James Lenox Sullivan, Southern Baptist statesman and retired president of the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board (now LifeWay Christian Resources), died Dec. 27 at Alive Hospice in Nashville, Tenn., following a brief illness. He was 94.
A private burial service for Sullivan's family was conducted Dec. 30. Later that day, a memorial service was held at First Baptist Church of Nashville.
Sullivan served as president of the Sunday School Board from 1953 until his retirement in 1975. He was widely known as an authority on Southern Baptist polity and had been actively involved in denominational service since his first pastorate in 1932.
“He was president at one of the most crucial times at the Sunday School Board during the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and '60s,” said LifeWay Christian Resources president James T. Draper Jr. “He led in production of materials promoting the biblical view of human worth, regardless of race, and modeled his beliefs by providing an equitable work environment for a multicultural staff.”
Sullivan served as pastor of churches in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Texas; as president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention; and as trustee of numerous Southern Baptist universities, seminaries and hospitals. He also served as a vice president of the Baptist World Alliance.
Sullivan served one year as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, in 1976.
Grady C. Cothen, who succeeded Sullivan as president of the Sunday School Board from 1975 to 1984, said Sullivan's death marks “the end of a long and significant era in Baptist life.”
“He pioneered new methods and made endless contributions to the religious life of Baptist people,” Cothen said. “He built and maintained a great institution. His generous spirit made possible the sharing of the enormous resources of the Sunday School Board with Baptists of the world. Southern Baptists will never know the debt they owe to Sullivan for his courage under fire, for his humorous defusing of many critical situations. His passing leaves us all poorer.”
Following his retirement Sullivan taught as a guest professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Boyce Bible School (now Boyce College) in Louisville, Ky., and at Mississippi College in Clinton, Miss. A football player and captain for Mississippi College from 1928-32, he was inducted into the institution's Sports Hall of Fame.
Songwriter William J. Reynolds named the tune to Share His Love in honor of Sullivan, then the president of the Sunday School Board.
Reynolds wrote the song-which today appears in many church hymnals-in the early 1970s and told Sullivan about it. Sullivan, knowing that his last name now would appear below the song in hymnbooks nationwide, quipped, “That's the only way my name will get in the hymnal.”
Sullivan wrote many articles and books, including Your Life and Your Church, with a distribution of more than a million copies, and Baptist Polity: As I See It .
“He was a personal friend and faithful mentor,” said Lloyd Elder, president of the board from 1984 to 1991. “He was truly a man of God, a man of his times by being ahead of his times, a peerless leader, fearless prophet and caring servant. Dr. Sullivan developed the board into a profoundly Christian, Baptist denominational ministry, based on sound business principles and practices. At a personal level, he was forever learning and participating with others.”
A graduate of Tylertown (Miss.) High School, Sullivan's higher education included a bachelor of arts degree from Mississippi College in Clinton; a master of theology degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; and a doctor of divinity degrees from Mississippi College and Campbell College in Buies Creek, N.C.
Sullivan's wife, Velma Scott Sullivan, preceded him in death in 1993. His daughter, Martha Lynn Porch, died in 1999.
Sullivan had known his future wife since childhood, and often said he knew she had been the right choice because she was “the only girl I ever dated,” adding that they had dated only five times. The couple married in 1935. “We have been doing our courting since our marriage,” his wife would explain.
Survivors include a daughter, Mary Beth Taylor of Nashville; a son, James David Sullivan of Columbus, Miss.; seven grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.
The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations be given to one of the following charitable organizations: The “Door to the Future” campaign at First Baptist Church of Nashville; Alive Hospice in Nashville; or LifeWay Christian Resources for the chapel at Camp Ridgecrest (N.C.) for Boys.
Baptist Press