The Rev. Dr. Jimmy Allen

Denomination: Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF)
Organization: Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

The Rev. Dr. Jimmy R. Allen is coordinator of the New Baptist Covenant and resides in Big Canoe, GA.

Dr. Allen is Chaplain Emeritus of Big Canoe Chapel, a multi-denominational chapel in the North Georgia mountains. He is Coordinator for the New Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta, GA in 2008.

Dr. Allen is former President of the three million member Baptist General Convention of Texas (1972-1973). In the year 2000, he was cited as one of the Ten Most Influential Texas Baptists of the Twentieth Century. He is former President of the Southern Baptist Convention (1978-1979). He launched the Missions Service Corps, an organization that now has more than ten thousand persons serving around the world. He served as Founding Moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Dr. Allen served as the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of San Antonio, Texas from 1968 to 1980. He led that center city congregation to establish new social ministries while at the same time expanding its evangelism and nurturing ministry. The congregation grew from seven thousand to nine thousand members during that period. Dr. Allen was a weekly columnist for the San Antonio Express-News and was featured weekly on that city’s ABC television ten o'clock news with his commentaries on 'The Moral Side of the News.' He served as President and CEO of the Radio and Television Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (1980-1990) and hosted a national cable television talk show entitled 'Life Today'. As a television producer, he won an 'Emmy' from the American Academy of Arts and Entertainment for the Best Special Program in the nation in 1988. Produced for ABC television it was filmed in the People'’s Republic of China and titled 'China: Walls and Bridges.'

Dr. Allen, as national President of Baptists Committed, arranged and presided over the Convocation of Baptists in Atlanta that launched the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

He has been a leader in causes of ethical concerns. From 1960 to 1968, he was Director of the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. In 1962 he conducted the first state workshop on Christianity and Race Relations in Southern Baptist history. He served on the Planning Conference for the first White House Conference on Civil Rights. His commitment to religious liberty and separation of church and state is reflected in his serving as President of Americans United. (1973-1978)

As a Visiting Professional Scholar at Vanderbilt University's Freedom Forum First Amendment Center in 1993, Dr. Allen and his colleague, John Dart of the LOS ANGELES TIMES created a prize winning report on the relationship of news media and religion in America. The report titled: 'BRIDGING THE GAP' won the 1994 Special Wilbur Award from the National Religious Public Relations Association of America. He serves on the Advisory Board of Religion Newswriters Foundation. He continues to consult news organizations on improving their coverage of religious news. He is on the Advisory Board of PBS Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Dr. Allen's book, BURDEN OF A SECRET, is subtitled 'A Story of Truth and Mercy in a Family Faced with AIDS.' He tells of struggles and discoveries of his family as a transfusion related HIV virus caused the death of his two grandsons and their mother, a pastor's wife and nurse. The virus will have destroyed the lives of four of his family of eight, including another son who is gay. The call to the churches to banish fears and be supportive to the victims of HIV/AIDS is coupled with the examination of lessons learned from grief and dying.

Dr. Allen served as a Non-Governmental Observer at the United Nations. (1962). In 1974 he received The Citation of Merit from the Government of Honduras for humanitarian service in the wake of a natural disaster. Dr. Allen successfully negotiated with the Nation of Israel on it human rights position on religious propagation. He was invited to testify before the Committee on Law and Justice of the Knesset of Israel. He led a fact-finding mission to Iran during the hostage crisis at the United States embassy in Teheran. (1979-80)

Dr. Allen’s earned degrees include a Bachelor of Arts from Howard Payne University, a Bachelor of Divinity and a Doctor of Theology from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His honorary degrees include:

Doctor of Divinity, Howard Payne University

Doctor of Humanities, Mercer University

Doctor of Divinity, University of Richmond

Doctor of Communications, California Baptist College

Doctor of Humanities, Southwest Baptist University

Dr. Allen and his wife, Linda, continue to live in Big Canoe. He has three sons, Michael of San Antonio, Skip of Dallas and BenjaminScott of Lake Tahoe, CA. He has one surviving grandchild.