FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Rev. D. James Kennedy, a megachurch pastor who became one of the nation's top Christian broadcasters, has resigned from the pulpit of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church after 48 years.

The 76-year-old senior pastor preached his last sermon there on Dec. 24. He suffered cardiac arrest four days later, and has been unable to return to the pulpit.

Kennedy took the small church of 45 members in 1959 to a megachurch of nearly 10,000 members today.

In 1974, he started Coral Ridge Ministries, his radio and TV outreach arm, which now claims a weekly audience of 3.5 million people for all of its broadcasts. Kennedy's TV show "The Coral Ridge Hour," airs on more than 400 stations and four cable networks, and is broadcast to more than 150 countries on the Armed Forces Network, his ministry says.