Bell was born in China in 1932, the son of medical missionaries. Ga. He received an honorary doctorate from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., in 1970. Ala. He served several churches before moving to Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas in 1973. During the 1980s, he helped to form Presbyterians for Renewal, a movement designed to stem the decline in the denomination's membership by emphasizing personal spirituality and biblical evangelism. He was involved in a lot of fierce partisan debates in the denomination about the direction of the church.
Services are pending.