Sy Rogers, a well-known pastor and leader in what was once referred to as the ex-gay movement, has died after a battle with kidney cancer.

Rogers used to identify as a homosexual and also lived life as a woman for a year and a half. After becoming a Christian in the 1970s he began to identify as heterosexual and married a woman, Karen, in 1982.

He would rise to prominence as a preacher and leader in what was at one time referred to as the 'ex-gay movement.' Rogers was the president of Exodus International, an ex-gay ministry, in the late 1980s and early 90s. He was used to his share of controversy surrounding his preaching and belief that people could change their sexual orientation.

Many have accused Rogers of causing more harm than good for his views on re-orientation and conversion therapy. Exodus International would eventually apologize for their stance on re-orientation and closed in 2013.

Rogers would say that he no longer preached on sexual re-orientation. Instead, he said, he preached a simple message of pursuing after Jesus wholeheartedly.

In his online testimony entitled The Man In The Mirror, Rogers says he was on hormone therapy during the 18 months he lived as a woman and was preparing to undergo gender reassignment surgery. But, he says, after reading Isaiah 1:18-20, something changed in him.

"As I read this scripture, I broke. Bitterness, guilt and shame for the lost years of my life poured out as I wept at the foot of my bed. I admitted my failure and guilt before God as I cried out to Him, 'God, I cannot change what I am, but I'm willing to be changed. I know you have the power. Make me the man you want me to be!'"

Joe Dallas, the founder of Genesis Biblical Solutions and former Program Director of Every Man's Battle, says in an online tribute to Rogers that he lost a friend "and we've all lost a giant."

Dallas and Rogers spent decades ministering together, and Dallas says it was Rogers who first called him to a preaching ministry.

"I've been saying that since 1988, and I say it now. All of us in this kind of ministry got the benefit of this man's efforts, and all of us feel like we've been kicked in the gut when we consider life without Sy.

"But more broadly, the Body of Christ is enriched by God's work in and through this vessel we loved, and the Gospel we preach was manifest and expressed through him in ways that will never be replicated."

Rogers is survived by his wife Karen, as well as children and grandchildren.