We were priveliged to meet Sy and Karen early in his ministry. He came to our church and we got to minister further healing to him and he trained our church to love and heal the sexually broken. We formed a friendship with him and his family that has lasted for 35 years. He went abroad for many years and my husband and he ran into each other in a restaurant. Overjoyed to see him again, he and his family came to the church we had started and we were blessed to be his pastor for the next 10 years. He was dynamic, unbelievably articulate, fun, gracious and we count it one of our greatest honors to be a friend to this man of God. We pray deep comfort and peace on Karen, Grace, and all your family during this difficult loss. He will be missed but heaven is rejoicing to receive an incredibly fruitful over comer. 

I heard Sy Rogers speak 30 years ago at my previous home church, Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale. Before Sy came to the podium, our macho pastor with a mullet admitted that Sy’s mannerisms bothered him at first until he came to know Sy, heard his message, and his heart.  He was proud to put Sy at the pulpit and let him tell it like it is!  
I was grateful for my pastor’s honesty about Sy! It gave us a little idea of what to expect so we could focus on the message more than the messenger’s style which we just weren’t accustomed to hearing. 
Then Sy preached!!  I was blown away!  Sy’s preaching and teaching hit a place of “real” that few people can hit. I felt like he kept slapping the church up side the head saying, stop focusing on your crap or my crap and start getting a clue that it’s about an incredible God Who really loves us! We ALL need to be reconciled to God no matter what our hang ups are!  
I felt myself cheering because I agreed with him so much!  I knew that the people in my church were trying to get to know this God and were on the right train, but it was like Sy just picked up the whole train track and slammed us down in the right direction!!  It was awesome! Sy really knew The Word too!  Maybe it was just me but I felt his message was for The Body of Christ to get real!  Sy had a way of cutting to the core!   He was funny, honest, and laid the Truth of God’s love flat out for EVERYONE to hear and (if they wanted to) they could accept that Love.  Even though Sy wasn’t pushy in his preaching, I can’t see how anyone could miss Sy Roger’s infectious love for God and want that same Redeeming Love of Jesus for themselves! 
I purchased all of Sy’s tapes (that’s how long ago it was! Lol) and kept praying for my own brother to be open to listen.  I knew, if my brother would just hear Sy, he would hear The Gospel in the most no nonsense way ever.  I prayed and waited, 8 years later God gave me the peace to bring the tapes to my brother.  He said he never listened to them. :(   I’m sorry to say my brother is still young but in a psychological home for life.  I’ll keep praying, and I should order Sy’s messages again, but on a more modern format this time. Lol.
I feel so privileged to have heard Sy those times.  His message stayed with me 30 years later.
I’m sorry his family will miss him.  I’m happy Sy is Home with the Loving Redeemer he helped us see so clearly.
Thank you Sy! May all your work live on even bigger than ever imagined! In Jesus name. Amen. See you on the other side.  Your sister in Jesus. 

Sy enjoyed quotes by C.S. Lewis and Oscar Wilde.

When I learned about Sy’s passing, I cried REAL TEARS for him, as if I knew him as a close friend or family member. To me, he was a mentor, though indirectly. I met him once about 15 years ago and cherished every honorable moment. He impacted my life very deeply during my born again beginnings with God almost 20 years ago and he became a pillar of strength in my spirit along with several other mentors who have helped me walk this Walk.

Hello to you Brother Sy Rogers and thank you VERY much for saying “YES” to Jesus Christ with your life, in spirit and in truth; your “yes” gave many like me the courage and awareness to live our “yeses” too. I am mourning and praying with/for your family and with/for all those who love you! I look forward to seeing you soon. I know you are rooting for us here with your Sy-ish enthusiasm (your unique excitement!) as you’re hangin’ out in the WitnessCloud in the bosom of the Father.

Sy loved planes and was appreciative of the cabin crew (with a thank you...custom made postcard and chocolates at times). During Sy's spoken word messages, at his events sometimes if an audience was lucky during a sound check, Sy would do the whole in-flight take off speech for his audiences by memory. People were amazed that Sy knew the whole drill. Just when you thought Sy was finished, he could go on and on for many more minutes as audience members would laugh so hard. And who could forget, Sy's coffee speech, and his love for numbers along with their meaning, in the word of God.

