(WSB-TV-WJBF) DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. – Our sister station, Channel 2 Action News, has reported that Pastor Bishop Eddie L. Long has died.
New Birth Missionary Baptist Church announced the information stating Long had transitioned from this life early Sunday morning after a gallant private fight with an aggressive form of cancer.
Long, the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, disclosed last year that he was recovering from an undisclosed health challenge. Many had speculated he was ill after he posted a video in August that showed him looking very gaunt.
Long had said he was eating a raw vegan diet and giving up on a “slave menu,’ trusting “God to deliver me from” the challenge.
On New Birth’s website, Long is described as:
Bishop Eddie L. Long is known worldwide as a pioneering leader, revolutionary mind changer, a family man, and a caring and loving pastor. As a pioneering leader, Bishop Long is highly regarded for his vision, boldness, and unapologetic courage to walk in the supernatural. As a pastor, he is well respected and loved for his passion to bring souls into the body of Christ and join them to a local church body, and for preaching and teaching messages that change mindsets and encourage hearts. At home, he is a doting husband to his beautiful wife, First Lady Vanessa Long and loving father to his 4 children and 3 grandchildren. At New Birth, Bishop Long is most loved for being the ‘father of many’ – a pastor who loves God, God’s people, and who speaks life and declares, You shall NOT die but live to proclaim the goodness of the Lord!
Long has been Senior Pastor at New Birth Missionary Baptist since 1987.
The church said it grew from 300 members to more than 25,000 under Long’s leadership and became one of the nation’s largest congregations.
Long’s reputation was tarnished after former congregants accused him of sexual misconduct.
Four young men filed lawsuits in 2010, accusing him of sexual misconduct, bringing notoriety to his church that reached far beyond its home base in Lithonia, Georgia.
The lawsuits were resolved the following year.
Long is survived by his wife, Vanessa Long, four children and three grandchildren.
Long was 63 years-old when he passed away.