James Gibson

Born in Jasper, AL on April 5, 1944

Departed on November 9, 2013 and resided in Nashville, TN

JAMES CLIFFORD GIBSON, age 69, Nashville, TN. (November 9, 2013, after an extended illness). James C. Gibson was born April 5, 1944 to Hugh Earl and Eunice Gibson in Jasper, AL. He was predeceased by his parents and brother, Hugh Ronald Gibson. Survivors include his lovely wife, Barbara P. Gibson; daughter, Jennifer, and her husband, Judd Austin; grandchildren, Savannah Norton and Connor Norton; and son, Jonathan Earl Gibson. He earned a B.M. degree from Samford University in Birmingham, AL and a M.C.M. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans, LA, from which he received an Alumnus Award in 2005. Jim's faith in Jesus Christ was the cornerstone of his life. He was a business executive and church music minister who exerted strong visionary leadership and management skills throughout his career, particularly in administration, organization, and marketing communications. He was known as a developer, seeing potential in projects and people that led to growth in companies he served and ministry results. Jim held three strategic roles over twelve years at LifeWay Christian Resources/Baptist Sunday School Board, from which he retired in 2004: Director of Music, Publishing, & Recording (2001-2004); Associate Director of Music Ministries Department (1997-2001); and Youth/Adult Music Consultant (1976-81). At LifeWay, Jim led in innovation with first-to-evangelical market downloadable music products and DVD choral accompaniment tracks. He created a song copyright publishing segment of LifeWay, including the hiring of a creative director and songwriters. As a music consultant at Baptist Sunday School Board, he was also a frequent speaker across the U. S., giving leadership to program development for youth and adult music ministry for the Southern Baptist Convention. After he retired from LifeWay, Jim served as Vice President of External Relations for Mid-Continent University in Mayfield, KY and he served as a member of the Executive Selection Committee for The Baptist Hymnal (2008) published by LifeWay. Jim was also an executive in the broader Christian music industry, having serving from 1994-1997 as Executive Project Manager for creation of The Celebration Hymnal ; Vice President/General Manager of Meadowgreen Music in Nashville, TN (1989-1994), giving leadership to product development, music publishing, recordings, and marketing and promotion; Vice President and Director positions at Word Music in Nashville, TN and Waco, TX (1981-1989), where he cast a vision for the company, led and managed employees producing church music products, led the company to create several first-to-market choral and instrumental products, engineered organizational structure, and led in the creation of The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration, one of the best selling hymnals in a history of Christian music. In addition to serving churches through meeting their product needs, Jim served churches directly in ministry throughout his life: full time minister of music and administration at Bellevue Baptist Church, Nashville, TN; minister of music at First Baptist Church, Broken Arrow, OK (1974-1976); First Baptist Church, Beaumont, TX (1972-1974); and Temple Baptist Church, Ruston, LA (1968-1972); and part-time or interim minister of music at Ponderosa Baptist Church, Cadiz, KY; Judson Baptist Church, Nashville, TN; and Dickerson Road Baptist Church, Nashville, TN. Visitation will be held at Harpeth Hills Memorial Gardens on Monday, November 11, 2013 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Funeral service will be held at Bellevue Baptist Church on Tuesday, November 12, 2013 at 11:00 AM. HARPETH HILLS MEMORY GARDENS, (615)646-9292.