Rev. Lamont D. McLean, 52, pastor, innovator
Hoodoo
Rev. L.D. McLean, pastor, innovator
By Sally A. Downey
Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/obituaries/20070704_Rev__L_D__McLean__pastor__innovator.html
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The Rev. Lamont D. McLean
The Rev. Lamont D. McLean, 52, of Burlington County, founding pastor
of Living Faith Christian Center in Pennsauken, died Saturday from
complications of a bone-marrow disease at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical
Center in Camden.
Pastor McLean began Living Faith Christian Center in July 1985, with
10 congregants gathered in his home. Two months earlier, he and
partners had established Universal Technical Resources, a computer
consulting company in Cherry Hill.
Both the business and his church flourished.
Membership at Living Faith Christian Center is now more than 7,000,
and, after several moves, the church is located at the South Jersey
Expo Center. Members are residents of New Jersey, Delaware, New York
and Pennsylvania. The church operates a K-12 school.
Its Bible-study sessions attract more than 500 people, and there are
more than 20 special-interest ministries. Several Eagles players are
active with the church's Athletes United in Christ ministry.
For several years, Pastor McLean hosted a half-hour television program.
A charismatic preacher, Pastor McLean, who had struggled with his
illness for two years, last spoke from his pulpit in May.
At Sunday's church service, his wife and co-pastor, Connie Tee McLean,
announced her husband's death.
"Although my husband, your pastor and our visionary, is gone," she
said, "the vision still remains." She quoted him when she said the
church would continue his mission to "reach the lost, strengthen
families, and raise up leaders that impact our communities and the
world with the word of God."
Pastor McLean was the author of three books, including the
soon-to-be-published Missing Links to Victorious Living, which
outlines the principles he used to overcome a speech impediment.
A graduate of Paulsboro High School, Pastor McLean earned an associate
degree in business from Trenton State College, now the College of New
Jersey. In the early 1980s, he was working as a computer programmer
when he realized his career had reached a dead end.
With his pronounced stutter, he later wrote, he asked his boss to be
considered for management training. The boss refused and sent him back
to his cubicle. After the incident, he wrote, "the word of God"
commissioned him with a dual calling to start both a business and a
church.
In May 1985, with a borrowed office, he and his partners started
Universal Technical Resources Services Inc. in Cherry Hill. He
eventually became chairman of the environmental engineering and
technical consulting firm.
In addition to his wife of 26 years, Pastor McLean is survived by
daughters Alexis and Erica; his mother, Sara McLean; and a brother.
A funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Living Faith Christian Center,
2323 Route 73, Pennsauken. Friends may call from 8 a.m. Friday and
from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow. Burial will be in Lakeview Cemetery,
Cinnaminson.
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