"It's with a heavy heart we announce that Marcus Lamb, president and founder of Daystar Television Network, went home to be with the Lord this morning. The family asks that their privacy be respected as they grieve this difficult loss. Please continue to lift them up in prayer," the network's Twitter post read.

According to his Daystar bio, Lamb was born in Cordele, Georgia, and raised in Macon. It was there at the age of 15, he began preaching as an evangelist.

Lamb skipped his senior year of high school and enrolled in Lee University located in Cleveland, Tennessee, on a full scholarship.

Returning to Macon in December of 1981, Lamb founded the Word of God Fellowship and married Joni Trammell of Greenville, South Carolina in 1982. The couple traveled to more than 20 states during their evangelistic trips together. Marcus was also an ordained bishop in the Church of God.

During a trip to Israel in 1983, he felt the Lord tell him to move to Montgomery, Alabama. He asked, "Why Lord?" and God told him to start the first Christian television station in that state. 

So after being only married a year, the couple took a leap of faith and moved to Montgomery without any knowledge of the television business.

"We borrowed old equipment, transmitters and old cameras," Joni Lamb later told CBN. "We were faithful and went on the air in 1985. We were there 7 long years but God was faithful."

The Lambs built WMCF-TV, 45 Alive, the first Christian television station in Alabama. But they knew Alabama wasn't their final mission and the Lord stirred Marcus' heart to reach a bigger audience. The opportunity came for them in 1990 to build a TV station in Dallas and they sold their Alabama station to Sunlight Broadcasting.

The Lambs built KMPX-TV 29 and went on the air full power in the Dallas market in September of 1993.

Four years later, the Lambs officially launched the Daystar Television Network with a live broadcast of T.D. Jakes' New Year's Eve service at the Potter's House Church in Dallas.

Today, the network reaches over 108 million households in the United States and more than 2 billion people worldwide, the second-largest Christian network in the world. In addition, Daystar Television is available on all major satellite and cable systems in the US and can be seen in every country around the globe.

In 2006, Daystar became the first and only Christian television network to be broadcast in the nation of Israel.

The Lambs hosted their own live daily program on the network, simply titled Marcus and Joni. The couple also ministered at churches around the country, including Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.

Marcus Lamb is survived by his wife Joni, and their three children, Jonathan, Rachel, and Rebecca.

Pat Robertson, the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, said Marcus Lamb's life will be remembered by millions. "We mourn the passing of Marcus Lamb, a great man of God, whose life will be remembered by millions," Robertson said. "Our prayers and sympathy are with Joni, the entire family, and everyone at Daystar."

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said, "My heart broke when I learned of the passing of my good friend Marcus Lamb. A faithful follower of Jesus, a loving husband, a caring father, a Kingdom visionary with a heart for the lost and broken entered God's presence today. Our prayers accompany Joni and the entire Lamb and Daystar family."

Jentezen Franklin, the Senior Pastor of Free Chapel, said, "Thank God for Marcus Lamb. Generations of Christians have had the dream of reaching the world with the Gospel in their generation. Marcus Lamb actually did it. He also welcomed the rest of us along on the journey with him through the extraordinary network he created. The truth is that very few Christians have had more of an impact in a single lifetime, and the impact of his life will carry on forever. Please join me in praying for God's peace to envelope Joni and the entire Lamb family during this difficult time." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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