At Liberty University’s 1978 commencement, founder Dr. Jerry Falwell Sr. booked the following year’s speaker on the spot. Falwell said with certainty that Charles Hughes, a young evangelist who had traveled the country with him, would take the stage the next year. The crowd responded in awe and confusion at this statement as Charles was in a 10-week coma at the time, having just suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car wreck.
In the four years leading up to his injury, Hughes had traveled the world with Falwell, preaching to countless people at over 300 rallies. At only 22, he was one of the promising young evangelists of the time.
Hughes has always been passionate about speaking — Participating in high school debate tournaments, speaking at the Florida Baptist Convention and winning many speech contests, even before joining Falwell. His passion for speaking is rooted in the opportunity to touch people’s lives with his words.
“I just loved to be able to share something of value and see God work in the lives of people as they comprehended it and made a commitment to live for the Lord,” Hughes said.
Hughes was adopted at 8 years old and spent the next two years of his life in South Africa while his father preached. After his time in South Africa and eventually, Pensacola, Florida, the Lord called the Hughes family elsewhere.
In 1972, Falwell approached Hughes’ father, Robert Hughes, with a dream.
“Falwell said to him, ‘How’d you like to come and start this college?’ and his response was, ‘Have you ever thought about starting a seminary?’”
Robert Hughes and his family made the move to Lynchburg, Virginia, in December of 1972 to begin the seminary. Robert Hughes was the founding dean of Lynchburg Baptist Theological Seminary.
At 17 years old, before graduating from Lynchburg Christian Academy, Hughes decided to devote his life to pastoral ministry.
Hughes traveled every weekend while pursuing his education to share the gospel. He remembered a particularly moving moment in Winchester, Virginia, in 1975 where Hughes promised not to leave town until the last person who wanted to had given their life to the Lord. After three weeks of evangelizing, nobody else came forward, and he left town.
At the peak of his career, Hughes’ life came to a terrifying halt. On the way to the Word of Life Basketball Marathon in 1978, Hughes was in a life-altering car accident. The driver of the van he was in lost control on an icy road and was hit by a tractor trailer truck, leaving Hughes fighting for his life in a coma for 10 weeks.
Having only been married for 15 months at the time, Hughes’ wife Kathy was asked to sign papers to allow medical staff to withdraw life support if necessary. Hughes remembered reading her journal passages from the time riddled with worry.
“She wrote in her diary, ‘I heard the doctors say he has a less than 3% chance of living, and if he does live, he’ll be a vegetable. The doctor said he is experiencing brain death,’” Hughes said.
Hughes does not remember anything from his coma, as he was completely unaware while his body was fighting to keep him alive.
“It was like I went to sleep and woke up 10 weeks later,” Hughes said.
It was during his coma that Falwell made the faith-filled claim that Charles would be Liberty’s 1979 commencement speaker. This proclamation shocked many but provided hope to the support system surrounding Hughes.
“Dr. Falwell, at the platform of Liberty’s commencement, said, ‘I pray for Charles. Lord willing, next year’s commencement speaker will be Charles Hughes.’ He booked an unconscious commencement speaker,” Hughes said.
After undergoing seven major operations, the road to recovery was paved with relearning everything, from walking to talking. Hughes would listen to his own preaching on tape and imitate himself and other preachers in order to get his speech back.
“The Lord used it to teach me to stop and be thankful for the little things. I probably had preached to more people in more places than any young preacher my age in the country at that time, and I had to learn how to talk again,” Hughes said.
While Hughes made a miraculous recovery, the reality of having a traumatic brain injury came with a shift in the way people view him.
“There have been comments that have gotten back to me, like, ‘He’s not all there’ or ‘He’s not where he used to be,’” Hughes said. “That was almost debilitating. They gave me a resolve to trust the Lord to do more.”
Still, he persisted, leaning on God’s promises and strength. Hughes went on to preach at five of the fastest growing churches in America and pastored in Florida with his father until he returned to work at Thomas Road Baptist Church in 1988.
He worked with Liberty Online, reworking an entire apologetics course in 1994 that the school still uses today, and he transitioned to campus pastoral ministry in 2000, two years after he earned his doctorate.
Not only did Hughes make a name for himself as an evangelist, he achieved incredible success in the academic world, earning MAR, MRE, MDIV and DMIN degrees from Liberty University.
“I have been afforded opportunities that there is no way, humanly speaking, I could have had,” Hughes said. “The people I have met. The places I have been. I am nobody, but God has opened doors for me.”
Today, Hughes still serves in a pastoral capacity in the prayer chapel as the prayer ministry coordinator with LU Shepherd.
“At Liberty, God has blessed me in an unusual way,” Hughes said. “I have an office in the rear of the prayer chapel, and it’s just incredible. My books are there, and it’s quiet often. I can pray, study, counsel and read. It’s a beautiful ministry opportunity.”
Vires is a feature writer. Follow her on Twitter.