I cherished James O. Maxwell.
The influential preacher, educator and creator — who died Jan. 14 at age 86 — was such a form, candy and humble man.
As talked about in our predominant story on Maxwell’s passing, he was an expensive good friend of this newspaper. He helped us attain hundreds of recent subscribers, notably amongst our Black brothers and sisters.
Sammie Berry presents the Residing Legend Award to James O. Maxwell in Dallas final yr. Maxwell, a longtime minister and administrator at Southwestern Christian School, was honored at a citywide lectureship.
“The Christian Chronicle is the perfect and best journal of church buildings of Christ immediately,” he wrote in a 2013 advice letter.
I first met Maxwell, longtime vice chairman of institutional development at Southwestern Christian School in Terrell, Texas, in 2010.
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I bumped into him on the Nationwide Lectureship — the largest annual gathering of predominantly African American Church buildings of Christ — in Philadelphia that yr.
“Oh, you’re Bobby Ross,” brother Maxwell mentioned. “You look youthful than your image.”
I had already heard fantastic issues about Maxwell from my spouse, Tamie, a fellow journalist.
She traveled to Dallas in 2006 to do a function on the Southern Hills Church of Christ, the congregation the place Maxwell preached. The headline famous that he served with the “coronary heart of a pacesetter” and the “spirit of a servant.”
In 2011, I used to be blessed to journey to Seattle to write down in regards to the Holgate Road Church of Christ, the place James A. Maxwell — the elder Maxwell’s oldest youngster — was the minister on the time. Whereas I used to be within the Pacific Northwest, the youthful Maxwell took me to a Mariners-Texas Rangers sport. We sat within the right-field bleachers and had a terrific time.
Later that yr, James O. Maxwell invited me to talk on the Southwestern lectureship.
James O. Maxwell
After listening to a outstanding lineup of outstanding preachers, the viewers was in for an actual letdown after I stepped to the microphone.
However I used to be humbled and honored that Maxwell requested me to speak about “Multicultural Church Membership and Fellowship.”
“You sounded nervous, however you probably did OK,” my son Keaton, then 14, informed me afterward.
Truly, I used to be a complete lot nervous. I’m a author, not a preacher.
However undeterred, Maxwell requested me to talk once more just a few years later — that point to ship the Sunday night sermon on the Roswell Church of Christ in Kansas Metropolis, Mo.
Maxwell served that congregation for a number of years — commuting backwards and forwards from Dallas on the weekends — after “retiring” from the Southern Hills church.
At Maxwell’s invitation, I made at the very least two journeys to Roswell to report on the congregation’s work to open a useful resource middle for former inmates and drug addicts.
James O. Maxwell, far proper, joins Roswell Church of Christ members and leaders exterior a one-time dry cleaners in 2015. The Kansas Metropolis, Kan., church remodeled the cleaners right into a useful resource middle for former inmates and drug addicts.
Every time, Maxwell and elder Randy George made certain to deal with me to dinner Saturday night time.
What was on the menu? Kansas Metropolis barbecue, after all. And Maxwell insisted on ordering a full platter. I didn’t go dwelling hungry.
I appreciated Maxwell’s hospitality in addition to his humorousness.
I wrote a column in 2015 on humorous issues that preachers witness from the pulpit.
Maxwell recalled a sermon on trusting in God that he preached on the Lawrence and Marder Church of Christ in Dallas.
One lady within the crowd grew to become fairly emotional.
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“Oh, you higher hush your mouth!” the sister proclaimed. “Hush your mouth! You higher hush!”
The message touched one other sister, and he or she, too, began shouting.
Maxwell’s son Shawn, then about 6 years previous, listened to the outbursts and nudged his mom, Betty.
“Mama, why gained’t Daddy hush?” the boy requested.
Many years later, the reminiscence nonetheless made Maxwell chuckle with delight.
I final noticed Maxwell in 2019 when Chronicle correspondent Hamil Harris and I traveled to Terrell to cowl the funeral of Jack Evans Sr., Southwestern’s longtime president.
Hours earlier than a celebration of Jack Evans Sr.’s life in 2019, longtime Southwestern vice chairman James O. Maxwell visits a particular room on the faculty that pays tribute to pioneer African American preachers.
Although Maxwell was mourning his colleague and good friend, he took time to go to with Harris and me.
After we talked for about half an hour, Maxwell guided us on a tour of a particular room at Southwestern that featured images and biographical sketches of about 50 pioneering African American preachers, together with Evans and, sure, Maxwell himself.
Like numerous others, I cherished brother Maxwell. And I’ll positively miss him.
I reward God for his life and legacy — and his friendship.
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Attain him at [email protected].
