Ravi Zacharias’ passion for developing the next generation of leaders was exceptional. In 2005, he founded The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA), through which more than four hundred students from fifty nations were trained over a fifteen-year period. Today, these graduates serve as Christian apologists and evangelists at the very center of political, economic, social, and cultural life in their respective countries.
In 2014, Ravi further expanded this vision by launching RZIM Academy, an online platform offering apologetics training in English, French, German, and Spanish. Through this initiative, thousands of students from more than 140 countries have been equipped to articulate and defend the Christian faith.
The vision continued to grow. In 2017, the Zacharias Institute was established in Atlanta, home to RZIM’s international headquarters. Its mission was to train professional Christian apologist-evangelists capable not only of proclaiming the gospel, but also of offering thoughtful and credible responses to the most challenging questions of faith. Among those trained, approximately 100 now serve as collaborative evangelists with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries across 13 countries, supported directly by Ravi’s ministry.
Yet, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1). The season now appears to be one in which Ravi’s disciples—those he trained, commissioned, and sent—must multiply the work he began.
On April 19, 2020, after several months of battling a rare form of cancer, Ravi Zacharias passed away, leaving behind his wife and three children. After fifty-six years of faithful service, he was received into the presence of the Lord whom he proclaimed throughout his life. His body was placed in a coffin crafted by inmates at Angola Prison in Louisiana—one of the most notorious maximum-security prisons in the United States.
Upon hearing this, one inmate reflected on the times he had heard Ravi speak within the prison walls and said:
“That hands which once took a life could build a coffin to honor a man who gave life to others… that is something only Jesus could do.”
There is little doubt that God will raise up spiritual leaders who surpass Ravi Zacharias. Yet it is equally true that the absence left by his distinctive ministry is deeply felt. I cannot forget a single-sentence endorsement written by Chuck Colson on the back cover of one of Ravi’s books:
“The only problem we have with Ravi Zacharias is that there is only one Ravi Zacharias.”
That sentence remains one of the most fitting summaries of Ravi’s life and legacy.