James Burton Coffman (1905-2006)

I wasn't aware until recently that James Burton Coffman passed away last June at the age of 101. His passing ended a long ministry marked by great accomplishments and multitudes of souls saved by the preaching of the truth.

Coffman loved local work, having preached for congregations in Texas, Oklahoma and Washington D.C. His most notable work was done in the cities of Houston and New York. As minister of the Manhattan Church of Christ in New York City, he helped to raise $2 million dollars (a lot of money in those days) to build that congregation's first facilities. He is quoted as saying, "We are going to build a church in the devil's eyeball!"

Coffman was also a successful evangelist, having baptized at least 3,000 persons over the course of his lifetime. While serving as a guest chaplain for the U.S. Armed Forces in Japan and Korea, he held meetings in both those countries.

Of course, most people know him as the Christian scholar who wrote a 37-volume set of commentaries on the Old and New Testaments. He did not pen these popular works in the early years of his life. Rather he began writing them at age 65 and did not complete them until he was 87-years-old! Like the righteous of the Psalmist's poem, he flourished like a palm tree in his old age, full of "sap and green," bearing fruit even in the winter of his life (92:12-14).