My heart was so full during the 90 minute service in the Leavell Chapel of our New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Tuesday morning, I couldn’t decide whether I needed to get alone and have a good cry or move off by myself for a prayer time. I did neither, but followed the service by greeting members of the Leavell family and friends old and new who had come to honor this esteemed friend.

“Dr. Leavell was a hundred-percenter who gave all he had to the Lord and the people around him,” said Dr. Chuck Kelley, successor to Landrum Leavell in the president’s office at NOBTS.

The memorial service contained several surprises for me. I was thrilled to see Larry Black leading the hymns. This veteran minister of music–over 30 years at the FBC of Jackson, Mississippi, and a dear friend–is clearly the best we have at leading a congregation in worship and praise. Don’t let the white hair fool you; he’s younger now than at any time in his life and keeps getting younger. These days he serves as the interim minister of music at the FBC of Richland, MS. Over several decades, when Dr. Leavell preached revivals, Larry often led the worship music.

Clay Corvin, long-time vice-president for business affairs at NOBTS, did what Clay does best: read a poem of tribute which he had composed. The last part of “One Man” read….

“He was our preacher, teacher, leader and friend

Strong guts, no quit

He hated dirt, debt, and the devil

One man–Landrum Leavell II

We love him.”

Roland Leavell II, the only one of the three Leavell sons not a preacher–he’s a businessman in Jackson, MS, and has been chairman of deacons at FBC there–read the 100th Psalm. “That is the Leavell family’s travel psalm,” he said. “Every time we climbed into a car, bus, train or plane, we all recited it. The children learned the 100th Psalm before John 3:16.”

Roland found a sticky note inside one of his dad’s Bibles. “It contained these questions in Dad’s handwriting. Do you take the Bible literally? Seriously? Is what you have learned head knowledge only or has it changed your life? Has it made you more like Jesus or an educated pagan or fool?”

After a video presentation on the life and ministry of Dr. Leavell, we were thrilled to see Squire Parsons step to the pulpit and sing “Beulah Land.” I was surprised to learn that was the favorite song of Dr. Leavell, that they were close personal friends, and that Squire had arranged his schedule to fly in for this service. Dr. Jerry Garrard said later that Mrs. Leavell–JoAnn–had not been told Squire was coming and was as thrilled as the rest of us to have him present.

Dr. Nelson Price brought a eulogy and more. He preached a “young sermon” on Luke 2:52, where Jesus “grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man,” applying the same four areas to Dr. Leavell. Nelson served on the search committee back in 1974 which brought Leavell from the FBC of Wichita Falls, TX, to the seminary. He gave us some insight dope on their selection process, “which I doubt has been told before this moment.”

The committee had narrowed their search down to two very good men, and were divided. The deadlock seemed to be without a solution. Nelson suggested they go to the Lord and pray. Afterward, the vote was unanimous for Dr. Leavell. That, my friend, is what we call a “God thing.”

Nelson is the long-time pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church of Marietta, GA, and as eloquent as anyone we know. But when it came to describing Landrum’s choice of a life-mate, he said, “The only word to describe JoAnn is