Jimmy Allen’s Retirement
Something very significant is different this fall at Harding University; for the first time in fifty years, Jimmy Allen is not teaching a Bible class. For three generations he was a fixture in the Bible department (more recently, the College of Bible and Religion), teaching a total of fifteen different courses. An intense and demanding teacher, Allen is best known around campus as a powerful evangelist and the man who teaches the New Testament Letter to the Romans.
When Allen first arrived on campus in 1949 he was, in his own words, “a rank pagan.” A young veteran, he planned to attend Harding for one quarter and then re-enlist in the army. Because his time in the army had made him a patriot, Allen thought that his future was to be a career soldier. However, his first Bible class was on the Book of Acts with Jack Wood Sears. There his eyes and heart were opened to the gospel, and he went to talk to his cousin, Lott Tucker, to tell him that he was ready to become a Christian. Tucker, who was also not a Christian at the time, told Allen, “You don’t have enough sense to be a Christian.” Yet, Allen persisted and was baptized the next Sunday. After that, there was no looking back.
During his college days, Allen came under the influence of Dr. J. D. Bales and says to this day, “I loved the ground on which he walked.” Allen took more classes with Bales than with any other teacher, so many in fact that he and some of his classmates became known as “prophets of Bales.” He credits his mentor with preparing him well to deal with any controversial issue, a skill that would serve him well throughout his years of debating (7 public debates), preaching, and writing. Later, when Allen returned to Harding to teach, his office in the Administration Building would be next to Bales and across the hall from Bob Helsten, two men who were treasured co-workers throughout their careers.
Anyone who knows Jimmy Allen is aware that he loves athletics. With the exception of volleyball, he played every sport on campus, both as a student and later as a member of the faculty. Back in his early days at Harding when he was still a new Christian, Allen was delighted to discover that “some of the finest athletes in school were some of the finest Christian men.” Chancellor Clifton Ganus, Jr., a close friend and frequent teammate of Allen, will still tell you about four stitches he has had put in his face because of injuries he received from Allen when they were on the same team!
To many people across our brotherhood the name Jimmy Allen means “evangelist.” He guesses that he has held about 1,400 gospel meetings. During those meetings, there have been between 40,000 and 50,000 responses, approximately 10,000 of those for baptism. From 1964 until well into the 1970’s, Allen held fifty city-wide coliseum meetings. Often these would be attended by over 10,000 people and result in hundreds of responses. Though he has traveled the world preaching, he has held more meetings for the College Church in Searcy than for any other congregation. His last meeting there was in 1995.
When students at Harding University think of Jimmy Allen, they always think of Romans. While he was a graduate student at Harding Graduate School of Religion in Memphis, Allen studied Romans with Dr. Don Sime. He still remembers this as a “marvelous” experience and his best class in graduate school. When Allen was invited to teach Romans during his second or third year as a teacher in Searcy, it was a dream come true and the start of a relationship that would define his teaching career. How many people have studied Romans with Allen at Harding during his fifty-year career? No one knows. Allen simply answers, “Thousands.”