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Retired Tenn. Exec Tom Madden dies
Lonnie Wilkey, Baptist Press
July 21, 2009
3 MIN READ TIME

Retired Tenn. Exec Tom Madden dies

Retired Tenn. Exec Tom Madden dies
Lonnie Wilkey, Baptist Press
July 21, 2009

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. — Tom Madden, 90, executive

director/treasurer of the Tennessee Baptist Convention (TBC) from 1979-89, died

July 19 in Shelbyville, Tenn.

A native of Enid, Okla., Madden came to Tennessee in 1951 to

serve as pastor of First Baptist Church in Greenbrier after serving as a pastor

in both his home state and in Texas. His ministry would continue in Tennessee

for the remainder of his life. Even after his retirement as executive director,

he remained active in serving various TBC institutions and churches.

Madden left Greenbrier in 1954 to accept the pastorate of

First Baptist Church in Tullahoma, where he ministered until 1976 when he

joined the staff of the convention as director of convention ministries,

serving in that role until being selected as executive director (then executive

secretary-treasurer) on Jan. 1, 1979.

As a Tennessee pastor, Madden was president of the state

convention in 1969 and served on the state convention’s executive board from

1958-64 and 1970-76.

At the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) level, Madden

served on the SBC Executive Committee from 1966-74 and was a director of the

former SBC Education Commission. A strong supporter of Christian higher

education, Madden had earned degrees from Oklahoma Baptist University in

Shawnee and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Current TBC Executive Director James Porch followed Madden

as pastor of First Baptist in Tullahoma and, later, to the state convention.

“For over 30 years, he allowed me to walk in his footsteps,

but upon his insistence, never in his shadow,” Porch said. “His desire

prevailed; I have been my own person throughout our friendship. We shared a

connection — a reciprocal human effort to travel through an extended season,

blending our ministries. We prayed together, laughed at each other, cried with

each other, disagreed face to face and always moved on.”

Madden was preceded in death by his wife Edna Earle. He is

survived by two children, Thomas J. Madden III of New Jersey and Jane Madden of

Nashville, and two grandchildren.

The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 22, at First

Baptist Church in Tullahoma. The body will lie in state in the chapel of the

Tennessee Baptist Convention in Brentwood Wednesday evening and the family will

receive friends from 6-8 p.m. Burial will be July 23 at 1 p.m. at Hollywood

Cemetery in Jackson, Tenn.

(EDITOR’S NOTE— Wilkey is editor of the Baptist and

Reflector, newsjournal of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.)