racial barriers and led Baltimore's Central Church of Christ for more than 50 years, died April 13 of complications from a stroke. He was 73.

Mr. Foutz was known as a powerful evangelist who mixed charm, humor and a big smile on the nationally broadcast "Herald of Truth" television series. He was featured in lectures sponsored by Southwestern Christian College, Abilene Christian University, Pepperdine University and the old Michigan Christian College.

In the early 1980s, Mr. Foutz was one of the featured speakers at the Florida Evangelism Seminar, sponsored by the Crossroads Church of Christ. The "Crossroads Movement" had been popular on many college campuses in the 1970s. Mr. Foutz also served on the board of Southwestern Christian, a historically black campus in Terrell, Tex.

He was born in Mexia, Tex., and grew up in Dallas. He was raised as a Catholic and attended Loyola University in New Orleans, but he later returned to Dallas and was baptized in that city's old Ninth Street Church of Christ. He preached for two years at Church of Christ congregations in Texas until he and his wife moved to Baltimore in the mid-1950s. In the next half-century, they built a ministry with nearly 2,000 members.

In 1958, Mr. Foutz served as minister of the storefront Gilmore Street Church of Christ, where he built a congregation by inviting local residents to watch filmstrips and sending out Bible correspondence courses to those who could not attend. In the next 15 years, the congregation would outgrow several locations.

In 1974, Mr. Foutz opened a Church of Christ congregation on Woodridge Road in Baltimore, where he had a daily radio show called "The Morning Bible Study." During this period, the church brought worshipers in by bus, which resulted in additional congregations in Wilmington, Del., York, Pa., Cambridge, Md., and Annapolis.

In 1990, the central congregation moved into a new sanctuary, where Mr. Foutz was eulogized last week by college presidents, evangelists and many titans of the faith. A church revival meeting Saturday drew nearly 100 nationally known evangelists, who called Mr. Foutz "a great preacher who was sound in his doctrine" and "God's missionary to the mid-Atlantic coast."

Survivors include his wife of more than 50 years, Annie Jewel Foutz of Baltimore; and a sister.