- Date Of Birth: January 19, 1926
- Date Of Death: May 7, 2015
- State: Georgia
Dr. James Norman. Born January 19, 1926 in Lanett, AL, he was the son of the late Benjamin W. and Mary Norman Griffith. He grew up in Macon, GA and began his newspaper career as a teenager, covering all high school sports for The Macon Telegraph and News. At the age of 18, he became sports editor, one of the youngest sports editors of a daily newspaper in the nation. Before he was 21, he became daily editorial page humor columnist for the Macon papers. His humor column, “The Last Straw,” was picked up by General Features Corporation of New York City, national distributor of syndicate newspaper features. He was called “the best writer of humor since Will Rogers.” Earning a degree in Journalism/English from Mercer University in Macon, he later became news editor of The Herald in Spartanburg, SC, and then managing editor of the award-winning News-Herald in Morganton, NC. Following his newspaper career, he entered the ministry and graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. After serving four churches-Lakeside Baptist Church in North Myrtle Beach, SC; First Baptist Church of Gray, GA; First Baptist Church of St. Simons Island, GA; and Beech Haven Baptist Church of Athens, GA-he was elected president and then executive director-treasurer of the Georgia Baptist Convention. During his administration at the Convention, the Program of Language Missions was upgraded to departmental status with the rapid growth and involvement in this special ministry of the state missions program. The debt on the Baptist Center was paid. The new Searcy S. Garrison Auditorium at Georgia Baptist Assembly, Toccoa, was completed. Six years later a hotel was completed at Toccoa, containing one hundred bedrooms and eleven conference rooms. This hotel was named in honor of Dr. Griffith. The program of Christian Ministries was upgraded to departmental status as Georgia Baptists sought to meet ever-increasing demands of church and community missions needs. A new Royal Ambassador Camp, Camp Kaleo, was constructed near Forsyth and opened its doors to young men and boys for missions education and training. The following year Georgia Baptists provided a new building for the first Southern Baptist alcohol-drug rehabilitation center for men-The Penfield Christian Home in Greene County. Both Camp Kaleo and the Penfield Christian Home were constructed primarily by volunteer labor, a growing stewardship ministry of Baptist Men in Georgia. The Georgia Baptist College of Nursing replaced the former diploma school of nursing and admitted its first students on an accredited baccalaureate degree. Partnerships were established for varying periods of time with Liberia, Panama, New York, and Germany. During Dr. Griffith’s 12 years in office, the Georgia Baptist Convention became the top percentage contributor to the Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative Program, the state missions offering more than tripled in its amount with the state mission program correspondingly expanded, and significant advances in church planting and language missions were accomplished. From 1981 to 1992, GBC churches grew from 2,977 to 3,282 and membership increased from 1,135,497 to 1,256,562. Dr. Griffith also served in a variety of leadership positions in the Southern Baptist Convention, including terms on the Sunday School Board and Executive Committee. Dr. Griffith wrote a weekly column for The Christian Index for almost 45 years, and his sermons and writings have been published by Reader’s Digest, Pulpit Digest, Proclaim Magazine, North Carolina Biblical Recorder, Baptist Program, Florida Baptist Witness, Western Recorder, Christian Advocate, the Australian Baptist, Open Windows, and many other publications. In addition to three earned degrees, Dr. Griffith was awarded honorary doctorates from Atlanta Law School, Brewton-Parker College, Mercer University, and Truett-McConnell College. The author of four inspirational/humor books – Sure You Can, Stepping Stones, From: Pulpit to Pew, and Looking Up – he has written a humor column for The Newnan Times-Herald of Newnan for over 16 years. In 1949 he married Mildred Roads of West Palm Beach, FL. Other survivors include daughters Doren Yeomans, Rosa Gardner and husband James, and Sunday Griffith; Grandchild Stephanie Hudson; and brother Dr. Ben W. Griffith, Jr.
