TERRELL, TEXAS — In 1957, a younger man named James O. Maxwell enrolled at Southwestern Christian Faculty, about 30 miles east of Dallas.
Maxwell’s time at Southwestern — the one traditionally Black larger training establishment related to Church buildings of Christ — modified his life, and he turned one of many fellowship’s most influential ministers.
Associated: Editor displays on James O. Maxwell’s life and legacy
“I used to be impressed to evangelise after I attended Southwestern and witnessed college students preaching at such an early age,” Maxwell instructed The Christian Chronicle in 2010. “Earlier than this time, I believed that preachers needed to be ‘good,’ however after I noticed that a lot of these college students’ deportment was not so good as mine, I used to be satisfied that I may preach.”
“I used to be impressed to evangelise after I attended Southwestern and witnessed college students preaching at such an early age.”
Maxwell, who preached the Gospel for six many years, served in outstanding management roles at Southwestern for a half-century and labored to foster Christian unity throughout racial strains, died Jan. 14 after a six-year battle with dementia. He was 86.
“Our ‘Lion within the Approach’ … has formally entered into candy relaxation. He fought a great struggle,” his son James A. Maxwell, minister for the West Finish Church of Christ in Terrell, stated in asserting his father’s passing. “As 1 Corinthians 16:13 says, be brave, devoted and powerful. This describes Dad to a tee. Relaxation nicely, Daddy.”
Lots of crammed Southwestern’s auditorium Jan. 30 to have fun the lifetime of James O. Maxwell, whom Dallas-area preachers and church leaders honored with the Residing Legend Award throughout a citywide lectureship simply final 12 months.
The Cedar Crest Church of Christ hosted the 2024 occasion. Maxwell’s “imprint on the town of Dallas and the nation will transcend generations to return,” Cedar Crest minister Jonathan W. Morrison stated then.
Leonardo Gilbert, nationwide director of the Campaign for Christ evangelistic marketing campaign and gospel assembly, stated he joins “the worldwide group of believers in mourning” Maxwell’s loss of life.
Maxwell — preacher, educator and writer — made “a profound imprint on Church buildings of Christ and the 1000’s of lives he touched by way of his ministry and management,” stated Gilbert, minister and elder of the Sheldon Heights Church of Christ in Chicago.
Kristopher Ok. DarDar Sr., minister for the East Pointe Church of Christ in Fort Price, Texas, was one in all quite a few preachers mentored by Maxwell.
“I’m grateful for his love for younger preachers, his educational rigor and humble spirit!” DarDar wrote in a tribute. “He won’t ever be forgotten because the brains of a religious and scholastic motion, and now he has lastly obtained the reward” about which he preached for many years.
Jonathan Morrison, minister for the Cedar Crest Church of Christ in Dallas, presents a tribute at James O. Maxwell’s funeral on behalf of the “Sons of Southwestern.” Maxwell, a longtime vice chairman at Southwestern Christian Faculty, mentored generations of ministry college students.
A banner at James O. Maxwell’s memorial service shows footage of him by way of the years.
Pallbearers load James O. Maxwell’s casket right into a hearse.
Lynn McMillon, who retired because the Chronicle’s president and CEO in 2019, recalled Maxwell as “an excellent good friend and Christian man.”
“He was the first, if not sole, motive that the Chronicle lastly broke by way of to the African American fellowship,” McMillon stated, noting that Maxwell helped join the Oklahoma-based worldwide newspaper for Church buildings of Christ with 1000’s of recent subscribers.
Born Oct. 13, 1938, to Eddie and Mable Maxwell in Tulsa, Okla., James O’Leary Maxwell later moved to Toledo, Ohio. At age 12, he gave his life to Jesus on the Dorr Road Church of Christ in Toledo.
Maxwell graduated from Southwestern in 1959 — simply the primary in a lengthy record of levels he earned at establishments starting from Pepperdine College in Malibu, Calif., to Southern Methodist College in Dallas.
He married Betty, his spouse of 60 years, on Oct. 31, 1964.
James O. Maxwell’s survivors embody Betty Maxwell, his spouse of 60 years.
Attendees pose for a photograph at James O. Maxwell’s funeral.
He served as the tutorial dean at Southwestern from 1971 to 1978 after which as his alma mater’s vice chairman of institutional enlargement from 1978 to 2019 — working alongside the late Jack Evans Sr., the school’s longtime president.
He typically traveled on the weekends to evangelise, serving because the minister for congregations in Mississippi, Ohio, Kansas and Texas from the mid-Seventies till the late Nineteen Eighties.
He preached for the Southern Hills Church of Christ in Dallas from 1990 to 2006, when he “retired” solely to simply accept a second stint as minister of growth and outreach on the Roswell Church of Christ in Kansas Metropolis, Kan. For years after that, he flew backwards and forwards from Dallas to Kansas Metropolis.
Sammie Berry, minister and elder of the Dallas West Church of Christ, presents the Residing Legend Award to James O. Maxwell in 2024.
In addition to his spouse and son James Apollos, Maxwell’s survivors embody daughter Miriam Renee Smith, son Julian Deshawn Maxwell, six grandchildren and a bunch of different family members.
The household famous in his obit:
“He was a trooper till the top. Though his reminiscence light and physique weakened, the spark in his eye, his wit and dynamic smile by no means left him.
“He was a trooper till the top. Though his reminiscence light and physique weakened, the spark in his eye, his wit and dynamic smile by no means left him.”
“He attended companies of the Church as a lot as attainable till his well being wouldn’t enable. As his reminiscence light, he saved his treasured books on the couch by his facet. Dr. Maxwell liked boxing and watching the NBA on TNT. The Los Angeles Lakers had been his favourite basketball staff. He liked wings, soup, studying, the information, present occasions and Westerns. Dr. Maxwell was an excellent good friend and confidant to everybody. For years throughout the holidays Dr. & Mrs. Maxwell invited college students who weren’t in a position to go to their properties over to his house for dinner. Dr. Maxwell typically spent his personal cash to assist college students and folks in want. Not solely beneficiant along with his time and sources, he would often mortgage his personal automobiles to college students who wanted transportation.”
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 school that pays tribute to pioneer African American preachers.
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Attain him at [email protected].