It was at the beginning of my recovery from a long line of infidelities and sexual brokenness that hurt my family and my wife deeply, when I finally met Sy. God already started a beautiful work of redemption in my whole family and I was partaking in a very active and strong support group led by Pastor Rigoberto Carrion back then in Orlando Florida. Sy was one of the guest speakers in our bilingual conference “healing from sexual brokenness” when after one of the sessions me and my wife had some time to spend with him. He was gracious, humble and so witty and funny… I was honestly starstruck and I didn’t know how to approach him but he was so inviting and welcoming! After we shared briefly our story and how we were parents of three children with autism, how God allowed me to have a music ministry and be the worship leader in my church after everything that happened; he told us a word that still resonates in my wife’s heart and mine…”You guys have so much to give to the body of Christ! Such a gifted couple that can do so much and have so much to share with the world about God‘s ability to restore and to heal!“ I say this with tears running down my cheeks, he made us feel so loved and affirmed in God’s identity, that on that day we where literally transformed and encouraged like never before. Till this day we treasure and cherish thattime with him.

"FATHER GOD: Trust me, as a dad, a father-in-law, and a granddad: God would rather have you messy than not have you at all."


"Go and fight your ideological, philosophical and theological arguments amongst yourselves. I’ve already lived out my worldview. Meanwhile, I’m going to go to the beach and make sandcastles with my grandson" [Sy stated; as an amazing pa pa with his grandkids].


"CONFIDENCE IN HIS CHARACTER: Better to run to God, not from Him! Only the devil would want you to slink away from God in some kind of shame. God, however, wants to convince you that He loves you. It took quite a while for Him to convince me, but I’m glad He did."


"God does not cut corners, nor do less than His redemptive best. He will work it all out, His way and time."


"NOT OVERLOOKED: God says He names the stars, which demonstrates personal ownership over creation. He says He counts the hairs on my head, which indicates intimate, detailed awareness. Best of all, God says He saves my tears. This rather poetically and concisely means He has overlooked nothing in my history. It all matters to Him because I matter to Him. I can only conclude then that when the time is right, and I am ready, He will heal and deal with all that caused those tears."


"PERSPECTIVE: I will never live as if my past never happened – so stop expecting that out of me. However, what you have observed for more than 3 decades is that I’ve learned to build a life beyond it."


"REALITY: The blood of Jesus washes away my guilt, thank God. However, it does not wash away my memory, or my history or my vulnerabilities...that’s the stuff I’ve got to learn to reckon with. And ‘reckon’ I can."


"SOME FOLKS JUST CAN’T HELP BUT SPECULATE if I am, you know, really, REALLY ‘free’ from my past – as if I’m unaware of whisperings behind my back. I don’t quite know what they are expecting from me. Swagger? It matters too, exactly what one means by ‘being free.’ I am free to live for God, on a path that I believe He has for me...but is any Christian free from vulnerabilities, or the risk to sin? I am free from guilt and resulting separation from God, but I still grow old, and will one day die. I am free to make new choices and new history in spite of my history, but I still have a degree of memory. But I am free to submit those memories to God when they bubble up, and then be on about my way."


"Think of me what you will. Your opinion of me doesn’t really matter. However, what you think of God and His Christ very much does."


"IF I WHO AM CORRUPT, can love my daughter more than she will ever know (until she has her own) how much better is God’s love towards us! That truth does not make me relax about sin, BUT it DOES cause me to relax a bit more with my humanity – and God’s heart towards humanity."


"Grandchildren are a wonderful reward in the ‘senior season’ of my life. Everything else is pretty much body betrayal. We are indeed a passing breeze...the grass of the field that sprouts then withers. But a new morning awaits."

Although Sy was known on the world stage, he was also known to us personally at Portland Fellowship. I’ll never forget the times Sy flew from Orlando, FL, to share at our annual Taking Back Ground retreat in a small Oregon beach town. Two years in a row, Sy would leave an audience of thousands to come and speak to a small group of fifty. When he talked with us, he did so with passion, humor, and love that was deeply personal, making us all the richer because of it.

On a personal note, I was deeply honored to know Sy and considered him a genuine friend. Sy Rogers will always hold a special place in my heart. I’m grateful for the many occasions he invested in my life, whether it be around the dinner table or late night talks around a fire. God used Sy to deepen my transformational process, and for that, I’m forever grateful.

Sy, I love you and will miss you. I look forward to seeing you once again in eternity.

I had the privilege of being Sy and Karen’s pastor for many years. I considered it to be one of the greatest honors of my life and ministry. The Lord gave me a prophetic dream about Sy one night and several weeks later he visited our church for the first time. His heart for seeing broken people restored was inspiring. We’ve been crying and laughing together for over 30 years. I’ll miss my brother and friend for the rest of my days