Dr. R. Lofton Hudson

by Dr. Patricia Hudson

R. Lofton Hudson, Ph.D., died early Wednesday, January 9, 2002, at the Westpark Nursing Center in Bedford, Texas. He was 91.

Dr. Hudson was known as the father of Pastoral Counseling. In 1957, he founded the Midwest Christian Counseling Center in Kansas City, the first independent Christian counseling center in the nation. He also founded The Hudson Center for Brief Therapy in Omaha, NE, with his daughter, Patricia Hudson, Ph.D., and continued to work full-time as a counselor and lecturer until the age of 85.

Dr. Hudson was a leader in the Southern Baptist community, conducting Family Life Conferences through the nation. He pastored churches in Tennessee and Oklahoma in the ‘30’s and ‘40’s and, in 1950 he became pastor of the Wornall Road Baptist Church in Kansas City. He served there for seven years.

A scholar and prolific writer, Dr. Hudson published 22 books and over 500 articles. His best-known titles include For Our Age of Anxiety (1956), Grace is Not a Blue-Eyed Blond (1968), and Is This Divorce Really Necessary? (1983).