James O. Maxwell, Influential Preacher And Advocate For Racial Unity, Dies At 86
In the late 1950s, a young man named James O. Maxwell enrolled at Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas, 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.
“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.”
Just last year, Dallas-area preachers and church leaders presented James O. Maxwell with the Living Legend Award during a citywide lectureship.
Sammie Berry, minister and elder of the Dallas West Church of Christ, presents the Living Legend Award to James O. Maxwell in 2024. (Photo by James A. Maxwell)
The Cedar Crest Church of Christ hosted the 2024 event. Maxwell’s “imprint on the city of Dallas and the country will transcend generations to come,” Cedar Crest minister Jonathan W. Morrison said then.
Leonardo Gilbert, national director of the Crusade for Christ evangelistic campaign and gospel meeting, said he joins “the global community of believers in mourning” Maxwell’s death.
Maxwell — preacher, educator and author — made “a profound imprint on Churches of Christ and the thousands of lives he touched through his ministry and leadership,” said Gilbert, minister and elder of the Sheldon Heights Church of Christ in Chicago.
Kristopher K. DarDar Sr., minister for the East Pointe Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas, was one of numerous preachers mentored by Maxwell.
“I am grateful for his love for young preachers, his academic rigor and humble spirit!” DarDar wrote in a tribute. “He will never be forgotten as the brains of a spiritual and scholastic movement, and now he has finally received the reward” about which he preached for decades.
Lynn McMillon, who retired as the Chronicle’s president and CEO in 2019, recalled Maxwell as “a great friend and Christian man.”
“He was the primary, if not sole, reason that the Chronicle finally broke through to the African American fellowship,” McMillon said, noting that Maxwell helped connect the Oklahoma-based international newspaper for Churches of Christ with thousands of new 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 at the Dorr Street Church of Christ in Toledo.
Maxwell graduated from Southwestern in spring 1959 — just the first in a long list of degrees he earned at institutions ranging from Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., to Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
He married Betty, his wife of 60 years, on Oct. 31, 1964.
He served as the academic dean at Southwestern from 1971 to 1978 and then as his alma mater’s vice president of institutional expansion from 1978 to 2019 — working alongside the late Jack Evans Sr., the college’s longtime president.
He often traveled on the weekends to preach, serving as the minister for congregations in Mississippi, Ohio, Kansas and Texas from the mid-1970s until the late 1980s.
He preached for the Southern Hills Church of Christ in Dallas from 1990 to 2006, when he “retired” only to accept a second stint as minister of development and outreach at the Roswell Church of Christ in Kansas City, Kan. For years after that, he flew back and forth from Dallas to Kansas City.
Besides his wife and son James Apollos, Maxwell’s survivors include daughter Miriam Renee Smith, son Julian Deshawn Maxwell, six grandchildren and a host of other relatives.
The family noted in his obit:
“He was a trooper until the end. Although his memory faded and body weakened, the spark in his eye, his wit and dynamic smile never left him.
“He attended services of the Church as much as possible until his health would not allow. As his memory faded, he kept his treasured books on the sofa by his side. Dr. Maxwell loved boxing and watching the NBA on TNT. The Los Angeles Lakers were his favorite basketball team. He loved wings, soup, reading, the news, current events and Westerns. Dr. Maxwell was a great friend and confidant to everyone. For years during the holidays Dr. & Mrs. Maxwell invited students who were not able to go to their homes over to his home for dinner. Dr. Maxwell often spent his own money to support students and people in need. Not only generous with his time and resources, he would occasionally loan his own vehicles to students who needed transportation.”
His funeral service is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Jan. 30 at Southwestern’s auditorium.
This piece is republished from The Christian Chronicle.
Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for ReligionUnplugged.com and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 18 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.