Victor Neil Wyrick Jr. (September 23, 1928 in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

-December 17, 2017) was a minister in the

Presbyterian Church (USA) The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PCUSA, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination in the Religion in the United States, United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States too. Its th ...

, and is perhaps best known for the annual Easter pageant held in Miami's

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

during the 1960s, and for his extensive writing.

Life

Wyrick was born in

on September 23, 1928. He graduated from

Hampden-Sydney College Hampden Sydney is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince Edward County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. Hampden Sydney is the home of Hampden–Sydney College, a private all-male college that is the tenth ...

in 1950, and from

Union Presbyterian Seminary Union Presbyterian Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Richmond, Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina, offering graduate theological education in multiple modalities: in-person, hybrid, and online. History As a result of efforts underta ...

in Virginia in 1954. He was ordained in 1954. His first pastorate included four rural congregations in Virginia. From 1955 until 1967 Wyrick served as the pastor of a fast-growing Palmetto Presbyterian Church in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. In 1968, he began devoting himself full-time to the evangelistic work of the Presbyterian Churches of Miami, focusing mostly on the Pageantry, Inc, which he founded. In 1994 he began serving the Sunrise Presbyterian Church of

, serving as Associate Pastor until he became the interim pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Miami in 2000. His appointment coincided with about half the congregation leaving, and was meant to turn away from the outreach to African-Americans and Hispanics and introduction of drums and guitars of his predecessor Michael Girolimon. Sunday worship under Girolimon had been an average of 160, it fell to 44 under Wyrick as of 2004. Wyrick authored hundreds of articles for national magazines such as the

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

, American Home, Every Woman's

Family Circle ''Family Circle'' was an American women's magazine that covered topics such as homemaking, recipes and health. It was published from 1932 until the end of 2019. Originally distributed at supermarkets, it was one of the " Seven Sisters," a grou ...

and others. For several years he had a newspaper column entitled Hints for the Hearthstone and for 20 years a column entitled The Why of it All. He also had a newspaper column entitled Senior Snippets. He was a talk show host for the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate in

, (''Family Line'' and ''Rap Around''). He wrote a nationally syndicated radio show, ''A Boy Called Dysmas''. Wryick wrote, produced and acted in a number of one-man dramas, portraying characters from American history, church history and the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

Written works

Wyrick's books include: *"One-A-Day, Your Spiritual Vitamins" 1962 *"Boundaries Unlimited" 1965 *"I AM" 1966 *"Poor Richard's Almanack for the 20th Century" 1984 *"Rust on My Soul" 1985 *"Letters To America" 1992 *"The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln" 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyrick. Victor Neil, Jr. 1928 births 2017 deaths 20th-century American Presbyterian ministers Christian novelists Hampden–Sydney College alumni People from Miami Presbyterian Church (USA) teaching elders Union Presbyterian Seminary alumni