Standing in the pulpit of First Baptist Church, Mixon, Tex., in 1950, 15-year-old Jimmy Draper preached his first sermon. “I had it down to 30 minutes,” Draper said, recalling his first step into the ministry. “When I got up to speak, I delivered it in 12 minutes flat.”
On Jan. 31 – 55 years and countless sermons later – Draper, president of LifeWay Christian Resources since 1991, walks into retirement to expressions of love and to accolades such as “statesman,” “man of integrity,” “man of God,” “mentor and counselor” and “Mr. Southern Baptist.”
“Surrendering to the ministry meant “surrendering any right I had to be anything else, and I vowed to devote myself to the work of the Lord,” Draper said. Over the course of 35 years, Draper served eight churches – six in Texas and one each in Kansas and Oklahoma.
Messengers at the Southern Baptist Convention elected Draper president in 1982 and again in 1983. With a pastor’s heart, Draper led a denomoination.
“Jimmy Draper has consistency, conviction and cooperation that epitomizes him as ‘Mr. Southern Baptist,'” Morris Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, said. “Jimmy literally has been the pastor of the Southern Baptist Convention.”