Longtime preacher, educator and author influenced thousands in Churches of Christ.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
TERRELL, Texas —In 1957, a young man named James O. Maxwell enrolled at Southwestern Christian College, about 30 miles east of Dallas.
Maxwell’s time at Southwestern — the only historically Black higher education institution associated with Churches of Christ — changed his life, and he became one of the fellowship’s most influential ministers.
Related: Editor reflects on James O. Maxwell’s life and legacy
“I was inspired to preach when I attended Southwestern and witnessed students preaching at such an early age,” Maxwell told The Christian Chronicle in 2010. “Before this time, I believed that preachers had to be ‘perfect,’ but when I saw that many of those students’ deportment was not as good as mine, I was convinced that I could preach.”
Maxwell, who preached the Gospel for six decades, served in prominent leadership roles at Southwestern for a half-century and worked to foster Christian unity across racial lines, died Jan. 14 after a six-year battle with dementia. He was 86.
“Our ‘Lion in the Way’ … has officially entered into sweet rest. He fought a good fight,” his son James A. Maxwell, minister for the West End Church of Christ in Terrell, said in announcing his father’s passing. “As 1 Corinthians 16:13 says, be courageous, faithful and strong. This describes Dad to a tee. Rest well, Daddy.”
Hundreds filled Southwestern’s auditorium Jan. 30 to celebrate the life of James O. Maxwell, whom Dallas-area preachers and church leaders honored with the Living Legend Award during a citywide lectureship just last year.
This story appears in the March print edition of The Christian Chronicle.
Photo by Don Mooney
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